Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms: Wisdom for Living in Balance with the Planet and Each Other

Murphy Barney, Madison: - Madison Murphy Barney is a Two Spirit, Indigenous sister, doula, author, and public-health storyteller. She authors the popular weekly newsletter Our Medicine, an exploration of our individual, collective, and ancestral gifts, which can serve as the medicine to heal and build our world into a more just, balanced, and communal ecosystem.

Madison is frequently called upon as a thought leader in storytelling, health, equity, and community care. She was featured on the 2022 Indigenous People's Day conversation on the BBC Global News podcast. She was also a guest at Aspen Ideas: Health in 2023, where she--alongside the StoryCorps CEO--shared her expertise in using storytelling as a tool for equity. Madison received her master's degree in public health at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

For the past few years, Madison has been exploring personal and collective practices of rematriation. She moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Middlesex, Vermont, where she stewards two acres of land and is a part of an intergenerational community of Indigenous baddies.