CURRENT MISSION

To sing America! To follow my obsessions! To befriend and be better!

ABOUT ME

I'm a writer and a perpetual student. I'm working on my MFA in Creative Writing and Environment right now at Iowa State University, where I get to hang out with a bunch of quirky, interesting people who are all interested in things bigger than themselves (that's the Environment part of the program).

I'm working on a book-length creative nonfiction thesis right now about agrarian philosopher L. H. Bailey (1858-1954) and the hometown that he and I share: South Haven, MI. I'm also interested in environmental change and its effect on societal morals... The working title is "Havening" -- witty, yeah?

I'm a sociable but low-key guy, so I like people but sometimes I also like space. People: yes; big rowdy crowds: not-so-much. I like cheesecake, pesto, a good IPA. I really like interesting conversations, no topic off-limits.

PHILOSOPHY

Wordy version:

"Contrary to some deterministic distortions of realism, sin is not the only or even the prime feature of the human creature. There is also a strong--though theologically belittled--potential for good, empowered
by common grace. Indeed, no social life is possible without a substantial level of human goodness, including a sense of justice and benevolence. An authentic realism must allow for the ambiguous potentialities of both good and evil. No social reform is possible without an acute consciousness of human sin. But equally, no social reform is possible without considerable confidence in human goodness." -James A. Nash, in his essay "Toward the Revival and Reform of the Subversive Virtue: Frugality"

Snappy version:

People can be good, to themselves and to each other. Let's try.

Also:

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together make genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." -W. A. Mozart

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Just getting started! Not in a position to host right now, sadly, but would love to meet some new people.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I started my CouchSurfing account when I needed to travel to Ithaca, New York to get into Cornell University's Liberty Hyde Bailey archives. I'm obsessed with Bailey, an overlooked but brilliant writer from my hometown in southwest Michigan, so this was an exciting trip. I met some great people as a result of my CouchSurfing profile, and got to enjoy parts of Ithaca that I wouldn't have experienced otherwise. Now, I'm applying for a PhD at Cornell, and I have my new-found love of Ithaca and the people I met there partially to thank!

Interests

I love music. I've toured around, once to Germany, with college choirs. I love playing piano, although not for other people much anymore. Peter Gabriel (including his years with Genesis), Paul Simon (especially post-Garfunkel, though it's all good), Yes, Nektar, King Crimson, Dylan, Bela Fleck (and Flecktones). Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Stravinsky, Kabalevsky. Monk, Mingus, Miles.

I love reading. Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Dickinson. Faulkner, Twain, Eliot, Cummings. Michael Perry, Annie Dillard, Carolyn Forche, Terry Tempest Williams. And like you saw in the personal description above, L. H. Bailey -- my current obsession.

I love working with people. Organizing, educating, facilitating. I love discussion that transcends pigeonholes (transcends religions, political parties, styles, etc). I love visual art, although I can't make it. I love going for walks and bike-rides.

I love people.

I write sometimes.

• arts
• humanities
• writing
• books
• singing
• performing arts
• environment
• partying
• reading
• traveling
• music
• piano
• cycling
• canoeing
• philosophy
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

Uff da, yeah, I like movies, music, and books quite a bit....

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I held the first newborn child of a high school friend the day he was born.

I've camped on an island on the Okavango Delta in Botswana, awakened in the middle of the night by the sounds of my friend's snoring and the snorts of huffy (and rather territorial) hippos.

I sang in Carnegie Hall with my high school choir, joined by a few other choirs and an orchestra, to perform Bach's "Magnificat" and Vaughn Williams' "Fantasia on Christmas Carols," under the direction of John Rutter.

I sang, with the Valparaiso University Chorale and the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, a Bach cantata in Bach's Leipzig church.

I nearly killed myself and my academic adviser going down a small waterfall in a canoe in the boundary waters of northern Minnesota.

Teach, Learn, Share

I want to learn everything! Sciences and/or humanities -- but I really prefer the mix of it all.

I will talk your head off about turn-of-the-century agrarian philosopher L. H. Bailey, the need to claim a societal ethic of frugality, my dreams of starting a Christmas tree farm, Walt Whitman, Henry Thoreau, and the importance and power of music.

Countries I’ve Visited

Botswana, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Namibia, South Africa, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Namibia, United States