Any time gone by was better.
(Jorge Manrique, 1440-1479, Spanish poet and soldier)

What’s new?

Tina Valentino is the Editor/Publisher

Nothing. And that’s because Jorge Manrique is right. Just about any time gone by was better. At least that’s the way it seems to those who still have original flare leg pants, an original Barbie or GI-Joe, $2 dollar bills around the house, a few disco 8-tracks and a typewriter they aren’t ready to give up for Windows 7 and a router.

Now, that I’ve been 50 for a few months, I look back often to when it didn’t hurt so much when I fell on the ice; to when I had absolutely no idea what heartburn was; to when I was home on federal holidays and had a summer vacation. But I’m not the only one who clings to time gone by just look carefully around the neighborhood and it becomes increasingly clear that old is new again and the majority of people crave it. Our stories, advertisers and stories on my ‘list of things to do’ scream ‘retro’ (or what I would prefer to call traditional). Looking back at some of our archived issues over the weekend, I was riveted by the trail of tradition, like breadcrumbs heading home, that marked so many of the pages. Advertisers, like Gioacchino’s, Sorrento’s, Danny’s, Spizzico and even Lezza’s Desserts thrive in the 21st century on old family recipes, secrets handed down from generation to generation, because that’s what people want: homegrown and homemade giardiniera, Italian wedding soup, neckbones, hand-braided-crust, heart-shaped pizzas, soups made fresh and not from stock. Many of our success stories reek of the same rare strand of historical DNA:  the centuries-old music of Caliendo’s Banda Napoletana, the not-much-has-changed since his mother opened the doors hot dog stand like Mickey’s in Bellwood, the titles offered by Back When Books and the undying love for the ‘oldness’ of Kiddieland.

“The past is never dead; it’s not even past,” wrote William Faulkner. I found that to be true as I interviewed Tim Megenbier for this issue. His new product Sick Tea really isn’t new at all; his        Italian grandmother brewed the ‘sick tea’ concoction for him when he was a child. It was better then and it’s better now than the jacked-up juices and canned caffeine in every convenient store. And Tim’s story is not unlike the headlines being made by a woman I knew when I was a child,       sitting on the stool in Bonfant’s Store, my feet barely touching the floor. Clara Cannucciari, now 93, has become a youtube.com sensation, with millions attracted to the cooking videos made by her grandson of her Depression-era dishes. Sales of her new $21.99 cookbook, published by St. Martin’s Press, cement the fact that old is new again and people are literally eating it up though as one anonymous author aptly put it, “Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up.” Just like old peasant food served in today’s best restaurants.

This is not to say that I am not forward thinking but I am newly-reminded of words written to me by one of my old Dominican friends, Sr. Ellen Claire Miller, OP, and I share them with you: “We always need to look back to view our present day.”

Tina Valentino is the Editor and Publisher of Neighbors, a FREE publication that spotlights the western suburbs and partners advertisers with award-winning stories.  Neighbors Magazine – “Everyone has one” is distributed each month via high-traffic retail and/or commercial outlets throughout Bellwood, Berkeley, Elmwood Park, Forest Park, Franklin Park, Hillside, Maywood, Melrose Park, Northlake, North Riverside, Oak Park, River Forest, River Grove, Schiller Park, Stone Park and Westchester.  www.neighborsmagazine.com