After reading through other students’ blogs about their ideas of home, I have come to these shared understandings:
- Many conceptualizations of “home” had to do more with people or memories in a shared space, as opposed to the actual physical features of the place itself
- The fluidity of home – it is and probably always will be ever-changing, as each individual passes through different stages in life, and his or her sense of home shifts to match the journey
- Home does not have to be just one place or one specific person – people can feel at home in a multitude of places, particularly individuals whose identities align with more than one culture
- On the other hand, home, or the lack of this sensation, can make one feel isolated and alone in his or her struggle to find it
One of the findings I thought was the most interesting, was everyone’s association of home with the heart. It is a cliche, that home is where the heart is, but people, including myself, ascribed the sense of home as the comfort or safety they find in the people they are closest to, and that home was not necessarily about a specific location, but rather, the memories they have created in a shared space. Lucas mentioned this in his story about the playground, and how although many fond childhood memories were created in this shared space, it probably would not have mattered much whether it was that playground or any other one, because the extraordinary part was about the dear friends he made. Jenny also shares similar sentiments, and I thought she phrased it beautifully when she said, “So, you adjust. Home becomes the people you love and the choices you make.”
Everyone’s notion of home can be very different, but it has the same strong emotional pull on each person. For some, home can feel like nostalgia, a yearning for some place or person from the past. For others, home is comfort, and security in a space they have shared with someone else, and the promise of a future. And for others, home or what they have experienced as home, can be overpoweringly negative, propelling them forwards to search even more fervently for something more. The one thing that everyone has in common, though, is that home is something that everyone searches for, and works to create.
Works cited:
Araneta, Francisco. “Assignment 2:2, Alienated At Home, At Ease Overseas.” Telling Stories Of My Own, 28 Sept. 2016, https://blogs.ubc.ca/franciscoaraneta/2016/09/28/assignment-22-alienated-at-home-at-ease-overseas/. Accessed 05 Oct. 2016.
Bachynski, Jenny. “Shifting: Assignment 2:2.” Canadian Studies: Exploring Genres through Canadian Literature, 28 Sept. 2016, https://blogs.ubc.ca/470acanstudies/2016/09/28/shifting/. Accessed 05 Oct. 2016.
Hui, Lucas. “’Home’ Is Where the Heart Is.” ENGL 470A, 03 Oct. 2016, https://blogs.ubc.ca/lucashui/2016/09/28/blog-post-2-1-home/. Accessed 05 Oct. 2016.