On episode 221 of The Quarantine Tapes, Paul Holdengräber is joined by the incredible Michelle Lhooq. Paul asks Michelle to unpack her unique name and her identity as a gonzo journalist, moving from Marcel Duchamp to Hunter S. Thompson and protest to psychedelics on this fascinating episode.Michelle tells Paul about her experiences reporting on the summer 2020 protests and how she is interrogating the roles of pleasure, drug use, and sobriety in today’s counterculture. They dig into some of Michelle’s incredible writing, from her pieces on music for psychedelic therapy to the rise of shrooms during the pandemic to her interrogations of the meaning of sobriety today.Michelle Lhooq is an independent journalist, and author of the stoner cult classic, WEED: Everything You Want to Know But Are Always Too Stoned to Ask (Penguin Random House). She writes a gonzo newsletter called Rave New World—a compendium of cultural commentary and field notes from the fringes of underground nightlife and drugs.Lhooq's work is centered on the themes of counterculture, consciousness, and political autonomy—through the critical lens of parties, protests, and psychedelics. After studying Comparative Literature at Columbia University, Lhooq was a music editor at VICE in NYC from 2014-2017, covering electronic music and global nightlife. Since moving to Los Angeles, she has been reporting on the new frontier of legal cannabis and psychedelics, coining the term "Cali Sober" in 2019. Her writing has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, GQ, and others. She also throws a party called Weed Rave. Paul Holdengräber is an interviewer and curator of public curiosity. He is the Founder and Director of Onassis LA (OLA), a center for dialogue. Previously he was the Founder and Director of LIVE from the NYPL, a cultural series at the New York Public Library, where he hosted over 600 events, holding conversations with everyone from Patti Smith to Zadie Smith, Ricky Jay to Jay-Z, Errol Morris to Jan Morris, Wes Anderson to Helen Mirren, Christopher Hitchens to Mike Tyson. He is the host of "A Phone Call From Paul," a podcast for The Literary Hub. Credits:Paul Holdengraber - Co-Creator, Host, OLA DirectorAnthony Audi - Co-Creator, Researcher, OLA DirectorAlejandro Cohen - Co-Creator, Producer, ComposerChristian Pitt - Production Coordinator Erin Cooney - Copy, ProductionDublab Team