CURRENT MISSION

To learn about spirituality, my friends, my self, to explore and create.

ABOUT ME

I am graduating from my undergraduate school in May, 2009, and am making plans to explore this country. I studied Sociology, but have been interested in incorporating spirituality, specifically Buddhism, into my academics. I am planning on attending Naropa University in Boulder, Co, in Fall of 2010 to study Contemplative Psychotherapy. I'm hoping that in traveling, volunteering at various mindfulness centers, and interviewing people, that I will learn something about social connection and meaning.

PHILOSOPHY

It is difficult to reduce my personal philosophy into a short paragraph, but here is my attempt:

Be curious and reflexive, seek understanding of others and of myself, err on the side of love and compassion, have faith in the goodness of humanity, don't believe everything you hear, learning is a socially and culturally constructed experience.

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have experience in qualitative Sociology; interviewing and participant observation have been integral to the social sciences for years. What I hope to contribute is to inspire people to understand, to seek peace and balance in life. I also hope to learn about the social and cultural contexts which people have lived. By contributing intellectually to the practice of CouchSurfing (directly or indirectly) I hope to bring about a better understanding of our culture and society.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've never formally CouchSurfed, but I have often slept on couches and floors of friends and acquaintances. The best experience was visiting an alumni of my school and staying with her and a few others north of Montreal. It offered a wonderful embarking point to see the Laurentides and Montreal and was an inspiring trip.

兴趣

I'm interested in balancing my intellectual, spiritual, artistic, and physical needs in life. I play guitar and bass, I journal, and I love photography and found sound. I am politically and socially engaged and love social theory. I am a practicing Buddhist and incorporate my experience in the social sciences into my practice. I love backpacking, rock climbing, cycling, and yoga!

• culture
• photography
• yoga
• meditation
• traveling
• bouldering
• guitar
• cycling
• backpacking
• buddhist
• rock climbing
• social science
• sociology
• volunteering

音乐、电影和书籍

My favorite books are: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Bluebeard and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins, The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke; I love Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, Noam Chomsky, Cornell West, Erving Goffman, C Wright Mills, and Karl Marx! My favorite music is best understood by a few key bands: King Crimson, Animal Collective, The Books, Of Montreal, The Shins, and Kaki King. Cinema is something I'm open to interpret, one of my favorites is Me, You, and Everyone We Know because it so beautifully incorporates Miranda July's art and personal statement of shared humanness.

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

The most amazing thing I've done in my life is participate in my first silent meditation retreat. It was my first true introduction into mindfulness, but it was truly world-changing and has influenced how I approach my life in a number of ways.

教，学，和分享

In my experience in Sociology I have learned that I have a passion for Phenomenological Inquiry: learning how people make sense and think about their worlds. I have also learned that I have a knack for interviewing and guiding conversations between individuals and groups. With my experiences I hope that I can ask questions not for the sake of compiling data or recording people's thoughts, but to learn something about people and to learn something about myself. This is done with the knowledge that my ability to think critically and reflexively lies on my ability to understand others' worlds and how they understand mine.