I am a story enthusiast. It does not matter the form: fiction, history, memoir, or fable. I like to listen to stories and I like to read them to others. Poetry and music lyrics have a story too. I write stories. I am a storyteller.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes is a cantadora, a keeper of old stories. She uses her research on myths and tales to share the narratives that lead to healing and deeper insights. “Stories are medicine. Stories are embedded with instructions which guide us about the complexities of life”. I was, and still am, a bookworm. Before I could read, I pretended to read. I was given a History Book of the Month membership and a library card. I learned to make friends with the librarians so that I could check out more than the weekly limit.
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Self-reflection brings awareness and that recognition is the foundation for learning and growth. I hear a call to action. It is time to dive down and reveal my own history with feminism: My story. Brene Brown proclaims, “Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.” To put our life experiences on paper, for the world to see, takes vulnerability. Sara Ahmed notes that the personal is theoretical and to become a feminist is to stay a student. This paper is presented in personal theory, backed by the teachings of recognized feminist scholars. I gather my courage to explore my journey into the history, the economic models, and the political influence of my personal feminist story.
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Stories can unite. Stories will connect. Perhaps some of us don’t have the words to understand the forces that come at us and make us feel lesser or even invisible, but we all can put words together, and take them apart, and make new sentences as we learn and unlearn. If we record our stories, and share them with each other, we can collaborate and build intersectionality. The power brokers fear that history may be reclaimed or rewritten from the textbooks they wrote and marketed. “Thus it depends on us…to choose what history we might write for ourselves, and the legacy we might want to leave behind.” I write my personal HERstory.
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