CURRENT MISSION

Not impossible, but definitely improbable

ABOUT ME

Under construction...please pardon the dust.

Started constructing a nest in Gville in the spring of '08 after spending nearly two years in Asia and more than 10 years away from home. It's been a great ride thus far and I've reveled in the opportunity to learn a new trade, reconnect with my family, re-engage in civil society, and meet so many great new folks.

Have traveled a fair bit around Asia and the U.S., plus some time in Australia, Cuba, and Mexico. Enjoy friends/family, politics, film, music, and outdoor activities, but am also somewhat of an introverted, nerdy type (CS-ing is a bid to break out of my shell a bit).

Pretty extensive political organizing experience, particularly around environmental issues in the U.S., India, and Australia. Believe in multiple forms of political struggle, escaping the tyranny of capital, and various and sundry other phenomena unseen, unheard, and unfelt.

PHILOSOPHY

Set a spell. Take your shoes off. Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Still pretty new to CSing (via this venue, anyway). I have taken in strays wherever I've lived though, and was a virtual welcome wagon for awhile in New Delhi (it really can be an amazing place to visit!). These days I live in a nice area smack in the middle of Florida's Eden, and have a great couch, so I figured I'd make use of it...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'll just say that the world has been quite generous to a scoundrel like me. 1,000,001 more good deeds and I *might* begin to repay my karmic debt.

Interests

Revolution, home-cooked meals, sustainable urban landscapes, being in/on/underwater, cooperative economics, good-hearted folk, renewable energy, bicycling, and understanding this chaotic ol' world and my place in it.

• dancing
• recipes
• politics
• music
• outdoor activities
• economics

Music, Movies, and Books

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" from The Country of Marriage, copyright ® 1973 by Wendell Berry. Reprinted without anyone's permission, but I'm sure Mr. Berry would approve.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've seen it all, I have seen the trees,
I've seen the willow leaves dancing in the breeze
I've seen a man killed by his best friend,
And lives that were over before they were spent.
I've seen what I was - I know what I'll be
I've seen it all - there is no more to see!

You haven't seen elephants, kings or Peru!
I'm happy to say I had better to do
What about China? Have you seen the Great Wall?
All walls are great, if the roof doesn't fall!

And the man you will marry?
The home you will share?
To be honest, I really don't care...

You've never been to Niagara Falls?
I have seen water, its water, that's all...
The Eiffel Tower, the Empire State?
My pulse was as high on my very first date!
Your grandson's hand as he plays with your hair?
To be honest, I really don't care...

I've seen it all, I've seen the dark
I've seen the brightness in one little spark.
I've seen what I chose and I've seen what I need,
And that is enough, to want more would be greed.
I've seen what I was and I know what I'll be
I've seen it all - there is no more to see!

You've seen it all and all you have seen
You can always review on your own little screen
The light and the dark, the big and the small
Just keep in mind - you need no more at all
You've seen what you were and know what you'll be
You've seen it all - there is no more to see!

-Bjork

Teach, Learn, Share

Always interested in learning new (to me) recipes and new music, and willing to share what I've got. Have found a few magical realms very near my home, and am willing to share them with people who might appreciate them; but also thoroughly enjoy co-explorers who are interested in further uncovering Florida's Eden.

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