I love to laugh and share laughs with others--a few people have said I should write for The Onion (which would be a dream job, but I won't live in New York again), and I've penned some articles that were mistaken for Onion stories. I'm a great writer; I did an essay in college that's in an undergraduate textbook now. (and that I got paid for!)

The world I want to live in differs radically from the one we have, and I've always played by my own rules. I'm a political junkie and have been involved with politics and activism most of my life. I spent 6 years in Washington, DC working for two senators and two non-profits. I went to McGill for a master's in urban planning but dropped out. After living in 7 places, I came back to Seattle, for good.

I'm an introvert (INTJ) and an Aspie. Ethnically, I'm Jewish, but as the great (and still alive!) Tom Lehrer said, my Judaism has more to do with the delicatessen than the synagogue. I've been an atheist since 16.

I think silliness and playfulness are underrated, and "maturity" is usually mis-defined.

Honesty is important to me, and I have little tolerance for hypocrisy. I tend to be a rational/analytical thinker--I have a need for things to make sense. So I ask a lot of questions, and I *love* good, long conversations.

No one can ever remember where I'm from. Apparently my looks are generically ethnic; everyone thinks I'm from a country I'm not (born in Indiana...whatever). I'm random and quirky, and have an endless memory for useless trivia (I won a T-shirt from The Fix for accurately predicting the results of Oregon's presidential primary). People often tell me I'm weird, and I thank them.

I work at an awesome housing NGO on ending homelessness. I'm settling into a new job and apartment. I'm on Seattle's Pedestrian Advisory Board, where I'm trying to find the police something better to do than ticket (or beat up) jaywalkers. I volunteer with the Seattle Animal Shelter, organize a Meetup group, and am on the Board of Directors of All Education Matters which advocates for student debtors (K-16 should be free!).

What's important to me in the long run is to do something where I make positive moral contributions to the world. But that can take many forms, and I think Helen Caldecott is right when she says there are lifetimes within lifetimes. Whatever my work is, I enjoy just getting out to do fun things and meet new people. I'm exploring various interests; I took glassblowing and ASL classes, and I want to do more (Spanish, comedy, cooking, pottery, filmmaking, music lessons--I really miss making music and wish I could play jazz flute). Can't do everything at once though.

challenging authority, directions, remembering things, empathizing with people, explaining/teaching things without being judgemental or pedantic, spotting pretty girls, thinking of original ideas, practicing what I "preach", debating (be warned), kicking your ass at Risk

According to the newsletter of a non-profit I volunteered for, my unassuming manner. :)

And...according to a Metro bus driver, I look exactly like a telephone pole. :/

Books: Secrets of the Universe, Flatland, Almanac of American Politics, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People, Professor Wellstone Goes to Washington, Trout Fishing in America, Harmful to Minors, Callahan's Chronicals (sic), Deep Economy

Movies: Monty Python, UHF, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Crumb, Ghost World, Annie Hall, The Candidate, My Dinner with Andre, Harold and Maude, The Conversation, White, Red, The Graduate, Michael Moores', Bulworth, The Corporation, The Edukators, Lenny, Tootsie, Clerks II, Lars and the Real Girl, Speed 3: Intermittent Wipers

Music: Ok, trying to break my penchant for lists. I grew up with 50s and 60s oldies in the 80s, and since high school my home genre has been classic rock, largely from the 70s. Now I'm more into jazz. I don't really like much popular music from the last 25 years; I probably won't know your favorite songs or groups. My last concert was Dave Brubeck and Ramsey Lewis. I think rock and roll is lamentably dead, killed in part by music videos and the bastardization of radio. I like folk, some classical, comedy/parody, art/progressive rock, jazz-rock fusion, ambient/experimental stuff, world, electronica, and "space music" like you hear on Hearts of Space and Echoes. Not into rap, hippity-hoppity, punk, or metal. Louder does not mean better. I don't believe people who claim to like everything.

Food: pretty much all kinds, except I've never liked many vegetables. I love onions--aren't they quintessentially Jewish? I *rarely* eat red meat, and I'm working on eating less meat altogether. I think I should become vegetarian. At the moment, the closest thing to a favorite food might be crabcakes. France has the food groups right: bread, wine, cheese, and chocolate.

TV: I just realized they don't ask this, and I watch little TV, but I'm a big fan of Family Guy and The Office. If I had cable I'd never miss the Daily Show. I got to see it live in NYC! PBS also has some great programming that proves television has great potential for good and isn't inherently bad; US laws and policies just lead it to be so.

a home, clothes, food, my cat, love, friends, positive touch

cold water, Trident gum, internet & laptop, parentheses and semicolons, mass transit

friends, dating, job hunting, how similar dating and job hunting are, sex, politics, poverty, social justice, gender issues, philosophy, psychology, planning & sprawl, energy/peak oil, global warming...all the chores I'm behind on

I love $2 bills and $1 coins. And the metric system. Centimeters are sexy!