The shoestring on which I have lived during my decision-making years never prevented me from cultivating a courageous life. In fact, I have relished the resourcefulness required to maintain a high-low lifestyle on a low-low budget, finding that, from this humble starting point, my experiences are all the more rich and rewarding.
For the first twenty-two years of my life, I lived through the stark cold winters and strikingly beautiful summers of upstate New York, as I was raised in Rochester and completed my bachelor’s in phenomenally colorful Ithaca. I lolled about for a summer after graduation, biking in Madaket and waitressing in my hometown, and then, equipped with a six-month Canadian working visa, I hopped on a one-way, three-day train bound for Vancouver. This journey fueled the momentum for three years of Gypsetting, during which I worked and played in a sublimely diverse host of places before moving back to Ithaca for graduate school. After completing two years of coursework, I have signed a lease (!) in Washington DC where I am writing my thesis and hold a research position at an international non-profit.