CURRENT MISSION

insight through adventure

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I couchsurfed around Europe with a good friend last summer conducting a research project inwhich we re-visited sites of landscape paintings from 1880-1910 and evaluated local environmental degradation and the effects of urbanization over this hundred year time span, and how this relates to local relationships to their natural surroundings.

Music, Movies, and Books

One of my favorite films is Rivers and Tides, a documentary about the land artist Andy Goldsworthy. Coming in a close second would have to be "Jessco White: Dancing Outlaw" the story of a man from West Virginia who has three personalities, loves elvis, abuses his wife, sniffs gasoline, and wants to be the world's greatest tap dancer. Its a true story!

Music: I'm listening to alot of Icelandic music currently including Benni Hemm Hemm, Seabear, and Amiina. Anything that has bells, horns, guitars, gypsy sounds, interesting vocals, or sick beats is fine by me. I really enjoy jazz, hip hop, and rock/folkish grooves, and I'm trying to get into more classical music. The Bartok is pretty amazing and Brahms is quite lovely. John Cage and Phillip Glass are in a league of their own, especially John Cage.

Books: if this includes poetry I think Ginsberg's "Howl" rises to near the top of my list. Knut Hamsum "Hunger" and Jack Kerouac "Dharma Bums." Books for the younger aged include "The Many Voyages of Dr. Dolittle," "The Big Orange Splot," and "Harold and the Purple Crayon."