The Lens of Eternity in Sinister Wisdom: #lgbt #BereniceAbbott #amreading #writingcommunity

The lens of eternity: lesbian love from two pandemics

This is Janet Mason reading from my memoir in progress, which was excerpted in the journal Sinister Wisdom, A Multicultural Lesbian Literary & Art Journal, issue 132. This is part of the essay that was published.

And so, the days, as they are wont to do, wore on.

Berenice Abbott’s position ended at the end of the decade when the Works Progress Administration was disbanded at the end of the 1930s.

A few years earlier, Berenice and her long-time partner Elizabeth McCausland had lobbied for continued funding for the WPA and the Federal Arts Project (which was under the WPA, and which employed Berenice among others). Elizabeth, a journalist and the writer of the text of books that contained Berenice’s photographs, wrote in the Nation: 

“The Renaissance lasted three centuries, the Age of Pericles and the Augustan Age each half a century; for the ‘cultural birth of a nation’ our government allows less than two years.”

…

Nonetheless, a few years later, at the end of the decade of the thirties, a new Congress voted down a bill that would’ve provided permanent funding and existing funding ran dry.”

Berenice’s days of hanging on rickety fire escapes and out of windows (regardless of how much she had loved them) to get the photograph were over.

Berenice survived the influenza pandemic in 1918 when she lived in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. Then she lived in Paris where she became a photographer and gained a reputation as a master of the craft. In Paris, she also met the older photographer Eugene Atget and when he died in 1927, she bought most of his archive and returned to live in Manhattan where she intended to sell the archive. She also returned because she was disillusioned with the café society in Paris and nostalgic for the United States. Berenice returned to live in Manhattan in 1929. In six years, in 1935, she met Elizabeth. After a whirlwind long-distance courtship, the two of them were together for three decades until Elizabeth’s death when she was sixty-five. Berenice, who lived into her nineties and was to experience “success” in the form of fame and relative fortune for the first time at age seventy, then moved to the wilds of Maine for the last part of her life after the death of her long-time partner, Elizabeth.

Despite Berenice and Elizabeth being sickly all their lives, they kept on going.

Thanks to the Works Progress Administration, Berenice survived the Great Depression by finding work with the government for photographing and documenting the country during this era. And thanks to Berenice, the grand buildings of New York City in the 1930s had been preserved in her photographs for posterity.

As part of her New York City photographs (funded by the Works Progress Administration), Berenice photographed Pennsylvania Station in 1936. My first impression when I viewed the photograph titled simply “Pennsylvania Station” was that of the grandeur of light, simplicity, and beauty. Before it was demolished and “renovated,” Pennsylvania Station was a work of art. High airy arches — a lattice of steel and glass — let in the light connecting the terminal to the heavens. In the photograph, the natural light filtered down to the circular illuminated face of a towering old-fashioned clock that looked like a grandfather clock made of stone. Clusters of globe lights lit the way down the steep stairs to the train platforms.

Pennsylvania Station was torn down and remodeled in 1963. Since then, the station was almost all underground and it was remarkably unattractive. Berenice called its remodeling a “wicked” act.

When Berenice was cut from her job, she said, “The WPA knocked New York out of me.”

What that meant for Berenice – at least temporarily – was that she was done photographing New York.

What that meant for the rest of us was that there were no more Berenice Abbott photographs of Manhattan until a decade later when Berenice found a publisher for a book of her photographs about her neighborhood. Greenwich Village Today and Yesterday was published in 1949 by Harper & Brothers (now an imprint of HarperCollins).

At the end of the thirties, when funding ran dry from the WPA, and with her fortieth birthday approaching, Berenice reinvented herself.

Berenice Abbott was, perhaps, best known for her photographs of New York City. Many knew her as the photographer who did Changing New York and who lived in Paris in the twenties and got her start as Man Ray’s photographic assistant.

Berenice printed her own photographs into her mid-eighties. That she was so diligent in her work of printing in the darkroom (the importance of which she imparted to her students), no doubt contributed to her success and is something that could be traced back to her work assisting Man Ray.

All her life, Berenice took herself and her discipline seriously.

