The inner, reflective work of 10+ years had culminated to this day when 5.5 grams lay before me, my third mushroom experience and by far, the largest quantity. For the past three years the mushrooms had been calling. I had passed on a few opportunities, set and setting are of utmost importance. It all came together organically and to my surprise, this was the day. When they kicked in, I remember saying to my trip sitter, “Oh shit, I took way too much”. A wave of fear washed o

I have had the opportunity to explore psychedelics both recreationally and spiritually. In 2018, my friend talked me into joining her trip to South America to venture into the Amazon and try Ayahuasca with a shaman. However, my journey with psychedelics started when I moved to Austin, Texas. A friend and I decided to take a trip in the Greenbelt area. I have found when you are in the right place with the right people and you are prepared, the experiences are extremely rewardi

It’s been a minute since I have engaged in the glorious Galveston community. Regretfully I moved to Colorado following my daughter and leaving my ex-husband. Lest I digress. But the fact of it is once a Galvestonian, always one. My hopes are to return for retirement with the dream of settling in a lovely old home, raise some goats, and to offer a practice of functional medicine in the community. What a great segue to our topic, Psychedelics! In the mile “high” state in which

By CL In recent years, as we have seen an acceptance of circa 1910 era forgotten visionaries and futurists such as HP Lovecraft and Nikola Tesla, the world of independent and low-budget horror has gone through a bit of a neo-renaissance by including a new element: psychedelics. This perhaps began as early as Mary Shelly whose drugs-induced visions have been the catalyst for the tales of terror and unknown. Even during the original synthwave movement of the 1980's, we saw seve

I awaken with my stomach feeling like I am being stabbed with hot pokers and I stumble to the toilet as I spew a hot greenish liquid that burns my throat and nose. It splashes a trail to the toilet as it rushes out my body and I don’t even have the strength to flush before I collapse onto the floor, shaking and cold. The pain is unbearable and I feel like I am dying so I crawl to the cell door and try to bang on it and shout for help, but all I can manage is reaching my arm o

Is there hope for a prison writer? To the prison writer, hope says, “Generate as much work as you can possibly keep in your property, develop your craft, complete diverse projects of literary substance, and above all, don’t stop because one day, they’ll ask, 'What have you written?’” The prison writer ought to drop a load of work before the inquirer, like dumping duffle bags of money onto a table. One day. That’s all they might ever have. If that. Why ask, “Is there hope for

I stand suffocating in this 6’x10’ cell, holding on to the bars as I feel the walls closing in on me. It’s Friday afternoon and I’m watching the wing officer sort our mail, 15 feet in front of me. I watch and analyze the size of the mailbag and squint, trying to make out the writing on the envelopes as he pulls them out a few at a time, stacking them by rows. I am on row one, so my stack is either the first or the third one. The bag empties all too quickly and he sorts each r

“Forward... March!” My detail steps off in unison and we march to our designated positions, performing sharp turns and obliques perfectly in sync. I carry my Marine Corps Colors with pride and even feel my eyes water just a bit as I present to the National Anthem playing in the background. Marines do not cry, but our eyes do get shiny at certain moments. For me, this is one of those moments. My heart is filled with patriotism for my country, Esprit De Corps for my Marine Corp

Life is full of choices. All choices, even not making one, have a positive or negative effect, intended or unintended. Prison is no different. What determines the effect prison has on a person is choice, primarily the choice of response. The prison environment is inclined to take a person in a negative direction. After all, it is filled with law-breakers and limit-transgressors. The bad choices with negative consequences made in the free world offers prison as the effect and

In all my observations on belief, fraudulence in people of faith seems to be the ultimate cause of widespread unbelief. When you figure that with the reputation of ‘jailhouse religion’ (see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in “Pain and Gain”), our typical response is *in first-grade teacher enthusiasm* “Who’s ready to vomit?!” The entire class eagerly raises their waving hands. I’ve been to the place where everything ‘faith’ feels ‘fake’. Something along the prison corridor, a man

One of the most troubling problems in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) id rehabilitation and education are sporadic at best, and completely lacking at worst. Unfortunately, for over 140,000 individuals residing in our state penal institutions, the worst is far more likely to occur. In other worlds, “mass incarceration” does not mean “mass rehabilitation” or “mass education.” Instead, it means human warehousing; a place where people are stored until “the powers

I am a police officer for a local law enforcement agency and I was asked to provide my thoughts and opinions regarding this issue. As a law enforcement officer, I personally support certain reforms within the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Law Enforcement is just one of three cogs making up the Criminal Justice System; the other two being our Court Systems and Corrections. All three components work together to prevent and punish criminal behavior. Being on “the streets” for y

What are you looking forward to in 2021? How can we keep a positive outlook? What are you excited about? This is what the Culture Clash Staff asked me to keep in mind when writing an article for their January issue. The article is due tonight at midnight. They’ll probably let it slide until daylight if I decide to pull an all nighter like back in the old days (last year). Last year was pretty different. The only thing I can say I’m looking forward to in 2021 is more changes.

The election is over. Here on the Estelle Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), there is both joy and sorrow at the results. A bunch of, “I told you so’s” are going around, as well as, “I told you he would never win!” and, “I told you they would cheat and steal the election.” It’s all over for now and we can all let our collective breaths out, through a mask of course. We can look around and realize that our world has not come to an end, or that money hasn’

I was alone at the end of the bar staring down one more shot of tequila when something green, shiny, and plastic caught my eye. It was wedged between two bottles of forgettable bourbon on the shelf in front of me. I wanted it like a rash wants lotion. Glenda and Will were at the other end of the bar, deep in conversation. Something about new shoes and leftover Thanksgiving turkey. What’s the best way to cook a steak? When is the best time to buy crabmeat? They were heavily en

The first time I did acid was with Winston in Long Beach. He assured me everything would be fine. He’d done it hundreds of times. I trusted him. After dropping the cute little smiley faced piece of paper on our tongues, we started walking up Pine Street. What better way to experience life than among a crowd of our own kind. Well, that was my first mistake. LSD is not a casual drug. Derived from the rye fungus Ergot, it was synthesized by Sandoz Labs just after World War II. I

2020 was a horrible year; a bold statement but for many people, this statement is viciously true. 2020 consisted of a war scare, hornet swarms, large-scale forest fires, and in the US alone around 14 million people were laid off and 269,000 died from COVID-19. It’s fair to say everyone is ready for this year to end. Sadly the effects of this year are more than capable of holding thousands of people back from their true potential. In 2021 people need to get their act together.

You remember those days when you were a kid at a sleepover with your friends? You were in your pajamas, stuffing your face with pizza, snacks, and soda like nothing could go wrong. Then one of your friends pulled a DVD out of their bag for a movie you’d definitely never heard of and that probably shouldn’t exist. “This is the worst movie ever made,” they said. “And it’s gonna change your life.” 2020 was a lot like that bad movie night. We may have just endured what was undeni

In 2008, scientists out of the University of Vermont’s Complex Systems Center invented the Hedonometer, a tool that aggregates word data from online tweets and blogs to determine the general mood of society as a whole. They determined the amount of happiness in the world could be quantified by examining the online dialogue, and assigning numerical values on a scale of ten to a list of 10,000 hand selected words. If we were using more positive words in our texts, like “love,”