Truth & Advocacy By Calvin-Lee Hardie – Inverness

I know what shows up when you search my name.

I know what the articles say — the headlines, the phrases that were designed to be shared, not understood.

I know what you’ve seen, and maybe even what you’ve said.

I know, because I’ve lived under that version of myself.

The one crafted without my voice.

The one written quickly, published widely, and read without question.

And if that’s all you ever saw, I don’t blame you for what you believed.

But I hope you’ll keep reading anyway.

Because what you saw wasn’t the whole story.

It wasn’t even half.

It was a version that fit inside a frame.

A frame built for speed, for reaction, for clicks — not for truth.

No one ever asked who I was when they wrote about me.

They didn’t reach out.

They didn’t question the gaps.

They didn’t think about the fact that when the internet decides what you are, you don’t get a warning. You just become it.

I didn’t start this blog to convince anyone.

I started it because the only voice missing from the conversation about me… was mine.

This isn’t about excuses.

It’s not about erasing reality or rewriting the past.

It’s about balance.

It’s about complexity.

It’s about reminding people that human beings are not headlines — and that we all deserve the chance to be heard in full sentences, not just tabloid-sized summaries.

What was written about me wasn’t written to understand me.

It was written to define me — without ever meeting me.

And for a long time, that worked.

Until I decided to speak.

I’ve made mistakes.

I’ve lived through consequences.

I’ve also been misrepresented in ways that no one should ever have to experience.

This blog is where I make sense of that.

Where I reclaim the narrative — not to shift blame, but to recover my identity.

Because your name should belong to you.

Your story should include your voice.

And if the internet is going to remember me, it should at least have access to the truth — not just the version that was told first.

So if you’ve followed this blog for a while — thank you.

And if you’re new, or if you came here expecting something else… I hope you’ll stay.

You don’t have to agree with me.

You don’t have to change your mind overnight.

But if you can walk away seeing me as a person instead of a headline, then this post did what it needed to.

Everyone deserves the chance to be seen fully.

This is me taking mine.

— Calvin-Lee Hardie