by Jenny S.
You know me as Jenny in Pat’s Fem Friday’s. He’s asked me several times to write and I’ve refused. I’m not a writer. As I wept over my non-binary teenager watching people cheer as our president threatened my child’s existence, I thought about Pat’s book (spoiler alert, I’ve read all four drafts). I thought about Fem Fridays and the other women with disabilities who told their stories after reading mine. I thought about the girls my child’s age like me or my friend ‘Cassie’ whom I still miss.
Pat’s book is a story of resistance and I want to try to help him tell my story which is our story.
Stories shape the world. They always have. Long before social media, before printing presses, before written language, humans gathered around fires and shared tales that carried wisdom, preserved history, and inspired action. Storytelling is not just a pastime; it is a tool of survival, a means of resistance, and a way to fight back against forces that seek to erase, control, or silence us.
For Gen X outcasts, storytelling has been a sanctuary and a weapon. We grew up in the shadow of cultural shifts, economic turbulence, and political upheaval while being treated horribly. We were latchkey kids raised by televisions and mixtapes, learning about the world through the subversive messages embedded in song lyrics, underground zines, and the raw honesty of indie films. Stories weren’t just entertainment; they were how we navigated a world that often left us to fend for ourselves.
The Art of Telling the Truth in a World That Lies
Resistance doesn’t always come in the form of protest marches or hashtags. Sometimes, it is the quiet act of telling an inconvenient truth. Whether it’s Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo journalism (Pat’s hero), the searing social critiques of Octavia Butler, or the stand-up of Sara Silverman, storytelling has always been a way to push back against the status quo.
Today, we are inundated with narratives designed to pacify us. The powerful politicians and billionaires spin reality to protect profit. Social media algorithms dictate what stories get heard. Governments rewrite history to maintain control. But storytelling remains one of the few tools we have that is immune to suppression. A well-told story bypasses censorship and algorithms. It is passed from person to person, whispered in quiet corners, scrawled on walls, turned into songs, and filmed on shaky iPhone cameras.
When we tell our stories—especially the ones that others want buried—we resist. When we read stories that challenge us, we grow. When we amplify stories that expose injustice, we create ripples that can turn into waves.
Gen X and the DIY Ethos of Storytelling
If there is one thing Gen X women understand, it’s that no one is going to hand us a platform. We grew up in an era where mainstream media ignored us, so we built our own. We started zines with glue sticks and photocopiers. We wrote songs and performed them in basements and warehouses when no record label would touch us. We didn’t wait for permission to tell our stories; we just did it. That was the Riot Grrrl movement.
That DIY ethos is more important now than ever. The gatekeepers of culture flexing hard, but they are more fragile than they would like to admit. If we amplify stories like Pat’s book (which is also my story), we can challenge dominant narratives, expose corruption, and remind each other that we are not alone.
Why Stories Matter More Than Ever
We live in a time of misinformation, revisionist history, and curated realities. In such an environment, storytelling is not just resistance—it is necessary for survival.
Every time a marginalized person tells their truth, they push back against a society that seeks to erase them. Every time an artist creates a work that challenges authority, they chip away at the walls of oppression. Every time a whistleblower leaks a document, every time an activist records a protest, every time a survivor writes their memoir, the world shifts just a little bit.
Hearts of Glass Living in My Heart
Hearts of Glass Living in the Real World is a story of resistance beautifully told by someone who cares deeply about others. It is a cry for justice and an example of not only what is at stake, but what we can do together to inch forward. We fought ideas, stigmas, misogyny, abuse, and lies that told us we did not matter and we should not stand up. Due to Pat’s sometimes lovable and other times alarming humility he doesn’t always see what an important role he’s played in resistance stories.
If you want to help a subversive storyteller make a difference, go to Pat’s indiegogo, buy a copy or two of the book, and tell others about it. He challenges authority and chips away at the walls of oppression by telling the story of some beautiful lost kids who challenged authority and chipped away at the walls of oppression. Not all of us are alive anymore.
Don’t Stop Stories
Storytelling is not just a form of resistance; it is a declaration: We are here. We exist. You cannot silence us.
So tell your stories. Write them down. Film them. Sign them. Speak them. Pass them on. Someone is paying attention, and someone needs them like I needed Hearts of Glass to heal from something I didn’t know was broken.
And if they try to stop you, tell them louder.
About Hearts if Glass and How to Support it!
Ford is a traumatized former child model. Cassie is the epitome of DIY punk with a life full of poverty and pain serving smoothies at the Orange Julius. Finally there is Jenny, a young preppy with talent and dreams held back by a society not designed for women like her.
As their lives intersect in the late 1980’s at the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, Illinois, there will be love, confusion, and dangerous adversaries with wealth and power. Ford, Cassie and Jenny just have each other. Will it be enough? How do they survive as Hearts of Glass Living in the Real World?
By going to the indiegogo, you can not only secure yourself advance copies of the book, special merch, and experiences, but you get to help provide copies to teens that live in shelters and seek resources in community centers. You also provide opportunities for ASL translators at our speaking events about this wonderful book. Go to the link, get your copy, and help others!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/be-part-of-the-hearts-of-glass-story-and-mission/x/38415051#
Leave a Reply