Growing up on a small rural island in Washington, I have grown up and become familiar with the idea of outsiders both as a plurality and on the individual level. What my community deems as others and how this affects my perceptions of who are others and how that affects social and practical effects of othering.

People are considered others for a variety of reasons in my community, but the largest group of ‘others’ would be the idea of Islanders and mainlanders. The Island community prides itself in being different from the mainland. There are no fast food chains or stop lights on island, which is a shock to many ‘outsiders’ but ‘normal’ for islander children and locals. The ‘Island lifestyle’ is one that’s more laid back and slow compared to the mainlanders fast paced lives that trades “personality for convenience” as one local retiree put it. Islanders lack of respect for timeliness or their opposition to large commercial or infrastructure projects on the Island. This perspective goes both ways with mainlanders viewing Islanders as the outsiders and as separate from themselves.

The difference in perspectives is both plural and individual. On the individual level being someone from the West coast, I am the other. The other which pronounces certain words differently and not as familiar with East coast geography or customs. With the social and practical effects being confusion over names adapting to customs and East coast style. Plural practical and social effects being the different driving behaviors of islanders and mainlanders and how that impacts the social view islanders have on the “outsiders”.