Levi is a trans man who came to live on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest from the Midwest where he was raised in a working class, military, and evangelical household in the grips of multi-generational trauma, alcoholism and abuse. Now an EMT, activist and homesteader, he and his partner Ronni run Oddland Farm, a project that gives access to nature to the queer community.

Episode 1: Levi Rodriguez and Ronni Tartlett, Nature and Survival

Fernell has always been most at home, most herself, in nature. She went to elementary school in South Dakota and as a young Black child she experienced a sense of belonging at an indigenous community school run by her father. After the family moved to Washington state, Fernell’s life changed as the realities of systemic racism set in. As an adult, Fernell has become an activist and educator, with the mission of desegregating the whiteness of natural lands and helping Black children access the natural world. Find out more about Fernell's work at https://www.therootofus.com/

Episode 2: Fernell Miller, Nature and Belonging

Sam, a tribal member of the Samish Indian Nation, grew up on a rural island in the Salish Sea- that was once part of ancestral land and waterways. He works as an archeologist and preservationist for the Stillaquamish Tribe and is one of the leaders of the yearly canoe journeys for the Samish Canoe Family and the Stillaguamish Canoe Family. He is a scholar of Samish languages and oral history. What would it be like, for Sam and his tribal family to be returned some part of their ancestral lands? Find out more about Sam's work at https://www.madrona.org/about

Episode 3: Sam Barr, Nature and History

Juniper, a twenty year old artist and writer, grew up on a rural island off the coast of NW Washington state, before moving to a city when she was ten. Those formative years spent immersed in nature forged her identity as an adventurer and a seeker. How does she navigate the contrast between the big world she has traveled since becoming an adult, and what was it like to return during a pandemic, to the quiet place where she first oriented herself?

Episode 4: Juniper Yarnall-Benson, Nature and Growing Up

Mitch walks in the woods early every morning to experience the dawn. This is where she gets her sparks of inspiration, where she contemplated how to bring multicultural perspectives to the predominantly homogenous population of the island where she lives. She envisioned an organization that would embrace and present cultural inquiry and conversation through the arts. Five years into its existence, Woman in the Woods Productions has brought dozens of diverse world class artists to perform locally, changing how her neighbors think about and understand the broader world.

Episode 5 Mitchell Marshall, Nature and Art

Añaelsin Lopez is now a UW student.  She came to NW Washington at the age of seven when her family fled Arizona under threat of proposed laws SB 1070 and HB 2162, migrating to work in the agriculture fields. Añaelsin’s creative writing work is included in the anthology “When The Dust Rises” with a foreword by U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera: 

“Celebrate these teen writers….every word is an incredible word. Every word is a word from deep nights of aloneness and from the sun-blaze of blistering work and the feverish joy of creativity, reclaimed voice and sudden being.”

Episode 6: Añaelsin Lopez, Nature and Migration

Eleanor is an herbalist, scholar, musician, writer, eros counselor, doula and educator. Her diverse interests have come together in Wild Beloved a project of passion and self discovery. 

PLEASE NOTE: The book A Language Older Than Worlds by Derrick Jensen and the movement of Deep Green Resistance are referenced positively in this podcast. 

404 FOUND condemns transphobia and bigotry of all kinds.

Episode 7: Eleanor Burke, Nature and Healing

This podcast is a series of conversations about creativity and trauma and the recuperative and generative powers of nature

404 Found Podcast Series One: Nature

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