Category Archives: Magazines

The Cosmic Servant

February 2003

In 1995 Jeremy Narby dropped une bombe with the publication of Le Serpent Cosmique. Available in English as The Cosmic Serpent since 1998, it is the story of an academic investigation that became an astral awakening. A Stanford-trained anthropologist, Narby had been working with indigenous people in the Amazon in the 1980s when, curious about the source of their sophisticated ecological knowledge, he took part in an ayahuasca ceremony. (more…)

Posted in Magazines, Other Magazine

A Study in Green:
My national I.D. card, your civil liberties

February 2002

I

Late last September, amid a newfound preoccupation with “homeland security,” our nation’s leaders publicly discussed the possibility of issuing national identity cards to U.S. residents. The proposal has since stalled, but for roughly 13 million of U.S. who are permanent legal immigrants its underlying premise is our daily reality. At all times, I am required by law to carry this, my Alien Registration Receipt Card (or “Green Card”). Unlike a driver’s license, this Green Card does not allow me simply to engage in some specific activity; rather, my possession of it is a precondition for my mere presence in the country. As would be the case with a national I.D., the card’s purpose is quite explicitly to monitor me, and it serves, furthermore, as a visible badge of the constriction of my civil liberties. If you are curious to know what your rights may come to look like in twenty-first-century America, ask me; in many respects, I already live there. (more…)

Posted in Harper's, Magazines

It Isn’t Easy Being Green

August 22, 1999

WHAT’S NEW DOWN ON THE FARM?

Ever since high-tech agribusiness started tinkering with the DNA of crops, genetically modified foods have been a battleground for environmentalists (who have called them ”frankenfoods”). Americans can buy genetically modified corn, potatoes and papayas, though in Europe, groups like Greenpeace have blocked the importation of some altered produce. But with the latest innovations, producers are betting they can beat the greens at their own game, casting their test-tube advances as the environment’s last, best hope. (more…)

Posted in New York Times Magazine