The Life and times of 2016

Nude selfies and discarded industrial wreckage, somehow a timely image for 2016. ~ Ruth Lloyd Photo

So 2016 is on it’s way out, and well, it has been a bit of a year, amiright?

I mean, the United States shocked the world by going way over the deep end towards racist, protectionist, greed-driven politics and the electorate seemingly demonstrated total lack of understanding of world political realities and the U.S. role in the world.

But on the upside, there was the entertainment value we found in some of the Twitter repartee.

Probably my favourite was one retweeted by the best radio voice out there right now: George Stroumboulopoulos.

Overall though, it was exhausting, and the emotional roller coaster the rest of the world has to be trapped on thanks to this election outcome feels a bit like a re-envisioning of A Clockwork Orange torture experiment to attempt to brainwash us  (what we’re being brainwashed into perhaps depends on where we’re at, as Albertans were chanting “Lock her up!” to one female elected official and threatening another with violence this year, solidifying their stereotype in the rest of Canada as “the Texas of Canada.” Remember Alberta, you spent your surplus on Ralph Bucks and bullshit, failing to invest before an inevitable dip in oil prices which everyone knew would come eventually, and now you’re crying foul to the rest of us who want to get on with working towards a reduction in oil dependency… but I digress).

We are forced to keep watching the horror, but we’re pretty much strapped to the chair and powerless. Or so it feels sometimes.

At least world leaders like Angela Merkel are speaking up, and hopefully we can turn the tide back towards progression and better global tolerance and cooperation. Though with some of what we’re witnessing, with Austria’s far right and Russia cozying up and the new U.S. administration right in there with them, countries like Australia shutting out asylum seekers and a lack of action in Syria, it seems a bit of a daunting hurdle at the moment.

But remember, the pendulum does swing. I suggest all of us hoping for greater tolerance help do our part by donating towards organizations supporting refugees, minorities, women’s rights or education and also by personally making an effort in our daily lives to help others and build bridges, in small ways, every day.

ANYHOW, enough about that. I’m pretty sure if Kanye West works as a distraction (seriously, if you are so simple as to pay attention to what is so obviously a “wag the dog” scenario of creating news to distract from real news, then you are so far gone, I have not got time here to get you back on track…) it is a bad sign for the state of the media. I automatically mentally downgraded any news organization who covered it. Stupidity does not need to be repeated, just like rumours, if you want to generate something of value, skip the bullshit.

Then there were the deaths. Is it just me or was this a particularly dark year for the loss of some real light out there? David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, Muhammed Ali, the list goes on and on and on. 

In so many ways these are really dark days. But death reminds us that the life we have is a gift. One we must do our best to do something with, something of value and something which will leave a legacy, as these musical creators have done.

Leonard knew that. He left us all so much richer, and he left having lived a full life. Leonard reminded us of how we were not alone in our darkness. He articulated our sadness, our longings, our loss, so we could get on with the feeling and the healing. Oh ya, I just did that. Sorry, sometimes I can’t help myself.

Essential Cohen songs according to Rolling Stone

Bowie did that as well, leaving us with the gift of his final, most heartfelt album and a legacy of breaking down gender and sexual barriers, destroying stereotypes, embracing his inner weird in all its beauty. Bowie made room for the likes of Prince, and all three of these men broke rules and made room on a pop stage for the weird and wonderful. I like to think the word will benefit as more people embrace their own inner weirdo.

How Bowie normalized weird according to The Guardian

All the loss this year reminds us to take full advantage of the life we are given. Sometimes life is a precarious thread, cut short with seemingly minuscule actions. We cannot always be ready. We cannot always understand. This is what scares the heck out of me sometimes. But if we let fear oppress us, we are missing out on the opportunities and beauty life offers.

Geeze, enough of the heavy already.

What about positive things that happened in 2016?

Well, let me tell you, there were some.

I think we all have to take some time at the end of the year to reflect, so we can try and move forward as far as possible (given the political climate).

For one thing, the United States election gave us some absolutely incredible comedy and musical inspiration.

Seriously, this song by Pussy Riot is fabulous, and I love listening to it and the video is brilliant. (Warning: Graphic video)

And the comedy.

I mean, if it wasn’t so damn hard to watch anything by NBC outside of the United States, I would watch those SNL clips over and over again. I haven’t enjoyed SNL so much since the ‘90s.

The election debate sketches, the hilarious Twitter reaction by Trump and the response by Alec Baldwin. Those are gold people, pure gold.

But for me, the man of 2016 is Trevor Noah of The Daily Show.

The man has produced some of the most brilliant and timely pieces of news comedy I have ever seen. I seriously love it and he may be the only man alive whom I would consider having a child for if he asked me, just so that his genes may live on and he could raise a child who may one day grow up and MAKE THE WORLD LAUGH like his or her father. (Not an offer though, I still don’t want kids, but if he needed me, I’d sacrifice myself for the greater good, this is bigger than one person, the world needs more Trevor Noah).

You can’t see Daily Show clips out of the U.S. so easily, so here’s Trevor Noah on Late Night with Seth Meyers

This year also brought with it the introduction of some previously unknown podcasts to me. I am behind the times, because while I originally began listening to podcasts back in 2008, well, there were a lot of podcasts out there and I never really stuck with it for long enough to discover the gold under the lead, ifyouknowwhatimean.

