Old Days—Good and Bad—Are Back: Noonan

In slump, simple pleasures are chic as traditional values gain
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 17, 2009 10:36 AM CDT
Old Days—Good and Bad—Are Back: Noonan
Mike Sandman and Justine Rooney, in the background, work on their vegetable garden Thursday, July 17, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio.   (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Reading about a Michigan family that shed modern excess in favor of a self-sufficient farm life didn't strike Peggy Noonan as shocking in these economic times. Her fellow New Yorkers have already begun responding to the same forces, causing Noonan to predict the rise of "a certain authenticity chic," she writes in the Wall Street Journal:

"Storefronts, pristine buildings—all will spend less on upkeep, and gleam less. So will humans. People will be allowed to grow old again. There will be a certain liberation in this. There will be fewer facelifts and browlifts, less Botox, less dyed hair among both men and women. They will look more like people used to look, before perfection came in." (More economy stories.)

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