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Narrating Toward a Bigger "We": How We Build a Model Majority
We celebrate and uplift organizers whose work, we believe, moves us toward this Model Majority - an intergenerational, multiracial, multifaith, and multilingual constituency that recognizes the power of its own history and is actively envisioning a world that includes all of us.
May 28, 20253 min read
Meeting Crisis with Community
Communities are stepping in where institutions fall short with mutual aid, community health organizations, and reclaiming narrative agency; these communities are fostering solutions anchored in hope, imagination, resilience, and solidarity. Their existence is resistance to harmful narratives of dehumanization, othering, and scarcity that shape the conversation about who deserves care—and how it should be delivered.
May 21, 20254 min read
Fighting for Birthing People in an Uncertain Future
We are living in a time when “a broad anti-sexual and reproductive rights agenda” is being implemented at the direction of a new...
Apr 23, 20256 min read
Today's Doulas Support Birthing Parents, But Aren't the Solution to a Broken System
Looking at doulas from a global health perspective. In 2022, 817 women* died of maternal causes in the United States. Admittedly,...
Apr 15, 20256 min read
Where Somebody Says Doula, We Say "Auntie"
Tracing the Black & Indigenous Roots of Doula Work
Apr 15, 20256 min read
Friends in Struggle
Martin Luther King’s friendship with Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh helped drive this anti-war stance into the public discourse
Apr 4, 20253 min read
Engaging Organizers on Climate Migration: How do we create Content to Grow Our Audiences With/Behind/to Push Our Solutions?
Two new resources offer narrative guidance for climate and migrant justice organizers looking for a place to start.
Mar 24, 20255 min read
How storytelling preserves traditions of reciprocity, resilience, and hope
What could happen to advance healthy culture in Black and Indigenous communities if people knew the truth about our culture?
Sep 9, 20243 min read
Ecosystem for a New American Narrative
The field of documentary impact has evolved to consider the ways in which filmmakers of color leverage this powerful art form into action.
Apr 24, 20244 min read
On Mourning as a Motive Force: Grief and Black-Palestinian Solidarity
No one should have to suffer this particular juncture of violence or experience state-sponsored genocide as both Jews and Palestinians have.
Oct 17, 20235 min read
From Rural America with Love
It was powerful for me to experience a supportive space with people from rural and urban areas.
Jul 26, 20234 min read
Weaving the opposite of fascism: Narrative organizing to build narrative power
I have myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) from Long Covid, formerly called chronic fatigue syndrome. I first shared these thoughts while...
Jun 15, 20238 min read
Art is at the Heart of Disability Justice
An estimated 7.5% of the adult population in the United States is now living with long COVID, the long-term or chronic effects of a...
Jun 8, 202317 min read
Storytelling Can Move Mountains
In 2011, Tania Mattos started working with filmmaker Christina Antonakos-Wallace when she was a leader in the fight for the New York...
Jun 7, 202310 min read
Changing the Conversation Around Reproductive Justice
“Reproductive justice” was first coined in 1994 by the Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice and defined in 1997 by Sister...
May 12, 20237 min read
SxSW 2023: A Place for Narrative to Thrive
Two weeks ago, I descended into Austin, Texas for week two of the SxSW conference and festival. It’s a real-life gathering of folks who...
Apr 6, 20234 min read
Fleshing Out History
Throughout American history, efforts to bring the stories and lived experiences of people of color into the broader American narrative...
Feb 17, 202312 min read
Facing Race: A National Conference 2022
Two weeks ago, Narrative Initiative took our goodies to the Facing Race conference in Phoenix. The conference is sponsored by my former...
Dec 5, 20223 min read
Gender is a story we tell ourselves
The first time I read Yoon Ha Lee’s Ninefox Gambit , I was captivated by the worldbuilding and the story’s overarching military conflict....
Jun 28, 20223 min read
We all have narrative power
Some of the most interesting and revelatory conversations I’ve had about politics and life have been in the back of a cab. This is a...
Apr 14, 20224 min read
NI Blog
Here you will find case studies, interviews, insights, and reflections from staff.
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