Vermont as New England Realized

Here’s a formative idea (not claiming to have originated this but exploring it anew): the historicity of "Vermont" reflects its position as fulfilling the culmination of the British Colonial experiment (the realization of "New England"). Several examples readily come to mind and can be explored elsewhere.

Seeing this perspective begins to inform many things, especially how we have ended up with today's broad disparities among Native descendant communities. Not to characterize them in terms of victimology (although oppression was and is summarily responsible) but to recognize the agency within decisions that were made - communally and/or individually and informed by cultural values - in order to respond to the exigencies of the imposed British (and later US) Colonial experiment (which continues).

Additional thoughts shared by a community member: “I've been thinking about how this exact idea is still happening today and being informed by the methods of decision-making/survival that have been made previously and whether people continue to stick to the patterns they know or adapt and switch to others. The idea that lies on top of it all and informs all those decisions is how the path of safety or survival is at the whim of these greater external forces and changes over time at which point people have to figure out how to respond to them. I think it ties into a greater conversation of intergenerational trauma/resilience and patterns of survival/adaptation that are associated with different people, communities, or identities.”

Here’s an article that explores these ideas through one set of circumstances. Food for thought and decision-making.