As part of my day job—I’m a university professor—I’ve been recording interviews with some really interesting people. I’ll be sharing the interviews with my online class this summer. One interview was with a pair of filmmakers who made a documentary (Farmingville) about hate crimes that occurred in a Long Island town. Although the film is twenty years old, its themes are fresher than ever, and we talked quite a bit about current events.

Toward the end, I asked the filmmakers what they see as some ways for all of us to make a difference and help move things in a positive direction. Their answer truly resonated with me: they talked about the power of story to bring about change.

Statistics are useful, but they don’t impel movement. Numbers are too cold to evoke emotion. Stories, though, make us feel.

I could tell you, for instance, that about 18,000 same-sex marriages took place in California in 2008, but that subsequent marriages were put on hold when California passed Proposition 8—the gay marriage ban—that year. The next same-sex couple to wed in California was in 2013, when the Supreme Court overturned the ban.

Okay, interesting. But what if I tell you instead about Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, who began dating in 1998. When Prop 8 stopped them from getting married in 2008, they sued, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court. Also in the lawsuit were Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, together since 1997 and parents of four kids. As soon as the Court overturned the ban, these people became the first same-sex couples to marry in California in five years. Don’t you want to hear more of their stories? Aren’t you more engaged than when I threw a few numbers at you?

Consider your favorite books—how real those characters seem. How we worry or cry when things go badly for them, and how good we feel when they find love and get their happy endings. Maybe you’ve even read a story that has inspired you to change your life in some way.

Now, as an author, I obviously know the power of story. But I know it just as well as a teacher. As I stand in front of a classroom, giving a lecture, I see the students zoning out while I discuss theories and laws. But then I tell them about this person, who exemplifies the theory well, or that person, who was accused of violating that law. And my students stop zoning out. They pay attention, they understand, they remember.

In these difficult times, we can rely on the power of stories to lift us up. If you have suffered oppression, share your story. If you haven’t been oppressed, listen to the stories of those who have. Spread those stories so others hear them too. Tell what you’ve seen, heard, and felt.

I believe that stories are among the most powerful weapons at our disposal. Let’s use them, and use them well.

***

Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

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