This essay examines the way in which nostalgia informs the 1953 painting of a school setting by the popular American artist Norman Rockwell. "The Girl with Black Eye", the cover image of the American popular magazine "The Saturday Evening Post" on 23 May 1953, draws on traditional American iconography of the disciplining of students in the principal's office. Yet this scene that was typically experienced as one of fear and authority is presented with ironic twists on contemporary cultural concerns about femininity and masculinity. By drawing on a selective use of history and applying an uncritical and superficial approach that relies on emotions rather than rationality, Rockwell's image presents a nostalgic image of an imaginary past, or a "better yesterday".