A Christmas like no other...

I'm glad to be alive, how about you? Granted its been an exceptionally traumatic year and I think most everyone will be glad to put 2020 in the rearview mirror. The Associated Press reports that 2020  is the deadliest year in U.S. history, with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time — due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic. But it's Christmastime (or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Diwali among other holidays celebrated around this time of the year) and despite Colorado's level Red Covid Restrictions the stores in my area are packed (if the parking lots are any indication). People seem to be making up for the rest of the year in an overabundance of Holiday cheer. My wife and I have noticed that almost every house in our neighborhood is decked out with holiday lights and decorations this year. Normally there are lots of houses lit up but this year its noticeably more. As usual, we like to drive around upon a snowy evening and look at all the beautiful light displays and like last year I've put together a short video of some of our favorites to share with you.

I live in a solidly middle-class neighborhood and sometimes we head to some higher-end areas that often feature some extravagant light displays this time of year. Not so much in 2020, and at first we were at somewhat of a loss to explain why some of these very affluent  neighborhoods were relatively dark this holiday season. The only thing we could come up with is that COVID has put a damper on holiday parties and celebrations and the homeowners couldn't justify the time and expense (in past years some of these displays were obviously professionally done) when they wouldn't be hosting the usual family and business get-togethers. 

Most of the light displays in the video this year come from neighborhoods much like mine though we did also make a jaunt to the town of Golden, Colorado to stroll their beautiful river walk which was decked out beautifully. 'Golden City' served as the capital of the Territory of Colorado from 1862 to 1867. In 1867, the territorial capital was moved about 12 miles east to 'Denver City'. Golden has a nice downtown area along Washington Avenue that is fun to stroll when December weather allows, as it did earlier this week, some relatively balmy evenings with afternoon temps in the 60's. 

2021 will soon be upon us, and like the incoming Presidential administration, is already hamstrung by unrealistic expectations. All I want is to stay safe and healthy long enough to roll up my sleeve for the much anticipated vaccine. It may be closer to 2022 than to the start of the year when that finally happens for us normal Americans and patience is clearly not an American trait. Still, I'm cautiously optimistic that 2021 won't set the record for American deaths like its cousin 2020 has. Sadly, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of our friends, family members, and acquaintances who will still die in the new year before we presume to have the great Pandemic behind us. That ubiquitous symbol of 2020, the facemask, won't be disappearing anytime soon, and some of my friends who to this day still contend COVID is a hoax will be hard pressed to maintain that charade. 

Still, this time of the year offers Hope. Defined as  a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, Hope has it's hands full going into the New Year so perhaps we can come together in this time of 'Good will toward Men' and ALL do our part to help Hope have a chance. Stay safe, and from my house to yours have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday...

Person of the Year?

Time Magazine, that venerable bastion of print journalism (Time Magazine debuted March 3, 1923 as the first weekly news magazine in the U.S.), has, since 1927, announced a “Person of the Year” (“Man of the Year” or “Woman of the Year” until 1999) in one of its December issues. Since 1998 Time has also held an online poll of readers to query who they think should be recognized, but the final decision remains that of the magazine’s editors.

Charles Lindbergh
Time Man of the Year 1927

The “Person of the Year” came about as a method for the magazine to overcome the oversight of not putting aviator Charles Lindbergh on one of its covers after his historic first trans-Atlantic flight in May 1927. The magazine thought an article on Lindbergh as “Man of the Year” would remedy that mistake. 

Who do you think should be 2020’s “Person of the Year”? The online poll features 80 nominated people or groups (groups have been recognized in at least 11 years, and inanimate objects twice - The Computer in 1982 and The Endangered Earth in 1988. 

Among the 80 nominations this year are folks like Dr. Anthony Fauci and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo along with as-you-might-expect people like Joe Biden, Donald Trump - Man of the Year in 2016, Kamala Harris, and Mike Pence. Group nominations include The Black Lives Matter movement. There’s also the usual mix of entertainers and sports figures along with some notable tech giants (Jeff Bazos/Amazon -who has already been recognized -  in 1999, Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook - recognized in 2010, and Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan). Even royal couple Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were nominated. Do you remember who won in 2019, which seems such a lifetime ago? Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate change activist, was selected by Time’s editors over “Hong Kong Protesters” which won in online polling.  

The annual announcement does not always celebrate good: Adolf Hitler was recognized in 1938 and Joseph Stalin made the cover not once but twice, in 1939 and 1942. Ayatollah Khomeini, who led the Iranian Revolution and was instrumental in the Iranian Hostage Crisis was recognized in 1979. Even Vladimir Putin, who has featured so prominently during the Trump years, made the editors choice in 2007. 

Rudolph Giuliani was featured on the cover in 2001 as epitomizing America’s response to the September 11th attacks. Few would have argued with that selection. Mr. Giuliani remains in the news having recently led the current President’s efforts to overturn the results of what appears, according to all reliable sources, to have been a fair and honest election contest. On Tuesday he called into a radio talk show program criticizing the widespread use of masks and social distancing  to prevent future outbreaks of COVID despite the fact that he himself remains hospitalized in a Washington D.C. hospital after testing positive for the virus. It is not anticipated that Mr. Giuliani will repeat his cover appearance this year.