As Hank O’Neal says in Berenice Abbott American Photographer (a book of Berenice’s photographs published in 1982 by McGraw Hill with text approved by Berenice when she was in her mid-eighties. Hank, who was a close friend of Berenice’s, writes, “She does not regard one part of her work as any more significant than another, and she feels that sentimental judgments based on nostalgia miss the point altogether. Her point was graphically to capture the times – to make a record, in as artistic a fashion as possible, that would be of use to historians, sociologists and even art critics.”

But things weren’t over yet.

….

This is Janet Mason reading from my memoir in progress The lens of eternity: queer love from two pandemics, which was excerpted and published in the journal Sinister Wisdom, A Multicultural Lesbian Literary & Art Journal, issue 132.

This reading is featured on YouTube and Spotify.

To read a different published piece of The Lens of Eternity, click here:

New memoir debuted in aaduna — #amreading #diversity | Janet Mason, author (wordpress.com)

One of the things that I love about being a writer is being a part of a writing community. I was delighted to learn that my essay was in the same issue of Sinister Wisdom as my long time friend Kathy Anderson is in. Kathy is holding the issue of Sinister Wisdom.

For information on my novel Loving Artemis click here

The Pagoda in review — revisiting the old days #LGBT #amreading

I was saying to my partner that it was odd to read a book where I had known so many of the women mentioned (and they were a cast of characters). I tend to think of “the old days” of lesbian feminism as deeply dysfunctional. But there was something oddly compelling about The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community By The Sea written by Rose Norman and published as A Sapphic Classic from Sinister Wisdom in 2024.

Most of the women mentioned in the book were and are a generation older than me, but we were part of a small community so perhaps I knew a little too much about them. However, as I kept turning the pages, I had a change of heart as I recognized how important the work was in creating women-only space and how it enabled me and countless others to become our true selves.

While I never went to the Pagoda, for a time a women’s community on the coast in Florida, I did go to many women’s (mostly lesbian) festivals which had many of the same issues and schisms come up. However, it was at these festivals where I felt a great amount of freedom and safety given the hostile world into which I came out as a lesbian in the 1980s.

A quote in the book captures the feeling: “The Pagoda experience for guests was very different from that of residents. Often vacationers were only dimly aware of what was going on among residents, if at all. Many wrote gleefully in the Center guest books, and one wrote the ecstatic “Coming Home to Mother Ocean” … For vacationers it had very much the feel of a women’s festival, freeing and safe and joyous, especially if they were there on a concert weekend. For residents, the long-term experience was more sobering. They recall the excitement and fun of potlucks and beach parties and nonstop romance, but also the frustrations of communal living, the pain of romantic breakups, and the work involved in keeping that cultural center going.”

In the past five years, I have combined my lesbian identity with that of a healthy vegan (after a major illness) and feel fortunate to have a new lease on life. As such, I was delighted to read that The Pagoda banned both meat and alcohol in 1980, for health reasons.

Reading this important piece of history The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community By The Sea, written by Rose Norman and published as A Sapphic Classic from Sinister Wisdom in 2024, reminded me that we all exist on a continuum.

This is Janet Mason with reviews for Book Tube and Spotify.

 For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

Addictions and going plant-based—#LGBTQ #memoir #amreading

Recently when I learned that the I Heart Sapph Fiction website was featuring my novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage (Thorned Heart Press; 2022) in its addictions category, I began reflecting on my own journey with addictions. Loving Artemis is fiction but it does reflect some of my own experiences with addiction. I deal with the pull toward addictions for most of my life—which included both food and alcohol addictions. Then five years ago, I went to a plant-based diet for health reasons initially—but a short time later had a consciousness raising about the animals and the planet. Several years after going to a healthy vegan diet, my addictions lifted. This wasn’t why I went to a healthy vegan diet, and I remain rather amazed at the subsequent feeling of freedom. I was inspired to re-post this memoir excerpt that details some of my journey and was published in BeZine.

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I am delighted to share this excerpt of my memoir in progress–LOST: a daughter navigates father loss and discovers what it means to belong–that was published recently in the literary magazine, BeZine.

