Read at least 6 students blog short stories about ‘home’ and make a list of BOTH the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you find and look for differences as well; look to see if you can find student peers who appear to have different values then yourself when it comes to the meaning of ‘home.’ Post this list on your blog and include commentary please.
“[T]he city is just a backdrop. The real actors in my fantasies of home are people and memories” (Uber 2016). I found this quote whilst reading Mikayla’s blog and loved that it perfectly describes how everyone in this course in some way defines ‘home’. Home can be whenever and wherever, the backdrop can be anything you want but the actors that make the scene are the people in our lives, these are the people that create the memories and stories we hold and share with others. As I read blogs on blogs on blogs, I came to realize that we as a group have very similar values and definitions of what we call home; however, a few core values stood out in every blog that I read. But there was one blog I read who included these similarities but held a strong opposing opinion. First I shall list these common features.
Common
- Home is a feeling.
- Home changes as time passes, and as we grow.
- Home is connected to people: family, friends, partners, etc.
- Home provides security, stability, comfort and a sense of belonging.
- Home is where stories and memories are created and stored.
In every blog, what stood out the most was the concept that home for each individual was a feeling. This feeling differed for each individual but for the most part, the feeling of safety, comfort and loved filled their minds when they thought of what home meant to them. The idea of safety and comfort were feelings that closely connected to the strong sense of belonging that some of us felt was needed to call a place home. This sense of belonging was the base feeling needed in order to feel that safety and comfort whether home be a place, person or feeling because without feeling needed or belonged, where would we then go when we had no where else to go. Another major concept that arose in every blog was the importance of those that you surround yourself with. Home was defined as family, friends and partners who we love and give us that sense of belonging and love we need as humans to survive. This also lays heavily on the cliche ‘home is where the heart is’ because our emotions seem to hold the creation of what home is to each of us individually. At first home seemed to connect to the physical aspect of a house, or a city, or even a country as children but the theme of growth changed this for us. As we grow and change so does our definition of home; it changes as we change and that is something I pointed out in my own blog, our values, and opinions change just as everything that surrounds us, so of course home changes for us because nothing ever stays the same. Overall, we as a group believe strongly in the act of feeling to define what home means to us and to place home in the hands of those in our lives; home is created by the feelings we have with the people we love.
Difference
I read six blogs from this group and as I easily picked out similarities, I found it difficult to find many differences. However; as I said previously, in one blog (Jamie KitKat Ng’s) I found a different view of home and that was the loss of importance that the term ‘home’ now has. The idea that we cannot define what home is exactly is something that I picked up from my own thoughts but other blogs too, but the fact that home is a word thrown around too casually was not something I had initially thought of. This is the difference that I found within the blogs and now that I think of it, on the day to day average we do in fact no longer hold home special in our lives without deeply thinking about, like we had to with this assignment. Before writing this blog I sat there for a long time trying to define what home is and I struggled, without really going into too much thought, all I could think of was my house. The physical aspect. The idea of going home to my house at the end of the day and it being the place I go to sleep at, the place I wake up in, shower, eat in and repeat. Nothing more. So this realization that the writer of this blog came to then created the realization in me; we do use the word home too casually.
No matter what we have all been through, in some way we were able to define what home is to us, and though the value and stories may seem the same, they can never be used to defined home completely. We all differ so much that nothing can be replicated the same and that goes for defining ‘home’.
Works Cited
Uber, Mikayla. “Assignment 2.2 – A Sense Of Home.” ENGL 470 CanLit Chronicles. N.p., n.d. Web.
Ng, Jamie KitKat. “Home Is The Soul.” Change in Perspective. N.p., n.d. Web.