So, how about it - who’s your choice to represent the year of the Pandemic? My vote mirrors the results in online polling - The Essential Worker - those doctors, nurses, delivery workers, public transit, and grocery store employees, who have played such critical roles in the year of COVID. Truly, where would we be without them? Even with their efforts, and through no fault of theirs, its anticipated that we, as Americans, will have lost more than 300,000 of our fellow citizens by Christmas. Maybe the Time editorial staff will simply pick COVID, the virus itself, for its cover this year. That would open the way for my potential pick for 2021 - the Vaccine. For this year we can all find out who they pick on December 10th when Time televises its first-ever “TIME Person of the Year” television special on NBC, on Dec. 10 at 10 p.m. ET. For a list of all those who have graced Time's Person of the Year covers click here.

Completely unrelated to anything so momentous as "Person of the Year", have you noticed how many more homes are being decorated for the holidays this year? Almost every house in my neighborhood lights up in a splendiforous light display the minute the sun sets. Most of my family's decorating takes place on the inside of our home as my wife brings out her collection of snowmans (snowmen?). To that end I share with you the following short film featuring just some of her collection of these wintry visitors. They don't last long, leaving behind only puddles and happy memories when they go so enjoy them while you can!

Records are made to be broken...

 I'm a big fan of the printed newspaper so a year or two ago I was sad to make the switch to the online version of the Denver Post. Despite the newsroom being trimmed (gutted?) by it's owner MediaNews Group, Inc. I still rely on the venerable Post to fill in some of the information gaps my other sources of news don't seem to cover in-depth, at least on the local level. There is still a tactile pleasure about turning the physical page of a newspaper, or a book for that matter, that I really miss (with apologies to my beloved Kindle). I also miss the printed paper for that other time-honored use - starting a fire in the fireplace. Both the Denver Post and Leadville's Herald Democrat pages have helped keep me and mine warm on many a chilly winter's evening. No gas fireplace, as of yet, for me. I rue the day when I don't have the pleasure of heading out to the woodpile to split a couple of logs to feed the fireplace as the snow gently falls, and the temps start to plummet as the brittle sunlight fades behind the mountain tops.

Speaking of temperatures plummeting, its almost December as I write this and even with global warming we're heading for the coldest months of the year. The days are getting shorter, the nights longer and hibernating in front of a roaring fire with a good paper or book sounds like heaven to me. My better half and I were watching an excellent movie the other night about a place even colder than Colorado - Antarctica. Shot by Anthony Powell, Antarctica: A Year on Ice is a stunningly breathtaking documentary covering his ten years spent living and working at the bottom of the world. The photography is absolutely amazing and the characters who spend their time there, especially the "winter-overs", are as fascinating a bunch as any you'll find anywhere. 

I worked with a gentleman (hi, John) who had the enviable job of doing psychological assessments for Americans heading to The Ice to make sure they were compatible with frigid temps and no sunlight for months at a time. I remember a conversation where he told me if ever I was interested in heading south to let him know. Hindsight being 20/20 how I wish I had taken him up on that offer... 

Here's the Post's weather
article for December

On the last day of every month the Post has an article talking about the weather we can expect in the upcoming month. I think this article is a carryover from the long-gone Rocky Mountain News. I can remember as a kid growing up my dad used to cut the article out and tape it on the fridge so he could know, day by day, what the 'average' weather was supposed to be. Granted the T.V. weather forecasters of today are far nicer to look at and they certainly have some fancy graphics, but that little monthly synopsis was his bible and candidly he could generally forecast what was to come about as accurately as today's computer models and glitzy prognostications. 

I had never thought about it, but when I saw the article in today's Post, it started me to thinking, which is always a dangerous thing as I never know where it will lead. Anyway, two of the columns I always peruse are those showing the record high and low temps for the day. It struck me that I have been around for more than half of the records being set (14 record high and 21 record low years). So if my math is right, most of these records have been set in the last 63 years. Seven of the record highs have been set in the last 20 years along with eight of the lows. Now, I don't pretend to know what any of this means other than perhaps I've been hanging around this beautiful blue orb way too long. I do know it might have been nice to have been around back on December 5th, 1939 when the temperature was a balmy 79 degrees but not so  much on Christmas Eve 1876 when it was 25 below zero. December 1939 also saw Germany begin deporting Polish Jews as well as the premiere of Gone With the Wind, while December 1876 saw the United States Electoral College casts their votes in the disputed Presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden with two sets of conflicting results returned to Congress on December 7th (Mr. Hayes eventually assumed office even though Mr. Tilden actually won the popular vote). I guess, just like the weather, what comes around goes around.

Photo By Jeffrey Beall 

Closer to home, Colorado became a State in 1876 while in 1939 we had a new Governor, Ralph Carr, take office. Mr. Carr would go on in 1942 to oppose, to the detriment of his political career, the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent during WWII once saying: 

"...the Japanese are protected by the same Constitution that protects us. An American citizen of Japanese descent has the same rights as any other citizen. ... If you harm them, you must first harm me. I was brought up in small towns where I knew the shame and dishonor of race hatred."

Another interesting statistic on the Post summary is the average windspeed - 8.4mph. It may mislead however, in that it fails miserably to forecast how the winds of change may really blow.