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Narrative is My Superpower...What's Yours?

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I've always been fascinated by stories. For as long as I can remember, stories got me through most of my life. The Harry Potter series helped me deal with trauma and my relationship with my biological father, Persepolis gave me insight into the importance of cross-cultural lit, and David Sedaris, Mitch Albom, and more helped me cherish the happier moments throughout childhood and adulthood. Over time, I began telling and sharing stories of my own, and others; that knack for narrative blossomed into years of prose and poetry interpretation, enthusiastic family gatherings, and several degrees that are somehow connected to literature.

 Narrative has become my superpower, and I couldn't be more happy. 

 Narrative has the uncanny ability to emotionally and mentally affect audiences in a manner that requires audiences to improve/reconstruct/navigate/introduce cultural conditioning. I've witnessed it within the pages of Persepolis as well as in the classrooms of Russia and Japan. And, I'm sure, you all have witnessed this phenomenon in different ways, as well. Lindsay Miller discusses her relationship to narrative and it's powers in "The Cultural and Political Power of the Personal Memoir". 

 "The Cultural and Political Power of the Personal Memoir"

 Among other things, Miller points out how mesmerizing and mentally effective cultural conditioning can be. She cites the 2011 debates in Italy over whether the veil should be banned, and explains that because of the narrow, deciphered view held by mass media, many viewers immediately believe the discursive comments being made about the situation. 

 Never judge a book or person by their cover or body, right? 

 I picked this article because I think Miller does a great job explaining why we, as a people, need to incorporate more narrative into our daily lives, and in what ways narrative works within memoirs. Miller is correct in saying that memoirs have rich cultural and (if need be) political power to inform readers about what is going on in the world around us. I don't know about all of you, but I really enjoy reading about someone else's experiences--I sometimes learn more from memoirs than I do from talking to people. These stories, these cultural, societal, and emotionally charged narratives, give more significance and broaden the views that I have grown up in during the past two decades. 

 Have you ever read a memoir or heard a personal story that made you do a double-take? 

 Have you ever read a memoir or heard a personal story that made you alter your perception of yourself? Of the world around you? 

 Miller chooses Persepolis, Things I've Been Silent About, and another Iranian memoir as examples to back her claim. She writes this thought near the end of her article:
"They begin from a place of very little cultural currency, of almost no real power, but they have the power to move us, to reach us, to create a little thread of telepathy through which their emotions become ours" (2011). 
Memoirs do all the above and more, for me. 

 Narrative, and in extension memoir, is a potent emotionally and mentally persuasive tool to use in life. Using memoir as an outlet, a narrative, and narrator, work together to situate a reader in a specific time, place, mental state in order to do (or not do) something. Though this article is eight years old, its message still rings true: narrative bridges cultural gaps. Narrative brings about agency. Narrative makes us all a little more involved, a little wiser, and a whole lot more powerful. 

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