This is when the connection between art and social change became crystal clear to me. I started to understand the power of representation, the need for people to see themselves in the content they consume, but also the power of content to change how they think and feel and behave. When our ability to connect authentically with our audiences was challenged—because a church didn’t want us to mention homosexuality, or a school board was resistant to us using the word “condom”—our devotion to the material, in service of our audience, propelled us into activism. It wasn’t just what we were saying
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