than the beers and pot parties in high school which is take a deeper look in my own heart and mind. and there would be many of such journeys for me. and ecstasies and agonies and some of those trips were profound joys, others one in particular was a terrifying experience where i basically had a psychotic break and didn't come down for a couple of weeks and had flashbacks. flashbacks are real. i used to think they are antidrug propaganda and they are real. it was a difficult time in my life for a period of a few weeks or maybe even months. and this happened to me in the fall of 1972 when i went to uc berkeley to start college. . ..

>> but my love and fear these drugs led me to some finding some other ways, some kinder, gentler way to explore the realms we're talking about a. it's bargain interest in me, which is one of the reasons i think i became a religion reporter for the secular press. i worked for 25 years as a religion reporter for the san francisco examiner and the san francisco chronicle. it was partly these expenses that got me interested in that. originally, but any and i realize it's not about the

drugs. it's about taking those experiences like the wonder, these interconnectedness and finding a place for that in the rest of our lives. that i think is what is in important. and the four guys i am writing but in this book, the harvard psychedelic club, they all had the own way of coming to grips with the craziness of the '60s. and the '70s. and bringing that into their lives. so first of all, since this just started rightere, i wanted to do to raise from the book. the first one is pretty short, and it's about when these four guys crossed paths and harvard in the fall of 1960-61, which was an extraordinary, extraordinary time in american history. there was the introduction. there was the time when optimism and bigger and the young guy like no one before him had swept into the white house and everybody was talking about hope and change. does that sound the moyer?

so just get a drink and i will do the first reading. so this is from the beginning of chapter four. i mentioned the first four chapters basically take place here. and this chapter is entitled crimson tide, and it's about the role of the harvard crimson, which i think is like right around the corner. and andy while in this whole affair bringing down timothy leary. it was a heady time to be editor in chief of the harvard crimson. we sat in a chair to which the name of one of your predecessors, franklin d. roosevelt, class of 1904, was carved in wood. the white house is occupied by another harvard man and former crimson editor, john f. kennedy, class of 1940. quote, if the crimson did show up at the white house we would get calls from solicitors office or bundy's office, referring to

kennedy aides. and george buddy who served as the dean of faculty at harvard your. kennedy's presidency the rise and fall of camelot was the backdrop for some of the most extraordinary scenes and events in the lives of houston smith, andy weil, richard alpert and timothy live. kennedy was elected in the fall of 1960, the same season that andy weil and the harvard class of 1964 move to cambridge and begin their undergraduate studies. on the very day that kennedy defeated richard milhouse nixon and was elected president, november 8, 1960, huxley and his psychedelic connection met timothy leary at a boston restaurant and decide to work with him on the harvard psilocybin project. he was the president and editor of in chief of the harvard crimson at the height of the kennedy presidency. he would graduate, get hired by

newsweek and head out to berkeley in 1964 to cover the free speech movement. the campus protest a university california they kicked off a decade of unrest at schools across the nation. just a year earlier, at harvard such a thing was inconceivable. going to berkeley was a big cultural change for me. it was a totally different place. berkeley was action and organizing. gestures mattered more than well reasoned arguments which is the way we do things at harvard. risen last big story at the crimson would involve to psychology lecture and professor named alpert and louis. but a staff writer named andy weil proposed investigation and did most of the digging. it seem like a strange story for while to becoming. until then while had mostly done art covers for the paper, theater reviews and things like that. it also worked as an editorial writer on the opinion page your

andy weil is best delivered not for his journalism but as an overweight, cigar chomping practical jokester. at the time, a rivalry ways between. and he stole the bird and we would take picture of it in various locations and send the photos over to the lampoon. so that some people remember andy weil at harvard, at least in the early years here. but weil was not kidding when it came to his opinions about leary and alpert's research projects. quote, and he came to me when i've present of the crimson and told me that he thought we really on to take a look at what leary and alpert were doing. they were giving lsd to students which is asked not to come it was but they're getting psychedelics to students who were undergraduate including some who are psychologically on the fence, somehow we're going that's. there was a guy on the crimson

staff was hospitalized for mental condition after getting lsd from very and the crowd. which i was actually never able to confirm or find the guy. and he thought there was more of this and either way, they were not following the deal they made with the university which was not to get the drugs to undergraduates. so leary began this research project, and he was -- wait a minute, i'm sorry. he began this research project. he was trying -- he was giving these drugs to graduate students, convicts, and seminarians. [laughter] >> i mean, the seminarians was called the good friday experiment. [laughter] >> i will get to that later. but you know, cambridge was, and

