Revised Terministic Screens

When I was younger I never thought about my perception of the world around me being worlds apart from someone else. Yes I know we all see things differently, but I never thought about to what extent do we see and perceive things differently. According to Kenneth Burke, our “terministic screen” is created from our own experiences, values, motivations, and emotions. Those things shape how we perceive and view the world around us. But beyond that, he speaks about language.

Growing up I slowly started to see how my experiences, values, and emotions reflected on how I saw the world. To me there were a few things that shaped my view and those being my identity and intersectionality. To me those two words come together as one, but the younger version of me would never have known that they all connected for a reason.

I always wondered why I never saw myself the same way my friends and peers saw me. I wondered why this idea of identity was so important to everyone? Why did I need to understand my own? At the time, I thought I was white. I didn’t understand how that meaning of identity for me meant white when in reality that wasn’t true, wasn’t how others saw me, and wasn’t how I should have seen myself. As I got older and came into myself more, I was able to discover and learn about my identity; thus developing into being able to identify as a bisexual latina woman. Discovering that was an intense process because it changed the perception I had of the world; exposing why this word identity was so important.

But that work didn’t end there, it led to the word intersectionality becoming one of the most important and guiding words in my life. To this day, I cannot let myself think about a problem without using an intersectional lens. Intersectionality means looking at problems from all identities and views mostly being race, gender, ability, and sexual orientation. Learning the word intersectionality had me see how my experiences in different places differed because of my identity and the different portions of it. But it also has led me to see the world differently. When speaking about social justice issues I care about, I try to use an intersectional lens so that I am able to learn the best I can and educate the best I can. 

My knowledge of intersectionality and the meaning of identity have changed my view. But that would never have happened if I had no chosen to take classes out of the normal realm to educate myself. My experiences made my view of the world, but I wanted to add to enhance my view so that it went beyond the closed mind I had.

Your terministic screens are a reflection of the work you do and the experiences you have. What you do and see in life, will reflect on how you move, see, and react to reality. Those lens’ create your reality, which helps you better understand the world.