Origins

— A —

• American Dream The promise that effort equals outcome — more myth than mechanism.

— C —

• Class Economic position, cultural identity, and claiming either as merit or fault.
• Community Shared place, shared trait, or unity someone wants you to feel.
• Culture Shared practices, collective identities, and deciding which count.

— D —

• Diaspora A people scattered from their homeland. Physically here, but culturally, historically, and/or spiritually from somewhere else.

— F —

• Family Bonds by blood, choice, or cohesion — recognized or not.
• Feminine The receptive, nurturing, yielding, and intuitive forces of the universe — cyclical and perennial, but eternal. (compare with Masculine)

— G —

• Gender Biology, identity, expression, or range — apparently fluid.

— H —

• Heritage Pride, mythology, or inheritance — rarely examined.

— I —

• Immigrant Welcome newcomer, despised threat, or needed labor force — depending on the decade.
• Indigenous People who originate in a given place through ancestry. Most applicable when displaced or destroyed.

— L —

• Language How we communicate and define our realities. Spoken, signed, written, drummed. Our first tool. (see also Technology)

— M —

• Masculine The active, protective, assertive, and logical forces of the universe — linear and momentary, but perpetual. (compare with Feminine)
• Minority Numerical or structural — not always the same.
• Myth The obscure stories of our creation and original history. Basic to humanity. Captured, controlled, and corrupted by our institutions.

— N —

• Nation A place, a people, a government, or an idea. May also be a country. (see also Country)
• Native Where you were born. And who was there before.
• Normal The average, the standard, and what we agree not to question.

— P —

• Privilege Advantage, blessing, or grievance.

— R —

• Race Biological fiction. Social reality. To some, a basis for nation.

— T —

• They The most dangerous four-letter word. The stranger, the competitor, the enemy. To them, it is us. (see also We)
• Time The only resource that can't be hoarded or recovered — but it can be sold. We can make ours our own — and/or just let it run us.

— U —

• Us The most dangerous two-letter word. Born from ego and the need for security. To them, us is they. (see also Them)