CURRENT MISSION

To be shaken and reply

ABOUT ME

A young American, I studied philosophy, theology, and poetry in the small brick-paved sailing town of Annapolis. I'm a bit of a dreamer, but only because I need to make sense of what's around me and find, as Aristotle says, the best life. I like redemption. I'm diligent and easy-going, and ultimately motivated by passion.

My mom is German and the most beautiful woman on earth, and my father is one lucky son of an Italian-American family. If you ever catch me in Phoenixville on a Tuesday, you have got to come to our open house Pasta Night. Family's the best thing in life. Come meet mine!

I want to participate wherever I go. If I were to stay with you, I'd like to learn something from you, about you, whether it be a song, a magic trick, a story, a historical event, a game, a worldview, a mannerism or gesture. It's all part of telling and listening to stories. The world makes sense through them. I'm gathering all my stories now, traveling and listening and doing. Meeting people; being with people. Learning to give myself and grow. Someday I hope to be old and wise.

I take a keen pleasure in flowers and growing things, birds, trees, fabric, glass, earth, bread, light. I think this comes out of seeking peace and beauty. But this aesthetic is really just personal adornment. What I like to share with people is conversation, a good chess game, a grappling match, a story, a song. Otherwise I wouldn't be; it would only be the mundane existence of some organism with potential. I'm unsatisfied with remaining "potential."

PHILOSOPHY

We're plants that photosynthesize with stories. On all my travels, and in all my settlings-down, I'm reminded that peace and joy come to a humble heart that's open to love.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm trying to figure out what humanity is like and what it needs. I feel it's good, generous, kind (on the whole, as individuals). I think it needs to be reminded.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

When hitchhiking, I have met the kindest, most unique people through Couchsurfing without whom my journey would be miserable.

Interests

Poetry, swing-dancing, coffee detours, pulling weeds, swimming naked, browsing used book stores, food-shopping when hungry, getting confronted, praying, being serious and laughing about it. I like using my body - dancing, climbing, sports, running, wrestling. I also am easily side-tracked by birds.

• birds
• books
• poetry
• beauty
• dancing
• dining
• coffee
• running
• shopping
• flowers
• chess
• traveling
• socializing
• magic
• sailing
• sports
• wrestling
• rock climbing
• swimming
• divinity
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

I read books that make me lean back to the sky and think, listen to music that sings into my heart, and only watch films when asked.

Favorite poets: Eliot, Rilke, Stevens, Holderlin, Hopkins, Heaney, Lowell, Frost, the Psalmist, and Temple Cone.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once gave a self-made necklace to a homeless man who off-handedly mentioned that he liked it. He was moved more by that than anything I could have said to encourage him. It took me a while to realize why.

Teach, Learn, Share

What is given away is kept. What you keep will be lost forever.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States