WRITING IS RESISTANCE

Beyond the thrill of unearthing a new story, especially one with qualities as rare and precious as the bones of some creature yet seen or identified, telling our stories is an act of resistance. It resists the status quo, the normative ideologies that continue to marginalize the voiceless and perpetuate colonialist mentalities. This has always been important and will continue to be important, regardless how utopian the veneer or our lives leads us to believe.

Writing is an expression of hope. And stories are an expression of empathy, when done right. But that means we storytellers must persist with our search for what is true and authentic within ourselves, regardless of how much such dissection hurts. We must go in as surgeons, not barbarians, careful and precise and without anesthesia! We must examine those alien bones, the nerves that twitch at the touch of our scalpels.