Words that Frame the Movement of Imagination

Throughout this publication, you will notice that we are using a different kind of language to share ideas about human beings and communities. Words like ‘problem’,‘need’, ‘lack’, ‘illiterate’, ‘uneducated’, etc. do not appear in our vocabulary. Rather, you will find a repertoire of other words: ‘hope’, ‘possibility’, ‘create’, ‘power’, ‘relationships’, ‘connections’, ‘imagination’,’commitment’. (You’ll even discover some words in different languages, from different contexts, which capture these aspects of the human spirit.)

At Imagine Chicago, we are convinced that our words will (and do) shape our thoughts and actions. They will either expand our minds and hearts to collectively dream and to actualize our shared dreams, or they will make us feel inadequate, unworthy, and incapable of realizing our full human potential. Language is necessarily interactive; it is grown and enriched by the kinds of contacts we make as interdependent human beings. If what we say is what we see, then simply by altering our words, we may uncover entirely different worlds — dynamic new possibilities of being, relating and living together. Language therefore is more than just a medium of communication. It gives us the power not only to express who we are, individually and in community, but also to frame the common space we inhabit, the best of what we can be and become.

We invite you to "listen" to the language in this publication. The words we have chosen are the vocabulary of a movement that places its faith in the generosity, curiosity, diversity and creativity of the human spirit, a movement animated by generative words that come alive in each of our places, hearts and deeds.