A reflection on the incredibly timely work of the great writer Octavia Butler.

Octavia Butler was born and raised in Pasadena. While she primarily worked in the genre of science fiction, many have noted how her visionary writing about Los Angeles and our 2025 world has been spot-on relevant as of late. Particularly in Parable of the Sower, Butler imagines a world where the lead character observes her neighbors rigidly clinging to old constructs that prove to be dangerous and untenable in a world devastated by climate change. The core message of the book is about tenacity and the importance of being resilient in impossible times and circumstances. “All successful life is adaptable, opportunistic, tenacious, interconnected, and fecund” she writes. “Understand this. Use it.”

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📷 (L) Octavia Butler (R) ‘Parable of the Sower’ Cover art by Paul Lewin entitled “The Offering,” in which a woman gives an offering to a hummingbird. ‘This reminded me of the main character Lauren Olamina, offering what she’s learned to the world in the form of a new religion. Her rare hyper empathy syndrome makes her a “sharer”, someone who feels what other people––and, to a lesser extent, animals––feel when they’re in pleasure or pain’.

This was a message explicitly directed at a moment like the one we are living now. But how can we heed her advice and become “opportunistic” at a time like this, when basic survival often feels like the only possible goal? What could it mean to “adapt” at this time, without losing our core values and beliefs? “All that you touch you change”, Butler writes. “All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change.” In her writing, she asks us to be mutable, adaptable, even agreeable to being changed.

While most of us feel are feeling rightfully fearful about the future and what is taking place in our government right now, change may feel more threatening than anything else. And yet some are tapping into the powerful motivation that this terrifying moment can give us to get and stay connected and to continue to strengthen our resolve not to give up hope. It can be so easy to succumb to feelings of overwhelm and despair in the face of so much destruction, and so little inspiration. Yet Butler reminds us to “forget inspiration” and that “habit is more dependable.” “Habit”, she writes, “will sustain you whether you are inspired or not. Habit is persistence in practice.”

What habits are we forming that will sustain us in these times? What practices are we learning/ have we developed that are grounding us against the relentless tyranny rising up all around us?

A routine of exercise and embodied movement is best practiced as a habit. If regularly practiced, a routine of embodied movement can ground you in your own strength and purpose in ways that nothing else can. In re-reading Butler's words, I’ve found a reminder to be in my own body every day in a new way. I’ve found a call to action to adapt to these circumstances by building more strength, more flexibility, more willingness to change, to be vulnerable, to show up for myself and for others. There is tremendous strength in habitually committing to a practice that you return to daily that challenges you in some way. The plant that grows in sandy soil is always stronger and more resilient than the one in smooth soil.

Our goal is to provide you with fertile ground of one kind or another to plant your bodies and grow your practice here. We need all of our most tenacious and fecund selves to show up for this moment and everything that is to come.

-Sam/ EVERYBODY GM & Co-Founder

a brief history of octavia butler and altadena

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Octavia Butler (1947-2006) was a highly celebrated and influential writer in the genre of science fiction, known for thought-provoking works that explored themes of race, gender, power, and ecological destruction. As an African American woman in a predominantly white and male genre, she brought new perspectives to the forefront. Butler was born in Pasadena and grew up in predominately Black neighborhoods in Pasadena and Altadena.
Butler’s most well-known novel is Parable of the Sower, published in 1993; in it she envisions a dystopian future ravaged by climate change, economic instability, and social unrest. The book, along with its sequel, Parables of the Talents, won several major awards and established Butler as a visionary writer adept at predicting and dissecting societal trends. Her success gave her the means to purchase a home in Altadena.
- Kathleen McDonnell via altadenaheritage.org

📷 (L) Octavia Butler (R) Nikki High, owner of Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena

Altadena (an unincorporated city north of Pasadena) holds a significant history as a haven for Black families seeking refuge from redlining and systemic oppression. Most notably, Altadena became a place where Black families could build generational wealth through homeownership, with a high percentage of Black residents owning their homes and building thriving communities.

Below are a few resources for folks impacted by the Altadena fire (via Afropunk and Walk Good LA) and a few local Black-owned businesses we love, including Octavia’s Bookshelf, ‘an independent bookstore in Pasadena where readers of all ages and backgrounds will have a wonderful time exploring our store of books written by BIPOC writers.’ Owner Nikki High has temporarily transformed her store into a refuge for those displaced by the California fires. You can visit and support Octavia’s Bookshelf here.