The Western imperial world is undergoing a crisis. Capitalism has reached its climax, and the Empire is in an accelerated stage of decline. People are afraid and looking for tools to make sense of the world. We are searching for answers, for ways to survive and build community in the imposing darkness.

I believe what we are searching for is in the past. It is in the ways of living that industrialism has coerced us to leave behind. The slow, quiet living. Life that is built fiber by fiber, thread by thread. I believe that hyper-capitalism has severed the relationship between humans and the world that surrounds us. Yet, by consciously returning to a slow, deliberate, small-scale lifestyle, we can take hold of our agency again.

How do we accomplish this? In community, and guided by the enduring philosophy of thought leaders such as Karl Marx, Kwame Nkrumah, Carl Sagan, Malcolm Ferdinand, Murray Bookchin, and countless more. These writers have opened my eyes to the cycles of extraction, production, and reciprocity between human and non-human life. Now, my mission is to create a space where I can share their teachings, as well as offer items that can replace mass-produced goods for slow, conscious, ethically sourced and crafted pieces.

My work is informed by my past academic and professional experience. I am inspired by my lifelong love of the natural world, science, and writing. This fuels my desire to put quality information into the hands of the people—especially laypeople.

In Every Fiber of My Being

My fascination with fiber arts began when I was a little girl. Sitting on the couch in my grandma’s house in Compton, CA, my “Ma-Ma” (grandma) taught me how to crochet. Throughout my life, she made me beautiful pieces to wear and decorate things with. Today, I forage with a pouch she made me, and my niece wears a beanie and scarf that my grandma made for my sister and me when were her age.

I have known fiber arts from childhood. Yet, in my adult years, the craft has become even more deeply rooted in my life, and grown to include knitting, weaving, sewing, and natural dyeing. My hand-woven products make up the foundation of my slow-living, handcrafted shop, while crochet is reserved for my personal enjoyment.

The process of weaving an accessory by hand, manually processing and spinning wool, and sewing up the finished fabric connects me to the natural world in a way that few things can. Much like the feeling of soil beneath my bare foot, the experience of creation, in partnership with plants such as cotton or animals like sheep and alpaca, reminds me of just how intertwined our human lives are with our non-human relatives. I wish to bring this awareness to those who are receptive, and give us all the tools to combat the capitalist system that attempts to destroy such sacred relationships.

Before I was a fiber artist, my career in science writing began back in 2015, when I was invited to join a professor, Dr. Doug McCauley, and then Ph.D. student, Lacey Hughey, to study the wildebeest migration in Serengeti National Park.

I managed the lab website, documenting our day-to-day lives and the most interesting aspects and goals of our project. At the same time, I kept family and friends updated on my personal experiences on my own website.

After returning to the United States, I later expanded my personal online platform to be a hub of scientific education, which ultimately became the late Black Flower Science Co. Here, I taught my readers about evolution and ecology, and encouraged discussion on how they saw themselves, as humans, relating to the natural world.

Now, I continue my work in ecology with the Wolf Conservation Center and here, as a fiber artist.

My freelance writing work has been featured in numerous science magazines, like NatureVolve and 2 Million Blossoms, and other publications with a broader focus, such as The Bark and Yes! Magazine. I was also a regular contributor to Massive Science as a Certified Science Storyteller, Hemp.inc, and 8 Billion Trees. These days, you can see my most recent work at Halo Science and The Vector Impact, among other platforms on occasion. See a list of my most notable written work here.