CURRENT MISSION

Help transform schools and classrooms for real “learning freedoms”, for all students and teachers!

ABOUT ME

My "Montreal Adventure" is complete, now
-- and new ones ensue now
... in Tucson, Arizona and back in Bellevue Nebraska, too
(with lots of family and new friends)

As always, the future is wide open -- even more, than before!

And, also always -- Life is the Adventure we create!

I am a most fortunate fellow, blessed in so many ways!
= With plenty of superb friends, the most fascinating people!
= Montreal, Quebec has been a big blessing in my recent life!
= So much to Celebrate, always -- just by looking closer,
with an open eager welcome
for all the unknowable Perfections and Blessings,
abounding all about!

And this, too...

"I seem to be a verb."
-- quoting Buckminster Fuller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller

Over the past 17 years, my life spans an amazing spectrum,
bringing me ever-new awareness, with each new moment,
full of surprising rewards -- for learning, gratitude, and eager celebrations.

The less I seek,
the more I have
-- reliably, rapidly!
Who knew?

I love to converse
about the vital questions of life...

Who are we?

What reality do we choose to create?
...with our inner-most thoughts,
moment to moment?

PHILOSOPHY

Here's my favorite quote:
"The key idea ... is to be in a constant state of departure, while always arriving!"
-- from the film "Waking Life"

To me, that quote means:
To bring to every moment, that same perception, of the dual intensity, of a big transition
-- that "this is the rare vital moment" which creates and is life
... just as with those moments of departure and farewell,
or the long-anticipated moment of return and reunion
with people we most appreciate!

Also, here's my favorite definition of "Spirituality"...
"To reflect, feel, and express a cosmic gratitude, to appreciate the beauty of the whole, as well as be absorbed in our own limited projects and passions -- as the ultimate happiness, and the ideal expression of emotional integrity."
-- As paraphrased, from the last page of the book "True to Your Feelings" by Robert Soloman

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have hosted, and been hosted, and always "spread the word".

With new people, I often share my high regard and enthusiasm for CouchSurfing.com

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosted others, whenever possible -- plus joined an early "CS Collective" in Montreal -- and always happy to join and enjoy the top-notch social gatherings of CouchSurfers -- these are the people I most want to meet! Also, I've organized a few CS events, as easy gatherings for potluck dinners, etc!

Intereses

1) "Freedom in the Classrooms" -- to call young people
to take strong ownership of their time and actions daily, as the best "education" for creating their own lives (following the lessons of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Henry David Thoreau, and the Founding Spirit of the American Revolution)

2) Meeting new people, and greeting and introducing them all around!

3) "You know you are perfect, don't you?"
That's how I remind others, that we are all "as the trees" -- each perfect, in our essence, growing to the light, growing to the water, adapting optimally to our local environments, naturally!

4) Computer programming!
What a magical artistic struggle, of learning and communicating clearly, to create and shape an accurate reflection of our thoughts and understanding and expectations, all reflected by a non-intuitive "thinking machine". That's the rare joy of computer programming!

• birds
• books
• beauty
• perfumes
• education
• potluck
• modeling
• traveling
• teaching
• software

Música, películas y libros

"Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth" -- Read this book, to see how to stand strong, in the face of repression and oppression.

John Taylor Gatto!
An award-winning Teacher, and vital vocal critic of our mass-oriented, industrial-styled schools. Here are two of his worthy books:

"Dumbing Us Down:
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schools" ;

"The Underground History of American Education:
An Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern Schooling"

"Guns, Germs, and Steel", by Jared Diamond
Read this book -- winner of the Pultizer Prize -- for keen insight in the arc and flow of human history. This book easily completed my understanding of how various types of human societies adapted and competed, across our planet -- and the likely futures ahead, for us all (if we are unable to alter our global approach to life).

"Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers", by Daniel Ellsberg
His recounting of his spiritual journey -- from the highest levels of early conduct of the Vietnam War, to his one-man crusade to leak and reveal the full history of blatant lies upon which 5 US Presidents willfully deceived the American public to engage and prolong an immoral war in Vietnam. So many dead, due to lies and bad leadership.

Music Favorites...
The electric blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan
(gone on, into the gone, since 1990, sadly) ;

"Eclectic" is my favorite word -- the blending of fascinating angles and aspects of Life!

Algo increíble que he hecho

For 4 months, I held two part-time teaching jobs, simultaneously -- at two very small private schools, both with mixed ages. In the mornings, I taught several classes in a standard "teacher-centered" setting; in the afternoon I was paid to be on staff at a democratic "Sudbury Model" school ( see www.Sudval.org for details, about its "no teachers, no classes, no grades" approach to real learning).

Amazing, seeing the drastic differences between those two systems of schooling -- the teacher-centered (with almost no eye contact and stifled spirits) versus the learner-centered (with eager and fully-engaged bright eyes and big spirits)!

Enseña, aprende, comparte

At 45, I hit my "wall" in life, and saw for the first time, how and why my life was not working. Since then, I have re-learned how to live life -- by learning to trust my instinct, doubt my fears, let go of “control”, and celebrate the blessings of each new moment.

As an accidental experiment, I learned first-hand about a few of Jesus' teachings in his "Sermon on the Mount" -- namely: don't worry about tomorrow, live as the birds and plants, and “be ye therefore perfect”, etc...

And -- Wow, who would have known?

It works, wonderfully and reliably -- based on my plentiful empirical evidence!

With no possessions (almost), and no money (almost), and no plans -- instead, for the past 5 years, I've lived a bigger life of easy travel, spiritual exercises, unplanned adventures, real happiness, big blessings and many amazing friends!

And now, I'm returning, slowly -- to a more mainstream mode of life, with lots of Freedom and Liberty, as a computer programmer -- roving and roaming, in The Flow!

Países que he visitado

Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States

Países en los que he vivido

Canada, Germany, United States

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