Sisu Magazine Issue Three: Revival

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SISU Pronounced see’-soo. A Finnish term embodying the spirit of grit, guts, and perseverance. Sisu represents a human being’s ability to face any adventure riddled with hardship, hopelessness, and impossibility, yet they still choose to stay the course.

It’s not a temporary state of courage, it’s a way of life.

SISU MAGAZINE A collection of uninterrupted stories, brilliant photographs, and stunning art that evokes the indomitable human spirit that exists in all of us. An exploration into the experiences and perspectives about the outdoors, told by our contributing writers, photographers, and artists who represent a bold, insightful collective voice.

f r o n t a n d b ac k cov e r a rt wo r k by l au r e n b e l lo O k e r m a n @ @ @

I am more been in m efficient now th an ye a diminis ntire life. Hormo I have ever n h of others ing regard for t al anger + he wellbe when it c ing ome my dimini shed pati s at the expense ence = of sentenci ng withou An expedient t a jury. a n In doo r g ir l o n th o utd e oo rs 6 learning a new language Pag e 12

CONTENTS

A Lesson on Land Love by Jennifer Gurecki

10 ask jenny bruso

Trans on the Trail by

Jenny Bruso

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reduce, reuse, upcycle Sustainable Style by Erica Zazo

12 an indoor girl on the outdoors Letter to the Universe by Melanie Briggs 52 14 nature is a woman’s place Myth of Menstruation Outdoors with Margaret Seelie

20 livin’ la vida llama

Pack Animal

Parables by Jennifer Gurecki

22 mountain biking 101, 201, + 301 Lessons from Liv Ladies AllRide by Lindsey Richter

coming full circle

Running to Heal with

Shandi Kano by Jennifer Gurecki

56 poetry in motion Because by Chris Whalen

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the celeste barber of cycling Ironic Instagramming by Jennifer Gurecki

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summer camping essentials Gear for Getting Out by Madeline Kelty

26 birds of a feather

Avian Art by

Christina Armetta

32 doing the mountain

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who’s in charge

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fight for you

The Duo Behind

Outdoor Journal Tour by Jennifer Gurecki

Hoverboards and Higher

Purpose by Lynsey Dyer

DIY Fashion by Devin Bridson

38 dont let go

Deep Desert Imagery by

James Harnois

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making a comeback The Latest Old Thing by Samantha Romanowski

4 4 what’s in my pack

Snacks and Other

Important Stuff with Kenya and Michelle

4 8 the pitch

Indigenous Design with Yhi Creations

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summer reading roundup

Books

to Bask In by Jill Sanford

winterwondergoddess

Bridget

Law’s Community by Tibby Plasse

t don’ eople c I o 77 li “S ow p b u p h r care enjoy ou hem to 80 t o t t m n e e a s th choo , I just w o enjoy or them f t s 82 land t there, to fight .” s u d e o get sibly, an eed aris n on ma resp hen the Ll a a w id L

n’ ivi

marketplace

Shop It

eat, drink, + be merry A Refreshing Summer Sipper by Vanessa Barajas

that’s what he said

Sisu Suit Satire by

Andrew Pridgen

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STAFF follow @sisumagazine #gritandguts

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jennifer Gurecki CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lauren Bello Okerman CONTENT EDITOR Jill Sanford

SUBSCRIBE Never miss an issue. Subscribe at SisuMagazine.com

CONTACT For general inquiries, write to hello@sisumagazine.com

SUBMISSIONS If you’d like to contribute, email us at submissions@sisumagazine.com

SPONSORS To enquire about advertising or sponsorships, get in touch at sponsor@sisumagazine.com

STOCKISTS If you’d like to stock Sisu Magazine, write to stockme@sisumagazine.com

CONTRIBUTORS Christina Armetta Vanessa Barajas Devan Bridson Melanie Briggs Jenny Bruso Lynsey Dyer Hasna Eltahany Lacey England Jen Kennedy Madeline Kelty Leah Koransky Victoria Plasse Andrew Pridgen Lindsey Richter Samantha Romanowski Jill Sanford Margaret Seelie Chris Whalen Erica Zazo

letters to the editor Send your letters to editor@sisumagazine.com and snail mail or gifts to 3983 S. Mccarran Blvd. #481 Reno, Nevada 89502

©2019 Sisu Magazine, All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the editor, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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“Y

ou may shoot me with your words. You may

cut me with your eyes.

You may kill me with your hatefulness. But still, like air, I’ll rise.”

Maya Angelou American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist 1928-2014

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FROM THE EDITOR

Organized religion has never been my jam. I attended Sunday School only once when I was being cared for by dear family friends when my brother was born. My babysitter in elementary school was Mormon and my neighbors would gift me a Mormon bible every year for my birthday (I think they were trying to tell me something). I was raised in an agnostic household, and my spiritual-free childhood is likely due to the resting bitch face that my grandma Alice donned at my parents’ wedding. My mother was raised Jewish and my father Catholic, and no one was happy that they chose not to marry within their faith (along with my father’s inability to complete a sentence without dropping at least one four letter word). So they said fuck it and we celebrated holidays like Christmas and Easter for the food and presents and festive decorations.

So you might wonder how we landed on Revival, a word laden with religious connotations, as the theme of Issue 3.

Revive is the translation of chayah and means “to live” or “cause to live.” It’s the restoration to life (Genesis 45:27; Judges 15:19, etc.), of rebuilding (Nehemiah 4:2), of restoration to well-being (Psalms 85:6). I, like many of you, am revived when I spend time in nature. I become grounded, strengthened, and connected to something bigger than myself. Perhaps that’s why “going to church” has taken on a new meaning on those Sunday mornings when we choose to worship and revel in the wonders of our natural world.

Inside this issue, we’ve curated stories about the people who share spiritual experiences similar to my own. They are breathing new life into the outdoors. Their experiences in nature are ones of endurance, strength, spirituality, and revitalization. The existence of Sisu Magazine is also a revival of sorts—we’re hoping to resurrect print into a tactile, analog experience that requires us to slow down and soak it all in.

You also might notice that we are partnering with Merrell in Issue 3, and we can’t thank them enough for helping to bring this issue to life. Gone are the days of static, glossy print ads that act like hard stops in what should be a flow. We’re grateful that they understand our vision at Sisu Magazine and that they’ve chosen to support us and so many other people who are trying to create more inclusive and relevant outdoor experiences. We are excited to engage with the brands and the people behind them who are making a difference and living their values, and we hope you are too.

Jennifer Gurecki Editor-In-Chief

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FROM THE creative director Revival is the coveted state of hope, the gathering of energy, the surge towards re-creation, and the blossoming of promise. A perfect frame of mind with which to exit the hibernation of wintertime (god knows we love snow, but change is always good)––revival gives us the chance to redraw our lines and rewrite our verse into the productive months ahead.

Sisu’s third issue, Revival, takes its lead from the spring and summer seasons and finds its creative muse in the bird, our feathered friend who appears as our days get longer and warmer. The only creature that travels through the sky, the bird is a universal symbol of hope, of peace, and of transcendence.

In the art of the Pueblo people, the bird is part of the symbolic pantheon of moisture prayer. The “rain parrot” is a spiritual go-between to the upper gods to ask for rain—the great reviver of the earth and soil, the catalyst for corn and abundance for the people. From the other side of the world, we have the mythical Phoenix, the ultimate symbol of rebirth. Rising from the ashes of its predecessor’s fire, the Phoenix embodies the regenerative cycle of being and the power of flaming out and rebuilding.

Christina Armetta’s bird illustrations on page 26 are a singularly jovial collection of personalities that highlight the diversity and humor of these creatures—how colorful and how exotic. How can our hearts and minds not be stirred to wild places? From a flamingo to a penguin, these animals excite our basic desire to fly, soar, and dive.

So, as we always do, we look to nature to inspire us to move forward. Let’s take a note from our winged messengers from the sky and stay light, stay nimble, and keep our eyes on the horizon in this season of Revival.

“I hope you love birds, too.” - Emily Dickinson

Lauren Bello Okerman Creative Director

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ts, is t n e lists i a c n s r f jou mo a te a ives, and me ans to t cre a s what it n le ar he l and. t lov e

Jennifer Gurecki | @yogurecki

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n the spring of 2018 Samantha Dwinnell, Anya Tyson, and Tennessee Jane Watson set out to follow one migratory animal—Deer 139—along the 85-mile migration path from her winter range in the sagebrush steppe outside LaBarge, Wyoming, up into and over the Wyoming Range, across the Greys River, to an alpine cirque in the Salt River Range. In the process they became keenly aware of what it’s like to post hole in sugar snow up to your crotch.

Migratory ungulates have become popular in the larger conversations around conservation and management and understanding their struggle is part of a comprehensive study that is examining what makes their population grow and shrink: the environmental conditions that are affecting their recovery, the presence of humans on the landscape, and the connection they have with the land. Dwinnell (the scientist), Tyson (the citizen science project coordinator), and Watson (the 6

jayme dittmar

journalist and documentarian) were joined by Jayme Dittmar (the visual storyteller) and Morgan Heim (the photographer and videographer) on a mission to make this long and complex journey visible to not only the scientific world, but to anyone who shares a love of the land.

Entire herds of deer take similar same steps each year, but Deer 139 stuck out to Dwinnell because every year she follows a route that is a quite daunting, including summiting two mountain passes and crossing multiple bodies of water that rage in the spring. Last year she did this all while carrying triplets.

She’s a bit of an outlier, but many of these animals do really incredible things that no one realizes until their movements are tracked. “So much is missed if we’re not on the landscape seeing it first hand,” Dwinnell said. “They do crazy shit.”

Hans-Martin Kudlinski @hmkphotog

Following the migration route of one of these animals seemed (note the past tense here) like a really fun adventure to Dwinnell in order to understand the system that she’s been studying at the Haub School of Environment Resources at the University of Wyoming. Most research never leaves academic journals or classrooms, and Dwinnell morgan Heim wanted to get the science out of the scientific community and in front of a different audience that may not understand how their presence can potentially disrupt the connection of animals to the land.

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s for her co-conspirators Tyson and Watson, well they didn’t quite know what they were getting themselves into. For Watson, it felt like a call to arms to people who spend time outside to pay attention and connect to the land in a different way.

“I don’t know enough about the natural world. It’s not really legible to me. When catastrophic changes are taking place, I don’t really notice them.” She said the Deer 139 Project is meant to help people connect to the natural world and understand it in a way that perhaps they’ve never considered. It also exists to help people see women differently. “As a feminist, i think it’s super important for women to be visible doing these types of adventures and doing this type of research. We’re building a body of work of as women adventurers and scientists,” she said.

in terms of understanding how we recreate, and for Tyson, the philosophical nature of the project was most compelling. “We wanted to ask people who already have some sort of a relationship with the natural world to take that relationship one step further, to ask them how you are actually taking care of these places?” she said.

Tyson wants to encourage people to consider how they can do better by these places and get beyond the backdrops of Instagram pics. “We’re going to lure you in with mountain shots and post holing and suffering and then ask you why these details matter and then ask you to put your money where your mouth is,” she said.

"we went into t his knowing t hat deer 139 was a beast, a badass.”

Migratory species are such incredible role models

The three also love an adventure, the long-haulslogging-through-the-woods-beat-up-your-body kind of an adventure, and that’s exactly what they got.

The trip did not unfold at all like how it was originally planned. Within the first five minutes, Dwinnell had sprained her ankle, most likely due to the weight of the packs. By the second night, they had only made

7 Hans-Martin Kudlinski @hmkphotog jayme dittmar

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it to their first night’s camp. Ultimately, they had to break it into to two trips. “It was a big struggle for me,” Dwinnell said. “I knew what it would take to bushwhack through this terrain—it’s doable with lots of suffering.

I didn’t realize what it would take to really document things and make a good product. The filmmakers knew what it would take to film, but not to bushwhack.”

If you ask Tyson, it was a vignette of unexpected suffering. After climbing what seemed like an impossible mountainside, they thought they’d have it easy on the way down. So they slid and played and filmed, not realizing that the climb up was the easy part. As they descended, they realized that they had completely underestimated what part of the day was the crux— it was the long post hole slog down the mountain in sugar snow up to their crotches.

“It’s humorous in hindsight that in jayme dittmar

morgan Heim

our first 200 feet we were so jovial,” she said. “Little did we know we had two miles of an increasingly worse stretch ahead.”

But there was a beautiful lesson in all of this, Dwinnell recounts. “We wanted to go on this trip to connect with the landscape, yet we were distracted by the adventure. We approached it with this need to conquer the experience, and in doing that, we were not at all paying attention to our environment.”

“i

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to c on n e ct to t h e l a n d i h a v e to i n v e st i n t h at a n d

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l e a r n a b o u t i t.”

hile the team suffered, Deer 139 rose to the occasion, time and time again. “We went into this knowing that Deer 139 was a beast, a badass,” Dwinnell said. “How could she do this after surviving the winter relying heavily on fat reserves, almost starving, and in her third trimester?” What Dwinnell, Tyson, and Watson learned is that Deer 139 didn’t suffer so much. She is a case study in graceful athleticism, endurance, and exceptional decision making.

Had the team not split the research into two expeditions, they would have been completely off with the timing of her migration; they would have beat her to her summer range by a few weeks. What they learned is that she took her time to get home, taking cues from the

8 jayme dittmar

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natural environment to help guide her.

She stayed lower in elevation, where it was greener and warmer. The land wasn’t ready for her to arrive and settle into her living room, so to speak. Deer 139 knew that all along; she accepted the reality of the environment. “She does hang out when there’s a storm.

She does wait for the vegetation to become green. She walks when the ground is frozen. She doesn’t suffer as a result of her connection to the landscape,” Dwinnell said.

Hans-Martin

morgan Heim

It took Dwinnell, Tyson, and Watson much longer to come to that realization. On one of the final days of the expedition, they noticed one set of deer tracks ascending a ridge, and it was only then that they realized she beat them to her final destination. It was humbling. “We were experiencing the environment in the same way that she experienced it,” Dwinnell said. “It was richer and more accurate.”

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eflecting back on the experience, Dwinnell said she doesn’t feel more connected to Deer 139, and in fact, the entire expedition wasn’t so much about her. “In any approach in research, you understand what other animals do by following an individual. It is an example of what she and other deer deal with; there are lots of animals migrating, and for me, there’s so much more to it than why did Deer 139 do that. Why are all of these animals doing what she’s doing? It’s a gateway into this bigger world.”

The research from this expedition is still being sorted and analyzed, compared and contrasted.

What has emerged, however, is that this experience was more than an exercise in tracking the migratory patterns of ungulates; it was a study in the human psyche as well. “I said I wanted to make a film to share our science, but I was trying to turn it into this adventure and show people how badass we are to impress them with the physical feat,” Dwinnell said. “But the reality was that morgan Heim

it’s not at all what it is about or should be about.

It shouldn’t be about conquering and proving, but learning and connecting with your place. It’s a huge theme of the whole project and we went into it knowing that, but it’s crazy that we learned the lesson during it.”

" i t s h o u l d n’ t b e about conquering and p r o v i n g, b u t l e a r n i n g and connecting wit h y o u r p l a c e.”

Watson, who will never go out into the woods again for that long without Gold Bond, came to understand that the ways in which all species interact with the environment is enmeshed with our ability to make sense of the world.

