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