East Bay Slimes

25% off - original price $20

MONSTER IN THE MAELSTROM // The storm swept in just before sundown, heralded by a purple sky & electricity in the air. You sought shelter alongside a grizzled farmer. All he can do is pace, muttering to himself. "Can't stay here," you catch. "Got to find her." He looks up at you. "My daughter was out down the road." He balls his fists. "Ah, fuck this." He hauls open the door, shielding his face from the fierce dust. He runs out into the storm. You follow & try to help. The dust scours your skin & razor wind whips at your clothes. You struggle for breath. The maelstrom has turned the world murky red. You press on through the storm & see him up ahead, on his knees. A great dark shape made from swirling dust looms over him. You try to shout a warning but manage no more than a cough. The dust-thing engulfs the man in its body. The storm whips faster. You can't breathe—you have to get back to shelter. The storm settles in the early hours. You find the farmer laid out on the street, his corpse a shriveled mass. He has one arm stretched out in front of him, as if to crawl.
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The Dust Bowl was a period of severe environmental & agricultural crisis that occurred during the 1930s, primarily affecting the Great Plains region of the U.S., characterized by a combination of drought, poor land management practices, & intense dust storms that had profound impacts on the environment & its humans.

Indigenous communities in the region had established practices that worked with the land's natural rhythms -- controlled burns, rotational farming, & mobility to allow the land to rejuvenate. In contrast, colonizers' practices, driven by profit & immediate gains, stripped the land of its natural defenses against drought & wind erosion, plowing up native grasses to cultivate wheat. Drought, overcultivation, & high winds led to massive dust storms that picked up dry topsoil & created immense clouds of dust that darkened the sky, blinded, & suffocated. Many farmers abandoned their land as crops failed. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes and began migrating to other regions.

🖐️snowbutter x sand
👃dusty terra cotta, dry earth, parched native grasses, crunchy leaves, a meager vegetable harvest
+"poisoned" wax lungs (or kidneys -- they're random!); "dust" crumbles, yellow and brown perler beads to represent corn and grains, vegetable harvest fimos and two tiny people to be swept up by the dust storm.