9.14.2006

Home is....

What/where is home?

"It's where the heart is..." you might think at first, due to our 'cliche indoctrination.'

Is it where your family is or where you grew up? Is it where you feel most comfortable (based on cultural norms etc?)

Or is it merely wherever you put your ..."stuff...?"

This post was prompted by my friend who, after graduating college this past spring, picked up her things and moved to South Africa to do research/work. I was looking at her pictures of her apartment and suddenly felt the need to write about this topic.....

Her room is plain and somewhat bare, but I noticed that she did a great job of making it personal. One of the things that I noticed were the pictures. They are posted nicely on the walls, the window and the desk....snapshots in time.... she might be thousands of miles away from her home in New Jersey, but her loved ones and memories are with her in that room and wherever she decides to go in the future.

This might seem like a simple concept, and well, it is...but I had a "moment" where I felt the significance of this and decided to blog about what goes into the process of creating a personal space, no matter where one is in the world.

What does one need in order to feel "settled" somewhere? Do you only need clothes, toiletries, a bed and basic amenities? Or is there something more? I suppose it's very different for every person, but I also prefer pictures. I am known to be "trigger-happy" when it comes to taking snapshots and oftentimes find myself spending more time behind the lens than being in the moment....the plight of photographers, i suppose....one of the sacrifices we make to create art :-)

Well, I just want to congratulate my friend for taking that leap and doing what she loves......which reminds me that I will be studying abroad in Paris in about 4 months and will be reflecting on this myself soon enough.

3 comments:

Michael Salone said...

What do you mean you don't have anything to say? Is this your first and only post? I find it quite good and insightful.

::N:: said...

thank you, Michael :-)

I've been writing/kept a journal for years but never posted them online for people to see....to be honest, it kind of makes me uneasy haha so yes this is my only post.....but thanks!

Michael Salone said...

Glad to see you are continuing to write. It's nice to read you!