In my investigation of other student’s blogs, I discovered several common threads, mostly revolving around where “home” is, what physical location home consists of.

Some blogs mentioned childhood stories or locations, drawing on memories of older relatives and stories handed down in their family to draw a connection to a particular place, while others considered home more transient, a memory or a state of mind.

I investigated four student blogs in detail, and skimmed several others. All the stories seem to hold the common value of being connected to childhood memories and events-our sense of home is rooted in our childhood recollections, it seems.

Physical locations were paramount, generally on a micro-cosmic level, focusing on a place in Canada, rather than the whole country. Some people focused on a house, others on a neighborhood, others on a city, but all generally in a place they grew up.

Most spoke of searching for home still, while a few spoke of having already found it.

Memories were paramount, as were the stories passed down in the family. Feelings connected each person to the place the word home was tied to, rooting people in a location through feelings of happiness, security, safety.

People discussed their experiences moving from other countries, traveling, moving from place to place within a city, how one particular place seemed to capture that sense of home, even if it was a place they didn’t particularly like.

Above all, the common theme seemed to be location, around which a narrative of emotion was built, to create an internal sense of “home”.

Works Cited:

Coughlin, Krystle. “Finding my home, with jet-lag or a video game.” ENGL 470 Blog! Erika Patterson,ENGL 470, blogs.ubc.ca. June 2014. Web. June 15, 2014.

Khan, Rabia. “My Home is My Time Capsule.” Rabia’s English 470a Blog. Erika Patterson, ENGL 470, blogs.ubc.ca. June 2014. Web. June 15, 2014.