First Draft to Published

1) Martin Banzer, one of the main characters, travels to Bolivia to get in touch with his Bolivian roots. Then, rather than branching out and meeting family members, he spends his days in a coffee shop eating cheesecake and reading The New York Times. 2) Cheryl Lewis, a young woman who has just graduated from UVA, is probably the bravest character in Plant Teacher. She finds a job in Bolivia and then moves abroad without knowing anyone in that country or having any support network. 3) Gus Adams is a missionary with a graduate degree in development economics. He is a walking encyclopedia of socioeconomic statistics. 4) The idea for Plant Teacher was born when a retired U.S. Army colonel told me about his experiences with a hallucinogenic drug, caapi . He felt that he’d experienced a form of spiritual enlightenment, and I kept thinking, Can you really buy wisdom? If you do, isn’t there a price to pay? 5) I made Martin Banzer try caapi at the beginning of Plant Tea...