What is Whyology?
In Academic settings, the various studies or "ology"s are separated and studied independently. Many scientists delve deep into a specialty, examining the minute details of an area of study. Other scientists may prefer more of an interdisciplinary approach, and pay special attention to the ways multiple kinds of science impact eachother. However, in the academic world, most of these studies are presented as having a specific "right" way of going about the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and will deny methods of inquiry that do not fit their standards. Although there is merit to the peer-reviewed methodology of modern science, the rigid structures often have an unintended impact of stifling curiosities of interconnectedness and discouraging certain kinds of questioning. Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about this in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, about how she was fascinated by the colors of Goldenrod and Aster, and wondered why they looked so beautiful together, and was reprimanded by the academic world. Here, we want to fight against the tendency to react to "why" questions with dismissive responses like "because I said so" or "because that's just how things work" and instead encourage inquiry, imagination, and exploration of the natural world through observation, conversation, and careful experimentation.
Many of us learned to hide and silence our inner child who was constantly curious because our genuine questions were received as disrespect rather than our best attempts at understanding. Whyology is designed to help counter that conditioning by encouraging that very kind of consideration and challenging with that very goal of understanding ourselves, each other, and the natural world around us with all the love we can muster.
What is a Hope-aganda?
In today's world, there is an endless stream of content and artwork to be consumed, created by a wide variety of individuals. artists, educators, and entertainers. It can be hard to tell what to spend your time with, staying educated on things that seem rather grim, or distracting with fun to feel better, but what if there was another way entirely?
You have probably heard about the concept of Doom-scrolling, where endless amounts of end-of-the-world propaganda fill your feed with information that can easily make you feel hopeless. The truth is, there is a lot of awfulness in this world. However, that is not all there is. Human created problems require and inspire creative human solutions. In this case, we creative humans are creating works of stick-able, share-able art that you can leave anywhere, on a news feed, on a car bumper, a letter to a friend or even your emotional support water bottle, that help tell the story behind WHY our amazing wildlife neighbors are in danger, and what we can commit to doing in our own lives to be a part of the positive change we need in this world.
My ability to tell these stories, that lead us through the darkest parts of reality to find the light we want to reflect, has earned me a bit of a reputation among friends, family, and anyone who gets a chance to hear me speak for more than a few uninterrupted minutes. My sister called me a Hope-agandist, and although I don't know for sure she made that word up, I have yet to see it elsewhere and I find it very fitting. Another friend of mine calls me a Practitioner of Hope, as I do tend to have a bit of a spiritual element to my studies and stories. An essential part of my work is to not just share what I have to say, but to hopefully spark inspiration for others to create their own hope-aganda too.
Together, we can collectively dream a new world into being, and set our eyes on spending our lives building it.
Meet River
River is a poet, artist, and conservation educator and storyteller who grew up in up in the part of Occupied Turtle Island known as Southern California. From their earliest memories, they remember questioning everything and exploring the natural world with a boundless curiosity as they got to experience both the privilege of their mothers side of the family's trips to National Parks and other wonders of the natural world while also growing up the rest of the time in their father's trailer traveling between various carnivals, county fairs, and street fairs throughout the state. Duality has always been a part of their life, and as a queer and disabled artist they promote thinking beyond the false binaries that bind us and encouraging the curiosity of your inner kid. They call this kind of thinking, beyond and outside of the illusion of separation often adopted in academia, "Why"ology, and encourage questioning EVERYthing.
River comes from a long line of various healers, teachers, educators, and entertainers, and although they have had a variety of careers throughout their lifetime from Carni Kid to College Tutor and Tour Guide to Admissions Counselor to Children's Toy Company Product Developer to Roller Rink Bartender to Zoo Tour Guide, Storyteller, and Sticker-maker, no matter what role they find themselves in, they know certain things to be true: they will be creating art of some kind at any given opportunity, they love to teach people new things and make them laugh along the way, and they have, despite battling with significant neurodivergence, CPTSD, and an increasingly disabled physical body, they have an absolutely unkillable sense of hope that they are determined to share with the world. And what better way to do that, than stickers?!
What Do We Do?
Why do you do it?
As a mentally and physically disabled person, it is incredibly difficult to find ways to survive and meet my own basic needs. In fact, the longer I manage to survive, the more I believe it is truly impossible for any of us to truly survive on our own. We need eachother, as much as we need food, water, sleep, or any of the other basic necessities of life. So I do what I do as a way of trying to foster deeper, more meaningful connection between neighbors of all species and niches and across all neighborhoods and nations. Storytelling is part of this, but that also means material support! That's why our sticker sheets are so expensive; although our prices might seem steep for stickers, our goal is to help people re-distribute funds as a regular part of their budget in a way that also connects them to the issues and the work being done as well as what still needs to be done in an educational and entertaining way!
From community clean ups to writing my book, done of what I do is possible without you, so thank you!