Homeschooled in the Boston suburbs; spent 12+ years in central Maine and some time in Cambridge, MA and Brooklyn, NY. Have done seasonal agricultural work, student-managed a CSA farm, lived on a seabird island, produced outreach videos for researchers, curated content, scored SAT essays, enjoyed hanging out with contra dancers (as a musician, caller, and organizer), and rambled from Alaska to Iraq. These days i work at a zoo as front gate cashier, carousel and train ride operator, and generally wild presence to enhance the guest experience with ecological insights and animal pun groaners.

Since 2014, i call Arizona home, and share the journey with my partner of 12 years Gary (https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/revdup1), a hospice chaplain. I lost my mother in 2009 and father in 2019, and prepared both of them for burial, so death and dying are not something i'm shy about.

Some of my rambles are narrated on www.ramblingwejak.blogspot.com

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Everyone has their own CS style. We have different needs at different times as we journey. Sometimes it's about sharing experiences and cultural exchange. Other times a body just needs a place to crash.

As a surfer i work to respect my hosts; as a host, to be flexible, whether you need someone to show you around or if you just want quiet space and a pillow. I welcome first-time CSers, seasoned world travellers and everyone between.

Interests

Barbell training, growing and cooking food, backgammon, photography and filmmaking, music (singing, piano, violin), swimming and - i'm really basic about it - cycling.

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Being Peace (and other TNH), Le Petit Prince, Tao te Ching, Up From Eden (and other Ken Wilber), A Sand County Almanac, Sex Economy Freedom and Community (and other Wendell Berry), Ancient Futures

Movies: Babel, C.R.A.Z.Y., Contact, In the Name Of, Kebab Connection, Le Fate Ignoranti, Waltz with Bashir, A Single Man, Skyfall, Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Music: Eurovision Song Contest; Arvo Part, Bernstein, Cloud Cult, Sylvan Esso, Clean Bandit, Hundred Waters, Watsky, Tycho, Sigur Ros, Bruce Peninsula, Arstidir, Peatbog Faeries, Old Blind Dogs, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Owsey, Engima, Mercan Dede, Ivri Lider - i speak music as a first language, tend to enjoy obscure stuff.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Working on 6-hectare Petit Manan Island as a research assistant trapping and measuring terns, i saw more than a thousand terns mobbing two bald eagles as the eagles tried to snag an eider chick. A black-backed gull snuck in to try its own luck. Puffins, guillemots, terns, and peregrine falcons were our daily company, as i counted seabirds from atop the lighthouse.

(**hosting 12 CSers en route from Vancouver to Rio de Janiero on the World Cup Bus** is a close 2nd)

Teach, Learn, Share

Isn't it cool how sometimes we learn by teaching others? I think of this as a continuum of sharing with teach at one end and learn at the other. I by no means have mastery of any of these but the closer it is to the teach end, the more i have to share with confidence.

Teach: Writing (esp. creative nonfiction), music theory, violin and piano technique, contradance, seed saving, organic ag, strength training, simple healthy cooking, bicycle maintenance, basic yoga: Learn

I didn't know "how to change a tire" was something i should put on this list until i got a flat on the way to Chiracahua Nat'l Monument with two CSers from Ukraine.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm a storyteller and a talker. Happy to swap travel tales and delve into deep conversations and rare, precious deeper silences. But not really all that zen.

I'm always impressed by surfers who come with a memento of their provenance. A better self would do that. My style is offering to pick up groceries you need, cooperative cooking and if you drink, showing up with a six-pack to toast to acquaintance. Let me know your beverage preferences?

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Denmark, Georgia, Iceland, Iraq, Sweden, Turkey, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Turkey, United States

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