Factoid In Review

Chris Spangenberg, Grade 12

Over DiCaprio’s dead body in that swimming pool he never used, and exit the green light at the other side of the bay—The Year of the Snake is over, and so is Gatsby's garden party.  Many stories came with image of importance, but few would come to commemoration at the end of the year, of 2013. Only Nick Carraway, and an army of superstition that had been living under the dark clouds of the unlucky number in their calendar for about a year or so.

But as we slip under anesthesia to 2014, the gag reflex of the information age kicks in, and we find ourselves scurrying about like rats in a bouncing castle, desperately asking the same along similar lines... Was there anything good about that year? Anything worth remembering? And the prophetic How will the next year be? These are not just inquiries to inside personal life, but queries to outside the windows of the soul and the boob-tube. It's a small-town world. We might not care about drones with bombs or foreigners in rice paddies halfway across town—but by hellion and healthcare, we deserve to know it! What is wi-fi there for, if not constant news? Texting? What was new they knew by then, and once known, the new is as welcome as Newton at a pewter. Yet nostalgia is irrational in its insistence, and colours the ungrazed grass at the beginning of the year. Was it greener then?

Enter the United States of America, center of the world, paragon of all nations united under jingoism. Boy, did they ever get it. The Boston Bombings had a manhunt going, and the swarm of security rivalled that of the search for Bin Laden. But with a body count of 3, and an estimated injured of 264 at a big public event, that's what you get when you spit acid in the eye of the establishment. The motives drive this point further, with the buzzwords of Islam and extremism floating around in the heads of analysts and FBI interrogators. The National Security Agency (NSA) had a leakage the size of the British Petroleum oil spill with Edward Snowden. And suddenly, Big Brother is larger than life; the face behind our internet history, telephone calls, and e-mails... and a helluva lot more personal. Still, it will be a while before the term 'Orwellian' becomes an operative imperative word muttered not only by political analysts and fascists.

Speaking of the government, and their shutdown in midnight of September 30^th; whatever happened to that? Republicans wanted money milked out of Obamacare, and refused to turn over and play dead when the care of Obama and his Democrats turned tyrannous. In a deadlock, both sides blamed the other for not working together. There was debate and argument about funds and spending, and somewhere in between, the government shut down due to a lack of money. The effects were enormous and immediate, and it is hard for mortal minds to grasp the extent. National parks closed, along with memorials, art-galleries and zoos, and 800,000 government workers were temporarily out of a job, with a million asked to work without pay. All factions of the government were shut down, except the military. Which is sensible, very sensible indeed. With Kim Jong Un breathing down the neck of the United States with ambiguous nuclear threats, and China posing for photo shoots with its own military, you want a standing army. Just in case, of course…

Also of notice is the green light for ganja. Marijuana has been legalized in Colorado and Washington, starting officially January 1, 2014. The medical usage of marijuana has been legalized already in 19 states, but recreational usage is restricted. Colorado and Washington are creating a restricted pot market where authorities will oversee the trade, instead of shady dealers. Not quite following in the footsteps of the Netherlands, whose drug policies tend towards the tolerance of low consumption, rather than legalizing it altogether. The shooting of Trayvon Martin in February, and its resulting prosecution of the killer George Zimmerman enraged the Afro-American community. And like the opposite of twin O.J Simpson, this divided the nation again, pitting colour against colour, in a collective way.

Take a glance outside the center of the world, and notice an empty spot around the campfire where the Father of the Nation used to sit. Nelson Mandela is dead at 95 years old, succumbing to a respiratory lung infection on December 5. One of the last of the great revolutionaries and visionaries of our time is gone now, taking with him the boundless energy out of the modern day revolution. He was up there, on the same wavelength as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. But lest we forget he wasn't always that smiling peace president—he was an alleged communist who was willing to use sabotage to pressure the government. So, a bit more like Malcolm X, and unlike Gandhi. Yet his legacy is still one of cooperation, and his status as anti-apartheid icon is ensured in history.

Though Madiba is dead, the spirit of the revolution is not. Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the army chief, Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi, who was in favour of the millions of protestors on the streets. Turkey's protestors were brutally suppressed— first at a sit-in at a park; their forcible eviction led to further unrest. The demonstrations are ongoing, and the crowds still swelter the streets. Thailand saw recent conflict emerging in the form of opposition leader, and disagreement with its leader Yingluck Shinawatra. There are no charismatic international outspoken leaders whom the West can look up to, such as Guevara, and there is no real threat to the West from their end realizations, so media coverage is kept especially low. And still the protests go on, outside the camera's lens, on foreign land.

From the motherland, Great Britain, and all around the world, we still live in the medieval age where royalty is still of relative value to the People... the royal baby Prince George can look back in eighteen years, and think about all the hullaballoo he caused when kicking in the womb, and then bursting out on the front pages of The Guardian and The Telegraph, to name two of the many magazines and papers reporting the royal birth. In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI resigned in February, due to declining health—a strange move, considering most modern Popes still hold power until their death. The new pope, once archbishop of Buenos Aires, goes by the name of Francis. He criticizes rampant capitalism, and is not too much of a strong shepherd on abortion, and gay/ lesbian relations. There is hope still.

With the fresh gusto of religion, come the gusts of typhoon Haiyan to the Philippines in November. The country was badly affected by such suffering, and up to 11 million people are feeling the outcome of the disaster. The infrastructure will take time to be rebuild, and the roads are down. Humanitarian agencies are still passing around the donation tin.

On a more positive note, Mayor Rob Ford allegedly smoked crack in Toronto, and there are videos of the man himself caught in the act. Why is he so despicable in the media's eye? Obama admitted to doing cocaine when he was younger. Clinton admitted to smoking a reefer, but never inhaling. But was there footage of Clinton? Did Obama get his frat pictures posted? No, and this is why Ford is so in the wrong. He should've just come out with it in the beginning. If looks could tar and feather...

So where does all of this lead in to the new year? 2014 starts on a fiscal cliff-hanger, according to the economic analysts. You can officially purchase marijuana in Colorado on January the first. Russia will have its Winter Olympics in February. Does this mean anything for those who pay taxes, attend university, and have a homegrown family? Does this mean much for those who evade taxes, tag the walls of the faculty, and sneer at the padre familia? Dire tidings. But the rainbow parade is still held. Kim Jong Un still is committed to his nuclear schedule. Miley Cyrus still slumbers in the lime light. And somewhere, somehow, the vague assurance of better tomorrows blinks in its insomniac state.