are basically a graduate student for writing up reports about their experiences on these drugs for their and alpert. and while at cambridge was losing some of its best and brightest to the kennedy white house, some other interesting characters were coming in to take their place within. and some of them are in my book. one is allen ginsberg, the crazy, gay, radish jewish poet who happen to be intended he is always he is always a down when something was happening in the '60s and 70s. he was crashing at leary's house. william burroughs, the brighter and heroin addict, was staying up in larry's attic. we can guess what he was up to. huxley, the british essay. he was in cambridge, just happened to be intended for couple of months. it was amazing all those people came together at that time. he was at mit getting a series of lectures, the centennial at mit. like i mentioned, leary and huxley met the night kerry was elected, and then a thousand

days later, the day on huxley died in his house in the hollywood hills on november 22, 1963, which is the same day that jfk was gunned down in dallas. the exact same day. that's what a lot of people never saw huxley's obituary. huxley had been ill for a few months and a few hours before his death, his wife injected him with a moderate dose of lsd to usher him into the next world. and timothy leary had flown out like the week before and given the lsd for that purpose. so i wanted to do another reading, which is a bit longer. i want to leave room, time for questions. this is the story of timothy leary's first psychedelic trip, which is really what started all this. this is from the beginning of chapter two of the book, which is called and titled turn one.

and its mexico in the summer of 1960. timothy leary brought the ball of motions up to his nose and sniffed. the smell reminded him of musty new england basement, or perhaps a downed tree rotting in a dance for us. it was now or never. as a place where the black multi-things in his mouth and followed up fast with a cold case of mexican. the mushrooms tasted worse than this note. bidder in strength before it time to change his mind, he stuffed the rest of them in his mouth and washed them down with a few goats of a familiar and more refreshing intoxicant, alcohol. it was supposed to be just a regular summer vacation, sometime to relax before starting the new academic year. very and his son, jack, now 10 years old, scouted out the city and found a villa for rent, a rambling white stucco house with a scarlet trim next to a golf course on the road to acapulco.

the name comes from the aztec word for place new trees. have been known in more recent times as the city of eternal spring. it's a temperate year-round climate made to place a popular getaway spot for many famous americans, including barbara hutton, chicago crime boss sam gioconda, and german born humanistic psychologist erich fromm. to study social customs in a mexican village just down the road from the leary building. professor david mcclellan, the man who offered very was on retreat and working on the book in a nearby town about 10 miles away. the scholar who would have the most impact on the recent summer vacation and the rest of the reason life was a university of mexico and was an anthropologi anthropologist. he was in the area translating agent aztec text. leary was renting the fannish style villa named casa del moors

after a wealthy arab who would build the place with two friends from san francisco. dick and his wife ruth. they have settled in and were waiting for the arrival of frank barrett and richard alpert. the university of mexico as apologists have been hanging around the villa they didn't really know him but he started hanging around and joined the swimming pool and all the lively conversation that they were having. one of the conversations with her, he mentioned that he knew a woman named crazy wanda. and old mexican schama who collected magic marshals on the slopes of toluca, a nearby volcano. they remembered how he had been talking last year in italy about the wonders of these mysterious fungi. maybe that's just the ingredients they need to spice up the summer vacation. why don't you see if you can find some? there is mushing connection to lived on the afternoon of august night, 1960.

botanist classifying these fungi as, the aztecs call them the flesh of the gods. motions in the sacred indigenous religions that surround them have been most unknown to the american public until an event three years earlier when life magazine published a long and very sympathetic story in its issue of june 10, 1957. the piece was written by r. gordon lawson, a new york banker and amateur my colleges who like to travel the world with his exotic russian born in search of exotic mushrooms. the richly a good article in life accounts the venture that they had in southern mexico in the summer of 1955 when they became, or, the first white men in recorded history to beat the divine mushrooms, closed quote. with the help of a local guide, watson and richard and found a powerful harvest and a damp moving in the mountains.

