Where are you from?

This is a question that I get asked quite a bit, especially when I'm meeting new people as a cadet. It's a pretty straight forward question that is asking for a pretty straight forward answer, but I never feel like the answer is quite as easy as it should be.

In the past, I've usually responded with whichever city I'm living in at the time, but now people generally are looking to find out where I'm originally from. They often know that I live in Winnipeg, but they also realize that I'm just here for school and that this isn't my hometown.

So, I search for another answer. I could go with Edmonton, the city that I last lived in before coming to Winnipeg, but it doesn't quite feel right. I lived there for a little over two years, but it never quite became 'home.'

Then there are the other places I've lived: Peace River, Lake Munmorah, Calgary, Ottawa, Hamilton, Mississauga and Listowel (working my ways from most recent to when I was born). All of these have been home for a time, but it's hard to pick one to 'be from.'

I probably make it more complicated than it is, but in a lot of ways where a person is from is part of their identity, so it isn't easy to let the question go.

Often I come back to the little town in Ontario where I was born: Listowel. I was only three and half years old when we left to move to Mississauga, but this community has become very important to me, especially I've grown into my twenties.

This semester I've been working on a research paper for one of my courses, History of The Salvation Army. I was given the opportunity to select the topic for my paper, so I decided to write about the history of the Army in Listowel. It wasn't an easy project, since I am a little removed from the location and don't have overly strong ties to the town. There is very little academic work about the town, and I couldn't find anything written about the corps there, so I was left to explore primary sources, such as newspaper articles (actually, almost entirely newspaper articles).

I contacted the local archives which, for a small fee, sent me quite a bit of information. By referencing more general materials about the Army in Canada and religion in Ontario I was able to build an eight page paper.

I had a great time reading about the history of Listowel, the Army and learning a bit about a piece of my heritage. When I finished the paper on Wednesday I was glad to have the paper (which is worth 40% of my course mark) done, but I was also a bit disappointed that my task was complete.

I think this is something that I might have to continue to pursue down the road as a personal interest...