2020 was nothing close to what we expected. When the ball dropped on New Years day I don’t think any of this is what we thought our “happy” new year would be. March 13th was the day our lives flipped upside down; our lockdown began. At first we weren’t too scared. We got excited and said “two weeks off from school, let’s go.” Little did we know we’d be home for nine months and counting. This year has been full of ups and downs, viral trends, new recipes, losses and gains, but in the end I think we can agree this has been a year where we all need each other more than ever. Coming together has not been an easy task at all with Covid-19 guidelines, travel bans and social distancing. We’ve made the best of it though, hosting parties on zoom, calling family members more and focusing on more important aspects of life.

In regards to Covid-19 there have been lots of changes throughout this year, many we haven’t been able to predict. When we first heard about the virus we were not overly concerned. We were staying home and being cautious. Then everything started closing, masks became the new normal, toilet paper & hand sanitizer were scarce and people were scared. We weren’t even visiting family. The only places that were open were grocery stores and places that were a necessity to everyday life. Things then started looking up. Case numbers were dropping and things were re-opening, we gained some hope. All of that stopped about a month ago. Cases increased again and phases got knocked back down. Any schools that weren’t remote had to go into the remote learning process. The Covid-19 vaccine was released and people started to document their experiences. Some people suffered from symptoms relative to the symptoms of the Corona Virus but on a much smaller scale for only maybe a day or two but others had no symptoms at all. President Trump and his family contracted the virus but now that they are well President Trump claims he is immune to the virus. President-Elect Joe Biden has since gotten the Covid-19 vaccine as a way to not only show his unity with Americans but to hopefully convince them to get it themselves.

Now to touch lightly upon the election. The 2020 Presidential election was the main focus of many news outlets for weeks. Usually the results are given the morning after election day but there was nothing normal about this election at all. Days after the election votes were still being counted and it wasn’t clear who would leave this election victorious. The number of votes for each candidate continued to differ but in the end President- Elect Joe Biden claimed his victory taking the lead in not only the popular vote as well as the votes from the Electoral college. Many people believed this was a case having to do with voter fraud as many ballots were not being scanned, red votes were being counted as blue votes and vice versa along with how many votes had been illegally cast and cast late. The Trump Administration tried to sue several states and requested a recount in just as many. In the end after all the recounts the President-Elect was confirmed to be Joe Biden.

On a more somber note, there were unfortunately many celebrity deaths during this year including;

• Kobe Bryant(41)& his daughter Gianna Bryant(13)
• Neil Peart(67)
• Pop Smoke(20)
• Kenny Rogers(81)
• Bill Withers(81)
• Jerry Stiller(92)
• Naya Rivera(33)
• Chadwick Boseman(43)
• Jack Sherman(64)
• Sean Connery(90)
• Eddie Van Halen(65)

Now these aren’t all of the deaths that took place in 2020 but some that took the world by storm. Many of them have left a large impact on us and will continue to live on in our memory.

Another large number of events that took 2020 by storm were the protests that took place worldwide. Following the death of George Floyd, people began to protest against racial injustice and police brutality. The protest became known as the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Unfortunately not all of these protests remained peaceful and many lives were lost. It is a common feeling among many that these protests were handled incorrectly by police in power. Peaceful protests turned violent when tear gas, rubber bullets, police dogs, cars and even the people themselves were being used to attack these protesters. The mission of this movement is not to cause violence but to stop the pain that has been inflicted on communities of color due to white supremacy from years. The mission statement of the “Black Lives Matter” movement is “to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.” There was heavy push back against this moment by opposing movements such as the “Blue Lives Matter” movement and the “Proud Boys”. It is sad to see that even still in 2020 we are a nation divided.

Of course 2020 can’t all be summed up in a short article but I feel as though the events that took place this year should be used as a learning experience. We now know some new things that work well and we also know some things that maybe don’t work as well. Hopefully we can all leave 2020 feeling like we’ve made the most out of a year that just kept throwing us curve balls. Here’s to a better 2021.