Grace Crilly
Essay #2
The feeling of thinking back at a memory can improve your mood or it could make you feel lonely and anxious. Looking at an old photo, like from when you met your best friend for the first time, can give you such nostalgic feelings. The rush of nostalgia can come out of nowhere and it can be happy or sad. It could even be both. Nostalgia is a wistful affection for the past, typically for a person or place with happy personal associations (Oxford Dictionary). In Stuart Dybek's Blight, memory is very important because of his own experience. In this essay I'll explain why nostalgia is important to memories and how music is important to nostalgia, because of those memories. I'll also explain why it is both important to Dybek and John Tierney. Memories are important to an indiviuals' life as a milestone like meeting your first real friend, getting your first A in school, joining sports and activities, going to school dances, or your first high school party. Those are the moments you'll remember. Those moments created who you are in the present. They're important to have to not only be a good student, but also to have a good social life. Comparing your life to a previous memory isn't a way an individual would want to live in order to have a better present and future.
A common way people get nostalgic is by listening to music. A specific favorite song can give you a memory from your past, that reminds a time back when life was easier. Getting nostalgia from music gives individuals emotion such as joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust. For example, there might be a song that reminds you of when you first met your best friend makes you happy. Sadness can be a song that reminds you of a loved one that had passed on. Anger can be a song that makes you want to break things with a sledgehammer, by keeping emotions and never letting them out. For fear it can be music that you remember from a horror movie. Disgust can be a song that cringes you out from how old it sounds, that can make you feel old by thinking of your childhood again. When individuals nostalgize this way it helps individuals with problems they have in their life in the present. In John Tierney's article he states, "Many other people, have defined nostalgia as comparing the past with the present and saying, implicitly, that the past was better — 'Those were the days.' But that may not be the best way for most people to nostalgize. The comparison will not benefit" (Tierney). Nostalgia isn't an emotion, but it does give you happy and/or sad emotions, which occurs for individuals listening to music. When feeling nostalgic from an early memory can be such a comfort, but at the same time individuals shouldn't be too comfortable with it if it's their only perspective on how individuals can handle their own problems. Tierney expresses, comparing your life in the present moment to the past is not the way an individual would want to live. It won't allow you to live in the present moment and think of what direction you want your life to be. Nostalgia gives you a middle in between emotions, a bittersweet feeling. Over analyzing your life then and now, won't allow you to have a better future.
In Stuart Dybek's Blight, memory is very important because of his own experience.The feeling of nostalgia, thinking back at the past can give you a better future, to make your life even better in the present moment. The only person that can control and change your life is yourself. As an individual taking control can make you less afraid of any doubts you have in the future. What you might be afraid of is not as scary as you thought, because you can change it yourself. In Tierney's article he states that, "Nostalgia does have its painful side — it's a bittersweet emotion — but the net effect is to make life seem more meaningful and death less frightening. When people speak wistfully of the past, they typically become more optimistic and inspired about the future." (Tierney) Talking about your previous experiences and about your life in the present really gives you a clear picture on what you think you can change. It's an individual's decision on how they want to change their future. Getting opinions from others is important, but at the same time you don't want to lose what's important to you. Tierney expresses that Nostalgia can give you a better future, especially when you feel ambitious to do so for yourself, thinking what would be better for your life.
Nostalgia can be a way of thinking in a new perspective, and looking back at a memory can improve your future and along with the future saying goodbye to people that will come your way. When it comes to saying goodbye to someone, the first thing you can remember is when you first met them, especially since you wouldn't want to let them go in the first place. In Dybek's story Ziggy decided to leave home and hitchhike to Kentucky. He chose to walk with Dybek, Deejo, and Pepper. They were walking most of the night passing by what felt like old landmarks from their childhood to them the viaduct, along the boulevard, and churches. Dybek was feeling that way walking with his buddies, thinking about memories, but that he didn't want to bring up. Those memories were happy to him, but in the present moment it's sad for them to see Ziggy leave. According to Dybek,"I didn't want him to go. I kept remembering things as we walked along and then not mentioning them, like that dream he'd had about him and me and Little Richard." (Dybek 67). It was important to Dybek to bring up Ziggy's dream about him, Ziggy and Little Richard in a band together which later influenced them to become a band themselves and live out one of their dreams. Music is what brought them together as friends. Surrounding yourself around to things and people you love gives you a sense of purpose. Dybek expresses, how looking back at memories is a lot like looking back at milestones, especially when Ziggy had that dream about being in a band with Dybek and Little Richard. Instead of thinking what they actually might be like, they created their own band and got into trouble together by having fun, meeting girls who they didn't wind up with in the end.
One of the easiest ways to get nostalgic is by listening to music. Music plays a role in nostalgia, because it gives you memories that come from each emotion you have and with those emotions gives you a nostalgic feeling. In life there's always the moments when you first say hi to someone and then say goodbye. The music we listen to can remind us about that one person we last had to say goodbye to, which can feel a mix of two emotions happy and sad. Nostalgia has its medium where it can be painful, happy, and nostalgia can let you have a better future, if you take control of that yourself. My experience with nostalgia, does come from music that gives me a bittersweet emotion. Whenever I listen to Avcii, especially the song "Wake Me Up" by him reminds me of my Uncle. I was with my Uncle and mom on the day Avcii died. We went to Oberwise and got ice cream. It was sad to find out one of my favorite DJ producers had passed away. However, it was a happy memory to spend time with my uncle and my mom. That was the last memory I have of my uncle really. In the beginning of the school year, he got sick with leukemia and three months ago he passed away. I was never really close with him, so that memory is the closest I've ever gotten. Nostalgia and Music can remind you of a loved one, family member you had in your life and one you've never even met. Nostalgia can also show you how precious time is.
Works Cited
Dybek, Stuart. The Coast of Chicago. Vintage Contemporaries, 1990.
Tierney, John. "What Is Nostalgia Good For? Quite a Bit, Research Shows." The New
York Times 8 July 2013. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html. Accessed 21 January 2020.
Oxford Dictionary. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/nostalgia
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