February 20, 2022 Collab Salon: Authoring Your Life: Narrative Practices with Writing

What does it mean to “author your life?”  Like all things, the phrase has no fixed meaning.  It is just a collection of words.  For us, the phrase takes us to the politics of meaning-making and calls into question who has the rights to claim authorship of anything.  We stand in support of the idea that you have special authorship rights when it comes to whatever it is that matters to you, whether that is your personal identity, events that have taken place in your life, or a project that you are taking up and care about.  Writing what you think and feel, and why, in your unique way is precious and no one has any right to demean or diminish it.  No one else has a right to evaluate what you think or how you express it.  They can share the effects that it has on them or take a different position, but they don’t get to cast judgement on the legitimacy of your position or the quality of your expression.