I'm one of those people whom when I started having my first breakthrough experiences on acid and shrooms, I wanted to shout it from rooftops. And I kinda did for a while there, even had an article in a tattoo magazine where I recommended heroic doses of shrooms. In print, no less. And now I find that when I go to tattoo conventions and similar events, I can talk about the subject freely... But it's a pretty open minded crowd and I enjoy a privileged position in that scene as a publisher and educator, so I think it's helped some people to see that a psychedelic user can be a functional or even successful member of society.

At the same time, we live in the rural Midwest, and our neighbors (who I like quite a bit) are extremely straight. Other neighbors, just down the road, I've shared the spice with. So it's sort of a double life... But some folks just really have no need to hear about this aspect of myself.

I started a topic a few weeks ago called "Psychedelic parents" where we went into the parental aspect of this same question: can we be open with our kids? Of course we don't want them talking about their tripping parents in school. But one day my daughter will be old enough and curious enough to search her old man's name on the internet ... And she may very likely find psychedelic associations. I'm still figuring out how to prepare for this.

4 or 5 closest friends and my immediate family... I'm lucky though, that group of 8 or so people consists of; a few hippies, a witch, a jazz musician, a painter, and an attorney not unlike H.S. Thompson's. I have no will or want to tell anyone else. If someone comes along that changes that feeling in me then I'll consider it. You can never know for sure what's in another person's heart.