For Seed Lynn, the vulnerable story is the courageous one. It transcends shame and stigma, hurdles argument and doubt, but the path to this strength is rarely clear, or linear.  How those in crisis make sense of the senseless, invite or neglect transformation in their lives, has led Lynn to an intimate study of trauma, which he defines as “an inability to hear the story.” Despite the trust earned or evidence gleaned, each circle holds the tensions of faith and doubt, love and fear, leading Lynn to question:

Can stories save us?

Difficult stories bear subjects for Lynn, and social narratives a course, the study of which cement his place as a generous student-teacher in the digital storytelling community. Aided by craft, ritual, and theory, Lynn promotes more than media skills and literacy. He promotes a listening culture that situates voice, and more importantly, our capacities to hear it, as a metric of personal and community health. Lynn's proposal: We must work, sometimes fight, to be well.

More story-doula than teller, Lynn has served unheard communities for nearly two decades, mostly through workshops and experiential learning labs. Applying a blend of cultural and facilitative skills, his spaces feel less like operating rooms and more like story nurseries, where witnessing can prove just as powerful as participating. Here, authors surface the present, urgent, and necessary narratives threatened most by oppressive views and myths, their agents, and the institutions that uphold them.

The permissions given in the course of this work are many and often radical, even for Lynn, who believes the instruments that trigger trauma can also trigger healing. Sharing how we make sense of things, sharing insight and power, make labor light, but shedding the messages that no longer serve us, or never did, can threaten the person before relieving them. How does Lynn reduce that risk? -By mining the analysis of those affected, interrogating systems complicit in the outcome, and examining critically, but carefully, how we remember ourselves -how what we hold and how we carry it shapes our shared futures, shape possibility itself. Lynn exhibits a gift for unfolding and remaking these myths, forging precious and personal graces, when contact, in fact, results in confrontation. Ultimately, Lynn helps communities re-memorize themselves, rehearse the courage they discover in-group, and embody new meaning and imagination for action.