Nostalgia
March 1, 2004
They're Dozing My Childhood!
A few weeks ago I visited my parents at their new home in Florida. Emphasis on "their." They recently retired and moved there from the Chicago suburbs, where my older sister and I were born and raised. I spent hours in their new living room sorting through old family photos that had survived decades in shoeboxes and the multi-state move. Memories of my old house and the fact that I would never see it again overwhelmed me. The house is slated to be demolished to make way for something bigger and better. Even though I haven't lived there full time for over ten years, it feels like they are bulldozing my childhood along with that house. All of my memories live there. Read more.
Sweet Innocence
"What's this world coming to?" Everyone asks. My mom. My grandma. My co-workers. Me.
What is this world coming to? I'm not sure, but I'm wondering if it's actually "coming to anything" or if things are just better publicized in today's 120 channel, 24-hour a day media blitz. Read more.
Then and Now
by Heather Strenzwilk
This morning my three-year-old daughter was "ice skating." Her skates were glossy, hard cover Little Golden Books. She places her feet on them and pushes her way around the house exclaiming loudly, "I skating Mommy- Look at me!" Read more.
Toys These Days
by Chris McDonough
My Inner Child is in a terrible snit. I have failed to find her toys to play with. It was supposed to be so simple, armed with the credit cards of an adult, to buy toys that the Inner Child either loved or never had. Alas, the shoddy methods of modern toymakers have betrayed us. Read more.
I Love the 80s
by Katrina Martin
It's incredible how many of my childhood memories involve pop culture. Take for instance the day I saw E.T. for the first time. I was five. During the movie I completely fell in love with E.T. in an irrationally
fierce way. I never wanted him to leave Elliot or Earth, even though I knew
he would die if he remained. Read more.
The River Makes All the Difference
"Prepare for impact, Captain!"
"Aye, aye, Mr. Spock!"
Our makeshift raft--two canoes tied together with shoelaces--drifted
into the shore and bounced off the bank.
"Don't move, crew! The Boatship Enterprise can handle this. . . no problem!"
Julie, my partner, sat back with her paddle and relaxed. Read more.
The Power of Memories
by Astrid Bracke
As I rode through the once-familiar neighborhood, I could just catch a
glimpse
of the apartment building. From my seat on the bus, the building seemed
strangely plain and ordinary to me. It hadn't been painted in a different
color and the trees that had always been there were still there, only a
little taller. Still it looked different from the image I had stored in my
mind. As the bus turned around the corner, I realized that it was not so
much
my grandparents' apartment that had changed, but me. As I had grown older,
my
memories changed and became more fanciful, more beautiful, until the image
in
my mind barely resembled the apartment building in the dark street. Read more.
This Old House
by Abigail Vint
"Does this mean we're rich?"
The house looked like a mansion. And wasn't that a valid question for a
ten-year-old to ask?
My parents, my younger sisters, my younger brother, my cat and I had
moved into a glorious, century-old Victorian-style house. Little did I
know it wasn't money that would make my life rich but the glorious
imaginative experiences I had in that house. Read more.
Making It Happen
by Cheryl Wright
I had two definite dreams as a teenager: to be a writer and to be
an interior designer. My parents never encouraged me to dream or to pursue
those things that interested me. They believed that I should do a
secretarial course and get a good job. I dutifully did what they wanted,
contentedly working that area, for twenty years. Read more.
Fuzzy Memories
by Julie Miller
What is nostalgia? Webster's defines it as "a bittersweet longing for persons, things, or situations of the past." If you go right to its roots (Greek, of course), it's a pain. In fact the word applies to a medical condition: "a severe and sometimes fatal form of melancholia, due to homesickness." That's some serious homesickness. Read more.
The Nose Knows
by Julie Miller
During my university days there was a particular building on campus that caused me to immediately think of my grandmother each time I entered it. The building happened to be an administrative one at the time I was a regular on the campus, so it was not one I needed to enter often. I can distinctly recall, however, that each time I did have reason to go there, I would pause a moment - caught by something familiar that I could not quite place at first. Then I would sniff, ponder briefly, and think, "Oh! Dot's house!" and smile. Read more.
Napstering Nostalgia
by Sandra Boncek Hume
I am, some might say, a music snob. Top 40 radio doesn't interest me, and "artists" that are content to let someone else write their songs leave me scratching my head. Sometimes a top-of-the-chart artist that actually pleases me breaks into my musical consciousness, but that usually happens through the natural course of channel surfing or mall shopping. It's not something I seek out. Meanwhile, I'm happy to sit back with Johnny Cash or Ben Folds or Ani DiFranco or any other songwriters that get me, you know, right here. Read more.
The One With the Nightmares
The nightmares started a couple months ago. At first I thought nothing of them since I'm known for my strange dreams and nightmares, but after two solid weeks of waking up with a pounding heart and a deep sense of panic in my stomach I realized something was seriously wrong. Read more.
Me & Elvis
by Katrina Martin
Elvis played a large role in my childhood. You see, my mom is a gigantic
Elvis fan. Not to the point of commemorative painted plates to hang on the
wall or redecorating my room after I moved out at 18 to look like the Jungle
Room. But big enough to plan a week-long vacation to Memphis to see
Graceland, Sun Records and eat at the McDonald's covered with Elvis
memorabilia. Read more.
Tyko Defies Definition
by Katrina Martin
It's easy to pigeonhole bands into labels. Tyko could be characterized as
shoegazers or dream pop. However, with their blend of spacey instrumentation
and poppy vocals, they straddle both labels and defy definition. Read more.