https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/public/ recent bookmarks from robertogreco 2026-07-04T12:33:13+00:00 https://lithub.com/on-joan-didion-and-the-art-of-looking-back/ robertogrecoYou can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to a young man’s dreams of glory and fame, back home to exile, to escape to Europe and some foreign land, back home to lyricism, to singing just for singing’s sake, back home to aestheticism, to one’s youthful idea of “the artist” and the all-sufficiency of “art” and “beauty” and “love” . . . away from all the strife and conflict of the world . . . back home to someone who can help you, save you, ease you, ease the burden for you, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time—back home to the escapes of Time and Memory. Webber’s unsettling revelations do not end in defeatism, however; rather, he is inspired toward “a definite sense of new direction.” While he possesses a keen awareness of the corruption that surrounds him, he also exhibits a distinct optimism for the future, particularly the future of America, which he believes still has the capacity to conquer evil, and in the end he insists that “this glorious assurance is not only our living hope, but our dream to be accomplished.” Webber’s conception of the future is thus one that simultaneously encompasses and rejects a nostalgic view of the past, as his forward-looking vision is shaped by a longing for the return of a past moment that collides with the realization of its impossibility. Of course, Wolfe is not the only American writer to contend with a nostalgic impulse that is deeply connected to experiences of chaos and change. As social, industrial, and technological shifts continued to inform art, politics, and commerce over the course of the twentieth century, writers ranging from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Toni Morrison also examined the allure of looking back, of yearning for a purportedly more stable past. Yet I would argue that there are few contemporary American writers who examine the complexity of nostalgia with more depth, breadth, curiosity, and prescience than Joan Didion. Like Wolfe before her, Didion acknowledges the multitude of ways we might define “home,” and recognizes the inevitable pull of nostalgia for a particular time, place, aesthetic, hope, ideology, or feeling even as she, too, harbors an increasing mistrust of past narratives that “once seemed everlasting.” Yet Didion takes these ideas much further than Wolfe—and further than most writers, for that matter. Her engagement with nostalgia is not confined to a single character, publication, or era, but defines her fiction and nonfiction across decades, informing her discussions of politics, gender, rhetoric, media, and much more. Her nostalgia also becomes increasingly future-oriented, in a way that is more cautious than that of a character like George Webber, but which nevertheless undermines assessments of her worldview as nihilistic or fatalistic, and complicates common understandings of nostalgia as a purely conservative impulse." ... "Indeed, nostalgia is at the center of nearly everything she wrote, and I argue that by investigating the various ways she engages with and defines the concept in both fiction and nonfiction, we can better understand the contradictory terms that have come to define Didion’s writing and literary persona: fatalistic and hopeful, fragile and strong, detached and connected, feminist icon and antifeminist, humble and haughty, conservative and liberal. Reading Didion’s work through the lens of nostalgia theory allows us to better understand the source of these tensions, and to reevaluate her views on American history, regional identity, hubris and imperialism, gender, political theater, the counterculture, national rhetoric, grief and loss, and more." ... "While Didion’s cultural observations are often filtered through a personal experience of nostalgia, more often the latter functions as a critical lens that she discerningly turns onto twentieth-century American culture. At the same time, nostalgia theory becomes a tool we might turn back onto Didion’s work, useful in probing not only her own enigmatic ideas but also the ways modern American history has been narrativized, and how that impacts our cultural and political discussions in the present moment. An interrogation of nostalgia is also, I would argue, part of her own truth-seeking project as a New Journalist, and her exploration of the allure and menace of nostalgia takes on new dimensions as she directs her gaze outward. Indeed, the nature of New Journalism as a genre allows Didion to demonstrate an acute awareness of her own narrative construction; she draws attention to the fact that her cultural criticism might be tinged with nostalgia and then proceeds to critique this tendency in herself." ... "In both fiction and nonfiction, she documents the ways that America has used nostalgia to “pernicious” effect on a political and imperial level, a factor that continues to shape our national mythos (Where I Was From). As a nearly ubiquitous presence, nostalgia becomes a recurring theme, a character trait, a narrative perspective, a subject of her criticism, and a critical device in her work. Didion’s work emphasizes that while nostalgia can be paralyzing and foster stagnation when wielded at the institutional level and as an unquestioned worldview, political tactic, or marketing technique, it is also a natural inclination, one that allows us to make sense of our place in the world at any given moment, and can be a tool for uncovering personal truths and identifying cultural and national myths."]]