“If I end up in a conversation with someone and I don’t speak their language, I can read their lips and body language, but there’s a lot that I don’t get,” she says. “The big takeaway is that I need to learn their language. If I really want to connect to the land, I have to invest in that and learn about it. We act like these skills are unimportant, not critical. Holy shit we need to get our acts together when it comes to how human beings engage with the earth.”

At the time of publishing, the team is wrapping up post-production on the Deer 139 documentary.

You can view the trailer and learn more about their work at Deer139Film.org. Follow the team on Instagram at @s_dwindle, @tennesseejane and @anyatyson.

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ASK JENNY Bruso Questions and answers about life, the outdoors, and whatever from the creator of “Unlikely Hikers,” an online community for the underrepresented outdoorsperson JENNY BRUSO | @jennybruso

Dear Jenny Bruso, I’m a 64-year-old trans woman who is starting the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) soon. Truthfully, I’m scared to death. Yes, I have the usual concerns about being physically and mentally strong enough, but mostly I’m afraid that I will be an outsider. The political divide in this country is too great and violence against trans women is escalating in the name of religion and patriotism. I think I just want to hike solo, camp solo and enjoy life solo. After all, you can’t hurt me if you can’t get to me. It is my intention to hike the PCT in the same fashion I do most public events. I’ll keep my head down and my mouth shut. Being alone has pretty much been my lifestyle since transitioning. I might as well do it while thru-hiking and accomplish something. I don’t know if I’m asking for advice or validation or…?

- Going it Alone Dear Alone, Deciding to hike the PCT takes mental fortitude beyond my imagination! After a few days of sleeping on the ground, I can’t wait to go home. I admire you, especially your willingness to do this despite some really valid safety concerns. As a #fatandoutdoorsy person, there have been many times I’ve chosen not to do something for fear of harassment or simply being “the only one.”

But this isn’t about insecurities. In the US, trans women are more than 4.5 times more likely to be murdered than cis women (women who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth, “female”) and 2018 showed the highest known rates yet. It is important to note that more than 88% of those murdered are trans women of color. It’s fucking horrifying, to say the absolute least.

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Women, all women, are far too often told we shouldn’t do outdoorsy things alone, but the truth is we’re more likely to be attacked by another person––let’s be real, a man––in our daily lives. Even going to the bathroom outside can put trans people at risk. How sad that this threat even has to be discussed when considering an endeavor like this. The trail isn’t actually an escape from society for folks who are threatened in daily life.

With love and respect, you will be an outsider. I think that’s already understood from the rest of your letter, but I want to encourage you to embrace it. Your trek will be different than most people’s. Hike your own hike, they say. Maybe you’ll find more freedom on the trail than you do in your daily life because of the lack of people. Maybe not. Regardless, there are things you can do to feel safer and empowered: •

Keep at least one person in your life up to date on your whereabouts.

•

I know you intend to keep your head down and your mouth shut. Please don’t. There’s a broad spectrum of things that can happen in the backcountry and all of them are more likely than being attacked: becoming injured, sick, lost, or encountering dangerous weather. Sign all of the trail books so you’re traceable. Say “hi” to folks even if to just send a message of ownership of your place on trail.

•

A SPOT device or Garmin inReach tracks your movements and can be used to get help in an emergency even without cell signal. These can be expensive, but I know some outdoor stores rent them. Or maybe you can buy one and then return it to a certain major outdoor company who takes all returns. Not naming any names.

•

Carry a good pocket knife and mace even if only

“You deserve to have support, allyship, validation, and solidarity. There are brighter possibilities in life you may not be in a place to consider yet. I want more for you.” for peace of mind. I keep mine hidden but easy to reach in one simple movement. Knowing they’re there makes me feel more confident. Bear spray works too.

•

Trust your gut. If someone is hiking too close to you for too long or making you feel tense, though they—read: men—are very likely in their own head and not paying attention, step off trail for a bit to create distance. You can even pretend you’re taking a picture or fussing with your pack.

•

I don’t love advising trans people to call the police, but report any incidents or anything suspicious to local authorities, including park rangers, and call the PCTA (916-285-1846) to create a paper trail.

Now that I’ve covered all of the scary things, another major reality is that you will not be the only outsider.

Not by a long shot. Wanting to do this hike on your own is one thing, but I’m tripped up over the part where you said being alone has become your lifestyle since transitioning. This suggests you had folks close to you who are no longer there, whether they withdrew from you or you from them. I don’t know your story, but everyone needs people. No exceptions. Everyone needs community, regardless of how much you choose to engage or prize your solitude.

You deserve to have support, allyship, validation, and solidarity. There are brighter possibilities in life you may not be in a place to consider yet. I want more for you. I want to encourage you to link up with these resources even if only to have some representation in your life: •

TranSending 7 (@transending7, TranSending7. org)- a trans-affirming athletics platform and non -profit run by Erin Parisi, a trans woman, mountain climber, and athlete.

•

The Venture Out Project (@theventureoutproject , VentureOutProject.com)- a mostly trans-led

org providing backpacking and wilderness trips for the queer and transgender community.

•

Queer Nature (@queernature, QueerNature. org)- an organization that designs and facilitates nature-based workshops and multi-day immersions intended to be financially, emotionally, and physically accessible to LGBTQ2+ people (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Two-Spirit) and QTBIPOCs (queer and trans black and indigenous people of color).

•

Unlikely Hikers (@unlikelyhikers)- a platform and hiking group for underrepresented outdoorspeople. This includes fat people, people of color, queer, trans, gender nonconforming folks, people with disabilities, neurodivergent folks, and beyond.

•

LGBTQ Thru-hikers (Find on Facebook)- a place to build community, share information about queer-friendly trail resources, and celebrate achievements.

Alone, as you embark on your journey, I want you to know I care deeply about you, your safety and experience. I’m likely not the only one. Allow people to support you when they offer it, even if it’s hard to accept. I hope the trail is full of surprises. Good ones.

I hope you’ll tell us about them.

Love, Jenny Bruso

Do you have questions for Jenny? Hit her up on Instagram at @jennybruso for a chance to have your questions answered.

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an indoor girl on the outdoors MELANIE BRIGGS

An Open Letter to the Entire Universe Re:

Your Collective Behavior, on Behalf of My Perimenopause

Dear Everything/one Within 10 feet of Me, Especially That Dude Who Said Some Shit to Me on the Street Corner A Few Weeks Ago, At the request of my perimenopause, please get it together. What is left of my patience has been sacrificed to seismic hormonal shifts, and if you continue to behave in your current manner, seriously, I will stab something/ someone/anything/anyone/ whatever is within stabbing distance of me, including but not limited to salad toppings, because how dare they?

I remain unconcerned that I don’t have a proper stabbing instrument; I’ll just use my tweezers, because I never leave the house without them anymore now that I have a perimenopause goatee.

I’m not laughing, Universe. I’m not laughing at the goatee. That was a dick move.

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And be prepared for a swift execution in the name of justice, whoever/ whatever you happen to be that does heed this warning, I am more efficient now than I have ever been in my entire life. Hormonal anger + a diminishing regard for the wellbeing of others when it comes at the expense of my diminished patience = An expedient sentencing without a jury.

Just remember, you brought this on yourself, whoever you are.

I cannot be expected to tolerate this kind of behavior. No, I will not expand on what that means, because you should already know. But to give you an idea, here is a list of my current grievances, which I started this morning: 1. Don’t you dare look at me that way, sunflower seeds. No, I will not put you on my salad. You are too small to pick up with a fork, you get stuck to my lip gloss, you can sit between my gums and my

cheek on the side of my mouth for hours before I notice you’re there, and you are not adding enough zesty crunch to my salad to warrant your existence, so just check your attitude because I have my tweezers in my pocket.

2. matt20018, did you really read a Washington Post article about caving and then leave a homophobic comment that also misspelled “gimp?” How did you even make that leap? How did you read that story and think it had anything to do with anyone’s sexuality and then think it was okay to make a derisive comment? How did you accomplish this, matt20018?

Honestly, I don’t care, just get out of the comments section before I tweezer-stab you.

3. No thank you, I will not be putting together a different outfit every day. I will now be buying at least five of the exact same thing and wearing that exact thing every day.

Because I’m effing exhausted and I can’t be bothered. I wear a uniform now. Handle my truth.

Street Corner. You are worse than sunflower seeds. And no, I highly doubt you “just want to have a conversation.” You don’t want to talk to me. You just want to watch me squirm under your gaze. You don’t get that from me anymore.

You never should have in the first place. But now? Now I have tweezers and no selfregulation, so leave me alone.

5. No, no I do not want to get to know you or go out with you or even entertain the idea of giving you access to my naked body, Dude on Hinge. I’m sorry I put myself on Hinge for 12 hours to see if online dating was any different these days (it’s not), and the mere premise behind it makes me stabby.

You want to get near me? You want to lay eyes on me? I’ll poke your eyes out with my tweezers and pee in your eye sockets before that happens, sir.

You have been warned. Me and my perimenopause are not kidding.

Get it together, everyone.

Especially you, salad toppings.

4. Don’t you dare speak to me like that, Dude on the

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nature is ' a woman s place How the myth that bears and sharks are a danger to menstruating women spread Note to reader: The author would like to acknowledge that there are people who do not identify as women but who also menstruate or have menstruated. She wishes to invite, include, and empower everyone with this piece.

MARGARET SEELIE | @margaretseelie

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Art by

Leah koransky | @leahkoransky

o you have a secret fear a bear will track and attack you when you’re menstruating in the wild? Or do you avoid going camping in bear country with menstruating women?

As a woman who surfs in California’s red triangle (known for regular shark attacks) and who loves hiking in the wild, this is a topic that I think about regularly. And I am embarrassed to admit that a few months ago, my answer to that first question was yes. I wasn’t alone in my ignorance about women and menstruation-related animal attacks. In 2017, pro surfer Laird Hamilton confidently told TMZ that “the biggest, most common reason to be bitten [by a shark] is a woman with her period.” When I set out find an answer to the bear question, most people I asked replied with some variation on, “Yeah it’s blood, so they can smell it.” A few people said, “I don’t know.” No one offered a definitive No—except for Caroline Byrd of Bozeman, Montana.

But before we get to Byrd’s story, let me tell you about the night the menstruation myth I and others have bought into was born—The Night of the Grizzly.

Almost 50 years ago, on August 13, 1967, two women—camping 20 miles apart from each other— were killed by grizzly bears in Glacier National Park. It was the first recorded bear attack since the park had opened in 1910. Both women were dragged into the woods by a grizzly and eaten. Was menstruation to blame?

Michele Koons was menstruating that night and wearing a sanitary pad. She was camping with three men, one other woman, and a dog. One particular female bear had been harassing campers all summer, including Michele and her friends, so they left their camp and unrolled their sleeping bags along the banks of Trout Lake to sleep. When the first camper was awakened by the sound of the bear sniffing around his 14

sleeping bag, he panicked, jumped out of his bag, and climbed a tree. The bear moved on to the next camper, who also leapt from his bag and got away.

Moving down the line of campers, like Goldilocks looking for the perfect meal, she came to the last camper. According to one of her friends, Paul Dunn, Michele couldn’t get her zipper undone and could not get out of her bag.

Julie Helgeson was also attacked that night, but she wasn’t menstruating. She and Roy Duncat had set up camp near the Granite Park Chalet, whose employees had been dumping garbage in a nearby gully, attracting bears. When a mama bear and her two cubs attacked the couple that night, they went back and forth between the pair until Julie started to scream.

The mama bear then dragged her to her death.

The National Park Service (NPS) was scrambling for answers about why these attacks took place, so they latched onto the coincidence that both victims were women. The Park’s report on the bear attacks reads, “The Trout Lake girl [Michele] was in her monthly menstrual period while the Granite Park victim [Julie] evidently expected her period to begin at any time.” Although grizzlies killed these women, the literature that emerged after this incident would imply that menstruation could also be implicated in their deaths. The NPS and the United States Forest Service (USFS) co-published “Grizzly, Grizzly, Grizzly,“ a six-page brochure containing information on how to be safe while camping, hiking, and exploring in bear country. It explicitly advised women to “stay out of bear country during their menstrual period.”

the image of a giant white polar bear noshing on a used tampon is both unsettlingly hilarious and terrifying..

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The Dangers of Homogeneous Decision-Making

A

fter this brochure was published, a cascading series of events began to unravel in which men made fundamental decisions about women’s health, safety, and rights to nature— without women. A scientific study done by biologist Bruce Cushing in 1978 and 1979 called The Effects of Human Menstrual Odors, Other Scents, and Ringed Seal Vocalizations on the Polar Bear became a pivotal tool for restricting women’s rights to nature and the outdoors. Cushing explains in the text: “The possibility that human menstrual odors might attract bears has been debated for years.

This issue came dramatically to light in 1967 when 2 women campers were killed by grizzly bears in Glacier National Park, and menstruation was suggested as the cause of the attacks. With the increasing use of bear habitat by humans it has become imperative to determine whether or not menstrual odors attract bears.”

To study this supposed phenomenon, Cushing and his team of researchers captured four polar bears in Manitoba, Canada and took them to Churchill Bear Laboratory to put them in several scenarios. They placed fans on used tampons near each bear’s cage and recorded their responses.

Actual women—some menstruating and some not—were placed near the cages. Free-range bears were tested 18 kilometers from the lab by putting used tampons on pedestals in the forest, where Cushing and his team recorded the polar bears eating the tampons.

Cushing also tested both wild and caged polar bear responses to seal oil, seal blubber (seals being their main food source), chicken, horse manure, musk, sardine mush, seafood, human blood, unused tam-

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pons, and sanitary napkins. According to Cushing, this two-year study led him to conclude that yes, menstruation posed a risk for women: “More must be done to warn, and possibly protect, women who venture into bear habitat during their menstrual period.”

While the image of a giant white polar bear noshing on a used tampon is both unsettlingly hilarious and terrifying, I was eager to find a counter-argument. So I followed the path that was blazing around this topic during that decade, and ended up at Caroline Byrd’s 142-page report Of Bears and Women: Investigating the Hypothesis that Menstruation Attracts Bears, published in 1988.

In 2017, I gave Byrd a call at her office at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in Bozeman. When she got on the line she exclaimed, “I haven’t thought about that paper in decades!” I asked her to summarize what she thought of Cushing’s research.

“Putting a bunch of used tampons out in the Arctic is not gonna tell you anything except that polar bears eat used tampons.

It has nothing to do with women.”

“This study was not blind,” she explained. “It wasn’t measured, or really relevant. Putting a bunch of used tampons out in the Arctic is not gonna tell you anything except that polar bears eat used tampons. It has nothing to do with women.”

In other words, Cushing and his team of researchers knew they were trying to prove bears are attracted to menstruation. But a blood-soaked tampon in nature is not the same as a woman who is menstruating in nature.

For 15 minutes, Byrd and I chatted lightheartedly and laughed about bogus science. But her voice tightened as we shifted to the personal story she shares in the preface of her report, which happened in 1983, while she was working on a timber crew in Wyoming for the USFS. After marking trees in Shoshone National Forest all day, she was head-

superior should know better, and that the NPS had recently tried to pass the same legislation in Glacier. Byrd got on the wire with the women on the timber crew up in Glacier, where she confirmed that they had to fight the same policy. The three women typed a letter arguing that the policy was a gross violation of their privacy and sent it to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity office. The policy was rescinded, but Byrd elected to not return to Shoshone the following year.

