BY TED COAKLEY
WOW, what a great year 2020 has been! (Ya haven’t heard that enough, right??)
I know that Thanksgiving is already weeks past, but in the holiday spirit and with optimism for the future, I’m still thinking of plenty of things in 2020 to be thankful for.
For instance, 2020 afforded us so many new opportunities, like … kids got to stay home from school, many workers didn’t have to go into the office or workplace, we all got very acquainted with our grocery store re-stocking schedules, bidets finally penetrated the US market, front line health workers got overdue celebrity-level praise, so many people got lots more screen time, new hobbies were pursued for two weeks, and more people still got to keep their social relationships conveniently online.
And here in the Tahoe/Truckee area, we got visitors. All
summer long. Like, nonstop.
We’re so popular!!
And since I know that we all still yearn to hear more about the 2020 elections, we can thank 2020 also for:
- The election of a U.S. President by more than half of American voters, for the first time since 2012
- A Supreme Court Justice appointment that pleases the remaining 47% of American voters (alongside countless tweets for them to continue to wake up to in the early mornings)
- Lots and lots of campaign ad signs on the sides of roads, that pretty much all Americans, voters or not, got to see. Signs that totally, totally worked in influencing all of our voting choices.
Yes, let’s talk about those signs.
Remember whenever you drove by a clump of those roadside signs, how they were something to which you could turn your attention, away from the annoying concerns of the road, drivers, and pedestrians?
Those signs prompted us to slow down — way down — to read each, leading to everyone behind us driving much slower, which I’m sure delighted them all, so they, too, could take time and enjoy their drive more.
The best thing is that you all, just like me, totally, absolutely, 100% took what those signs said to heart.
We saw measures, props and candidate names on those signs, and our minds were changed! Because we read them! Right?!
Such a wise use of time, natural resources, money, and land. Of course we’d all rather just base our decisions on rote name or word recognition, instead of understanding the issues or candidates. So much easier for us that way!
So, a great big thanks to 2020, and all its campaigns, for putting such effective (and aesthetically pleasing!) foam, cardboard, and wire signs all over the place!
When I posted my appreciation for campaign signs online back in October, some people replied that they in fact did not appreciate or benefit from the signs, and that they’d rather not see such signs in the future. Those people that disagree with me must be a very vocal minority, because I know that if I feel a certain way, then the majority of people must feel the same way. (Isn’t that how we’ve learned politics works?)
See ya, 2020! Don’t let the fires, floods, pandemic, murder hornets, white supremacists, and cheating, lying president bite your ass on the way out.
And come at us, 2021! We’re ready for you to show us a whole lot of smiling faces!
Maybe we can even get a washed up reality TV star to host an unmasking party at a freshly landscaped Four Seasons.
~ Ted Coakley has lived in the midwest, NYC, and much of California. He’s traveled and photographed lots of the world, for work or for fun, from Bristol Bay to the Amazon to the Tibetan Himalayas to the streets of Tokyo. Ted now lives in one of the most beautiful places he’s experienced: the Tahoe Basin.
