nostalgia
-
Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, in Rumpus Saturday Fiction, Sherman Alexie’s shares three short stories—”Fixed Income,” “Honor Society,” and “Valediction”—that all offer his trademark whimsy and insight into the human condition. Three different teenagers struggle with poverty, endemic racism, and social exclusion, and must…
-
The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #55: Donald Ray Pollock
Donald Ray Pollock has been steadily serving up plates of mild horror since his first book of short stories, Knockemstiff, appeared in 2008. Pollock followed the explosion of Knockemstiff with The Devil All the Time, in 2011, his first novel,…
-
Urban Poetry
In a modern world where hyper-connectivity often results in disconnection from our immediate surroundings, creating the space to explore poetry can make us more reflective and engaged citizens. Over at the Guardian, Rosie Spinks writes about how poetry can both…
-
The Most Depressing Harry Potter Fan Theory
The only thing creepier than a spot-on Harry Potter fan theory is a spot-on Harry Potter fan theory that is … not exactly unconfirmed by J.K. Rowling herself. Harry Potter is a novel series with quite a few depressing moments…
-
Swimming in Sprinkles
The Museum of Ice Cream promises to tap into childlike memories of summer days and ice cream cones. It combines those dreams with adult spending power: In the gift shop, premium sprinkles are sold for $11, next to $33 cone-shape…
-
FUNNY WOMEN #141: How to Write about Eastern Europe
Use words like “nostalgia,” “paranoia,” and “amnesia” liberally.
-
Paper Memories
At Medium, Melissa Mesku, founding editor of New Worker Magazine, writes about what it was like to sort through thirty years’ worth of journals, diaries, notes, and scraps of paper: Those handwritten pages contained everything I was — everything I’d ever been, wanted,…
-
The Baby-Sitters of Stoneybrook
J. Courtney Sullivan revisits The Baby-Sitters Club for Lenny Letter to discover its long-lasting popularity, as well as the Stoneybrook girls’ adaptation into the 21st century.
-
The X-Files Forever
[I]f there was ever a show that could wrestle with anxiety about aging and mortality in a new way, it’s The X-Files.
-
Fireflies, Tweets, and Jolts of Nostalgia
Over at Slate, writer Elizabeth McCracken muses about what people miss most about home and how reminiscing on Twitter creates a shared experience. She writes: Previously I would have said that nostalgia can never be experienced secondhand, but it turns…
-
Make/Work Episode 36: Abeer Hoque
In Episode 36 of The Rumpus’s Make/Work podcast, Scott Pinkmountain speaks with author and photographer Abeer Hoque about her long journey to publication, and her obsession with memory and nostalgia.
-
The Economics of a Childhood Summer
At Longreads, Elissa Strauss analyzes the economics and frustrations that come with giving low-income children a summer.