CURRENT MISSION

Returning college student with a Major in Video Journalism, picking up a degree in Wildlife Conservation along the way to help save endangered animals :)

ABOUT ME

Moved around the U.S. a lot as a kid (mainly the South and Midwest). Bee-lined to Hollywood after college to do the movie/television industry thang (I have a million stories about that). Got burned out. Switched to guerrilla film-making. Worked to pay the bills at a marketing and advertising agency that handled multi-million dollar car dealership associations. Then Hurricane Katrina happened and it was like a fuse blew in my brain. I knew everything I was doing was wrong and contributing to the problems of the world. International wars for oil, little kids getting asthma from car exhaust, I knew I had to launder my karma. So I started traveling around the country doing volunteer work (mainly film-making and manual labor). Rebuilding in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, preparing meals for Food Not Bombs, getting arrested in non-violent direct actions against soulless corporations...

In 2011, I took part in a LIFE-CHANGING 4-month rock star tour in a caravan of bio-diesel/solar-powered buses making up an eco-carnival known as "The Sustainable Living Roadshow"! We went to festivals, fairs, colleges and other events and set up off-the-grid eco-villages where we did environmental awareness-raising games, performances, workshops, a hemp hut, a green home dome, a green marketplace and a free tea hut. We also supported activisms to stop the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline, fracking, Monsanto genetically-modified food, mountaintop removal and we even squeezed in time to learn/share at various Occupies.

The past decade I have been in the Berkeley area taking classes on scholarships and grants while doing gig work like technology testing. Not in a place to host, but I'm sure if it is meant to be our paths will cross. I am about to embark on some travel around the Midwest and the South - so maybe we can get together for a potluck and some conversation? Also hoping to do a study abroad in Europe (Scotland, France, Italy, Germany) soon...

PHILOSOPHY

BE. HERE. NOW! If you can't change your situation, you can at least change your attitude about it!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I was a Nomadic Ambassador and a member of the Media/PR Team for a few years, retired to focus on other personal projects but am still getting active in the community again. I also lived/worked @ the first CS Base Camp in Berkeley, California when it started. Used to host/surf, organize/attend meet-ups, moderate various groups and put together CS Orientation Day events to help newbies set up their profiles/get their questions answered (more info in my "Teach. Learn. Share." section). I started the push to get 3rd Sunday Potlucks going in every city in every country around the world before stepping back to let the movement grow on its own. I also work to try to make the CouchSurfing Project as green as possible by encouraging people to take bikes/canoes/kayaks/sailboats instead of planes and cars and to shop at farmer's markets and cook with their hosts/guests instead of hitting restaurants all the time...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I once did a cross country road trip in a waste veggie oil Mercedes, from Los Angeles to Washington, D..C. and back in just 9 days and CouchSurfed the entire way! Here's the short documentary I made about my experience: http://vimeo.com/8652075

Interests

Sustainability! Resiliency! Filmmaking, cooking, introducing friends to one another, urban exploration, reading/writing, books, quantum physics, sousveillance/citizen journalism, graphic novels, Star Trek, Star Wars, Burning Man, Rainbow Gathering!

Music, Movies, and Books

"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. "Factotum" by Charles Bukowski. "The Tracker" by Tom Brown, Jr. "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen. "Conscious Dreaming" by Robert Moss. "The Beach" by Alex Garland. "Contact" by Carl Sagan. "1984" by George Orwell. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.

"Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen is my favorite song of all time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs

...and I totally dig the 70's aesthetic. "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You" is my favorite Led Zeppelin song...

https://youtu.be/mdrAdcxFB9c

...all about the Golden Era of hip hop, like "Looking for the Perfect Beat" by Afrika Bambaataa...

https://youtu.be/Aa8hdzQ4aok

...and Burning Man turned me on to dubstep. For example, Pretty Lights was basically the hottest thing in the universe for me quite a while...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6T5depSysg

My all-time favorite movie is "Cool Hand Luke" and my pantheon includes "The Big Chill", "Fight Club", "Pulp Fiction", "Boogie Nights", "True Romance", "Jaws", "Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark", "The Edge", "Die Hard", "Back to the Future", "Ghostbusters" and "X-Men: First Class".

And I absolutely LOVE comic books! Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Mark Waid, Mark Millar, Kurt Busiek, Neil Gaiman...the good stuff!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I canoed 500 miles on the Mississippi River. I climbed the ruins of abandoned buildings in Detroit. I did psilocybin mushrooms for the first time during a sunset at Burning Man. I participated in a 313-mile march from Brooklyn to D.C. to demand Congress start labeling Genetically Modified Organisms in food (like Obama promised he would in his campaign and like most other countries have instituted). I experienced a police riot during Thanksgiving at the Occupy Oakland camp. I lived the rockstar tour bus life for 4 months with world changers and paradigm shifters, traveling across this amazing continent on which I was born.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to put together "CS Orientation Days" for new members of the community who want a walk-through of the sign-up process and tips/tricks on all the hidden features/easter eggs the network has to offer. We will show you...

*How to create a good profile that will help you find hosts when traveling

*How to read profiles to tell if quality members who actually care about cultural exchange are requesting to stay with/travel with you

*How to upload photos

*How to check your messages/personalize your notification settings

*How the group message boards operate

*How to set up event pages and send them out to fellow surfers

*How to get verified/make donations (bring along your credit card if you'd like to do this at the event - we won't look at your info, but we will be able to walk you through the process)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My world-famous vegan Thai curry (recipe taught to me by a fellow CSer)!

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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