> joandidion nostalgia home memory 2026 maggiemckinley thomaswolfe time fscottfitzgerald tonimorrison literature svetlanaboym society collectivememory politics psychology art culture identity collectiveidentity us brucebawer ellenfriedman kathleenvandenberg williamhandley alissawilkinson hollywood class gender americanlife fiction nonfiction newjournalism journalism narrative present future past remembering subjectivity historicization idealism stangation worldview nationamyths myth myths rhetoric history counterculture conservatism imperialsim https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:04f948d390cf/ 2026-07-03T22:56:24+00:00 https://open.spotify.com/episode/53hnMibTVpbKx7C0OfvhAi robertogreco rafaelcapógarcía javierarbona 2026 puertorico decolonization coralmurphymarcos sanjuan memoriadecolonial history colonization colonialism memorials memory erasure analysis abstraction 1952 1492 2020 monuments patrimony narrative abolition viejosanjuan slavery laperla war race racism repression heritage antiracism myth myths explosivity memorialization power bayaread geography explosions culture memorytourism tourism architecture past blm blacklivematters future imagination imposition civilwar us revival confederacy holocaust appropriation design genocide romani europe germany mayalin nationalparkservice howwethink gender reimagination women collectivememory storytelling vieques gentrification touristification community collective collectivism dispossession violence silencing infrastructure obstruction labor indenturedlabor walking tours josélee-borges freeways spanishrevival georgianrevival greekrevival publicschools schools schooling catholicchurch imperfection discourse debate discussion robertelee https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:3f0658d10726/ 2026-03-30T20:06:18+00:00 https://www.mediapolisjournal.com/2025/11/come-out-and-play/ robertogreco istanbul 2025 aylinkartal streetplay play streets collectivememory memory childhood children cities urban urbanism playgrounds https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:295407ede7ee/ 2026-01-21T07:36:58+00:00 https://ibraaz.org/ibraaz-publishing/read/consensus-aesthetics-the-political-economy-of-agreement-in-contemporary-art robertogreco cema politicaleconomy 2026 institutions morality politics empathy worldorder ecology economics genocide art artworld radicalism benignradicalism internationalism liberals liberalism precarity care solidarity decolonization crisis superficiality resistance rosannamclaughlin eddyfrankel trauma criticism criticalengagement moralism rahelaima vaporwave curation curating gaza biennials ambiguity politieness quietness civility agreeability performance smoothness stuarthall collectivememory collectiveamnesia stability legibility continuity consensus aesthetics environment neutrality design elitecapture olúfẹ́mitáíwò complicity contradiction alixrule davidlevine walterrobinson toddrose damiancarrington edwardherman noamchomsky manufacturingconsent tension manufacturedconsent https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:437fe8115f77/ 2025-05-31T06:07:27+00:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXrjlOE9e50 robertogreco taylorlorenz 2025 radicalization us politics covid-19 coronavirus pandemic disabilities disability health healthcare housing police prisons prisonabolition socialsafetynet joebiden nihilism assassination 2020 2024 elections socialmedia memes propaganda media mainstreammedia society equity caresact poverty childcare schoollunches schools policy medicare medicaid tenants eviction access labor productivity economy well-being wellbeing mutualaid communities collectivism collectiveaction emissions carbonemissions climate climatechange globalwarming climatecrisis crisis internet socialjustice justice georgefloyd policing defunding protest potests incarceration profits economics antiwoke power change systemicchange disenchantment work farright rightwing stockmarket consciousness socialconscience jamiecohen online web january6 jan6 insurrection policebrutality republicans violence revolution democracy government governance disillusionment arielhasell cynicism memestocks institutions gaslighting repression left vibesh https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:d4ab1972b394/ 2024-03-08T05:44:26+00:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oskpkUQvQ5U robertogreco rodrigodorfman exile latinamerica chile film documentary arieldorfman tomáscrowder-taraborrelli time history memory home belonging resistance adhd latinamericanperspectives alexanderscott revolution imagination identity schooling argentina france migrants bilingualism 1973 1970s children language patricioguzmán dreams limbo writing books filmmaking howwewrite culture culturaltransmission music ethnography tension collectivememory rupture return loss capitalism chicagoboys neoliberalism patricioaylwin memoirs transmission interruption deathandthemaiden fascism fascistchic culturecreation society internet memes aesthetics democracy class communism marxism us josémartí activism