Why Everyone Should "Write The Other"

I've been downloading TED talks in iTunes, since they make for good, quick, off-line viewing, and are generally entertaining and/or educational. We watched this one over breakfast today:



Being a minority writer myself, I feel some of the same pain she describes. In many ways, I'm always writing the other, because I rarely draw upon my own life experiences for my fiction--like Laura Anne Gilman, I believe that "Write what you know" means learn more, not write less. I want to use my imagination. I don't just want to be a reporter (though those skills are very useful, craft-wise); I want to create.