Liberal Arts Blog — Dave Barry’s Year in Review (2020)
Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Miscellaneous Day
Today’s Topic: Dave Barry’s Year in Review (2020)
What is the hardest you have ever laughed in your life? When I look back over the last fifty years or so, I want to thank Scott Adams, Dave Barry, and my son Toby who introduced me to both of them. Nobody has captured the truth about life in an office better than Scott Adams. And no one has made me laugh so hard, so often than Dave Barry. But, to be honest, that was back in the 1980s and 1990s. Then this week I came upon Barry’s Year in Review for 2020 in the Washington Post. Today, a few excerpts.
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THE BEGINNING — an apology
1. “In the past, writing these annual reviews, we have said harsh things about previous yers. We owe those years an apology. Compared with 2020, all previous years, even the disco era, were the golden age of human existence.”
2. “This was a year of nonstop awfulness, a year when we kept saying it couldn’t get worse, and it always did. This was a year in which our only moments of genuine, unadulterated happiness were when we were able to buy toilet paper.”
3. “Which is fitting, because 2020 was one long, howling, Category 5 crap storm. We sincerely don’t want to relive this year. But our job is to review it. If you would prefer to skip this exercise in masochism, we completely understand. If, however, you wish, for some sick reason, to re-experience 2020, now is the time to put on your face mask, douse your entire body with hand sanitizer, and then — to be safe — don a hazmat suit, as we look back at the unrelenting insanity of this hideous year, starting with….”
THE MIDDLE — our common humanity
1. “MAY…and we are, as a nation, exhausted. We are literally sick and tired of the pandemic. But amid all the gloom, there is a ray of sunshine: As we go through this harrowing experience — affecting all Americans, in both red states and blue states — we are starting to realize that our common humanity is more important than out political differences.”
2. “Ha ha! Seriously, we hate each other more than ever. We disagree about everything — when to reopen the economy, whether to wear masks, whether to go the beach, whether it’s OK to say “China” — everything. Each side believes it is motivated by reason, facts, and compassion, and that the other side is evil and stupid and sincerely wants people to die. Every issue is binary: my side is good, other side bad. There is no nuance, no open-mindedness, no discussion.”
3. “On the other hand, there is starting to be more toilet paper.”
THE END — the nuclear codes
1. “While the President continues to insist that he was reelected, members of his staff quietly prepare for the transition by updating their resumes and conducting a search for the briefcase containing the nuclear launch codes, believed last seen in the back of a golf cart in Bedminster, New Jersey.”
2. “But this is no normal year, and we’re nervous. We worry that something major, by which we mean bad, will happen after our deadline. Like, for example, maybe astronomers will announce that because of the human race snacking at historically high levels during the pandemic lockdown, the Earth has gained a huge amount of mass, which has slowed the planet down in its orbit around the sun, and as a result to make the calendar work out, we have to add an ENTIRE MONTH to 2020. This month would of course be called… PANDEMBER.”
3. “Which you probably think can’t possibly happen, right? What a crazy idea! As crazy as masked Americans fighting over toilet paper. Our point is, we don’t know what else will happen this year, including when it will end. We’re just hoping that it eventually does, and that next year is nothing like it. In that spirit, we’ll close with the wish we always offer at the end our annual review, although this time, it’s more of a prayer: Happy New Year,
FOOTNOTE ON DAVE BARRY — defining a sense of humor, the problem with religion
1. Sense of humor: “a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.”
2. Religion: “The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they come after you with machetes.”
3. Won the Pulitzer for Commentary (1988). Nationally syndicated humor columnist for the Miami Herald (1983–2005). Dave’s World was a CBS sitcom based on his work that lasted from 1993 to 1997.
NB “I can win an argument on any topic against any opponent. People know this and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don’t even invite me.”
Dave Barry’s Year in Review 2020
For the last three years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
So what is the best cartoon you have seen lately? or in the last 10 years? or the last 50? or your favorite joke? Or what is your famous holiday food? Main course? Dessert? Fondest food memories? Favorite foods to eat or prepare? Anything miscellaneous to share from anywhere? Best trip you ever took in your life? Practical life tips? Random facts? Jokes?
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind a memory that might otherwise disappear. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
