We live in a transactional world.
From the daily debit swipe for goods and services to the daily exchange of emotions and conversation, we are always trading back and forth between each other.
Although it’s easy to sign your receipt and move on your way, GainesvilleScene wants to dig a little deeper. Behind the Scene, our new series, gives you a glimpse into the world of the amazing locals who make Gainesville the exceptional town it is.
Steve Nichtberger is the founder of Gainesville’s Flashbacks Recycled Fashions. He’s been running Flashbacks for more than 30 years, has studied self-realization with shamans and spends about 40 hours a week collecting goods for the store.
Tell me a little bit about Flashbacks itself.
There are certain styles of clothes that if you bring in we’re gonna give you more than any other store because we have hipsters shopping here. I’m allowed to call a hipster a hipster. I know it’s totally illegal if you’re a hipster you cannot even bring up the “h” word, but I’m post-hipster. I was a hipster before hipsters were hipster.
What’s something you’ve learned about people since you’ve opened?
Really the only thing that I learn about people is what I learn about myself. What I’ve learned about people is that this society does not give us a good background in how to love ourselves and how to nurture our own spirit and our own ability to grow and change and become healthy, emotional, well-preserved beings. We create somebody who we think we are, and we spend our life trying to be that person we think we’re creating.
Do you have a bit of life philosophy that you could share with us?
All my pain and suffering comes from my lack of understanding of perfection.
Do you know someone that we should feature for this series? Email us at scene@collegevox.com with the subject line “Behind the Scene”
