Identity; the mirror which reflects one's consciousness

goal: 

assess and analyze through many ideas the common theme that one's identity is what they choose it to be, what they focus it to be about, and yet how it never quite resembles how others ID you.

Through ea. course I'm taking, Rhetoric, technology or health policy, i'm beginning to find a new and interesting theme emerge--Identity--the essence of who we choose to either consciously or unconsciously are to ourselves and others.

In health policy, identity is discussed by the gays trying to stand-out and identify themselves as a certain choice of sexuality.  The deaf, trying to either stand-out or cure themselves, seek to distinguish themselves by focusing on one main facet of their lives that dominates and differentiates them from all others.  The pro-anorexic do the same thing--through their actions they are identified by others and identify themselves.  

in this health policy course, it's apparent that the body is an underlying and yet, very noticeable means of identifying one's self.  Athletes try to do this as well, so too our culture--women are identified by their beauty and men by their strength--has anything really changed through-out the course of time? (no).

In my Rhetoric course, we discuss identity as a means of the conscience and unconscious as well as the means of it being either internal or external.  one scholar believes it's internal and another external.  A mirror does not identify us, it merely gives us a mimicry of flesh at that moment in space.  But if one sees themselves on video they say to themselves, "I don't look or sound like that!" But actually, one does.

In my technology class we discuss identity online and how that portrays us on the net and how it does carry over to who we are in the real world.  The mind cannot separate its self or its many personas with true divorce--Ever see Fight Club, or hear the story about Sybil having many personalities?

Aside from psychological disorders, the last point I will make is about how we choose to act and which friends we choose also identifies and labels us.  Many factors come into play when identifying ourselves. some just choose to focus on a particular one or another in order to broadcast.