Our stories matter and listening to them matters more. But since, when we write, we cannot be in control of others listening or not, my strategy of choice would be not so much to build my own identity by putting myself out there.
This is very personal but I feel uncomfortable just ‘talking’ (writing) about myself. I’d rather include other people’s stories in my story, showing that I have listened to others, to their stories, and somehow that has been integrated into my story.
I am more interested in building a collective we, engaging with the world, because this business of producing subjects is the result of a focus on the individual, which to me is a root cause for the isolation that we often lament. Scholarship to me is learning with others.