CURRENT MISSION

To weave this silken web of community wider and deeper.

ABOUT ME

I live in Minneapolis where I make music and cook dinners with dear friends, fill my house with plants and art, and try to be the best human I can be as a role model for kiddos at a Waldorf School. I also tour my music around and about.

You can hear some sounds here!

http://carlisleevanspeck.bandcamp.com/

or here is some music from a folksy-rock band I was a part of:

http://themonkeywrenchgang.bandcamp.com/

Ask me to play something for you, I'd love to. If you play an instrument too, even better! One of my favorite parts of travelling is jamming with fellow musicians and sharing meaningful songs, and some of the best friends in my life have been made this way. I adore folk music from around the world as well, I feel one can really know a culture more fully through its musical traditions.

I am also immensely interested in Linguistics. I love hearing languages being spoken, so if you speak another language in addition to English and Spanish, I will probably ask you to demo it. And I love teaching people more sayings and idioms in English!

I studied botany and ecology in college, and I love going on hikes to look at wildflowers. Foraging is also one of my favorite hobbies, and the Midwest in the summer and fall is a wealth of wild bounty!

PHILOSOPHY

Beauty and meaning are everywhere, it´s up to you to create it. So much of life (arguably all of it) is contingent upon your state of mind. So don't waste your energy searching for profundity and enlightenment, that is an exhaustive enterprise that is sure to disappoint. Rather, first open your mind (or heart, whatever metaphor you like) to beauty and you will find it anywhere you look.

Do hard things. It is the only way to grow.

Life is a constantly unfolding and cyclical process. There is no point at which you will stop growing. One of my favorite quotes is from a Goya sketch, of an old invalid, with the caption "aun aprendo"- I am still learning.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Travelling, I'm interested in meeting fellow travelers, weaving lives together, building communities that are not necessarily anchored in a concrete place, and sharing this life with others.

Hosting, I strive to provide the same hospitality and generosity to others that I have been given by many individuals whom I love and respect. I want to share some of the bounty and good fortune I have been lucky enough to receive over the years. I also want to give others the chance to experience the place I call home in any way they wish! There are many different travelling styles, and I want to facilitate those styles however I can, rather than trying to impose any expectations of my own as a couchsurfing host. Want to hang out and cook dinner? Cool. Want to explore the city totally on your own? Also cool. As long as you don't steal things or proposition me, it'll be great.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

As is typical with many things, my most memorable couchsurfing experience was my first. A friend and I were on a week long bike trip through northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, and one night stayed at the home of two avid bicyclists. They lived in a refurbished farm house, and turned one of the old barns into a guest house specifically for travelers. They taught my friend and I how to ride motorcycles, gave us a lot of biking equipment (since we were woefully naive and underprepared for the trip) and even biked with us for a ways the following morning. It was the best introduction to couchsurfing I could have hoped for.

Interests

Writing Music, Playing Music, Plants!, Hiking, Mountains, Going on long drives and getting myself lost, Going on long runs and getting myself lost, Innocent trespassing, Pianos, Learning Folk Music, Permaculture, Organic Farming, Foraging, The stars, Ethnobotany, Climbing Trees, Mulberries, whatever fruit I can pick in season, Swimming in lakes/rivers/the ocean, Visiting Diners for a Damn Fine Cup of Coffee, Red Wine, Swimming in Glacial Lakes, Beautiful Old Cemeteries, Mountains! Watching the Sunrise/Sunset

• arts
• culture
• writing
• beauty
• cooking
• wine
• red wine
• beer
• coffee
• sprinting
• walking
• motorcycles
• gardening
• flowers
• traveling
• music
• folk music
• guitar
• piano
• cycling
• hiking
• rock climbing
• swimming
• ecology
• languages
• au-pair
• lakes
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music- Big Thief and Adrianne Lenker, Benjamin Clementine, Jamila Woods, Laura Marling, Regina Spektor, Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Sylvan Esso, St. Vincent, Tune-Yards, Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Fiona Apple, Joanna Newsom, Beirut, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, The White Stripes, Death Cab for Cutie, Mason Jennings, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Steeleye Span, John Renbourn, Pentangle, Laurie Anderson, Gabriel Kahane, Radiohead, Neutral Milk Hotel, Arcade Fire.

Books- The Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness, Autobiography of Red, Oliver Sacks anything, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Desert Solitaire, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Jitterbug Perfume, The Sound and the Fury, Song of Solomon, The Prophet, Into the Wild, The Lord of the Rings

TV-Twin Peaks, Orange is the New Black, Top of the Lake

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Moving a people to tears / inspiring a person to write poetry with song.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am great at plant identification, and love learning about the different ways wild or unexpected species can be used. Dandelion Jam? Boiled Pokeweed shoots? Garlic Mustard Pizza? Redbud flowers? All delicious. If you know of the wild plants that are good to forage in your area, tell me!

I also love sharing the songs that are special to me, and would love to learn those that are special to you!

What I Can Share with Hosts

A kind and smiling face, a mind that constantly wishes to learn, music, cooking.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, England, Germany, Peru, Scotland, Spain, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United States