Happy Holidays? (WTH 2020)
A few final thoughts before we toss this year into the bin
December 2020
Hello from Tier 4! Like much of this insane year, I skipped a few months of this newsletter due to, well, a blur of 2020 life activity which included moving overseas, starting a new job, writing part of a book, taking courses, binge watching/listening to everything, definitely not exercising, getting covid, multiple lockdowns, panicking over a major election (with a fantastic outcome thank goodness) and more in the span of two months. Looking back I also have to wonder how the hell I managed to stay healthy having been in Nashville, Savannah, Charleston, New York, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Santa Fe, Denver, Vancouver, Denmark and Norway this year, before I arrived to London (also just in time for upcoming Brexit). Pass the wine. In all seriousness, I feel more grateful for the people & things I have more than ever, and am very happy to be living in a wonderful new city - thank you to everyone who supported & checked in on me this year while we were all on this rollercoaster together, much love to you all. I figured no one needs to be dragged down memory lane for this year - it’s enough that we have all made it to this point - so hopefully there are some laughs and/or fun reads below. Merry Christmas, wear a mask & let’s toast to brighter days in the new year! Cxo
Let’s stay connected: Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Blog, Website
Let’s Travel (Just kidding, skip to 2021)
Except here are the Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure Lists for 2021
Basically all of Europe is on lockdown, and the US needs to be
Airbnb stock opens at $146 a share, valuing it at $101.6 billion
Culture Club
Revisiting stories I wrote this year for CNT in Norway & New Mexico (here too)
End of year round up lists are abound! Best albums by Rolling Stone, Best Movies by The New Yorker, Best TV by the NYTimes and more
The Grammys made a mess of nominations again, with many major snubs
Good economic & tech predictions from The Prof G and Pivot podcasts
Good interviews: Gloria Steinem on Hillary Clinton’s pod, Michael J Fox on Marc Maron WTF, Ron Howard on Smartless pod, Edgar Wright on Films to be BuriedWith pod, Barack Obama on Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us pod
Nancy Drew turns 90 (I was obsessed with these books as a kid)
Taylor Swift release her second lovely album in under six months!
NY Magazine’s “Reasons to Love New York" issue this year is a wake for the lost businesses that defined lives here
Facebook is lawyering up to fight government antitrust lawsuit to break them up
Apparently the new American Space Force will be known as the Guardians
40th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, read his final Rolling Stone interview
Both Chrissy Teigen and the Duchess of Sussex spoke out on their miscarriages
Native American Heritage Month offered an opportunity to reconsider how we teach about Indigenous history and contemporary contributions
Ryan Reynolds marketing team comes up with the most 2020 date ad for Match
Christmas movies on Netflix & Hallmark continue to get funnier & worse every year. Stick with Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, The Holiday, Scrooged and It’s a Wonderful Life (Ok, maybe even Die Hard)
*A reminder to shop local, support independent business, donate if you can - here is a great guide to gifts with impact from NYT Nicholas Kristof
History Corner
Margaret Keenan, the first patient in Britain to receive the coronavirus vaccine, and health care workers in America & Canada
60 years ago on November 4th, Ruby Bridges became the first Black student at an all-white elementary school
This year marked 100 years since King George V unveiled the Cenotaph in honor of the fallen unknown WWI Warrior in the UK
New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary if confirmed by the Senate
Biden-Harris administration with have an all women senior communications team, and Kamala Harris will be the First Woman and Woman of Color VP
Cheers to the women of Paris, as the mayor receives an absurd fine for hiring too many women for her management team (lol)
Fight The Good fight
Let’s face it, we have a big year ahead including providing the covid vaccine worldwide, a new American administration to clean up the mess, the Georgia runoff election, Brexit kicking in, climate change initiatives, and much more. So for now, let’s just leave it here with this succinct message to 2020 (for a good cause).