But now, there are so many freaking awesome podcasts! It is brilliant. It’s impossible to have enough time to hear them all, but here are some of my current faves.

The Moth, now there is a genuine world-changing podcast, one which highlights all of our shared humanity, making you laugh and cry, sometimes in the same story. They need to do an episode dedicated to Trump supporters so we can remind ourselves why they all aren’t horrible people. 

The Moth on iTunes

Of course, there is Serial, the podcast that showed so many the addictive power of combining great storytelling -in the form of investigative journalism- with podcasts. Now, CBC has their own investigative journalism series, Someone Knows Something, and I enjoy Marc Maron’s WTF as well.

Serial Season One on iTunes

Someone Knows Something on iTunes

WTF on iTunes

Now I have a bunch more podcasts I am trying out, and I have enjoyed some Between the Liner Notes, Stuff your Mom Never Told You and more, but let’s just say, that for me, 2016 was the Year of the Podcast. They are my favourite distraction while I’m doing long drives or some mindless grinding task or long bicycle ride (only one ear bud in and not on busy city roads, so don’t panic, or send me a million hate-filled verbal assault comments please, it is likely far less distracting than a loud stereo in a closed vehicle).

Essentially, the year had some real upsides, and there were some great things I read in the news as well as all the bad. There was some breakthrough research on genomic research, potential cancer therapies, and more.

Article in WIRED on the 16 best scientific breakthroughs of 2016

There is the progress Justin Trudeau’s Canadian government is making in moving towards the legalization of marijuana, something far overdue IMO (with the caveat that those of us who don’t smoke, still will want protection from the smoke of those who do please, cough cough).

CBC news article on highlights from the federal marijuana task force report

AND there was the feminist revival brought forth by the harsh misogynist tone of the U.S. election.

First off, let’s all take a moment to LOVE one more Pussy Riot video:

The uncovering of disgusting comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in which he brags about grabbing women “by the pussy” were horrifying for some of us.

But the interesting thing is, I think many people were unfazed initially by them, and when these comments were brought into the light, they really did create a dialogue around how we have really normalized some pretty awful things. Taken “out of the locker room” we were confronted with the question of: How are disgusting comments about completely disregarding a fellow human being’s ownership of her own body ever okay?

How is casually accepting this as “boys being boys” okay? How would you feel if the woman was your wife, your daughter, your mother? Strangely, I was surprised by how many people really had not thought about the actual implications of these types of conversations.

But the controversy over the grossly egomaniacal comments by someone in the public eye made people really face this type of talk.

It brought these types of conversations a little more into the light. Let me just say, from someone who worked in a strongly male-dominated profession for a decade, calling out these kinds of comments is not easy, and it makes people angry and defensive and many other women cannot understand why a person would want to create waves by bringing these things up.

But then Michelle Obama, as FLOTUS, spoke up during a campaign speech for Clinton and finally, people were listening:

” ‘Too many are treating this as just another day’s headline, as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted. As if this is normal. Just politics as usual, but New Hampshire, be clear: This is not normal, this is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable,’ Obama urged. The powerful speech gave hope to millions of women and sexual assault survivors at a time when it was needed the most.” (from Harper’s Bazaar, Best Moments for Women in 2016).

So, for women, while seeing Donald Trump elected is a blow, it has helped propel the equality conversation into the spotlight even more, and it has helped demonstrate why we really do have a long way to go. I for one am really tired of all the men who have never bothered to even try and understand the experiences women have, telling us how lucky we are in western culture. Sick to death of it, in fact (are you reading this Dad?) Women in Canada make $0.735 for every $1 a man makes (Huffinton Post article: Canada’s Gender Pay Gap: Why Canadian Women Still Earn Less Than Men). Sure, we may have many protected rights and privileges other women around the world do not, but that doesn’t make this okay. It doesn’t make rape culture okay, it doesn’t make “mansplaining” okay. I could go on, but you get the point. Stop patting us on the head and telling us to be quiet already, we’ve had enough.

So I love things like Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and seeing Teen Vogue write inspirational articles for young women. This is what we need to see more of. Celebrating women’s accomplishments right alongside with men’s. And we need more female heroes (sheroes anyone?).

There is a Wonder Woman movie coming. Seriously, as the girl whose first ever self-chosen Halloween costume was Wonder Woman in Grade 1, I thought this day would never come. So pumped. Next, I am going to wish for a sequel in which Venus Williams plays Wonder Woman. Now SHE is a real-life Amazon princess if I ever saw one. Strong, badass, beautiful. These are the cool role models the next generation of young women needs. Bring it.

“What I do is not up to you,” ~Wonder Woman.

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So ladies, let’s not despair. Let’s get on with overthrowing the bullshit patriarchy so we can do the work that needs doing, like ending senseless wars motivated by greed and moving away from the environmental devastation of a reliance on fossil fuels. We are one world.

Dear 2016, thank you so much for these gifts you have brought us, for if we didn’t laugh, we might cry.

Oh, and now get the hell out of here and make way for 2017!

Here I’ll leave you with yet another video, a silly one by Weird Al, and one that pretty much puts a period on funny-sad 2016, IMO.