Last year, which is to say yesterday, I started to do the 2024 Year’s End Quiz that Kelly always does. But my answers became Too Damn Long, so I split it up.
Whose behavior merited celebration?
Oh, there’s a bunch of people trying to fight the good fight; I suppose there are a lot of local heroes. And there’s a person who has taken a great deal of interest in my genealogical process, which I greatly appreciate.
There are SO many.
A wide swath of the American public seems to think that taxing rich people is a bad thing, even though they’re not rich themselves. I remember the discussion over the so-called death tax a few years ago, and people balked at it even though they’re extremely unlikely to be in that situation. The Ultra Millionaire Tax Act of 2024 (H.R. 7749) is far less likely to impact them. They won’t be making $50 million, which might be taxable. Income inequality has been rampant since Ronald Reagan’s time, and it has only worsened.
And then, there are the politicians.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) “authored a resolution that would ban trans women from women’s bathrooms at the U.S. Capitol” after saying how much of an ally she is to LGBTQ people.
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), possibly the most incompetent Senator, said it’s ‘Not Our Job’ to vet djt’s Cabinet picks (psst: yes, it is)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) blames Democrats for weaponizing the weather.
Most of the Cabinet picks (Hegseth, RFK Jr, Gabbard, and especially Kash Patel)
Orange
Elon Musk and his tech bro buddies (rump jr, Vance)
Where did most of your money go?
The house, specifically a new back porch; the daughter’s education.
What did you get really excited about?
The mystery project
Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
Sharply sadder, though better now than in the summer.
Thinner or fatter?
Definitely fatter. There is a distinct correlation between my emotional state and my food consumption.
Richer or poorer?
Poorer.
Science!
What do you wish you’d done more of?
I’d be in good shape if I could only get that cloning thing going.
What do you wish you’d done less of?
Brooding.
How did you spend Christmas?
With my wife, daughter, and MIL.
Did you fall in love in 2024?
Absolutely.
How many one-night stands?
Lessee: (two cubed) minus (the square root of 64).
What was your favorite TV program?
CBS Sunday Morning, CBS Saturday Morning, Abbott Elementary, Elsbeth.
I’ve discovered that I like watching NFL football in the last year or two that I hadn’t felt for decades. It’s always recorded. Every week, I learn something new. In a game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the hated Dallas Cowboys, the score was tied near the end of the game. Cincinnati punted the ball, but Dallas blocked the kick. All the Cowboys needed to do was to let the ball go. They would have possession, and they were already in field goal territory. Instead, one of the Cowboys touched the ball but could not control it. The Bengals regained possession and soon scored a touchdown to win the game. I loved it.
There’s a thin line…
Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is such a terrible word. If I did, and I’m not saying I do, it’d be Elon, who helped buy an election by spending over a quarter of a billion dollars on djt and his cronies. Then he dances around, threatening to slash Social Security. As a friend likes to say, “Chuck YOU, Farley!” (Sidebar: one minor reason I don’t prefer the term African-American is that recently, someone referred to Elon Musk as an African-American, and it hurt my head.)
What was the best book you read?
Prequel and The Undertow are in the same vein.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Cage the Elephant, who Anthony Mason interviewed on CBS Mornings.
What did you want and get?
To get to sing, listen to music, go to plays.
What did you want and not get?
Democracy
What were your favorite films of this year?
Conclave, The Wild Robot, Sing Sing, Ghostlight, Thelma, Inside Out 2, Poor Things, and Anatomy of a Fall. But my favorite was American Fiction.
What did you do on your birthday?
It was a Thursday, so I went to choir and took out the trash. Beyond that, I have no idea.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2024?
Comfortable.
Facts not in evidence
What kept you sane?
I think I went a little insane this year.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
What political issue stirred you the most?
Global warming, abortion rights, book banning, racism, sexism, homophobia. Oh, and the possibility that good chunks of Project 2025, which I only mentioned a half dozen times, will be enacted, threatening democracy.
Who did you miss?
In the throes of my despair, it was my friend Norm, who died in 2016.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2024:
This is part of what Kelly wrote last year. I think it works.
The United States of America desperately needs to re-embrace rational and collective thinking, and ditch its mythologies about rugged individualism and the eternal wisdom of “the Founders”.
If you take selfies, post your six favorite ones:
I don’t take many selfies. The one above, taken at the Museum of Broadway in Manhattan (and I don’t mean Kansas) in January 2024, is the only one I can find.
The musical portion of the post
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
I was leaning into the third segment of the Monster / Suicide / America medley on the Monster album. The first part is relevant but slightly clunky, but there’s something very basic about the end of Suicide. The third part is anthemic. Lyrics and the track.
Also
The other song that came to mind was American Idiot by Green Day. This is the 20th anniversary of that album. I’m fairly sure that ADD gave it to me at some point. It’s a great collection, and the title song seems very appropriate. Lyrics. “Starting off the album with a bang, ‘American Idiot’ is a scathing takedown of American culture in the years following 9/11.” The track.
Don’t wanna be an American idiot
One nation controlled by the media
Information age of hysteria
It’s calling out to idiot America
Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the alienation
Where everything isn’t meant to be okay
Television dreams of tomorrow
We’re not the ones who’re meant to follow
For that’s enough to argue
Unmade beds and overdue books: Photographing the 