I just moved to Buffalo to be a professor at a small private college here. I was most recently in Louisville, KY, where I lived for about two years. Before that, Berkeley, CA. I got a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Kentucky in 2010 and, for these last couple of years, I've been teaching classes at a small regional campus of the Indiana University system.

I'm a nerd. I like to learn. I like books. I like to write and discuss. It's what I do.

I'm also a vegetarian. I make a pretty random exception for sushi. In a world where I had a stronger will, I'd probably be a vegan - but I'm not judgmental.

I'm very "politically active." I'm a leftist radical and I'm committed. The basic idea is that I oppose hierarchical relationships of all kinds - particularly and most vehemently capitalism. Essentially, I think society ought to be organized for the sake of the well-being and autonomy of all equally; rather than the profit of a few exclusively. Although a passionate polemicist and enthusiastic observer of the Occupy Movement, I was not a camper. I'd be happy to discuss my reservations as well as my support any time.

I'm much less pretentious than I sound.

I'm a professor of philosophy.

I'm addicted to news and analysis.

I'm a social media propagandist.

Sometimes I also play guitar, but I'm not very good. I like to write songs - and then deprive the world.

My alter-ego rides a bike around town, jogs regularly, and maintains a seasonal garden. But he's an ass. Who can be that perfect??

Navigating the complex intersection between the virtual and the real, where the difference between how things are and how they are perceived is - at best - fuzzy.
^^^
Using convoluted academese to convince people that I am superior and deserve their respect despite the fact that the words I'm speaking mean very little, almost nothing.
^^^
Contriving to allude to philosophers without citing or naming them in inappropriate contexts.

My beard.

Later they may notice: eyes, listening, questions, thinking.

Beard again!

Recent or Current Reading:

Dharma Bums
Against Equality: Prisons Don't Protect You
New Jack: Guarding Sing Sing
Endgame, Vol. 1: The Problem of Civilization

Selected Recent Listening:

Grimes
Menomena
Phantogram
Brother Ali
Lupe Fiasco
Gillian Welch

I'm really open to pretty much anything that isn't overtly stupid [even some overtly stupid stuff]. Particularly, I don't like chauvinist, macho, patriotic, or anything that celebrates wealth as an ideal. I do like Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. I do not like most things played on mainstream rock stations - with some obvious classic rock exceptions.

I recently finished American Horror Story. I'm currently working through X-Files.

I watch and love tons of movies. Bad, good, artsy, foreign. It doesn't matter.

Netflix recommends:
Cerebral Foreign Horror Films
Critically-Acclaimed Violent Movies Based on Real Life
^^^Is that a real category??^^^

Tortilla chips (seriously!)

Oxygen (get it??)

Cheap Beer

Good friends with whom to drunkenly discuss half-cocked ideas late into the night - around fires - under stars - etc., etc...

That's about it. Everything else can fall away.

I should probably bypass this question.

But for fun:
Language and Meaning
Place
Ecology
Mortality
Capitalism/Communism
the relationship(s) between all of the above mentioned...

Out drinking beers with friends and listening to music.

OR

At home watching Netflix.

Despite my politics and my claims to hate music that celebrates wealth as an ideal, I really like to listen/dance to all manner of ridiculous pop music.

...you'd be interested in showing me around Buffalo or introducing me to cool new music.