Staying Wild and Free

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et’s review this chain of events: Two women were killed by grizzly bears, one while menstruating, and so the NPS and USFS told women to avoid nature while menstruating. Cushing then conducted his study to validate the myth that menstruating women are not safe in bear country.

All three incidents almost resulted in a policy forcing women to become unemployed for two months every year because of their menstruation cycle.

ing back to the ranger station with her crew when they came upon a hunter’s camp that had been ravaged by bears. The tent wall was ripped open, and upon further investigation they realized the hunters had not bear-proofed their food. They reported it to the District Ranger’s Office, and the USFS agent assigned to enforce grizzly regulations during hunting season investigated the situation. Byrd writes in her report, “A few days later, my crew (three women and one man) was informed that due to the recent bear trouble, women would no longer be allowed to work in the backcountry during their menstrual periods. The women on the crew failed to make the connection between the incident involving food in a hunter’s camp and working during our menstrual periods.”

Together, the three women shared over 19 years of experience working in bear country. The policy would mean they couldn’t work at least 60 days a year.

Byrd recalls being shocked, and called her friend and grizzly bear specialist, John Craighead. Craighead told her that the claim was unfounded, her

Surely the NPS and USFS felt they were protecting women when they tried to pass their policy. If you look at the science according to Cushing, it suggests that women are not safe in nature and are a biological threat to themselves and those around them.

But beyond any accepted scientific standard, these men used one another to add credibility to their claims. According to Cushing’s report: “Credibility has been lent to this theory by the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, which jointly distribute a brochure entitled “Grizzly, Grizzly, Grizzly” advising women to stay out of bear country when menstruating.”

One could infer that Cushing’s report also proves that men are incredibly safe in nature; he found that bears do not react to human blood, which could prove that even if a man gets injured and is bleeding in the wild, he will be alright. Why were men conducting this research, but were not part of the research itself? Shouldn’t a man have been put next to the polar bear cage, too? What if the polar bears unanimously tried to attack men? Would only one third of forest rangers be women today?

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I asked Byrd why she wrote her report. “After I wrote it, I sent it to the park services, the forest services, and people in agencies because I wanted them to change their literature. And they did,” she told me.

“Is that it?” I asked. “Case closed?”

Byrd laughed. “While I never wanted to write the word menstruation again, there’s more to be explored with attitudes toward women, women in wild places, and women in leadership,” she said. “It helped me to have a skeptical look and to say, ‘Wait a second, what’s the evidence, the data, and the science that supports people’s attitudes towards how women are supposed to behave?’”

Today, Yellowstone National Park has the page “Grizzly Bears & Menstrual Odors: Are bears overly attracted to menstrual odors?” on their official website. The site states, “While there is no evidence that grizzly bears are overly attracted to menstrual odors more than any other odor and there is no statistical evidence that known bear attacks have been related to menstruation, certain precautions should be taken to reduce the risks of attack.” Even when there is admittedly no conclusive evidence, the belief that women do not belong in nature persists.

In reality, nature is not wholly sexist, and bears aren’t sophisticated enough to discriminate by gender. If you set up camp near the garbage dump or get stuck in your sleeping bag, a bear might eat you.

It isn’t more complex than that, and the fact that the Night of the Grizzly resulted in a durable, longstanding, pernicious myth about bears’ irresistible attraction to period blood speaks to much larger forces at work.

Women have been told to stay inside for a long time and claims that the outdoors is inherently a man’s place have manifested in a million different ways. Much of the research, health warnings, beliefs, and legislation have kept the patriarchal order in power by keeping many women indoors. There’s a deep irony that these spaces where women are told they’re unwelcome and unsafe are called, of all things, Mother Nature.

The simple existence of this piece of literature perpetuates the longstanding myth that women in the wild are different—and negatively so—from men. (Where, one wonders, is the brochure entitled “Grizzly Bears and External Genitalia: Are grizzly bears overly attracted to external genitalia?”)

,

In reality nature is not wholly sexist and bears aren’t sophisticated enough to discriminate by gender. If you set up camp near the garbage dump or get stuck in your sleeping bag,

,

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Warning women to stay indoors to protect themselves from a menstruation-hungry grizzly is just one example in the dizzying universe of ways sexism imprints itself on the world, from women being required to wear organ-crushing corsets—then forced to stay in bed all day because of ‘menstrual pains’—or, in more modern times, being given dolls instead of skateboards. And it’s just another way in which superstitions, ignorance, and fear around menstruation wreak havoc on women’s lives. Even the absence of periods have been used against women: in the Middle Ages, according to the author Hilton Hotema, a woman who had ceased to menstruate was believed to be a witch, able to effect particularly potent evil spells that could injure men and animals alike. In modern times, some cultures banish women and girls to “menstrual huts” once a month; in 2016, a 15-year-old Nepali girl died of smoke inhalation in hers.

There’s a deep irony that these spaces where women are told they’re unwelcome and unsafe are called, of all things, Mother Nature.

But preventing women from spending time in nature might have repercussions that extend past just their quality of life. Byrd’s studies showed real benefits to being a woman in nature, particularly when it came to bears. “What my analysis revealed is that women usually react in a smarter and more cautious way when they’re around bears than men do,” she said. “What my statistics showed, is that it’s all situational and the best thing to do is keep your head on your shoulders and respond in the safest way you know how.”

“I think any excuse to believe that women are not capable or less capable than men will be latched onto,” she said. “When you look at the history of how women have been excluded from fully living in society, it’s just despicable. To use the basic reproductive function as an excuse to keep women from doing whatever they want is like living in the dark ages, and in many ways we still do.”

Luckily, women aren’t deterred by the many myths stacked against them: Today, more than ever, they are pulling on wetsuits, exploring the backcountry, and occupying wild spaces. Our presence in nature will, in time, swing statistics (more than 80 percent of recorded shark attacks have involved men, for example). In recent years, proportionally more women have been attacked by bears and sharks—not because of mystical wildlife-drawing powers of menstrual blood, but because more women are engaging in formerly restricted activities. But brochures will continue to belittle us. The patriarchy will try to “protect” us. We must be smarter and louder if we want to stay wild and free. *previously published on Jezebel.com.

Margaret Seelie is a San Francisco–based artist and writer. Her work has appeared in The Surfer’s Journal, Outside, and more. She is the founder of Other Side of Surfing and curator of Seawitches Surf and Skate Magazine. @margaretseelie | MargaretSeelie.com

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livin’ la vida llama JENNIFER GURECKI | @yogurecki

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t’s very likely that Alexa Metrick, the editor of Pack Animal Magazine, is the only second-generation llama packer in the United States. She was three, or maybe four—she can’t remember—when her parents bought their first pack llamas, and she’s been exploring the backcountry with them ever since. Now Metrick is raising her two daughters on the trail with llamas. Why? Because llamas make the outdoors more accessible to people who love to explore our public lands.

While llamas currently adorn everything from bike shorts to woven wall hangings to half-peeled stickers on battered water bottles and journals, it wasn’t their looks that got them where they are today. They were domesticated approximately 3,000 to 5,000 years ago by the Incas to serve as pack animals and a source of clothing, food, and fuel. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that they were imported into North America, primarily from the Andean Mountains.

By the mid-1990’s, llamas (and alpacas) became 20

the latest trend, gracing the runways as show animals because of their illustrious fiber that could be harvested for wool. Llamas were selling for tens of thousands of dollars, primarily as investment opportunities. Owners were breeding them for their fiber— to get beautiful colors—but they were not paying attention to the conformation of the animal.“ They were only focusing on one part of the animal rather than all of it,” Metrick said.

The market became gutted and to make matters worse, the breeding techniques were not sound. The conformation of the animals was being interrupted and the result was offspring with malformed legs, knocked knees, and heart murmurs. They weren’t suitable for packing and subsequently the bottom dropped out of the market. Within a decade, there was a glutton of rescue animals and people were giving away llamas.

Since then, the industry has slowly been rebuilding, with a focus on the pack llama in particular.

Llama packing, for those who are unfamiliar with the practice, is essentially backpacking, only the backpack has been outsourced to a llama. While shedding pounds off of your back can make backpacking far more comfortable, it also makes it more accessible to people who are not able to carry packs. Despite the lightened load, you don’t substantially change what you bring; you still must be light on the land and the llama.

When Metrick started packing in the early 1980’s, there were only about 1,500 llamas in the whole country. Her father picked up the activity after reading an article in Sopris Unlimited (a multi-generational, one-stop llama packing shop that offers up leads, lines, loops, saddles, books, and more).

He didn’t want to give up his love of exploring the backcountry, but with two small children the logistics seemed daunting. At the time, there was no internet, no Instagram. Finding alternative ways to explore the backcountry was not an easy task. But when he found out about llamas, he knew he had found his ticket to adventure.

yond the conservation movement, llama packing also has been on the rise because of hunting. It’s no easy feat to carry an elk back on your back, and hunters have often times turned to horses. But it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to go out on a horse. Llamas cost a fraction—a few hundred dollars over a weekend. “They are still a luxury,” Metrick notes. “But not like a fully-outfitted horse trip.”

Procuring a llama to set out on your next adventure isn’t as difficult as you might imagine, Metrick said.

alities of cats, they don’t care for cuddles, they are curious, and yes, they do spit. Metrick recalled the one time she was spit on by a llama giving birth whose baby was breech and had to be turned. “As a mother myself, I completely understand,” she said.

Metrick isn’t afraid to share the less-than-favorable critique of these animals she loves so dearly. If llamas can help more people spend time in the backcountry, then the greater chance we have in ensuring that our public lands are protected. “What we are facing right now are extraction industries that are very united and well-funded. When the various public lands user groups can’t get along, when there is constant bickering between packers, bikers, hunters, hikers, equestrians, and the like, it’s very hard to form strong coalitions to fight private interests,” she said.

“So I don’t care how people choose to enjoy our public lands, I just want them to get out there, to enjoy them responsibly, and to fight for them when the need arises.”

“Everyone is trying to get back to nature and llamas are a great way to do that.”

Today there is an entirely new generation of people who are seeking out llama packing, and for myriad reasons. “People are becoming more and more interested in ways we can have less impact on the earth while also having a deeper connection to our food sources and the great outdoors. Everyone is trying to get back to nature and llamas are a great way to do that.”

The beauty of this sentiment is that connecting with the land looks different to everyone, and llama packing serves a wide range of interests. According to Metrick, be-

Courses, as short as half a day are available, or you can book a trip with an outfitter. After a bit of basic training, you are able to lease them.

The equipment required to outfit them for the trail is relatively basic—a halter and lead, a saddle, a chest strap—and they only require a bit of grain to sustain them on a multi-day trip because of their tendency to graze.

There are a few random crossword worthy facts to know about llamas, according to Metrick, before you dive in: They have the person-

For more information on llama packing, visit PackMagazine.com and pick up a copy of the book Tails of the Trail.

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mountain biking 101, 201, + 301

'Cause we all gotTA start somewhere Lindsey Richter | @ladiesallride Founder of Liv Ladies AllRide Mountain Bike Skills Camps: Powered by SRAM

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ountain biking can be an intimidating sport to get involved with, but for me it is truly a life-changing activity. I lost my fitness and self-esteem in college after being a celebrated high school athlete and didn’t know how to get it back. I started racing mountain bikes as a way to force me to get fit during the week hoping that I wouldn’t suck too badly at the races on the weekends. Turns out the sport gave me so much more

than fitness.

It helped me understand how to face and conquer fears, how to be kind and patient with myself while learning something new, how to trust in my abilities, and how to change negative, fear-based thoughts to positive ones in order to keep the wheels rolling forward.

Not only did this intimidating sport bring fitness and finesse back into my life, it also introduced me to a community of awesome people who welcomed me into the sport with open arms.

If you’re new to the sport, here are a few pieces of advice and some

riding pointers to get you started on your path to becoming a ripping shredder.

The bike When you add in rocks, roots, steep hills and exposure, mountain biking is not “just riding a bike.”

A poorer-quality bike can inhibit your experience, but the price of a new mountain bike is definitely a barrier to entry. If you don’t own a bike, begin by visiting a few different bike shops near you and demo a bunch to see what feels good. I recommend a new entry level or decent used full-suspension bike, so you get the feel for mountain biking on a comfortable bike. Hardtails (bikes with no rear suspension) are less expensive and great buys, but they can be a bit uncomfortable and more challenging to handle if you decide to ride more technical terrain (trails with rocks, roots, and obstacles) in the future. Make sure the suspension is tuned for your weight before heading out and learn how to change a flat tire just in case.

Proper gear This is another investment, but many times the gear you get will last a long time. Think about borrowing or buying some basic gear to get you started. A decent helmet 22

is a must because protecting your noggin is important. The right shoes to go with the pedals on the bike make a huge difference. If you don’t know how to ride clipped in, start with flat pedals and good, stiff rubber soled shoes. A hydration pack is nice for easy access to water, snacks, and tools. Gloves are pretty important for a solid grip and protection from branches brushing against your fingers. And of course, knee, shin, and elbow pads aren’t a bad idea because they’ll protect you if you fall and will give you more confidence to try new things. Not everyone loves riding with padding between their legs, but I do recommend a chamois that’s not too bulky to get your bum region accustomed to sitting in a bike saddle.

Take a lesson People believe that since they already know how to pedal a bike, they will pick up mountain biking quickly. Trial and error on a mountain bike can be dangerous so I recommend taking a lesson or two to make sure you’re developing good habits and have a deeper understanding of how to approach mountain biking as safely as possible. Here are a few organizations who can help: LadiesAllRide.com and www.GritClinics.com.

•

Only use one finger, your pointer finger, on each brake and gently see how they respond when used one at a time and then together.

•

Stand on your pedals while coasting and move your body up and down, forward, and back above the saddle.

•

Drop your heels a little for support, especially when practicing braking. Learn to move around above the bike and also move the bike beneath you.

•

It also helps to bounce around and stomp your feet on the pedals to get comfortable with the suspension.

•

All of this will help you understand that the light bike needs to be controlled by you, the strong capable human. You are the pilot, not the passenger.

As you progress, learning to get the front wheel up onto obstacles opens the door to more challenging terrain. Here's how to

make that happen Here’s how first clinic

to

rock

↝

your

•

Practice a few basic skills in a safe place like grass before you head out on the trails.

•

First, the bike doesn’t have a brain or eyes, so always look ahead where you want to go, NOT at the things you don’t want to hit. Your bike goes where your eyes go.

•

Pedal around and play with the gears and brakes so you understand how they work.

Liv Ladies AllRide is a movement dedicated to growing the community of female mountain bikers across the globe. Liv Ladies AllRide: Powered by SRAM puts on a series of energizing and inspirational mountain bike skills camps for women. Complete with the best coaches in the business, these events bring women together in a welcoming environment to enhance their lives on and off the bikes. There are twelve signature Ladies AllRide events in epic riding locations across the U.S. Come play on bikes with us because ladies should All Ride Bikes! LadiesAllRide.com // GritClinics.com.

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Basic Wheel Lift •

Coast smoothly with level pedals

•

Stomp your feet down to load the bike

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Spring back up and bring the front wheel with you

Pro Tip: Load and explode!

Want to extend it?

