"...Many years later, I think about holding a relic. That issue of National Geographic
was nearly a century old when I held it in my hands. Try as I might to
resist the simultaneous temptations of sentimentalizing the past and
frowning at the present, I can't help but feel that a century
twenty-five years ago might feel like a millennium now. I'm sure each
generation bemoans, or at least takes note of, the speed of its present
versus the languor of its past, perhaps without value judgement, but
things are radically faster now than at any point in human history, and
the past recedes at lightning speed. Of course, the older one gets, the
further into the past the past vanishes; though not news, this still
rankles. I was young when I held that issue in my hands: my childhood
ended the month before; adolescence just a week later; I didn't have a
whole lot of perspective yet. But I sensed the gravity of perspective,
of distance, before I could adequately essay it."
Defunct contributor Joe Bonomo has a
wonderful short essay up at
No Such Thing As Was about holding one of the first issues of
National Geographic, Record Store Day, and vinyls. Fans can also check out his
Defunct essay, "
Wait For It," which appeared in last April's issue.
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