Any way to *automatically* see Mentions??

So, not to sound like an idiot, but I only yesterday saw the Mentions tab, and there I was staring at a bunch of old Mentions. Can I make them come up in my feed? Do I need to go to Mentions every day if I want to stay up to date? Some were pretty cool, too.

AND, how the heck do I respond to Mentions, and can I do so even if they're old? Can I do it from the main feed? Sorry if I'm an idiot, but nothing is seeming intuitive. THANK YOU!!!