CURRENT MISSION

to learn, meet people, improve the world, grow...etc

ABOUT ME

I'm an INFP - geology student, interested in water and its attendant issues. I'm very fond of the concept of Permaculture and love to get more into that.

In other news, I'm pretty laid back, very interested in self-sufficiency and intentional community. I'd like to learn more about ways to live off the grid...american politics lately disgust me, so I'm more keen than ever to find ways not to contribute to taxes and maybe to change my citizenship.

I'm devoutly vegetarian...prefer vegan but I'm not hugely picky about dairy and eggs in social situations. I'm gay, and interested in third gender identity in various cultures (not so much in the sex-crazy and fashion-obsessed gay culture I see in a lot of places...though that's just a matter of personal preference). I'm also extremely interested in religion - particularly traditional pantheist religions (Candomblé, Santeria, Advaita Hinduism, etc)and some others (Sufi Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, the more open minded and compassion/mysticism-oriented schools of christianity - eastern ones especially).

I love to talk to sincere people. I'm more interested in quiet parks, places of worship, museums, and the like than parties.

musically, I love world, fusion, trip-hop, classical, chant...Azam Ali, Nitin Sawhney, Portishead, Faith and the Muse, a lot of bollywood stuff...

PHILOSOPHY

God is worshiped through other people, and I see all religions as trying to get at the same thing. I want to spend my life getting to know people deeply, helping in some way, preferably learning from them as much as teaching. I'm an absolute pacifist, (consequentially an anarchist) - some of my heroes/influences are Tolstoy, Thoreau, Emerson, Ammon Hennacy, and Edward Carpenter...I could rant about this for ages. I'm big on the occult and spiritism too.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm not sure yet - I just found this website, but it looks really cool and I want to participate.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Just spent a month and a half living with/working for two friends up in Amherst, Mass. (they don't have accounts here, met them on livejournal.) outside work was scarce, so back to Arkansas and it's cheap-as-hell schools I came.

Interests

Candomblé, Hinduism, Sufism, Lucumi, Vodoun, The Religious Society of Friends, Buddhism, japa yoga, bengali poetry, bhakti yoga, art, history, the occult, emancipation, human expression in general, graffiti and other unsolicited and amateur forms of artistic expression in particular, bengali poetry, creole and migrant cultures, (the South Asian and West African diasporas in particular), syncretic religions, gender deviance, sacred sexuality, soy products, bengali poetry

• arts
• culture
• poetry
• fashion
• cooking
• vegetarian
• vegan
• yoga
• partying
• politics
• news
• socializing
• crochet
• knitting
• christian
• muslim
• buddhist
• geology
• history
• religion
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

music:

Angelique Kidjo, Apostolos Hill, Axial, Azam Ali, Azure Ray, Bebe, Billie Holiday, Delerium, Dishwalla, East Village Opera Company, Ella Fitzgerald, Emily Loizeau, Faith and the Muse, Hildegard von Bingen, Iron and Wine, Jason Webley, Joan Osborne, Joanna Newsom, Krishna Das, Laura Love, Mary Gauthier, Mediaeval Baebes, MIDIval Punditz, Montserrat Figueras, Nathan Cook, Nitin Sawhney, Niyaz, Norah Jones, A Perfect Circle, Porcupine Tree, Portishead, Ravi Shankar, Sarah Mclachlan, Savage Garden, Sequentia, Shpongle, Simon and Garfunkel, Susheela Raman, Thievery Corporation, Tool, Tori Amos, Allegri, A. R. Rehman, Satie, Tan Dun, Yann Tiersen, bollywood, fusion, jazz, psybient, trance, trip-hop, world

Movies:

What Dreams May Come, Cleopatra, The Mists of Avalon, Luther, Harold and Maude, Frida, Feast of All Saints, Meet Joe Black, Amelie, Modigliani, Wings of Desire, The Wicker Man, V for Vendetta, Devdas, Children of Men, Paheli, Sophie's Choice, Running with Scissors, The Merchant of Venice, Dangerous Beauty, The Fountain, Notre Dame de Paris, The Painted Veil, Offside, Once, Little Big Man, Lagaan, WALL-E, La Misma Luna, Australia

Reading:

The Prophet - Khalil Gibran, A Separate Peace - John Knowles, The Memoirs of Cleopatra - Margeret George, The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky, Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco, Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman, The Kingdom of God is Within You - Leo Tolstoy, The Lost Language of Cranes - David Leavitt, Dies The Fire - S.M. Stirling

Teach, Learn, Share

I really want to get better at Spanish, and learn Hindi. pretty much any other language is fair game, too. I'd kill to know how to make decent sushi.

I know how to grind flour from raw grain, I'm a decent veg*n cook (tending towards Mediterranean and Asian influences), and given a year or two I hope to pick up some expertise in Geology/Hydrology and GIS, which I will happily share with whoever the hell wants to learn. I also know very basic inkle weaving, crochet, and knitting, all of which are a bit rusty.

Countries I’ve Visited

Russian Federation, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States