What is The Scrap Heap?

The Scrap Heap is a collaborative project by Sarah Tavis and Jennifer Berney, a generative space to explore what might normally be discarded––the bits and pieces of everyday life, the beauty and the decay. We believe in the transformative power of the compost bin and the integrity of the scavenger. We seek a community of readers and fellow seekers who want to dig through the mess and integrate our creative, wild minds into all aspects of life.

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About Jennifer Berney

Jennifer Berney fell in love with the Pacific Northwest on a family trip to Astoria when she was thirteen years old. Now forty-six, she falls in love with Puget Sound over and over and over. She lives with her partner, two sons, and many animals in a farmhouse on the edge of town. She wrote a book about queer family building, The Other Mothers (Sourcebooks, 2021) and is now working on a book of strange and meandering essays. Her work has appeared in Longreads, The Offing, Tin House, and many other places.

About Sarah Tavis

Sarah Tavis has been a Texas punk girl, a teen mom, a graduate of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, a bookseller, a letterpress printer, and a teacher of writing. It’s likely she was a seal in a past life—she longs every day to feel her skin sliding through wild waters. Her writing has appeared in several anthologies, literary journals, and chapbooks, including the forthcoming anthology Daring to Breathe: Stories of Living with the Foreverness of Grief, and she is a founding member of The 3rd Thing, an independent publisher of necessary alternatives. Her most recent work is the art installation, Spring Equinox with Maples, which was commissioned by the Olympia Artspace Alliance for the Spring 2023 Art in Storefronts Exhibit series. Her creative energy, curiosity, and gift for fostering individual and group potential are reflected in her current practice as a creativity coach. More information about her work can be found at www.sarahtavis.com.