This year, Donald Trump was elected president. Approximately 85 celebrities, including beloved figures like Alan Rickman, David Bowie and Gene Wilder, died. Pulse nightclub was the sight of the deadliest mass shooting in United States history, and many more unarmed black men were shot by police. Menacing clowns terrorized the Eastern seaboard for months, and a massive section of the Southeast burned to the ground. It is safe to say that 2016 has been universally recognized as a dumpster fire of a year.
With so many terrible things happening this year, it's hard to imagine much positivity. However, a meme recently started going around challenging people to name 10 positive things that have happened this year. The 10 things can be personal or important to the entire world, but the goal is to come up with 10. Without further ado, here are my 10 positive things about 2016.
1. I recently graduated from college
The ceremony itself was an unmitigated disaster, but not even that can take away the fact that I have earned a Bachelor's Degree. I would also like to add that, not only did I graduate from college on time, I graduated magna cum laude.
2. I discovered Lewis Nordan's short stories
The dark and bizarre "Mr. Nodine, Pentecost, and the Oral Tradition" is one of the most hilarious stories I have ever read. It also includes an unforgettable description of the narrator's family: “a great mythic succession of loonies marching in lockstep toward disaster.” "Wheelchair" is another amazing story by Nordan, and it is honestly life-changing. Anyone thinking that the Southern Gothic genre died with Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner are missing out, I swear.
3. My second nephew was born.
My youngest nephew, also known as "the chillest baby to ever chill" and "smol," was born early in the year, and he is a delight.
4. I listened to the original "Hamilton" Broadway cast recording.
"Satisfied" alone was about as life-changing as Lewis Nordan's "Wheelchair," to be honest.
5. I've gone from 3-4 sodas per day to maybe one a week
I've spent the last month drinking almost nothing but water, and I feel better for it.
6. I learned how to fix a broken radiator hose in my car
Having to learn that skill was a harrowing experience that felt a little bit like this...
...(only with steaming water and antifreeze instead of fire), but I'm glad I learned how to do it.
7. I got this job here at the Odyssey online
It's good to have some steady work to put on my resume.
8. I made several new friends...
...including the guy who taught me how to fix my car after it exploded in a McDonald's drive through. The man calls himself "Oh Yeah," and he is a delight. The others I connected with through writing and fandom.
9. I voted for the first time.
It didn't turn out the way I hoped, but I'm still glad I did it.
10. An interracial lesbian couple broke my damn heart...
...and I mean that in the best way.
Just tonight, I watched a couple of episodes of Black Mirror for the first time, and one of these episodes was "San Junipero," which premiered in October of this year. This particular episode featured Kelly and Yorkie, a couple who meet and fall in love in San Junipero, California. It's an absolutely beautiful episode and an important one in terms of representation and storytelling.
While it's true that homosexual couples are being featured in media more than ever before, their roles are very limited. Most of the time, these relationships are between two white men. Almost all the time, the relationships are treated as cautionary tales inevitably ending with one or both partners' demise or some other tragedy. It's so common that "bury your gays" is an actual trope on tvtropes.org with over a hundred examples.
Then, we have Kelly and Yorkie from Black Mirror. It's a relationship between two women. They are of different races. Finally (and most importantly), they get a happy ending. This never happens to gay people on television, and it was delightful to witness it in this show.
2016 was objectively a terrible year, but there were some bright spots in it for me, and I'm certain that others have these bright spots as well.
