Hey there. My name is Jimmy. I work for a podcast hosting and analytics provider, explore in a camper van, and try to read and write in my spare time. I grew up in the suburbs outside of Los Angeles on originally Tongva land, just below the foothills of what we now call the San Gabriel mountains.
After studying functional linguistics in Oregon, I moved to West Africa for most of my twenties. There, I taught primary and secondary school in northern Sierra Leone and at an international school in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
These days, I live in the Ribeira Sacra e Serras do Oribio e Courel Biosphere Reserve (about the size of Yosemite National Park) in Galicia, Spain, which boasts 1,200 species of flora, 277 species of fauna, and a human population of 75,000:
I eat vegetarian, overuse commas, and support the reorganization of society that prioritizes the planet and its inhabitants over the accumulation and consolidation of capital.
The title of this blog and expression among the stones is the translated Loko toponym of my host village in Sierra Leone. It’s also apt in Galicia. Among the Stones is about a few things:
- journal updates on what I’m up to and working on
- remote work in Galicia or on the road in a van, sometimes about online things like podcasting, WordPress and community
- Galicia’s history, cultural heritage, geography, and relationship to Spain
- Islam and spirituality, from the perspective of a believer and convert skeptical of religious orthodoxies
- brief posts and photos of my time in Upper Guinea, or of West African history in general
- topical or interesting links about anything
I’m also interested in literacy, iOS, fantasy novels, gardening, podcasts, nature documentaries, camping and the #vanlife, Romance and Mandé linguistics, Dungeons & Dragons, histories of Upper Guinea, woodcarving, old maps, Murray Bookchin, notebooks, dub, folk, and electronic music, Rūmī and American transcendentalist poets, and a low-carbon future.
All opinions, annotations, and photos are mine, unless otherwise indicated. You can also contact me here.