CURRENT MISSION

learning kindness

ABOUT ME

I'm cheerful, adaptable and unflappable. I want to know all about you! I know a ton of Brothers Grimm fairy tales by heart. I get get joy out of community, shared efforts, and new friends. I like to cook and I make solid vegan pastries and pizzas. I studied studio art and international relations and was in the professional art scene for a couple years until I quit to pursue social work. I've had some weird sandal-tans.

PHILOSOPHY

This bell hooks quote is my guide:

"I'm not always controlled. I'm not always correct. I'm not always kind. However, I can name and take responsibility for transgressions. I can change. I can make amends and I can repair."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

hopefully lots of hosting and traveling - I've done this informally a ton! but not via this site. New worlds opening up!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

a pair of couch surfers had to leave really early the next morning so they wrote me a poem about root vegetables and left it on my kitchen counter. so great!

Interests

I love road biking more than anything, and ride across Iowa, where I went to college, every year. I meditate a ton and go to the local Zen temple, and I think it's the healthiest thing I've ever done. I like weeding, and I sort of enjoy being sunburned. Swimming in lakes and rivers is so, so great. I volunteer on a crisis hotline for LGBT people - issues related to minority rights are important to me, and I try to do what I can, even though my profession isn't directly related. I'm a certified rape crisis counselor. Ummmmm and I really like those chewy ginger candies.

• cats
• arts
• cooking
• vegan
• running
• meditation
• traveling
• cycling
• swimming
• international relations
• law
• social work
• tourism
• volunteering
• lakes
• rivers
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm reading a bunch of Buddhist stuff at the moment. I love poetry by Li Young Lee and Frank O'Hara.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Once I ate a cat! It sat in a pot of tomato paste for days in very hot heat. But it was okay. I guess it didn't leave me awestruck.

There were a few mornings when I was working on a tiny organic dairy farm in southern Switzerland when I'd get up real early to call the cows, and I was so so close to the tips of the mountains that were the border to Italy, and if I did this certain call the cows would come running from across this meadow full of streams - it was great.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Togo, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Ghana, United States