CURRENT MISSION

To get my bachelor's and have fun doing it.

ABOUT ME

I've been fortunate with friends, and I'm open to anyone. I'm on the quiet (studious) side, but I try to be honest with those who are honest with me. I've lived in Kansas most of my life, have met (in my opinion) the coolest people in the state, and have one year left at WSU before I start traveling in earnest, seeing as much art, learning as many languages, and hearing as many stories as I can.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe we should use the short time and limited resources we have to become unique, to conquer fear, to experience sorrow and turn it into joy (or at least lessen it), to hear the stories of and sympathize with others, and to learn who we love and the things we hate. Keats calls the world a "vale of soul-making." I don't want anyone else to make my soul or write my story for me.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

If you meet me in a group, I'll be the one making dumb jokes to avoid awkward silences. If you see me in a one-on-one conversation, chances are I'll be nodding and laughing a lot.

Interests

Making poems, what my brother's first year of college is going to be like, if we'll ever find Lorca's grave, exchanging crazy theories about poetry and fiction, the origins of words, and learning how to dance (because right now I only know how to "balter" - an old English word meaning "dancing gracelessly with enjoyment").

• arts
• poetry
• dancing
• clothing
• traveling
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

I've been listening to a lot of the Hold Steady and Springsteen recently. I love Little Miss Sunshine, Pulp Fiction, 8 1/2, and Anchorman. Don't even get me started on books! Right now I'm reading The Magic Mountain and a collection of Lorca poems. Dostoevsky is a favorite, as is Nietzsche, Fitzgerald, Bolano, Melville. For poetry: Milton, Shakespeare, Auden, Zbigniew Herbert, Milosz, Brodsky, Keats, Donne, Jack Gilbert (and Jack Gilbert!).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Two o'clock around the campfire. Someone decides she's hot, leaves her clothes on the bank, and wades into the pond. The other five of us laugh and follow suit, wading in after her waving Dixie cups and still-lit cigars, into the cold deep water.