Adopted Home

The section Adopted Town in the Place You Love Is Gone: Progress Hits Home was still a little hard to understand for me. What I understood form it, was that the town in New Jersey was her home away from home when she went to college. She felt just as strongly about this place as she did about her real home. She also doesn’t like this place has been had effected by change in progress. A quote I found that supports this was found on page 82, “But of course, New Jersey sold its soul to the devil for as many cars as it could drive.” It shows that she thinks that just because technology in cars has been introduced, it has become the devil just because it is moving forward. Besides the town itself changing, she also doesn’t like the fact that she needs to keep moving from apartment to apartment. Along with this, she is annoyed that one of her roommates moved out, and moved along with her life with getting a boyfriend, as an example. I think no matter where she is, progress and change will always upset and effected by it.

Even though I don’t live in Salem or in the University it is still somewhat my adopted home. Since I spend most of my week there with school, studying or hanging with the people I know, I am there more than my own home. I sleep at my house that is all I do at my real home. I can relate to the reading because if the university or the parking changed my whole routine and I would be pretty upset about it.

The Place and Memory Project

When I began to look around the website, I couldn’t find anything that sparked my interest. Every article consisted of a sentence memory that didn’t interest me at all. I then clicked on the random page link and waited for a result. A great story of the Norcross’ Swimming pool popped up. The story was a girl’s memory of a trip to this pool. What I liked most about this piece is the description. The first paragraph vividly described what the pool looked and smelled like. It drew me in to keep reading. Also, I liked how I could relate to the story. It goes to tell the readers that a bunch of friends are walking the length of the pool trying to look all cute for the older lifeguard that in watching the deep end.  I can picture me and my friends doing that when we were younger. Then all the girls fall right in to the pool. The author says she falls in and couldn’t stop choking so; the life guard had to save her.  The way she describes this scene is hilarious, it is like I’m sitting on the sidelines watching it. That brings me to the last point of why I chose it is that it is an upbeat memory. She remembers the good times that happened at the pool. It has to do with the teachings in class because of the description she uses; it is by no means dull. Also, it is a memory and that is what we have been talking about in our class. It made me think more about my childhood and foolish things I used to do with my group of friends, but instead of the pool, it would be our downtown Papa Gino’s.

http://placeandmemory.org/index.php?title=Norcross%27_Swimming_Pool

Why is Nostalgia Such a Bad Thing

MHPà If we didn’t love things, then we couldn’t feel their loss. The flip side of loving is losing. This is why we’re here. I mean, you can’t experience one without the other, so am I not supposed to talk about what losing feels like?

I totally agree with this quote. Everybody loves something and they don’t want to lose it. And no matter what you love, most of the time that loving has to come with losing it. With this loss, it’s not easy to talk about, but it helps us all recover. In Melissa’s book, it may get a little annoying about how much she talked about her loss, but it’s relevant and needs to be done. She couldn’t talk about how much she loved her how without saying how much the progress and loss of it affected her. If she didn’t talk about that, it wouldn’t be much of a story.

MHPà I don’t know a single person—and it’s not just because I only know people like myself—I’ve never heard anybody say, you know, “I’m so happy that that farm is now a subdivision. That’s beautiful.”

I also agree with this statement she made in the interview. I have never said I was happy for a development that was made over a forest. I don’t think anyone would either. Most people wouldn’t even think about it, but if it was thought about, I would think they would be sad and disappointed because of this loss. The farm or forest or whatever was destroyed for a new subdivision, also housed memories for the people that enjoyed it. Yes memories stay with you forever, but you will never get to see it again or show your grandchildren where you first milked a cow or where you hit your first homerun.

MHPàHow many times have you heard someone say they’ve gone back home and it’s changed or it’s gone? I mean, people weep over this. Is it sadness or is it nostalgia? Why is nostalgia such a bad thing? I mean, nostalgia is a longing to return.

This quote is also true because i would assume if something from your hometown changed sadness not happiness would overwhelm you. You would also want it back. I think that sadness and nostalgia would come hand and hand. You are definitely sad that your home is changed; it’s your first reaction. Then you would feel nostalgia. You would want it to come back because you miss it and longs for it. It won’t come back, but you wish will long for it to come back.

I don’t think nostalgia is such a bad thing. It may give you false hope for something you want to come back, other than that it’s not bad. It reminds you of the past and the goods things that have come out of it.  It also can make memories that will stay with you forever. Certain things that are nostalgic for me aren’t places. I have been lucky that places I loved haven’t been hit with progress. My grandparents that have passed away are nostalgic. I want them to come back and certain times I long for them to come back. But, the memories I have with them  keep me going so I won’t be sad all the time.