I'm Susan Berston, and here's what I believe:
Everyone has a story worth telling. Maybe it's the very moment you found people like yourself. Or the day you decided your truth mattered more than their comfort. Or the story about how you survived and thrived when nobody was watching.
Whatever it is, I want to hear it—and I'm excited to help you tell it. When someone trusts me with their story, I'm reminded what a privilege it is—each and every time. This work is my dream come to life and every story recorded is one that can never be erased, lost or rewritten. Let's not wait.
If You Lived It, We Need to Hear It!
The generation who discovered and explored their identities between the 1950s and 1980s lived through seismic change—from a time when being gay or lesbian was criminalized and pathologized, through liberation movements, the devastating AIDS crisis that claimed an entire generation, and into an era of increasing visibility and rights --only to watch hard-won rights challenged again.
They built lives in the margins, created families without blueprints, and survived by finding each other when the world insisted they didn't exist. These stories must be recorded now, while you are here to tell them. Your experiences, in your own words, help future generations understand where they come from, help researchers and educators tell the full story, and create a record for your own families and communities - preserving not just what happened, but what it felt like to live through it.
Why This Matters
These stories are even more vital now than ever. Because our history, voices, memories and perspectives don't preserve themselves -- and the next generation needs to know how we got here. Because your friends, your chosen family, and people you haven't even met yet will want to know what it was really like. Because sometimes the act of telling your story helps you see celebrate yourself by realizing your own grit, determination, strength and resilience in a whole new way.
And as the government tries to erase our history from schools, we must resist by documenting our shared truths.
I've recorded dozens of these stories since last May. I promise to make it fun and put you at ease. Whatever your story is, I want to hear it and I'm genuinely honored to help you tell it.
