Bahala Blog
Community updates & vibes
Kitchen Table Conversations: Hand in Hand and #SanctuaryHomes Reimagine Community Care
People want to do right by the workers who support their families, but they don’t always know how.
Local small businesses
The seed for the Garden Safaris walking tours sprouted from an online community group.
And somehow, in the rhythm of weekly check-ins, mutual listening, and mirroring back each other’s truths, these women started doing things they hadn’t been able to do alone.
Humans naturally respond to images—words often “aren’t exact enough”—so Jackie incorporates her art background and encourages clients to connect with their intuition through images and symbols.
For Hayleigh, sustainability inspires her artistic vision and self-expression, turning would-be waste into wearable art.
More than just a business, she’s carving out a place where people who have felt invisible and disempowered discover new possibilities of being and doing.
“Crochet helps people slow down. It’s a tactile experience that brings joy and gentleness into our fast-moving lives,” she says.
The Rediscover Center, like Bahala, collects the isolated bits, organizes them, and reframes them into something greater.
WUUM feels less like a living ecosystem, a wall composed of biodynamic plants. It’s constantly evolving, growing new branches, and deepening its roots. Just like the women it serves.
But the sky tugged at her. Call it the reverse pull of gravity. In 2013, she could no longer ignore it.
Jewelry is an art form that combines our corporeality with ideas. In this way, we embody and signal ideas about culture, beauty, and our identities.
Gardening
Santa Monica celebrated the Main Street Community Garden’s 50th anniversary by honoring a community-garden program that began in 1976 after residents advocated for dedicated urban gardening space. The event highlighted five decades of local stewardship with a morning of garden tours, music, and hands-on activities. Civic infrastructure rooted in shared green space!
See a sample of the beautiful plants, flowers, and trees we saw on the Native Garden Plant Tour organized by the Theodore Payne Foundation.
And so the Bahala community garden was born, a site of learning and gathering, open to anyone who wants to get involved.
The act of growing plants in neglected public/private spaces is sometimes called “guerilla gardening.”
Everyday Tech
Events like Truth Decay “give psychology and its attendant healing powers back to the community and help translate abstract ideas into grounded conversations,” Karen says.
“We need public media, just like we need our democracy. It’s a way to exist outside the algorithm.”
Every algorithmic system serves multiple masters, each with their own goals and priorities. Let's meet the key players
What do people mean when they say “The Algorithm”?
Algorithms are everywhere in our daily lives, but the word has gained a scary connotation that closes us off from learning its benefits.