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Fuzzy Signalsextracting the signal from the noise |
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Fuzzy Signalsextracting the signal from the noise |
Many people, global wanderers like myself, are struggling with the question: Where is home? And what is the importance of place in defining home? The more places I live, the more complex this question becomes, the answer clearly defying spatial boundaries. No one physical place can suffice as home anymore. My definition of home now consists of several parallel universes, a hope chest of tastes and smells, feelings and sites, cultural ticks and tacks that traverse the unique signatures of Singapore, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Paris. This quote spoke to me of these dilemmas and opportunities.
“Home can be about architecture or a place in geography; or it can be about the sense of permanence we come to know through habit: an article of clothing repeatedly worn, a favorite turn of phrase, a melody of which we are fond, or the many visits to see a friend. Home is about the familiar, about gravity, about failing back into the self after being dispersed and overextended in the world.” - Andrew Bush, Bonnettstown (1989)
I found this doing research for something else in Stewart Brand's classic book, How Buildings Learn (Penguin, 1994: page 158) which is a metaphor and message for so many things facing our world beyond the sphere of buildings and architecture.
Posted by nicole at September 27, 2004 07:18 PMExcellent question. When you get the answer, drop me line, I'd like to know as well. Corsica? South of France? Alps? California? UK? I was born in a city I never lived in, and my family moved every three to four years thereafter. I guess I inherited the trait, the longer I've stayed in one home was in California of all places, for a H1 period (3 years renewable once!). Almost all my extended family is in Corsica, but I've never lived there. My wife and I got married in a place we will probably never get back to either.
The good side is we know people all over the globe now, including you ;^)
When B. talked to the charming old couple in the house across the street from our new "home" last week she found out they have been living in their home for 50 years... Shocking I tell you.
Posted by: Eric at September 28, 2004 12:04 AM