One good thing a month. And even that was hard to find in 2020.
Here’s the only 12 (and that’s stretching it) good things that happened to us in America in 2020.
To quote Taylor Moore on a recent Reply All, we should strive to avoid “talking about 2020 as if it is a boxed event in time, rather than the year that ‘how bad things are going to be’ really became apparent”
I hope he’s wrong but fear he is not.
Now that that’s out of the way let’s talk about 2020 like it’s a boxed event in time!
JANUARY: The First 25 Days
The moment in time when the year 2020 started to become the idea 2020 was, quite possibly, the death of Kobe Bryant on January 26th.
I had no idea how much Kobe Bryant meant to me – a White Midwestern 80s baby, a Big Dog and MJ fan – until January 26th, 2020. That date is now a “remember where you were when” moment (moments Millenials are racking up at alarming rates).
So January’s contribution to this list is its first 25 days: a period in time we will forever refer to as “The Last Days of The Before Times”.
The death of Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, Payton Chester, Sarah Chester, Alyssa Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, John Altobelli, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan, is more than a quippy turning point in a blogger’s nostalgia calendar: it was a tragedy of national scale.
If there is any good to be found in the 26th day of January, it is to be found in the outpouring of humanity that was our response to it.
Within a week of the fog-shrouded helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, 25,000 candles had been placed on the concrete outside Staples Center, their light flickering upon countless rosaries.
Sports Illustrated
FEBRUARY: Parasite Wins Best Picture at The Oscars
To quote Stephen Thompson on a recent Pop Culture Happy Hour,
“In the calendar year 2020, the movie Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars which was a rare moment of absolute triumph in which the actual best movie of the year got the Oscar for Best Picture”
Nothing more to say, really. It’s a once in a decade movie.
MARCH: Tiger King
What Tiger King lacked in journalistic integrity it made up for in its sheer volume of what the fuck moments.
Tiger King was the Vanilla Ice of big cat documentaries.
We all got really into it in a way we’re now ashamed of, and so we disavow it: the savvier knowing that Halloween, though only 7 months after the release of Tiger King, was already too late to reference the doc via costume (not that anyone really had a Halloween this year).
APRIL: Nothing
I got nothing.
I’ve researched as much as I have time for over Christmas weekend and I found nothing good in April 2020.
I’m sure there’s something. Probably a few good things that happened in April 2020. But it turns out that lists of memorable news events are mostly lists of bad things that have happened.
Who knew?
MAY: Black Lives Matter Is Not a Dirty Word
The death of George Floyd is nothing to celebrate.
Like the outpouring of grief at the death of Kobe Bryant becoming a way in which humans shared their pain with each other in a peaceful way, the death of George Floyd was the moment that broke the levy of White ignorance (or unconcern) to the plight of Black life in America. Specifically, how being Black relates to law enforcement and more broadly, how America treats the bodies of black and brown people: the violence it allows them to endure, a violence inherently endorsed with indifference.
Obama was right about Black Lives Matter when he told Bill Simmons, “the attitude now is different” that even when “compared to Ferguson” America (read: white people) was now viewing stories of Black encounters with the police with sympathy instead of suspicion.
I couldn’t quote Obama on this subject with out addressing his recent statements on what has become an entangled topic with Black Lives Matter: I don’t agree with the President that Defund The Police is, in and of itself, hurtful to the Democratic party.
Or rather, I’m not sure I care.
Defund The Police has already moved the conversation further, in a matter of months, than anything politicians have done in the last several years.
(And for the record, I believe we as a society can afford to spend less money on throwing ourselves in jail than we currently do, and that, if we spend some of the difference on preventative measures – read: subsidizing mental health healthcare, after school activities, parks) – not only will we all benefit by living in a safer, more peaceful world, we will have made the jobs of police easier and safer).
JUNE: The Action Bronson Scene in King of Statten Island
King of Statten Island‘s release is a moment worthy of its own acknowledgement: it was basically the only summer blockbuster of the year? Certainly the season’s only major studio comedy hit.
