In the Before Times™️, I, like many of us, would spend the week leading up to New Year’s writing some never-to-be fulfilled resolutions, filled with the optimism that only a fresh new year can bring.
But in these final days of 2020, I find myself reflecting instead, reminiscing about the 1990s, a decade whose end felt equally momentous to me with the hopes of a new millennium and the worries that Y2K would wreak havoc on our computer systems causing a worldwide shutdown. (The irony isn’t lost on me.) I got my start in publishing in the late ’90s, and those years were heady with dot-com excitement and what it meant for journalism and media. (Yes this irony isn’t lost on me either.) My memory of the 1990s also conjures a speech Queen Elizabeth gave, describing 1992 as her annus horribilis.
Annus horribilis. If there is a better phrase to encapsulate the horror show that is 2020, I don’t know it.
The 1990s also ushered in reality TV, and a new, now permanent, type of celebrity: the reality-TV star. The point of so-called reality TV was to prove that people’s real lives were more outrageous and interesting than what we could make up. Of course, we know that what was presented to us as “reality” was artifice, only slightly less scripted than a sitcom. Marriages weren’t “happy.” Housewives weren’t really “friends.” Billionaires weren’t really billionaires—or even successful businessmen. And yet, the latter lent credibility to Donald Trump, a con man who has swindled millions of American voters and lawmakers, and who, despite his mad-man railings, still continues to successfully grift. Now, as 2020 has demonstrated in every way possible we are trying to survive a reality so outrageous and absurd, that every writer in the biz must be throwing up their hands.
But eventually, a light will breakthrough at the end of the tunnel, however long that tunnel may be. It’s not just the end of this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. The new year, 2021 also brings us the end of the Trump presidency. As with nearly everything this year, we are “celebrating” both of these new beginnings isolated and alone. But the fact that we have things to celebrate is due to our joining forces: Over 81 million of us came out to vote for Joe Biden in the throes of a pandemic, amid widespread voter suppression, and despite lines with waits of several hours. We came together to not just defeat Trump, but to vote for our first-ever female Vice-President, a woman of color of both Black and Indian descent. Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris brings with her our first Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish (also a first in this position). And Biden and Harris have put together a powerhouse cabinet of firsts, that includes a gay man to helm Transportation, a Native American woman heading the Interior, a Black Defense Secretary, and a Latin man to head DHS. And of course, our first First Lady with the honorific, doctor. Finally, our political “reality” is beginning to resemble the one we actually live in. For the first time in four years, what’s being presented to us isn’t a lie that we’re supposed to believe is real, but a vision for our country that gives us a hope we can believe in. If nothing else, this New Year’s, we can celebrate that soon we won’t have to wonder what fresh hell will be unleashed by the Trump cabal while we sleep.
And so, it is with the greatest optimism and hope, the kind that can only come from 2020's New Year’s Eve week, that when I write this newsletter one year from today, we’ll no longer be calculating death totals and economic destruction but instead, we’ll be able to embrace some of the more banal New Year’s Eve traditions. That I will be able to write that it was an annus mirabilis for all of us
Stay well, stay safe, and wishing you and yours a happy and healthy new year. Thank you for being a part of DAME in 2020. We're so glad you're here.
Jennifer Reitman
Founder/Publisher
PS. I am hopeful for what 2021 will bring for DAME. I’m hopeful we can grow, that we can assign to more reporters and writers to cover the issues that matter to us all. Looking into the new year, we’ll continue to cover the impact of COVID on all aspects of life, we’ll be launching a number of deep-dive editorial series, and of course much more of our popular op-eds and essays.
I hope you’ll continue to read and share our features, but most importantly, tell us what issues and topics YOU think we should be covering because it's your voice that we want to represent. I truly do want to hear from you. Email me anytime at jennifer.reitman@damemagazine.com
I do also hope, if you’re able, you’ll consider joining in our mission by becoming a supporting member. Just a few dollars a month ensures that our collective stories don’t end here.
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