Permanent student, somewhat scatter-brained writer, and pianist. Interested in everything, but mostly have to filter it through art or words to feel like I really get it. Capable of being completely quiet or talkative as needed. Recovering self-identified outsider. Empathetic & quietly interested in others, if they feel in any way compelled to make themselves understood.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Even though I mostly keep to myself and like to wander on my own, I like to be able to have meaningful conversations with the people I stay with, and having the chance to participate in the flow of attachments and ideas that make art and conscious (non-ideological) living a possibility.

Interests

• concerts
• music
• art
• night
• bookstores

Music, Movies, and Books

Anything emotionally engaged and existentially grappling. No permanent attachments, but some pieces that have really gripped me and shaped the way I see the world listed below -

to read:
Virginia Woolf's The Waves, McCarthy (when he's writing from his own experience rather than dwelling exclusively on violence - Suttree, The Road), Kafka's short stories, Dostoevsky.

to listen:
Some alt rock (esp. Cloud Cult & Radiohead), Chopin, some storytellers with guitars (Radical Face, Iron and Wine), Shostakovich & really any contemplative and gripping instrumental.

to fall into / be crushed by, or whatever it is movies do:
Lynch's Mullholand Drive, Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Backpacking for a couple weeks in the Sierras. It's not much to tell from a story-standpoint, but I've never had such a complete sense of human smallness and the tenuousness of connection between our thoughts and the patterns of the outer world as I did there. Something about the naked history of the rock, the ragged impossible expanse of sky.

Teach, Learn, Share

On the off-chance you have a piano, & appreciate Chopin or Russian romanticism, I'm there. But mainly I'm interested in meeting and understanding new people, new books, art, ways of life. Happy to offer my impressions (nothing I could quite call a 'perspective', as yet) on anything in return.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Love to talk about anything that feels deeply real to people, understanding how they relate to what they love. Sharing the way I'm impacted by / exist in the world in return. Trading impressions of this crazy net of animal life extended into art / music / ideas / cities that we live in.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Italy, Peru

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, United States