Early this year I was asked by my then-fiancee Ella (dodostad) if I wanted to collaborate with her in the next Team Pärvelö project: a collection about lesbians in history. I knew without thinking too much that my answer was yes, of course, since Ella and I have been excited about making things together and I thought it would be an excellent excuse. We collaborated on a project in 2013 for Uni2, another Finnish collection, that while with a good concept, Ella didn’t have a lot of time for and it ended up being rushed and compressed. (We may revisit that story again someday.) So I was eager to try it again, maybe with a little less stress.
I have most of a degree in Religious Studies (with a minor in Creative Writing) from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. All the requirements are fulfilled, but I haven’t gotten the paperwork thanks to money issues. It’s a long story. But when I thought of what I wanted to write with regards to women in history, I immediately thought of my religious studies background. What if our story went back to what many believe to be the beginning of History? What about a story about Adam and Eve?
This post is going to be about unpacking this story with all of the academic biblical bullshit and separating what precisely is backed up in myth and conversation (while being as lazy about sourcing and such as I can) and showing precisely how much was my own storytelling flavor. Of course I also don’t want to show you too much and ruin the story for you. Please support Ella and me, and Team Pärvelö and buy a copy of Lepakkoluola. There are a lot of fantastic stories in there.