↝

Manual Wheel Lift A longer wheel lift with a slightly different technique •

Keep your momentum

•

Stomp your feet down, then push your weight back

•

Extend your arms and legs to lift the front wheel

Pro Tip: Get behind the balance point (your butt should be in line with rear axle) and don’t lift with your arms.

How to do a Wheelie

↝

One of the most efficient ways to help your wheel up onto obstacles while you’re climbing.

Pedal Punch Wheel Lift •

Choose a fairly easy gear—not too easy, not too hard

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Stay seated and start uphill

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Pause your pedal stroke at 12 o’clock (this is your “power” position)

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Punch down on the pedal, and

•

Lean back with your chest to unweight the front

Pro Tips: Use flat pedals, for a quick dismount Keep a finger on each brake, the rear brake (righty rear) can save you (but be careful—it will bring your front wheel down quick) Pause, Punch, Lean back

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“My biggest mission is

representation.

I want to see an expansion

of

how

we see ourselves.”

~ Ayesha McGowan, Liv On-Road Athlete

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“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops at all. ”

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birds o f a feather

hristina Armetta is a textile and graphic designer based out of Missoula, Montana. She loves to keep her hands busy and her heart full. “I love creating art where you can see and feel the hands that shaped it, and where you can tell that there has been passion and precision throughout the entire process. I am driven by the wonderful patterns, colors and connections around me. Collaboration, I believe, is one of the ways that the whole world can be connected.”

Christina has been designing snowboards for Coalition Snow since 2015, and for this issue of Sisu Magazine we are showcasing some of her latest designs that you can find in their 2019/20 collection. When contemplating her designs for the snowboards, Christina was inspired by the air and the water. “The bird art falls into the air category, and as I drew them, I felt a connection with each of them and even gave each of them names. In astrology, air signs are all about action, ideas, and motion—they are the winds of change. Air signs are similar to the wind in the sense that you can’t quite catch them, and you never know where they’ll drop you once they sweep you up. They are very sporadic and always up for the adventure!”

When she’s not designing artwork for Coalition Snow, you can find her dyeing scarves, mostly silk scarves. She is currently experimenting with avocado stones, skins, Indigo, rust, turmeric, pea flowers, roses, and poppies. She treats her plant based fibers through alchemical dye sessions, shibori techniques, and bundle dyeing. You can find her on Instagram at @walrussssssbby and on Etsy as WalrusBaby.

From first page to last : Ernie, Gizmo, Eggburt, Henry, Fredrick, Lucinda, and Trent—my friends!

e xc e r p ts

from

the

p o etry

and

letters

d i c k i n s o n , a m e r i c a n p o e t, 18 3 0 -18 6 6

of

e m i ly

“And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard And sore must be the storm That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm . . . “

“I ho pe you love birds too. It is economical.

It saves going to heaven. “ excerpt from an 1885 letter to Miss Eugenia HalL

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o

D ing the

M untain

o

Photography by

James Harnois PhotographY |

@jamesharnoisphoto

JENNIFER GURECKI | @yogurecki

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f you find yourself on Stone Mountain in Atlanta, GA, don’t say that you’re hiking. It’s called “doing the mountain,” and that slight nuance means everything to Kenya and Michelle Jackson-Saulters, founders of the Outdoor Journal Tour and the We Hike to Heal movement.

Outdoor Journal Tour (ODJT for short) is part outdoor recreation, part spiritual healing. Founded in 2015, ODJT is ushering in a new way to approach doing the outdoors. It’s designed for women who want to explore scenic landscapes and hiking trails, and at the same time want to dive deeper into their personal development but are bored with traditional self-help methods. Kenya and Michelle’s calling is to help women learn the importance of “praying with their energy,” as they say, which simply translates into living each day as if you already embody all of your future goals.

It’s no secret that women are caregivers, to their families, to their co-workers, and to their communities. They prioritize serving others, but often don’t spend the same level of energy on themselves. ODJT provides a sacred and safe space for women to reconnect with themselves and with nature. Their tours challenge women to think outside of the box.

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HerStories It’s no wonder that ODJT blends outdoor recreation and self-care. When you dig into the herstories of Kenya and Michelle, this pair makes perfect sense. The two met on Match in 2010, long before the swiping left and right scorned our souls. Unbeknown to Kenya, Michelle was way into spending time in the outdoors. “I always had been a curvy girl and had a complex with that. I was always active— it was about losing weight and then it became around how it made me feel. It made me feel really good and really strong.” It was Michelle who would drag Kenya on walks and runs.

Michelle recalls it as comical, but it obviously turned into more than that.

When Kenya first moved to Atlanta, things weren’t so smooth. She recalls failing miserably and struggling with her self-worth.

It was at this time that she began to pursue interests in wellness work as a reiki master and spiritual healer. In 2015, as Kenya celebrated the Summer Solstice with friends, she led her group in a small meditation. When they opened their eyes, two new people stood beside them and they asked how they could join. “I felt like it was a calling, a sign.”

"Because we are not always thinking of the highest mountain, longest distance, most extreme experience, we can think about women who have lost their mothers and summer solstice—what women like us would need, want, and come to. We feed a niche in that way. That’s our sweet spot.”

In August of that year Kenya and Michelle organized their first event and the same thing happened. A woman, child in tow, approached the group and spoke to them about detailed counts of abuse as if they had known each other for a lifetime. “In that moment, I thought this is what we need to be doing,” said Kenya.

If ODJT wasn’t enough, Kenya and Michelle also launched We Hike To Heal in 2018, a month-long campaign that takes place every March that combines mindfulness and movement, nature, and introspective work. It was a way for women, regardless of their location, to not only get involved in group hikes, but engage around weekly emails with exercises, journal prompts, mindfulness content, and videos, all in the name of getting in the space of healing so that they could focus on themselves.

On We Hike To Heal Day 2019 (March 30th), Kenya and Michelle asked everyone—and by everyone we mean thousands of women across 36 locations—to get outside and find solace in the connections created by the mindfulness exercises. “There was this intuitive thing that you knew that whether you were in Cleveland or Canada, you felt like you were connected because you were doing something together. You’re part of something bigger than you, bigger than your city,” Michelle said.

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Kenya and Michelle don’t just “do the mountain,” they “do the desert.” In April, Michelle and Kenya joined the Merrell team, putting their work in practice as they hiked the Bear Canyon to Seven Falls trail in Tucson, AZ on O’odham, Tohono O’odham (Papago), and Hohokam land.

All photos by James Harnois Photography.

Yes, It’s a Thing Kenya says it’s important to note that when they launched ODJT and We Hike To Heal, they didn’t approach it from being Black and outside, and gay and outside, and women and outside. “We didn’t even know that was a thing,” she said.

and so is seeing other people like you in the space,” Michelle said. “The outdoors were an avenue in which we were creating this healing spaces, not a taking back our rights. Now it’s important to make space for women of all backgrounds.”

Girl, lots of people in the outdoors don’t know it’s a thing. But as Michelle points out, people of color, women, and all underrepresented people have always been in the outdoors. We just didn’t see them in photos or magazines or marketing.

“Because we are not always thinking of the highest mountain, longest distance, most extreme experience, we can think about women who have lost their mothers and summer solstice,” Kenya said. “What women like us would need, want, and come to. We feed a niche in that way. That’s our sweet spot.”

“It really was something that we were doing because we needed it and it was something we wanted to do for ourselves. Diversity is important 34

Who Holds The Knowledge?

Doing looks different to everyone. It’s bound in our lived experiences, a culmination of the neighborhoods we grew up in, what our parents considered fun, our circle of friends.

As Kenya and Michelle began to cultivate a community of women in the outdoors, they became more aware of the nuances of what it meant to “do the outdoors,” like Leave No Trace (LNT). While this may seem like common knowledge, LNT, just as every other outdoor-specific term, is coded and learned.

It’s not something that makes it into every K-12 curriculum; it’s unique to people who identify with the outdoors.

The super bloom in California this spring brought this issue front and center as giddy hikers stepped off trail into delicate soil.

Voyeurs rubbed their gratuitous wealth in our faces as they illegally landed their helicopters in the middle of the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve in California. While both violated LNT principles, we have to understand that what might seem obvious to some— like staying on trail—is actually a learned behavior. And with anything that is learned, there are always teachers.

"We want to enjoy the space and we want them to return.

We want to instill a respect for the space that we’re in.”

“I think that you have to explain. People don’t have the same passions about things. A lot of women are worried about being single mothers or having to work a lot or trying to manage their marriage. They’re not thinking about stepping on poppies,” Michelle said.

“We want to enjoy the space and we want them to return. We want to instill a respect for the space that we’re in. It starts with talking to those whose land it started off as and what happened on those lands and a general respect for the space. There’s a much bigger problem than people stepping on the poppies, but once these spaces are ruined…”

For Kenya, she is recognizing that there isn’t a lack of resistance to adopting indigenous ways of respecting and caring for the land. “For our community, specifically the women we steward, they are absolutely 100% open to whatever information we share with them. If we say pick up every damn thing, they are sweeping up things with their hands. But they don’t see themselves as conservationists,” Kenya added.

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On Sleeping Outside These women also don’t necessarily see themselves as campers. Camping—i.e, sleeping outside—is something Michelle believes we glorify.

It costs quite a bit of cash to have the proper gear, all to sleep outside. “It made me feel in a way that these people are displaced and don’t have a home and forced to sleep in tents if they are lucky. And here we are spending $500 on a tent and $200 on sleeping bag and $100 on a pad and we’re roughing it,” she said. “It’s a little bit weird.

It’s recreational and absolutely a privilege to do it that way.”

Beyond the expenditure, even the concept is challenging as it’s something that defined the human experience for so long, and now has transformed into something that people with privilege—transportation, equipment, funds for fees, etc.— can participate in as recreation.

“It’s part of the human condition,” Michelle continued, “To make things new, to repackage them, and it then becomes something elitist and now only certain people can do this activity because the barriers to entry have become greater.

And then we give people a hard time if you say something wrong or have a sleeping pad that’s not appropriate for the

climate—you own something that doesn’t match—and then you’re looked down on. It is a little bit intimidating.”

But that doesn’t stop Kenya and Michelle or their nationwide community from getting outside.

Creating Yourself We Hike to Heal and ODJT isn’t about women finding themselves. Kenya describes it as creating yourself. “If you were to roll a mirror in her I would be able to see myself. I’m not lost.

We know exactly where we are.

It’s about deciding to be what type of woman do I want to be.

How do I want to exist in this

“"It’s part of the human condition, to make things new, to repackage them, and it then becomes something elitist and now only certain people can do this activity because the barriers to entry have become greater."

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world?” This isn’t something that women consider often but rather we take cues from our families, society, and the media on what types of women are acceptable, regardless of how uncomfortable that can be. Kenya wants women to explore the qualities that they admire and want to bring out in themselves.

Creating yourself is essentially about awareness. “It’s very hard to unknow things, once you recognize a pattern it’s difficult to ignore that.

That’s the first step,” Michelle said. “When you know that you are reacting in your default mode, which is avoiding or deflecting, once you see that happening and you can ask yourself, ‘Am I doing this because this is what I want to do?’ The process isn’t quick—it doesn’t go from terrible to amazing. It’s all about the incremental changes that you make and subsequently notice,” she said.

Lessons Learned In creating We Hike to Heal and ODJT, Kenya and Michelle have learned that mixing business and pleasure isn’t as fun as it sounds and that money matters.

And the truth is, “Target doesn’t ever email you without asking you to buy shit,” Kenya added.

But with all of that said, Kenya is clear that she always wants to express gratitude. “This was something that happened by surprise. For us to be interviewed and be sponsored by Merrell— this is really really humbling. Sometimes we’re so busy we don’t think about it,” she said. “We have to pause and be grateful for the support.

We will continue to do everything we can to be of service to the community who has supported us so much.”

Kenya and Michelle are learning as they go.

Despite navigating all the things they didn’t anticipate—from what it’s like to be black in the outdoors to working together as a married couple—ODJT and the We Hike To Heal movement is redefining what it means to be a woman in the outdoors.

Want to get involved in #WeHikeToHeal and the Outdoor Journal Tour? Follow Kenya and Michelle on Insta at @outdoorjournaltour and @wehiketoheal and visit their website at OutdoorJournalTour.com and WeHiketoHeal.org.

“The biggest lesson for me,” Michelle said, “Is that working with your partner is very tough.

Almost to the point to where I wouldn’t necessarily advise against it but proceed with caution. It adds another layer to our relationship. We’re both very passionate about the ODJT, but in different ways.

Our passions have created it to what it is today.

We need both aspects of it. If I’m honest, that’s been the biggest thing for me.”

For Kenya, it’s less personal and it’s about business. “When you start something that’s very organic or helping people or working with yourself, the money aspect can be complicated.

It’s hard on everyone—hard on a business owner to understand how much it’s worth, hard for community members to connect with ‘Oh this costs money.’ You want to give everything away, but I can’t do that because it’s my full-time work.

It might look glamorous, but money is an issue.”

Without sponsors like Merrell, nothing that Kenya and Michelle have created would be free.

“It’s a lot of fucking work and money. It’s hard because this stuff should be accessible. I don’t want $5 or $10 to stop someone from having this life changing experience. However, if there’s something to buy, we need you to purchase it,” she said.

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don'''t let go Photography by

JAMES HARNOIS | @jamesharnoisphoto

T

he desert knows how to hold on to what it has. When the rains fall, the cacti store gallons of life-sustaining moisture within their waxy, prickly skin. Saguaros, the largest cactus in the US, grow visibly plump as their maze-like shallow roots and their single five-foot taproot help them capture much of the ephemeral moisture before it evaporates. These giant beauties have become expensive lawn adornments, finding their way into backyards through the black market. This is one of the largest threats to the species, as they regenerate slowly; it can take up to 100 years for a Saguaro cactus to grow an arm in areas of low precipitation.

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Merrell

a three-decade old outdoor shoe company that found its fame in originally designing and manufacturing handmade custom leather hiking boots with blue laces—brought together their team of Ambassadors for a weekend in Tucson, AZ on O’odham, Tohono O’odham (Papago), and Hohokam land. From kicking up dust to hiking mountains, Merrell believes the trail is for everyone, and when you’ve got air in your lungs and good shoes on your feet, you’ve got everything you need. They’re all about removing the barriers to enjoying the great outdoors and living up to the “best hiking boots ever made” praise bestowed on them by Backpacker Magazine.

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➦

Stay hydrated!

➦

Chime and hammock to get your zen on.

➦

➦

Don’t let the sun go down on your adventure!

➦

➦

Snacks!

Exercise mindfulness with the We Hike To Heal Journal. Start your own journey with select worksheets on the following pages →

Kenya & Michelle never hit the trail without their best feet forward in their Merrell shoes.

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What’s In Your Pack? with

Kenya and Michelle

Jackson-Saulters

Michelle: A journal, a hammock, cell phone (with AllTrails maps), snacks (usually popcorn, trail mix, or fruit), small first aid kit, an extra layer depending on the time of year, portable phone charger, Cottonelle Wipes, and a ziplock baggie for trash, headlamp, a tiny thing of sunblock, a tiny thing of bug spray, and water—either a bladder or Hydroflask depending on the distance.

Kenya: A journal, cell phone, meditation chime, water, and snacks.

(Clearly Michelle is the one carrying the pack.)

