{"id":837,"date":"2026-07-23T09:56:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/23\/837\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T09:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:57:11","slug":"837","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/23\/837\/","title":{"rendered":"more spectra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In my last reflection, I mentioned the intersection of race, gender expression, and neurodiversity in my family story\u2014qualities that all have spectra embedded in them. I didn’t touch on culture and class, which are also observable as existing on spectra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was shaped by aspects of Black domestic and expressive culture, but completely isolated from Black community. Likewise German immigrant culture, separated from an immigrant community that nurtured those specific traditional values. From this perspective, I’m able to observe in myself the interplay between race and ethnicity only from the margins of those spaces and states, not from the center. Blackness and whiteness are not fixed values; nor are Germanness and culturally displaced Africanness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family story, just in the 20th century\u2014the people I shared a home with\u2014starts on both sides with humble beginnings, and moves through privilege gained through luck and ingenuity. That privilege was not culturally embedded in our family\u2014like our connection to ethnic culture and racial position relative to the dominant culture, it was only adjacent to the culture of American royalty\u2014families who had known privilege for generations. My family was less like the Rockefellers and more like the Beverly Hillbillies with a multi-ethnic cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arc of my family’s material wealth is remarkably graceful\u2014a slow, upward curve, starting in the early part of the century, that reaches well above the median, into 10% territory, flattens in the 50s and 60s, and then draws slowly down to the bottom again in the present day. Through various circumstances and choices, the anchors that make generational transfer possible simply did not survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is just a thumbnail sketch of the part of the family I was embedded within. It doesn’t take into account the Swedish immigrants and consistently lower-middle-class whites descended from earlier waves of European immigration who never accumulated anything like transferable access to the American dream. Generations of people on both sides living in the moment, poverty and privilege passing through them, neither pole of the spectrum inhabited for long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last reflection, I mentioned the intersection of race, gender expression, and neurodiversity in my family story\u2014qualities that all have spectra embedded in them. I didn’t touch on culture and class, which are also observable as existing on spectra. I was shaped by aspects of Black domestic and expressive culture, but completely isolated from … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,14,26,15,9],"tags":[449,445,441,444,446,181,443,447,448,61,442],"class_list":["post-837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicle","category-neurodiversity","category-personal-narrative","category-politics","category-reflection","tag-20th-century-history","tag-blackness","tag-class","tag-ethnicity","tag-european-immigrants","tag-family","tag-history","tag-mixed-race","tag-multiethnic","tag-neurodiversity","tag-race"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/saor1p-837","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":840,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/22\/spectra\/","url_meta":{"origin":837,"position":0},"title":"spectra","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"July 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"i grew up in a biracial household where Blackness, white passing, and whiteness were all intertwined, as a neuroqueer, bigender, autistic child with high justice sensitivity, but low hierarchy awareness. being late-diagnosed, i didn't have names for a lot of my experiences, but looking back, it all makes perfect sense.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chronicle"","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_9444.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_9444.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_9444.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_9444.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":822,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/16\/822\/","url_meta":{"origin":837,"position":1},"title":"?","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"July 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"my tendency is to laugh at my first impressions.something in my history casts a sinister spellthat even the simplest question disperses.delightful surprises arise when i gobeyond the first brush of my eyes.followup questions are the love languagein my dialogue with life.","rel":"","context":"In "chronicle"","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1656.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1656.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1656.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":805,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/05\/culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":837,"position":2},"title":"culture","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"July 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"be honest: is culture the abilityto sing the same songs togetherin joyful abandonwith your neighbors? is culturea shared recipe,or a coordinatedchildcare plan? is culture the fact that you've shoppedat the same Target,or are recovering from the same expectationto sit still and keep quiet? is culture the purchaseof the right brand,that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chronicle"","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":824,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/18\/unkind-binaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":837,"position":3},"title":"unkind binaries","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"July 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"this is one kind of harm caused by the abled\/disabled binary when it is applied as a permanent designation to people: it erases from view the environment that enables or disables a person, and it makes invisible all of the ways that the environment is designed to enable the abled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "didactics"","block_context":{"text":"didactics","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/didactics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1667.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1667.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1667.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1667.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1667.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/img_1667.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":639,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/17\/neurodiverse-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":837,"position":4},"title":"neurodiverse community","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Affirming neurodiversity is recognizing that, in a musical space, one person is tuned into the soprano register, even though their voice presents in the bass register; another person hears long melodic phrases when everyone else is creating short rhythmic phrases; and someone else's brain is turning the patterns of sound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chronicle"","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":314,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/the-language-of-inclusion\/","url_meta":{"origin":837,"position":5},"title":"The language of inclusion","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"June 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Neurodiversity, like gender diversity, sexual orientation diversity, racial diversity, is just language to describe the vast territory of human variation. Where once our language was simple, our categories few, and our understanding limited, we now are able to talk about our unique being in the world with recognition, empathy, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "neurodiversity"","block_context":{"text":"neurodiversity","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/neurodiversity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-3.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-3.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions\/838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}