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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 bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. Lou Holtz

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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

the days f lew by quicker than ever.

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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