I spent a lot of March with my parents in Yorkshire, where there was snow and ice and the trees had no leaves and all the buildings and roads were made of stone. My dad was born in Yorkshire but unlike generations of ancestors before him, he left. All those generations must have added up to something though, I thought: while we went for all sorts of reasons, one of them was me wondering if there’s a place on earth that feels like home and if that place is Yorkshire.
Your words pierced my wholly unsatisfied mind, thank you! I wonder about a sense of place. Have you never felt a sense of belonging? Or is this something different? I’m living in a place now that definitely doesn’t feel like home, and am wondering if anywhere else ever will.
I think the places I feel most at home in are dreadful - essentially, they are 1980s/90s shopping malls (not 21st century ones with luxury stores; bad ones anchored by a Big W) and libraries from the same period. But I think I can love all kinds of places even if I don't feel like I belong in them. Perhaps it's OK to flit into a place, be wildly impressed by it, then move on? I dont' even feel at home in my body, which is maybe the root of the whole problem.
I have a dim memory of you asking followers about this on Twitter, Jane. A tension in your life that no doubt will produce some great writing. Why do we want to belong, I wonder? I’m not sure it’s ever been a question I need to consider, being more of the Groucho Marx inclination towards clubs and members, etc. Or Corita Kent: “find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for a while.”
Really liked this post, thank you. I think I already have the trouser pattern, I picked it up in a shop near Melbourne. I have just spent fifteen happy minutes browsing The Drapery. I think all my trouser problems for the future have now been resolved, thanks again.
Your words pierced my wholly unsatisfied mind, thank you! I wonder about a sense of place. Have you never felt a sense of belonging? Or is this something different? I’m living in a place now that definitely doesn’t feel like home, and am wondering if anywhere else ever will.
I think the places I feel most at home in are dreadful - essentially, they are 1980s/90s shopping malls (not 21st century ones with luxury stores; bad ones anchored by a Big W) and libraries from the same period. But I think I can love all kinds of places even if I don't feel like I belong in them. Perhaps it's OK to flit into a place, be wildly impressed by it, then move on? I dont' even feel at home in my body, which is maybe the root of the whole problem.
I have a dim memory of you asking followers about this on Twitter, Jane. A tension in your life that no doubt will produce some great writing. Why do we want to belong, I wonder? I’m not sure it’s ever been a question I need to consider, being more of the Groucho Marx inclination towards clubs and members, etc. Or Corita Kent: “find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for a while.”
Really liked this post, thank you. I think I already have the trouser pattern, I picked it up in a shop near Melbourne. I have just spent fifteen happy minutes browsing The Drapery. I think all my trouser problems for the future have now been resolved, thanks again.
I was just watching an interview with Maya Angelou where she talks about how freedom is not belonging.
Good news on the trousers!