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Rosy Retrospection: Meaning and Repercussions

December 11, 2023

experience, ignorance, nostalgia, society, time

“People were kinder when I was a kid!” “We could sleep with the doors unlocked back then!” “There was justice and respect for others!” You have surely heard something like that yourself. You have very likely seen people making such claims, usually followed by the response “OK, boomer!” This phenomenon is called rosy retrospection.

In social psychology, rosy retrospection is defined as the tendency to view the past in a disproportionately positive light, filtering out the negative aspects and highlighting the positives. It’s a confirmation bias expression. And as any confirmation bias, it can be extremely insidious, with far-reaching repercussions.

So, to figure all this out myself, in this post I’m taking a closer look at rosy retrospection: what it is, its connection with nostalgia, what is said (and what is not, which is as critical), and the repercussions it has for all of us.

rosy retrospection - color balloon against a gray city — Rosy retrospection is the idea that you remember how beautiful that balloon you saw was, and you all but forget the gray city behind it

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Why I Will Likely Never Write Another Novel

December 4, 2023

Fiction, Writing

creativity, fiction, imagination, literature, short story, writing

Note: Ain’t life funny? Not a month later, I simply needed to start writing another novel! Read all about this new novel, The Storytelling Cat.

Whenever someone says “always”, “never”, or “everyone”, be very suspicious. I am too of my own utterance. Never write another novel? Never say never again! However, at this point in time, and with enough experience behind me, I do feel that way: I will likely never write another novel in the foreseeable future.

Why I feel that way might be a useful thought direction to you as well, especially if you’re a writer, but also if you’re simply someone interested in what art and expression mean in today’s world. More still, what forms creative writing takes and why I feel a novel is currently not among my favorite such forms.

digital painting, or the reason why I will likely never write another novel — Here’s one of the reasons why I may “never” write another novel: I’ve begun painting, which feels like a more direct, more idea-based form of art, compared to a novel which is a sustained, in-depth exploration

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“To Be Understood”: A Lesson from The Owl House

November 27, 2023

Experiencing

art, experiencing, knowledge

You might remember a post on the concept of the pink Gothic I once wrote. You might also remember it was inspired by the animated series The Owl House. There are many lessons in this series – pertaining, among others, to identity, one’s place in the world, and ethics – and in this post I decided to focus on a pivotal moment, perhaps the key lesson The Owl House has to offer.

In the penultimate episode of The Owl House, called “For The Future”, Luz, the protagonist, has an epiphanic experience. After all her adventures, all the things she’s experienced, all the dreams, wishes, disappointments and mistakes, she finally realizes something: “The only thing I’ve ever really wanted,” she tells her mother teary-eyed, “was to be understood.”

Justice, then. A special kind of justice, one intertwined with empathy, humility, and our ability to see beyond our own confines. All these are extremely important elements in what we understand as community.

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