Everybody is an expert on one thing - that's what I learned in my high school journalism class - and that's, of course, his own life. And everybody deserves to live and have his story told. And if it doesn't seem like an interesting story, then that's the failure of the listener, or the journalist who retells it badly.
Interpretation
Everyone has unique experiences and stories that are worth sharing; it's essential to listen and appreciate these narratives.
In this quote, William T. Vollmann emphasizes the idea that each individual has their own unique perspective and experiences that shape their life story. He suggests that the responsibility lies with the listener, or journalist, to recognize and convey these narratives faithfully. If a story seems uninteresting, it reflects a failure in the listener's engagement or the storyteller's ability to express it meaningfully, highlighting the importance of empathy and understanding in storytelling.
In practice
Using this quote in a workshop about personal storytelling.
There have been times when I'm writing about things that are personally embarrassing. Like any human being, sometimes I can't help but wonder - 'What are the people I know going to think about this?' So I have to remind myself that all is permissible. Art has to be a free space. Language has to be a free space.
When I'm dying, I want to think I did what I felt was best for the words I was writing. This may mean, at any time, that I won't be publishable anymore.
I do think that despite my best efforts to resist it, I am now a grown-up. It's due to lots of very difficult decisions that you make over a long period of time - about motherhood, wifehood, and work, and all the things that one has to make decisions about.
I like to read away as much of the afternoon as possible, until real life rears its ugly head.
We think that it's the big moments that define our lives-the wedding, the baby, the new house, the dream job. But really, these big moments of happiness are just the punctuation marks of our personal sagas. The narrative is written every day in the small, the simple, and the common. In your tiny choices, in these tiny changes. In the unconsidered. The overlooked. The discarded. The reclaimed.
A lot of people don't like the road, but it's as natural to me as breathing.
Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.
Many times, I left the prison thinking, 'I'm smart. I can make it. I won't get caught up again.' But you get off downtown Skid Row, and you're a target for all of the environmental harms in that area. The pain and trauma in that area is so thick, you can almost reach your hand out and touch it.
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