Transcending Myself | Janet Mason

Posted on June 29, 2023 by The BeZine Editors

After my father’s death five years ago, I began examining my life in ways I never thought about before. Two years after he died, almost to a day, I had a medical emergency that put me in the hospital. This was the first time I had been hospitalized overnight. And a subsequent infection that nearly killed me and landed me back in the Emergency Room. After a few months, I went to a plant-based diet on the advice of my acupuncturist and began to feel so good that I never looked back. After a few years of eating differently and walking nearly every day, I lost so much weight and felt so good that I realized I had undergone a major transformation. I felt like a different person when I woke up in my new body every morning. But was I?

I had to remind myself that although I had lost my addictions—from both food and alcohol—and changed in the way I looked and felt, I was still the same person. For starters, I was still my father’s daughter. The stubbornness and the strength that fueled me in becoming vegan came directly from my stubborn father. After going to a healthy plant-based diet I had a consciousness shift in my thinking about all animals including humans and about lowering my carbon footprint through veganism which is connected to the future of the planet. My father ate the Standard American Diet, but he died at the age of ninety-eight, outliving all his siblings and most of his friends.  I was in my late fifties when he died, and despite having created a life that worked for me, was greatly saddened by his loss. My grief was greater than I dreaded it would be. Perhaps it was because I am an only child. Maybe it is because our lives overlapped for so many years. Or it could be because my father was my last remaining parent. My mother had died decades earlier. When my father was still alive, he was my psychological barrier to mortality.

Despite the sensation of having a new lease on life, I cannot deny feeling immense sadness about the death of my father. I feel the sadness in my chest, stomach, and legs as the tension coils down to my feet. As I sit, I realize my body is tense. My toes curl toward me. I take a breath and let go, releasing the sadness that will always be with me.

After much Buddhist meditation, I have come to understand that my father lives on inside of me. This may be true, but I have had to let go of my actual father, the man whose body formed me. In a way, his death was like my death. I had to let go of a physical being, someone who had formed me and been with me so long he had become an extension of me as much as I was an extension of him. I may have been holding his arm, guiding him, and holding him up for a lot of years, but he had been guiding me for my entire life, even when I didn’t know it.  The sadness of losing him will always be with me, even when my toes are not so tense they curl upwards. I sit with this sadness as I now realize it is part of me. Sometimes the awareness is stronger, other times it is just a dull reality. Even though I now realize he a part of me, this is a reality. My father is gone.

When I was younger, in my twenties and thirties, my father would kiss me goodbye after a visit and say, “Be good.” When we got into the car and it was just the two of us, my long-time partner, Barbara, used to joke, “You’re always good.”

This became a running joke with us.

But my father was sincere in those years—although at some point he stopped telling me to “Be good,” when I left.

He was watering the good seeds—an expression I often think of in Buddhism. I try to water the good seeds in myself and others. I didn’t think of it before, but this is my way of remembering my father. He was good and created good in me. I may, at times, struggle at being good—like most people, I am tempted to return negative comments—but I force myself at times to retain my equilibrium, to stay true to my goodness. At other times, maybe most, I don’t struggle with doing the right thing. Goodness just takes over. It gets me out of the chair to help even though I could just sit there and do nothing.

It is not theoretical, this feeling of my father living on inside of me.  I feel him in my bones. More than ever, I remind myself of him. Often when I do my yoga practice, which I do at night, I lay on my mat in my office and stretch my legs out in a bicycle motion to strengthen my long core muscles in the center of my tall body. I remember seeing him start his day by pumping his legs, very similar exercises to what I do in my daily yoga practice. Like him, I relish the feeling of blood pumping through my body.

Since going to a plant-based diet, I feel more compassion in my body. I have long been a Buddhist but since going to a plant-based diet I feel more compassion and a new stillness inside of me. This might be because I no longer have the suffering of animals in my body from the food I’ve eaten. Maybe it is because I have the satisfying feeling of feeling full after every meal since the fiber in vegetables and fruits fills the stomach more than the unhealthy elements of the Standard American Diet. Barbara and I have gotten to know some of the animals who live at a local farm connected to an agricultural high school. Several of the cows seem to know us and are happy to see us. We have adopted two cows and they now live at a farm animal sanctuary we visited last year several years after we went vegan. The cows are an important part of our plant-based journey. So, perhaps I feel more compassion in my body because in thinking and talking about the animals, I have a purpose transcending myself.

