The story of 2020 is that not much happened and everything happened.

It started as a presidential election year with much at stake and is ending with an existential threat to democracy apparently repelled.

Just when the Democratic Party primaries were heating up in mid-March, many of us got cooled down with what amounted to two months confined to quarters.

The Land of the Free became the Home of the Quarantined.

About the time many of us were running short of toilet paper, Joe Biden was running up the score in the primaries and emerging as the Democratic Party nominee to take on the Mad King, the COVID-19 denier-in-chief and carnival barker telling us a slug of Clorox would kill the virus.

Those of us with a modicum of common sense turned to medical doctors, scientists and public health leaders and followed their advice, often brought to us by trustworthy news reporters and commentators.

We started wearing masks way before Halloween this year and we began washing our hands way more often than before meals.

To many, social distancing was a new concept. Not to me. I first experienced it at junior high school dances.

By now, most people are aware of the US obesity statistics. In 2016, almost 70 percent of US adults were obese of overweight says the CDC. That means normal sized people are in the minority. (Some are even considered "anorexics.")

From ancient religious figures to poets to today’s self-improvement gurus, observing the New Year has conveyed a forward-thinking sense of optimism and possibility. Of wiping the proverbial slate clean and starting over, leaving the past behind in order to go on to bigger, better things. Buddha extolled followers to believe, “No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.” T.S. Eliot noted: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” While motivational speaker Tony Robbins proclaims: “New Year = A New Life! Decide today who you will become, what you will give how you will live.”

Dr. Seuss wrote about “How the Grinch stole Christmas” – but is President Trump the Orange Ogre who will steal New Year’s? Since coming into office Trump has been the ultimate annual buzzkill, casting a pall and ominous shadow over January’s glad tidings, as if he’s determined to ruin the sensibility of hopefulness that usually accompanies the passage of the old year into the new.

he whole world is watching Georgia’s US Senate runoff elections. Set to finish January 5th, the elections will decide who controls the balance of power in the pivotal next US Congress.

With them comes a “hidden” down-ballot Georgia Public Service Commission race that hovers over America’s last two big nuke reactors … and that could upend the whole Senatorial outcome.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into the state. Every nanosecond of radio/TV time has been bought and overpaid for.

The preliminary battles have raged over voter registration and turnout, precinct closures, misinformation about where people can vote, intimidation of citizens waiting in line during early voting, rejection of “flawed” ballots, and much more.

But they all pale before one issue: will there be a fair and accurate vote count?

The answer depends on whether grassroots citizen groups can muster the expertise, the staff, and the clout to make sure ballots are correctly marked, properly scanned, and accurately counted — and then rightly recounted.

Friday, January 1, 6pm, The Vanderelli Room, 218 McDowell St.

Facebook Event

The pandemic has put a halt to the noise, allowing me to not only see, but to have the time to reflect.

Racism, sexism and classism stare me directly in the eyes.

So much hatred, deception and greed still exist in this country.

I was forced to memorize their rhetoric through history lessons and parables, forced to pledge allegiance to a country that clearly puts profit before people.

I grieve at the sight of this country’s flag and yet, I am proud to be an artist living in this country, surrounded by beautifully fragile hearts and fierce souls, and with these great minds at my side.

We rise.

• Alicia Jean Vanderelli