CURRENT MISSION

A warm clasp of hand.

ABOUT ME

I've painted myself as something of a career dabbler, flaneur and mustifarian (if you will; I must) these past eight or so years, making my way from a bookstore in Poland to a ship a'sea to a shack on Rapa Nui and paying my way with all manner of work such as I've been curious to seek, from wine consultation or contract oceanography, to metalwork, insurance claim editing, graphic design and contract metalwork.

At this very moment, my travels find me back in Seattle after nearly a year on the seas, rails and road, preparing to get back to work on boat- and cabin-building plans here in the Northwest and quite possibly worm my way back into the thick of non-profit outreach and advocacy.

This should pass for a somewhat-earnest attempt to craft a self-description at the moment, though I hope you'd trust that I'm leaving all too much out. 'Course, I'd be more than willing to have those conversations whenever you've the interest.

PHILOSOPHY

"No! Whatever the preliminary anxieties might have been this adventure was not to end in sorrow. Once more Fortune favored audacity; and yet I have never forgotten the jocular translation of Audaces fortuna juvat offered to me by my tutor when I was a small boy: "The Audacious get bitten." However he took care to mention that there were various kinds of audacity. Oh, there are, there are!" (From Conrad's Preface to The Rescue)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I was fortunate enough to discover CouchSurfing when it was still in a relative adolescence, meeting other ambassadors over coffee in Krakow or unexpectedly in Stockholm markets, putting together small group meetings in London and swapping meeting ideas in Dubrovnik. From the back offices of my bookstore I would greet new members, compile city guides, help resolve disputes or confusions and be present for what few media requests were coming through then.

As the Project's grown over these past few years and as I've made more than a few movements of my own, my more formal contributions have become a bit more specialized. As Seattle's City Ambassador, I help maintain resources for incoming travelers and help organize the vibrant community already in place.

Interests

Baking breads, repairing typewriters, making books, fermenting sauer kraut, studying critical theory, keeping my suitcase is good working order.

Music, Movies, and Books

Well, yes to movies, music and books: Grande Illusion to the Great Escape; Shostakovich to Slint; Livingstone and Stanley to Sontag and Spinoza–these are, alas, passions of too many multitudes for binary code, but rather well-suited, to a one, to such conversations as couchsurfing so ably fosters.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Was damn near close to getting run down by a stampede of wild horses on a volcanic pass on Rapa Nui. Too, there was Lewis "Festus" Miller, cowboy poet of Harlowton, Montana, a fine reciter and even better dining company. Was David Lynch's Mulholland Drive projected against the side of a monastery in southeastern Czech Republic. Sunrise in the Badlands is always something, or a lunch in Dime Box, Texas. The sinking of paddleboats off of Croatia, the smuggling of vodka and cigarettes over the Ukraine-Poland border for the train conductor (and the payment in fine winter caps). All amazing.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd love to share how-to information on binding books, fermenting foodstuffs, embroidery, building cabins and/or anything else we can think of. I'll share any knowledge I have--from cooking to graphic design to woodburning--but, as for my own educational bent at the moment, have a marked leaning toward refining a certain native self-sufficiency: learning to make my own shoes, shirts, furniture, house, silk-screen press, cameras, etc. If you've a desire to share these skills of your own, let's do get in touch.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, Poland, United States

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