Friends, Activity Partners

Jul 2003

Duluth

http://profiles.friendster.com/1306348

ESL teacher exploring other teaching options

peace activism, gardening, popular education, art, buddhism, maple syruping, cooking and canning, making forts in the living room

Barbara Kingsolver, bell hooks

documentaries! Barbara Hammer films.

Dar Williams, international, improvisational, jazz, classical, pop! Love the sounds of jazz violin, smoldering blues harp, and classical a capella.

I'm not so big on teevee.

A comment on that "status" questions above--it's actually not "complicated" at all: I've recently learned that I'm a "quirkyalone," a term coined by Sasha Cagen that means "a person who enjoys being single (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and generally prefers to be alone rather than date for the sake of being in a couple. With unique traits and an optinimistic spirit; a sensibility that transcends relationship status." (Cagen 2004) Judging by the number of people who fit this description, I think Friendster would do well to add it as an option in their "status" field.

I grew up in my mom's garden on a hillside in
Duluth, and spent my days making mud pies and compost soups in plastic beach buckets. Mom had an amazing strawberry patch, and the sweetest snap peas I've ever tasted. I've lived urban since graduating from college, and while this vital urban community sustains me, I do go a little crazy if I
don't get enough contact with freshly turned soil, crunchy leaves, falling snow, or blooming apple trees in May. I have a stout, workhorse body that would rather shovel snow than go jogging. I haven't mastered gardening like Mom, but I always give it my best shot.

I presently live in a little collective in Saint Paul. We are six women. My favorite things to do with my housemates include building forts or pitching tents in the living room, reading aloud, gardening and preserving (we made five kinds of jam this fall, plus pickles, oven-dried tomatoes, and pesto!), and making up stupid songs. I love how this group has changed my consumption behaviors and loosened my attachments to spending money on stuff. I also love how open and loving everyone is. I feel like all my needs are met here, except that we can't have a cat.

I also love my spiritual communities (I am Buddhist, but my friends are every flavor), and enjoy getting together to talk and meditate and talk. I love and rely on conversation about what sustains us.

I have no idea who's out there.