01 Aug Telluride Mushroom Festival: Eugenia Bone with Novel Spins on Psychedelics & More!
The Telluride Mushroom Festival (TMF) returns for the 44th year in a row. And when that happens–this year August 14 – August 18 –the Town of Telluride will be taken over by amanita hat-wearing, mold- and spore-worshipping mycelium fanatics.
Go here for more on the history of the Telluride Mushroom Festival. (Scroll back to 2009.)
And please scroll down to listen to a podcast with returning Festival favorite, Eugenia Bone.
Eugenia Bone, credit Susan Hornyak
Respected publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are singing in harmony on the subject of the so-called “psychedelic revolution.”
“Psilocybin and MDMA are poised to be the hottest new therapeutics since Prozac. Universities want in, and so does Wall Street. Some worry a push to loosen access could bring unintended consequences…” wrote The New York Times.
Internationally known food and nature writer – and Telluride Mushroom Festival regular – Eugenia Bone, has a new book out on the subject of Psilocybe mushrooms. “Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience.”
The work describes all the ways we use Psilocybe mushrooms today, from collection to preparation, from harms to trip types, and the self-organized groups whose experiments are leading the science. The text covers mycology and neuroscience, but in great part the book synthesizes the vast trove of anecdotal experiences that constitutes most of what we know about the “magic” in these mushrooms.
“Have a Good Trip’ is not a guide. Rather the book addresses all the questions the mushroom curious might have.
However the book is not out until October 2024. (Though you can preorder here.)
Thankfully for mycophiles Eugenia is returning to the Telluride Mushroom Festival to deliver two interesting spins on psilocybes.
On Thursday, August 15, the talk is “Evaluating the Hype: How to Write Responsibly About Psychedelic Drugs,” during which Eugenia will discuss the traps, legal and moral, writers encounter when covering contraband substances, also the tools a journalist can employ to avoid those traps. Tools which may be useful to anyone who is trying to evaluate claims, retreats, and other aspects of the psychedelic industry today.
On Friday, August 16, Eugenia’s subject is “Aging in the Psychedelic Experience: The Surprises of Senior Tripping,” a talk that explores how magic mushrooms may affect one’s perspective about aging. Apparently there are correlations to be made between studies on depression, creativity, and openness, and senior states of mind like fear of death, chronic pain, declines in empathy, creativity, and meaningful experiences.
Eugenia’s insights have appeared in many books – she has author or co-authored nine, including “Mycophilia,” a bestseller in the category. She also writes for magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The National Lampoon, Saveur, Gourmet, BBC Science, and The Wall Street Journal, for which she is a frequent book reviewer.
Eugenia is also a member of the American Society of Science Writers, founder of Slow Food Western Slope in Western Colorado, and former president of the New York Mycological Society, She has lectured widely in diverse venues like The New York Public Library, the Denver Botanical Garden, the Reuben Museum – and, of course, the Telluride Mushroom Festival.
Eugenia has also been featured on dozens of television and radio shows, and podcasts and is a member of the faculty at the New York Botanical Garden where she teaches classes on mycophagy and psychedelic mushrooms. She also appeared in Louie Schwartzberg doc, “Fantastic Fungi” and was a contributor to its companion book.
For more, check out our podcast with Eugenia Bone.
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