Oh what a year 2009 has been.
From the historical to the hysterical, from misery to mysterious, from grieving to goofy, we’ve had it all.
January alone had a year’s worth of events wrapped neatly in the first 31 days.
Who forgot about Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor who was impeached after being accused of trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.
Obama took the historic oath of office becoming the first African-American president in U.S. history. He came in with glowing praise, and the country still waits to see if his presidency will be known for anything other than breaking the color barrier.
Obama found a home for his former Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, making her secretary of state. How does that old saying go, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Hmmmm?
Who could forget about Captain C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger, the man who captained US Airways Flight 1549 and its 150 passengers to safety in the Hudson River. Sully becomes everybody’s hero.
Speaking of needing a hero. On Jan. 27, Nadya Suleman gave birth to eight babies in California, thus increasing her carbon footprint. The six boys and two girls catapulted their mother into the international limelight. What started out as, “oh my God, this woman gave birth to eight babies,” quickly turned into “what the hell is this women thinking,” when it was disclosed that Suleman, a single mother, already had six other young children.
All that in just one month; what a way to get the 2009 ball rolling.
April brought the outbreak of H1N1, which also brought an outbreak of other significance — the media mislabeling H1N1 as the swine flu. I felt like I had a fever every time I saw a media outlet refer to H1N1 as the swine flu. U.S. pork producers are still trying to come out from behind the shadow cast by this mislabeling that added insult to injury from other down-turning market conditions.
It was the year for ethnic firsts. To follow up his own historic election, Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter. Sotomayor was confirmed at the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.
Realizing it’s a lot easier to say things on the campaign trail than it is to deal with it when you’re actually in office, Obama announced more troops will be heading off to Afghanistan. This reversed a campaign trail promise to be bringing the troops home.
I’m still waiting for that change we heard so much about. By the time this presidency is over, all I’ll have left is change.
2009 proved to be a year of high infidelity.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford eventually admitted to an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina. He had lied to staff members, covering up a disappearance by saying that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. The media called him out when they noticed he wasn’t at work. He did not resign his office, but certainly racked up some frequent flier miles.
Then the pristine country club sport of golf took a hit when Tiger Woods hit a tree and fire hydrant with his SUV. The accident was soon forgotten as more than caddies from his past began surfacing. The greatest golfer in the world apparently was trying to rival Rudolph Valentino as the world’s greatest lover.
This summer saw the passing of Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon and Michael Jackson (all in about a week’s time), not to mention other notables we lost this year: Norman Borlaug, Walter Cronkite, Paul Harvey, Edward Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Oral Roberts, Patrick Swayze and Les Paul.
Locally, we all remember the fall harvest that Mother Nature threw our way. Actually, some are still struggling through the corn harvest.
Recent economic evaluations have indicated that the economy is turning around and the ag economy is said to be leading the way in 2010. We all know how what may look like a bright spot one moment can flicker and fail with adverse weather, a health scare or other outside factors.
Not knowing what the new year holds can make it intriguing, scary and opportunistic all at the same time. 2009 is a good example of how weird and wild a year can be.
Here’s hoping that you have a wonderful and successful 2010.
Kevin Schulz is the editor of The Land. He may be reached at editor@thelandonline.com.
