Maybe the cranky old folks who send angry letters to the reporters at The Oklahoman were right. Maybe when we legalized that medical jazz cabbage, we opened the door too wide. If all the CBD shops are a sign, it may be too late.
I bring all this up because there's a church in Stillwater that is holding a presentation on magic mushrooms. According to the Stillwater News Press:
“Magic mushrooms” are the stuff of ancient legend and modern mind-altering exploration. Spirit of the Mushroom Adventure Series investigates the lore and science behind their magic: How psilocybin and Amanita muscaria mushrooms work, their benefits and dangers, legal regulations and effects on the human mind and spirit. Doug and Dr. Sandra Williams of Lost Creek Mushroom Farm, Perkins, present “The Psychedelics” on Sept. 11, 7-9 p.m., at the Stillwater Unitarian Universalist Church, 320 S. Stallard. The presentation is free. Donations support the series and Mushrooms for Well Being Foundation.
This is the last of six programs featuring different mushrooms. “Each month we provide a taste of the mushrooms,” said Sandra, aka Shiitake Mama and Madame Tremella. “No free samples this time! But we will serve mushroom treats to encourage our guests to eat more mushrooms and more kinds of mushrooms.”
I have two thoughts on this: 1.) How is this happening in Stillwater and not Norman? I'm pretty sure we have more hippies per capita, and like, you can literally smell marijuana on Main Street on Friday and Saturday nights. Surely there are also all manner of mushroom enthusiasts who would like to do similar presentations. And 2.) Man. The Unitarian Universalists are straight up down with anything. Had there been more in my hometown instead of Southern Baptists, my upbringing would've been so, so different.
I do have to say that I won't be attending this event, mostly because there won't be any free samples, and I don't enjoy lectures or talks. I am going to recommend this to Dave, a guy who appears a lot on my local Nextdoor, where he posts pics of mushrooms from the park and asks if he can eat them. We all say no, but we can only tell him no for so long before our general desire for mischief sets in.
But on that note, it should be noted that this shindig isn't just a lecture.
In “Madame Tremella’s Mushroom Confidential,” Dr. Williams’ presents her performance character, a light-hearted Romanian psychic who communicates with The Spirit of the Mushroom, receiving messages through a Tremella mushroom on her head. Madame Tremella will share what the mushrooms have to say about themselves and our relationships to the natural world and one another.
So, that's either weirdly racist, or a lost scene from an episode of The Mighty Boosh. But who knows, really?
