What is home to you? For some, home is ever-changing, neither here nor there, perhaps more about people than place. For others, home is rooted in local heritage, with the place they’ve grown up shaping their identity. For some, home represents danger. For others, home is a place of comfort. For most, the definition of home lies somewhere in between.
Over the course of two hours, we will explore the idea of home as we venture through the Atlanta History Center. In the newest exhibit, Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants, we will learn the stories of those who find home at a crossroads, considering the complexity of belonging amid migration. In Gatheround: Stories of Atlanta, we will explore home rooted more deeply in one place, considering the ways residents have shaped their city.
Just as we explore history, we will explore poetry, considering the work of poets from Langston Hughes to Tsering Wangmo Dhompa. Finally, we will write, asking ourselves: How does my home hold me (or cast me out)? How do I shape the place I live? What is home to me?
Each participant will come out with a poem of their own to share and celebrate.
About the Workshop Leader
Aanika Eragam, National Student Poet- Southeast Region
Aanika Eragam is a senior at Milton High School in Milton, GA. Through her mother’s bedtime tales of South Indian mythology, Aanika was first exposed to the power of storytelling to connect her to her cultural heritage, unlock foreign perspectives, and help her explore history. Since then, she’s written poetry and creative nonfiction about culture, family, girlhood, and body image. She believes strongly in the power of words to bond and heal. Aanika edits for her high school’s literary magazine The Globe and serves as the 2021 Atlanta Youth Poet Laureate. If she were ever to get a tattoo, it would be of the line “There are enough ballrooms in you” from Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie’s poem “On This the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart.” In her spare time, Aanika enjoys long walks outdoors, baking scones, and spending time with those she loves.