A FINE LIFE, JUST A FINE LIFE

It’s not hard to find articles about Nineties nostalgia, many of which begin with this kind of personal narrative about one’s emotional connection with a cultural object. Though enjoyable, such pieces often fail to ask a single critical question about Snick, Metropolitan, ‘NSync, Beanie Babies, or whatever. Their discussions remain rooted in emotional reactions, barely departing from claims like “I LOVE Land of the Lost and you should watch it on Netflix Instant!” They end up saying little about either the object or about nostalgia itself. Perhaps more importantly, readers often feel entirely left out of such articles if they don’t already have affection for the thing being discussed. Nostalgia pieces can seem incredibly defensive, precisely because they focus on feelings, and not on ideas. They defiantly insist that the joy in revisiting the near past resides in reproducing the experience of falling in love again. And if you’re not already in love, too bad....

....An overdose on nostalgia for the things we once treasured often does them injustice by simplifying our memories of them. In the worst cases, it prevents us from seeing what they actually say about the world.

--AJ Aronstein, Calvin and Hobbes and the Trouble with Nostalgia (via Ian)

GREAT!

Tomorrow, I leave on a five week road trip across the country with some great people, with the sole intention of seeing great sites and visiting other great people along the way.

SUMMER IN THE SOUTHEAST

I am so lazy! I am so free! I am so happy!

If you want to know who Obama is, really and truly, contrast the image of Obama, totally focused on the mission, with the image still in our brains of W making a flashy, theatrical entry in a mock aviators suit in front of the Mission Accomplished banner.

--anonymous comment from the NYT

Everyone knew that the restaurant at Haji Ali, like every other illegal nightspot in town that faked a close, would reopen in less than half an hour. Everyone knew about the bribes that were paid and taken. Everyone knew about the warning phone calls. Everyone profited, and everyone was well pleased. The worst thing about corruption as a system of governance, Didier once said, is that it works so well.

--Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram

BEFORE AND AFTER SCIENCE

“Living in the past may seem like a disadvantage, but it’s a cost that the brain is willing to pay,” Eagleman said. “It’s trying to put together the best possible story about what’s going on in the world, and that takes time.” Touch is the slowest of the senses, since the signal has to travel up the spinal cord from as far away as the big toe. That could mean that the over-all delay is a function of body size: elephants may live a little farther in the past than hummingbirds, with humans somewhere in between. The smaller you are, the more you live in the moment....“I once mentioned this in an NPR interview and I got flooded by e-mails from short people,” Eagleman said. “They were so pleased. For about a day, I was the hero of the short people.”

--Burkhard Bilger, The Possibilian

Things I like about this article: Eagleman, neuroscience, time, Brian Eno, short people.

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Spring break, yo!