“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.’” 

I would like to begin by thanking each and every one of you for sharing your personal stories and for allowing me to learn about the meanings behind your respective homes. It is truly such an honour.

Throughout reading a multitude of my classmates’ blog posts, I discovered many similarities that inevitably place us on common ground.

Shared Assumptions, Reflecting Values and Stories

• Home as a “work in progress”
• Home as one’s community
• Home as a tapestry of memory and history

Home as a “work in progress”

In many of my peers’ blog posts, there was an underlying notion of home as an entity or concept that is not static – rather, it is fluid and dynamic. I discovered this sentiment portrayed in two various ways.

One, the fluidity of home can be referred to the physical dislocation and uprootedness that many of my classmates have experienced as they have travelled across continents, countries, and cities to establish a home. For example, Ross discusses how he has lived in quite a few places across BC’s Lower Mainland, and that his home could possibly be his parents’ in New Westminster, or his current house in the Cambie area. Having many physical houses in which a person has “turn[ed] a house into a home,” as Rachel has so eloquently articulated, can definitely complicate ideas of what one’s true home really is. Nevertheless, the sentiment of home as fluid can be represented through this physical uprootedness.

Second, home is dynamic and ever-changing because it is, simply put, a work in progress. Home is not necessarily something that can be achieved – it is continuously developed over the course of one’s lifetime. A majority of the blog posts for Assignment 2:2 began by my classmates describing their struggle behind searching for their own meaning of home. For instance, Tamara describes how she does not “fit into the traditional definition of home,” as her house, school, and friends did not remain the same throughout her childhood. Many of the blog posts continued to talk about how their sense of home changed at different parts of their life, like Kevin. At the end of his blog post, Kevin talks about the conclusion he has come to about the meaning of home, inspired by certain life events. For Kevin, “home isn’t a where. It’s a who.”

That brings me to the next commonality.

Home as one’s community

Another common idea portrayed through many of the class’ posts was that home is one’s community. Home is wherever we may be, as long as we are surrounded by the people that we love and who love us right back. Anna so greatly expressed that, “We feel at home with the people and things that we love, and that can be found in the spaces we inhabit, the movies we watch, and the books that we read.”

Similarly, Cassie talks about how the sense of home is directly correlated with the sense of the familiar, which for her, are her parents and brother. Wherever they are, that is where her home is.

This strong connection of home to our loved ones, poses a question in my mind. What happened to the sense of home of the 2,000 children who were separated from their families at the American border? All of these youth were physically removed from their loved ones, who essentially helped them throughout their lives to establish a sense of home. After having such a horrible thing happen to them, what must they think of their sense of home, if their community is out of their physical reach?

Home as a tapestry of memory and history 

Lastly, home tends to involve reminiscence of one’s history and memorable events in said history. In other words, both memory and history work hand in hand to establish and even deepen one’s sense of home. For Sean, his home involves the history of the town in which he was born, Penticton. The memory associated with his home in Penticton involves all sorts of things, from the beautiful nature with its abundant orchards, to generations of his family attending the same school and even being taught by the same teachers.

It’s like the word association game, where someone names a word and the next person needs to say a different word that is related to the original term. For example, if someone would say “the Pacific National Exhibition,” I would think of mini donuts – living only a few minute drive away from the PNE, I always associated the fair with the mouth-watering smell of the baked confection. Similarly, if playing this game and I heard the word “Vancouver Canucks,” I would recall Henrik and Daniel Sedin, two of the NHL’s most legendary players. Growing up, they were my favourite hockey players, I had many of their posters plastered in my room, and I even named an online gaming account after them.

In such a way, when playing this game and using the word “home,” one could easily refer to history and memory.

