Everybody is an expert on one thing - that's what I learned in my high school journalism class - and that's, of course, his own life. And everybody deserves to live and have his story told. And if it doesn't seem like an interesting story, then that's the failure of the listener, or the journalist who retells it badly.
Interpretation
Everyone has unique experiences and stories that are worth sharing; it's essential to listen and appreciate these narratives.
In this quote, William T. Vollmann emphasizes the idea that each individual has their own unique perspective and experiences that shape their life story. He suggests that the responsibility lies with the listener, or journalist, to recognize and convey these narratives faithfully. If a story seems uninteresting, it reflects a failure in the listener's engagement or the storyteller's ability to express it meaningfully, highlighting the importance of empathy and understanding in storytelling.
In practice
Using this quote in a workshop about personal storytelling.
There have been times when I'm writing about things that are personally embarrassing. Like any human being, sometimes I can't help but wonder - 'What are the people I know going to think about this?' So I have to remind myself that all is permissible. Art has to be a free space. Language has to be a free space.
When I'm dying, I want to think I did what I felt was best for the words I was writing. This may mean, at any time, that I won't be publishable anymore.
I think sometimes what happens is that all of this feeling out of control manifests itself in trying to control your body; whether it's an eating disorder or talking about getting your nose fixed, as if that's going to be the solution to all the pressure.
There is no need to waste pity on young girls who are having their moments of disillusionment, for in another moment they will recover their illusion.
They keep coming up new all the time - things to perplex you, you know. You settle one question and there's another right after. There are so many things to be thought over and decided when you're beginning to grow up. It keeps me busy all the time thinking them over and deciding what's right. It's a serious thing to grow up, isn't it, Marilla?
I do take very good care of myself, and I'm always in love. And by that I mean I have an appetite for life. I'm in love with beauty and things and people and love and being in love, and those things I think, on the inside, show on the outside.
To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.
They are not long, the days of wine and roses. Out of a misty dream, our path emerges for a while, then closes, within a dream.
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