2012 is coming to end and we shall welcome 2013 here in the eastern time zone in 14 hours. The world didn't end on December 21, surprise! Although the Mayans themselves never thought it was the end, just the end of a calendar. So what did 2012 bring? Many things, some good, some bad and some downright ugly.
I started the year with my then engaged friends Dan and Julie at their house in Minneapolis. I traveled back to Texas to finish the final semester of my master's degree. My parents came to San Marcos in May to see me graduate. I was accepted to the University of South Florida to work under a PI (principal investigator/my PhD adviser) on a NSF (National Science Foundation) grant. I was ecstatic but sad to leave Texas. Blake and I moved to Florida with our traveling circus of animals and I started my PhD program. One semester finished! (And like 9 to go). I went back to MN in August for Dan and Julie's wedding. Julie asked me to be a bridesmaid and I am glad that I was able to be a part of their special day.
So besides me becoming a Master and moving to Tampa, what else happened in 2012?
The Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl for the second time in 4 years. And ha ha Eli Manning, you aren't even going to the playoffs this season! Anyway....
One of the most successful female artists of all time, Whitney Houston, died in February.
We saw more horrible mass shootings, including the Aurora, CO movie theater shooting in July and the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in CT in December. There were other shootings and plenty of gun violence (remember Trayvon Martin) but it seems that after Sandy Hook, a meaningful national conversation on guns and a culture of violence has begun.
There was the 2012 GOP primary season in preparation for the 2012 Presidential Election. What a circus that was! The jokes just write themselves. Each candidate was ahead at one time or another with Mitt Romney coming out on top to face President Obama in November, besting Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Perry.
Political dysfunction continued throughout 2012 after the debt ceiling debacle in 2011, which left us with the manufactured fiscal cliff. As of today, it's looks like we are going over.
2012 also saw the continuation on the "war on women" with more restrictive laws passed throughout the states. The contraception mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) went into affect in August which led Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) to compare the mandate to Pearl Harbor. Yikes. We also had the infamous comments about rape and women's bodies from the likes of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, who were (thankfully) defeated in their races for Congress. Whadda know, you can't say crazy things about women and get elected. In related news, Tea Party darlings Joe Walsh and Allen West lost their seats. Will 2013 be the beginning of the end of the Tea Party's influence on the GOP? Let's hope so.
Oh, and the Supreme Court affirmed the Constitutionality of ObamaCare.
Perhaps the biggest political story of 2012 was the re-election of President Barack Obama. It was a crazy fall, with record amounts of money spent, binders full of women and Big Bird. The right was shell-shocked. They really thought Mitt Romney would win. That's what you get for watching Fox News.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton resigned this year, probably because of the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi which resulted in the death of four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya. It looks like John Kerry will be her successor.
Other political stories include dirty voter suppression tactics, the legalization of Cannabis for recreational use in Washington and Colorado, the defeat of a marriage amendment in Minnesota, voter approval of gay marriage in Maine, Maryland and Washington, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear DOMA and California's Proposition 8 in the spring, and Elizabeth Warren defeated Scott Brown in Massachusetts Senate Race.
2012 also brought extreme weather, including heat waves, drought, wildfires and super storm Sandy slammed into the East Coast. The elephant in the room became visible. More Americans now recognize that climate change from human activities is real and a big problem. I hope that 2013 will bring political action and bold solutions to one of the biggest threats to humanity.
General David Petraeus resigned amid a scandal involving an extra-martial affair.
2012 was the year of the London summer Olympic Games. The US Women's gymnastics team took home the gold for the first time since Atlanta 1996 and 16 year old Gabby Douglas became the women's all around gold medal champion. Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian ever with 22 medals (including 18 gold) from three games. 17 year old swimmer Missy Franklin also won some gold medals. The US swimmers did well all around, winning several medals in London. Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May Treanor won the gold in women's beach volleyball for the third time in a row. Usain Bolt of Jamaica, the fastest man on Earth, won the gold in the 100 and 200 m sprint for the second time, becoming the only person to do so. There were many other exciting sports stories, too many for me to cover here.
The sports world was full of scandals in 2012, including Lance Armstrong being stripped of all his Tour de France victories. The New Orleans Saints found themselves in a scandal over "bounty gate" and the Penn State football program was slapped with a harsh punishment by the NCAA after the child abuse scandal.
In the celebrity world, Justin Timberlake is officially off the market after marrying Jessica Biel in October, Beyonce and Jay-Z reproduced, both Jennifer Aniston and Angelia Jolie got engaged, Katie Holmes divorced Tom Cruise, Jersey Shore star Snooki also reproduced, Britney Spears is on primetime as a judge on The X Factor, and Lindsay Lohan is so last year. Everyone's favorite royal coupe, William and Kate, announced they are expecting a royal baby. Lastly, Kim Kardashian and Kayne West announced yesterday that they are also expecting.
The year's biggest science stories include the tentative discovery of the so-called "God particle" or the Higgs-Boson and the successful landing of the Mars rover Curiosity. There was a record free-fall jump from the edge of space, the closest known planet was discovered in Alpha Centauri B, 4 US space shuttles retired, the world's helium stock is running low, one of Saturn's moons may harbor life and Neil Armstrong died.
"Gangham Style" went viral and became the most watched youtube video of all time, the Pope joined Twitter and for some reason, "Call Me Maybe" was one of the biggest hits of 2012.
Since I can't cover everything, here's a link to CNN's year in review.
Whew! What a year.
Happy New Year! See you in 2013!.