What Can’t You Live Without?

Michelle

Michelle: A cell phone—I take soooooo many photos when I’m out on a trail, and I use the AllTrails app for trail maps, so yeah, I totally need my phone!

Kenya: Journal! I like being able to capture my thoughts at all times.

What Tips Do You Have?

Michelle: Do what you need to make yourself comfortable. Test your shoes on short hikes, wear layers, bring extra snacks/water. When I’m comfy I have more fun. Also, enjoy it; go slow if you have to. Stop and look up at the trees or out at the vista. Enjoy yourself and the space you are in!

Kenya: Bring a journal with you if you can. Find a beautiful place to stop and soak in the view and spend a few minutes reflecting in your journal.

It’s a great opportunity to be introspective.

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Mirror Work is a powerful personal development tool that has been used for years to help people form a deeper connection with themselves. Mirror work is all about looking yourself in the mirror and either asking yourself a question or giving yourself an affirmation. Today, we are going to do things a little different and simply observe.

Take a moment to look at yourself in the mirror for at least 30-90 seconds (you can look as long as you want however), then answer the following questions.

WHAT DID YOU SEE? DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SAW WHEN YOU WERE LOOKING AT YOURSELF.

WHAT DID YOU FEEL? DESCRIBE WHAT EMOTIONS OR FEELINGS CAME UP WHEN YOU LOOKED AT YOURSELF.

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11 5

For this exercise you are asked to select adjectives that represent the woman you want to be as well as six words that represent how you want to feel. In the BE column, you may write things like "kind, generous, spiritual. In the FEEL column, you may write things like joyful, sexy, peaceful. Then you are asked to write 6 concrete actions of what you will do to achieve your intention.

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THE PITCH

yhi creations

An interview with

Yhi | @yhi_creations

'YHI' is an Aboriginal word from the Gamilaroi (Kamilaroi) nation that translates to goddess of light and creation.

Give us your best elevator pitch.

Yhi (whee) aims to be a leader in Indigenous business for sustainability by launching a clothing brand with a twist: No clothes will be made.

Founded by Ella Bancroft, a Bundjalung woman from Australia who has passion for sustainable fashion and has taken to the streets with this new label for activism and change. The whole concept of Yhi is to utilize recycled garments and existing clothing; it provides prints, repatching, and reworking of the garments to give them a new life.

This is not just a clothing line. It is clothing made with the intention to create change. Yhi is an Indigenous owned and run business operating out of Byron Bay. At Yhi, we believe in protecting the planet and using our clothing as a form of activism to create change and entice conversation. Each t-shirt campaign is created to combat white supremacy, racism, ethnic cleansing, genocide, slavery, land theft, imposed treaties, broken promises, relocation, forced assimilation, government manipulation, corporate control, and environmental pollution.

How are you using your products as a platform to bring awareness to your indigenous heritage?

There is no doubt that the connection between Indige48

nous people and the earth is the foundation of the entire culture. The inspiration for this project has evolved from this rich culture embedded in our country that is more than 60 thousand years old. The Earth cycle’s survival is dependent upon our community embracing a more sustainable future. We are walking our talk. As an Indigenous-led organization, is it important that we intertwine our belief into our products. This is not about joining the system of the colonizer, it is about creating in a way that is sustainable and respectful to our earth.

The campaign “Decolonise To Survive” and the t-shirt is about bringing awareness to the assimilation that has and still continues to occur in this country [Australia].

It is bringing awareness to the fact that colonization is still our major mainstream thinking; its the social norm to have a colonial mindset.

We’re seeing a big push in business to move away from a singular financial bottom line

and into a more holistic triple bottom line that integrates social and environmental impact in addition to the financial. How have you accomplished this through your business?

Yes completely, we are a social enterprise business and our structure works in a way that we carbon offset and use compostable packaging for our clothing. We are putting the environment first. Yhi also collaborates with charities and organizations and gives a portion of sales from t-shirts to these organizations. In relation to our Decolonise To Survive shirt, for every t-shirt we sell, we give one away to an Indigenous Australian.

Collaboration is the new competition.

How have you developed partnerships with other womxn-owned businesses and why is that important to you?

I love that, collaboration is the new competition. Last year Yhi did a collaboration with the US brand Madre Mudra. Madre Mudra makes eco-luxury and affordable intimates for women. The intimates are now 100% organic cotton, and the founder Breanne Meulink does all of the natural dyes herself. She began sewing every pair of panties and has now teamed up with an amazing crew of creators to help make her products.

We created high waisted organic cotton and hemp blend underwear with a screen print of a uterus on the front of the panties. The vision came from wanting to empower women by actively creating a visualization piece they could wear on their womb with pride and the high waisted design makes you feel held and safe.

This year we are partnering up with an Indigenous doula’s organization to help create and make a change in the birth space for Indigenous women by helping them reclaim back their birth spaces.

Anything else you want to tell us?

I bravely want to open up the conversation about community and the planet. I want to dig deeper into our human intentions to create and ask ourselves are we doing this for the benefit of the community, the earth, and future generations, or is it purely going to be self-serving? I would love to inspire actual change within our communities, more support of local businesses, more support of small sustainable companies, more support of those who are actually wanting to make a change.

I open up my heart in the hope you can open yours too, connect to country and protect your country.

Find Yhi at YhiCreation.com and shop her Give a Fuck tee at SisuMagazine.com.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

I love working with women. It fuels my desire to make a change and I love collaborating with women who share the same morals and views as me, more often than not, they end up becoming my best friends.

What’s been surprisingly difficult about your business?

The hardest thing has been securing a space. Finding somewhere I can set up the screen printing, sewing machines, and keep my stock.

What’s been the greatest reward so far?

Sending a portion of our collected profits to Take3 for the Sea, an awesome organization that helps protect the seas and we vowed to give a portion of our Give a Fuck t-shirts to them.

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⇧ Reduce, Reuse, U p c y c l e

magazine

Four brands giving recycled products new life

ERICA ZAZO | @onecurioustrvlr

up·​cy·​cle / verb : to recycle (something) in such a way that the resulting product is of a higher value than the original item : to create an object of greater value from (a discarded object of lesser value)

The Environmental Protection Agency reported that more than 10.5 million tons of textiles filled U.S. landfills in 2015. It’s also estimated that Americans today generate 82 pounds of textile waste each year.

recycled sunglasses, Sunski recently announced its initiative to transition its entire product roadmap so that every frame produced here on out will be made from recycled plastic.

In an effort to reduce their negative environmental impact and cut down on waste filling our planet, brands are starting to get serious about the ways they can improve sustainability practices that extend the life cycle of the clothes, gear, and products they sell. This year, consider making a resolution to take the time to understand what you’re buying, where it comes from, and who played a part in creating it. Selecting brands that support local communities and prove their mission is truly making the world a better place.

Upcycling – the practice of turning old products into new gear before they hit the landfill – is at the forefront of this movement. For consumers, upcycling is a practice of thinking twice before you throw away a worn-out jacket or purchase a brand new pack made from virgin materials. For brands, it’s making an effort to work with partners and improve manufacturing practices to craft upcycled gear that gives used material a second shot at adventure.

Sunski CEO and co-founder Tom Stewart admitted it’s a big undertaking, but one that’s worth pursuing: “The goal by 2020 is to make a big yet much needed step forward in our industry by not putting any more virgin plastic frames into the system. It’s really exciting and a big part of the beating heart of Sunski. We take pride that we’ve taken on the mission to figure this out on our own, even though recycled material like this hadn’t ever existed before.“

Take note of these four brands that upcycle – a passionate group of companies that are setting an important example for the rest of their industries.

Upcycle It Now UpcycleItNow.com

⇧⇧⇧ Sunski Sunski.co Outdoor and active lifestyle sunglasses company Sunski found a way to turn scrap plastic into lightweight and durable frames that not only look cool, but have a positive impact on the environment. Their upcycled frames are crafted from a combination of plastic scraps and plastic dust from manufacturing facilities collected before it’s shipped to the landfill.

Even though the brand hasn’t always produced 100% 50

The mother-daughter duo behind Upcycle it Now have made it their mission to intercept old textiles that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill: “We help companies and manufacturers “close the loop” by working with them to take responsibility for the materials and products they make for their entire life cycle.”

Upcycle it Now extends companies’ sustainability initiatives by reducing the environmental impact of their products past, present and future. Through partnerships with small businesses to industry giants like Patagonia, Upcycle it Now gives scrap materials, broken gear, and beat-up jackets and clothes a new life. Its recent collaboration with Patagonia’s Worn Wear program (wornwear.com), which rewards gift card dollars for traded-in gear, transformed delaminated jackets into

“You can conserve significantly on your environmental footprint by choosing products that aren’t produced from virgin plastic,” said CEO Scott Hamlin.

“That kind of action is going to become increasingly important as water and fresh air become more finite resources to protect.”

hip-pouches, broken fleeces into sunglasses sleeves, and damaged textiles into stylish dog jackets.

The women behind Upcycle it Now firmly believe that the upcycling community – particularly the companies behind this movement – are not competitors, but companions: “The main competitor here is the landfill. The industry as a whole needs to figure out how we beat the landfill and make upcycled products more economically feasible and more desired than the draw to simply throw something in the landfill.”

Recover Brands RecoverBrands.com Looptworks Looptworks.com Looptworks, another companion in the upcycling ecosystem, has one simple mantra: “Use only what already exists.” The company makes limited edition clothing and accessories that are upcycled from materials you wouldn’t expect: airplane seats, retired NBA jerseys and worn-out uniforms.

Recover Brands is doing the seemingly impossible: turning post-consumer plastic bottles into apparel.

Their 100% recycled t-shirts, hoodies, socks, and accessories come from recycled and upcycled plastic bottles and cotton.

To make the shirts, Recover first collects and sorts post-consumer plastic bottles—stripping them of all plastic caps and labels. The bottles are then shredded into small pieces and melted into plastic pellets.

From there, the pellets are extruded into yarn and ultimately spun into a comfortable, durable fabric. Eight upcycled bottles later, you’ve got a shirt.

In addition to individual sales online, Recover provides blank shirts at wholesale costs so that brands can opt for a more sustainable base product. Since 2010, Recover Brands has conserved 1.4 billion gallons of water, cut down on 8.4 million pounds of CO2 emissions, and diverted 5.4 million plastic bottles from hitting the landfill.

Ten years ago Looptworks began intercepting access waste that was coming out of the textile business – turning the material into new products. In a partnership with Southwest Airlines, Looptworks turned 40 acres of Southwest’s iconic blue and tan leather seat covers into an upcycled bag collection that conserved millions of gallons of water.

On its website, Recover shares that, “Last year people in the United States alone used an estimated 50 billion disposable plastic water bottles, and with a nationwide recycling rate of only 23%, this means that over 38 billion plastic water bottles ended up in local landfills and waterways.”

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Coming Full Circle jennifer gurecki | @yogurecki

J ay dash

T

here are very few times in life—if any at all— when you would want to return to the place where you started. We’re not meant to go backwards. It’s perceived as a sign of failure and it’s bound in pain and trauma. Yet it’s exactly what Shandi Kano had to endure to become the person she is today.

Kano, an elite athlete who found herself emotionally and physically broken after attempting to run the Boston Marathon in three hours, laid on a gurney in a medical tent, her body rebelling, limbs firing, nurses holding her down. It was April 15, 2013. The first bomb goes off. Then the second. It was only when she was told to move to make room for the injured that it started to make sense.

Martin Richard died during those very same moments. He was 8-years-old and standing at the marathon finish line, cheering on the runners with his family just as the second bomb detonated. His sister lost her leg. His mother suffered brain injuries and blindness in one eye from shrapnel. And his father lost some of his hearing.

As Kano and her father stood outside the medical tent, the police came by and told them to run. You can’t be here, they said. But she couldn’t run. So she hobbled to a hotel, only to get kicked out.

The city was on lock down and she couldn’t go anywhere. The train station was the only place people were allowed, so she sat with her father and waited for hours. Next to her sat a nurse on the phone who

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was sobbing and telling the person on the other end that he was only 8-years-old. He died on the table in front of her.

It took a while for this to all set in. By this, Kano means terrorism—to understand what terrorism really does to you. While at home a few days later, she watched the news that featured the chase of the police looking for the bombers. “I was so terrified to be outside. I thought the sky was going to fall on me.

Like I couldn’t live my life. I thought, this is how terrorism is supposed to work. You can’t live your life.’”

B

ack at work a week later, Kano’s boss gave her a Post-It note of what he wanted her to do that week. She ripped it up and said it didn’t fucking matter. “I threw it at his face, and that’s not good.”

“He took me outside and said that they should ‘talk about what’s best for you right now.’” She paused, thinking, “No, I’m the X Games girl you need now.”

Her mindset was, “this is who I am, I have to be here, and I have to do this work and prove myself.” So it was hard to agree to take the time off. But she acquiesced, taking a few weeks off that turned into three months and then six. The more time Kano spent with her therapist, the more she began to understand what she had to deal with. “Things began to unravel in a really hard but beautiful way.”

At that point, Kano realized she needed time with herself—a lot more time—to find and feel out who

she was post-Boston Marathon. Her doctors told her that she couldn’t exercise because her nervous system was essentially broken. She suffered from 25 food allergies. Her circadian rhythms were off. Anytime she’d be on a phone or laptop she’d tremor. All she could do was practice yoga and eat avocados. So she sat on her front porch and waited for an original thought to come to her mind. And when it didn’t, the anxiety set in.

Anxiety breeds a life of its own.

Her neurologist told her to go outside and look at the trees—to smell them and listen to them. She traveled Utah, where she was instructed to just focus on trees in the distance, spend time outside, and “put her bare feet on the ground to soak up the earth’s elements.” During a yoga class back in Connecticut, she had a vision of herself sitting up at Lake Blanche under Sundial Peak in Utah, a place where she felt an immense amount of peace and an understanding of who she was. She laid on the floor of the yoga studio and cried. “That’s where I need to be. That’s going to connect me to who I am.”

And then it started to happen after that yoga class.

She could hear the birds, she was present, and original thoughts started to come to her. But by the time she was ready to go back to work, Global X was no more and she was laid off.

So she packed up her bags, left the East Coast, and moved to Utah.

“Prioritizing what I needed became the new game changer for me. Where could my soul be happy? It was hard but absolutely the right thing for me to give up that identity of who I thought I was at work and as a runner.”

Jay dash

T

he last time Kano had enjoyed road running was in 2011, during the New York Marathon. She wanted to go back in time to when she was happy and enjoyed the sport.

“I didn’t know I had any talent. I was having a good time and that’s when I performed my best anyways. I just wanted to love it again.”

Last fall, 4 years after she had returned to Boston to run the marathon on the one-year anniversary of the bombs, she found herself back in New York City, ready to run again.

“I had done a lot of the healing and teachings that my therapist gave me and put it into place.

I wanted to go back on my own terms to prove to myself that I had it in me still. I needed to face what this all meant to me as the person that I am now.”

Sometimes you have to travel back to where you stopped to start all over again.

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Kano wanted this experience to be more than about herself. She wanted a deeper purpose. As she scrolled through the charities she could run for, she saw the Martin Richard Foundation, and it was obvious to her what she needed to do.

“It helped me attach more meaning to this race outside of myself.”

slower than she did in 2011, which is the last time she loved it. She remembers the leaves glimmering green and gold as she ran through the boroughs of the city as two million people sat on the sidelines and cheered on the runners.

