an introduction, of sorts

In journalism, “off the record” is a phrase that often means the information being shared is not for publication or attribution. There are, of course, varying arguments about how specific you need to be when saying “off the record” for it to be considered completely off the record in a way that means it won’t become a part of someone else’s story or shared on television or the radio or whatever. Basically, ISSA SECRET. 

Of course, we live in the era of the internet, and anything shared on said internet is likely to become part of someone’s story somewhere. 

And so, in that context, I submit my own “off the record” account of events in my life. 

In this context, understand “off the record” to mean that while these events did happen, the names, locations, conversations and other details have been changed to protect the innocent, the guilty, and the game. 

Just understand that the reason I share these stories is because they deserve to be told. I’m not here to sensationalize, scandalize, fetishize, or demonize. 

My story is a unique one, and in the context of history, this will always matter. 

This will be unfiltered. These are my adventures, my views, my opinions, my triumphs, my mistakes, my good, my bad, my ups and downs—all of it, because all of it matters.

Storytelling is a revolutionary act. 

This one is mine. off the record, of course. A memoir.