CURRENT MISSION

Build a media co-op, survive the collapse of western civilization, and eat tasty food

ABOUT ME

I live in Montreal. I hitchiked across Canada three summers in a row, but amazingly never used couchsurfing.... until I went on a trip went to Venezuela, Trinidad, Suriname, Guyana and Brazil, and met lots of excellent folks through the site. Since then, I've hosted lots of folks.

I'm an idealist, environmentalist, and generally curious person. More practically, I'm a web designer, social/environmental justice organizer, newspaper editor. Currently, I'm working on setting up a media co-op in cities across Canada (www.mediacoop.ca).

PHILOSOPHY

Live in the world I'm in, and do what's necessary.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Some other stuff I do (writings, more profile pages) can be found at http://www.dru.ca/

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have surfed a lot of couches (Belgium, Estonia, Denmark, Mexico, across Canada), but only started using CS in south america. Lots of folks have stayed with my roommate and I in Montreal.

Interests

• design
• dining
• politics
• communications
• emergency services
• journalism

Music, Movies, and Books

I like a wide range of books. Lots of non-fiction and Canadian history lately, but I enjoy the odd utopian sci-fi novel (Mars Trilogy and Dune were favs long ago), but nowadays I'm partial to heady but fast-moving novels. Cormac Mccarthy, Jonathan Franzen, Sherman Alexie, Jim Dodge are favourites.

Film: Scorcese, Coppola, Sayles, others... whatever good documentaries are making the rounds.

TV that is sharply written but entertaining. The Wire, Weeds, Gossip Girl, Californication and so on.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Amazing/terrifying: the vast strip-mined moonscape of Alberta's tar sands.

Amazing/inspiring: Algonquins peacefully resisting police violence in northern Quebec.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know about web sites, politics, journalism and media. I've done workshops on web design, photoshop, page layout, and various political issues in Canada. I travelled through the tar sands in 2007, and I've written quite a bit about that.