CURRENT MISSION

Writing. Teaching. Change.

ABOUT ME

Open-minded. Funny. Curious. And always traveling.

PHILOSOPHY

Now is the time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am here to meet new people. I am interested in hearing from you, about where you come from, and where you've been. I will meet you in Moscow for coffee or a drink, and I'll show you the city, and may also have a couch available (Please ask). I especially like to see things that are off the beaten path, and Moscow has plenty to offer.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

With fine friends in St. Petersburg. With a friend of a friend in Moscow. With a host in Kursk, Russia. With friends in Tibilisi. Also in Helsinki and in Tampere. In London too. With friends in Philadelphia, Boston, D.C., Michigan, and once with a friend in a dorm in Manhattan. It is ALWAYS better than staying in a hotel or even a hostel. Lots of warmth and talk and experience sharing. Zero isolation.

Interests

Art, Eastern Europe and Russia, Philosophy, Aesthetics, Kids, Teaching, Learning, Community.

• arts
• writing
• coffee
• drinking
• traveling

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Difference and Repetition, The Human Condition, Toward a Philosophy of the Act, The Basketball Diaries, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The 42nd Parallel, Hons and Rebels, Speak Memory!, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, Catch-22, Strong Motion, Davita's Harp, The Sound and the Fury, Call it Sleep, Beloved, The Diary of Anne Frank. Anything by Angela Davis.

Movies: The Lives of Others, Harlan County, USA, Au Revoir les enfants, 4 Months, 3 weeks, and 2 days, The Counterfeiters, Defiance, Antonia's Line, Magnolia, Ladybird, Ladybird, Matewan, The Nasty Girl, Tout va bien, Nashville, Come and See, Hannah and her Sisters, Clueless, Home for the Holidays, Flirting with Disaster, Annie Hall, Coal Miner's Daughter.

Music: Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly, Madonna, Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Hip Hop, The Fugees, Joan Baez, Kate Wolf, Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos, Classical: Shostakovich, Hayden, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I took a bus by myself to a rural area outside Perm, Russia. It was winter. There was snow. And ice. Everything was white. -33 C. Silence. Except from snow crunching underfoot. Birch trees and Ural bird calls. I walked. Four kilometers. Alone. To a remote museum in a rural village. And then. I waited for a bus. Outside an abandoned petrol station. Back to Perm.

Teach, Learn, Share

I like to learn from people who are genuinely interested in listening to others, especially to others who are different from them, and in sharing their own stories and experiences for the sake of building a stronger community across borders and other fabricated barriers.

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Russian Federation, United States