We’ve officially wrapped up our first full week of 2023, and looking back on the past, year, it’s safe to assume that we survived quite a lot. We had our wins, we had our losses, but in the end, we’re all still alive — for the most part. We’ve grown so much as a population, not just from officially hitting a global population eight billion people in 2022. As we start this brand new year, let’s take a look back at all the insanity we managed to survive.

2022: A Thawing Year

As any year does, 2022 brought us many tragedies. We’ve lost many famous individuals, gone too soon. Thankfully, with every tragedy is a couple more good things sprinkled into the world. Several cases, gone cold for decades galore, have finally resurfaced as being solved. One of the more interesting old cases finally reached some closure within October. In September of 2004,  twenty-two year old Rebekah Gould was beaten to death in her own home by a piano leg by a man she let in to use her phone. Her body was discarded off a highway in Melbourne, AR, where the case saw no action until 2022. Back to October, a man suddenly surfaced, turning himself in for a murder he committed in 2004. His name? William Arma Miller. Miller was tried and found guilty of the eighteen year old murder, and received forty years in prison for his crime. After years of waiting, the Gould family finally got the closure they were hoping for.

Also within 2022, we solved a case from 47 years ago. In December of 1975, the body of nineteen year old Lindy Sue Biechler was discovered with nineteen stab wounds in Lancaster County, PA. She was struck in the chest, back, and neck, and signs pointed to her being assaulted prior to. The police force almost immediately got to work, interviewing around three hundred people, but unfortunately, the task force they launched to solve her murder couldn’t find someone for almost five decades. That was until July of 2022 when Lancaster County DA, Heather Adams, announced they had arrested the suspect for the death of Biechler; David Vincent Sinopoli. Modern day genealogy tech allowed for them to trace DNA on a coffee cup, which narrowed things down to Sinopoli. He did choose to plead not guilty on October 17th of last year, however, he was charged just two days later with the murder. As unfortunate as this case was, it did bring closure to a case left long since forgotten. It shows that, while 2022 was quite a cruel one to us all, we did gain some minor victories in the end.

2022’s POP! Culture Hits

This year also had its fair share of instances of media explosions, with the fascinating and the downright strange occurrences highlighting headlines for countless weeks. While staying in Romania Andrew Tate, an internet misogynist idolized by many teen boys, reveals his location and went to jail for a human trafficking case. His location was revealed to authorities in a comeback video he made targeting the young environmentalist Greta Thunberg who publicly called him out. We also witnessed yet another internet breaking through the one, the only, Taylor Swift. After winning her VMA award, the star announced that she was releasing her 10th studio album called Midnights on October 21, which quickly became one of the top albums of the year. Shortly after the album’s release, she announced that she was going on tour, the Eras Tour in 2023 which caused a huge Ticketmaster controversy.

Speaking of awards, the 2022 Oscars will go down as one of the most shocking events in award show history. Will Smith confronted Chris Rock with a slap to the face, after a joke that Rock said about Smith’s wife. Instant shock and reactions from other celebrities broke the internet with headlines calling it “the slap heard ‘round the world.” With everything we’ve seen thus far, there’s no doubt that someone had to do something stupid. Thus, we witnessed  Kanye West managing to make it his most controversial year yet. Companies like Gap, Adidas, Balenciaga, Foot Locker, and more have all cut ties with him because of anti semitic comments made by the rapper, especially the comments he made regarding Adolf Hitler. Saving arguably the most iconic moment for last, On June 1 of last year, a jury found actor Johnny Depp to be defamed by his ex-wife and fellow actress, Amber Heard. Depp originally sued Heard this spring following her op-ed she posted in the Washington Post 2018, where she referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” The entirety of the trial went back and forth between the two accusing each other of abuse over the course of their one-year marriage, but by the end of the trial, people across the world rejoiced when Depp was declared innocent. As downright insane as some of this instances may be to some people, we cannot die the fact that they shaped the imprint that 2022 left on us. 

2022’s Cataclysmic Disasters

2022 has been filled with many impactful and exciting events in today’s bustling society. Because of all of these shiny, more attractive news events, people begin to lose interest in all of the good and bad that goes on with our planet. A lot of great progress has been made in improving the overall health of this beautiful world and the ecosystems that make it up.  Unfortunately with the increase in the earth’s temperature due to greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions, the weather becomes a lot more unpredictable. This year, floods in Afghanistan killed at least 182 people due to extensive flooding and landslides. A drought in East Africa led to more than 200 deaths, becoming known as the worst drought in over 40 years and putting millions at risk of starvation. Tropical Storm Megi killed at least 214 people in the Philippines, and an earthquake killed at least 334 in Indonesia. In the United States, 40+ people were killed from the snowstorm in Buffalo. Many were left without heat or power and no way out of their homes. Pipes burst due to the extreme cold and some were even stranded on the road due to the bad road conditions. Colorado forest fires ripped through neighborhoods killing 2 and destroying 1,804 structures; it became the most destructive in Colorado State history.

