Writing the personal as political
Resources and a reading list for writing a political essay
Last year, after the election, I was asked to teach a class for StoryStudio in Chicago, which is run by the endlessly talented
.The topic of the class I taught was writing political essays and I titled it “The Personal is Political.”
The phrase "the personal is political" was popularized by the publication of feminist activist Carol Hanisch's 1969 essay of the same title. The idea was and is that our lives and our experiences are products of the systems of power and politics that surround us. It was a radical statement that sought to make clear that the goal is not just our individual liberation but systemic change. The class examined essays that deftly combine personal perspectives to illuminate political issues. And I gave participants the tools to open up their own stories to critique the systems of oppression around us.
When I use the term "political," I mean it in the sense of relating to the governmental and/or public affairs of a country, not just partisan politics. So, when I am weaving that sense of “political” into an essay, I’m thinking about how the writing looks inward to the personal self and also outward to the current moment and events — war, famine, racism, healthcare, reproductive rights, immigration, and so much more.
I taught the class in December, and I had such great feedback and so much fun that I thought I’d share the powerpoint slides and the reading list with you all.
I hope it helps you as you write and share your own stories and experiences, which are important and vital whether they are published in your own newsletter or in The New Yorker.
As I wrote in a newsletter published in November, “The limits of our stories are the limits of our lives. Our words should open up the world, not close it off. Our words should include all people, not trap them in cages. I see every story, every word as a struggle of memory against forgetting. As a struggle of nuance in the flat face of fascism.”