Insider/Outsider

Draft/ideas for Insider/Outsider:

It's been a long time since I've needed to be in the "new person" position. Mindful of insider knowledge/language can be barrier How do I get people to know me, how do I get them to know me in the absence of my community network? Word unanchored keeps coming to mind in the sense that we only know ourselves through our relationships and what this means when you are no longer operating withing these relationships Processs of nurturing so many new relationships has left me wondering who I am Luckily not alone in my new city and as I enter my fourth month, I've survived and learned from these growing pains, at least in sufficient measure to share with you. Other challenges: facing assumption people made regarding age, gender, marital status, economic status (what constitutes "work" or a "real job"). How we delineate insiders and outsiders. The need we feel to share commonalities, it's reassuring gender, age, whatever are easy starting points, sometimes safer starting points for relationships. Problem that these signposts sometimes turn into limitation on the kind of relationships we allow ourselves to enter into. Appreciate the power of mindful small groups, experience in a functional group is witnesssing the opening of people to each other. I've also seen the oposite happen, individualism and power-hungry resulted in some clinging ever more tightly to their fears and prejudices. Good group provides space for exchanges beyond the ordinary, everyday kind.