Maybe it is the accidental weight loss accompanying being healthy which has put me more in touch with the compassion in my body. The compassion connects me to the universe and radiates love to all–toward the planet and all its beings. I feel compassion for my younger self in dealing with my father’s illness and his death. I was lucky to have had my father for as long as I did.  And I was fortunate to be able to express my emotions even when I felt like a mess, when I was crying in the bathroom at the hospital, and particularly after his death. The emotions have lessened but I take a breath and realize the feeling of undeniable sadness is still there.

This piece was included in the Waging Peace, Summer 2023 issue of BeZine. The read the issue, click here: https://thebezine.com/portfolio/summer-2023/

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.

Second Chances and Loving Artemis: #LGBT #addictions #amreading

When I heard that the I Heart Sapph Fiction website was featuring books that spoke to the topic of addiction and that my novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage (Thorned Heart Press; 2022) was being published, I decided to post an excerpt. This is from the ending of the novel which tells the story of Art, short for Artemis, who was a drug dealer in high school, got caught, went to reform school, and then a few years later deals again, is caught, and sentenced to prison. After a few years, she gets released and eventually marries the love of her life, Linda, and goes on to lead her lesbian life. I have always believed in second chances, and this is Art’s story.

I am reading the excerpt from Loving Artemis below on Youtube and have pasted the words on my blog below.

***

In the end, it was Linda who saved her. She started coming to visit when Art was in the County Jail. Art still remembered their first visit with the glass window between them when Linda was fighting back tears. Linda said that she left Tommy after he told her he and Cal set Art up the first time she had been busted. “They had the whole thing planned,” Linda had said. “Tommy polished off two six packs the night that he told me this, and he acted like he thought it was funny. Then he demanded to know if you and I were ever lovers. I told him we were, and that I was still in love with you. He said he suspected as much because things were never right between us. I packed up our things and took Clio with me back to my mother’s house that night.” Then Linda held her hand up against the dirty glass window between them and said she was sorry for leaving her, that she had been young and stupid and just doing what she thought she should be doing. Linda named her daughter Clio after one of the Muses. She told Art she chose the name from Greek mythology so that she would think of Art whenever she said her daughter’s name. After Linda came to visit, Art signed up for auto mechanic classes in the prison. Linda came every week, and when Art pressed her hand against the glass opposite Linda’s, she remembered being a teenager and wishing on the evening star to marry Linda and spend her life with her. 

***

This is Janet Mason reading from my novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage published by Thorned Heart Press.

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.

To read another excerpt from Loving Artemis, click here.

The Only Way Through Is Out—an #lgbtq #memoir for #amreading

I wanted to tell you about an interesting reading that has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 18th at The Big Blue Marble Bookstore in the Northwest section of Philadelphia. I’m looking forward to the reading and hope to meet some of you!

Suzette Mullen had been raised to play it safe—and she hated causing others pain. With college and law degrees, a kind and successful husband, two thriving adult sons, and an ocean-view vacation home, she lived a life many people would envy. But beneath the happy facade was a woman who watched her friends walk boldly through their lives and wondered what was holding her back from doing the same.

Digging into her past, Suzette uncovered a deeply buried truth: she’d been in love with her best friend—a woman—for nearly two decades—and still was.

Leaning into these “unspeakable” feelings would put Suzette’s identity, relationships, and life of privilege at risk—but taking this leap might be her only chance to feel fully alive. As Suzette opened herself up to new possibilities, an unexpected visit to a new city helped her discover who she was meant to be.

Introspective, bittersweet, and empowering, The Only Way Through Is Out (University of Wisconsin Press, 2024) is both a coming-out and coming-of-age story, as well as a call to action for every human who is longing to live authentically but is afraid of the cost.

When asked who she wrote The Only Way Through Is Out for, Suzette replied:” I wrote my story for every human who is longing to live out loud—including LGBTQ+ folx crushed by oppressive religious institutions; women at midlife who have deferred their own dreams; empty nesters who have stayed in unhappy marriages “for the kids”—every person who longs to live more authentically but is afraid of the cost.”

