Nostalgia is the practice of taking comfort in something that happened in the past, which is no longer accessible to us. Nostalgia happens when we reminisce about something that has happened, usually a pleasant experience that we can no longer access. In a way, nostalgia is lamentation of what we no longer have.
The Fool of Reveries (left). Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.
To enter a reverie is to relive the past with a certain fondness that brings back those pleasant memories. At the same time, these memories create longing, which can no longer be satisfied. The implication of nostalgia is that the past was in some way better than the current moment, and a lament is therefore required. Nostalgia implies a belief that we have lost something of value that can not be brought back.
The Fool of Reveries (right). Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.
Nostalgia may be comforting but it is also a little foolish. It fails to acknowledge the possibility of the present moment. We can’t go back to the past, and even if we did, it wouldn’t be the same experience for us as it was back then. To think the past held something for us the present doesn’t may be true, but then it is also true that the present may hold something for us that the past didn’t. These two ideas go hand in hand, and if we acknowledge one, then we also need to acknowledge the other. And therein lies our path forward, out of The Fool’s Reverie.
The Fool of Reveries. Hasselblad 500CM, Portra 800, Apr 2026.
-A.S. Brushy Creek, 15/5/2026