solidarity bellybeast greed margins privilege latinos latinamerican postcolonialism diaspora 1990 migration place curses destiny sensemaking meaning meaningmaking change lap fascistaesthetics aiaesthetics aifascism latefascism makingsense https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:74fcb751d861/ 2020-11-08T23:13:43+00:00 https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-analog-city-and-the-digital-city robertogrecoThe machine-like behavior of people chained to electronics constitutes a degradation of their well-being and of their dignity which, for most people in the long run, becomes intolerable. Observations of the sickening effect of programmed environments show that people in them become indolent, impotent, narcissistic and apolitical. The political process breaks down, because people cease to be able to govern themselves; they demand to be managed. We have focused on how digital media transforms the subjective experience of individuals. The political corollary is that it enables and empowers regimes of algorithmic governance, predictive analytics, and social credit. The profound erosion of trust in the Digital City leaves a vacuum, and we look to our tools to fill it. We seem set upon interlocking trajectories: of ever greater swaths of the human experience being computationally managed, and of intractable human subjects increasingly breaking down or revolting against these conditions. From another vantage point, however, we might see this as a hopeful moment, full of promise and opportunity. Another path also seems possible. Freed from certain unsustainable illusions about the nature of the self and the world, we may now be called back to reckon with reality in a new, more chastened and more responsible manner. It is possible that the Promethean aspirations that characterized the modern self and modern society may now yield to a more sober assessment of the limits within which genuine human flourishing might occur. It is possible, too, that we may learn once again the necessity of virtues, public and private — that we will no longer, as T. S. Eliot put it, be “dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good.”"]]> lmsacasas digital newmedia writing howwewrite reading 2020 howweread secondaryorality walterong politics discourse audience abundance scarcity news print text communication neilpostman digitalcity analogcity truth speech digitalmedia socialmedia saintaugustine change liminality factchecking publishing jaydavidbolter reformation scientificrevolution history internet web online smartphones publiclife cities urban urbanism community howwethink thinking nicholascarr 2008 web2.0 facebook twitter algorithms moderation commenting tv television video dialogue criticalthinking affordances technology citizenship censorship values char charlestaylor bufferedself disenchantment meaning meaningmaking magic power objects heresy security purity bots data bigdata automation knowledge systems systemsthinking vulnerability time place now identity sharedtime sharedspace simultaneity realtime telegraph radio presence social belonging ivanillich memory memories language literacy orality oraltradition fables institutions bureaucra https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:9c6b35065c0c/ 2015-04-13T19:33:33+00:00 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/23/eduardo-galeano-children-days-interview robertogreco eduardogaleano 2013 memory amnesia latinamerica history dreams globalization journalism writing literature realism reality despair melancholy activism revolution resistance protest pessimism optimism economics foreignpolicy us uruguay racism politics military war peace context present past nelsonmandela terrorism christophercolombus humanism humanity compassion machismo collectivememory small canon collectiveamnesia robertcarteriii forgetfulness power beauty garyyounge https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:d9f27d4ec073/ 2012-02-20T07:55:15+00:00 http://www.wrighton.com.ar/archives/buenos-aires-collective-memory-2/ robertogreco buenosaires assimilation immigrants nationalism collectivememory monuments 2012 robertwright argentina https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:ce5e5197ef2e/ 2011-11-10T16:06:13+00:00 http://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Main_Page robertogreco archives memory memories community collectivememory preservation backup history web data jasonscott culturalartifacts archiveteam culture online internet offline https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:c81d9d55f42f/ 2010-07-31T05:04:00+00:00 http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/201/CollectiveMemoryDefinitions.htm robertogreco via:javierarbona collectivememory memory present past history bibliography research nostalgia https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:d53d510f907b/ 2010-07-28T04:57:52+00:00 http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2010/07/of-cognition-and-memory-technology-and.html robertogreco irasocol ubicomp education future futures learning explodingschool adamgreenfield cityofsound urbancomputing urban urbanism connectivity handhelds connectivism cognition collectivememory cities memory technology comments tcsnmy lcproject unschooling deschooling distributed everyware https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:6075bf9d1ea6/