According to my coaches, he is fearless. My coworkers and friends say he is the friendliest person they ever have met. I am empowered, kind, a powerlifter, smart, gay, friendly, blind, a nudist, independent and a lover of liberty. I love life and the adventure it brings. I am constantly curious, seeking to learn new things, discover new ideas, and get to know new people. This makes me an extremely open minded conversationalist. I have been a lifelong advocate on many issues and have developed a positive, solutions-oriented personality.

I am highly health conscious and love to powerlift all year long and swim in summer. I am a self-trained herbalist and have explored many aspects of natural medicine. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and can help folks try an herbal experience.

I grew up in Freeport, Illinois, a community of 25,000 in northwest Illinois, about 120 miles from Chicago. Most of the residents are of German or English ancestry like myself. The community has a live and let live attitude, expecting the best out of people. I have adopted this philosophy for my own life. Northwest Illinois, where Freeport sits, is one of the few places in Illinois that has real hills and not flat prairie. I recently worked for many years as a legal assistant at a prosecutor’s office in the criminal justice system. The experience has been eye opening and has changed my belief system in many ways. I started as an idealist and realized the policy ideas on criminal justice of both the left and the right were flawed, although models exist across the world of big and small communities drastically reducing rates of crime victimization and violence. Over the years, I have become a champion of engaged communities committed to local institutions and their futures.

I enjoy meeting many people and learning about their lives and experiences. It can be fun to enter the mind of another person no matter how different they are. Life is about expanding horizons not staying in the same comfort zone. I have lived in Chicago nearly all my adult life and have grown emotionally, intellectually, and culturally from the many different experiences.

If you will be sending a couch request, please read the “my home” tab of my profile. I will be very much interested in your couch request if you let me know that something in my profile connects with you or there is an interest in common with one of mine. Please note I host only males.

Interests:

As a powerlifter, I eat a lot of food. It is common for me to eat twice as much as my surfers. I enjoy cooking as well as eating out at new places and learning new ways to reach my daily caloric goals. Food can be an experience for me as well as a ritual. I was a swimmer in high school and always enjoy jumping into a pool and doing some laps with a friend. Besides good food and drink, I like going to live music and being in nature. Walks are fun and Chicago is the architecture capital of America with stunning buildings that turn turists’ heads everywhere. I would describe myself as someone who likes vintage and historic and needs to cultivate an appreciation for the sleek and contemporary. Here are some of my interests:

Cooking restaurants Spas foodie Nudism Nudity nude Fitness Naturist Crossfit Powerlifting Swimming bodybuilding weightlifting lifting Walking Hiking exercise herbs herbalism 420 marijuana concertsTechnology Computers Advocacy Justice voluntarism Liberty libertarian Empowerment queer gay LGBT ideas lectures

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I want to make new friends and explore new places in ways not usually possible.

Music, Movies, and Books

I watch television only for breaking news events. For movies, I like documentaries or real-life stories like American Sniper. I really like three kinds of music: heavy metal, indie singer-songwriters and jazz. Metal bands and artists I like the most are Metallica, Judas Priest, Motley crew, the Cult, Rush (excluding the synth period), and ted Nugent. Indie music I really dig includes bon Iver, Kaleo, Jason Walker, James Blake, Ben Howard, and Damien Jurado. My jazz interests revolve around the sound predominant between 1955-1975. This includes Miles Davis, late Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Clifford Brown, Gerry Mulligan, Harvey Mandel, and Till Bronner, who is an extraordinary German musician who started preforming in the 1990s.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I spent two weeks with a friend one winter in the Minnesota arrowhead north of Lake Superior without electricity or running water. It was a new experience bathing in 10 below weather on a porch while my friend poured near boiling water over my head.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can Teach you how to make one of my favorite meals; we can then share our stories. Also, there’s my time, labor, some tours, conversation, great food, lodging, community, a future couch to surf, and real friendship.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada