Count me in!! I would love to go to the World Psychedelic Forum in Basel. I am a college student, studying social work and psychology, who is fascinated by human consciousness and the research surrounding the mind and body and their responses to different psychoactive chemicals and "mind-manifesting" plants. I love reading, writing, and sharing experiences in the interest of expanding my own knowledge, helping others, and contributing to harm reduction and positive change.
I have been reading Shulgin, McKenna, Huxley, Strassman, Leary, Pinchbeck, Castaneda, Hofmann, and various other authors over the past five years to learn about the different historical, cultural, spiritual, and personal contexts for the use and study of psychedelics, and have recently started making my way through the back issues of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (Journal of Psychedelic Drugs), in addition to taking advantage of online resources and the opportunity to engage in a dialogue and share knowledge here. However, I would absolutely love to take my knowledge a step further- the WPF interests me as a way to hear a variety of viewpoints on different subjects, to hear the most up to date information about the progress of psychedelic research, an issue that is very important to me, and to support knowledge and open sharing of information with regard to these issues in a very real and personal way.
I have spring break that week and have been debating where to go/what to do. I know I want to travel, but the dates are soon approaching, so I've been pressed to make up my mind. As a college student, I don't have much money, but if I am awarded tickets from DF I will certainly be able to cover my airfare and housing. I have a passport, so international travel should not be a problem.
Out of all my options for spring break, this is the one I most want to pursue. Travel is always fun, but I would love the opportunity to do something like this with my time- to benefit from the wisdom of all the different speakers who bring their years of research and experience to share, and to share that knowledge with others who can't be there. I am definitely willing to write reports of all the lectures and activities I attend and report back on DF daily.
I do have a digital camera and a laptop, so I should easily be able to keep in touch and keep everyone updated. I don't have a video recorder, so that would need to be left to someone else.
I am a people person, communicate well, and love to learn, read, and write, so I think I would be able to get a lot out of the conference and effectively share that with others so everyone can benefit. I am told I am quite mature for my age, often optimistic and even sometimes idealistic but also reasonable and level-headed, and think I could benefit from such an experience.
If I am chosen to go, I also know who I would want to ask to come with me. As a young woman, I would feel uncomfortable traveling alone to a new place, so I appreciate the offer of paired tickets. If I am chosen to go, I plan to ask my close friend M to accompany me. She and I have shared in many wonderful and life changing experiences together, and have had many a lively discussion about the issues facing society and our generation, the state of consciousness and freedom, and the need to do all we can to live positively for ourselves and for everyone and everything around us. I would trust her with my life, and believe she would benefit immensely from attending the WPF as well. She is also studying photography and has both the experience and equipment to take high quality images (and even knows how to develop them herself). So she could certainly contribute some unique images as well- though likely not immediately or in real time.
Also, I think it is so important for young people to educate ourselves about these topics, to actively pursue knowledge and change, and to step outside of ourselves and our culture and be a part of the larger global community. I believe that visiting other countries and networking with other people is so important for my generation, and I hope to be a positive representation of my country despite the negative perceptions and problems that we have. In high school I won a scholarship for a foreign exchange program and spent time with a host family abroad. It was a life changing experience. While four days in Switzerland is not comparable to a semester abroad, I do think that coming together to share such an experience as this conference with people from all over the world is an extremely powerful act.
Thanks for the great opportunity Alfa, it's a great idea.. I hope to go but either way am happy that DF will be represented and will benefit from the knowledge shared.
Also~ My email is
Moda000@gmail.com (it's not a mistake; my screen name has two zeros-
Moda00- but that was taken in the email program/server, so I added a third zero at the end for my new email account) Feel free to reach me via email or pm if you need more info or have any questions about my willingness or ability to take on the responsibility of attending and reporting on the Forum in March.
Another thought I had- If there is someone who only wants one ticket, I would be willing to take the other individual ticket as well and split one of the pairs. However, I would also love to be able to travel with a friend, and would find that ideal safety-wise. But I am certainly open to discussing other arrangements in order to maximize the number of people who can go, and make things run as smoothly as possible. I'm pretty flexible and open to the arrangements as you see fit. Especially if there will be multiple DF representatives there, in that case I could feel more comfortable going alone and meeting up with the group there.. either way; just keep us posted
EDIT: Update 03/07/08- It doesn't sound like my friend is able to pay for airfare and get off work, so it'll likely be just me- if I win, I'm happy to give the second ticket to another Df'er if my friend doesn't come, which it sounds like she won't be able to. I already have my plane ticket, hotel, and seminar (the Greys' vision and art seminar- so hard to choose between that and Grof, but I'm an artist at heart..) paid up as of today, but that cleaned my savings out pretty good, so I would be eternally grateful for free entrance.
Oh and also- cheating= not cool guys.
Thanks Again!!
Ohh one more thing, I just realized I have a Sony digital recorder, I use it for lectures at school sometimes- it records voice and then converts it to text on the computer- so while I can't video tape things too well (maybe 30 second clips on my digi cam) I could do audio and convert to text documents of presentations. That said, I'm a good multi-tasker but probably won't be able to juggle four or five gadgets at a time, so will perhaps prioritize the written reports and photo, or whatever is most needed relative to what others can provide.