Say hello to your own mind. Jeff Warren's cover story, "Tourists of Consciousness," is a total headfuck; it's simultaneously a journey inside the brain's unknowable recesses and a tour of the outermost edges of reality. South American shamans have long used the hallucinogenic plant mixture ayahuasca in religious ceremonies, and it's now popular with Westerners looking for a new kind of high. For this article, Warren tried it himself, resulting in a dizzying tale of visions and vomit. But what do you expect from a drug that some users claim gives them a glimpse into an alternative universe? Ultimately, Warren argues, your world is what your mind makes of it. Hence, on our cover, the brain laid bare, a nude organ ready to explore and be explored in turn.

Also in this issue:

Kate Molleson on classical music's indie turn.

Salvatore Ciolfi on life as a sexsomniac.

Candice Vallantin uncovers the dark side of vintage clothing.

Sheila Heti has three ideas for the underemployed thespian.

Pasha Malla wonders if we can rewrite our own stories.

Kitra Cahana photographs America's young nomads.

Farrah Merali on the rise of Palestinian hip hop.

Monica Kidd profiles the people bringing good taste to hospital food.

Chris Urquhart poses nude in Berlin.

All this, plus fiction by Taqralik Partridge and Nadine Bismuth, poetry by Jim Johnstone, the Book Room and the Music Room. What a perfect stocking-stuffer!

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