Feminist Mycology & Interdependence Day Celebration
Embracing fungi as companion species.
Dear Fellow Myconauts,
Next up in the Mycoverse…
Feminist Mycology - Mushrooms as Companion Species
Monday, July 10th, 7pm @ Arlington Garden, Pasadena, CA
Lynn Margulis’s paradigm-shifting work on introducing symbiosis into evolution blew our minds. Following this inspiration, we will explore who is responding to Lynn Margulis’s work. Anna Tsing is one such person. Anna Tsing proposes we acknowledge fungi and mushrooms as feminist multi-species companions to learn the arts of living on a damaged planet.
Our next discussion will read her short Mushrooms as Companion Species, a 2012 paper published before her book The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins (2015).
She invites us to question the big stories that maintain the status quo. We are already entangled in fungi’s ways of living, what if we embraced this entangling instead of frivolously trying to detach ourselves, attempting to assert dominance? How do fungi change how think of gender, race, families, governance, and even love?
We have since learned there are so many ways to be in relationships with fungi than just foraging – so we will weave together what we've learned where Anna Tsing gave us fertile (full of compost) ground to think from.
For more info, like to learn what the heck a companion species is, please visit the link above!
In[ter]dependence Day Potluck
Tuesday, July 4th, 3-6pm, Robyn’s Backyard Glendale, CA
Let’s celebrate the independence (and interdependence) that learning about and from fungi has brought to our lives with a potluck gathering in Robyn's backyard in Glendale on July 4! Thank you Robyn for hosting!!
For more info click the link above.
Mycoverse Field Trip - Oyster Mushroom Grow Kit Workshop
Thursday, July 13th, 5pm, @ Los Angeles State Historic Park 1245 North Spring Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 (note – at the south end of the park, at the farmer’s market)
Last week’s cultivation workshop with James was so fun so we will be returning again for any folks who missed out! Come learn from Radical Mycologist James Oliver of Metabolic Studios to learn more about their literally groundbreaking work remediating the LA River and cultivating relationships with fungi! James will teach the basics of mushroom cultivation and you will take home an oyster mushroom grow bag.