Desdemona’s Tithe

Today is the day my novella Desdemona and the Deep comes into the world at large. And I’ve been doing a lot of posting, tweeting, singing, dancing, thanking, and it’s all very joyful.

But now I want to talk about the dark start of Desdemona, in 2016.

I began the novella in November of that year. Everything felt just a little pointless in November of 2016. And, I have to admit, most of 2017 too. All of it, really. Art, especially.

Or, no, not everyone’s art. Mine particularly. It seemed so singularly frivolous, useless. Why finish anything? The point of 2017, surely, was to march in protests, donate to the ACLU, to RAICES, sign petitions, call representatives.

And I did some of that. Some, but not enough. Mostly–though it was a slog–I did what I always did. I wrote.

But I told myself, “The only way you can make this count, Cooney, the only way you won’t be wasting your time, is if you do something concrete with the art when you’re done. Something that supports the real work going on out there while you sit on your butt and write fantasy.”

Now, that was despair talking. I truly believe (on my better days) (and my husband Carlos reminds me) that art is work, and that work is part of the long conversation, part of changing minds, hearts, changing culture. The work we do as artists isn’t useless, even if it sometimes feels that way.

But knowing that wasn’t enough to finish Desdemona. I needed something that translated thought more directly into action. I needed a vow.

So I said to myself, “If and when you ever publish this honking beastie of a novella, Cooney, you will donate the proceeds to the ACLU! It will be your tithe.”

As Desdemona learns in the eponymous novella, a tithe is a tenth. In the spirit of any good goblin bargain, I will tithe a portion of my income every month at full moon (in the Desdemona mythos, I call it the “Gentry Moon”) to charity. And I will be reminded, every month at full moon, what I owe the world for this novella. The price others paid so that I could write it.

These are the charities I’ve chosen. I’ve gone through and found the full moons of each month, and I’ll put them into my calendar with multiple alerts, so that I won’t fail in my vow.

And I am writing this all here today, to hold myself accountable.

ACLU
Full Moon Tithe: August 15th
https://action.aclu.org/give/donate-to-aclu-multistep

Amnesty International
Full Moon Tithe: September 14th
https://www.amnestyusa.org/donate-to-amnesty/

RAICES
Full Moon Tithe: October 13th
https://www.raicestexas.org/donate/

Doctors Without Borders
Full Moon Tithe: November 12th
https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm

Heifer International
Full Moon Tithe: December 12th
https://www.heifer.org/what-you-can-do/give/index.html

Planned Parenthood
Full Moon Tithe: January 10th
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/get-involved/other-ways-give

City Harvest
Full Moon Tithe: February 9th
https://giving.cityharvest.org/donate-now

It Gets Better
Full Moon Tithe: March 9th
https://itgetsbetter.org/donate/

Black Youth Project 100
Full Moon Tithe: April 7th
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/byp100-1

KIND–Kids in Need of Defense
Full Moon Tithe: May 7th
https://donate.supportkind.org/give/189421/#!/donation/checkout

Color of Change
Full Moon Tithe: June 5th
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-us

Colorlines
Full Moon Tithe: July 5th
https://www.colorlines.com/donate

And after this? We’ll start again.