Lisa Heldke, co-editor and co-founder of Philosophers on Holiday, knew from a very early age that she was destined for the lonely, contemplative life of the philosopher. Plagued by the problem of personal identity (or, as she put it at age four, "How come I can think my own thoughts, but I can't think anyone else's?"), she realized that few careers -- let alone social clubs or restaurants -- would welcome the likes of her.

The formal study of philosophy, when she finally commenced it at the ripe old age of 18 (looooong before Plato would have allowed) soothed her tormented soul like aloe vera gel on a bad sunburn. Okay, not really. It actually kept her up at night ("How do I KNOW there's no evil demon making me think I have a body?" was the question that occupied her during one particularly long stint of insomnia). Her powerhouse B.A.s in music and philosophy left her with job offers galore, but she forsook them all to devote herself to eating in all the Thai restaurants in the Chicagoland area, while studying philosophy on the side. Four short years later, she found herself in front of a class, asking them questions that kept THEM awake all night...and some fourteen years later, she's refined that skill to a fine art. (She knows she's really got 'em when they start falling asleep in class, so tired are they from their sleepless nights worrying about whether Philonous REALLY has bested Hylas, or whether matter actually exists.)

While she revealed her philosophical predilections early, Lisa was slow to bloom as a traveller (so slow, in fact, that her family feared she'd have to go to college in Cameron, a town six miles away). But once the bug hit, she began ridin' the rails. Okay, not really. But she WILL drop anything and pack her bag the minute someone says "trip" -- especially if she knows there's a chance to see Thoreau's snowshoes or Wittgenstein's Irish retreat or (be still my heart) the place where His Brilliance, John Dewey's ashes are scattered.