On a recent Sunday, my daughters and I had a lazy day at home making art.
We sat outside in the shade of our deck, sifted through magazines, cut and pasted words and images, and wound up with collages that captured both our love of dessert and this moment of upheaval and change. For weeks now, Sonoma County has joined the nation in protesting police brutality and showing its support of Black Lives Matter. Everywhere we turn people are pledging to do better, to acknowledge and rectify the systemic racism embedded in all of our institutions. A collective despair has given rise to hope—and more importantly, to action.
Our summer issue embodies this mutinous call for positive change—from Dani Burlison recommending revolutionary songs to pair with local to-go drinks (see Adventures in Drinking) to Sarah Whitmore roasting elitist cuisine and serving up proletariat peaches (see Savorbang!). I enjoyed investigating the intentional community of Monan’s Rill, where people are proving that it’s possible to live off the capitalist grid in the service of land, water, and others (see A Rill Runs Through It). Many of these stories are about survival against all odds, whether it’s Salvador Cruz’s ice cream business (see Sweet Salvation) or dairies finding ways to innovate (see Dwindling Dairies) or the fundraising efforts of local artists (see Space to Create).
And yet as I write this in June, the month of Pride, with Juneteenth just days away, I am compelled to look more deeply at the institutions I am part of and ask: How can we better represent the myriad voices in our community? How can we be more cognizant of creating inclusive, equity-minded spaces?
As an editor, that means not only continuing to profile businesses run by people of color and asking questions about power and privilege (see Locavox with George Sellu) but also seeking out more diverse writers to better represent our county. If you are a writer from an underrepresented community interested in lending your voice and perspective to these pages, please reach out to me. If you’ve got ideas for ways that Made Local can be more inclusive and devoted to equity, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m listening.
Jess D. Taylor editor
editor@madelocal.coop