I feel deeply grateful to everyone whose talent and insight grace these pages: Nava, Berry, Heidi, Debra Diane, Janyce, Maya, Yitzy, Colin, Cynthia, Henry, Melanie, Nicola, Tanya, Josephine, Alec, Donald, Kerry, Jane, Philip, Marina, Meneka, Immy, Jerry, and Weronika; Sue Coe and Dan Piraro (with thanks to Faye Duftler and Christy Higgins for their assistance), plus all the vegans (and not-yet-vegans) whose ideas I draw upon. (Same goes for all the inspiration that didn’t make it in.) Kathy, Neil, Mieke, Jenny: thank you for giving me such juicy “sticking points” to respond to. Christopher Sebastian McJetters, Julia Feliz Brueck, Aph Ko, Syl Ko, Dr. A. Breeze Harper, Saryta Rodríguez, Rama Ganesan, Keith Tucker, Kevin Tillman, Omowale Adewale, Starr Carrington, and Dick Gregory (RIP): thank you for all you’ve taught me about intersectional veganism.
Thank you from the bottom of my bleeding heart to Jamey Ellis for “converting” me to this kinder way of life, to Aviram, Yorit, and all my friends at Sadhana Forest for creating such a warm and loving place to learn and grow in, and to Sophie Dubus and Candice Martin for being such lovely travel companions in Munnar (when I couldn’t stop talking about vegan baking!) Lauren Gazzola and Victoria Moran, knowing you has made this book worlds better than it ever could have been otherwise. Rynn Berry (RIP), Carmella Lanni and Carlo Giardina, Rain Truth, Dianne Wenz, J.L. Fields, Karen Ranzi, Stephanie Redcross-West, Marcia Kalisch (RIP), and all my other wonderful teachers and friends from Main Street Vegan® Academy; and to Leigh Sanders and everyone at the Art of Compassion project. Joelle Renstrom and James Miller, Keith Godbout, and Marika McCoola, thank you for all the research links and moral support. Love and thanks to Jacqueline Manni, Chantal Schreiber, Lillian Barker, Annie McGough, Jaclyn Wood, and Keith (again) for showing up for the e-course preview version of this book, and to Una Marzorati, Vivien Straume, Vicki Brett-Gach, Dianne Schnieders, Jolynn Van Asten, and Jessica Meyer for taking the time to fill out my veganism and creativity questionnaire.
Big thanks to more vegan friends, old (as in longstanding!) and new: Dan Comerford, Kelly Turley, William Melton, Michael Harren, Jason Atkins, Christopher Allison, Rick Williams, Rachel Toews, Casandra Royce, Joe Tochka, Chrissy Toti, Stephanie Kirkpatrick, Vinicius Martins, Rachel Atcheson, Karen Krinsky and Chris Belanger, Fiona McQuade, Bristol Maryott, Cameron Gray, Cheri and Jim at Maple Farm Sanctuary, and Kathy, Lara, and John at Unity Farm Sanctuary.
I’m so grateful to Jennifer Flores, Seanan McDonnell, Hanna Masaryk, Mike Dolan Fliss, Matthew Turner, Emily Madapusi-Pera, McCormick Templeman, Kendall Kulper Toniatti, Mackenzi Lee, Erin Callahan, Anne Weil, Amy Lou Stein, Michael Rasmussen, Dixie Buck, Elizabeth Duvivier, Meg Fussell, Giavanni Washington, Teri Simonds, Gail Lowry and Paul Brotchie, Anne Wichmann, and Tim DeSutter. More shout-outs to my friends at the Writers’ Room of Boston (especially Debka Colson, Mary Bonina, Kate Gilbert, Mike Sinert, and Alexander Danner) and to Amanda, Juli Anna, Mary, Morgan, and everyone at the Providence Athenaeum, where I wrote most of this book. Kate Garrick, you’re a treasure. Thank you to Cathy Jaque, Barney Karpfinger, Martin Rowe, and to Brenda Knight, Yaddyra Peralta, Robin Miller, Jermaine Lau, and the rest of the Mango team for all their work on this project.
Steven Saranga, you make this sweet life even sweeter (for contrary to rumor, vegan boyfriends are not as rare as unicorns). Big love to Mumsy, Bill, Kate, Elliot, and all of my family for loving and supporting me no matter what.