“It’s always special, but this year was extra special,” she reminisced.

Despite all of the progress she had made, she still trembled in bed in anticipation of the run.

On that day she raised $4,000 for Martin, the young boy who lost his life at the Boston Mar-

""“I

I

was

afraid

to

know

to

let

of

what

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people

was mean

down,

She was afraid of herself, of getting in her own way.

“I was afraid of failing. I was almost paralyzed to know what it would mean to fail like that, to let other people down, or let my ego down. I wanted to be OK with what ever happened, and I was afraid that I was not going to be ok with that. I wanted to be a different person. You just can’t go back. I knew my own poison.”

Her goal was to love the sport of running again.

She had to get back to that place. She found the right kind of coach, who claimed he nursed her back to health, Kano said, laughing. She ran the New York Marathon in 2018 just six seconds

or

almost

paralyzed

to

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let

fail my

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that, down””

athon. “The biggest takeaway for me was that I felt a lot of joy for where I was. I felt super grateful to be there. I felt at peace with myself. I felt really proud of myself and that’s not something that I say often or ever. Knowing that I could do that felt extraordinary to me.”

“It was a shit ton of hard work,” Kano said. “You can’t just wish for good endings and then it will be; we have to put in hard work and make things happen.” But she finally felt like how she did in 2011: light and swift, so present and in the flow. “It’s the sweet spot as long as you can hold it. It was awesome, the perfect ending. I really couldn’t have written a better ending,” she said.

54 Jay dash

n o i t i b m a t s e h g “My hi m o r f t u o l w a r c

o t is

h s a e h t r unde

l l a t a h g u a l d n a y e h t t a h t

s g n i h t e th

d l u o c t h g u tho ” . e m y bur ancisco Rudy Fr

Poet American old 36 years

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poetry in motion Chris Whalen | @thedustmag

Illustration by

Hasna Eltahany | @Hassnaa

BECAUSE I broke my teeth on the strawberry of her name in an alpine summer. Cut my tongue on the sharpness of criticism.

Were you surprised butterflies tickled your lungs?

And on the third day when we failed to rise, we reached for each other instead of last night’s clothes on the floor.

Whispering like spies, our feet crackled on dry leaves, we edged past the brush and the pond swallowed us complete.

I joked about leeches, she snapping turtles.

The murky slit swirled around our feet, the brook at the edge of the copse burbled And I kissed her because the sky was too blue not to mean something‌

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SisuMagazine.com

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magazine

the celeste barber of cycling An interview with

@gravel_tryhard

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he’s not anybody that you would have ever heard of in the cycling world, but today this amateur racer is lighting up Instagram with her ironic, indignant posts that call out the misogyny in the cycling world. When she started, she admittedly didn’t have a clear vision, but within a few months (and after a profile in Bicycling Magazine) her online presence jumped from 3.5k to 10,000k followers. And it just keeps growing. While she might think that was the weirdest day of her life, we bet that the more people who fall in love with the Celeste Barber of the cycling world, life may get a little more hectic.

Why did you start the Instagram account @gravel_tryhard?

I have never been a social media person. I don’t have a Facebook account and I virtually never used social media. But I’m part of a close-knit circle of cyclists who do use it, and it’s often a joke or topic of conversation of whatever account is posting provocative pictures of women posing next to their bikes, often with a tight focus on their asses.

We’d share the more ridiculous ones among ourselves. Then at one point, a friend of mine had borrowed my camera and I wanted it back. He said, “I’ll give it back to you, but you have to take interesting photos and post them on Instagram.” So I said, “OK if you give me back my camera next week I’ll make an Instagram.” Somehow, those two com-

pletely innocuous ideas collided in my brain: bike babes, and suddenly having to do something interesting on Instagram. Originally the focus of my account wasn’t as clear as it is now. My first thought, which didn’t last very long, was actually, “I bet some of these women are making bank and getting a bunch of free bike stuff and maybe I could just set aside my ethics and be one of them.”

I had this idea that I’d do bike babe photos, but every photo would have some weird, subtle detail that made it obvious that I was actually just joking. But then I started to think a lot harder about what I was doing, and I also started to observe which posts people responded most strongly to. And about two weeks after creating the account, I had focused in on creating photos that conveyed to other female cyclists, “here’s what this bike babe photo looks like to me. It makes me laugh, and I want to show you exactly why.”

Why the emphasis on anonymity?

I have a day job and stodgy family members.

My name and face are out there in public.

I wouldn’t get fired but I don’t want those two worlds to collide. I keep what I do on my personal time in a nice box. I have a responsibility to other people as well: I don’t want my family or friends to feel like they’ve been involved in this project if they don’t want to be. I’m not embarrassed or have to keep a secret; it’s just a healthy separation.

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Do you have a team of co-conspirators?

I hang out with a bunch of cyclists and ideas have come from them or things have spun off. And now that I have a bigger following, people send me ideas virtually every day, and I use a lot of them. But I’m really a onewoman operation when it comes to setting up, taking, and publishing the photos. It’s not some kind of corporate endeavor with a team of creatives. It’s normally just me sitting by myself in the middle of a dirt road in my lingerie, mastering split screen, trying to hold the camera behind my butt while keeping the bicycle from falling over. If someone were to drive up on it they’d probably run over me.

What is your vision?

I’m going to keep going until someone gives me a free bike [she says laughing]. No, I would just be so enormously grateful and so happy if I felt like I had achieved even a little bit of cultural change. A few months ago, I didn’t dare to dream that big. But my thoughts have changed as I’ve watched the project grow.

What does cultural change look like to you?

It’s really hard to say. On the one hand, you could say that cultural change would maybe be a point in the fu60

ture when companies will no longer use women’s bodies to sell bicycles. And maybe the Instagram influencers of the future will show us photos where they’re riding their bikes through mud pits and working just as hard to portray a tough, gritty, capable image as they work right now to portray an impractical, ridiculous one. I can say that my goal is not to get individual women to put their clothes on. I’m not creating content to influence the women in the photos, I’m creating it for the people who see their photos. Rather than censoring content I’m uncomfortable with or keeping that content from being created, I’d rather see a world where people feel safe and enthusiastic about responding to imagery that they see as anti-feminist. If people could freely and publicly react, that would be amazing. I could just be flattering myself, but I think that since I started @gravel_tryhard, I’ve seen just a little bit more of that type of conversation on Instagram. For example, a bike manufacturer recently posted a ridiculous video of a model in stilettos, posing with a bare bike frame next to an expensive vase. Traditionally, if you look at a photo or a video like this and you check out the comments, they’re all men saying things like, “Well dang, I would go on a group ride with her (wink wink)” or men trying to be coy like “I didn’t even notice her tits, I was too busy looking at the bike.” But it struck me, the comments were from both

men and women, and they were saying things like “Hold the phone, I thought you were a cycling company, what’s the deal?” or “Hey, has she ever tried riding your bikes? What does she think of them?”

They were opening a conversation about something they saw that didn’t look right to them. That’s a sign of cultural change. In the past, you would have primarily seen this kind of coy, cutesy response from men on these photos, but one tiny piece of evidence of cultural change that I’m actually starting to see, is what really happened on this video—which is, people reacted strongly and negatively, and it opened a conversation with the company. Now, part of that conversation is that people, including my followers, will react in ways that I personally wouldn’t. One line that I draw, personally, is that I’ll never say that this stuff is disgusting or that the women who appear in it are disgusting. I also try never to comment on women’s bodies or their personal behavior: I try to keep it exclusively about the photos and what they look like to me as a female cyclist. Not everybody draws the same line, so some of the conversations that start around feminist issues in cycling are conversations that make me uncomfortable from both directions!

But the bottom line is, we’re having a conversation and that’s so cool. It’s not just a bunch of men saying “Gosh, I wish I was her bicycle seat.” Maybe I gave that a little nudge in the right direction, started a critical and complicated conversation. Maybe I gave it a little push. I hope that I did.

likely to affect my daily life that much. As for accepting sponsorships, it’s a tricky thing. I have accepted gifts from companies since starting this project. I’ve also turned down gifts. I have some rules of thumb: I’m always completely transparent about what I’ve received from whom, and no company will ever become immune to criticism by “paying me off.” There haven’t been any huge ethical dilemmas yet, but when I’m not sure about something, I try to fall back to the central principle of the project. I want to make women’s lives better. I hope that’s what I’m creating, something that women want to see that helps them or inspires them or makes their day brighter. If anything interferes with my doing that, it’s a nonstarter.

Do you have a sense for how the industry feels about your Instagram identity?

I really, really would love to know. There’s a part of me that doesn’t care what the industry thinks of me.

But on the other hand, having a relationship with the bike industry represents influence and access to a larger group of people, including the female cyclists who I’m creating content for. So yes and no that I care. I want to get the word out to more people, but I don’t care about the stuff. You know what I do fear?

What I am afraid of is that companies will see what I’m doing, and they will look at that and say “It’s not safe for us to put women in our advertising. Women are a timed mine ready to go off and let’s stay away from it.” If there’s one reaction I’m scared of, that’s it.

How would you respond to sponsorship requests? First of all, I am keenly, keenly aware of how incredibly fortunate I am that I’m able to say that no, I don’t need your free shit. Isn’t that amazing? I’m fairly young, but I’ve had some good luck in my life to get to the point where I’m supporting myself and I have a job that allows me to not only survive, but also have some freedom. I have to hustle to a certain extent, but I don’t have to hustle to get by in the cycling world. That puts me in a uniquely good position to do what I do: I don’t set out trying to make people angry, but if I do, it’s not 61

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summer camping essentials

Tikka headlamp ($30) petzl.com

MADELINE KELTY | @madelinekelty

I’m not a #vanlifer (I wish), nor have I completed a through-hike, but I do consider a 17-mile, 4,000-foot-vertical hike during monsoon season a normal way to kill a few hours on a Saturday. I grew up outside of Chicago, nary a mountain in sight. Needless to say, I’ve walked backwards into this mountain lifestyle I’ve settled into. Once comfortable running along Lake Michigan, I now find myself more at home on the banks of an alpine lake.

I’ve knocked off most trails in and around Santa Fe and find myself the source that friends go to when they’re looking for that perfect hike. Dog Friendly? Shaded because it’s a scorcher out? Easy for people coming from sea-level? Best for new trail runners? I’ve got you covered. From low deserts (and cacti) to high alpine (and scree) environments, New Mexico throws just about everything at you as a backpacker. This year, one of my new year’s resolutions was to spend more than 30 nights outside, and I’m happy to report that 1/3 of the way through the year I am well on target. These are some of the products I won’t leave home without:

make this pack a dream to carry, even when it’s freighted down.

As someone with dislocating shoulders, fit means everything to me and this pack has made multiday trips a reality. Bonus feature: disconnect the brain, fold it inside-out, and you’ve got yourself a pack for when you need to quickly summit that 14er before hiking back out.

After trying multiple different packs, I’ve realized that I should stick to what works.

For me, that’s any pack by Thule. In the summer, I use the Women’s Guidepost 65L ($329.95) for all of my backpacking trips. Yes, at 5.15lb it’s heavier than some of the packs on the market, but the additional features make it worth it. The adjustable torso and shoulder harness combined with the pivoting hip belt

As a hiker, backpacker, and lover of the outdoors, you’re probably constantly wondering how to lessen the impact on the environment. One thing I noticed? I was using too many plastic bags or tinfoil to pack my snacks. Enter Bee’s Wrap. The sandwich wrap ($11) is my favorite, and has joined me on countless adventures, summer or winter.

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More good news about the awesome winter we had in New Mexico: I won’t have to carry as much water with me because I’ll actually find some flowing water sources that had dried up last summer. This year I’ll take the MSR TrailShot ($49.95) with me for day hikes and solo trips. Its weight (5oz) and size (2 inches) makes it nearly imperceptible in my pack, yet its ability to filter a liter in a minute makes it a backcountry hero. Even better: attach it to the MSR Trail Base water filter kit ($139.95) when you have a bigger group and let gravity do all the work for you!

Kari Traa Eva Tee ($45) karitraa.com

Abisko Trekking Tight ($175) Fjällräven.com

If you’re spending multiple days on the trail or are just not into drip-drying, it’s time to check out the Kula Cloth ($20). New to me, this cloth is an antimicrobial, multi-use toilet paper that makes leave-no-trace much easier. After use, simply button it to your backpack and let the sun dry it out. To wash, either use some biodegradable soap at camp, or toss in the washing machine when you get home. Hang to dry, and you’re ready for your next adventure!

Sherpa Adventure Gear’s Asaar 2.5 Layer Jacket ($170) .sherpaadventuregear.com

Helly Hansen Lillo Sweater ($120) HellyHansen.com

Kula Cloth ($20) KellyCloth.com

I never go anywhere without my dog, but she’s not always the perfect trail companion. When there are too many distractions for her, I like to have her on a leash. Regular leashes are tough when carrying trekking poles or scrambling, so a hands-free waist belt like Stunt Puppy’s Stunt Runner ($44) is perfect. It’s easily adjustable, fits comfortably with my backpack’s hip belt, and allows her independence to sniff around while we’re on the move. Even better, it functions perfectly when we’re on a run through town on our off days.

You can never have too many headlamps. I have them stashed in my glove compartment, my ski touring bag, my backpacking pack, and my day trip bags. Perhaps I’m bad at estimating timing, or I just love a challenging hike, but I’ve raced daylight too many times to go anywhere without one. Petzl’s Tikka headlamp ($30) is one of my favorites. The adjustable levels of brightness mean you’re not wasting batteries when you don’t need to, and the red light is crucial when camping with friends. Have you ever had to pee in the middle of the night on a backcountry hut trip when everyone sleeps in one room?

Or wanted to stay up to read when your tent partner wants to sleep? The white light is no bueno. Pack a few extra batteries and you’ll be good to go no matter your adventure.

Hiking all summer, particularly in

New Mexico, can be unpredictable.

July 1 kicks off monsoon season, and you’re never quite sure what the weather will be. I’ve been caught in the beating sun, thunderstorms, and even hail storms. Easiest way to keep from getting scared indoors?

Have a layer for everything. I always have a raincoat with me, and Sherpa Adventure Gear’s Asaar 2.5 Layer Jacket ($170) is waterproof, breathable, and packable. It’s exactly what I’m looking for. The Abisko Trekking Tight ($175) from Fjällräven is ready for any terrain I throw at it, including the off-trail bushwacks I sometimes end up on. Reinforced patches on the backside and the knees allow me to rest on rocky outcroppings or scramble up steeper sections, without succumbing to tears much like the multiple pairs of spandex that have not been as lucky …On top, I swear by a wool t-shirt. Tank tops leave my shoulders exposed to rubbing from pack straps, and the wool leaves me refreshed despite hot temperatures.

Kari Traa’s Eva T-Shirt ($45) features DriRelease wool, a blend of natural and synthetic fibers proven to keep you comfortable all day. If I’m heading straight from a long hike to meet friends in town (yes, I’m usually that dirty friend at the bar), I like to keep a jacket around just in case it’s cold in the building. The Helly Hansen Lillo Sweater ($120) easily goes from trail to town without skipping a beat. It’s breathable enough to be a great hiking layer when the sun goes down, but good looking enough that I find myself reaching for it even when I’m not in the mountains. Lastly, a long day in the mountains deserves a reward. For some it’s ice cream, for some nachos, for me it’s a beer.

