Blog Post I

“Nostalgia is power”

This three-word sentence captured the pure essence behind Roxane Gay’s personal growth that resonates within all of us. Nostalgia is power because nothing can erase fond memories that we all experience because we, as humans, can never forget how something made us feel. But it comes with a cost. The power behind it lies within all of those memories saved on a metaphorical neuro-USB drive that subconsciously heightens our expectations. Roxane describes walking through the halls with her nose in her favorite book, Sweet Valley, as an adolescent. Ten years later, when the sequel of the book, Sweet Valley Confidential, came out, she described with such disgust and anger because the book did not make her feel included and safe like it had for her in the past. The truth is, nothing will ever live up to the expectations we set based from nostalgia.

I, for one, always joke that I had peaked in high school. I was very popular for all of the right reasons. I was president of every single club on my high school campus, attending leadership conventions, running meetings, tutoring sessions, making appearances at PTA meetings, taking every single AP class offered while being head varsity cheerleader. I was nice to everyone I came into contact with.

But where does that leave me now? I was the only one from my graduating class to go to an out of state university. I joined a sorority and started having fun for the first time in my life. I stopped caring about what others had thought of me and it was the first time I was purely selfish (not to mention happy). I graduated with 800 kids and I can say that the majority of them would label me as Sweet Valley Confidential. That is the thing about nostalgia that had screwed me over. They reminisce on a super involved, reliable gal who went off to college to find the cure to cancer while starting her campaign fund for future presidency of the United States, but when in reality they are shocked to see me in my favorite fraternity social, comfort colors tshirt trying to figure out how to spend the $2.43 I have left in my bank account.