Fervent
Inquisitive
Political
A wanderer who appreciates home
An odd mix of disciplined and easily distracted
An uncommonly terrible speller*
Not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere.

I’ve been around the block. Sometimes it was kinda dark out, but I’m still smiling.

*for instance, until just now, my profile indicated my interest in the author salmon rushdie

My current project is to turn myself into an academic. I got into this crazy business because I love, and believe in, teaching. Now I’m learning that how one does research – the kinds of questions one asks, the kinds of theory that one uses – really matter. The short version of my research is that I study the politics of urban poverty and governance in Latin America.

Finding a good balance between demanding academic work and all the rest of the really important stuff that is life.
Learning how to really open my heart
Wandering
Organizing
Teaching
Writing
A truly absurd amount of reading
Biking around the town
Falling down, getting up
Working towards more compassion, less judgment
Trying to figure out how to make more camping trips happen
Some hip shaking
Some arts & crafts that would knock your socks off

My winning smile.

Some fiction, feigning order:
A.S. Byatt, Albert Camus, Augusten Burroughs, Barbara Kingsolver, Bell Hooks, Dorris Lessing, Edith Wharton, Edwardo Galeano, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hermann Hesse, Jeanette Winterson, John Lewis, John Steinbeck, Jorge Luis Borges, Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, Martin Ames, Ntozake Shange, Philip Roth, Roberto Bolaño, Salman Rushdie, Sandra Cisneros, Shel Silverstein, Toni Morison, Ursala Le Guin, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, William Faulkner, Zadie Smith

Not many shows, and it’s just the usual:
Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (for Paula Poundstone), Mad Mad (for Joan and Peggy, the pointy bras, and smart commentary on race and gender), The Wire (for messing with tropes of the good guys and the bad guys), Deadwood (for revealing civilizing violence, and the complexity of the characters), Colbert (obviously), NPR (to excess)

Music:
Is good.

Purpose
Belly laughs
My yoga practice
Sustaining and fun relationships with other humans
Intellectual engagement
Progressive/radical politics

I have a vendetta against the okcupid robot-matchmaker algorithm what-ever-you-call-it. “Less sex-driven??!” First of all, you don’t even *know* me, man. Second of all, are you *trying* to fuck up my game? Seriously, not cool. Ok, so true, I don’t cruise for random man-ass, and (dear reader, please know I am resisting the temptation to use vulgarity here) I like to know a bit about my gentleman-partners before … jumping in. But, just for the f*ing public record, I’m a big fan of the sex, in many of its various iterations.

You are a deeply kind, wicked smart and committed kinda guy, with a sense of humor and an appreciation for the absurd.