Man claims Santa Claus mushroom delusion
APPLEGATE. Ore (AP) — Even among mushroom
experts, David Arorn stands npari
Arora hopes somedav someone will document his the
ory that the legend of Santa Claus sprang from the toxii
and hallucinatory mushroom Amanita tmisi aria, used
for centuries by shamen to bring on dreams of revelation
"These mushrooms come from the Far North." Arora
said while tramping through the southern Oregon
woods "Santa Claus is dressed like them.' with a red
cap. "He's always going. Ho. ho. ho.- as he might if he
had eaten this mushroom.
"Reindeer an* also fond of eating them, and getting sort
of drunk and wobbly, and Santa Claus has got these rein
deer that fly."
The story is one of main startling departures from the
grim standards of myt ologv to he found in his latest
hook, All That tin■ Ham Promises anti More A Hip
Pocket Cmnlr to Western Mushrooms (Ten Speed Press)
The cover sets the tone with a photo of a i hamber
musician in a tuxedo with his trombone under one arm.
his hands filled uith chanterelles, and his far e hearing a
look of devilish joy as he stealthily steps through a
clump of live oaks.
"I firmly believe in stressing the fun in fungi. Arora
writes.
The book is salted with jolly mushroom hunters dam
ing through the woods with mushrooms on their heads
and telling stories of memorable hunts.
Arora tells of a murder solved In a clue left on a fun
gus called Artist's Palette, and a mushroom society lot
tery decided by which patio brick is displat ed In the
annual eruption of a puffball known as Dead Man s foot,
or pisolithus.
People recount how they dye sweaters, a dog and even
their own hair with mushroom pigments
"Initially, 1 think his work was resented by many of
thi* professional mycology group He was not a trained
professional mycologist Yet his key is the best out. by
far.” Mike Ainaranthus. an is osvstem loam leader for the
l ores! Servu a s Pai ifh Northwest Researi h Station said
Patrons of The Hook Stop in (‘.rants Pass i on« ur. vot
mg as it ft their w .diets
We sell tons.” said i Dimmer Helen Si ott. many to
people who hope to make extra money picking wild
mushrooms
Arora 40. first became interested in mushrooms while
growing up in Pasadena, Calif
Arora now lives in Santa Cruz. Calif. giving private
i lasses on identifying mushrooms ami selling his books
Arora spends a lot of time on the road, w hether in
southern Oregon selling books out of the 1 oyota halt h
back he slum's with his two dogs. Hay. orn and Tina, or
in the African country of Malawi, where he i omnium
i ates w ith lot al mushroom hunters by show mg them
pu tures
I believe in creatures doing what they ire designed to
do. and one of the things we are really good a! is forag
jug,” he said “The most am mitt questions oor mind
asks, even before we started inventing tools, would be
questions like. Why is there all this fruit on this tree,
and none over there'”'
Arora has less in common vyith si leiilisls than yyith
Siberian villagers who fill i rot ks yyith mushrooms they
find in the yvoods and salt them to make a i run* h\
i ondiment lor vodka
"I'll eat a lot more nuts if they're on a tree and I have
to |tii k them and * rai k them, than if lin y re just sitting
there.” he saiil
Arora dismisses the fear many Ameriiails have of yy ild
mushrooms
"If kids in Afro a and Mexico can learn them and pu k
them w ithout getting poisoned, there is no reason to fear
‘Initially I think his work was
resented by many of the
professional mycology groups. He
was not a professional
mycologist. Yet his key is the best
out, by far.
Mike Amaranthus
Pacific Northwest Research Station
them.'' he said
Mushroom hunting attracts people who tend H) he
hold and curious, and sometimes a little strung*!
Aroru recalls on*' time when a woman * ailed asking il
he would lead her to a put* It of matsutake. a mushroom
that is relatively rare in the West and highly prized in
japan lor its spu \ i inmnnon aroma Knowing of onh
one pat* h near his home, he agreed to take her, hot onh
if she agreed to he blindfolded
I said that thinking she would refuse, hut she said.
OK. Aroru re* ailed "We were really afraid the cops
would puli us over anti want to know why these two men
had a woman blindfolded h ing oil the floor of their i ar
They drove around in i irtdes and led the woman
tlirough 111** woods to the sis ret pat* h. where thev let hei
pu k some Then they put the blindfold ba< k on and took
her home
"Two years later, this woman who knew her called
me Hv this time I hod found some ni* or pat* lies, and
this one had heeu discovered. So I said. 1 will take V on
there And I won't have to blindfold vou
When I said that, she lost interest
WSU seeks to ban racist comments
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) The Commission on
the Status of Minorities at Washington State Uni
versity is again seeking to ban racist comments
The commission last week asked university Pres
ident Sam Smith to adopt a tougher racial harass
ment policy.
The panel last year hocked off seeking a ban on
racist comments after a U S. Supreme C ourt rul
ing shot down so-called "speech codes. 1 he uni
versity instead prohibited sexual and racial harass
ment without directly banning racial remarks.
But after some racial incidents this autumn,
including the appearance of n white supremai ist
flier on campus, the commission came up with the
new request
The new proposal would prohibit racist or dis
criminatory comments or epithets that demean
someone's race, nationality or ancestry . comments
that "create an intimidating, hostile or demean
ing environment"; or comments that tend to incite
"an immediate breach of the peace.
"We always felt there is a need for a statement
on racial harassment, to first ol all send a strong
message to the university community regarding the
commitment to nondiscrimination, said Alex 1 an.
director of Washington State's Morrow School of
Communications and chairman of the commission.
‘You can have sanctions
there, but is it really going to
end bigotry... I don't think so.’
Dawn Reynolds
President Pullman ACLU
Tan said another goal is to clarify what rai nil
harassment is, so jieophi vs ill know what should
not be tolerated
Punitive s.hk lions were not part of the rei om
inundation, but violations of the policy likelv would
he referred to the i am pus conduct hoard. I an said
The American t aval l iberties l num said a hall
on free speei h is the wrong wav to fight rat Ism
"foil can have sanctions there, hut is it reallv
going to end bigotry :' said Dawn Reynolds, pres
ident of the Pullman chapter of the AC .1.1 I don t
think so."
Reynolds said the university could do more to
create diversity by hiring more minority faculty
members
Reynolds said the proposed policy probably
would not stand up to a legal challenge
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