- Gustav Klimt – The Kiss
This is my favorite piece of art/artist. I love the detail and the gold leafing, which you can’t really see unless you take a close look at the original painting. Growing up I was taught to appreciate art because I was constantly surrounded by it; my house back home is a historic gem and it’s filled with all of this beautiful artwork, none of it contemporary. I’m well-versed in art history, and that really has nothing to do with the art history class i took two years ago, but has everything to do with my parents and their friends inspiring within me an insatiable curiosity for all things classical.
- Bike
I am absolutely in love with riding bikes. Cars are cool, trains are sick, busses suck. Bikes? Completely awesome; zooming through streets, dodging cars, feeling the wind’s resistance, knowing you’re the force behind the road falling away behind you.. I’m in love with the sensation. There’s a huge bike culture from where I come from and the lack of bikes in the city (at least the upper east side) is bizarre. Biking allows me to go places on my own, speed away from things i don’t care for, and allows me to explore places that would be inaccessible with a car. Over the years, i’ve learned to build bicycles from scrap and how to fix flat tires with chewing gum- things i’ve picked up out of necessity- and learned that I’m actually pretty adept at solving problems by myself in light of stressful situations.
- Brazil
I took a gap year last year and spent mid August 2011-Mid July 2012 in Brazil. I started off in the south of Brazil where I learned the language, then I took to traveling around the country teaching english and staying in hostels, tiny villages, and big cities with people I’d met who offered me a place. I was challenged every day and fell more in love with being alive every day i was there. What i learned about myself and the world as a whole is indescribable. The year was an emotional roller coaster, to say the least. I learned a different reality- a new lens to see life through. I understand how difficult it is to be completely alone in a place where you know no-one, even less the language. I learned how heart wrenchingly sad goodbyes can be, the power of friendship, and how to halfway depend upon the kindness of strangers.
The guy on the left is the chief of the Umuarami indians in the Amazon. I lived with him in their very tiny village, deep deep into the jungle, for about 2 and ½ months; The left is a wonderful man I met on the beach who gave me his favorite pipe.
- Music
I love all sorts of music. I’m big on hip-hop (typical cats, blue scholars, tuka, nujabes), classical, and wavy music, but I can get down with Gregorian chanting and country music.
- Buffalo
I’m from Buffalo- I absolutely love the place. I miss it insane amounts. It’s an old rust belt city that peaked in the early 1900’s, ergo why most everyone who’s not from the city is such a downer about it. Exploring the old grain elevators, riding throughout the ghetto filled with refugees from around the world, spending nights in old wine cellars listening to a friend’s band play.. Buffalo is a huge part of why I am the way I am.
- Photography
I’m not a serious photographer; I just take photos for fun. I like film far better than digital, despite the fact I mainly shoot digital because film is so expensive.
- Reading
This is my favorite literary magazine. I don’t read as many books as I did when I was a kid, but this magazine sustains me. Some of the most interesting and real stories I’ve read have come out of this publication. Reading so many different perspectives from people who write for fun and aren’t starving artists, who are instead rather ordinary people, is incredible.
- Friends/Family
I know everyone says it, but my friends are awesome. Like, they’re really awesome. I tend to surround myself with people whom inspire me, and that’s exactly what they do. My heart is swollen with love for them, to put it simply. I’m really not close at all with my two sisters, but my mother and father are solid sources of wisdom. I’ve passed the point in my life where i’ve realized that my parents are people, too, and that they’ve done incredible things with their lives a good 30+ years before I was even alive. When I was living outside of the country I hardly bat an eyelash when someone told me they missed me. Yet, now i understand the ache of distance enough to know that hanging out with my family is the coolest thing out.
