Episode 29: Bill Thompson

I have often felt odd in my life. Well, more accurately I have often been declared odd or queer by those outside looking in on my life. In my mind and lived experience, however, I have just been me. Reflecting on my journey I can see why others applied the odd or the queer moniker to me. At 14 years old I became the only male cheerleader on the high school Junior Varsity Squad in Alief, TX. In my sophomore year of college at Vanderbilt University, I wore braids down to my shoulders, tooled around the well-manicured campus on rollerblades and opted to be in plays as opposed to pledging a black fraternity. I have been a unicorn my whole life, and I still am to this day. I’ve never marched to the beat of someone else’s drum very well. The music is always in my own mind and in my own time. 

My conversation with Bill Thompson, the Executive Director of Young Storytellers,  was broad and it was honest. We grappled with the reality of privilege and the role it has played in his life and career. We dove headlong into access – who gets to have it and who doesn’t get to claim that prize. We discussed how one person who takes a genuine interest in you, can redirect the trajectory of your life. And we talked about what he calls "the great equalizer" of his unexpected life - education. I don’t know if we found all the answers, but we walked the road together in search of understanding. 

In the midst of our back and forth, he reminded me of two things – the person who owns and articulates their narrative can change the way people feel and more importantly can change the way that people behave – that is power. And that as participants in other people’s lives, we must hold space for them to create and tell their own stories – even the ones, most especially the ones about flying unicorns.