As the year draws to a close, I think I join most of humanity in wishing this particular one a hearty good riddance. We’ve been through an utterly bruising year: a brutal political season, a pandemic that is killing record numbers of people — most especially Americans — and related economic ruin that’s seeing livelihoods melt away. It was the deadliest year on record for violence against trans and gender non-conforming people, and the current occupant of the White House chipped away at protections for transgender people as he stuffed the Supreme Court with hard-line rightwingers.
Hell, I started the year off with the death of my faithful feline companion of 15 years (RIP Grandpa, you were a cool dude), and an appendix that decided to dramatically resign from my body after 41 faithful years of service. Seriously, piss off, 2020.
Most of us are guilty each year of a little arbitrary magical thinking that the turn of the calendar means we’ll finally quit smoking or start meditating or whatever, and it seems especially tempting to do so this year. And while we all know that January 1, 2021 won’t magically see the end of a world where murder hornets seemed really on-brand, there is a lot of hope for the new year.
We’ve got an imperfect new president who will at the very least restore civility and norms to the office, and progress toward a COVID vaccine is encouraging. The work of queer activists like Jae Shepherd toward closing the notorious Workhouse has a clearer path forward than ever with a guaranteed change in the mayoral administration — Elizabeth Van Winkle has the details. Local therapists have concrete and actionable advice for staying sane this holiday, and our readers have weighed in on pandemic-safe holidays — different, but joyous.
And the arts continue to save us, every day. Patrick Collins embeds for what feels like a giggle-fest sleepover with the hilarious ladies of web series One Brick Shy, and I had the pleasure of talking with Alex Zivic about his evocative book of poetry, Ellipsism.
So no, the calendar isn’t going to switch pages into a magical land of wonder. But the stage is set for resistance, big changes, and a return tosome degree of normalcy. Welcome, 2021. (No pressure.)
Melissa Meinzer
Editor in Chief
