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Following last month's theme of The Hive, we decided to look at another way in which things organize themselves: The Tribe. We didn't focus on indigenous tribalism, but rather how we identify our tribes and ourselves as members of these tribes in a world that has ostensibly left such social structures behind. Certainly, one of the defining factors of a tribe to most people is the consistency of traditions passed between generations, the inheritance of roles, symbols, and identities which have now become abstracted and mercurial. Thus, we sought to identify what indeed remained consistent and what was missing in certain tribes within our culture.

The pithy wit of Aaron Freed launched this issue's discussion with a rioutous Diatribe, a perspective on the gay tribe...and I do not mean Tribe, the bathhouse in Capitol Hill.

Sarah E Caples gives a look at the divisions in the modern female tribe over three generations and offers her the perspective she has fashion by melding the worldviews of her mother and grandmother.

T.s. Flock looks at the works of Nick Cave, which take their inspiration from tribal costume and sculpture and address persistent issues of race and loss of identity—two sinister aspects of Tribalism as a means of division. Jiawen Shi shares her conversations with Nick Cave himself.

More on the social side: Sarah E Caples and friends looked liked stylish hunter-gatherers in Carole McClellan fur and leather creations as they explored the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. She and Shi also provide profiles of two true cosmopolitans in Seattle, devoted members of the tribe of humanity, artist Juan Alonso and Community Builder Gemma Valdez Daggatt.