Who gets to narrate the world?

That was one of the questions tackled in the day-long Write to Change the World seminar, led by the OpEd Project in Boston in early October.

The mission of the OpEd Project is to “increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world.  A starting goal is to increase the number of women thought leaders in key commentary forums to a tipping point.  We envision a world where the best ideas – regardless of where they come from – will have a chance to be heard, and to shape society and the world.”

This was not a writing workshop. It was a mind-shifting seminar that challenged us to raise our voices and add to the public discourse.

The seminar was geared not only to women, but to other voices that are under-represented in the public discourse, in places like the op-ed pages of newspapers, on radio and television commentary, and more.

We grappled with the question, what makes an expert? We  were challenged to think about ourselves as “experts” in our respective fields (including higher education,  children’s literature, immigration policy, legal protections for whistleblowers, faith-based initiatives, and medicine).

We learned so much through small group work, lots of interaction, and dynamic presentations by Becca Foresman, Chloe Angyal, and Macarena Hernandez.  Resources on writing and submitting op-ed pieces were shared, and we came away inspired and empowered.

As one of our leaders shared, “If you say things of consequence, there may be consequences. The alternative is to be inconsequential.”

There are more pictures from the day here.