Examining Difference

We are socially defined by race, class, and gender, among other things.  We use the term "Intersectionality" to describe the complex relationships that make up an individual identity.  They all exist on a continuum, rather than a binary.  For example, religion, family status, body ability, education, and language, all shape who we are.

What group identities do you share?  Try to connect your post to the readings for this week.

I'll start:  I'm obviously Caucasian,  but less obviously from North America (as all of you know).  I blend in easily in Slovenia, because of our common skin color.  In fact, every day people come up to me and start chattering in Slovenian, and when I tell them I only understand a little Slovene now, they invariably reply, "Oh, sorry!  I thought you were Slovenian!"

I have a large extended Irish Catholic family, with five brothers and a sister, and I will always be a little sister, now matter how I age, but by my birth order of #6.  I'll always relate to Christian ideas, even if I don't go to Church, just from my childhood and Catholic schools.

I'm an educator, and this is a big part of how I define my life and my self.  The readings for this week on race and "coolness" inform my work at the Maine State Prison, where many of my students are African American, or Hispanic.  Their marginality is part of why they are in prison.

Subgroups that I identity with, and inform my person-hood are many.  As a poet, I belong to a group of poets in Maine, and we work closely with songwriters and other artists.  As a dressage rider, I identify with the world of horses and trainers interested in classical dressage.  And as a  dog owner, I am definitely a "dog person."

How about you?