Home. For me, it is difficult to describe. Is home where we sleep at night? Is home where we feel safe? Or is home a concept of identity? Can home change? An we have more than one home?

I have lived in many houses throughout my life; I was born in England and after living there for 5 years, we moved to Ireland. We moved to Canada when I was about 9 or 10 years old. Since being in Canada I have lived in 3 different houses before turning 18. I never thought of the physical house as my home, of course it was my home at the time, but for me, home has always had the ability to change. When I was younger I believed that home was where I lived with my parents, and yet I still would call England my home. I have only lived there as a very young girl, so I have been curious as to whether I see England as a place where I identify. My parents are British, and regardless of what country I was living in, I grew up in a “British home.” Perhaps it is the influence of my parents, or the small things like there is always a pot of tea on in the house, or that we still watch the BBC News and British Comedies on TV. I think that maybe England was home because of the culture and memories that I carry from living there. Home was also just the place that I went after school was over, it was where I had my bedroom, and where ate my meals. Home was the physical house in which my family lived at the time.

It wasn’t until I grew older that I changed my perspective. Home became so much more than a house, and I also found that Britain did not feel like home in the way that it used to as a child. Britain is theoretically my “home;” it is listed as my country of origin on my passport, and although I still hold some of the same cultural links to Britain, it is no longer home. I often question whether I should continue calling Britain my home, it was my past home, and it is culturally my home but I somehow feel that Canada is more of my home in a cultural sense. Britain is a distant memory of what home used to look like. Now I identify culturally much more with Canada.

Since becoming more of an adult I began to gain multiple homes. I always had a home at my best friends house, home was where my family was, and home was in essence where I felt the most comfortable. Regardless of where my home physically is, it has always been a place of acceptance, freedom, and love. After moving out of my family house, I found another home in my new friendships which I have built during university. I’ve come to realize that, for me, the concept of home can change and evolve. I can feel at home in many places, and so long as I feel safe and content with people that I care for, then I am home. When I went on exchange to Lyon, France this past semester I found a new home with people from all over the world. Lyon is now our home, and is now a place which holds such fond memories. I think I have learned that home is somewhere that you can grow as a person, and is somewhere that you make your best memories. Home lies within my own thoughts, I can feel at home with reminders of things that make me feel “at home.” I like this quote by the American Author Tad Williams “Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it – memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.” I think what he’s saying is that home doesn’t have to be a specific place in the world, home is a feeling, home can change, and it’s ok if it does change.

An animated movie that I have watched with the kids that I work with is titled “Home,” about the adventures of two characters to complete their separate quests and come to understand the meaning of home. The main character learns the importance of family, and reflects that home doesn’t have to be a singular space, home can be where you are with your loved ones. I thought this was a good movie to demonstrate the idea that home doesn’t have to be a house or a place.

Works Cited:

IMDb. “Home (2015).” IMDb. IMDb.com, 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Williams, Tad. Tad Williams. N.d. Tad Williams. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

I have a great story to tell you about how evil came into the world, it came during the earths creation.

The story goes that there are these non-gendered, spectrum-type, beings who created the world in the same way one paints a picture. These beings first created light, and with light brought colour. Each being had a favourite colour within the spectrum. One group loved the variations of blue that could be mixed like one mixes paint on a palette. From this they created the oceans; they made the darkest of blues that colour its depths, the teal that we now find in the tropics, the lightest of blues which we find amongst the crashing of waves. Another group adored the variations of green that could be made, this group created the trees and plants which dance with the wind, displaying their many forms. Each being came with a colour and with each colour the world continued to grow and develop. These beings shared colours and created new beings, the animals, the humans. They created the elements, and the foundations for life. But it was one being who had foreseen the repercussions of what will come of the world who had a warning. This being saw the horrors that can form from what has already been made, and told the others of the world’s impending terrors. This being claimed that something must be created to stop these terrors from ruining their collective artwork. The beings looked at their painting, their masterpiece of what they call earth, and claimed that it is not possible for something so beautiful to turn ugly. And so, as a punishment to the others who would not listen, this being created the colour black. A colour that is not even classified a colour, a colour which bore disease, fear, lies, and evil. Once this colour was created, there was no way to go back and erase it- no matter how much the others wished it. The painting was infected with this evil, and the world must learn to deal with the horrors that come from it. “For once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose in the world” (10 King).

I really enjoyed this weeks blog posting assignment, although it took me a while to think of a story which I would like to create. I even took to the internet to see what I could find on how to even tell a story. After going over the story in my head and repeating it out loud I realized, much like in King’s book, each re-telling would begin and end in the same or a similar fashion. This made me think about how its not necessarily how you get the the ending, so long as you get there. So long as the moral has been told, the story remains whole. I’m interested in whether anyone else found this, when practicing their own stories. I also enjoyed this assignment because I work with kids, and am often reading stories to them – more often than not they are simply looking at the pictures and I tell the story based on how they react to the pictures instead of simply re-reading the words; this method makes it more interesting for me, especially when I’m reading the same book multiple times in a week! Even for them, as long as the moral of the story stays in-tact, they are content with the events that lead the characters to their conclusion. 