2022 did not only bring bad news with it, as it did a lot of good things for the environment too. Starting with Lula’s election in Brazil, it brought back hope for the Amazon and the big comeback of 50 species across Europe including wolves, bears, bison, otters, whales and turtles. In this year, we also we hit records of renewable energy production due to the war in Ukraine and its rising fossil fuel prices. Moreover, we will all agree about the different changes in the temperature that we had experienced during this year as a consequence of climate change. The US passed the biggest climate bill in history, $369 billion dollars, to fight the climate crisis, predicting a 40% reduction in US emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels. It’s not just America working to combat climate change, as under the “European Green Deal,” a plan that sets a clear path toward the bloc’s ambitious goals of reducing carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century, the EU adopted new rules that will put its 27 member countries on track to meet their climate targets. We bid farewell to 2022 with big green plans and ambitions for 2023, which we expect to be exceeded throughout the year.

Headlines Read ‘Round the World

U.S news isn’t the only major word on the street. Throughout the course of this year, people around the globe have been shocked by the insanity befalling other countries. In late February 2022, Russian troops attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to overthrow President Vladymyr Zelensky. This plan failed, and a month later, Russia took Khersen and shot missiles on a train station, killing about 50 people. Russia then continued to capture cities along the northeast region of Ukraine. By the close of 2022, Ukraine had retrieved a lot of land taken by Russia. By December, Vladimir Putin was talking about a peace treaty to end the war, but Ukraine is unlikely to accept it. Unfortunately, 2022’s tragedies are not limited to just war. In September, the longest reigning English monarch in history died peacefully at 96 at her beloved home in Balmoral, Scotland. This year, she had celebrated her 70th year as the ruler, though months before her death, she had to cancel many plans because of her failing health. Elizabeth’s son Charles is now the ruler of England and his wife Camilla the new queen consort. As much as 2022 took a toll on the world’s morale, we’re still alive and kicking. Hopefully, 2023 will give us the necessary rebound.

Top Scores of 2022

2022 was a big year in sports. This year, we had the 2022 World Cup Final, 2022 AFC Divisional, and 2022 NCAA men’s basketball championship game.In the final for the World Cup, we had Argentina get their victory, taking home the cold. It was a tight fight between Argentina and France at the World Cup. Even though France should’ve won, they did not, and Argentina won in that extremely close math. Argentina was quite happy that they won,  even planning on having a parade, but there was so many people were in the city streets that they had to cancel it. Going into the 2022 AFC Divisional, a match between the Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs, was considered an overwhelming majority pick by most fans. Two of the best quarterbacks in the league, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, squared off at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, and boy did it not disappoint. The Bills jumped out to the early lead, but by halftime it was all knotted up at 14. By the end of the 3rd quarter, the Chiefs were clinging to a 23-21 lead. Harrison Butker kicked a field goal to give the Chiefs a 5-point advantage, with 1:54 remaining Josh Allen connected on a 27 yard pass to WR Gabriel Davis as the Bills took a 29-26 lead with a successful 2-point conversion. Mahomes responded with a 64 yard pass to WR Tyreek Hill, but it seemed the Bills were destined to win after Josh Allen threw a touchdown to Gabriel Davis with :13 seconds remaining. That was only time for 2 or maybe 3 plays, and that was all Mahomes and the Chiefs offense needed as they quickly got into field goal range and tied the game. In overtime, the Chiefs won the toss and got the ball first, and that was all they needed because they scored a touchdown and prevailed due to the overtime rules that stated if the team with the ball first scored a touchdown, they win the game. This game was so meaningful that they actually changed the rules of overtime in the playoffs so each team had a chance to possess the football. Also within last year, we had the 2022 NCAA men’s basketball championship game, The conclusion of the 2022 March Madness was fought between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Kansas Jayhawks. The Tar Heels came out of the ashes as an 8-seed in the playoffs, having a chance to become the first 8-seed or lower to win the tournament since 1985. The Jayhawks had been a perennial favorite as a 1-seed and cruised to the championship. The game was played on April 4, 2022, at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the second national championship game between the schools after North Carolina’s triple-overtime victory over Kansas in 1957. The Jayhawks defeated the Tar Heels, 72–69 after trailing 22–38 near the end of the first half. Jayhawks guard Ochai Agbaji was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Sports of 2022 was a Russian Roulette match, ranging from exciting to downright heartracing. Rally yourselves everyone, as we’re about to enter a new year of new matchups!

Looking back on it, it’s insane how far we’ve come since last January. We witnessed and survived so much nonsense, it’s a wonder we’re still here today. Hopefully, we’ll be here for many years more. Cheers everyone, to 2022, and let’s hope that 2023 isn’t as crazy.