they brought some of the musty plants to the home of emma mendez, a local woman. i love this quote. we showed our motions to the woman and her daughter. they cried out in rapture over the firmness, the fresh beauty and abundance of our young specimens. besides the altar, unadorned with flowers and icons, and altar adorned with flowers, icons, pictures of jesus. he a 12 of these motions and begin a night long journey into world he thought he never knew. seemed more real to me than anything i had seen with my own eyes. quote from watson. they were in vivid color, always harmonious. they began with our goatees, anchor such as carpet for textiles or wallpaper and a dry run of an architect. then they involved into palaces,

gardens, with splendid palaces, all laid over in semi precious stones. then i saw a mythological beast drawing a regal chariot. later it was as though the walls of our house had dissolved and my spirit had flown forth and i was suspended in midair singh mountains and camel caravans advancing slowly across the slopes. mountains rising above tiered to the very heavens. that was watson's discretion. five years later, sitting by a pool and a red mexican villa, leary had his own encounter with the flush of the gods. deck and a couple of other guests join him for the mushroom trip. well to people at the pool party decided to abstain. one was ruth, who was concerned about the effects the drug would have on her unborn child. the other abstain was a friend of a friend but also kind of showed up and was hanging around the bill the previous night. they recall him whiskers. he suffered from nervous it and decided an encounter might drive

him over the psychotic edge. leary started coming onto the drug. at first he couldn't stop laughing. there was whiskers sitting by the pool and bathing trunks pulled over flowered undershorts on top of it all he was wearing green garters, black socks and leather shoes. whiskers had decided to take some notes while the rest of the crew tripped off to mushroom in. so there was whiskers bent over a notepad scribbling away like some shrink on speed. libby could not stop laughing. the proposing of scholars, he thought. the evidence of the mind. leary got up and staggered into the house, and then back out of the pool on rubbery legs. suddenly he remembered the kids come his kids. who is watching the kids? what would the kids think? he called over to read, this is hitting us hard he told. you may have six psychotic nuts on your head. i think you should syndicates to the movies or something and send the made. get her out of here. lock the gates. stay close and for god sake, keep an eye on us. leary was losing it. someone asks, how do you feel?

leary couldn't speak. it was all too much. everything around him started taking on the shimmer and glimmer of jeweled patterns. how do i feel? far away. gone. far, drifting off, cavern of c. light. making his way back to the house he fell on the bed into the arms of another woman who had taken the mushrooms. bodies like warm foam rubber, marshmallow flesh, mermaids. laughing, poking fingers through bikini, laced quicksand flesh, dark hair, ponytail, princess, hummingbird, words, both from mouth, stopped talking. look outside. the undulating sea. twirling together, not even the plants know which lee, which stem belongs to -- interconnect,

giant foam, don, my god. that's all in italics. everything was in his head. everything was quivering with life, even inanimate object. hindu temples, babylonian booty was, pleasure tens, then came silk gowns breathing color, and mosaics of flaming emeralds, followed by servant. three hours passed like an instant. at one point, there he realized that some friends had shown up from acapulco. he slipped back into the old delhi not really what to return but knowing he had to play host and that he was almost sober enough to pull it off. we took some mushrooms he explained to a startled guest. absolutely amazing. why did you guys go into the kitchen and make yourself a drink. we will get some supper and a bit. another hour passed and he was back from his visionary voyage. seven mushrooms and an ice cold

bottle of beer. that's all it took. leary was forced to confront the fragile nature of his belief that the mushroom rideshare the foundations of his philosophy. what we call reality was just a social fabricatifabrication. again. he would later call his trip the deepest religious experience of my life. so leary came back here, to cambridge in the fall of 1960. and he was absolutely on fire. he was convinced that he was going to change the world that first revolution psychology, then change the world. leary and alpert eventually and the rest of the gang had profound expenses on these drugs, but they really knew nothing about religion or mysticism. these guys were secular scientists. they are a clinical psychologist. they were not religious people and they were having these religious experiences. so they want to bring huxley and because he was still hanging around getting his lectures at

mit. as theirs the theological consultant that he was too busy. he recommended a friend at mit named houston's been. smith had been running about mysticism and medicaid but had never had the real mystical experience. and he wanted to try that. so he came over to leary's house on new year's day, 1960 -- 61. and they gave him a double dose of syllabi been. and huston, houston is 90 years old nepotism is in berkeley that i interviewed him in his house. he recently moved into an assisted living center. but when he talks about his trip on new year's day, his eyes light up like a little kid and he said, don, what a way to start the '60s. [laughter] >> anyway, this research project would morph into a spiritual crusade. the parties are getting a little too wild for huston smith who was and is after all an ordained methodist minister.

