College Times

Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Blogs

Media Credit: Henson Company

In the past week, I've been thinking a lot about change and moving forward, "onward and upward," and all that jazz. But the problem is that I'm happy with the present. As I was pondering over my latest predicament at the College Times office, I found myself looking at an over-the-door basketball hoop covered in stickers with retro basketball team logos. Now, these logos probably weren't retro when the stickers were put on and this got me thinking about the way people value vintage or retro things and why.

Sure, this basketball hoop isn't vintage in the sense that it's worth any money, but maybe someone used to play on that hoop when they were a kid, it has nostalgic value and the nostalgia for the good ole days and being a kid again runs deep in our society.

I know people who would rather play "Super Mario Brothers" on their Nintendo that they've had since the 1980s than play "Rock Band" on their Wii. I can recall many a conversations that came up about old TV shows people used to watch when they were kids, such as "Fraggle Rock" or "Rocko's Modern Life." Those conversations usually ending with a statement like, "Yeah, those shows were awesome." Or other recollections often lead to foods you used to eat when you were a kid, like Kangaroo Dunks or the plastic Kool-Aid containers with the twist-off tops or Charleston Chews. Ah, the good ole days.

What doesn't usually come up in these conversations is that those shows are actually still aired on some Nickelodeon channels, and that while those foods may seem like they only existed in that now-foreign time, they are actually readily available in stores.

So it seems that we are not really as nostalgic for the items and articles of the past as much as we are the times that they represent. It's a Peter Pan sentimentality that makes us cling to the carefree days of summers spent in the pool with no bills or deadlines or responsibilities to worry our little minds. Some companies have recognized our longing and are banking on this nostalgic sentiment by combining the old with new.

There are electronics that look like record players or big '80s boom boxes, but instead of putting on a vinyl record or putting in a cassette you plug your iPod into the USB connection. Urban Outfitters sells these items along with old chunky phones that everyone used to use before the wireless phones came out. Mind you these products are available, but your wistfulness will cost you a pretty penny.

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