Greetings from high in the clouds of Monteverde, Costa Rica! My name is John Joseph Toland (exact the same as my father) and I was born in July of 1976. I find myself currently on a sabbatical year in Costa Rica after having worked in education for the past 27 years (3 years in Massachusetts, 13 years in Brooklyn, NYC, and the past 11 years at my current school, the South Shore Charter Public School in Massachusetts). I am living here with an incredible team of curious humans whom I love dearly: daughter Cleo (age 12), daughter Gene (age 8) and partner Elise (age “the most common number in the universe). I am a devout member of the Red Sox Nation and attend ceremonies at Fenway Park whenever I am able to participate. In my spare time I enjoy reading, running, watching movies and listening to music. I am involved in the community as a proud member of, “The C.O.D. Society Book Club,” and I am founding member of the BartoloColonoscopy Fan Club that is mostly based out of New Jersey. I love pizza, all shades of blue, PT Anderson films, the books of Steinbeck, salt and lime in my cerveza, and the music of ‘The Hold Steady.”

“When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:”

~ John O’Donohue ~