a chat with the vegan Harry Potter + a new poem out with No, Dear magazine
LETTER TWENTY-ONE: "VEGAN FUTURES"
Can we have what we've had before?
Can we manufacture our desire through a new method and means?
Will our tools be the same?
AFTERTHOUGHTS
The six year old version of myself who stopped eating meat would be amazed at what choices are available now. I never imagined having a fried mushroom that tasted like bacon or, most crucially since becoming vegan in college, soft serve. My god.
But that word? Vegan? Still, a resistance.
Perhaps more understood than twenty-five years ago, but many I speak to reveal that hearing that someone is a vegan loads them with a fear that a lecture is soon to follow or an exposition on the ills of sugar--which, for me, isn't really the point. No other food choice or order is scrutinized as much as ordering the vegan option as though doing so is an excuse to announce a dietary preference. For years, I did my best to hide what I was eating, to not be socially rejected or written off as annoying. No other food choice riddles a tablemate with guilt.
I felt this familiar awkwardness creep up recently as I was on a lunch break while visiting NYPres hospital. Tired of the cafeteria options and eager for fresh air, I walked further uptown until I stumbled on a pizza shop that advertised itself as traditional Naples style.
When I went inside, the owner listened near the register as I ordered. I was ready to simply ask for a slice with no cheese at all but delighted to find they had a vegan option. I made eye contact with the owner, a chef from Naples, and offered a smile meant to say: sorry if what I've just requested has bastardized your culture. I thought back to a trip to Italy I'd taken with a friend to visit their family, and the shame I felt as I rejected over and over their handmade meatballs and freshly sliced prosciutto. As we walked through Matera, the city where The Passion of the Christ was filmed, I thought to myself: I'm as good to them as Judas.
The vegan option meant a cauliflower crust, and as I sat on the patio with my pie, I was surprised to see the owner coming towards me.
"Are you vegan?" he asked. I nodded, chewing the thin crust. Before sitting at my table, he asked if it would be okay to ask me a few questions.
We spent the next fifteen minutes going over what was and what wasn't okay to eat as a vegan, why I did it, why I did it and still ate pizza (pleasure is still possible, I joked), and he was delighted to know I was okay with eating yeast, which led to him offering to make me a new pie on the house with the traditional dough instead of the cauliflower crust. He told me how different his style of making pizza was and how business had gone since moving to the States (lots of confusion over why Naples slices are so different than the traditional New York slice). I watched as he greeted families and children, offering free slices to acclimate them to his methods. He felt awkward about his food, too.
And, he was starting conversations. He was offering a new beginning, a new way to see a familiar meal. Isn't that what veganizing is about, too? What if more people agreed to just have a taste? One bite? What would be possible, especially if they liked it?
Many of you know I've been working on a vegan-ish novel for the past nine years, and there have been various resistances to the story and its import because of this content. Recently, I've been offered a private writing space where I spent a quiet Saturday evening rereading the manuscript as it readies for some new beginnings, and I felt myself let go of the opinions of others on the content. I remembered the simple invitation a book can be to imagining a new reality.
But sometimes such a dream can feel overwhelming. The song can get stuck in your throat, the audience seemingly invisible...especially when spending Saturday nights alone on the floor of your studio.
It was healing to get to see one of my favorite artists perform at Radio City Music Hall during this time (Maggie Rogers). Another favorite artist (David Byrne) surprised us and joined her on stage. She shared how playing at the venue was a spiritual completion for her as it marked significant milestones in her career, became the space where she realized what at one time felt impossible. It was where she first played for her college graduation after she went viral, a school where I now taught.
I felt her speech as my own kind of synchronicity--not only because David Byrne makes an appearance at the ending of one of my favorite books about becoming a published writer (Writers and Lovers), but because my great uncle, Ray Bohr, was once the Chief Organist at Radio City (some exciting news to announce with this soon :)).
still from Final Curtain Call
The film I made about him is set at Radio City Musical Hall. While I wrote the piece in 2019 and filmed in 2021, I didn't finish it until last year. Making the film was a renewal for me as an artist at a time where I felt pretty helpless and uninspired in my own ability to be fully seen in the world, and being at the venue years later with so much abundance and possibility now in my life as a writer, I couldn't help but burn out my throat as I sang with Maggie.
Shortly after, I gathered with some of my local community at my favorite garden for a Spring Equinox celebration where more light was promised to enter into our lives. After a winter of grief, I sipped the free tea offered to me and could feel the weight lifting. My worn throat soothed.
I also turned thirty-one last weekend and felt this fresh energy in my personal life too. One of my childhood friends surprised me with a hike and a birthday drink after I spent time in a sixty acre garden with my family. It was a healing weekend, and as we hiked the familiar mountain together, we made wishes for our future selves. Her, ready for a fresh start in career. Me, ready for one in my relationships. I'm so excited to see who your person will be, she said, smiling as I felt the gift of another witnessing a dream coming true. Of believing alongside you.
Community, even a community of just one other person, is so important. I've been delighted to feel the community of this newsletter spreading so organically and to have met so many other artists and thinkers through this project I started with the Art of Freelance last year. Since then, I've been invited to host workshops on creating multimedia spaces for animal storytelling, most recently with Sentient Media where I met author Ray Star whose trilogy is being described as the vegan Harry Potter. And, with Ray's interest in magick, this isn't so far off.
"I think it's through media forms," Ray shared as she reflected on how veganism might be amplified as a social message. "They'll want to read that book because 'my god it's so exciting,'...but as they're wrapped up into that, something [else] is sinking in."
photo from Ray Star's website
Ray is an Author and freelance writer from Essex in England.
Her debut novels, Earthlings and Dominion, books one and two of a young adult fantasy trilogy have won multiple awards and are Amazon Best-Sellers in multiple categories. The final instalment, Land of Hope and Glory, is eagerly awaited by readers and set for release in late 2023, having secured a three-book publishing deal with FCM Media & Chronos Publishing for the trilogy.
She is also a columnist for V-land UK.
Ray Star and other environmentalists at Gridserve with the Essex Climate Change Commission to deliver a heartfelt message to world leaders and people of influence at COP26 from the concerned community of Essex.
Along with #WritingForNature, her books are printed on recycled paper where possible, she plants a tree per book sale and is a member of the Climate Fiction Writers League and the Society of Authors Sustainability Working Group, campaigning for sustainable book printing within the industry.
In our conversation, we examined common reactions to veganism and stereotypes, the possibilities for artists to tell vegan stories, and the future we'd like to call in for all earthlings.
Listen to the full episode of "Vegan fiction? An earth-centered future with Ray Star" here!
READING LIST: ANIMALS RULE!
The suggested reading for this month is of course Ray Star's catalog. Here's a brief summary of what to expect from these fabulous books:
Peridot has lived a sheltered life. Raised by an overprotective mother on a remote island, the ways of the world remain a mystery, until the arrival of a young boy Euan, and she finally learns the truth. Peridot and her family are magick-born. Not magic from stories and fables but real magick from the days of old. The ability to control earth, air, fire, water and spirit. Leaving the safety of her home, Peridot discovers a world unlike any she could have fathomed possible. Humanity is enslaved, a cruel dictator rules the land, and an uprising is on the horizon. Peridot's magick may be the helping hand needed to save humanity from their doomed fate if she can only learn how to control her gifts in time. Within Peridot's grasp is the chance to save the world, and earth knows, the world needs saving.
I also have a new poem coming out with the Brooklyn-based magazine, No, Dear (Issue 29: Chronic), which you can order here. This a limited edition issue, so get those orders in quick!