For the stories they tried to silence

For the stories they tried to silence

Because stories deserve to be read, not erased

I originally wrote this in response to a recent Tennessee news update, and it felt important to make space for it here too.

I cannot tell you how many times I have written and re-written this. I keep trying to step back from the anger, to breathe a little deeper before I speak. There is a lot I could say in a raised voice, but none of that would help the people who need these stories the most. So I am choosing something quieter here. Something steadier.

There has always been a tug of war over which stories get to stay on the shelf. I think about that more than I used to. Books have been pulled, challenged, hidden, or tossed aside for as long as people have been writing them, and it still stirs something in me every time I see it happen again.

Stories ask us to feel, to question, to imagine something larger than what we already know. That has always made certain people uncomfortable. When a book is removed, it ripples far beyond a single classroom or library. It closes a door for someone who needed that story to breathe a little easier or to see themselves for the first time.

And who knows, maybe one day The Seeker’s Lessons will end up on one of those lists. Books are banned when they tell uncomfortable truths, when they refuse to shrink, when they offer someone a way out of silence. Mine touches trauma, intuition, healing, and the places people sometimes pretend are not there at all. That alone might make a few pearl clutchers nervous.

If that day ever comes, it will mean the story landed somewhere it was not supposed to. It will mean a truth cracked open a space someone wanted to keep shut. It will mean the words mattered.

Banned books tend to age well. They become classics, lifelines, small anchors in the dark. I think I would frame that moment and hang it right above my writing desk with a quiet smile.

Stories deserve to be read. Even the hard ones. Even the ones that make us shift in our seats for a moment. I hope this space helps you discover something new or remember a book that once held you together when the world felt a little too loud.