So What Do We Call Ourselves

So What Do We Call Ourselves?

A good conversation was tossed about on IRC last night about what "we" call ourselves. Suggestions were:

• Campers
• Unschoolers
• Tribe
• Friends
• How 'bout Dem Toad Suckers, Suckin Dem Toads

Any thoughts? Is it important that we have a name? Do we need a defininition? Is there really trully a "We" to discuss this? Is there something happening here bigger and more complicated then a bunch of kids from summer camp keeping in touch?

My personal term for use is "Tribe". I like the old wild real; feel to it, like Tribe is something one finds and creates and melts out of rock and ice. "Thats my Tribe, and thats where i belong". I like theterm "unschoolers" but it has gotten me into trouble in the past because it alienates people who do go to school... My tribe, yah those kids over there with the dyed hair and tie dye screaming shouting running around blowing bubbles juggling balls. those ones there.

 there my Tribe. :)

Dawn

Tribe is a good word, but not one I expect anyone outside of my head to understand as I mean it. ...of course I don't really expect most people to understand what I mean my any term I use to describe y'all. I don't especially care anymore. I kinda think it's better without any name that quite fits, because it's not a group that quite fits, or quite exists. Y'all are absolutely my tribe, but not in a I-need-to-name-you-and-hold-on sort of way, in a "it's just there" sort of way. *shrug* I know what's up. I don't need to go around etching it on stones. *smile* but do what works for you. I won't stop ya.

~z~

I find it impossible to describe any part of this circle to outsiders without an hour or two of good conversation, and I know who I mean when I think of y'all. I usually just name individuals and leave it at that when talking to "normals". Still, I definitely feel there is a community involving campers and people I've only met online and people who used to go to camp and all that. Hrm.

I find it important that we don't have a name, or not just one. We're a community with no one thing in common. Any given trait, "most" of us will have, probably, but never all. Not that we've been to camp, not that all of us know Grace personally, not that we even all "unschool".

Go figure. Ari.

 * Yeah, I totally agree with that. I was looking at this page myself and
thinking "What the hey hey?". Do we really need to have a 'name'? Aren't we
all just 'people'? I mean, we're all people who happen to know each other...
but other than that, we're not so incredibly diffrent from everyone else.
I'm already rather bothered by the whole 'us' vs. 'them' (The "School Kids")
thing that seems to come up every once in a while, as so many of my friends
aren't associated with NBTSC (Or the NBTSC community), go to school on a
regular basis, and are just as cool. I just think that giving this
particular group of friends a name lends to more elitism and seperation
between us and other people. Which is silly. Silly like a banana. --Zen

We are everyday angels!