Hello, thank you for stopping by. A brief biography: I've lived in either the U.S. West or Midwest, and France. I went to college in Colorado, lived in Chicago, then worked and taught in France for three years. Until a couple of years ago I generally worked either as a teacher or website content editor. In between I worked as a canoe trip leader for a summer camp, and did some political canvassing. Some recent jobs were writing for wikiHow, the instructional website, and tutoring math for Saga (an organization partnering with the Chicago Public Schools), teaching philosophy at a community college, and writing website content for an interior design firm. I currently work as a grant writer for a Chicago nonprofit. I am generally a calm and inquisitive person, though I can be talkative on certain subjects, which change by the day.

I try to understand, so that I might believe. Therefore I seek outer as much as inner experience, since the outer world and other people are the best teachers we have.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Is there a better way to easily meet local people when traveling? Hotel clerks are usually friendly, but they rarely have the time to tell stories or to hear yours, let alone show you around town. Some of my best travel experiences were had while Couchsurfing in Aix-en-Provence and Bourges, France from 2010 to 2011, San Francisco in 2017, Brussels in 2019, the Quad Cities in 2019, and Ankara in 2020.

I try to be a global citizen however possible, and I think that Couchsurfing is one of the easiest ways to pursue this. The power of being a part of this community reminds me of one of my favorite quotations, by Teilhard de Chardin: "The age of nations has passed. Now, unless we wish to perish, we must shake off our old prejudices and build the Earth. The more scientifically I regard the world, the less can I see any possible biological future for it except in the active consciousness of its unity.”

Interests

• education
• meditation
• gardening
• hiking
• canoeing
• kayaking
• anthropology
• biology
• visual arts
• national parks
• biking
• bass guitar
• paleontology
• translation
• blues music
• nature conservation
• nonprofits
• historic preservation
• national forests
• college radio

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: rock, blues, classical, IDM, salsa, rumba, merengue, candombe, mbalax, highlife,

Books: American, British, French, Latin American literature; modern poetry; investigative journalism, essays

Film: Hitchcock, Chaplin, Wenders, Antonioni, Godard, Ray, (Vertigo, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Big City (1963), La Notte, Wings of Desire, The American Friend)

TV: Monty Python, Mr. Bean, Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, Fringe

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Visited Sequoia National Park in California
Trips to anywhere in Utah, especially the southern half (Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument--wow!)
Listened to an organ concert at the Church of St. Eustache, Paris

Teach, Learn, Share

If you're in Chicago and you want to visit some parks, try North Park Village Nature Center on the North Side, and Steelworkers Park on the South Side along Lake Michigan.

If you plan to be in Evanston on a Friday night, go check out the Dearborn Observatory on the Northwestern campus, where from 9-10 p.m. students and staff allow free public use of the observatory's historic telescope for stargazing (its lens, which dates to 1861, was then part of the largest refracting telescope in the world).

What I Can Share with Hosts

Curiosity, laughter, travel stories, teaching stories, enigmas and riddles, a juggling performance and lesson, a canoe ride on Lake Michigan or Skokie Lagoons, and an omelette made to order (limit 15)

I would be happy to take you to a live blues show for a piece of Chicago history, since we have some outstanding performers and venues in the area.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, England, France, Mexico, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, France