CURRENT MISSION

Grow, learn, and give back.

ABOUT ME

I'm queer, Jewish, the kind of person who always asks why. I worked five years as a hospital corpsman with the US Navy, and currently work as a research associate at UMass Chan. I've taught music, volunteered as a mediator and child advocate, been a journalist and worked as as an assistant chef twice which matches my love of people with my love of good food. I consider myself a life-long learner, and enjoy reading newspapers and any books I can get my hands on including poetry, physics, science fiction, languages and culture. I'm also a musician (violin, piano, guitar, penny whistle), a dancer, and a brown belt in taekwondo.
(I legally changed my name five years ago so some of my references refer to me as Kate/Katie :)

PHILOSOPHY

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
- Albert Einstein

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I started couchsurfing in the US, and loved the experience so much I've gone on to couchsurf in South America and Europe. I love the experience of being able to create a connection that might not have happened any other way!

Interests

Music, reading, medicine, chemistry, astrobiology, Judaism, volunteering, victim advocacy, human rights and criminal justice, dance, experiencing other cultures, physics, linguistics and languages, teaching, learning, hearing other people's stories... I also enjoy cooking, and have recently been experiencing with a lot of Asian cooking, as well as vegan gluten free food.

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: The Who, Kendrick Lamar, John Lee Hooker, Stevie Nicks, Janis Joplin, Kate Bush, Janelle Monae, Pat Benatar, Led Zeppelin, Simon and Garfunkel, Beastie Boys, Meat Loaf, The Buggles, Lana Del Rey, Nina Simone, OutKast, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Kesha, David Bowie, The Ink Spots. Over the top 80's pop, 70s space disco, 60s blues rock, 50s-80s atompunk, 40s wartime melancholia. I have baskets full of records, way too many playlists, and a strong belief that there is no such thing as enough band tees. Best live concert I've ever been to was The Who, followed by The B-52s, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, and Seal.

Books: Sentimental sci-fi, off-beat non-fiction, most things about robots. Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams), Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells); Octavia Butler, Stephen King, and Ursula K. Le Guin short stories; Robert Siken, Hala Alyan, W.H. Auden, and Mary Oliver poetry.

Movies: Star Trek TOS, original Twilight Zone, Queen's Gambit, The Haunting of Hill House, Murder She Wrote, Clue, Last Night in Soho, Deadpool 2, The Blues Brothers, Only Lovers Left Alive, Casablanca, Some Like It Hot, Arsenic and Old Lace, Harold and Maude, artsy nerdy animation, quirky niche documentaries. Sucker for stories about messy found family and working through generational trauma.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The most amazing moments for me are the small ones - as Abraham Joshua Heschel said, "Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually."

Teach, Learn, Share

I have taught violin and piano for seven years and play several other instruments casually. I've had a lot of training around victim advocacy, mediation and conflict resolution, in addition to spending several years as a freelance journalist. I'm currently working in the biomedical sciences, and hope to start a biochemistry PhD program next year. I've also worked a lot with food and alternatives diets, and love creating new recipes, meal plans, and sharing my love of cooking with others.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Chile, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Guam, Israel, Italy, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Austria, Germany, United States

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