“I could not put this book down. Mullen shows us the search for one’s authentic self has no expiration date and is worth whatever it takes. This book is a glorious tale of tenacious courage that anyone searching for their own path in life will love.”

—Jennifer Louden, national bestselling author of Why Bother? Discover the Desire for What’s Next

“Candid, inspirational … An emotive memoir that issues a stirring call to women to choose self-actualization.”

—Foreword Reviews

Suzette will be in conversation with poet, essayist, and editor Athena Dixon, author most recently of The Loneliness Files, on Thursday, April 17th at 7 pm at Big Blue Marble Bookstore.https://www.bigbluemarblebooks.com/events/2024/3/14/the-only-way-through-is-out-suzette-mullen-in-conversation-with-athena-dixon

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.

Needing to tell the story — #IHeartSapphFic interviews me about Loving Artemis #LGBT #LesFic #Amreading

I wanted to share this interview with you which was recently posted by IHeartSapphFiction. You can link to the site

Author Interview: Janet Mason Chats about Loving Artemis

Apr 11, 2024 | AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Get ready to learn more about the book Loving Artemis in this discussion with sapphic author Janet Mason.

Join us for an exclusive peek behind the scenes as we quiz Janet Mason about Loving Artemis, writing, reading, and more.

This book is part of the Addiction category in the 2024 IHS Reading Challenge.

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Why did you write Loving Artemis?

I wrote this novel to tell some of the untold stories from my youth. I grew up in a rough-and-tumble working-class tract house area, so there were quite a few stories there. I worked on the novel for a long time, and the story evolved to the theme of marriage equality and the historical events that happened in the backdrop of the teenage girls came together with the future passage of marriage equality. In that way the story is autobiographical, and the history is accurate. So, the timing happened to coincide with the legalization of marriage equality nationwide.

Who is your favorite character in the book?

My favorite character is the lead character Artemis. The events in Artemis’s life (including her brother and her love for motorcycles as well as her girlfriend Linda) turn her into a drug dealer and she gets caught goes to jail, gets released several years later, reunites with the love of her life, Linda, and in another couple of decades marries her legally (this was something she wished for when she was an adolescent). She gets caught and goes to jail which is different from my experience and from the other narrator, Grace, who is more academically oriented and is more like me.

What inspired the idea for Loving Artemis?

The inspiration came from my youth and my need to tell the stories.

What was the biggest challenge writing this book?

My biggest challenge in writing this came naturally–that was lesbianizing my youth. As I was telling a friend, I probably gave the girls (who were based on actual persons) that I probably gave my characters happier endings than they actually had! If you add the march of history, there are three happy endings at the close of Loving Artemis.

What part of Loving Artemis was the most fun to write?

The details of place from my youth were identical, including the motorcycle shop and the gold dome of the Greek Orthodox church in the writing — giving the work a strong sense of place.

How did you come up with the title for your book?

The book’s original title was Art which was short for Artemis. When I found a publisher, she wanted to title the book Loving Artemis. We had just buried a friend’s cat, named Artemis, in our backyard and I thought Artemis had brought me luck in finding the publisher, so the name change was fine with me.

How much research did you need to do for Loving Artemis?

I did a fair amount of research on the historic events–Shirley Chisholm running for President in 1972 being one of the events–that happened when the girls were teens. Some of the events were mentioned in a paper that Grace (one of the narrators) writes for her high school English class.

What is your favorite line from your book?

“Art fell into the universe that she and Linda made together.”

What is your writing process like?

The novel welled up in me and I wrote it. Basically, I had to. I let my characters tell me what they wanted to do.

Where do you usually write, and what do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

I write on my computer. As I recall, I wrote much of this novel on my laptop, when I was holed up in my bedroom and at the kitchen table in my yoga teacher’s house. When I’m working on something, I tend to be thinking about it most of the time. I wrote and rewrote this book for about seven years.

If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose?

I think I would pick Sappho or Emily Dickinson.

What’s your favorite writing snack or drink?

I love coffee–now with oat milk. Green tea works just as well. I think it’s the caffeine.

How do you celebrate when you finish your book?

I go for a walk and am extra happy!

