I’ll be coming to Maine in February of ‘09 for a series of shows at the Winthrop Performing Arts Center and the Oddfellow Theater (Turner, ME) and I need your help!

If you’re a fan of the hypnosis show, the sword swallowing show, or want to see either for the first time, and you want to receive free signed posters and a free ticket to the show of your choice, now is your chance!

I am looking for dedicated fans in Maine who want to help promote the show throughout the months of January and into the first week of February by plastering posters all over town, spreading the word by telling everyone they know and otherwise dragging all of their friends, family, extended family and strangers out to the shows. I want to pack the house at both venues – the more people, the better the energy, the more fantastic the show – and the best way to do that is to get the word out by good ol’ fashioned grassroots marketing.

Jeffrey J. Kripal, professor and chair of religious studies at Rice University, gives a delightful little treatment of Aldous Huxley in the December, 12th 2008 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. More interestingly, he states that “a kind of Huxley renaissance is under way” in response to the current political and religious climate.

What do neural Buddhists, individualist spiritualities, cultural wars over science and religion and creationism and evolution, a nature-hating technology, the violence of extreme religious belief, and potentially omniscient government surveillance all have in common? They were all core elements in the life and work of the literary prophet Aldous Huxley (1894-1963).

I think that we could all do with a little more Huxley in our lives.

Link to Brave New Worldview in The Chronicle.

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This weeks issue of Nature includes a commentary entitled Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy which discusses the “growing demand for cognitive enhancement” through the use of pharmaceuticals and outlines a strategy for intelligently, morally and safely incorporating smart drugs into modern society.

I am no stranger to nootropics. Though I can no longer claim to be an active user of cognitive-enhancing drugs – save for my morning caffeine – I have a long historical interest, both personal and professional, in the topic. Just last week in fact, while searching through some of my archives, I came across an old ‘zine from the 90’s – Collected Letters it was called – in which appeared a small article featuring a long list, the title of which was The Chemical Additives of Roderick Russell. This may strike those who know me as a teetotaler as odd. Never have I engaged in drug use in the tradition sense – no smoking, no drinking – but peak performance of the human brain has always been a subject near and dear.