CURRENT MISSION

We've all got to swim in this pool, might as well play nice and not ruin it for each other

ABOUT ME

From the now ridiculously dated 'MySpace" profile:

Authentically raised by a coven of old black women (Missionaries no less), not one of which was under 60 years old; my mother, having seen 42 years by the time she brought forth her only child, two months before hippies took over America at Monterey. This puts me squarely into the old soul, old school, old fashioned (in the good sense, no Bopping or line dancing) category. Holding doors, paying for meals, respecting your elders...you know the drill. Now 83, my mom’s still my favorite woman, having been there since day one.

I work in academic research where I'm polishing off the revisions on my doctoral thesis (other wise known as "THE F***n' THESIS). I hold a Masters in cell and molecular biology (WAKE UP! You were snoring…).

I’ve worked as a teacher, tutor, mentor and professor. My students would tell you it’s because I like to hear myself talk (alas, I fear it might be true). {note to self: insert here a sentence or two about saving the world and making the universe safe for democracy and about how I was overlooked by the academy for my excellent portrayal of a squash in the 6th grade, you know BLAH...BLAH...BLAH}.

I’m an ex-bouncer (excuse me, can I see your ID please) and ex-personal trainer. I run, lift, and play most sports but RUNNING is my passion.

I just returned (ok, last year) from West Africa where I led a group of undergrads and Medical students in a project to deliver medical aid to rural Gambia. My second time in the country in 20 years, I’m now amazed at how many things in this world resist change and evolution.

My vices are few: good friends, NPR, politics, music, books and interesting people and conversation.

I’ve had my dark days. Besides the usual stories of sadness, denial, shame and occasional loneliness I’ve known lies and cheating that shipwrecked relationships and squandered opportunities. I’ve ignored second and third chances, failed to see the forest for the trees, suffered disappointments, depressions and insecurities and high anxieties.

That said, I’ve spent much time in thought/meditation/prayer/contemplation. I’ve put much work into turning that self reflection into transformation and actualization.

I lived a bit, realized some, and am still smiling. For what I owe the world, the check is in the mail, and for those that have heard it all before…you can’t get enough of a good thing.

PHILOSOPHY

Leap and the net will appear

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

just got here...so I'll get back to you on my list of CS2 successes

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

While getting a divorce some 10 years ago know, I spent an entire year on my friend's couch. I choose to ask him because as a performer, he was always on the road and would be only slightly disturbed by my presence.

I think he found me to be a excellent guest, we are still friends to this day and sometimes- I long for those months I spent in his den, among his signed Eric Benet posters, listening to the quiet sounds of true friendship.

Interests

My interests are varied, including but not limited to: Biology, Philosophy, Cosmology, Christianity (my particular spiritual poison), Buddhism (especially Zen) All things Jazz especially Coltrane and Miles and Keith Jarret, Almost anything concerning Marginalized Blackness, Poetry, The Middle Passage, Socio-Political study of urban life, Alternative Consciousness, Alternative Medicine, Acting Locally, and the eternally transcendent wisdom of Black Mothers.

• books
• poetry
• performing arts
• architecture
• acting
• dancing
• running
• meditation
• politics
• billiards
• music
• jazz
• christian
• buddhist
• sports
• racquetball
• swimming
• biology
• teaching
• medicine
• squash

Music, Movies, and Books

Here's the music:

Jim's Big Ego,
John Coltrane-Johnny Hartman,
Everything by Miles Dewey Davis,
Screaming Headless Torsos (Support this band!),
Bill Laswell's Material (Hallucination Engine),
The Late Great Godfather of Soul,
Led Zeppelin,
Yes,
Donny Hathaway,
Black Starr,
Bonnie Raitt,
Charles Mingus,
Commissioned,
George Benson,
Gov’t Mule,
Allmen Brothers Band,
Herbie Hancock,
Jay Z,
John Mayer,
Jadakiss,
MMW,
Max Roach,
Roy Ayers,
The Bad Plus,
EST,
The Jackson 5,
Spin Doctors,
Weezer,
Halloween-Alaska,
The White Stripes,
Arcade Fire,
Yellowjackets,
Morgan Heritage,
Jah Cure,
Burning Spear,
Bad Brains,
the Dirty Dozen Brass Band,
John Zorn,
Stevie Wonder,
The Treacherous Three,
Naughty By Nature,
Public Enemy,
Deep Puple,
DMB,
Derrick Trucks…eh, you get the idea

Books (an introductory sampling)

'The Years of Rice and Salt' by Kim Stanley Robinson ...700 years of history in which the plague has wiped out the West and China and Islam rule the globe, with reincarnation to boot...Makes our little reign as a Super Power seem silly.

I also recommend” Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor” by Rick Marin You’ll laugh till you realize that’s you in the story…

Nick Tosches’ “ The Last Opium Den”. Short but oh so Sweet!

Honorable Mentions to:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

City of God
http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/rguides/us/city_of_god.html The Harafish
http://www.aucpress.com/cgi-aucpress/auc99/pager.cgi?catno=303_X

The Coast of Chicago
http://www.pandorasbox.com/archive/dybek.html

My Life
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/hejinian/mylife/

Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0374515247/103-6685642-0820635?v=glance

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In 2007 I walked up and hugged a man, who 21 years before, as a teenager myself, I had said a tearful goodbye to...leaving him in a small forgotten villiage in West Africa.

for the rest of my days, I've retired "goodbye' and adopted "see you later".

Teach, Learn, Share

the areas of my interest and experitise include:

Individual differences, sleep architecture, sleep deprivation, neurobehavioral performance, cognition, attentional mechanisms, neurobiology