Do you have a pet who helps/hinders your typing?

I usually have a cat. While I was working on this, I had a cat named Princess Sappho who used to sit on my lap. When she died and then her brother died, it was very sad but then our new cat, Peanut, came to us when she was about a year old, and we are head over heels about her. She’s usually in the window in my home office. I always imagine that I write better with a cat.

What animal or object best represents you as an author or your writing style?

I love Rilke’s Panther pacing around in his cage. I guess my head is the cage and the novel ideas are the panther.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing, and by whom?

“Write the HARD STORIES.” — Dorothy Allison. I found when I took this advice, I wrote the stories that made a difference. Probably, that’s what has kept me writing.

What has helped or hindered you most when writing a book?

I try to block out all outside negative voices. (Why bother writing? It’s so hard to find a publisher, etc) If writers listened to them, we wouldn’t have any books.

When you’re writing an emotional or difficult scene, how do you set the mood?

Sometimes I listen to music from the period that I am writing about.

What do you do to get inside your character’s heads?

I just start writing and then I’m there.

If you could be mentored by a famous author (living or not), who would it be?

Sappho. I love the idea of walking with her on the cliffs of Lesbos. (And I have been there and listened for her in the wind.)

What author in your genre do you most admire, and why?

I think I keep coming back to Sappho because she is known for putting herself in the poem, like Whitman. Also, I started out in my writing life as a poet and I think the rhythm of the language even when it’s in prose is what moves me.

Have you ever cried when writing an emotional scene?

I cry all the time when writing. In particular, I cried toward the end of Loving Artemis when Art is in prison and puts her hand against the glass mirroring Linda’s hand, pressed to the other side of the glass. Then at the end, when Art is in the New York Pride parade riding on her motorcycle and she meets up with Linda who is carrying a “just married” sign, I cried again!

Do you feel bad putting your characters through the wringer?

I did kill off Art’s brother because it fit the storyline and maybe because he was such a bad influence on her, I didn’t feel bad at all. I also didn’t get a thrill from it consciously at least. I just kept writing.

Have you ever hated one of your characters?

I’ve heard it said that a writer must love all her characters. I would say this is true, at least for the main characters.

Have you ever fallen in love with one of your characters?

Not consciously. But considering the amount of time a writer has to spend with her characters, maybe I have been in love with all of the main characters and just didn’t think about it.

What type of books do you enjoy reading the most?

I review books and tend to be most interested in LGBTQ books.

Are there any books or authors that inspired you to become a writer?

I’m coming back to Sappho again. She had the courage to be herself. That’s what writing does for me.

What books did you grow up reading?

I read, read, read. I read all of the books in the elementary school library. And the teachers were concerned about me. Seriously.

What books have you read more than once in your life?

I love mythology and reread things like Ovid and Homer. Also, Dante. I think I come back because I want to revisit where the story lives in my imagination.

What book do you wish you had written?

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book and wished I’d written it. I think I do the opposite. I write the books that need to be written.

Describe your favorite reading spot.

Often, I read in the car, while my partner goes shopping.

Do you only read books in one genre or do you genre hop?

I tend to find a story that grabs me, and don’t pay attention to the genre.

Have you ever thought you’d hate a book, but ended up loving it?

I don’t review books that I don’t like. And in the many years, I’ve been reviewing, there have only been a handful of books I couldn’t finish. Actually, come to think of it, when drugs and alcohol are obviously addictions and are portrayed favorably, it turns me off.

An Interview with sapphic author NAME | Find Your Next Sapphic Fiction Read (iheartsapphfic.com)

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.

To read an excerpt from Loving Artemis, click here.

History Revealed: Gospel according to Mary — #amreading #FaithfullyLGBT #TheGnosticGospels

Last week, the service at my Unitarian Church (the Unitarian Universalist Church of Mt. Airy in Philadelphia) was about the Gospel of Mary Magdelene.  Since I was heavily influenced by the Gnostic Gospels when I was writing my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (Adelaide Books; 2018), I was fascinated.

