Meet the Contributors
(Sorted alphabetically by first name)
Akhila Sriram (she/her)
Akhila developed a passion for social justice while serving with City Year Seattle King County. She loves reading, binging TV shows and movies, and fangirling over most everything. She works as a technical editor for a market research company and is slowly finishing classes towards her Master’s in Library Sciences from the University of Washington.
Alanna Peterson (she/her)
Alanna Peterson loves digging in the dirt, learning languages, creating elegant spreadsheets, and challenging systems of oppression. She is the author of a series of young adult thrillers inspired by food justice movements. To learn more about her work, visit alannapeterson.com/stories.
Amanpreet Singh Sidhu (he/him)
Aman was raised on his family’s farm in Punjab, India where he grew up immersed in kheti. 20 years ago, Aman became the first in his family to leave his ancestral land and immigrate to North America. He wrote this piece in response to the ongoing Indian Farmers’ Protest. His daughter Pukhraj is an ABCD (American-Born Confused Desi) who studies Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington. She penned the translation alongside her father – and learned more about his youth in the process.
Anna Banks (she/they)
I’m a Queer, Jewish human from Eugene, Oregon studying environmental science and making art! I am a vertebrate paleontology researcher and am currently writing and illustrating a children’s book about mushrooms! I believe that life is meant for appreciating small moments, sensations, good food, and the company of other lovely humans. I hope to use art and writing to further connect with local communities.
aubrey pongluelert (she/her)
aubrey is an Asian-American artist, food grower, and community organizer based in Missoula, MT (Selis and Ktunaxa lands), where she recently received her MS in Environmental Studies: Sustainable Food and Farming. aubrey’s passion and work centers around the interconnections between food justice, creative eco-storytelling, and intersectional ecofeminism. She finds delight in running fingers through bags of seeds, embroidering while listening to Joni Mitchell, and jumping into alpine lakes.
Avery Temple (they/she)
Avery is a queer, multi-racial Latinx and community organizer. She feels most at home within movements that center climate, racial, economic, and transformative justice but is passionate about all people-powered spaces that center life. She is a facilitator, abolitionist, writer, lover of the arts, and eager student of all teachers who are practicing joyful militancy.
Ayana Naomi (she/her)
I am a Master’s student studying agroecology and food systems policy as well as a Museum Studies Fellow on the land of the Anishinaabek where the University of Michigan resides. I hope to collaboratively create aspirational, imaginative spaces of activism and food sovereignty education outdoors. As a settler and vegan (going on 10 years now) I strive for continual self-relfexivity and liberation for all beings from capitalism and colonial structures.
Ayling Zulema Dominguez (she/they)
Ayling Zulema Dominguez (she/they) is a first-generation Chicana-Dominicana with roots in many places. As a poet, creative, and youth arts educator in an abolitionist mindset, her work is the stuff of forging community; of affirming belonging as the first step toward liberation; of imagining new, better and more radically loving worlds. Her writing and creative work do not only celebrate joyful resistance, but also push her readers to actively oppose systems of oppression.
Benjamin Jones (he/him)
I am a Muscogee and Black chef located on occupied Duwamish land. I am passionate about sharing stories through food and finding creative ways to make sustainable, healthy food also taste bomb. I love to learn new techniques and ways to honor the food we have been blessed with. On my days off, I am happiest when I am on a hike with my partner and our dog!
Cora (she/her) and Desmond (he/him) Boynton
Cora Boynton, age 13, loves making vegan baked goods, truffles, and caramels. Her brother Desmond, age 11, helps come up with designs and garnishes for her creations. Someday, they hope to open a vegan chocolate shop together. You can follow Cora’s blog at yummyveganbakes.com.
David Rollins (he/him)
David Rollins is a photographer, occasional writer, and urban farmer currently living in Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui lands. As a recent graduate from the University of Oregon, he studied the intersections of anthropology, environmental studies, and civic agriculture. When not gardening, David is an avid cyclist, reader, and forager.
