Stories Have the Power to Change Lives & Heal

August 9th we had the largest crowd ever for our storytelling event at the Q Center focusing on elder Queer storytellers. This was such a loving community. Elders are rarely celebrated and there was such enthusiasm, many of the audience members volunteered to help us set up when the staff person didn’t arrive to open the room with the chairs and sound equipment. They were such a supportive group and really responded heartily to the stories of “Courage, Grace and Grit.”

Many were visibly moved, wiping a tear or two or joyously laughing. At one point at the end, Tim Seelig led the audience in a chorus of “You Are My Sunshine.” We continue to get these spontaneous moments of collective humanity and it’s inspiring.

Excerpt from Sandra de Helen’s story about the grit to keep writing: “In my twenties, I had several poems published. Won a few more contests. Feeling proud of myself, I signed up for a creative writing class at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Before the semester was over, my professor, Tom Sexton, told me I’d never be a poet— because I didn’t write like a man. He pointed to a woman in our class who had nine children, and said she could write like a man. So because of his harsh words—and my own insecurity—I stopped writing poetry. That was 1970. It took courage to keep writing through rejection and silence.

It took grit to write when no one was asking for it. Grace? That came later. Excerpt from Horatio Law about discovering art during the AIDS pandemic: “For gay men coming out during that time, liberation came with a terrible price amid the joy of discovering one’s gay identity and sexuality. I was surprised. It was also tainted with uncertainty and prospect of horrible sufferings and death. In the middle of this whirlpool of loss and fear, mystery and shame, one could easily get lost about your goals in life or questioned your reason to live. And then there was this question about my own mortality. It dawned on me that if I were at all serious about this art thing, I better start doing something about it. That’s when I realized I need to listen to my heart. And follow that whisper. It is said that art is about living. If I were an artist, I would explore every part of myself.”

Excerpt from Kathleen Saadat’s story about climbing a rockwall: “What, what does it mean? The grace, the goodwill, the kindness, the empathy, the caring, all of which helped me up the rock. They pushed me up the rock, they pulled me up the rock. It was the grace. Not what you say before dinner, but it was that feeling of having a group of people that cared about you, want you to succeed.”

Excerpt from Reed Vanderburg about being trans in his younger days: “I understand now with several decades of hindsight that the commonality between me and my partner is we were both trans. But the difference is my partner had always had this male persona inside and knew it, just didn’t know you could do anything about it. And then one day my partner saw an article random in a magazine about a trans man and thought. Oh my God. You can transition that direction. I had no idea. And came home and said to me, I’ve always felt like a man inside, and if I had the money, I’d have an operation tomorrow.”

Excerpt from Tim Seelig about aging and recently deciding to skydive: “Being old takes courage. It takes courage to get out of the house. It takes courage to put on our clothes. It takes courage not to wear elastic pants, just on special occasions. A few weeks ago, four weeks ago, I faced yet another little ladder and I looked at it and I thought, okay, here we go. And I climbed up with the help of some people got in this little metal tube and it took off and went to 14,500 feet and I jumped. Wow. The landing was beautiful and I did not say I want to do it again. I think about the grit. It’s taken all of us to get here.” Join us for our next storytelling event on Aug. 30th at 2pm at the North Portland Library (512 N. Killingsworth) with a focus on Black female affinity!