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.’
– assignment given by erika paterson.
after studying some blogs and writings on others respective stories of home, i have come up with a list of four main similarities that i have found between the various stories of home.
- home is a place of familiar landscape. in general, it is not as small as property or a physical building being resided in, but extends to the natural world one is most familiar with. this story gives a particularly poignant description of the landscape the author associates with home.
- home is an emotional state of feeling connected and believing oneself to belong. in this story the author writes both about a sense of feeling not at home, which coincides with disconnection and confusion, and conversely about times of belonging and connection which have coincided with feeling at home. these senses of belonging and connection can come from people, places, activities.
- home is being with the people we love. in this story the author writes about how home began to make sense again for her after leaving her hometown once she had a child.
- home is important, but it is not always present. this poses confusion, pain and longing for many. for some it is a piece of existence that has been accepted. in this story the author makes a very beautiful depiction of her nomadic style of life. she still values landscapes, friends, family and comfort, however she also values the things outside of home that continually influence her lenses of home and still make space for her understanding of the people who accept her and connect with her. chloe lee writes, “even if i’m hundreds of miles away from my loved ones, the thoughts of them being there for me is my home so the meaning and value is never lost. i’m young and i don’t want to be comfortable and home is where i can be too much of myself and too little of the space around me.”
works cited
Bachynski, Jennifer. “Shifting: Assignment 2:2”. Canadian Studies: Exploring Genres Through Canadian Literature. 28 Sept. 2016. blogs.ubc.ca/470acanstudies/2016/09/28/shifting/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2016
Kaylie. “Is This Home?”. Creating Connections: Exploring the Impact of Stories on Identity, Place and People. 28 Sept. 2016. blogs.ubc.ca/kaylieandautumn2016/2016/09/27/is-this-home/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2016.
Lee, Chloe. “2.2 Home”. Chloe’s Blog For English 470. 28 Sept. 2016. blogs.ubc.ca/470chloe/2016/10/03/2-3-home-ii/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2016.
McElhinney, James Lancel. A part of the City. 1986. James Lancel McElhinney. Jan 2015. www.mcelhinneyart.com/category/blog/page/3/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2016.
Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 2:1”. ENGL 4710 Canadian Literary Genres: Canadian Studies. University of British Columbia. Nov. 2013. blogs.ubc.ca/courseblogsis_ubc_engl_470a_99c_2014wc_44216-sis_ubc_engl_470a_99c_2014wc_44216_2517104_1/unit-2/lesson-2-1/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2016.
Tastad, Anne. “2.2 What Does Home Mean?”. English 470A: Canadian Literary Genres. 28 Sept. 2016. blogs.ubc.ca/cellardoor/2016/09/28/2-2-what-does-home-mean/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2016.
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