The Nostalgia issue of Kalliope features writing by Kenneth Showers, Fernando Zapata, Shavawn M. Berry,Chriselle Asuma-Irion, Hailee Axelson, Allie Desrochers, Heath Harris, Mara Ray Michael, Miranda Myer andLarissa Venard.Kalliope's Nostalgia issue features the editorial contributions of Shavawn M. Berry, Kenneth Showers, and Fernando Zapata. The issue was guest edited by Kenneth Showers.
Who will remember us when we are gone? Have we done enough to anchor ourselves into the fabric of our lives, so that even as they begin to unravel, we might consciously seek to make meaning of our demise? ~ Shavawn M. Berry, Managing Editor
Family. Music. Art. The particular smell of the pines near your old house...
From the Guest Editor Kenneth Showers
When I was tasked with finding a topic for this issue, I admit I went through a thousand different ideas. While I was doing so I kept looking out the window, day dreaming and drifting off. Recently an old friend of mine had come to town and I found myself thinking wistfully about our past, back to less complicated days. It was then I knew exactly what my topic was, and in the process of developing that idea, I discovered that everyone's idea of nostalgia was not as different as it first appeared.
You see, I think at the center of most nostalgia, is family.
The people we are given as family and the people we make our family.
Nostalgia is also a great American tradition. The process is trans-formative, and it defines us: That old book we love to read, a song or favorite movie, your grandmother's famous dessert, all of these take us back.
We hold them tight in our hearts, and we share them with the people who were there.
I dedicate this issue with those people in mind, and I hope as you’re reading these articles, that you will think fondly on those things that make you smile. So go ahead and put on that album that’s collecting dust in your closet. What do you remember? The time, the place, the smell. Even the colors.