Philosophical Intent: Nostos is the Greek word for homecoming, the plural of which is nostoi and is often applied to the homeward journey of Greek heroes returning from war. Algos is the Greek word for pain or longing. Both combine to form the root of the word Nostalgia, which was coined as a medical term in 1688 by Johannes Hofer, a Swiss medical student, to describe the psychological condition of longing for the past.
Nostalgia is a longing for persons, things, or situations of the past; it is Homesickness. Nostos Algos the blog is a grasping at straws: an attempt to find meaning in a world that is a tapestry of things past, present, and in the pipeline. This blog is a vessel for memory, which is a condition of existence; a home in the world for a writer afflicted with nostalgia that is loosely carved into four overlapping categories: Musical Miner, History Nerd, Social Consumer and Miscellany.
Author’s Credentials: The woman behind each grasp you read is Nicole Meldahl, aka Nostos Nic–a San Francisco archivist, history nerd, and music lover who dabbles in photography, philosophy and poetry.
Nicole gets around, professionally. She started calling herself a freelance writer in undergrad so she could see concerts for free, and people began paying her to review music and write band bios; this habit escalated, and now people pay her to write all sorts of things. With degrees in History and Museum Studies from San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco, respectively, she’s worked with the Park Archives and Records Center Archives in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, 500 Capp Street, the California Historical Society, and The Walt Disney Family Museum. Her passion project is The Western Neighborhoods Project–a non-profit local history organization that, amongst other radness, manages a digital repository for historical Bay Area images: OpenSFHistory. As a Board Member for WNP, Nicole writes articles, gives public talks, leads a history-themed pub crawl, and helps to archive acquisitions.
Nicole is currently for hire as a freelance archivist, historical researcher, writer/blogger, and public speaker. Don’t forget to check out Nostos Nic on Spotify, and follow her on Twitter (@nostosnic)!
Submissions: If you would like to be profiled on Nostos Algos, please direct all submissions to nostosnic[at]gmail.com, subject heading “MUSIC SUBMISSION”. We never publish negative reviews, we only publish what we love. What we really really really love is music of the indie blues, bluegrass, folk, rock and roll, soul, punk, shoegaze, singer-songwriter persuasion, but we’re always open to enlightenment.
