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I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown.

I am drippingly sentimental about anything that makes me yearn for my youth.

Old Sesame Street episodes,

members-only windbreakers,

and 1980s synth-heavy British bands,

like loose ends, soul-to-soul, and new order.

In no way is this a complete list.

Back then, I blissfully saw the world through innocent eyes. The complexities of the era were beyond my reach.

Like those wearing red hats signifying their longing for another age, I too embrace

melancholy and wistfulness. Those are awesome feelings,

feelings that make us feel socially connected and our authentic selves. But on the surface,

mental travel to a quote-unquote simpler time is a quick and narrow journey. It blocks out the larger

context of our memories or the less than perfect reality for other people. Often nostalgia can look

like that woodblock key handed to us at the interstate red stop. It opens a door,

but the past is really a little room and kind of smelly. Yet, in our mind, exists as a golden

age, one we urgently grasp for. We hold on because on many levels, we are in the midst of a sea change with strong winds.

Our current state of political gridlock in America is mostly a reaction to perceived demographic shifts.

...