We Have an Issue: Looking for Bright Spots in a Historically Bad Year
The Top 10s Issue
By Kimberley Jones, Fri., Dec. 18, 2020
Have we turned a corner?
The Electoral College affirmed Joe Biden's presidential win on Monday, while Tuesday's run-off settled the last local races still up in the air. (No word yet on whether the Supreme Court's swift beatdown of Ken "Under Indictment, Under FBI Investigation" Paxton's lawsuit to invalidate battleground states' votes will sour Trump on gifting him a federal pardon.) Meanwhile, in pandemic news, COVID-19 vaccine distribution kicked off in the U.S. this week, including shipments locally earmarked for front-line health care workers.
But life in 2020 is nothing if not a jumble of contradictions, and whatever good news sees us to the year's exit ramp is dampened by the fact that we are still in terrible crisis. You know the drill: 300,000 COVID-19 fatalities nationally, 500 here in Travis County; a nation divided; so many lost jobs, lost businesses; kids falling behind in school, and at different rates depending on their race; rising food insecurity ...
It's a lot.
That jumble of contradictions is well represented in our Top 10 lists, an annual rite turned all the more surreal in a year that will surely go down in all our personal histories as bottom of the charts. But one interesting aftereffect of going into lockdown was the collapse of anything approaching a monoculture. The lists here are far-ranging and idiosyncratic, little peeks into life inside Chronicle staffers' bubbles. I'm using these lists as recommendations for what to watch and listen to and otherwise entertain myself with as I send off this sorry year for good.
Speaking of winding down the year: Due to the holidays, the Chronicle will be distributed on Wednesdays next week and the week after, and the office will be closed Dec. 24-25 and Dec. 30-Jan. 1. We plan on catching our breath a little, and I hope very much you can do the same.
Online This Week
"It's Going to Take a While to Rebuild": Staff writer Kevin Curtin speaks with Margin Walker co-founders Graham Williams and Ian Orth about their decision to shutter their concert promotions company, the largest indie outfit in Texas.
"Fatale" on Film: Director Deon Taylor dishes on his new psychological thriller starring Michael Ealy and Hilary Swank.
Picture Books (Picture Them Under the Christmas Tree): Wayne Alan Brenner recommends five graphic books to gift the special creative someone in your life (you could be that someone special!).
A Three-Pronged Attack: Singer-songwriter William Harries Graham unpacks love on a new single, EP, and video.
South by My Computer Screen: SXSW revealed the first speakers for its 2021 virtual fest, including actor Cynthia Erivo (appearing next in Aretha Franklin miniseries Genius: Aretha), musician Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), and Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern.
Más Masa, Por Favor: 'Tis the season for shoveling delicious tamales in your mouth. Find out where to order them by the dozen.
