I’ve been thinking about 2023. Every year since the pandemic started has been very consequential. The highlights of 2023 include the following:
Climate Change
Natural Disasters
Geopolitical events
End of Pandemic
Start of the U.S. Presidential campaign
Mass shootings in the U.S. (more than 600 in total)
A.I. barging into everyone’s consciousness
Israeli-Gaza war
Ukraine-Soviet Union was a continuation
Declining inflation for the U.S.
Hawaii firestorm
Massive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
Volcanic eruption in Iceland
U.S. Supreme Court eliminated affirmative action in universities and colleges.
Three different speakers for the U.S. House of Representative
Donald Trump made several appearances in courts
A wave of populist far-right leaders was elected all over the world
Workers unionized
Notably, 2023 was the year of the economic power of women in the U.S. Two artists, Beyonce and Taylor Swift, lifted the economies of all the cities where they had concerts. Beyonce’s Renaissance tour was the highest-growing tour by a black artist. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift’s tour set the record for all artists, and each one of her concerts sold out. That particular tour earned over $1 billion in ticket sales.
Let’s not forget the tour de force at the movie box office, the Barbie movie. This is yet another signal that women carried the economy for the U.S.
And yet, the policing of women’s bodies continued. Currently, about 24 states out of 50 have some ban on abortions. The greater South has the largest block. This means that anyone in those states will need to travel to get an abortion. The demographic map lets you know that the overturning of Roe v Wade has been mostly successful.
Imagine if all of the women in the U.S. decided to boycott or not participate in the country's economic engine. Perhaps that is what is needed to ensure that women should have autonomy over their bodies.
This is a NY Times photo that captures a lot of what 2023 felt like