People, Places and Things
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Transcript of People, Places and Things
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Most of where I live is filled with wilderness, nature, and
animals. I grew up on a farm and have mostly known just
that. But even though a farm is where I am from, it has not
always been my home. My home has been where, who, or
what I make it. Mostly where I am at any particular point
in time, or who I am with, becomes my home. This article
features many of the nouns that have influenced my life
up to this point.
people, places, and things
Images and story by Stacey Harper
Initially, my playground consist of the front yard of my
house. As I grew up and was granted a loser reign of my
childhood, I began to run about and explore my family’s
seventy-seven acres of property. One of my fondest of
memories was of climbing the many trees in the yard and
exploring the surrounding nature. Some trees were easier
than others and soon I developed a variety of skills in
climbing.
The older I got the farther my parents allowed me to
explore. Eventually, I was allowed to venture into the fields
and the woods, but only accompanied by one or both of
my older brothers. There was where I began to find my
enjoyment and peace in nature and all its beauty.
With seventy-seven acres came a vast range of environments.
The property had several acres of woods, field, crops, and
hills, all cut in half by a river. The quiet stream nestled
deep within the woods became the center of attention as
my brothers and I matured. We began to have camp-outs
near it, catch fish and crayfish out of it, or simply stomp
through it at the peek of a hot summer’s day.
However as I aged my visits to these parts became less
frequent. Mostly my visits consisted of trips to “the hill”
to snowboard after a heavy snow. My time ran out and my
life began to switch gears.
oh, what the woods had in store...
A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine. Anne Bronte
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A woodland in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in
magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing
tongue of flame to warm the heart.
Hal Borland
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they helped sculpt me into me.
Sometime during my ventures in the woods I had began school
and soon it became a controlling factor in my everyday life. I
found friends with which I wanted to spend time with. Eventually
I found that even though my school never held my bed nor
were the people within its walls related to me, it had become
my home and the people my family. What happened to that
school and to my fellow students began to be important to me.
I joined sports and grew a sense of pride for having attended the
school of Pittsford. I began comparing my education and experience
to other schools in the area and I believed that my school was the
best around.
Near the end of my years at Pittsford, I joined the varsity track team
and the cheerleading squad. I loved everything about track and I did
as many events as was allowed. Eventually, I broke the school record
for the pole vault event. Cheerleading I enjoyed mostly during the
fall season because I loved football and I understood the game.
Sometimes I had to inform the other members of the squad what
was going on in the game or what a particular hand gesture meant
from the referee. Both track and cheerleading were important to
me because they were fun, they kept me busy, and they kept me
in shape. Plus, I needed something to feed my competitive nature.
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your
high school class is running the country.
Kurt Vonnegut
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other. Benjamin Franklin
...and hard times did come.
I graduated from that school only to move into another. Ferris
State University became, at first, my home away from home. I had
moved all my belongings into one of the universities residents hall
rooms and I began to live very close with so many other students
my age. Classes began and I became wrapped up in school, friends,
homework, and outside activities. Some where along the way I
began to call my dorm room my home. During freshmen year,
my room was mostly barren and cold. I had to pack many of my
belongings into the same space as another person while still attempt
to be civil towards each other. The room was only important for
storage, sleep, and a place to work on homework, yet I began to
call it home. Such a desolate room could not have been what made
it feel like home. It had to be the people that lived in, and around,
that room that made my freshman year feel so cozy.
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Sophomore year comes along, and so does the stress of portfolio
review. I soon lose much of my free time, and, in time, lost many
of my connections with friends. So where was I to find a home? I
found that I began to spend an increasingly large amount of time in
the Business building’s basement computer lab. I developed better
relationships with other members of the graphic design program and
we all seemed to share the same struggles, questions, and dreams.
The Business building became my home and fellow graphic desig-
ners my family. We all progressed though the year, competing with
each other for a position in the final two years of school. But we also
helped each other, learned from each other, and supported each other
in those hard times.
A project had arisen that became a struggle for nearly everyone in
the program and we all worked hard to find an appropriate solution
but the professor never seemed to approve of the thought process
or the conclusion: no solution was good enough for problem. I
witnessed a student designer crack under this pressure on one
occasion and we did all we could to comfort her but it was nearly
impossible. We were all feeling the same low moral and though
our hardship we all grew closer.
After we all finished our sophomore year and a decision was made
on who would be moving up and who would have to rethink their
future, we all became much more at ease. A great weight had
been lifted off our shoulders and we began to enjoy the beautiful
spring air.
Off to summer break we went our separate ways only to rejoin in the
fall for junior year. With junior year has come new struggles for me and I
found the my home has only become larger and my family more inclusive.
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I am now a resident advisor within one of Ferris State University’s
resident’s halls. Within the walls of the Merrill /Travis hall could be
found my new branch of family. The staff that I worked with was
brilliant and we got along about as well as siblings would. There
were times when we got into tiffs but by the end of the day, or
week, we could usually get though it alright.
Junior year finished up much like sophomore year but with slightly
less stress. I spent my last summer at home, generally carefree. It
was during that summer that I discovered a love for Indy races and
yachts. I took a trip to see the Indy 500 only to end up within the
infield. The cars raced by, screaming, sounding more like jets than
cars. The sun baked my skin to no end for four hours. However, I
still managed to fall in love with the overall experience. There had
been nothing like it before in my life of experiences, and I fell in
love instantly.
Also during that summer, I took a trip out to a friends yacht and
spend the day swimming and sun bathing on a little secluded island.
The sun was so hot and the water was ice cold, but deliciously
so. The day long event ended with a night spent sleeping on the
yacht as a gentle thunderstorm rocked the boat. The thunderstorm
produced a beautiful light show, accompanied by low rumbles, that
could be seen through the large bay windows of the boat as I slept.
Oh, how soon senior year began and my last summer of joy ended.
With senior year began another year as a resident advisor with the
addition of a registered student organization that I had joined. With
the last summer of freedom.
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. John F. Kennedy
St. Augustine
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this new year my family expanded yet again. New residents to meet and befriend as well as
those within my student organization. Between days filled with class work, meetings with
clients and events, the days sure flew by. Before I knew it, I had to begin once again thinking
of my portfolio, but this time it was for graduation.
My ever expanding family now includes an amazing boyfriend. He could possible be my first
boyfriend with which I have had a serious relationship. It is all an experience of trial and
error but we are both working together to make the relationship work.
My home had never really been a single location, only people, places or things. My home is
more of an attachment or feeling that I developed for a noun. I hold this noun dear as long
as possible but eventually everything changes and we can no longer cling to things of the
past. I can’t say at this college for the rest of my life nor can I live in my parents house for
years after school. Home is where you put your heart but my heart travels.
The journey not the arrival matters. T.S. Eliot