This summer I’m all about Bow & Arrow, a fantastic local brewery in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I love their rotating seasonal menu, which keeps flavors full and unexpected. I can’t help but feel like a badass ordering the Savage Times Sour IPA after a few days in the woods.

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who's in charge?

Start. Stop. Continue. A list of all the important things in life curated by Lynsey Dyer, professional skier, F ilmmaker, and co-founder of SheJumps. lynsey dyer | @lynseydyer

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Things that you wish would make a comeback: • Quality products that aren’t built to be obsolete in a year • Kinked 80’s hair • The hoverboard • Consistent snow and temps • Affordable skiing for families

Things that should go away forever: • Plastic in our oceans • Bullies • Carbon in the atmosphere • When you’re in a hurry and your device decides it needs an update or has taken the app off your phone without you knowing • Lift lines

Things that should never change: • The number of animals and plants and all organisms that add to a balanced planet • Powder days with your friends • Beauty in women regardless of age • Your commitment to growth and highest purpose • Your capacity for play as an adult for no reason at all

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f ight for you A DIY project by

DEVAN BRIDSON | @don_and_dog

Devan Bridson is a fashion designer who grew up in a tiny farm town in Illinois. As a child, she remembers camping and fishing with her father and papa. Those two men sparked a love for the wild world in her heart. That love for the outdoors has inspired her to backpack, rock climb, snowboard, and canoe. As she began to harness her creative spirit into fashion design, she became committed to protecting this world instead of harming it. She’s on a mission to balance these opposing forces and hopes to use her craft to better this world.

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who’s ready to rumble?

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Sometimes just getting through the day feels like a fight. Mansplaining.

Tokenism. Microaggressions. That asshole who cut you off and you now are wearing your cup of coffee like it’s the latest fashion accessory. Rather than get angry, get even.

Devan Bridson created this DIY attachable skirt for women who love rocking a skirt but always want to be ready for a ringer.

The concept behind her patter n is that the skirt can be attached to a pair of shorts (or whatever, really) tha t embody your boldest, most fierce self. Tha t way the next time you need to summon your inner Rocky Balboa, you can whip off the and skirt you’re ready to roll. Since we recognize that women can literally and figuratively kick ass in whatever they’re wearing, the practical application of this design transfor ms two yards of your favorite fabric into a wearable towel (perfect for the beach or that cup of coffee you’re wearing), pillow (ball it up and lay your head down under a shady tree), or shawl (no need to bring an extra layer on those cool summer nights—you’re already wearing it!).

It’s also a helpful reminder that we can weave and punch our way through anything that gets in our wa y, as long as we know we are strong enough. If someone dares to enter the boxing ring with you, show them that you won’t be backing down. You are a fighter. You will win. And if they dare to question that, well, then they’ve lost before they’ve even thrown a punch.

Thank you to Upcycle It Now for providing the recycled fabric used in this project. Upcycle It Now is a mother/daughter owned business, born out of a shared entrepreneurial spirit and steadfast determination to become sustainability change agents by partnering with textile companies to upcycle their textile waste into beautiful, high quality and functional products for the active lifestyle. Learn more about their work at UpcycleItNow.com.

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“ f ight � skirt

MATERIALS - 2 yards of fabric, Hook & Loop tape (ex. velcro), and a pair of shorts.

A = Waist measurement + 2 inches B = 3 inches C = 2 inches D = Desired length of skirt (Waist to knee length recommended) 1. Cut out fabric piece to above measurments.

2. Cut Hook & Loop tape to 1/2 waist length. Cut 2.

3. Fold in 1/2 inch on all sides, excluding bottom hem, and sew. (See white area in diagram) 4. Fold in 1 inch at bottom hem and sew. (See white area in diagram) 5. Attach Hook & Loop tape to the back waist of shorts.

6. Attach second Hook & Loop tape to inside of skirt, matching the first piece.

7. Create front closure for the skirt using Hook & Loop tape or other desired method.

A B C CLOSURE PLACEMENT

D HOOK & LOOP PLACEMENT AREA TO BE FOLDED

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“Whenever you’re feeling doubt, whenever you want to give up, you must always remember to choose freedom over fear.” ~ Janelle Monáe

American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and producer 33 YEARS OLD

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making a comeback the latest old thing is new again, home remedies on the rise SAMANTHA ROMANOWSKI | @smilingsamantha

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olistic home remedies have been used for thousands of years with good reason. The OG way to heal health issues, they are now being recognized (again) as a natural alternative to some modern-day medicine. Home remedies don’t contain chemicals, so they don’t have terrible side effects. Traditional remedies also are generally less expensive than prescription medicine, leaving more money in your pocket to spend on travel, gear, food, more issues of Sisu, or whatever else your heart desires.

Plus, you probably already have some of the stuff you need at home!

If you want fewer chemicals in your life, are looking for ways to naturally boost your energy, sleep sounder, or live more holistically, then home remedies are for you. Here are some traditional remedies that are making a comeback:

Apple cider vinegar is not just for salad dressings. Apple cider vinegar, aka ACV, can help regulate blood sugar levels and reduce symptoms of acid reflux. Dilute two tablespoons of ACV in eight ounces of water and drink before meals. Other holistic remedies using ACV include preparing it as a soak to fight foot fungus, combining it in equal parts with water to use as a rinse or spray for shiny and dandruff free hair, or using it as a chemical free cleaner for your home.

Essential oils Essential oils are the next avocado toast (insert eye roll) and I’ll tell you why: They are anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-spasmodic, and immuneboosting. They support digestion, boost energy, and can reduce stress. They don’t include chemicals like sodium lauryl sulfate, 70

phthalates, parabens, artificial fragrances, formaldehyde, or other toxins that pollute your body. Plus, they smell nice. Here are four fantastic essential oils to keep on hand:

Lavender is a powerhouse essential oil—it has so many benefits! It’s sedative, antianxiety, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, immune-boosting, and antiviral. Many people use it to help them sleep.

Drop a few drops on your palms, rub together, inhale, and drift off into dreamland.

Tea tree is anti-viral and antiinflammatory. Some people use it for gingivitis because it kills oral bacteria. Add a few drops to your store-bought mouthwash and swish away! Or combine a few drops with coconut oil to soothe bug bites and rashes.

Eucalyptus

is a familiar scent that will clear nasal passages quickly and soothe coughs. Try a few drops in the shower (away from the stream of water) to help wake up in the morning; you’ll think you’re in a steam room at a fancy spa. Bonus: It stimulates your immune system and improves respiratory conditions and circulation.

Peppermint

is for more than just gum and toothpaste.

Naturally cooling and antispasmodic, it can be used as a muscle rub. As an analgesic, it can help significantly with headaches—just rub a few drops on your temples. It’s also invigorating and has been shown to boost energy and improve focus, so sniff at will during your stressful work day.

Bone broth is a traditional healing food found in cultures around the world. If you consume animal products, adding bone broth to your diet can improve digestion, protect your joints, and enhance skin health.

It’s more than just stock; although just as easy to make, the longer cooking process results in a more mineral and nutrient rich broth. Start drinking it now and your 80-year-old self will thank you when you’re still out there getting dirty.

Elderberry

is a traditional remedy for colds and flu. Used by ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks for its medicinal qualities, it’s an immune booster that has anti-viral properties. It can be used to help clear up a sinus infection or shorten the duration of a cold or flu. It’s also helpful in easing allergies, since it fights inflammation as well. Pro tip: raw elderberries can cause gastrointestinal distress, so try a syrup, capsule, or lozenge instead. I take my elderberry syrup in sparkling wine, but you know, you do you.

Spices have been a hot commodity for thousands of years. They are not only especially useful for preserving food and making it more flavorful, but they also have amazing health benefits. Cinnamon, for example, relieves inflammation, is high in antioxidants, and can stabilize blood sugar.

Add a few dashes to your oatmeal, swirl some in your peanut butter, or sprinkle it on a sweet potato. Turmeric is known to be one of the most effective anti-inflammatory compounds in the world. Its ability to relieve pain compares to over the counter meds.

And you don’t have to only eat it as a curry.

Try it in salad dressing, in soup, as a tea or, if you want to get really bougie, as a golden milk beverage. Other awesome herbs to try include ginger, rosemary, sage, and cayenne.

So dig those little bottles filled with powdery substances out of the back of your pantry and start experimenting!

A neti pot is

a small teapot-like vessel used to irrigate nasal passages. Flushing out debris and loosening mucus will leave your nasal passages clear to breathe more freely, while also reducing the irritants that often cause allergies, sinus infections, and colds.

Use a Neti pot while in the shower and you won’t even mind the snot running down your face.

There are so many ways to start using natural ingredients and home remedies as an alternative to Big Pharma. Although most of them are safe, if you have a chronic health condition that requires management, you should talk to your doctor before trying a traditional home remedy or adding herbs and supplements to your diet. Sometimes herbs can interfere with medication and your doc (no, not dr.google) can give you proper guidance, usage, and dosage. If you are mostly healthy and willing to experiment with more holistic ways to alleviate your health concerns, these home remedies are a fantastic place to start.

Samantha Romanowski, aka Sam, is an Amma therapist and certified holistic nutritionist in Oregon City, OR. Although she is endlessly fascinated by Chinese medicine and truly loves her work, she also loves to explore. In her free time, you can find Sam hiking around the PNW or planning her next overlanding expedition. (Alaska 2020!) She also really loves to bake and believes that her sourdough loaf would totally impress Paul Hollywood. (She’d be stoked to share her recipe with you.) Find out more about Sam and her practice at UnionHolisticHealth.com.

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summer reading roundup magazine

JILL SANFORD | @jillcsanford Summer—the season of long trail runs with heart-stopping mountain views, socializing with my chosen family over the glow of a barbeque, tan lines in equally inappropriate and hilarious places—and curling up with a good book in a hammock under the stars or on my favorite public pier.

As much as I love an action packed summer that’s full of adventure from dusk to dawn, for bookworms like myself the added hours of daylight mean there’s more time for reading when I am not out on the trails. And luckily, there are a lot of newly released books I’ll be reading this summer, starting with a few beautiful collections of words and images geared specifically towards folks who like to spend as much time outside as they do with their nose in a book.

PC: Agnes Vianzon

courtesy of gale straub

She Explores: Stories of Life Changing Adventures on the Road and In the Wild by Gale Straub Heralded as an ode to every woman that’s been called outdoorsy, the new collection of inspiring outdoor womxn, brought to you by Gale Straub of She Explores (yes—the Gale that hosts everyone’s favorite adventure-focused podcast of the same name) doesn’t disappoint. Chock full of inspiring words and images, it’s pretty much impossible to flip through this book and not reflect on your own relationship with the outdoors.

Separated into six parts (enthusiasts, creatives, founders and professionals, nomads, transplants, and advocates), the book also speaks to the range of experiences we have as outdoorswomxn. Whether you are a loyal She Explores listener, new to Gale and her soft-spoken words of wisdom, or you hope to find inspiration between these pages to think on your own outdoor experiences, this is a worthy add to any bookshelf.

Published by Chronicle Books, this book is available for $24.95 at independent bookstores, online at Indiebound, and wherever books are sold, including your favorite goliath of online retail.

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Vanlife Diaries: Finding Freedom on the Open Road by Kathleen Morton, Jonny Dustow, and Jared Melrose

Are you tired of #vanlife yet? Yeah—me neither, although I am over the endless scrolling associated with the hashtag on social media. Enter Ten Speed Press’s new collection dedicated to wanderlust and “a new generation of modern gypsies” that is Vanlife Diaries.

Contained within these pages is a celebration of the nomadic community of professionals and creatives making life work in their converted VWs, Sprinters, Toyotas—you name it.

PC: james barkman

Here, you’ll read about the motivations behind these wayfaring travelers. Did they make this lifestyle leap for love? For money?

For play? For nature? Regardless of the reason the folks who share their stories in this book took to the open road in the first place, their words will leave you with a sense of longing and a few concrete nuggets of advice to stow away in your back pocket if you too dream of #vanlife.

This book is also available far and wide for $25 at your local bookstore and via easily searchable behemoth retailers.

PC: james barkman

Poems for Our Ex-Lovers The Dust Mag Published by a small, grassroots team of creatives affiliated with The Dust Magazine and based primarily out of Moab, Utah, this collection of poetry gives voice— both bitter and bittersweet—to heartbreak. As contributor Jacque Garcia reflects in the anthology’s foreword, “Even if one does not consider themselves to be a writer… the likelihood is that they still, somewhere deep down, have a poem for an ex-lover.” courtesy of dust mag

With Garcia’s introduction reverberating in my head, I was struck by the uniqueness and yet also the universality of all the words relating to ex-lovers contained within these pages. Read it slowly, savor each section of grief that organizes the collection, and let poems like “Sex on a Crash Pad” and “But First, Me” rattle around in your brain for a bit.

An independently published collection, this $20 book is available for purchase in various locations in Moab including Back of Beyond Books and online at BackofBeyondBooks.

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winterwondergoddess Holding Space for Community with

Bridget Law

by TIBBY PLASSE | @victoria.e.plasse People talk about holding space for elders, intentions, or the landscape, but few actualize the practice so well that it organically becomes part of work and play. Enter Bridget Law, a Colorado Front Range native who is teaching musicians, event organizers, and women how to hold space and improve experiences for all involved. Law is most commonly known as a founding member of the swoony folk grass band Elephant Revival, from Boulder, CO and now plays alongside her husband Tierro Lee. The Tierro Band with Bridget Law’s vigor pulls in Arabian scales, rock instrumentation, and trance melodies to create a unique dance and music experience. We caught up with Law at WinterWonderGrass, a community and family friendly ski-town bluegrass and beer festival to find out how she’s helping to shape a better festival experience for the whole community––artists, fans, and the mountain towns in which the festivals take place.

Let’s begin with you telling us a little bit about your transition away from touring.

You’ve gotten married, and that’s a huge transition alone. What’s it like, this big decision to come home, to say “I’m done with the road”? It’s a massive decision for a musician.

It was about two years ago before I played my last show with Elephant Revival that we were in Tahoe and I was kind of raising a ruckus in the group. I was opening up the conversation with people like “Hey, I’m not satisfied with this. There’s something missing here, you know, the soul––the initial energy that brought all of us together in Elephant Revival.” At that time, we were a little bit in jeopardy. Eventually we were able to revive the energetics, but at the time Sage had left, and the band was sort of in its own transition. I just felt like we weren’t grounded.

You get to a place in your life where you have to make sure you do what you want to do before you look backwards, and you go “Fuck! I missed the opportunity.“ I had met Tierro [Lee], and I was in love with Tierro, and I knew that was going to be important in my life. So, I started having the conversation with everybody, asking “What are your dreams? What are the big things that you want to do outside of just being on this tour bus and playing a hundred shows a year?” Because when you’re on a tour and you’re playing a hundred shows a year, that’s enough. Sure, there’s another 265 days of the year, give or take. But you’re either traveling or recuperating from traveling.

How do you ground yourself and maintain yourself as an artist? You were living with your band all the time, constantly being able to play with each other and have that synergy. What is it like to sort of pull out of that and find a different path as a solo artist and how do you hold space there?

