I make a family calendar every December for the coming year, using pictures from the year that’s ending. It’s a fun way to look back over the previous year and remember ‘where we were’ each month of the year. I just finished our 2026 calendar, and boy what a year it has been! On the personal front, we moved into our new-construction home this year, which felt like arrival for us after living in an apartment since our move back from Louisiana to Upstate NY in June 2023. We also attended three protests, something I hadn’t done since college in the mid-90s.
The New York Times had a 2025 retrospective this week that had a pic/event for each day of each month of this year so far, and it was a reminder of just how much cascading and crashing news there has been, one thing after another, and how emotionally exhausting it has all been. Since January this year has gotten darker and darker in this country, but we survived. We persisted. We pushed back, we protested, we took up space, we said NO. Things finally feel like they’re at a turning point out there, but I can’t help but think that it will still get darker before it’s all over. How will we view 2025 when we look back on it 5-10 years from now? Will it be the year we began to sign our democracy away to the highest bidder? Will 2026 be the year the Talibangelical fascists took over? Or will we all finally come to our senses as prices climb higher and higher, wages stagnate, and people die from lack of health insurance? Where will we draw the line and say ‘enough’ with the cosplay, the emperor has no clothes, off with their heads, etc?
How it will end is as-yet unclear, and I think we probably need a revolution in terms of freedom–I mean corporations have more freedom and protections than individual humans as of right now, and to me, that is the key issue underlying all issues. We may never get back to the type of reality we had pre-2016; I hope we all emerge stronger and empowered on the other side of all of this. Frankly, I don’t have a lot of hope left for humanity. All I can do is focus on my own nuclear family as we try our best to get through it all together.
I have no way of knowing, but I’m pretty sure my MAGA-mother down in South Louisiana has doubled and tripled down on things, and likely remains loyal to Daddy Solipsist-Narcissist-Psychopath (I refuse to type the creature’s name here). My mother was never one to admit wrongdoing or misjudgement, so I’m sure she’s still towing the line. It’s likely she’s alienated even more family than just me by this point. Before I deleted my Facebook account back in August, there was a picture of her in full propaganda gear, hat and all. We all know these die-hards would rather burn it all down than admit wrongdoing. It won’t end well.
Chicken Stew 