very and alpert had promised they would not use undergraduates as psychedelic guinea pigs. but richard alpert who was a gay man living in the closet, couldn't resist the temptation to bring a few attractive young men into the fold. including an undergraduate named ronnie winston. ronnie winston was the son of harry winston, the wealthy diamond jewelry designer. manufacturer. and ronnie was also a very good friend and door made of andy weil. how do you say that? but unlike ronnie, andy was not let in the in crowd. he became jealous of winston's most favorite student status, and took it upon himself to bring down very and alpert. working as both a spy for the harvard administration, and as a reporter for the harvard

crimson, weil what do harry winston the father and threatened to put his son's name in the newspaper unless he told the president of harvard that professor howard had given him psilocybin. >> there were other on the graduates were involved in this, but none of them wanted to testify against very and alpert because they are part of the project. they loved it. they didn't see anything wrong with it, but ronnie under the threat of having his name put in the harvard crimson and under pressure from his father, went to the office and was asked, did professor albert give you psilocybin? and ronnie winston said, reluctantly, yes, sir. , he did. and it was the most educational experts i've had at harvard. [laughter] >> well, they didn't care about

that. they want to get rid of leary and alpert. this probably would've happened and what does these guys were loose cannons. so while the deal was weil would get this refers when they fired albert. and so weil did a story, along with a vicious editorial. i mean, a vicious editorial against transeventy that was also a bush the same day what he called them like a virus infecting the campus community. i mean, some real vicious stuff. so leary and albert were kicked out of harvard. very was on a three-year appointed that he was probably going to leave anyway, but he left a little early because of that. so they were suddenly out of a job and thrust into the spotlight. so andy weil would go on to graduate from harvard medical school and become the nation's leading proponent of kabul their medicine, bringing together best

of the east and west, natural living and all that. huston smith would separate himself from the craziness and solidify his repetition as the nation's leading scholar of the worlds religions. output would go off to india and returned, famously, as baba ramadoss, one of the spiritual teachers. leary would be targeted by the cia and the fbi, labeled by richard nixon as quote, the most dangerous man in america. to which leary replied, oh, yeah? i have america surrounded. [laughter] >> barry wood get thrown in prison on a very minor drug charge, marijuana charge. only to escape with the help of the weather underground, they smuggled him to algeria where he was sort of kept prisoner later by the black panthers with a falling out with him and he escaped to switzerland that they went to afghanistan and he was kidnapped by the cia and brought

back and thrown back in prison. and the story goes on, but i need to lease in time for questions. so anyway, 50 years have passed since these events -- and i talked with ronnie winston. i spent three days interviewing ram dass. is delighted he has had some health problems. but i spent three wonderful days interviewing ram dass and malley. and also talk to andy weil. there's no question about the facts of what happened in the story. there's no question. andy weil is not ashamed of what he did. he has tried to apologize many times over the years. he was an ambitious graduate and he used that to propel himself at harvard to advance at harvard. that's how the game is played. and ram dass, on the service they have named in ram dass, and weil have made a. when you talk to him, he admits,

he still hasn't forgiven andy weil for what he did. back at the dawning of the age of a chorus. and like the rest of us, we are still living with the fallout from all that. but anyway, we got 20 more minutes, so thank you for your attention. [applause] >> do you have any questions or comments? >> does ron winston still think that was a seminal experience, educational expense at harvard? you've mentioned the quote was his best experience or something? >> i don't know if i actually asked him that question. he still remembers transect vonnegut ever spoke of her longtime. i don't know if i actually asked in that particular question but i think in his case, it was just

something he tried once and it was, you do, it was an important expert for them at the time and he went on to go to his father's business, but i don't think i asked in that particular question. >> first of all, thank you. can you talk a little about the role of the cia in the story? you've mentioned toward the end a little bit more interested in their role in the earlier part of the story, the discovery of lsd and research on lsd. and then somehow that fits into the story. and then, can you say a little about -- i had a friend who met there he in jail, but not the joe that he got liberated from, the jail what he was doing research. what was interesting about that research was that there were are there were our indications, according to larry, that the level of recidivism that his