Released at a moment when we were first coming to terms with the idea that Corona quarantine was not going to be something that was going to pass by in a matter of weeks or a few months – when the scale was starting to settle in, or, maybe, just when we white people realized 4th of July wasn’t happening – King of Statten Island was the heartfelt comedy we needed.
And, as Youtuber Neutralentity777 said, speaking on the few minutes of screen time given to Action Bronson, “this dude straight up stole the movie”.
JULY: Hamilton on 4th of July
Nothing will match the “2020 of it all” like the moment I watched Hamilton on the 4th of July.
Because of the pandemic that defined 2020 I was at home, watching TV, on the 4th of July (as opposed to being outside, in the sun, white clawing it with my Whities).
Because American culture has progressed to the point it has in 2020, the TV I was watching on the 4th of July was the filming of a Broadway play, a Broadway musical based on the life of a founding father and his wife, where a cast of people with black and brown skin played the roles of slave owners and founding fathers (often one in the same), performing in a musical language created and developed by the black and brown peoples of America.
It was enough to make me actually glad I had never seen Hamilton on Broadway or listened to the soundtrack on Spotify.
Hamilton was truly something I mourned: knowing I would never be able to see it performed by its original cast in my lifetime caused me actual distress. It brought up a lot of feelings about class, and art, and, specifically, the theater…which are all now conveniently erased because of Disney Plus! Thanks Disney Plus!
AUGUST: NBA Playoffs in The Bubble
The NBA did it the right way, and it paid off. Everything about the bubble was an astonishing feat of human innovation and ingenuity.
And of course the NBA went to those superhuman extremes just to prevent small market Milwaukee from getting home court advantage all the way through the Finals.
I mean, the NBA shutting down was basically the start of America taking the Coronavirus seriously, right?
Coincidence?
But honestly, it wasn’t just the basketball being played, but the stories that came out of The Bubble (Jimmy Butler selling coffee for $20 a cup, impromptu game nights – not basketball – that crossed team lines, anything by Joe Vardon) that will be told of long after Milwaukee has won several rings to make up for the one it had stolen from them.
SEPTEMBER: Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays
Aaron Rodgers (In Whom We Trust) was seen as something of a curmudgeon before joining Pat Mcafee every Tuesday (September being his first month) to overwhelming acclaim.
But now, after keeping his word the entire season (ok, there’s 1 week left) the Bro-niverse has spoken, and it has changed its opinion on #12.
Since Rodgers joined McAfee each week it’s been non-stop laughs and good times. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, can bring out the best of you quite like McAfee can. Fans are starting to really see the true Rodgers and what the guy can bring to the table from a personality and sense of humor standpoint.
Personally, I wasn’t a huge Rodgers guy myself, but since he has joined this show I simply can not get enough of him
Brobible
OCTOBER: Proud Boys Get Co-Opted
“Take that, Proud Boys!” – Dr. Ken Jeong in The Hangover 4, probably.
Gay men taking up the fight against Nazis was something that made being an alive human in 2020 worth it.
CNN on October 4th,
The Proud Boys hashtag, which members of the far-right group have been using, was trending Sunday after gay men on Twitter hijacked it and flooded the feed with photos of their loved ones and families and with memes.
At this point I’m just getting images from this Dazed article which I absolutely must refer you to. Like everything on this list, they’ve given the topic the time and attention it deserves, unlike my intellectually impoverished listicle that’s fun to write though!
NOVEMBER: This Kamala Harris…and also Joe Biden Sign
For progressives, Kamala and Joe are not enough, but they are certainly better than what’s been in the white house the last 4 years, and their election was the quieting of a boy tyrant, if not his following.
DECEMBER: That Final Sequence of The Mandalorian
When you know who did you know what in Season 2’s end scene. I can’t say anymore. Just, watch it. If you’re even the slightest fan of Sci Fi or Star Wars or karate watch all 10 hours right now just to get to this scene.