As Kylie Jenner once said, 2021 was the “year of realizing things.” All of the events that took place over this past year taught us valuable lessons, mostly what not to do in terrible and tragic situations. While these takes are merely satire, here are some of the most memorable events from the past year:
We started off the year with Trump supporters rioting in the U.S. Capitol. Protesters retaliated to the “stolen election” that resulted in the former president losing to Biden. Instead of peacefully protesting or demanding a recount, protesters broke in and damaged property. Since then, more than 600 people have been charged, and Biden took office as normal. Man, those protesters really showed us.
February rolled around, and the United States became the first country to surpass 500,000 COVID-19 related deaths. While this had a big impact on most people like me, the problem probably remained insignificant for those who continue to believe that coronavirus is a hoax planned by the government or simply not as bad as the flu. If only everyone could ignore a pandemic.
We fast forward to April, as COVID vaccinations rolled around, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was paused as there are concerns about possible blood clots. A month prior, almost 300 vaccinations were administered in Athens County. This means that many people, including Athens residents, had mini panic attacks about a vaccine people were already skeptical about. These were, however, short lived as the vaccine later was distributed again among the public.
The postponed Olympics took place from late July to early August in Tokyo, Japan. This event broughts lot of controversy, including Simone Biles pulling out of events during the competition. While this did include factors such as mental health, a huge underrated factor is Biles being underscored for highly advanced tricks. This is due to the safety concerns around the tricks and discouraging other gymnasts not to do the same, as if this will be other gymnasts wanting to get the best score. I never said this was the smartest decision.
Students started school again in September. After the removal of mask mandates earlier in the summer, a true “gotcha” moment occurred and COVID-19 guidelines were put back into place. Just when we thought we got out of the storm, we got rushed right back into it.
One of the saddest moments for OU students was the cancellation of the annual Halloween block party in Athens due to COVID-19 regulations. Even though the Homecoming parade still occurred, the city of Athens claimed to protect visitors from a possible virus spread. I guess COVID-19 doesn’t exist when OU is celebrating Homecoming.
One of the most recent events that took place was the Astroworld tragedy earlier this month. The incident resulted in nine people dead and two families filing wrongful death lawsuits against Travis Scott. Don’t worry though, Drake celebrated his performance at a strip club in Houston, while Kylie Jenner enjoyed the concert from the view above with her daughter Stormi.
Everyone talks about how crazy the year 2020 was, but 2021 was not any better. In fact, it may have been worse. Everyone had so much hope and was relying on this year to be better; 2021 was supposed to fix all of our problems and naturally end a pandemic. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.
Let’s hope that 2022 is a better year, but after everything so far, I wouldn’t count on it.
Hannah Campbell is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Hannah by tweeting her at @hannahcmpbell.