returning -- to make the short version, they would take -- live with take lsd with prisoners, and they would trip and the prisoners guided sort of realize they didn't need to play the cops and robbers game anymore. is one version of it. and then they would see the reason to be back in jail once they got out. will, in the early day, supposedly supported that. is there any evidence about that kind of thing that goes beyond just that early, early account? >> the first part of the question, the first part of the question was about the cia. there's all kinds of fascinating stuff that's come out about the cia's involvement in secretly funding all kinds of research with psychedelics in the 1950s and into the 1960s. and the reason -- well, i didn't get into that in this book because it's not really about that, for one thing. and there's been some really other great books already written about that, which i cite

in the videography. so i don't really -- i didn't go into it. the cia did, when they got kicked out of harvard before they wound up at millbrook, they went first into mexico. they were followed by the cia. one cia report accused him of setting up a happiness hotel in mexico. and ram dass listed we should've hired the cia as a press agent. [laughter] >> so there was all kinds of incredible research. but i don't really get into. the other question about the prison project. there's someone in the audience, rick, who actually did a fantastic follow-up study where he went -- well, good friday, right? and he looked at -- the problem with that research i think if i understand it right, was that, yeah, they trip with these prisoners, larry and a graduate student, and they spent a lot of

time with them counseling them after they got out of prison. and sure, they reduce recidivism rates. if you just let people and didn't give them drugs, spent that much time helping them and counseling them, he would reduce the recidivism rate. . .

scientific fraud and guerra in the recidivism rate was related to lsd but there is no difference at all and he claimed that there was. actually i did a follow-up study been as i thought it was going to be evident of a great success so the messages you can have a -- huston smith says there's a there was between religious life and religious experience in union the support afterwards. and i started at mclean hospital and have information. it will have the biggest conference. >> plug it, new duet. it is your conference. you are doing some great work. >> there is a renaissance in psychedelic research with stress disorders and end of wife anxiety, are suitable company people working with us. >> id was really leery that was responsible for the crackdown on

significant scientific research. not just the overall war on drugs, but he had a lot to do that i think. in. >> and coulter was ready for it and there's a whole bunch of reasons, the timing of your book is tremendous because we need to be looking at these things to figure out lessons and make it so it doesn't have a backlash. >> it's like a half century. >> in the u.s. in april 15 to 18 from san jose and people all over the world talking about second alex. >> you have subliterature. >> we do. >> hi there. as i throw out, ram dass then later started something called the project which has nothing to do necessarily with psychedelic but he did all the other complimentary things about practice and so forth and if you could say something which is

still i believe in ongoing thing about a safe mission but the project he never let go of. he was the guy who kept in on that. >> like i said the and you just mentioned about what houston said about psychedelic, you have a religious experience but to live a good life and spiritual life and what you do this experience and i think ram dass is an example of someone -- he never renounced some dialects and probably trip every once in awhile, but he basically was inspired to start a lot of different charitable organizations including the ones you mentioned in. through several and foundations. he also showed a lot of i think, helps a lot of us understand these experiences and how to bring them into our lives and get something positive at this. there's a lot of wreckage from this era. a lot of people never coming

back from some of these strips and i think it was exaggerated the dangers of the time with the propaganda of the nixon administration and all that, but i think ram dass did some great work. >> in some ways you might say that one of his messages was that you can have a your religious life in the world, that you can still say in the world you don't have to necessarily drop although he did drop out, but you'd have an interior life of in a temporal -- a worldly life and try to not necessarily successfully been tried to bring the two together. >> all four of these guys start of the waters of social change in the '60s. in but leary never really found an acre in a way i don't think. he went from this to that and that bad to that bad. he tried to walk on water. he was a megalomaniac, he had a

complex i can't believe. this guy had the office but to stand in front of a theater marquee with on it timothy leary, the reincarnation of jesus christ. if that's not a messiah complex. >> there are so many great with notes. the question is did he end up with gordon liddy. in he was earlier than that of watergate fame. the mid '60s was the assistant d.a. in new york and the first person to a rest timothy leary was g. gordon liddy. 10 years before watergate. gordon liddy actually made a name for himself by getting leary because they wanted to get leary, he called himself g. gordon liddy named after his hero, j. edgar hoover, that's why he used that first initial. and later -- but leary had a sense of humor. he was a brilliant guy.

