Last month, Corvallis community members – most of whom were Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and their families – came together to discuss local food insecurities, food sovereignty, and what food means to them and their communities. This was an event that was fiscally sponsored and supported by the Oregon Food Bank’s Food, Education, Agriculture, Solutions Together (FEAST) grant program. Held at the Corvallis Community Center, the event was organized with the intention of providing a space where BIPOC voices and experiences were centered, and where they could build community with other BIPOC folks and families in Corvallis and brainstorm different projects that could help improve food access and enrich local food systems.
The $9,000 FEAST grant was awarded to a team of folks from the following organizations, which put the event together: Tess Wood, Equity Coordinator and Bilingual Clinical Office Specialist for The Old Mill Center, a Corvallis-based facility that provides programs and services to support the social, educational, mental, emotional, and occupational health needs of children and families; Julian Clarke, an Oregon State University student and Leadership Liaison for the SOL LGBTQ+ Multicultural Support Network, a student-led organization that focuses on providing support to Queer, Trans, and Intersex Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (QTIBIPOC); and Hoiyee Cheung, co-creator of Growing Ancestral Roots (GAR), a local BIPOC-led community gardening organization that provides resources, CSA boxes and home-cooked cultural meals, and shared gardening space for multigenerational Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color in Corvallis – including international students and families, refugees, and immigrants – to practice, reclaim, and/or revive their ancestral food growing and land stewardship traditions.
“Growing Ancestral Roots’ mission is to provide resources, share, and hold space for BIPOC communities of ancient cultures with the aim of fostering healing; creating a village community for members who have been or may have been cut off from interpersonal cultural connections, ancestral wisdom of the body and nutritional needs; and our relationship with the living earth by delivering cultural food,” said Cheung in an email. “It’s led by people from different cultural backgrounds and growing traditions, including BIPOC, with the mission of creating a sacred and soulful garden space where people who grew up farming can share their knowledge with people who have been away from farming for generations and together engage in communion with our ancestors, build autonomy, and navigate identities with full authenticity. GAR promotes cultural links through cooperative gardening, celebrating cultural milestones, claiming one’s ancestry, and sharing prepared foods and meals. It also provides family gardens on common property, distributes Indigenous and cultural plants and seeds, acquires additional gardening knowledge, supports and assists other families in the neighborhood, incorporates religion and spirituality into the development process, and maintains community ties with the larger community through gardening.”
Multiple ideas for food community projects and the time and skills folks could bring to them were shared at the FEAST event, but the one that people were most excited about – and which received majority vote – was a centralized greenhouse space that can be used year round for growing, cooking, gathering, classes, and connection. Cheung describes this as an opportunity to “see if we could build and create something big together for our communities here in Corvallis since there is a huge cultural deficit here. GAR is just a cultural community garden and if we team up we can truly create more of a cultural presence – home to many more.”
Now, to help move this project forward, Cheung, Clarke, Wood and others are holding weekly Zoom meetings with Corvallis community members who want to show up, bring their skills, passions, leadership, and the desires and needs of their communities to the table, and help with coordinating and gathering resources to make this project a reality. Cheung offered visions on what the space could be and provide, based on some of the conversations she’s had with other community members who’ve participated in the meetings thus far.
“Our communities have always struggled with stability and opportunities because of many high social, economic, political, and environmental resource barriers, on top of individual limitations due to illness or disability. Having a permanent place that can be one’s social, economic, and health support would be a tremendous gift,” she said. “A place to create and support locally owned enterprises, create new and different ways, make friends or even meet to share the many stories we hold dear to our heart, of course sharing of the abundance of food. A place of celebration to be recognized and also work hard to address challenges that affect us all like barriers and racial trauma. Being and belonging, bringing the best of what we already know, skills that have been passed down and making from the best of what we already have. It would be a place for sharing these beautiful pieces of wisdom, knowledge, time and skills, and for learning from each other. It would be a village for our new generation, a place to hold on to the ancestral wisdom for the youth to experience as they come in.”
She continued, “This place would expand beyond the local economic help and services, and recognize the culture and creativity, artists and designers, creators and crafters, that play a significant role in community resilience. Honoring culture, their true-ness, in so many ways will activate the social cohesion, health and resilience of our community long term.”
Building this requires multiple individuals and organizations – community – to create. So having more folks present in these meetings who have a strong desire to connect and help envision this special something for Corvallis is especially welcomed.
“I can only speak for myself, as a BIPOC it is so important to have a place to be able to disconnect, and having spaces to hear each other, to think, moments to have healthy powerful connections – it is affirming and liberating!” said Cheung. “Corvallis just does not have many of those places – even the cultural arts here are taught by white people. I hear from so many this is a desire and a wish, but it just can’t happen without the community. Our numbers may be small in Corvallis but we have a strong collective voice to make this a reality.”
