Editorial: What a wild year it has been

From The Lookout Staff

It’s the end of the 2023-24 school year and The Lookout staff feels a quick recap is in order. A lot has happened and, just in case no one believes what our generation has lived through, here are the cold, hard facts.

In September of last year, unusually heavy rains in Libya killed more than 4,000 people. According to a NASA announcement, record temperature highs were reached on Sept. 14, 2023. There was also a new record set for the number of mass shootings in the United States on Sept. 19, 2023.

On Oct. 3, 2023, Kevin McCarthy was voted out as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, making history as the first speaker ever to be removed from office. On Oct. 7, 2023, the Israel-Hamas War began when Hamas attacked Israel, killing over 1,200 and causing Israel to declare war.

Australia won the 2023 Cricket World Cup and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter died at age 96 on Nov. 19, 2023. Ten days later, American Political Scientist Henry Kissinger died at age 100. And 11 days later, the AI ChatGPT celebrated its one-year anniversary.

On Jan. 4, 2024, former Proud Boys member Christopher John Worrell was sentenced to 10 years in prison. On Jan. 19, 2024, Alec Baldwin was indicted for involuntary manslaughter after the accidental shooting on the set of “Rust” back in 2021.

On Feb. 8, 2024, Tucker Carlson conducted an interview of Vladimir Putin in Moscow; the interview is later determined as a promotion of Russian disinformation and pro-war propaganda. A gathering was held to commemorate the Michigan State University shooting on the Capitol lawn in Lansing on Feb. 15, 2024.

On Feb. 23, 2024, a high-altitude balloon was detected over Utah. A fighter aircraft was deployed to intercept the object, but the origin or any further information about the balloon has yet to be obtained.

On March 26, 2024, the Supreme Court announced a case on whether to restrict access to mifepristone, otherwise known as the abortion pill. On April 7, 2024, South Carolina won the women’s basketball national championship, completing only the 10th perfect season in NCAA women’s history.

On April 25, 2024, Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was overturned by the New York Court of Appeals. On May 1, 2024, a six-week abortion ban took effect in Florida. On May 9, 2024, there was a record annual increase in atmospheric CO2 reported by the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

For better or for worse, another school year has come and gone, but The Lookout would like to acknowledge something that holds true for all of us: we survived it together.