Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Reflecting on spores spread this past May and future fungal delights in store!
Dear Fellow Myconauts,
In next week's discussion, we are visiting the land of Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind! Join us in Arlington Garden in Pasadena on June 10th at 7 p.m. to discuss the wondrous worlds of Nausicaä created through the books and the film. For tickets and more info keep on scrolling.
Reflecting on May’s Spores
Last month's talks at LAPL and The Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens were truly exceptional. Extending my heartfelt gratitude to Hilda Guerrero for her invaluable contribution in setting up the LAPL series of talks & walks and to Rafa Gomez and Claire Eberhart for their outstanding work in organizing the Huntington fungi talk. Your efforts have enriched our community, and I am deeply grateful. Here’s a few pictures from last month’s magical moments…
Scenes from my last Los Angeles Public Library Fungi Talk and book giveaway! This was part of a special two-year-long Expedition LA program funded by the CA State Parks.
Speaking to the largest audience I’ve had in Los Angeles about How To Love a Mushroom at The Huntington Library, Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Sherry shared her “Lichenthropy” poem at one of our last Mycoverse events—a poem reflecting on her visit to the California Lichen Society Annual Meeting in Santa Barbara this past winter with fellow Mycoverse myconauts.
Discussion: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Monday, June 10th, 7pm @ Arlington Garden, Pasadena, CA – Free by donation
We’ll be raffling off a copy of Entangled Life!
Impressively written and released 40 years ago, the topics explored are as timely as ever:
How do we live on a damaged planet?
What role will fungi play?
How do we respond to war and conflict?
How do we be brave and create new worlds together with our more-than-human kin?
What do stories look like that are not based on the archetypical hero’s journey and domination?
How do we navigate advances in technology, working with artificial intelligence, and the utopias they inspire?
How has Nausicaä Valley of the Wind inspired you? Come and share with us!
**We highly recommend reading this story's manga.** Its rich narrative and beautiful details inspired us to host this event.
"Suffering and tragedy and folly will not disappear in a purified world. They are part of humanity. That is why even in a world of suffering, there can also be joy and shining light."
Fungi & The Book of Delights
Monday, June 24th, 7pm @ Arlington Garden, Pasadena, CA – Free by donation
Join us in discussing Ross Gay's Book of Delights and how fungi taught him (and us) how to experience joy wherever we are. There’s an entry dedicated to fungi and it’s one of the most beautiful peices we’ve read so it inspired us to dedicate an event around it.
When Ross Gay was asked how can he possibly be focusing on joy and write a book about delight during such serious times he responded by saying:
“What aren’t serious, hard times? ... because joy is fundamentally a practice of connection, I wrote the book, it came out six months ago now, and now that I’ve written it, I feel like I have a pretty good definition of the word joy.... I offer one in the book, but I feel like it’s getting better.
And I think that definition might be something like the ways that we practice entanglement, the feeling that we have when we actively practice being entangled with one another. That word “entanglement,” I think I come to that through a beautiful book by a writer named Anna Tsing, called Mushroom at the End of the World. But that we are connected fundamentally. And if joy is actually the evidence of connection, and it’s the evidence of participating in connection, to suggest that it’s not serious is just wrong. Usually, I have stronger words than wrong, like fucking stupid."
Check out the event page for more info.
Links in the Myconautical Almanac
Climate change is moving tree populations away from the soil fungi that sustain them.
Cicadas out east! That means it’s Masospora season, y’all.
Fermentation as a way of life and political practice via Ferment Radio.
Mushroom-growing boom could cause biodiversity crisis, warn UK experts.
Spread the spores,
Aaron