The committee for my 50th high school reunion sent a You Tube slide show of objects and people from the 1950s. Yes, you too will have a 50th high school reunion sooner than you expect, and mine was three years ago, which means that my 50th college reunion is next year.
Since we graduated in 1961, the 1950s were the years of our youth. What struck me about this video was that I immediately recognized every single picture and could place it somewhere in my life. I didn’t feel nostalgia so much as familiarity and comfort. I don’t miss them, but I was glad to see them again.
In Things Fall Apart I mentioned a Radiolab blog about the many ways we use things to make, to define, and to remember who we are. In vain, however, because things change as do we. The reunion committee obviously felt that through this slide show we could share with our common history and share with who we were back in the 50s.
The question I have is where do these memories fit in today’s activity of making today’s self. I’m using “today” loosely for the flowing now, that some might say is where our selves are at any moment. Note: I do not say “what” our selves are, just “where.” Or “when” or “how.”