Russell J. Fellows

Life is meant to be shared, stories told. 

I love being a storyteller. I love creating worlds and lives completely from my imagination and inviting others to share in my adventures. It’s thrilling. But, those stories are fiction.

True stories, life’s stories–stories of our shared histories and current events–are not mine to “create” from imagination, or manipulate to fit how I “see the world.” I do not have the right to choose whose stories are told and whose are silenced or erased (none should be). Even if the stories make me “uncomfortable,” I do not have any authority to do away with them.

No one should.

And, yet, that’s what we continue to allow. We give the rich and powerful free licence to tell us what stories matter–or what versions of the stories are correct. This has ALWAYS weakened us and allowed us to be manipulated and divided, and it will continue.

DO NOT let the powerful dictate your story, my story, or anyone else’s story. Do not let them erase the truth of history, as ugly and painful as it is at times. Stories, true and whole and full, connect us. They teach us. They guide us to a better future, a future less divided and less hateful.

We can overcome the hate. We can overcome those who try to silence our friends and neighbors. We can stand together and make sure everyone’s story is told.