FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH

HOME IS NOT JUST A PLACE

By Gian Marcon

A little reflection shows that all human culture is artificial, cooking no less than music, furniture no less than painting. Why prepare time-consuming sauces when a raw fruit would suffice? Why bother with musical instruments when the voice is pleasant enough? Why paint pictures when looking at nature is satisfying? Why sit up when you can squat? The answer is that it makes life richer, more interesting, and more pleasurable.

Christopher Alexander

Home is where the heart is, home is so remote. Lena Lovitch

As we enter the third full month in self-isolation, the debate about the rate at which society should be re-opened has inundated the airwaves. Daily briefings from political leaders provide little news, and depending on the source, actually muddy the waters with misinformation that ranges from the relatively innocuous to the outrageous. In our search for a place of calm away from the proverbial storm, taking a step back can provide some perspective as well as a natural opportunity to take stock.

Over the past few weeks, I have become increasingly aware that within my circle of friends and family, a number of pursuits have been revised and revisited in an attempt to fill the social and personal voids that have developed. In this regard, I am no exception. After I reached the end of the internet and had my fill of reliving past Blue Jay and Raptor glories, I too looked to other activities. Given some of my previous columns, it should come as little surprise that walking, reading, film, and music were the pursuits that I first revisited and reimagined.

In past writings, I have taken time to examine both the restorative properties of reflective walks and music appreciation. I have not written nearly as extensively – in fact, quite sparsely – of my lifelong passion for reading, both fiction and non-fiction. While I could commence by exploring reading in a general sense by delving into its ability to envelop, distract, rejuvenate, and inspire, I thought that I would specifically focus on what and how I have been reading of late.

A while ago, a colleague of mine shared a clever aphorism: time should be viewed as a resource, not as a constraint. Never has this been truer than in these times of self-isolation. My evenings, which used to be consumed by long, frustrating drives home, watching live sports events, and work-related communication, are now different. The time that has been freed up by circumstance has presented me with ample opportunities to devote myself to reading, running the gamut from the purely distracting, to the thought-provoking, to the profound. I have been managing a book a week and usually have both a work of non-fiction and a novel on the go simultaneously.

The list I have been working through includes current works of fiction and older novels from the stack of 10 or so that I had meant to read but never got around to due to life’s obligations. I have been delighted to revel in the luxury of this fortuitous chance to whittle down a backlist that would otherwise have continued to lay neglected.

In addition, I have been able to use the quieter evenings to revisit previous gems that I have wanted to reread. One such book is Witold Rybczynski’s Home: A Short History of an Idea. I have been a huge fan of Rybcznski ever since a good friend recommended The Most Beautiful House in the World, which I also highly recommend, but Home is particularly a propos and poignant given our current reality.

Ribczynski is an award-winning Canadian architect, and Home has been described as, “A book that will change the way you look at your house or apartment – for the better.” As the author leads us on an odyssey of how the idea of what constitutes a home evolved alongside the evolution of physical dwellings and their design, we get a sense of why we invest so heavily, both emotionally and physically, in our homes. Whether it is an analysis of the renowned engraving of “St. Jerome in his Study,” the connection between medieval tapestries and wall-to-wall carpeting, or the concept of comfort versus aesthetic in home design, Ribczynski weaves a coherent body of information that allows the reader to see their home environment with renewed appreciation and understanding.

While we have been required to engage our homes in different ways during this pandemic – home offices, islands of selfisolation, oases - books in general, and Home in particular, can provide a modicum of comfort and reflection in our lives.

Gian Marcon is a member of the Bargaining and Contract Services department at the OECTA Provincial Office.