Memories you didn’t know you remembered: A deeper dive into nostalgia

“This is a weird time to be grateful for, but I’m sure we’ll feel heaps of nostalgia for it.” – Kristen “Kiki” Bush

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kiki talk about how interacting with objects from your past (or getting rid of them) forces a kind of nostalgia on you (2:00); how cultural nostalgia can fall on generational lines, and how venues like YouTube curate generational nostalgia (7:30); how nostalgia can hinge on sports and music from the past, how going to concerts to reconnect with times of your life, and the phenomena known as the “nostalgia bump” (12:00); how journals are a way to collect and hold on to moments and memories, and what it feels like to revisit them (24:00); how technology has changed the way we interact with other people, as well as the way we experience things and remember and revisit things (31:30); and how it’s hard to tell what from the current moment will evoke nostalgia later (36:00).

Kristen “Kiki” Bush is an actress, known for Paterno (2018), Liberal Arts (2012), and Synecdoche, New York (2008). Her TV credits include The Affair, The Good Wife, Elementary, and Law & Order: SVU. She has performed onstage at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public, the Old Globe, Goodman Theatre, and Lincoln Center.

Notable Links:

• A personal history of nostalgia (Deviate episode)
• Revisiting “American Pilgrim” (Deviate episode)
• Generation X (demographic cohort)
• Emergency! (TV show)
• Denny Matthews (Kansas City Royals announcer)
• Disintegration (1989 album by The Cure)
• Robert Smith (musician)
• Dillon’s (Kansas supermarket chain)
• Van life before #VanLife (Deviate episode)
• “I Wanna Go Back” (Billy Satellite song sung by Eddie Money)
• “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” (1972 Harold Melvin song)
• Our Town (play by Thornton Wilder)
• The Joshua Tree (album by U2)
• 2017 Joshua Tree Tour (U2 30th anniversary album tour)
• Live Aid (1985 benefit concert)
• Achtung Baby (1991 U2 album)
• Kyuss (1990s rock band)
• Cleveland Browns (pro football team)
• NCIS: New Orleans (TV show)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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