Also in my life, informing some of my other books, including The Unicorn, The Mystery (Adelaide Books; 2020), I have been heavily influenced by the Gnostic Gospels. The Gnostic Gospels can help people think in new ways, critical for this time. Consider that “gnosis” is the common Greek noun for “knowledge.” Perhaps, the reason the Gnostic Gospels are scorned is in the name: Gnostic (“knowing”). Apparently, it is heretical to know your own truth.

The Gnostic Gospels were discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. There are some conflicting theories about when they were first written, but some historians say that they were written before the New Testament. The Gnostic Gospels were known throughout history – particularly in the Middle Ages – but were always banned by the Church.

The Gospel of Mary Magdelene was found in fragments (like much of the poet Sappho’s work).

I’ve decided to read a short excerpt from my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders inspired by The Gospel of Mary Magdelene.

cover image of THEY

intersexed Adam and Eve reclining with a tree growing out of them

Mary looked dejected. Thomas wanted to cheer her up.

“It does not matter,” Thomas said. “You and I are Yeshua’s favorites. We’re the only ones he trusts, really. He told me himself that there is no way to know that the apostles won’t abandon him in a crisis.”

“That’s true,” replied Mary. “Besides, we’ll be travelling with Yeshua when he performs his miracles. There’s nothing that Peter can say that will change that.” Mary nodded and then spoke: “Peter treats me like an adversary. But I am trying not to respond with anger. For one thing it would tarnish the feeling that I hold for Yeshua. I do feel that he can truly save us. Also, I know that the angry person’s wisdom is the seventh power of wrath.”

“What are the first six powers?” asked Thomas.

“The first form is darkness; the second, desire; the third, ignorance; the fourth, death wish; the fifth, fleshly kingdom, the sixth, foolish fleshly wisdom; and the seventh, as I told you, the angry person’s wisdom.”

Mary picked up her basket and glanced back toward the Temple. “I should go before the meeting is over and the men come out.”

Thomas looked at Mary with respect bordering on awe. Mary was wise, to be sure. She had much to offer.

You can also read an excerpt, written as standalone short fiction, in the online literary journal BlazeVOX15

Another excerpt is in the recent issue of Sinister Wisdom — the fortieth anniversary issue

A different excerpt is also in the aaduna literary magazine  (this excerpt was nominated for a Pushcart Prize)

Text excerpts from THEY and my introductions presented at UUCR (Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration) can be clicked on below.

To read the text to the “Descent of Ishtar” and the introduction (where I talk about ancient Babylon), click here.

To read the text to “Forty Days And Forty Nights” as well as my introduction, click here.

 THEY is available where books are sold online, from your local bookstores and library.

For more information on THEY, click here:

They: A Biblical Tale of Secret Genders: Mason, Janet: 9780999516430: Amazon.com: Books

Biblical stories jumping to life — #Easter2024 #Transgenderdayofvisibility2024 #amreading

How wonderful that the Transgender Day of Visibility falls on the day of the Easter holiday this year! In honor of the occasion, I decided to post Vanda’s review of my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (Adelaide Books) that she wrote for Amazon.

Vanda, author of Juliana Series

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fanscinating Read

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2018

All the Bible stories from your childhood suddenly jump to life in Janet Mason’s new novel. They. The manner in which they are presented I found to be a lot of fun.
The story is about a woman named Tamar who lives in ancient times, around the same time as Joseph who had the cool colorful coat. Tamar and her family live in tents; she is obsessed by her camel, Aziza, who she keeps reminding everyone is not a camel, but a dromedary because she only has one hump. Her friends and family don’t seem to care a fig about the difference, but it is very important to Tamar. She and her dromedary have a special relationship as important to her as her relationships with her friends. Aziz is so important to Tamar that she has her sleep inside, an action that will later bring her problems.
I, especially, enjoyed discovering Biblical characters though their stories and name. I was part of the discovery. I’m watching people from a different time period living their lives and suddenly I realize their talking about someone I know. As a young teenager I was in search for answers. so I read the Bible cover to cover looking for those answers. I don’t know that I found any answers, but I enjoyed the stories. The way the stories are told do not sound Biblical, they sound human.
The main character, Tamar, takes us through the whole book. She even dies and lives in the book as a spirt. Then she ends up in a womb until she is born again into a new life.
Gender is flexible in these Biblical stories. Although the people are as hung up about gender as we are—I guess we probably got this way because of them. The different genders appears. Tamar in her first life has an lesbian experience that she wanted to continue, but the other woman couldn’t accept Tamar’s favorite camels sleeping in the same hut. There were also intersex twins who lived their lives as males because this was the preferred sex.