Differences

To be completely honest, although everyone had diverse and great stories to tell about their ideas of home, it was a much easier task to discover some commonalities, than to pick out the differences. Nevertheless, here are some ways in which my peers’ homes were perceived differently than my own:

• Home as a venue of othering
• Home as a multitude of physical spaces

Home as a venue of othering 

Although many of us noted that this assignment was rather difficult, as it made us truly sit down and reflect about what home really is, I believe it was even harder for those who had to share their very personal stories about how their homes did not align with the traditional definition of it. Rather, their homes were the opposite – they took away their sense of belonging, community, history, memory, and love. For some classmates, home was seen as a venue of othering. Some were banished from their communities and others simply left, as they didn’t feel that they fit in. To all of you, thank you for allowing us to share in your lives with you and for revealing something so personal. I know it must not have been an easy task at all, but I hope you have found some solace in your current home, whatever it may be. Each to their own!

Home as a multitude of physical spaces

As mentioned further above, many classmates discussed how they struggled to fixate on one idea of a home, as they travelled across so many physical spaces – continents, countries, cities, and communities. Which one could they pick? I personally was born in East Vancouver and have only moved houses once, when the house that I currently live in, was being rebuilt. On top of that, the house that I moved to, was only a two minute drive away.

Despite this difference, I would like to say that all of your stories are so insightful and inspiring. Thank you all for sharing and for allowing the rest of the class to glance into your lives and learn about how you have the amazing ability to navigate through a variety of physical spaces to determine your true home.

Conclusion

To end off, I would like to show you all a poem that I encountered in my second year at UBC, one that has really stuck in my mind ever since. Home by Warsan Shire touches upon many of our shared assumptions, values, and stories. However, it portrays home as a place of conflict, as a place of desperation, and as a place of danger.

What are your initial thoughts after reading this heartbreaking poem?

Works Cited

Dyer, Sean. “Penticton: Peaches, Beaches, and The Syilx Nation.” 28 January 2019, https://blogs.ubc.ca/seanlitblog/2019/01/28/penticton-peaches-beaches-and-the-syilx-nation/?fbclid=IwAR2jGAJdFEYmDazBPTIu1DPVz4yA7h7UuBS0LldMdFlnSJXeboD4OccHLu0. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Ensor, Tamara. “Home…” 28 January 2019, https://blogs.ubc.ca/canadianlittme/2019/01/29/2-2-home/?fbclid=IwAR3LyjAZLOkfMrmPPpACvvJFVsluNxBifwhvjuRwgd0Y83WKgIKeacxoqdU. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Hatch, Kevin. “Home Is Where Your Rump Rests.” 28 January 2019, https://blogs.ubc.ca/kevinhatch/2019/01/28/home-is-where-your-rump-rests/?fbclid=IwAR11AWFn0EDjoXqfenSYgoEi7K-glBy-pm5wU03xSdc2BRNv7wD4oBnPTWQ. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Hilliam, Ross. “Home – Beautiful British Columbia.” 28 January 2019, https://blogs.ubc.ca/rosshilliameng470/2019/01/28/home-beautiful-british-columbia/?fbclid=IwAR2fl2erwhCSdcThtnDl4t4g765peM0AJYTPKSXd23WFMuYxlz3vSMdTUwI. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Holpuch, Amanda, and Lauren Gambino. “Why are families being separated at the US border?” The Guardian, 18 June 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/18/why-are-families-being-separated-at-the-us-border-explainer.

Lumsden, Cassie. “2.2 – Home: The Family and the Familiar.” 28 January 2019, https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl470blog/2019/01/28/2-2-home-the-family-and-the-familiar/. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Shire, Warsan. “Home.” Poem Hunter, https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/home-433/. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Teasdale, Rachel. “I’m not meant to live alone, turn this house into a home.” 28 January 2019, https://blogs.ubc.ca/rachelteasdale/2019/01/28/im-not-meant-to-live-alone-turn-this-house-into-a-home/?fbclid=IwAR1_WTymHzpm9qi8dzl68BI90sXSeS-og5z4iK3hGw5DX-CoZmvFO-wYzvU. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Zhang, Anna. “Assignment 2:2- Home.” 30 January 2019, https://blogs.ubc.ca/annazhang470/2019/01/30/assignment-22-home/?fbclid=IwAR3_NVXNpbaVXjfBQdKtRb5Gfp2zX86XEoRUk0YIh9ohkbJCikghog3uYp0. Accessed 2 February 2019.