ORIGIN STORIES

Can I tell you a story and fall in love with you a little?

I’ve always liked writing stories. I can remember having a dozen or so composition notebooks full of scribblings as far back as the second grade. I was around nine years old, in the back of a school bus. I was alone, as I usually chose to be, with a pencil and spiral notebook cradled in my lap. I was writing a story. Something about a thunderstorm I think. I know I was trying to personify a raindrop. So it was just me and my raindrop trying to turn a storm into a story, when a classmate’s head popped up from behind me. They eventually made themselves known, by asking me to finish the story. They liked it and wanted to know how it ended. And I think that may be when I fell in love for the first time. With that classmate and with writing stories. Not a romantic love. More like a blossoming of appreciation somewhere deep in me. Turning my cheeks red and making my heart full.

To have something you’ve conceived of be considered precious by others is the origin of love for me.

So I grew from there. Novels and reading weren’t alive enough though for me. I needed to be able to hear the words brought to life. Have the stories speak and be heard. And so I became a playwright, then later, a screenwriter, and soon after that, a podcast writer. Because someone who liked my stories and who I fell in love with a little bit asked me if I wanted to make something with her. And then a bunch of people jumped in and helped make our stories speak and be heard. And every person that’s had a part in that now has a place in my heart. Words like gratitude and appreciation aren’t enough for me. In the end, its love.

So thank you for listening. And I hope it’s okay for me to fall in love with you, just a bit.

Tee Hoida, Co-Creator & Lead Scriptwriter