You can also read an excerpt, written as standalone short fiction, in the online literary journal BlazeVOX15

Another excerpt is in the recent issue of Sinister Wisdom — the fortieth anniversary issue

A different excerpt is also in the aaduna literary magazine  (this excerpt was nominated for a Pushcart Prize)

Text excerpts from THEY and my introductions presented at UUCR (Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration) can be clicked on below.

To read the text to the “Descent of Ishtar” and the introduction (where I talk about ancient Babylon), click here.

To read the text to “Forty Days And Forty Nights” as well as my introduction, click here.

 THEY is available where books are sold online, from your local bookstores and library.

For more information on THEY, click here:

They: A Biblical Tale of Secret Genders: Mason, Janet: 9780999516430: Amazon.com: Books

On Belonging — thoughts on an online #vegan spirituality community

Lately, I’ve been feeling very well — despite getting over a cold. I’ve been taking care of myself — sticking to my healthy vegan diet, drinking lots of water, and getting back to my regular walks.

One of the new things that I have been doing is going to the zoom group called A Vegan Spirituality Meetup Group. It meets weekly and connects vegans from great distances and after a brief meditation, people are able to talk about their weeks and the challenges they faced as vegans. This is the time when we strategize about how to take over the world by changing hearts and minds with yummy food and by using compassion and gratitude.

Since I just finished revising my memoir LOST: a daughter navigates father loss and discovers what it means to belong, I’ve been reflecting on the importance of belonging, something that was missing for most of my life. When I was working on this, I came across the information that the need to belong to a group is hardwired into us and is very ancient. Perhaps this is the reason there is so much defensiveness about not being vegan (because when you change what you eat, it makes you not part of the group and then your mere presence can disturb people because they have to justify their own behavior.)

So I’ve found an important group and have connected with it. In doing so, I believe I’m becoming stronger because I am taking care of my mental health. I know that by becoming vegan, I have joined a growing and mighty group. And I know that veganism is the diet of the future. But in the U.S., in particular, that growth seems to be slow. So, by connecting with others, I am becoming stronger.

To learn more about the Vegan Spirituality group on Zoom, click on https://veganmeditation.org/notifications.php

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.

Bringing Together the Past and Present—#Poetry #LGBTPoetry #amreading

Lately, I’ve been bringing together the past and the present. Since I was a poet before I was a prose writer (the poems got longer, contained dialogue and demanded prose), I returned to my book When I Was Straight published in 1995 by Insight To Riot Press.

The poem I’m posting today is titled

Newborn rhythms

Seven years, almost eight,

our bodies pressing into

each other nearly every night.

The indentation of our lives;

our apartment, once large,

growing ever smaller, cramped

with what matters most: records,

cassette tapes, piles of books,

drums springing up like toad stools.

Seven years and when her mouth

wraps around me, she still sings

through my throat, and I

watching her, drum strapped to her

waist, it’s thick stemmed hollow

pressing between her thighs—

relinquish seven years

to the thunderclap, her gentle

slap on stretched skin, and

her fingers, dancing lightly

like mallets, her gentle

slap on stretched skin, and

her fingers, dancing lightly

like mallets, their newborn rhythms

raining down on my breasts.

‘I wrote the poem for my partner Barbara. To hear her accompany our late friend, the poet Toni Brown click here:

Toni Brown black lesbian poet 11/4/52 – 4/19/08 (amusejanetmason.com)

For an excerpt from my essay on Emily Dickinson, originally published in the Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly, click here: https://tealeavesamemoir.wordpress.com/2024/02/18/a-lesbian-reading-of-emily-dickinson-lgbt-lesbianlit-amreading/

To read my poem inspired by visiting the Dickinson house, click here:

Revisiting Lesbians in History: #Lesfic #EmilyDickinson #LGBT #amreading | Janet Mason, author (wordpress.com)

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here.