This weekend, I participated in a Unitarian Universalist service on pluralism and the origins of Memorial Day and mentioned my most recent novel Cinnamon: a dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom which was just published by Adelaide Books (New York/ Lisbon). The You Tube video of the talk is below and the text is below that.
“I am large. I contain multitudes.”
This quote, from Walt Whitman, has long been a favorite of mine.
This month’s theme of pluralism spoke to me because I consider myself intersectional, a newish term defined in Wikipedia as an analytical framework to understand a person’s social and political identities.
I have taken a sharp detour in recent years regarding veganism, the rights of animals, and concerns for the future of the planet. I became vegan roughly five years ago, after a medical emergency led me to a healthy plant-based diet. I imagine a born-again vegan is as irritating as a born-again anything else. Still, I do credit my healthy vegan lifestyle for my being here which is why I’m so excited about it.
I’ve always been intersectional–that is more than one thing. For instance, I came out as lesbian in the 1980s. That remains with me. And, despite everything, I’ll always be from a working-class background. That has shaped many of my work habits and my values. As I reflect, on Memorial Day, I see that I am the daughter of a late and dignified father who was an enlisted man in World War II and that despite my conflicting feelings about patriotism and war, this experience is part of me too.
I am intersectional in my writing as well as in my life. My most recent novel, Cinnamon: a dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom has just been published by Adelaide Books.
We all are more than one thing. In my case, I am an old-school lesbian feminist, and I am also Queer and now I am also vegan, and often that is the first thing that comes out of my mouth. Being vegan gives me hope. I have hope for my health. I have hope for humanity—that we realize that we’re all animals and will be kinder to ourselves, to each other, and all beings. And I have hope for the future of the planet. I don’t have to tell you that we are living in bleak times. And even if we are living in a time of backlash, even though I and many others have lived through hate before and are still angry, I also still have hope.
–Namaste
My most recent novel is available on the publisher’s website: CINNAMON: a dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom | Adelaide Literary Magazine (adelaidebooks.org)
and on amazon.com: Cinnamon: A dairy cow’s (and her farmer’s) path to freedom: Mason, Janet: 9781958419786: Amazon.com: Books
Leave a comment