other meaningful things

experiences

  • Lived and worked on farms and vineyards in rural Germany (Weitsche, near Lüchow) and Portugal (Nelas, in the Dão region) via Workaway for a month (picture to the left)

    • Was right in the middle of and helped put on the Kulturelle Landpartie

    • Spent 5 hours per day manually exterminating potato bugs and tucking grapevines

  • Spent (survived) 22 days off-the-grid backpacking and canoeing in the Minnesota Boundary Waters, via Outward Bound

    • Collected a total of four near-death experiences

perennial favorites

  • King Lear: Shakespeare

  • Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light: Peter Schjeldahl

  • The Public and its Problems: John Dewey

  • St. Erasmus in Bishop Islip's Chapel: JMW Turner

    • Visited the British Museum Archives to view and handle original watercolor (picture to the right)

  • La valse: Camille Claudel

  • “Le cygne”: Saint-Saëns, performed by Sheku Kanneh-Mason

  • Sirât - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Kangding Ray

  • Cello concerto in E minor, op. 85: Elgar, performed by Marie Elisabeth-Hecker

current loves & learning

  • Unabridged - the thrill (and threat to) the modern dictionary: Stephen Fatsis (current read)

  • Learning the cello with no prior musical experience

  • Keeping up with competitive volleyball in adult leagues (NAGVA, SF Parks and Rec)

  • Zealously striving to win weekly bar trivia