“A potent, short-lasting compound that has been found throughout the plant kingdom” – notably, in ayahuasca – “DMT can induce the sensation of leaving the body, producing profound changes in sensory perception, mood and thought, when it is administered externally – for instance, when it’s smoked or injected. Those under the influence sometimes compare the episode to the near-death experience, complete with perceived sentient beings who transmit information, often in the form of visual language.” Anthropologist Graham St. John looks at the history of DMT research and the debate over whether or not humans’ pineal glands can produce it themselves (and what it would mean if they did).
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘In Our Nightly Dreams – Our Dark, Beautiful, Horrifying Dreams – We Are All David Lynch’: A Homage By Michael Chabon
“‘To see what is in front of one’s nose,’ George Orwell said, ‘needs a constant struggle.’ … What about the hidden truths, the buried drives and desires? The things that lie beyond distant doorways, behind the curtains of dreams, deep in the sea-bottoms of memory? Who’s going to see all that while you’re busy looking just past the Orwellian tip of your nose? Over the past half century, no one has taken a harder, clearer look behind those doors, beyond those curtains, and into those deep oceans than David Lynch.”
We Know Video Games Don’t Cause Real-Life Violence, But Do We Know Why That Is? Here’s A Researcher Who Does
In the wake of the last Florida school shooting, and as a lead-up to this weekend’s March for Our Lives, here’s a conversation with Villanova University research psychologist Patrick Markey, co-author of Mortal Kombat: Why the War on Violent Video Games Is Wrong.
Conductor Irwin Hoffman, Founder Of Florida Orchestra, Dead At 93
After debuting at age 19 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and later conducting under three different titles (including acting music director for one season) at the Chicago Symphony, he became the first music director of what was then called the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony (formed from the merger of ensembles in Tampa and St. Petersburg). He then molded it – sometimes with harsh criticism of musicians – into an accomplished professional orchestra.
An Oratorio About DACA And The Dreamers (Now There’s Relevant Classical Music For You)
Dreamer, with music by Jimmy López (the opera Bel Canto and text by Nilo Cruz (a Pulitzer winner for the play Anna in the Tropics), was commissioned two years ago by Cal Performances in Berkeley. In those two years, of course, quite a lot about the situation of the Dreamers has changed, and, as reporter Michael Cooper found out, that changed the piece itself.
Is This What MOCA’s Director Meant When He Said That The Fired Head Curator Was ‘Undermining The Museum’?
When director Philippe Vergne sacked chief curator Helen Molesworth last week, he reportedly told a board member that Molesworth had been “undermining the museum”. “One avenue that has gone largely unexamined thus far in the conjecture over Molesworth’s alleged ‘undermining’ are statements that she herself made in public during her time at MOCA. In general, she has been critical of museums and institutions – but, particularly in the past year, she aimed considerable criticism directly at MOCA itself.” So Sarah Douglas does some examining.
Being A Museum Guard In New York City Is Even Harder And More Poorly-Paid Than You Think
“Guards in New York City’s museums spend most of their shifts on their feet – usually four to eight hours at a time. They should also be able to carry as much as 25 pounds, trudge up and down flights of stairs several times during their shifts, and jump, bend, and run into action if a situation occurs. … These days, many guards must also learn to use complex digital technologies to observe hallways and crevices and communicate with other guards quickly.” And their pay is less than half of New York state’s median wage.
Comedian Howie Mandel Buys World’s Largest Comedy Festival
“Montreal’s Just For Laughs Group has been acquired by a group of investors led by ICM Partners and Howie Mandel. The acquisition covers the annual comedy festival held in July in Montreal and its offshoot events in Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney. The deal is said to be valued in the mid eight-figure range.”
Frank Avruch, Who Played Bozo The Clown, Dead At 89
“Avruch played Bozo the Clown [on the eponymous children’s television show] from 1959 to 1970, a clown character particularly popular in the U.S. in the 1960s because of widespread franchising in television. Avruch became the first nationally-syndicated Bozo.”
Censorship Or Good Inventory Management? UK’s Three Big Bookstore Chains Pull Racist Books And Hate Literature Off Their Websites
Hope Not Hate, Britain’s largest anti-racism organization, undertook an investigation and campaign calling attention to racist and anti-Semitic tracts, Holocaust denial books, bomb-making manuals and the like that are for sale on the websites of Waterstones, Foyles, and WH Smith (as well as Amazon). So the booksellers have begun removing those items from their sites.