newt

As of November 3, 2011: After having been mostly out of the Swap-Bot loop for over a year, I have a permanent address again so hope to start swapping more :)

In the past three years, I have lived in Chehalis, WA; Victoria, BC; Portland, OR; Walla Walla, WA; Cincinnati, OH and now Vashon Island, WA. I have trouble standing still.

My beau and I lived out of our car for six months over this past summer. We visited over a dozen states, visiting old friends, meeting lovely strangers, experiencing new cities, reading books aloud to each other, hanging out in the woods and desert, and more. Now, we've settled down on Vashon Island for a bit. We have never felt so free.

Art is an integral part of my life and identity, though my relationship to it changes frequently. I like to sing. I play guitar passionately about once a year. I love music. I enjoy words.

I am too crazy to hold down a regular job. I’m too crazy for a lot of things. (Crazy, in this case, means anxiety, depression, etc related to PTSD). The last half of my life has revolved around depression, finding help, and trying new things.

I am an unschooler and think public school is, in general, harmful, though I understand that most parents and kids don't really have an alternative. Not Back To School Camp (nbtsc.org) changed my life every single year I went and has made my life what it is today.

I tend to be indiscriminately friendly, bluntly communicative, internally tumultuous, existentially angsty, wildly artistic and persistently committed to change and growth.

Books She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb, Witchbaby - Francesca Lia Block, Brave On the Rocks - Sabrina Ward Harrison, The Perks of Being A Wallflower - John Chobsky, The Color Purple - Alice Walker, Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver

Poets Billy Collins, Robert Frost, Mary Oliver, Shakespeare, Leo Dangel, Annie Dillard

Music The Velvet Underground, Mumford and Sons, Cloud Cult, Mewithoutyou, CocoRosie, Ani Difranco, Tracy Chapman, Dido, John Denver, Dar Williams, Kimya Dawson, Carsie Blanton, Noah Gundersen, Johnny Cash...

Movies The Royal Tenenbaums, Orlando, Fantasia, Amelie, RENT, Wayne's World, The Color Purple, Garden State, The Breakfast Club, Harvey

TV Mad Men, Big Bang Theory, Star Trek: TNG, Rome, Scrubs, The Gilmore Girls, Jeopardy, Wonderfalls, Skins (UK) , MAS*H

Collage, ATCs, envelopes, cutting up magazines, acrylics, zines, poetry, magazine text, found paper, patching, simple sewing and crocheting, words/text, found art, recycling stuff, postcards...

• anything collage, particularly using magazines
• words
• bold colors
• sadness
• human faces
• strong lines
• emotional abstract
• out of the ordinary materials
• old books
• graph paper
• interesting magazine pages
• poetry
• collaborative art/poetry
• your "ugly" art
• pictures of models with freckles
• your therapeutic art
• your self portraits
• stuff made out of reused/repurposed supplies
• zines
• cut and paste

• anime
• cartoons of any sort (hello kitty etc)
• store-bought scrapbooking stuff (other than scraps)
• jewelry
• christian/religious things (spiritural/inspirational is fine, though)

• zines
• collaborative zines
• photography
• sewing

• altering books
• skinny books
• chunky books
• stuffies