Second Project Reflection

In the conceptual stages of this project I was thinking about different conceptions about what a home is, and how each person thinks of different things when they think of the word 'home.' One thing that really captured my attention in my sketches was the thought about homeless people. How would being homeless, I asked myself, change how I perceive the word 'home'? Home usually equals a house in my mind, but how would this change if I had no possessions to base a materialistic view upon? Would I adopt new views of what constitutes my home? Would my surroundings become my home? Would my concept of home broaden or shrink?

This concentration of mine on the homeless mindset was probably fueled by my recent trip to Washington D.C. I traveled there as part of the Denison Service Orientation, working in soup kitchens and food pantries around the DC area. Talking with and interacting with people in these environments and in this context really changed my perspective on the whole subject. Before I went I would have called these people "homeless people," but I think of them now as "people who are homeless." I think of them as people first defining them by their humanity before I define them by their situation. It's not necessarily a disambiguation that needs to be made in the way its phrased, but I think it's important to keep in mind when considering them.