Well, luckily I feel like one thing that Elephant Revival did well is that we gave each other a lot of space. So although we were stuck in eachothers’ worlds all the time, we gave each other mental space and time to be alone.

So thankfully, when it did come time for me to be more sedentary and have my own direction in life it wasn’t to oforeign for me. I was ready. I knew I had the tools that I needed to be in my own life and guiding my own ship and I was pretty stoked on it. I’d say the harder part for me was going from being “on” all the time and ready to jump at any opportunity, to being still and allowing myself space and time to just process and whatever 74

What are the other festivals you have taken more of a production role in?

Sister Winds was last summer, which was a really cool experience.

That was a women’s festival and I definitely lifted it up. It was always a small gathering, about 200 people at a farm. I brought it to the Mish [Mishakawa Amphitheatre] and we brought six hundred people and had a really stellar line-up and a legitimate talent budget. We really Bridget & Tierro blew it up and it was awesome. I John-Ryan Lockman did however decide not to keep doing that. Not that I wouldn’t want to continue to do a woman’s that felt like—if it was an emotional experience, if it festival because it’s something that I would like to do, was being confused, if it was being quiet, whatever it was. I have to say that working for this festival (Winter- and I’d be happy to do some time under the right cirWonderGrass) which is run by my dear friend, Scotty cumstances. But this particular one was in its 10th year Stoughton—who I have been friends with for almost actually and was already pretty established. I would be 15 years—was a real natural transition and it’s really more drawn to starting something from scratch. helped the aspect of me that is like, “I know that I’m good at being on all the time, but it’s not good for me to be on all the time.” So what this festival provides for me and working for Scotty provides for me, is that four weeks out of the year for three WinterWonderGrasses and one Campout for the Cause, I’m my old self. I’m actually on as my new self, but I activate the part of my skill set that is available from an earlier part of my life.

“I’m the one ...figuring out the best way

to make sure that

What are you doing for Scotty Stoughton’s production company Bonfire Entertainment and WinterWonderGrass?

Accurately speaking I’m Scotty’s assistant. So I do a lot of the little things that Scotty would generally take care of but he trusts me to take care of. It’s freed him up to do other things like grow the business and introduce other qualities and elements into what he does and expand them. So I do a lot of really cool shit. I do a lot of creative curation. We have a lot of spontaneous music where we set up a bunch of musicians and throw them on stage. Generally, I’m WinterWonderWomen the one wrangling those musicians, coming up with the setlist and kind of figuring out the best way to make sure that everybody shines—which I think is kind of my life’s purpose. I love to help find a space for people to shine and now I get to do that. For instance, in these spontaneous music sets, I make sure each musician gets to offer a tune and I try to place it in a deliberately in the set so that every tune is great and every person is acknowledged for their talents.

everybody shines— which I think is kind of my life's purpose.”

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John-Ryan Lockman

And can you talk about Arise?

It’s been beautiful. Tierro and I fell in love at Arise.

We got married at Sunrise Ranch where Arise is held, and it’s a huge part of my family and my life but a very different festival than WinterWonderGrass. Arise has a huge activism element and it’s also held at Sunrise Ranch where there’s a hundred and sixty residents who are already holding space for conscious evolution.

That’s what they are devoted to do. So the land itself is dedicated to conscious evolution and then they have a big dome which is their spiritual headquarters.

It’s a really great area for discussion and presentations.

So they’re able to hold forums and panels and play films. I’ve done some really cool things every year with Barbara Marx Hubbard. She’s been writing about conscious evolution since the1960s. She ran for vice president at one point based on her platform of co-creativity, which was a bummer that that was overlooked. She and I do these fun things at Arise where she speaks and she tells people her story and I’m supposed to, on the fly, come up with the music that goes along with what she’s saying. She and I have a really great connection. But those are the kinds of special things that happen at Arise. It can go a lot further beyond music, into what stimulates the fans––though you know there are almost 10,000 people there and the headliner is an EDM artist. I think the yoga tent really helps widen the consciousness. We’re in really close proximity to Boulder, so for me, all the colors at the Front Range shine at that event!

Tell us more about Empowered Hearts.

Empowered Hearts is my collaboration with my best friend, Katie Gray. We are just kindred, so deeply kindred. She is a divine channel for therapy. She’s been through a lot––her life story is crazy and the amount of trauma that she’s had to persevere through is really interesting. She’s developed some amazing tools that help people surface through trauma, get back in the game, to know and develop themselves the way they 76

want to develop themselves and give themselves forgiveness for what has happened and forgive others.

Learning to trust again through becoming aware of patterns of shame and judgement. Katie does workshops called Voice of Truth and she’s been developing this material for a long time. When the Dalai Lama says a western woman will save the world, I think of Katie.

We created this 24-hour workshop that is basically a really intentional, deep slumber party. We do a lot of emotional processing and physical movement as well to help the process along. We lay in the same room and she sings us all to sleep through this meditative and shamanic journey––we enter the subconsciousness together, and then we come out in the morning having shared a really powerful experience. We work on the building blocks and the tools and we talk about choosing love over fear, and how real that can be. You basically leave with like 20 or 30 women friends­­­––really good friends because you’ve just been through kind of a birth. We’ve just hosted one in May in Carbondale at a beautiful ranch.

Do you have any advice for our readers?

Perhaps I’ll share something I learned on the road. No matter what’s going on around me, the most important thing is being able to tap in, quiet down, and listen to my heart space. Checking in with myself to say “OK, what do I need right now?” or “What’s important in this moment?” I think that that’s how I manage things like opening the gates today [at WinterWonderGrass], and making sure everybody had their credentials, and/ or taking care of the staff transportation. Knowing that when it’s time to pause, to take a pause. When it’s time to take care of me, I take care of me. Yeah, I think this is very important. For example, my family’s here, Tierro and Aaron our eight-year-old. I make sure they go up on the mountain, and then I do my job. I’m juggling a lot of balls right now, but everybody feels attended to because I feel attended to myself.

catch her in the wild . . .

Bridget Law @fiddlinbridget Tierro Band with Bridget Law TierroBand.com @tierroband WinterWonderGrass WinterWonderGrass.com @winterwondergrass Campout for the Cause CampoutForTheCause @campoutforthecause Arise

AriseFestival.com @arisefestival

Empowered Hearts Facebook.com/weareempoweredhearts/ The Blind Cafe

TheBlindCafe.com @blindcafe

Music & Social Change Experiences held in 100% darkness, no blindfolds. Local Chefs.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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eat, drink, + be merry

blackberry

elderf lower London Mule

VANESSA BARAJAS | @vanessabarajas

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lease file under Things I’m Grateful For: the craft cocktail resurgence of the early 21st century. I’m obsessed with craft cocktails. So much so that I seek out speakeasies like it’s closer to 1920 rather than 2020. My dream is to one day own a home with a basement so I can build my own speakeasy with a built in Scooby Doo vanishing bookcase and everything. So here’s my twist on the London Mule. I’m a sucker for fresh muddled stuff and anything elderflower. But, honestly you had me at Mule. Enjoy on a warm day in warm company.

Prep Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 5 minutes Yield: 20 ounces, 2 – 15-ounce highball glasses or copper mugs with ice Serves: 2

Ingredients

5 fresh blackberries

16 ounces (475 ml) Reed’s Ginger Beer

pinch of fresh mint leaves

crushed ice

juice from ½ lemon

special equipment

juice from ½ lime 3 ounces (90 ml) Hendricks Gin 1 ounce (30 ml) St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur

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cocktail shaker highball glasses or copper mugs

Directions 1. Fill two highball glasses or copper mugs with crushed ice. Set aside.

2. In a cocktail shaker add the blackberries, mint leaves, lemon juice, and lime juice. Use a muddler or a spoon to crush the blackberries, releasing their juices, and bruise the mint. Then add the gin and elderflower liqueur to the shaker. Fill with ice, then shake vigorously for 5 seconds. Pour the mixture evenly between the two ice filled glasses.

3. Top with Reed’s Ginger Beer, garnish using mint and blackberries if desired.

Notes

To make a less sweet version, use carbonated water in place of half the amount of ginger beer (8 ounces). Reed’s Ginger Beer, Hendricks, and St. Germaine are the preferred brands to make this cocktail, but please feel free to sub accordingly with your favorite gin and elderflower liqueur.

Pro-tip: Sonic sells bags of their crushed pebble ice for $3 a bag. It’s an easy way to stay stocked with good ice and not have to worry about running out of ice for your guests.

Guilt- Free Cocktail Ginger is an ancient spice used all over the world for its flavor in dishes, soups, teas, baked goods …and cocktails. It’s also a powerful functional ingredient and fragrance, with robust anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties from its many compounds. Reed’s Ginger Beer with real ginger is a great base for cocktails because it gives you a boost of ginger benefits while you enjoy your buzz. Ginger relieves nausea and promotes a healthy gut, prevents infection, aids in digestion, reduces arthritis pain, controls diabetes, and is great for the skin. Check out DrinkReeds.com for more recipes.

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thaT's what he said

Sisu Magazine Salutes

Men in Business ANDREW PRIDGEN | @andrewjpridgen Illustration by

W

JEN KENNEDY | @jen_kennedy

ith so much emphasis on women taking charge in society (and in the home, in the workplace …and, in other places!) this space, this month, is dedicated to the men who are out there breaking the mold and doing what men were meant to do: pretending to work while completing the bare minimum of parenting duties as they remind everyone over and over and over again that they completed a mundane task (like giving a bath to a child) within the last several months (years?), and “help” around the home enough to fuck things up and give up.

We are proud to announce the honorees for Sisu Magazine’s first-annual ‘Men in Business’ Awards, compiled by contributor Andrew Pridgen.

Doug Hemble

A

fter working several years as an admin for Sunrise Title Company, Doug got his Real Estate license shortly after his second child was born. He worked on selling several planned communities in the area, including Chatterly Court, One Johnson Lane, and The Meadows on Clarke. But matching like-minded couples with their forever homes wasn’t nearly enough. Currently, he is patent-pending a new kind of device clip, a fanny pack-like holster that can carry up to two smart phones and an energy bar slung around the backside of the hip. He says it helps him “carry, without inconveniencing.”

“Regular device clips,” Doug explains, “are often worn in the front and I always felt myself slicing as a result. Also, it wasn’t the only thing prohibiting me from ‘hitting true’—a phone too close to my junk affected my swimmers and we couldn’t get 82

pregnant with our third for like, months.” Dubbed “The Stroker,” he plans to go on Shark Tank to pitch the holster, which also comes in a hempblend “for the eco-conscious among us.” Whether working a deal on the course, harassing the servers over an artisanal cocktail, helping install a car seat, or checking in on what the Points Guy says about the Marriott-Starwood merger, Doug Hembler is “making a difference, one deal, one swing, one guy at a time.”

Mat Harn

M

at and his wife, Krystin, relocated to Southern California in 2015 from Seattle. While in the Emerald City, he was rooted in the world of tech start-ups and had much success—including selling a Spanx for men brand that both “shaped and enhanced” male genitalia and creating an interactive app that helped you and your dog play simple games like Checkers and Sorry! during the workday. “We were leaving our Goldens at home for 10-12 hours, this was a way for us to interact.” Inspired by his four daughters and coordinating their busy volleyball schedules via Post-Its, Mat spun up “PrntPLNR,” a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that simply manages busy households. “We have SaaS for all types of businesses from health and wellness to real estate to any type of sales or investment banking, so why not one for the home?” From grocery lists to scheduling date nights to who gets to hold the Apple TV remote, PrntPLNR does it all.

Mat and Krystin—who is CEO and his #ladyboss4lyfe—say that once they were able to start doing drip campaigns to remind daughters Blakeley, Madysen, McKenlee, and Brigina to put down their devices (after the parents received the notification on their devices) and come pick up their Uber Eats,

the family “really got closer, or at least did things at almost the same time.”

Rhett Warren

P

rofoundly driven and a perfectionist by nature, Rhett has built a robust Mancave or He-shed decorating business after taking several years off to breed and raise French Bulldogs.

It started with helping re-purpose a neighbor’s failed tiny home trailer into his own private space.

He sold everything and tried to do that Away We Go slash #vanlife thing where they travel around the country and find a perfect place to live, which resulted in his wife meeting and falling for some high-end rental car fleet owner in Scottsdale. So he came back and started over. He still had the home on wheels, but it really needed re-doing.

Rhett’s custom spaces go beyond “beer signs and favorite team pennants.” He says he really tries to channel a man’s heritage for these important places. “Most of us come from a lineage where our ancestors committed some kind of genocidal atrocity or at least spent their whole lives suppressing those not born into privilege, so I try to celebrate that,” he says. An amateur collagist and avid scrapbooker, Rhett says he recently completed a “Revenge Mural” of every Tinder Swipe Right a client had for a month with x’d out eyes. “I have to admit, that one was a little creepy, but no creepier than mounting a 180-year-old rifle that a guy said his great-greatgreat grandpa used to ‘kill Indians, buffalo, and the occasional bear from aboard a fast-moving train.’”

Sterling Brans

S

terling, a longtime champion of men’s rights with a robust following on Reddit, wanted to “force” people to consider what it’s like for American men who have to jump through multiple hoops and regulations just to access to their own healthcare and reproductive rights. “I just thought, we spend so much time on women and their one egg per month. But what this is about is being forced to release millions of my guys down the shower drain every day.”

Sterling’s first book, a top seller in Amazon’s Cryptofascist-white supremacist-self-help-cisgender-Easter Bunny-costume-paw-fetish category, Let’s Give the Boy a Hand, was also blurbed by his own alter-ego, “an actual Tucker Carlson impersonator.”

From turning vitriol into a cottage industry and bringing to light the fact that men really are the fucking worst, Sterling says “I ended up using this fucked-up system of ignorance that has proliferated in fascist-leaning times of misinformation and hate to attempt to bilk money from the public because the numbers are still there for men to exist. But there’s no real reason for it at this point if you think about it. I’m just trying to accelerate that.”

Mason Hamilton

A

fter being turned down for a job as a Walmart greeter, Mason blogged about it on his Tumblr before it was shut down for the majority of its content. “Most of the stuff on there that wasn’t CFNM was about having three advanced degrees and being unable to secure full-time minimum wage work,” he says. “I’d been driving Lyft for a year and a half but ended up getting stabbed with a pen by this hungover dude on the way to the airport. I think he was still drunk and crying about his marriage being over or something.”

The pen stab was “only in the shoulder” Mason says. “It was like that scene in Forrest Gump where he gets shot and says, ‘Something bit me.’—god what a terrible movie.” A labor attorney reached out to Mason after he read the blog “for whatever reason” and they filed a class-action suit against the retail giant for “Reverse Age Discrimination.”

“The guy,” Mason says, “was a total hack and asked for like a hundred-and-something million, so I think the actual settlement was for four or five and he took something like 80 percent, so now I’m in another lawsuit to get that back and that’s drained most of what I got, but oh, well. That’s how it goes.” Mason says he’s currently putting all that behind him and trying to get a job as a docent at a hotel or an office park, “Without elaborating, with my background, it’s too tough to get even a volunteer job at a museum, so I’m turning to the private sector. If I could lead tours at, say, an airport hotel and just kind of make things up, I think there’s a market for that. People need some kind of human connection now. Everything’s just so fractured and it seems more and more like it’s being done on purpose—though I can’t prove anything.”