If you have questions about the FEAST project and/or would like to participate in the weekly Zoom meetings, you can email Cheung at sandie.cheung@gmail.com. Or, if you are interested in joining GAR, you can email growingancestralroots@gmail.com.
Additionally, if you have 38 minutes, Cheung recommends watching this video, which she received from the BIPOC Intentional Community Council she is a member of, for further inspiration of what this community space can be – a space, she says, “of community care, connection and mutual aid.”
Mini Zines Exploring Transness: Bitter Pill Press, a small, Corvallis-based DIY zine publisher that serves as a platform for stories about queerness and disability, has a few new mini zines in their shop, which explore trans expression, embodiment, and beauty. The press is run by Lee Niemi, an OSU Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) alumnus and transmasculine, neuroqueer multimedia artist who created the press and its ongoing and emerging projects out of a desire to see more of the kind of content he cherishes out in the world.
Thus far, the mini zines that have been recently published include the following:
- Gay Trans Zine About Hair, a small perzine (personal zine) that Niemi created to help organize his thoughts on his evolving relationship with his hair and gender presentation/expression. A fun fact? The scissors that Niemi uses to create everything for the press are the same scissors he used to cut his own hair for the first time five years ago.
- Digesting: Eating food again + being in a trans body, a mini zine about Niemi’s journey of recovering from an eating disorder while simultaneously trying to take care of and feel connected to their body. The theme is very similar to Bitter Pill Press’ Apple a Day Vol. 1, the first and latest issue in an ongoing zine series featuring poetry, visual art, and personal essays about how people’s experiences and relationships with food are impacted by life with disabilities, chronic illnesses, mental illnesses, neurodivergence, eating disorders, sensory processing disorders, etc.
- The Myth of Narcissus (But He’s Transmasc), which reconceptualizes the Greek mythological tale of Narcissus as a story about unlearning internalized transphobia, the entitlement other people feel toward your body and what you choose to do with it, discovering oneself, and the blessing of loving oneself and the beauty one holds as a trans person.
Print versions of the mini zines can be purchased from Bitter Pill Press’ shop on Ko-fi or Etsy, where you can also purchase stickers and physical copies of other zines, including Apple a Day Vol. 1 and Bittersweet, a queer romance-themed art and writing zine. Any profits that the press makes go towards production costs, zine contributors, or Niemi’s basic living expenses.
“Sadly we need money to survive,” writes Niemi on Bitter Pill Press’ website, “but it’s important to me that our zines are accessible to everyone, so digital copies are always free (or pay what you want).”
You can also help out the press – and receive special access to various projects and creations in the process – by becoming a monthly supporter/subscriber; you can learn more about the different membership levels here. Additionally, stay tuned for updates on the press’ new and upcoming zines, including Apple a Day Vol. 2, which is still accepting submissions, and Trans Art Magazine, submissions for which closed on Feb. 28.
Fundraiser for Corvallis Pride Prom: On April 14, Bitter Half Booking, a radical queer and punk duo of show organizers in the Corvallis DIY scene committed to building safer, accessible show spaces for folks who have been historically marginalized and excluded from mainstream music scenes, is putting on a ‘90s Alternative Hoot Nite, an open mic cover show where local bands, solo performers, and groups of friends of all ages and skill/experience levels will cover alt-rock songs released between 1990-1999. The show, an homage to “the legendary Corvallis hoots of the early 1990s”, is intended to help raise funds for the Secret Garden Ball, a Pride month prom for all ages, genders, and orientations that will take place on June 3 in a to-be-determined location.
“After years of joking about it, we’re finally throwing a PROM!” reads a Bitter Half Booking Instagram post. “Kick off Pride Month with us at a big gay DIY gala, featuring a live queer music showcase, refreshments, a photobooth, and more.”
Much like they did with the Sinking City Pop Fests of 2018 and 2019, proceeds for the latter of which went directly to the Trans Lifeline and the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center (CMLC), Bitter Half is fundraising ahead of time to cover their expenses for the prom so that all proceeds the day of can be donated to The Trevor Project, a leading national suicide prevention and crisis counseling organization for LGBTQ+ youth.
The Hoot Nite will take place at the Westminster House, located on 101 NW 23rd St. Much like all Bitter Half shows, it is all-ages and substance-free, masks are required, and everyone in attendance is expected to follow Bitter Half’s safer show policy, which you can read here. Songs with racist, homophobic, transphobic, or misogynistic lyrics are not permitted to be performed at the event, nor are songs that reference sexual assault.
While the lineup for the Hoot Nite is currently full, folks who are still interested in performing can register here and be added to a waitlist.
By Emilie Ratcliff
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