CURRENT MISSION

Connection, Discovery, and Authenticity

ABOUT ME

Ecologically minded, community building, self-effacing, heart-searching, foot-stompin', trail-blazin' confluence of post-modern contingencies: councilor, writer, philosopher and critic; dancer, music-maker, and friend.

Like many within the couchsurfing community, I straddle the line between 'normalcy' and something far more personal and expressive. As writing of our 'normal' side is not nearly as much fun as writing of our more esoteric tendencies, this profile will likely exaggerate the latter. As you've likely noted, I like to express myself in an antiquated lexicon. Such is my proclivity. I think of it as a regional dialect: sometimes I speak funny. Blame my parents.

PHILOSOPHY

I want each to speak, act, and live in accordance within one's own deepest and clearest inclinations. I want each to find the hues that enliven their own souls and share them unabashedly with others. I then want us to develop social systems, communities and marketplaces that weave and connect each colourful thread into a strong fabric: strong enough to raise children in, strong enough to combat poverty and violence, strong enough to live in dynamic equilibrium with ourselves, each other and our shared environment.
And I want to do all this with humour and humility, to remain open and inclusive while continuing to challenge one another to grow brighter and more tightly into the weave.

"Each man has only one genuine vocation - to find the way to himself. He might end up as a poet or a madman, a prophet or a criminal, that is not his affair, ultimately it is of no concern. His task is to discover his own destiny - not an arbitrary one - and live it out wholely and resolutely within himself. Everything else is only a would be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity and fear of one's own inwardness."
- Herman Hesse from Damian

"They argue because they like argument, like the swift run of the unfettered mind along paths of possibility, like to question what is not questioned."
-- Ursala K. LeGuinn from The Dispossessed

"There are people who have very liffle but are rich in dignity, wisdom and honesty. Their generosity is not for trade, nor is their love: these are freely given. I have them. They're unmistakable in you. I know you know you have them. I'm just trying to tell you that there are peole who appreciate it."
-- Tamara Hartson

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectivness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves also. All sorts of things occur that would never otherwise have occured. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
-- Geothe

"As human beings our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -- that is the myth of the automic age -- as in being able to remake ourselves."
-- Mahatma Ganhi

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. It it wer meerely challenging that would be no probelm. But I arise in the morning torn between between a desire to improve the world, and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
-- E.B. White

"How you get there is where you'll arrive"
--Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland

"The point is not that this world is too sad to love or too glad not to love: the point is that when you do love a thing, its gladness is a reason for loving it, and its sadness a reason for loving it more."
-- G.K. Chesterton from "The Flag of the World"

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us... And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-- Marianne Williamson from A Return to Love

"If you have the courage to touch life for the first time, you will never know what hit you. Everything man has thought, felt and experienced is gone, and nothing is put in its place." -- U. G. Krishnamurti

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Currently persuading my roommates to open their hearts and couch to the world.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Years of hitch-hiking and couch-surfing when such things were still Bohemian and dubious.
Many more years of having an open door policy with more guests passing through than I can recall.

Interests

The world and just about everything in it fascinates me. My chronic challenge has been in focusing my interests for long enough to achieve depth of experience and understanding, which I find most readily in shared experience with others. Hence my love of conversation and travel.
But as I do love to wax-on the esoteric, I'll add this: I am interested in bridging the supposed distance between spirit and reason, self and other, in collapsing dichotomies. I want to participate in creating moments of singularity out of a cacophony of signal: to dare the treacherous fields of unfettered reason and risk the dissolution of belief, creating the possibility of one brief moment of pure, unconditioned Being. Oh yeah, and having fun doing it.

• writing
• dancing
• environment
• running
• traveling
• drawing
• magic
• music
• hiking
• surfing
• philosophy
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

I love having a common referent with which to explore our shared world and the differences with which we each experience it. I appreciate cultural artifacts that engender thought, reflection and discussion: i.e. anything ambiguous, thought provoking, artistic and sincere. I also like stuff that is just fun and zany: it makes the playing field of life that much bigger.

Movies:
In no particular order:

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
Brazil (1985)
Der Himmel über Berlin: Wings of Desire (1987)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Spoorloos: The Vanishing (1988)
Les Invasions Barbares: The Barbarian Invasion (2003)
Zoolander (2001)
Adaptation (2002)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Shadow lands (1993)
Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1982)
American Beauty (1999)
Happiness (1998)
The Fisher King (1991)
Fearless (1993)
Syriana (2005)
Broken Flowers (2005)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Leon: The Professional (1994)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
Swimming to Cambodia (1987)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
The Dark Crystal (1982)
The Never Ending Story (1984)
Dead Poet’s Society (1989)
Wild at Heart (1990)
True Romance (1993)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Fight Club (1999)
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
Moulin Rouge (2001)

Music:
Ani Difranco, Johanne Sebastian Bach (particularly for solo violin), Corb Lund Band, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Doors, Janis Joplin, k-os, Leonard Cohen, Lhasa, Manu Chao, Melanie, Paul Simon, Pearl Jam, Peter Gabriel, Police, Rage Against the Machine, Richie Havens, Taking Heads, Thievery Corperation, Tom Waits, The Tragically Hip, Sly and the Family Stone, The Velvet Underground

Books:

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Magister Ludi, Damian -Herman Hesse
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein
Jitterbug Perfume -Tom Robbins
On the Advantages and Disadvantages of History for Life -Friedrich Nietzsche
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Daughters of Copper Woman - Anne Cameron
The Works of Dr. Zeus

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I fell completely head-over-heels in love once, at one meeting, one dinner, and then nothing more. Spent months in a euphoric high. That was really amazing.

Teach, Learn, Share

Yes. Yes. And Yes.
Teach: I have a love of language, communication and insight. I gladly offer this enthusiasm and love challenging and encouraging others. We each have a multiplicity of talents and capacities. The challenge is being open to learning in ways that push us, gently but persistently, into new territory. It is there that we find the most unexpected gifts. And by sharing these, we offer courage to others to explore the boundaries of their own selves. This is what I love to do: be it philosophically or in more practical matters. How that happens matters little: be it in conversation, workshop, lecture, dance, or co-creation. What matters to me is that we part bettered for each other's company.
In more particular terms, I teach critical thinking, consensus building and communication skills.
I am always looking to learn from others, especially the more practical or concrete compliments to my rather heady and discursive bent. I spend so much time working on the Why? and the What for? that I have an unabashed admiration for those that work with the What? and the How?

Countries I’ve Visited

Barbados, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Panama, Singapore, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bolivia, Canada, China, United States

•