When thinking about this weeks lesson, it also reminded me of a TED talk that I watched, which talks about the dangers of story-telling in the sense that by telling only one story, you can forget to think about the other side of a story. Very interesting!

Works Cited:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story. TED Global. TED, 2009. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

King, Thomas. The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto, ON: House of Anansi, 2003. Print.

Mensa Foundation. “The Art of Storytelling.” Mensa for Kids. Mensa Education & Research Foundation, 2016. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

Why do “words make us feel closer to the world we live in?”

Chamberlin’s understanding of riddles and charms is quite quizzical; “a word is not what it is and yet it is” (160). He discusses the idea of having to change ones understanding of language in order to solve riddles, where one must make sense of the nonsense put in front of us. I always found riddles strange, but I think Chamberlin is commenting not only on the strangeness of language to trick us but also this change from strangeness to truth. In understanding that words hold the power to trick, and yet tell truths, you start to understand this idea of a “world of words.” Words influence much of the society we live in, we use language everyday, our societies are based off words, and our daily events involve words in some way. We use words to “live our lives like a tale that is told,” and recognize from a very young age that we believe the stories that are told to us (175). Nursery rhymes, tales of heroism or good fortune offer us stories to believe in, stories that hold power to influence ones way of thinking. A nursery rhyme that my father used to always say to me was “If all the world was apple pie,” it is nonsense, but what I gained from it was to think imaginatively. The rhyme didn’t mean anything but to stimulate my thinking outside the box. Chamberlin’s understanding of words reflects this idea that words are nothing, yet they are so powerful; words themselves do not hold significance, and yet it is their formulation that can be so influential. I found this idea very interesting, the world is made up of words, regardless of culture, and we live in this world of words that are nonsense but are not. It’s a perplexing idea to thing that words have so much influence for our entire lives, yet they are nonsensical, and they do not necessarily mean what we are told they mean. This idea of “a rose is a rose is a rose,” where the word itself is not a flower, and still it means that it is a flower.

I think from this reading, I found that words make us feel closer to the world we live in because they give meaning to nonsense. Words are a way to “define what is worthwhile in our lives;” we invent and discover meaning and use words to nourish our imaginations, hopes and dreams (192). We use stories to bring imaginative dreams into belief, where the reading of stories creates power. Words, in a sense, allow us to connect our imagination to our reality, and give importance to specifics in culture. I think that the general idea that I gained from this reading was the power that comes with words and stories, and how stories can carry on in our minds for years. Chamberlin explains that we must take comfort in contradiction when it comes to riddles and charms, and that they are just words to which we learn from.

Works Cited:

Chamberlin, J E. If this is your land, where are your stories? : finding common ground. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2004. Print.

Hello everyone of English 470A!

My name is Hannah, and I am a fourth year student majoring in Art History, with a minor in History. I have taken various distance education classes in the past, and have generally found that English courses taught online are more engaging and provide more discussion. As others have already said, online classes do create a more comfortable environment for those who may be more shy to speak up within a classroom setting. This is the main reason why I enjoy taking classes such as this.

There are various reasons why I decided to take this course in particular. I enjoy taking English classes and have dabbled throughout my university career, and I was intrigued with the course description of this class. We will be taking a look at Canadian literature through a historical lens, looking at both Indigenous and European influences to literature. After looking at the reading list for this class, I have become intrigued in how literature was adapted, changed, and influenced by various historical stories and contexts. I am further intrigued into this idea of “whose stories we listen to,” and which stories have affected the way in which we see “Canadian Literature.” Moreover I am interested in the concept of literature explaining only one side of history, due to the other side of the story being only told through orature; this theme of a loss of history and the question of what really makes up modern Canadian Literature are very thought-provoking for me.

This is the first Canadian studies style course that I have taken, however I have seen some similar themes in a selection of my Art History courses. This course brings up memories of an exhibition that I had seen in the Belkin Gallery titled “Witnesses,” which discussed art and the Canadian residential schools. This exhibition talked about ideas of story-telling and the loss of historical memories for the Indigenous peoples. One of the art pieces that I had looked into was Apparition by Rebecca Belmore which reflected the understanding of a loss of her own language, and the “potential for its disappearance.” This powerful video-piece really caused me to think about the loss of culture and the ways in which Canada’s history reflects that. Here you can read more about the the exhibition and the various other artists highlighted.

I expect this course to challenge our ways of thinking about Canadian literature, and to further our understanding of the history behind our literature. I am looking forward to this semester, this reading list, and the opportunity to pick each-others brains on the various lessons through these blogs.

Apparition, Rebecca Belmore

Works Cited:

Belmore, Rebecca. Apparition. Digital image. belkin.ubc.ca/events/witnesses-traumatic-histories-artistic-practice-and-working-from-the-margins. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.

Turner, Michael. “Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Residential Schools.” Canadian Art Reviews. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.

“Witnesses: Art and Canada’s Residential Schools.” Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.