In his article “Nostalgia: The Abdication of Memory,” Christopher Lasch writes, “Strictly speaking, nostalgia does not entail the exercise of memory at all, since the past it idealizes stands outside of time, frozen in unchanging perfection,” (83). In other words, there is a difference between saying “I remember that” versus “I wish I could go back.” Memory and nostalgia are often confused, and even I sometimes allow my brain to fuddle the two together. When looking at my Snapchat memories for instance, I always go to them with the intention of looking back at good times, embarrassing moments, and reminders of who I was exactly one, two, or five years ago. I never intend to reflect on the memory and wish that life were like that once again. But, when I see memories of trips to Disney, goofy videos with friends who I have since lost touch with, or photos with my late father, I can’t help but turn those memories into longings. While the lines that distinguish nostalgia and memory can cross at times, they are never one and the same. Strictly speaking once more, nostalgia does not require memory, because aside from being nostalgic for our own pasts, society often get nostalgic for a time that it has never experiences. Entire communities and generations celebrate the past, saying they miss decades that they never experienced. It is a strange concept to comprehend, especially when these words are often used in tandem and interchangeably, but by all means, they are not the same.
Work Cited
Lasch, Christopher. “Nostalgia: The Abdication of Memory.” 1991.
Inky Impressions 
I really like how you talked about the fact that nostalgia and memory can easily flow into one another. It’s easy to think of a memory and five seconds later say oh I’m so nostalgic for that time but knowing that there are two kinds of nostalgia, we know that that form of nostalgia is reflective while like you said we have the other type of nostalgia, restorative, which doesn’t require memory at all.
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