CURRENT MISSION

I experience the world anew through traveling with an open heart

ABOUT ME

For years I have explored the fascinating cultural and political landscape of the San Joaquin Valley. This has meant working within Southeast Asian communities, on public and environmental health issues, policy and political work, teaching,and way back, community theater.

I've just had the opportunity to travel through Europe and Asia over the past 5 months and deeply desire more travel, more learning, and more meeting of the great people on CS!

PHILOSOPHY

This is a quote I love, that I saw imprinted on an antique bell:

Qui me tangit vocem meam audi
"Whoever touches me hears my voice"

This quote from a fortune cookie:

"One dreamed of becoming somebody.
Another remained awake and became.
Lucky Numbers 6, 16, 23, 30, 37, 41"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am happy to host people coming through Fresno. I know a lot about the City, and the San Joaquin Valley, and am able to give a great tour depending on the guest's interest. I also sometimes work at a Bed and Breakfast in the Bay Area, and can assist people who are going that direction.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I participate in CS through hosting, being a guest, and encouraging others to join!

Interests

Writing, reading, poetry, photography, stories and recording them.

• fish
• writing
• poetry
• theater
• photography
• breakfast
• walking
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• fishing
• camping
• anthropology
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

As for poets - Rilke, Rumi, Tagore, Mary Oliver, Gregory Orr, Italo Calvino, Dag Hammarskjold, Fresno poets.

Other authors - Sue Monk Kidd, Orhan Pamuk among many
Music - world music, various African genres, Fado, piano composition

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of the most amazing opportunities I've had was to visit Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand - a Buddhist Temple in Lop Buri that at one time housed 20,000 Hmong refugees who had fled from Laos after the Vietnam War. I went with a Hmong group from California, many of whom had relatives at the temple they hadn't seen in 20 years. Our group went to welcome the refugees to the United States, and worked in California to begin to prepare the way for them. Watching people be reunited with relatives pulled apart by war, observing an entire generation that had been raised in the temple/refugee camp, and walking with Hmong refugees once they came to Fresno are moments in time that show the intensity of human experience and spectrum of emotion. I will not soon forget those stories.

Teach, Learn, Share

On a quest to learn to paint, record stories and figure out what to do with them.
Love taking photos, listening, laughing
Excel at parallel parking, whistling in the dark, Texas drawl, go fish, playing with kids

I have taught courses on religion, anthropology, environmental issues.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Laos, Thailand, Turkey, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ghana, United States

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