Workshop Series #7: A History of The Self.

“the difference between the past and history is whether or not it’s written down”

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I went to Yesika Salgado’s reading last week, and it was electric. She said many things that stuck with me, but I want to tell you about one I can’t stop thinking about. When an audience member asked Yesika about writing, she responded with an anecdote from Gloria Steinem. I’m paraphrasing here, but Yesika said to us, “the difference between the past and history is whether or not it’s written down” and I have not stopped thinking about this. 

There are things that feel too true, too painful, too right-now to write down but then what? Then it’s erased and is only in the past? If we omit the hardest, biggest, deepest truths, then do they exist outside of our own memory? As Zora Neale Hurston tells us, “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”

Today, I’m coming to you with that energy. Buckle up, friends.