Although New Year 2024 officially birthed (or berthed, if you’re nautically inclined) a few days ago, there is still time to raise a pair of glasses to toast its arrival.
Neither goblets, nor flutes, but a pair of reflective prisms, one for looking back, the second for looking ahead.
You guessed it. We’re referring respectively to the rearview mirror and the crystal ball!
Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa (remember them?) are now in the embers of holiday history.
The “new normal” news cycle already is cranking out social media posts and grams and “breaking news” of instant “political conspiracies and investigations” and a plethora of information and disinformation at Mach 1 speed.
We already are being bombarded with the thoughts of babbling bloggers (where do they all come from!) and optimistic and odious observers espousing their views of the best and worst of the year just passed as well as forecasting the trials and trepidations of what 2024 will bring.
Banter is not one to let those acerbic academicians, chattering columnists, pompous pundits, and self-anointed soothsayers make spectacles of themselves all alone.
Not on your new deck of tarot cards, by golly. Let the cacophonic couriers crow and clamor all they want, but when it comes to retrospection and prognostication about our local neighborhoods, the ball drops here.
Join us now in recalling some of the people, places and things that were illuminated in Banter’s spotlight during the past year, and a flickering flashback into the way some things were just a century ago.
Stay tuned for an accounting of our 2023 predictions and a few fearless forecasts for 2024.
Hold your glasses high and read about them again in the following reflective Banter of the New Year.
Banter Spotlights in 2023
Chronologically, last January our “jerk-o-meter” registered high marks for 10 specific and general types of “jerky people” in our area, learned about St. Monica Parish’s 125th celebration, reviewed fearless forecasts from a previous decade (clocked nine, missed two and scored an “iffy” on one) and rambled about the constant tumult in the restaurant business and patrons taste.
Among February’s highlights were the “continuing love affair “with antique cars, new and views of Super Bowl LVII and its attendant hyperbole and lavish costs, more about local restaurants and a review of a rollicking, raunchy, revelatory memoir of life in the restaurant business: “Your Table is Ready” by Michael Ceechi-Azzolana, musings about Lent and a new Zane Kalas cover album, “High Hopes.”
March spotlights included our annual Big Lebowski Awards, the Oscars, the march of the stinkbugs in the area, our “pothole blues,” thoughts of the COVID-19 pandemic after three years, and an advance look at the origin of April Fool.
In April, readers shared the content of “Ye Olde Miscellaneous Box” of news, views, trivia, and remembrances of memorable April events in history, as well as thoughts about Easter and a review of the Wayne Oratorio Society’s sterling performance of Beethoven’s “Mass in C” and Will Todd’s “Mass in Blue” concerts at Wayne Presbyterian Church.
May featured Officer Jeffrey Sullivan’s recognition by the Kiwanis Club of the Main Line as Lower Merion’s Police Officer of the Year, applauding Daemion Counselling Center (Berwyn) more than five decades of helping individuals and families with challenging mental health issues, and documenting a merry menu of local celebrations.
June was busting out all over with news of local people, places, and things of interest, as well as a “cautionary tail” about cat adoptions and Banter musings of 26 years of shepherding this column.
(Note: In the event you may have missed reading some of our spotlights, please let us know. We’ll email you a copy of the column(s).
Meantime, July through December 2023 spotlights will be recalled in next week’s Banter.)
About 100 years ago …
While reflecting on the past, consider a few things that were “au current” just about a century ago in the United States: Only 14 percent of all homes had a bathtub. Only eight percent of homes had a telephone. There were only 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved roads. The average US wage was 22 cents per hour. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
Sugar costs four cents a pound. Eggs were 14 cents a dozen. Coffee was 15 cents a pound. The American flag had 45 stars. Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write, and only six percent of all Americans were graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the corner drugstore.
Nobody asked, but it’s best not to think back to those good old days, nostalgic as they are. Just remember that today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday, and that takes a full lobe of brain cells to process as it is.
2023 Predictions Scorecard
There will be more chaos in the local restaurant business than in the last decade. (Certainly was true.)
More small retail shops along the Main Line will shutter. (Sad, but true.)
Decline in membership and attendance will continue in houses of worship of all denominations. (Do I hear an “Amen?”)
Local non-profits will find it more difficult to raise funds for their worthwhile causes. (Again, sad but true.)
Main Line public and private schools will continue to rank high nationally. (Yes, they did.)
New and younger faces will emerge on the political scene. (Just look around.)
The Phillies will repeat as National League Champions. (Can anybody hiss Diamondbacks?)
The Eagles will win the Super Bowl. (Leading most of the game … but no Lombardi!)
Forecasts for 2024
Picking up our crystal ball for these next 358 days or so of our lives, we divine:
1) Active membership will continue to decline in Main Line churches.
2) Price wars will heat up in sale of homes along the Main Line with an uptick in the spring that will continue throughout the year.
3) The problem of drugs and guns in local schools and neighborhoods will increase.
4) The Phillies will win the World Series.
5) The Eagles will fall short of the Super Bowl.
The Last Word: Good day, good luck, good news tomorrow … and Happy New Year!
Comments invited to mainlinebanter@verizon.net.