like many people i have a love-hate thing with the guy when i started researching this book. so later on he became friends with g. gordon liddy after he was famous for watergate and they went on a lecture circuit on the road. two guys trying to sell books. the city had a sense of humor. >> had comedy in harvard square. >> i have some recollection but i've never seen the tape that i guess the timothy leary had some nationally televised debate with jerry lyndon and mit, do you know much about this? >> i know nothing about that. sari. >> i guess it was on pbs, whatever it was called then. >> the discuss level and fascinating lives that there was so much material i couldn't even research let alone put in the book and the danger with this book was two not let leary down because there's been so much written about leary and very little written about andrew weil, hardly mentioned but not

the details like i described. so i sort o in a way to focus on the periods where they intersect so there's a lot of with the cia that is left out. >> the media likes to put things in it tenure categories but i think the '60s was an intervenor in the was a 10 year area 67 to 77, the ultimate decadence and 1977 so there's a good argument from the '70s actually. >> when i say '60s, i agree. the funny thing is we think about leary and lsd, we see in the and bedspreads and jefferson airplane, the grateful dead, all that. not that have happened yet. these guys were looking like a madman, the great show. they were like button-down, thin ties. in 66 timothy leary was dressed like that. they were listening to miles davis. the rock thing hadn't happened

yet so it was a hold to rivera, -- a whole different era. they set up these communes in newton and around leary's house and they were like the first to be cautious so many lives and in college in the '60s and '70s. they really did start something, there's no doubt about it. san francisco kids a lot of the credit but it really started here. >> insisted to the had the rev. howard thurman was not luther king's mentor who come of. >> there is a chapter in this book called ascenders and saints and it is too long sections about the prison project and the other is about the good friday experiment which again rick should have written that chapter. he did a follow-up which basically was the had the -- i think i mentioned it -- but he did a follow-up study and basically you found most of

these people still remember and some ask me about winston, but probably the same i would guess. these were profound experiences, they honor them, they didn't take a lot of psychedelics and some became ministers and some didn't, but it had a long-term positive affect on their lives. it did. >> did leary and abbie hoffman ever meet? >> leary and abbie hoffman perhaps i am sure they did. he became a government informant in the '70s later to get at the jail and some people say he didn't give any real legitimate information, but he actually did get a couple lawyers in trouble who had worked for the weather underground or something. or the left. so a lot of people -- i don't know if it was hoffman but they had a press conference and that ram dass was there to announcing leary for this, allen ginsberg,

and also even brought leary son, jack, most of them made up over the years but people hated leary for years. he whispers, no project. >> to try to talk to jack? >> i found his phone number and i called him. he did not respond very he hasn't given her a many -- somebody told me he might be writing his own book. i done of that is true. every time he's unquoted about this i don't think he's like how it came out here is a very complicated relationship. he never really reconciled with his father. he went to his deathbed and there is a bit about that in the book. but people who were there at the deathbed say leary thought you reconcile but from jack's point you never really did. that's my understanding but i did not talk to him.

>> were there any musicians of the way great: dead team gap? >> it didn't start out with the acid rock soundtrack but it quickly became back. the music side of this, when the movie is made and by the way it might be, getting some calls -- but anyway, the sound track would be incredible because john lennon read the psychedelic experience and robert mansoor who should be on the cover of this book because he was the other member of the harvard psychedelic club but he's a big part of the book. when lenin had his first lsd trip he was using as a bad the book that they had wrote and then he wrote a song tomorrow never knows, which is the last song on i think revolvers which was really and i have my chronology write it was the first introduced psychedelic

sergeant pepper will have the whole line. they come together was written in a way originally as a campaign song, at least the idea was a campaign song, libby ran against reagan in california in the campaign song wasn't come together but that was his motto in line and got the idea from that. london later renounced that and said that stupid book and said some nasty things about leary but, of course, the jefferson, all that was the west coast scene which was a holdren scene. there were some connections. calgary was the connection because he was teaching at stanford in the late '50s and the reason he wasn't there in 1960, he was at stanford and work california doing teaching so there are some connections at the can casey was separate and a funny thing is there's a chapter in the book if you come to san francisco which is about when

these guys from harvard, 1966. they had no idea this was going on. there were still with their little ties and button-down and they came to deliver serious academic papers at a conference. there is a story paul lee who worked with them they had a party before the conference and all these guys from harvard, there was a big mention and foothills and they wanted to have a pre conference party and i thought it would be a cocktail party like harvard. so they went out there and i want to hire semper. >> music for the party and i heard the grateful dead. paul lee tells this great story where he was the main organizer and he was out there and i couldn't believe it. there were little kids and grandmothers running around naked by the pool and everybody, the infamous lsd chemist was there in a powder blue jumpsuits handing out lsd to anyone who

wanted it. paul we didn't take any because he had to give this paper the next morning and had already tried it actually. but they were all leaning back by the pool in the grass waiting for the dead to start playing, coming on to the acid. someone an ounce, one of the hosts announced the neighbors need us to move their cars. we are blocking -- there is a horse stable and we're blocking the driveway. everyone -- paul we thought of my god, the conference will fall apart and if they get their keys in the ignition they will start this game of psychedelic bobber cars, the police will, and you will all get arrested, the whole conference will be destroyed but another miracle was that all went out and move their cars. they came in the band played on. it all came out good. we have a couple more minutes. >> [inaudible] >> i don't know.

