CURRENT MISSION

Learning and teaching about language, culture, and education

ABOUT ME

Sociolinguist, existentialist, urbanist, geek, cyclist, casual techie, former public school teacher, feminist dad. I make my own pasta, pizza dough, home theater PC, fun. Facebook says that I am this xkcd strip.

I have always loved cycling. When I was a kid, my friends would often say "let's ride bikes" but they only had one bike, and I got stuck with the scooter.

I learned how to juggle from the proprietor of a juggling store in Italy. I wrote an Italian translation of a juggling manual for him, and in exchange he gave me free stuff from the store.

Random jobs I've wanted to try out: taxi driver; photojournalist; web designer; jazz vocalist. Bartender used to be on the list, but then I spent two months tending bar.

My food nemesis is raspberry syrup / sauce, especially when paired with chocolate.

When I was a kid, I loved to have art supplies, but I hated to use them up. I didn't understand about replacing used materials. I would covet the set of 128 Prang crayons in the plastic case in the catalog, but I had no intention of ever using them - I just thought they looked really cool.

I love percussion instruments. They all look so different and make such cool sounds. I imagine they would be a blast to play.

When I taught in Serbia, the vice-dean of my department - an art theory professor who spoke no English - liked to bring me into his office and give me hard liquor at 10:30 in the morning. When I moved back to the US, he gave me a copy of the book he had edited. I can't understand a word of it.

When I get a meal consisting of a main entree and one or two side dishes, I always taste the side dishes first.

PHILOSOPHY

You need to create something new, or make someone else's life better. Otherwise, why bother.

Life is not a zero-sum game, but be careful - the other guy might not know this.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As an academic I have to travel for conferences. Conference hotels are boring and expensive. Couchsurf hosts are real people who are really from whatever city, help you see what's interesting about it, and help your brain take a break.

Interests

Linguistics, languages, literature, books, comic books, webcomics, the internet, computers, video games, board games, game theory, math, philosophy, anthropology, travel, culture, sociolinguistics, linguistics

• arts
• culture
• books
• literature
• theater
• design
• education
• dining
• chocolate
• video games
• board games
• traveling
• juggling
• jazz
• cycling
• anthropology
• calligraphy
• teaching
• languages
• mathematics

Music, Movies, and Books

* complicated experimental novels (2666, Infinite Jest, If on a winter's night a traveler)

* sprawling nerdy s/f (Neal Stephenson, Gene Wolfe, China Miéville)

* updated takes on folk/world music (Thievery Corporation, Manu Chao, Funkadesi)

* updated takes on film noir (Lebowski, Roger Rabbit)

* films that show their love of classic genres (Kill Bill, Indiana Jones, The Incredibles)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

* A resplendent quetzal, in Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve, Costa Rica

* The entrance to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, where you can see the Byzantine mosaic of St. Michael above the arch, and the Ottoman calligraphy of the names of Muhammad's family through the arch

* A screening of Tron in 70 mm

* I met the Dalai Lama, and then told the story in front of a live audience

Teach, Learn, Share

Basic Italian language. How to make an omelet. How to "steal" while juggling. I'll beat you at Scrabble; you'll beat me at Settlers of Catan.

Countries I’ve Visited

Costa Rica, Dominica, Lithuania, Morocco, Slovenia, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, Serbia, United States

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