In the following article I reflect on a few of the lessons provided by the late historian Howard Zinn, both his close reading of history, but even more so his critical insight "that history is made, not only received". Zinn used history much like a muckraking joumalist would: he wrote history not only "through" the eyes of common people, but "for" the eyes of common people. Perhaps because of this aim, his writing still feels vibrant and inspires rethinking my own work as an ongoing student of history and as a freelance journalist. Zinn pointed out that all of us could contribute to meaning making through our personal narratives and human condition. Our lives are at risk if we do not know where we come from, and this knowledge is often lost to a "naturalized" official history. Official history is worse still when it is used to frustrate social progress and maintain oppression, or, as is often the case, the status quo. We must recover the meaning of our collective history, and we do so through the eyes of teachers, poets, writers, and freedom fighters everywhere. (Contains 2 notes.)