I wish I knew exactly what to write in this box so as to fend off all the wrong sort of people and interest all the right sort of people. I like to think about life and people and movies and books and things I've heard on NPR or read in the New Yorker, and talk about all of this with good friends. I don't really believe in dating via the internet -- too much pressure, too much potential for dashed fantasies -- but I'm open to meeting new people. I love good food from pretty much any continent, reading in bed, and the kind of conversations you pick up and add to from time to time. I run and sometimes love it, and play Ultimate (with a lot of gusto and a little skill) and always love it. (I suddenly understand the draw of organized sports -- how did I miss this for so many years?) I like people who believe in shades of gray, not just black and white. I love things that make you really laugh or really cry, sometimes both. I can never choose between the disciplined logic of math and the creative freedom of art.

Teaching math to 9th and 10th graders. Writing fiction in my free time. Playing frisbee for fun.

Being a student. Writing. Translating emotions into images. Listening. Solving math problems. Painting and drawing (well, not really good, but pretty good). Learning new things.

I smile a lot. I think that beats out basically everything else by a long shot.

Maybe the lists will give you a flavor at least. Particularly music and food, how can one even begin? But then, I also crave silence from time to time, too.

Books: The Virgin in the Garden, The Satanic Verses, Henry James, Jane Austen, Ian McEwan, Middlesex, Raymond Carver
Movies: Waking Life, Sense and Sensibility, Head On, Il Postino, Iris, Howard's End, Before Sunrise, Run Lola Run, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Music: Neil Young, Nick Drake, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G 2nd mov't, Brahms, early Genesis, Joni Mitchell, Dave Brubeck, Mahler's 1st, Cat Stevens, Leonard Cohen, Simon and Garfunkel, Jeff Buckley
Food: Oh, really I'll try anything if it's not too American... Italian, Thai, Sushi, Ethiopian, French, anything homemade, anything healthy... also, anything involving capers or mangoes or peanut sauce.

Novels, NPR, the smell of coffee, burning hot showers, a pen and paper, parmesan cheese

my students, how to become a better teacher, stories, words, feelings (my own), other people

having dinner with a friend or two, or maybe reading by a fire (if it's cold), or seeing a movie... I'm not sure there really is a typical, except I tend to try to stay far from the madding crowd.

This kind of category is exactly what I hate about these sites.

you're looking for intelligent friendship and good conversation without a lot of pressure for anything else to develop. But please send e-mail...the idea of "chatting" with strangers still feels creepy to me (c.f. old-fashioned adjective above). Also, please be a bit incredulous/wary/not-too-serious about the medium of internet as a potential friend-finder.