We're All Alright Phyllis Wilson

Political identity encompasses how and why we choose to define ourselves as members of, in alignment with, or in relation to, political parties, and how we perceive others who do so, especially those of opposing parties.

What are we really doing when we adopt a political identity? And is it even useful?

With the emergence of the Body Positivity movement onto the global stage via social media in the last 10 years, I’m thinking about our bodies.

Today, I’m thinking about the complexity of identity.

Yes, we choose who we are, and how much any particular role defines us. But we also can’t disregard, dismiss, or discount other people’s perceptions of us, because they, too, make us who we are.

As we’re digging into the questions of who or what can tell us who we are, and the limitations of any person or tool that attempts to do that, I’m thinking about typologies. Our interest in them, our reliance on them, and what that means–what we’re making that mean–about ourselves and about each other.

I’m thinking about parents and parenting. How much of who we are do we owe to our parents? And how much of how they are–and were–do they owe to us?

Phyllis Wilson presents a brief history of compulsory public schooling and the grim realities of child labor, American homeschooling and its surprising ties to post-Civil War Black communities, and who personal choice in education leaves behind and how we can imagine a way forward.