thedrifter
06-01-07, 06:41 AM
June 1, 2007 - 12:00AM
Some things old becoming new once more
TIMMI TOLER
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Could we please bring back wrinkles?
It appears we are coming into an age where everything old is new again. I read a story recently about aprons gaining popularity. The iconic symbol for women nearly a half century ago became pass when baking for your family was replaced with burning your bra.
But now women are realizing the value of the cover-up while cooking in the kitchen or tooling around the house with their spackling knives and their WD-40.
Housework is just plain messy, so it makes sense to keep yourself as clean as possible.
I'm thrilled aprons are making a comeback. I have an apron that was handmade by my Grandma Bena. The material is a funky, floral yellow, circa 1970-something. I love that apron even though I hardly ever wear it (since I'm hardly in the kitchen because I'm a wretched cook). It's a part of my family's history and a part of female history as the unofficial uniform women wore for centuries as caretakers and nurturers of the home.
The push mower is another bygone that's saying hello again. A story in our paper this week said the American Lawn Mower Co. is reporting record sales of the manually powered push mower. No motor. No gas. No noise. Just sharp blades and lots of heave-ho.
The mower has become a favorite among women who find it easier to handle than its gas-powered counterpart. Plus, women like the exercise they get while using it. We used to have a push mower like that when I was younger. It was work, but it got the job done. And with gas prices being what they are, it makes sense to conserve where you can.
And since we're bringing back classics, I'd like to cast my vote for wrinkles. I miss them. They're interesting, important and part of human progress.
I would much rather see the lines of life on a person than the strange puffy, stretched re-mains of cosmetic surgery and chemical stimulants used in the name of looking younger. I do not understand why we're constantly embarrassed by aging. Our bodies are just doing what they are supposed to do naturally. You can peel it, nip it and tuck it all you want, but it doesn't make you any younger. You're older. You're going to wrinkle, and this is not something to be ashamed of.
Finishing school is something else I'd like to see revived - not just for women but for every-one. We are dangerously low on politeness and civility in this country. I can't help but think part of the reason we're suffering from afflictions like road rage is because some of us don't know how to cross our legs or how high to lift our tea cups.
I don't think most of us are impolite by choice, more by cause - or lack of one. Decorum has gone the way of those aprons and push mowers as we become more privy to each other's lives thanks to cell phones and You Tube. It's not that refinement and reticence is ignored, it's that people no longer "get" the importance of being a little bit of tactful.
Yes, we need to be better connected as a society and find ourselves as communities again. No, that doesn't mean I want to hear your cell phone conversation about an infected bunion on your toe while I'm standing in line at the post office.
Say it with me: "Ewww!"
There was a time in this country when bunions would have never been discussed unless it was with a doctor or, in some cases, a preacher. Or maybe an aunt with a special family tonic.
And newspapers are fast learning that the sooner we get back to our roots, the better chance we're going to have at survival. We started out as a locally focused industry that understood city council meetings were important, but so were bake sales. Now we're searching for new ways to cover each by looking at how we did business the old way.
Even though we've tossed our aprons, ushered in gas-powered rock chewers, unlined our well-deserved wrinkles and opened our lives up to discussion for any and everyone who cares to listen (and yes I'm including Daily News columnists who like to write about dating their ex-husbands), I think we're in a state of change for the better.
What's old is new again. The good stuff is making a comeback.
And pretty soon, I think we'll all be saying more to each other by saying less.
Ellie
Some things old becoming new once more
TIMMI TOLER
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Could we please bring back wrinkles?
It appears we are coming into an age where everything old is new again. I read a story recently about aprons gaining popularity. The iconic symbol for women nearly a half century ago became pass when baking for your family was replaced with burning your bra.
But now women are realizing the value of the cover-up while cooking in the kitchen or tooling around the house with their spackling knives and their WD-40.
Housework is just plain messy, so it makes sense to keep yourself as clean as possible.
I'm thrilled aprons are making a comeback. I have an apron that was handmade by my Grandma Bena. The material is a funky, floral yellow, circa 1970-something. I love that apron even though I hardly ever wear it (since I'm hardly in the kitchen because I'm a wretched cook). It's a part of my family's history and a part of female history as the unofficial uniform women wore for centuries as caretakers and nurturers of the home.
The push mower is another bygone that's saying hello again. A story in our paper this week said the American Lawn Mower Co. is reporting record sales of the manually powered push mower. No motor. No gas. No noise. Just sharp blades and lots of heave-ho.
The mower has become a favorite among women who find it easier to handle than its gas-powered counterpart. Plus, women like the exercise they get while using it. We used to have a push mower like that when I was younger. It was work, but it got the job done. And with gas prices being what they are, it makes sense to conserve where you can.
And since we're bringing back classics, I'd like to cast my vote for wrinkles. I miss them. They're interesting, important and part of human progress.
I would much rather see the lines of life on a person than the strange puffy, stretched re-mains of cosmetic surgery and chemical stimulants used in the name of looking younger. I do not understand why we're constantly embarrassed by aging. Our bodies are just doing what they are supposed to do naturally. You can peel it, nip it and tuck it all you want, but it doesn't make you any younger. You're older. You're going to wrinkle, and this is not something to be ashamed of.
Finishing school is something else I'd like to see revived - not just for women but for every-one. We are dangerously low on politeness and civility in this country. I can't help but think part of the reason we're suffering from afflictions like road rage is because some of us don't know how to cross our legs or how high to lift our tea cups.
I don't think most of us are impolite by choice, more by cause - or lack of one. Decorum has gone the way of those aprons and push mowers as we become more privy to each other's lives thanks to cell phones and You Tube. It's not that refinement and reticence is ignored, it's that people no longer "get" the importance of being a little bit of tactful.
Yes, we need to be better connected as a society and find ourselves as communities again. No, that doesn't mean I want to hear your cell phone conversation about an infected bunion on your toe while I'm standing in line at the post office.
Say it with me: "Ewww!"
There was a time in this country when bunions would have never been discussed unless it was with a doctor or, in some cases, a preacher. Or maybe an aunt with a special family tonic.
And newspapers are fast learning that the sooner we get back to our roots, the better chance we're going to have at survival. We started out as a locally focused industry that understood city council meetings were important, but so were bake sales. Now we're searching for new ways to cover each by looking at how we did business the old way.
Even though we've tossed our aprons, ushered in gas-powered rock chewers, unlined our well-deserved wrinkles and opened our lives up to discussion for any and everyone who cares to listen (and yes I'm including Daily News columnists who like to write about dating their ex-husbands), I think we're in a state of change for the better.
What's old is new again. The good stuff is making a comeback.
And pretty soon, I think we'll all be saying more to each other by saying less.
Ellie