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Politics and Activism

An Open Letter To 2016

There was some good among the bad.

Sarah Kelley

Jan 09, 2017

Eastern Kentucky University

Christmas Stock Images

Dear 2016,

People are really, really angry with you, in case you didn’t know. And to be fair, you’ve done a lot of bad stuff.

I mean, did you have to take our R2-D2 and our Princess Leia both? And don’t even get me started on Alan Rickman. It was just one big slap in the childhood after another.

And your political decisions weren’t stellar either. #Brexit? Really? Not to mention the absolute farce that was the American 2016 presidential election. Things in the Middle East got worse, not better, and terrorist attacks plagued everywhere from here in the US to Germany to Syria and beyond.

We saw some pretty crappy movies come out this year (Allegiant, I’m looking at you) and of course I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the Harambe fiasco.

So, yeah, it’s been rough.

But I think people give you an unfair amount of crap. Bad things happen every year. Granted, you may have laid it on a little thick, but the year was never gonna be all perfect anyways. And why does nobody ever mention all the good things that happened this year?

You saved the manatees, and the tigers, and the pandas.

The unemployment rate in the US fell, and the high school graduation rate rose.

A new Harry Potter movie and a stage play came out, and reignited the magic in the hearts of millennials everywhere.

Movies like Zootopia and Moana broke down barriers in children’s film.

You made huge progress in life-saving Ebola, cancer, ALS, and HIV research.

Pope Francis kept on being the best, traveling all over the world spreading peaceful relations between the Vatican and everyone else.

The University of Louisville beat the University of Kentucky in basketball.

Strides were made towards putting life on Mars.

So you see, the year was scattered with amazing occurrences that bettered life for some or all people! Of course, I’m still looking forward to 2017, and hoping that it’ll clean up some of the messe you’ve made. But it’s not fair to write you off entirely as a waste.

Bad things happen every year. Good things happen every year. Thank you, 2016, for including some really great things along with all the terrible ones.

Sincerely,

An Optimistic Millennial

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An Open Letter To 2016

There was some good among the bad.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

What is the current minimum wage at the federal level?

What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

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Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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