A Place Called Home
So I put away the hammer
and the box melted away
Then I built a house that held all of me
And that’s where I live today
- Susan Bruck
If you type home into your search engine, you are likely to find a varied preview of HGTV and DIY links for sprucing up your house — something that many of us have been doing while spending copious amounts of time sheltering in place over the past year. But a dive deeper can reveal that home is more than a place and instead a state of self-actualization and being. Our theme this month is HOME, which has us asking, “Where do you feel most at home?”
Pop singer, Adele, famously reminisces in her bitter/sweet ballad Hometown Glory, about growing up in London. A visual artist might adorn the walls of his domicile with provocative works of personal inspiration. And it seems almost everyone has a song or poem about what home means to them. But thinking broader, as a city of creatives, our individual innovation and artistry is often connected to our collectivism. It’s the city we live in, the folks around our table and the people we keep space with who add shape to our sense of belonging, purpose, safety, and healing.
“Rooms and spaces. They are never static. The energy is always shifting depending on who is there. So how are you showing up? When you enter a room what are you bringing into that space that defines or impacts how others may feel.” - Joanne Beauvoir Brown
The truest sense of home is built in community. It’s the hospice we cultivate with and for others that takes residence in us. Like a mobile camper, we can carry home with us. We transport accommodation and shelter in ourselves — and in hospitality, we share it with others. Home is with me. Home is with you.
“People keep asking for my address and I keep handing them your name.”
-Akif Kichloo
May our homes of heart be built of bricks of hope, fidelity for mortar, fragrant memories and abiding peace. Join us July 30 at 9 a.m., as artist and philanthropist Jennie Lobato guides us through a journey of discovery and in sharing her truest sense of home. Register here.
