Reading Response: Coming to Terms with Place

When thinking about place, it's interesting to think about what 'place' people are talking about. There is the physical realm in which we can use our senses to experience the world around us. The internet is also a sense of 'place' that we can be in two places at once: I can be in my office on a hot summer day and be chatting and talking/experiencing things in rainy Ireland with a friend. The introduction of technology has completely changed that sense of place. Where do I belong? Which community do I belong to?

Place for me is where I am at the moment. Is my mind there fully or is it someplace else? If I'm at school, that is my 'place' for the moment. If I'm at my apartment, that is my place. If I'm at my parents, that is my place and I'm there. I am defined by the place I am at the moment.

I was ashamed to call myself an American when I was in eastern Europe last summer. The name 'American' isn't something that is welcomed all that much anymore. The sense that our place of residence has tainted us in the eyes of the world because of certain people.

It's also interesting to think of place in different times of your life. What was it like when you were a child? What did you consider your place? What about a teen? An adult? Everything changes with each passing of time and life as it continues on. Change is inevitable, but we tend to think of the places where we grew up as unchanging and then when we see them again, they have changed. Imagine when you were in elementary school, the ceilings were so high and the seats and the toilets were all the right size for you. Now you walk into an elementary school and you are amazed that the ceilings are so low and that everything seems so tiny . . . not anything like you remember it.

One interesting way you could get students involved and also get to know your students a bit more is to think about what is their place . . . or have them think of what place means to them? How about giving them a still camera and having them go out and take pictures of what they think is their place. What will you get back? Will you get the standard house with a yard and family? Or will you get a street with a little house on the end? Will you get a picture of job site? How about the school? It would be interesting to figure out exactly what the students think about place. Also, ask them to write a bit about the pictures they take and how this place has shaped them into what they think/feel today. You could ask them to bring in an object that reminds them of a certain place. Many will bring in happy objects or things that make them think of the happy things, but what about the sad things that shape us? Is that something you could ask the students to bring in or photograph and write about?

So many questions and different ideals when it comes to place that it is hard to even think about. What does that do for you when you think of a place in time or space . . . is it reality or some magical land that you go to to get away from everything that is only for you and in your head.