Bah humb . . . I mean, Happy Holidays!

Feel free to slam the door on your way out, 2023. I'll lock up behind you.

Well, here we go. Merry Christmas, if you celebrate, and Happy Holidays either way.

Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

I’m offering these wishes because I adore you and I want you to have a nice season. (My tone may not be all it could be, but I do sincerely wish you all the best, dear reader.)

My mood is far more humbug, though. I mean, what a year.

Inflation. The continued rise of radicalism. Climate change. Fires, floods, droughts. Hunger and homelessness. Closer to home, far too much illness and fear of same.

And war.

I look at humanity and think, have we learned nothing? And now we have arrived at a time that is supposed to be about peace, joy and love, and all I can see is . . . well, the opposite.

In the big picture, anyway. There are a great many people who are lovely and kind and charitable, and I clutch these souls to my heart.

I think many if not most of us probably want to relax and at least temporarily (if at all possible) stuff away the nastiness of this dreadful year we called “2023” (I have other names for it and the kindest/most printable of them start with “poop”) and move on to lighter, perhaps less unimportant, things.

For example, the words of the year.

Merriam-Webster chose authentic as its word, meaning “not false or imitation.” In an era where every echo-chambered idiot is screaming about fake news, this was not a bad choice.

(Brief aside from my journalistic heart: There are many good, credible, ethical news outlets almost entirely devoid of fake news. It is not necessary to be in the choir preached to by the perverted.)

Authentic is also being used as an antidote, I gather, to artificial intelligence, so that also fits.

The Oxford chose rizz. Took me a minute to get that one: it was ripped out of the word “charisma” which hopefully will not be spelled henceforth as “charizzma” in this august dictionary. Used extensively on social media, they tell me, rizz is already being called passé or cringe. So I just won’t start then. I’m behind as always, but in this case, I’m good with that.

Worth noting: Merriam goes with how often a word was looked up. (People need to look up “authentic”?!!?) Oxford relies on votes. I am not sure what this means, but there it is for your consideration.

One thing I did like about 2023 was the Pantone colour of the year, which was magenta. I really preferred 2022’s periwinkle and 2018’s ultra violet, but then, I am a purple maniac.

See how this pops!?

PURPLE FOR THE WIN!

Next year’s colour is peach fuzz. It has been described as “a light, delicate shade that sits between pink and orange” that expresses “the desire to nurture kindness, compassion, and connection—all while fostering a deep coziness as we seek a peaceful future.”

Like this.

Ew.

Right, so who doesn’t want a peaceful future? How can I possibly object? But . . . ew. I do not like peach. It looks like something I will not mention here because, well, that’s disgusting.

I’m not even crazy about peaches (except in pie) because the fuzz makes my teeth feel funny.

Not necessarily a good start to 2024, but that’s probably just me.

We also, as always, had Time’s person of the year — in this case, Taylor Swift. Because I love making clever connections, the word authentic was also attached to/inspired by Ms. Swift, who it turns out has spoken about “authentic voice” and such things.

At first, I admit I was horrified by the choice. Why would Time choose a pop star at all, especially one whose garb, in my view, may well be shipping an, um, imperfect message to very young female cis humans?

Especially in a year when all hell broke loose? Were there no, say, diplomats or activists who deserved this honour?

I thought about that and decided . . . nope. I couldn’t actually think of one. This does not mean one or two or ten do not exist.

And then I remembered that Ms. Swift has been very generous in supporting (among other things) food banks and the cause of fighting cancer, which is increasingly getting closer to my own heart.

She has also persuaded non-radicalized reasonable humans to get their butts out and vote. This is good.

So I took a little inspiration from a line from her song Ours, which I have to admit I have never heard:

“People throw rocks at things that shine.”

Oof, that’s so true. And I don’t want to be one of those throwy folks, so good on you, Ms. Swift. Little doubt that you do shine.

And there is very little that is shiny in our world right now.

So maybe it’s a good time to light candles in dark corners, to open the windows of our souls and let in the sunshine, to quell any thoughts of hate and share our love for each other.

And pass it on.

Photo by Mercedes Bosquet on Unsplash

With apologies for this rambling stream of consciousness and moments of goofy tonal irregularity.