>> about five years ago someone died in an obituary in the new york times, he was a psychologist who said that he was hired to administer lsd basically giving to a few hippies and did some really rudimentary they use and then he found out he had been paid by the cia so i think some of the cia extermination of was really rudimentary and not a conspiracy that some people think it ought to be. my question to you, a great book, looks like a great book. leary began the psychedelic reader, a journal, an academic journal. i don't see you mentioning that in your index and i don't see you mention how did this book like problem child, can you comment on that? >> at mention hoffman but i might not have mentioned his book. leary and hoffman had a

love-hate thing. >> what happened to the psychedelic reader? >> i have seen it and then there was a harvard psychodelic review which i think was maybe before that. i'm not sure. ralph was in maybe the editor of that, not leary. >> [inaudible] >> like i said, there is so much i just couldn't give in. i had to skim across the top to get all the old and especially after they left harvard, with all four of these guys. i didn't even talk about huston smith, in one conan. he was born in china with a methodist missionary. is in the book. one more. >> you mentioned allen ginsberg and am wondering the results of your research what are your impressions of him and his role in all of this. where did he fit in all this? >> i think i mentioned, he just pops up on the cusp of

everything. earlier on with a whole story and all of that. you know, he played a role. he was with leary when started and he was an influence i think of how they looked at the drug experiences because he was interested in prison even that i believe. end huxley and ginsberg i think both pushed in that direction. i think these drugs -- which you think you're going to experience, your expectations have to do with what happens and if you think you're going to be in eastern mystical experience it helps make it back to. but more than ginsburg added it was huxley, the one i gave them the tibetan book of the dead which was basically the book they use as a guide for the psychedelic experience book that they wrote and john lennon used in his experience. i think we want to have time to sign books so thank you very much.

[applause] >> don lattin is the author of "jesus freaks: a true story of murder and madness on the evangelical edge", "following our bliss" and "shopping for faith", he has covered religion for the san francisco chronicle for close to 20 years and has taught writing and religion at the graduate school of journalism at the university of california at berkeley. for more information visit don lattin.com. >> on your screen now is carol beck, an administrator with the school in maryland, with her aunt for students from the seed school. explain what the seed school is and why you were at the national press club's offer night? >> well, the seat school of maryland it is a college prep public boarding school in baltimore city by serves students around maryland. the school is only two years old and a neat thing about the

school is that it is a boarding school. so are schools are living with us in college like dormitories during the week and go home on the weekends and the idea is two have that 24 hours into use and as well as we can say that all our students will be prepared for college. that's our goal. so the students here tonight are seventh graders and their already and have been talking about college are over a year which is when i came to seated and sixth grade last year. >> explain the philosophy. >> the idea of cd is a there are students who could really benefit and have life changing experiences if they're given 24 hours a day to focus on their studies and on all kinds of developments that help them be successful, not only in college but beyond and that is our belief singular goal to make sure all of our students are prepared. >> power you'll find it? >> we're largely funded publicly, it's a partnership so the state of maryland has made a

unique commitment to the long-term operating of funds for the school but the private sector on individual donors have made it possible for the campus to be built in there helping us with startup costs that we get to scale. >> and why are you at the national press club's offer night? >> we are thrilled to be at the national press club's author tonight. at the invitation at the club which take an interest in the seed school of maryland in our sister school and you see so the idea is our school is brand new and we have hardly any books the library so patrons at the prayer are making their own purchases for themselves and they're also buying dictionaries and novels for our library. and the students are here to find them and to also share with some of the patrons in very small booklet of their own ridings, poems and essays they prepared. >> let's meet the students. tell us your name, what grade in your favorite topic, subject. >> i name is bethany, i'm in the

