Author: Sofia

  • When Words Die

    Sofia Perez We are raised on a steady diet of acceptance when it comes to the circle of life. I wonder though, how often we think of the life cycles of cultures themselves. These seemingly eternal forces that dictate so much of life for so long and for so many people…can die? As chilling as…

  • Dirt, DNA & Declarations of Rights: Why is food so tricky?

    Sofia Perez The mouth is an underappreciated organ. It is the place where our voices leave our bodies, where food enters in. It allows us to give; it allows us to take. Think of all the interactions that happen there on a daily basis and how they influence your life. To narrow it down to…

  • We don’t know our food. Are dying languages the answer?

    Sofia Perez Chapter 2 of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring begins like this: “The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.” By asserting this fact, she is also asserting an often-overlooked reality: connection. This means that the myth of the world being divided between humankind and…

  • Building The Future With Mycelium

    -Written by Sofia Perez I’m going to tell you a story. I’m an invisible man. You’re in a lavish restaurant, poking impatiently at a hunk of steak that’s cooked just the way you like. It’s a little pink, a little raw…just like you. You’re raw and emotional, sometimes a bit erratic, which you hope to…

  • Why Mushrooms & Not Steel or Concrete

    We tend to associate ‘looking up’ with hope. ‘Down’ is quite the opposite. If we delve deep into the earth, we find dirty things, and eventually, at the Earth’s very core, it was once believed we would even find Hell. However, if you were to ‘look up’ in a different sense-perhaps by looking down at…

  • Beauty of Mycelium

    Use is in need of beauty to survive. Beatrix Potter was the renowned author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and one of the first ground-breaking female mycologists. In her study of fungi, she produced hundreds of sketches of fungi in their natural setting as well as collecting several herself. She was a model of ambition,…