Mr.
Karr-
I noticed that Skeptical Inquirer contributor Harriet Hall mentioned my
book Flock of Dodos in the introduction to her June piece regarding the
mentality of non-skeptics in general and intelligent design advocates in
particular, and I thought I'd get in touch regarding a related matter. I
recently gave my first university lecture to a class on evolutionary
psychology at Rutgers, and it seems to have been well-received, as a professor
of philosophy at another New York-area school has invited me to speak to her
class as well. It occurs to me that, to whatever extent these lectures might
be helpful, they may perhaps be of best use in public high schools, where a
larger proportion of the student body would presumably be less exposed to
skepticism as a way of viewing the world. I've spent a bit of time looking
into volunteering to provide such lectures, but haven't been able to discern
how I might go about offering such services.
Would you happen to know how I could perhaps get involved in some sort of
speakers bureau or some such thing? I'd also be interested in assisting the
CSI with anything else that might be of assistance if you can think of
anything with which I could be helpful.
A bit about me: I'm a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, Huffington
Post, Skeptic, and True/Slant; in earlier years I also wrote for National
Lampoon, Cracked, The Onion A.V. Club, and other humor publications, which is
to say that I believe that I might be young enough and experienced enough in
the subtleties of modern humor to perhaps make an impression on students who
might otherwise disregard a guest speaker in the same manner in which I myself
used to disregard them. My second book - another volume of political humor -
is set for release in April, and I serve as director of communications for
Enlighten the Vote, a secularist political action committee founded by Ellen
Johnson.
Although I don't yet have access to video of my first lecture,
here's a clip of me
appearing on Fox News last year just to give you a sense of my
presentation (presumably I would be interrupted less in a classroom full of
high school students than I was on this particular program).
At any rate, please let me know if you can direct me to some method by
which to pursue further speaking engagements on the university level or below,
and also if CSI would have any use for me in any other capacity.
Thanks,
Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302