1. What’s in your personal lexicon? Make a list of words, phrases, or physical gestures.

What brings you grief? Think of one or multiple events or situations, something larger than an interpersonal interaction (something you can’t “fix”), that brings you grief. Make a list and write.
 

for example: climate disasters, sweatshop labor, the pandemic, species extinction, etc

What brings you joy and pleasure? Think on small and large scales. Make a list and write. Include concrete details–what can you see, hear, feel, taste, smell?

for example: hugging a friend, skateboarding on a warm evening, picking a little bouquet of flowers, marching in the streets with five hundred people for something you believe in, falling in love, etc.

Write something that incorporates all of these parts.

• 2. Intergenerational Stories

Tell a story about yourself by also telling a story about your family and/or ancestors–family here can mean any people/elders who you have close connections to in your community.

Ask an elder in your family to tell a story or share a more distant memory from their life.

If you are not able to have that conversation or do not have access to your family’s history due to diaspora, consider doing some research of your own into the lives of who you consider to be your elders, whether or not they are still living.

• This could be people you admire who share aspects of your identity or are tied to your communities—pop culture figures, political activists, queer and trans pathmakers, journalists, artists and historians, community figures you’ve known personally, groundbreaking scientists and mathematicians, sports figures—it’s up to you. Find a way to weave your history with theirs.

In what ways do your elders inform your life—what have they given you access to? What stories of theirs resonate with you? What stories are difficult for you to hear? What struggles do you still share? What have you learned from them? Where do you depart from them?

With these elements, write something that weaves your story with theirs.