seventh grade, and i really don't have a favorite subject because i'm good at all. but i like math and i'm doing are right now and ms. murphy is a really cool teacher. >> why did you decide to go or what are you going to the seed school? >> when i first got the offer it was, and away from my parents, and i get to be responsible for my own actions and the seated school really makes it opened that you can be whoever you want to be an express yourself but at the same time in your goal is two go to college so that's why i am at the cd school. >> what are you reading right now? >> right now we just finish the joy luck club and we're starting to read in frank's diary and is about a german girl who was segregated and had to go to these recreation camps and we just really want to hear her

opinion of what she was going through. >> stephanie, thank you very much. we have some more students here. this looks like devon tingle. did i get that right? i am holding in my hand in a booklet, what is it? >> in this booklet we have poems written by the students of the seed school and also artwork from the arch we have in our school. >> and are you published in here? >> guess one of artworks that i created. in the book i also have a textured -- >> go ahead and show it to a. >> we have different things in here. we also have college recreated. here are some of the artworks. here is my piece right here. i put tweens and other textures on my chest piece which is the bishop. they also did it the right, the queen and king. >> so you are a chess player?

>> yes, i'm in a chess club at the school. we have the rich clubs at the school such as basketball, football, soccer and other things. >> now, devon, you are here at the press club's author night. what kind of books do you want for your library? >> we have a dictionary which i would really like to help us with the school day because it also gives you tips about some of the words such as what we use in school. also we have very interesting things that i've looked back. this is a dictionary for high school. that i can tell you -- >> let's hold it up so everyone can see an ad hoc. is this a ditch near use in school? >> we don't have this which is why people are using -- buy books for our library. we have things that people buy so we're hoping to see these in our library at school. >> thank you so much. we have two more students.

how're you? >> what are you reading right now? >> by reading the mystery of the blue down the coast and i have been reading a book with the various stories in it called chicken soup with a teenage saul and is about how teenagers will have problems in school and their lives and how to over, those problems. it is really nice because we are all in middle school, becoming teen-agers and staff, so that is why i picked that up to read. >> would you enjoy most about the seed school, how did you get in? >> well, my friend only about seed school and so i really wanted to apply because i've always wanted to go to a boarding school. i thought it would be a really fun experience. i favor part about this seed school is learning on i hired

lover and learning new things that i didn't know before like algebra. i never thought i would learn some of the things that i'm learning now. all those things i thought would be so hard i would wait until tenth grade to learn but have already in seventh grade, already learning those things and it's exciting. >> so your library in school, if people are watching this and want to donate something to the seed school would be the best kind of books or resources to donate? >> i think the best books would be like something that would catch our i like something very interesting like it doesn't have to be always fun, it could be like real world riding like books by and biographies and dictionaries because -- you can always learn new words. is very cool to learn new words that you never knew before it. >> such as this dictionary here. so people can buy this dictionary and donate to the

cool -- to the school? >> yes. >> thank you so much period we have one more student we want to talk to in this is madison lee. >> hi. >> what are you reading? >> i am reading the diary of anne frank and i think it's very good and how her life was, how difficult it was to be. >> she was about seventh grade was and she? it is kind of weird to think about her and her life in your life of. >> yes, it is. >> are you a poet? >> yes, i am. i actually have a couple of poems in the booklet write here. >> in this book, here? would you like about poetry? >> i like poetry because i can express my feelings and tell what my life is going through and how maryland is. it also helps me learn something different flacon put different words in my poetry.

>> madison, what the rate are you in iraq's seventh. >> yes our. >> where are you from? >> baltimore maryland. >> thank you. carroll, one more question. if people are interested in donating to the seed school, books or whatever, what's the best way to contact you? >> we will provide our address and phone number. we have a website seed school md.org. >> carol back of seed school of maryland, thank you and your stevens. >> thank you. >> in-depth welcomes a think tank director, former ambassador and the foreign-policy divisor to ron

paul 2008 presidential campaign discuss the merits of withdrawing from iraq and afghanistan. the program was recorded december 9th, 2009. the independent institute in washington d.c. hosts the 90 minutes event. ..

>> now, of course, what prompted this form was the president recently gave a john kerry like speech last tuesday that essentially said we will escalate the war before we be escalated. and the president was against the surge in iraq, is now imitating that same search in afghanistan. the plan seems to be surge, stabilize the cities, and when time to train afghan security forces. that is, the hidden message that we are going to contain but not defeat the taliban. now the president an