Avoiding the Never After: A Rumination on Chi-Chi's, Rax Roast Beef, and American Ruins

We’re told to keep our mind on what’s next. When we don’t, we often get stuck in place, indulging in something that no longer exists. Some people call this nostalgia, which is often derided as cheap and useless, a homesickness or aching for something that once was and/or will never be again. Sometimes nostalgia is also a lie that never was at all, as in…