Delia Pinto-Santini (she/her)
Delia has lived for the last 20 years in the Pacific Northwest. She grew up in Venezuela. She is a mom, partner, friend, daughter, sister, biomedical worker. Most of the time she is an optimistic, long-time learner. She loves walks, hikes and camping with son and friends. She likes dancing and laughing. She has loved learning from and with CAGJ friends this last year.
Demarus Tevuk (she/her)
Demarus is an Inupiaq from Nome, Alaska and her childhood with Indigenous communities across North America greatly influenced her research on the definition of sustainability from the Indigenous perspective. Demarus earned her degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Washington and she works as an Engagement Strategist with Sustainable Seattle. Demarus loves to pick berries and gather traditional food and she is an avid fiber artist.
Desiree Gabriel (she/hers)
Desiree is a Filipina-Canadian pescatarian. She studies environmental geography and urban studies at UBC, and spends the free time she can muster by cooking (obviously), playing piano, snowboarding, reading, sketching, and watching anime. She is currently learning ASL and Japanese, and relearning French and Tagalog. If you are also practicing these languages feel free to message her to become language learning buddies!
Erika Mazza-Smith (she/her)
Erika is an illustrator and comics artists living on Duwamish land (aka Seattle, WA).
Evelin Alvarado (she/her)
Evelin is a senior studying social work at the University of Oklahoma. She is undocumented and an advocate for immigrant rights, community healing, and transformative justice. Evelin is passionate about creating space and sharing art, and uses crafting and reading as a way to resist, connect, and heal with those she loves.
Evelyn Costello (she/her)
I’m a 20 year old lesbian artist based in Eugene, OR, who just wishes to have a cottage and live off the land. I do ceramics and photography, primarily with a focus in visual anthropology. I love food and learning about the cultures and traditions behind different cuisines. I would consider cooking one of my love languages, and as my dad always told me “If you love someone, cook them good food.”
Forest Rolnick-Wihtol (they/them)
Forest is a queer & Jewish multi-media artist living in rural Oregon on occupied Kalapuya land.
Grace Miyoshi (she/her)
Grace is a student at the University of Oregon, studying in the School of Journalism and Communication, and an aspiring blog writer, documenting the connective powers of food and fashion. Her first love was and is food; she will continue to spread the joys and love of food through cooking, writing, and connecting.
Heather Day (she/her)
Jenny McIntosh (she/her)
Marina Skumanich (she/her)
Heather, Jenny and Marina sing together whenever they can. They believe that joy and justice, music and marching, and singing and solidarity all go hand-in-hand. For their day jobs, Heather is CAGJ’s Director, and a co-founder. Jenny is Operations Manager at the Tenants Union of Washington State, and Marina works to improve drought prediction and response at NOAA.
Heather Day (she/her) & Travis English (he/him)
Heather Day helped to found CAGJ after the 1999 WTO protests, and has loved acting as CAGJ’s Director since 2007. Travis English is Heather’s husband and co-conspirator. They co-created the idea of SLEE – CAGJ’s annual community celebration – while on a road trip to Baja, Mexico. Travis has been the SLEE chef most years, and was a well-known fixture of the Ballard Farmers Market pre-Covid. They enjoy raising their son Henry in West Seattle where they’re cultivating community and turning their lawn into a veggie and flower garden.
Hillary Haden (she/her)
Hillary is the Director at the Washington Fair Trade Coalition. Her love for people-centered economic development led her to Havana, Cuba for her Masters’ Degree research in Community Development. She lives in Redmond, WA, with her dog Scout, and is a hiker, a reader, and a home-made bread maker.
Jasmine Kaur Brar
Kirsten Spooner (she/her/hers)
Occupied Duwamish Territory. Anticapitalist abolitionist with a passion for printmaking. No gods, no masters, no borders. Currently involved in The Long Haul Mutual Aid Kitchen.
Lara Ruegg (she/her)
I’m Lara, I currently live on Duwamish Land, but I grew up on Wappo Land in California! I grew up with a hachiya persimmon tree in my back yard. I climbed it, fell out of it, and watched birds get tipsy off the rotten fruit in the fall. While we didn’t eat the fruit fresh, we would share them with my grandma, who would dry or bake them. Food was always the thing that connected me to my Japanese roots, and this tree was a big part of that connection.
