Dirt Licker.
Educator.
Forest Dweller.
Storyteller.
I am a mother to one perfect cat, two spoiled yet emotionally bereft dogs, and a courageous human child. I am fortunate enough to create a home with my love, painter Gage Opdenbrouw. We live deep within fire country, among the tallest trees in the world, close enough to the ocean that we can taste salt in the fog. I have a background in union organizing, abortion and birth work, & I am a certified UC California Naturalist and trained raptor handler, all of which informs my writing. I do not come from an academic background. My writing lineage comes from reading books, essays, manifestos and poems by writers I deeply admire (and yes, those I do not), as well as folklore, art, film, photography and music. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has supported me working towards publication; it is scary and uphill and the bouts of joy are deceiving, but I could not be more thrilled to grind into the work. It is work that is done in solitude and yet I am not alone. Thank you.
Land Acknowledgement
I write place based story, and yet, the land that I am on, it is not my own. Much of the land I write about is unceded Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Land, but you will also find stories spanning through Kalispel Tribal Lands. These lands have been and are currently tended by Indigenous folks, many of them women and two-spirit/queer leaders, who have protected their ancestral knowledge in the face of brutal and inhumane colonialism. They are scientists, healers, artists, and community organizers. I believe, as an act of healing/inward and justice/outward, that white folks are obligated not only to correct decades of historical whitewashing and colonialism, but to take direct action in supporting rematriation.
If you are not Native to this land but reside in the Bay Area, please join me in paying your annual Shuumi Land Tax to the Sogorea Te' Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Or, find an indigenous land trust/tax to pay into that is local to you . You can learn more about this critical movement here.
Educator.
Forest Dweller.
Storyteller.
I am a mother to one perfect cat, two spoiled yet emotionally bereft dogs, and a courageous human child. I am fortunate enough to create a home with my love, painter Gage Opdenbrouw. We live deep within fire country, among the tallest trees in the world, close enough to the ocean that we can taste salt in the fog. I have a background in union organizing, abortion and birth work, & I am a certified UC California Naturalist and trained raptor handler, all of which informs my writing. I do not come from an academic background. My writing lineage comes from reading books, essays, manifestos and poems by writers I deeply admire (and yes, those I do not), as well as folklore, art, film, photography and music. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has supported me working towards publication; it is scary and uphill and the bouts of joy are deceiving, but I could not be more thrilled to grind into the work. It is work that is done in solitude and yet I am not alone. Thank you.
Land Acknowledgement
I write place based story, and yet, the land that I am on, it is not my own. Much of the land I write about is unceded Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Land, but you will also find stories spanning through Kalispel Tribal Lands. These lands have been and are currently tended by Indigenous folks, many of them women and two-spirit/queer leaders, who have protected their ancestral knowledge in the face of brutal and inhumane colonialism. They are scientists, healers, artists, and community organizers. I believe, as an act of healing/inward and justice/outward, that white folks are obligated not only to correct decades of historical whitewashing and colonialism, but to take direct action in supporting rematriation.
If you are not Native to this land but reside in the Bay Area, please join me in paying your annual Shuumi Land Tax to the Sogorea Te' Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Or, find an indigenous land trust/tax to pay into that is local to you . You can learn more about this critical movement here.