Coordinates: Chilling inside my mosquito net in bed. It’s come to my attention that May is the hottest month of the year. My sense of the seasons here is way out of calibration. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s rainy all winter and then dry in the summer. In the mountains of Oaxaca, the driest part of the year is spring, then the summer rains come to water the crops. My body doesn’t know quite what’s happening.
[art, the making of] Artists don’t have to believe in themselves, they “just” have to do the work. Part of me delights in this as the invitation it is, but part of me wants to have a temper tantrum. These inner conflicts are I’m gonna say… *the* essence of being an artist. Such polarities are the fertile ground of what there is to make art about.
[music] Here’s your two-minute groove break. I’m looking right at his hands, and I still can’t figure out how he makes it sound quite like that.
[music, the making of] Bjork reveals her recording process from way back in the day before everything went super digital. I love seeing the simplicity in the complexity.
[Björk, Björk] I don’t like scary movies one little bit, but I might brave this one to get to see her portray the dark feminine.
[music] In his first performance back since pandemia, Mr. Radiohead plays a stripped-down sonic love letter to all the musicians who didn’t give up their craft.
maiden voyage : companions on the journey
What are some of the common potholes people fall into when getting into psychedelics? Well, I already covered the trap of taking wayyyyyy too much in an earlier essay. That’s the biggest biggie gotcha.
The next gotcha would be taking a psychedelic with someone you’re not in alignment with. I cannot overstate the importance of choosing a worthy tripping companion. If you’re looking for a mutually enjoyable experience, then the other person needs to already have mental and emotional stability. Otherwise, you’ll end up trip-sitting them as they go through their process. If you’re up for that and have the skillset to do so then no problem, but if not… you’re setting yourself up for a rough experience.
How can you tell? The best indicator is whether they have solid boundaries. Do they ever say no to you when you ask things? Always saying yes to everything or ghosting instead of communicating clearly are red flags. On the other side of the coin, how do they handle it when you say no to them? Are they energetically demanding, subtly or not-so-subtly shaming you for not doing what they asked? Either the inability to communicate a no or receive a no with grace are big no-nos for me to go into psychedelic space with someone, regardless of how well or for how long I’ve known them.
You can find more goodness about microdosing in the free PDF, Preflight Guide to Microdosing.