Laura Titzer (she/her)
Laura lives on the native lands of the Coast Salish/Stillaguamish/Duwamish/Muckleshoot/Suquamish where Seattle, WA resides and is a writer, a lover of story, and constantly ablaze for learning, facilitation, and social change. She’s previously been published in Gastronomica, Kosmos, and A Growing Culture and is the author of No Table Too Small. She writes about social change, feminism, and decentering white dominant culture. She lives in adoration with her partner, cat, and ferrets.
Maegan McCoy (she/her)
Hello, I am a queer multimedia artist, currently studying Cinema and Art at the UO. I have more time to cook for myself now that I have a kitchen in my apartment and classes are remote. Recently, I’ve become obsessed with fermentation. I have two sourdough starters and multiple bottles of homemade kombucha in the fridge as we speak. I’ve always longed for a closer relationship to what I eat and have a strong passion for cooking and food sovereignty. website: maeganmccoyart.com.
Maria Elena Rodriguez (she/her/hers)
Maria Elena is a former Co-Coordinator of the CAGJ Food Justice Project. She is a Food Systems Specialist with DAISA Enterprises where she conducts research, provides strategic assistance to foundations and nonprofits, and supports emerging food leaders. She is also the Founder of Cosecha Caribe, an agroecological farm and food business. She is committed to creating a food system that honors ancestral knowledge, uplifts BIPOC communities, nourishes the environment, and deepens Queer community.
Morgan Brown (she/they)
I am a Queer Indigenous Tsimshian Ukrainian Mother. I work as the Protect Mother Earth Coordinator for the Swinomish Tribe. My inspiration and knowledge fall in the realms of Traditional Plant Medicine, First Foods, Indigenous Language Revitalization, Poetry, Healing Justice, Indigenous Childbirth Education, Motherhood, Healing Trauma through Indigenous Wisdom and partnering with Plants, Animals and Ancestors. I believe in Indigenous Women Leadership for the ReMatriation of Mother Earth.
Na Haby Stella Faye (she/her)
I am a Senegalese-Italian nature lover! I have a bachelor’s degree in international relations and I recently approached the world of sustainable food systems, hoping to contribute to the just transition to a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable future!
Nuansi (she/they)
I am a recent University of Washington graduate with a dual major in American Indian Studies and Comparative History of Ideas. In 2020, my art was published in the Raven Chronicles Press’s Anthology, Take a Stand: Art Against Hate. My intersecting identities bring awareness to stories in the margin. An invited member of a Coast Salish Canoe Family, I am a puller in our Umiak named sqələč, ‘the octopus’. Indigenous Sovereignty is close to my heart. I’ve been deeply influenced by the sea, plants and animals of Thailand, where I grew up.
Sam Shafer (she/her)
Sam is a white, Jewish, early childhood educator and inconsistent creative living on occupied Duwamish land. You can usually find Sam admiring lichen and mud puddles, riding her bike, or cooking delightfully weird meals.
Simone Adler (they/them)
Simone organizes in the food sovereignty movement (previously CAGJ’s organizing director 2016-20; currently organizing co-director at Pesticide Action Network). Outside of campaigns to transform the food system, Simone brings their white, queer & Jewish identities to political education & solidarity organizing for Palestinian self-determination and to end white supremacy. They play klezmer clarinet in Shpilkis, make art on revolution & spirituality, and live on Duwamish land.
Tess Keesling (they/she)
Tess is a queer creative making plant-based art and educational material under the pseudonym Sprigwizard. Raised at a competitive dance studio in a food swamp north of Detroit, MI – Tess now resides in Seattle, WA where she is perfecting her chocolate chip cookie recipe, making comics, and learning about plants.
Tyler Short (he/him)
I am a young peasant and worker organized in the Youth Articulation of La Via Campesina North America.
Zain Alsharari
My family called me Zain and it’s pronounced Zain as you pronounce Rain. My native language is Arabic. My favorite way to eat potatoes is to eat it with my hometown’s olive oil.
