Looking back to early 2021, we all thought this was going to be our year. I mean, how could it be any crazier than 2020?

Well, here we are. It’s the 394th of December 2020, and not much has changed in the way of misinformation being reported as legitimate news. In fact, there seems to be more fake news in the real news than real news in the real news. 

We’ve been told that participation trophies are the devil, but we’re also certain that everybody who has lived through 2021 deserves one. This award, dear reader, is your participation trophy. 

The Town of Sylva and Jackson County share this award for the two opposing statues that occupied downtown Sylva this fall.

Amy Poehler’s character in “Mean Girls” memorably conferred this title on herself back in 2004, and like that character, the recipient of this award found herself doing something stupid in an effort to make herself more likeable — though in this case toward a bear, not a teenager — and instead ended up making things worse for everybody. 

The Cherokee Tribal Council displayed profound mastery of improv’s cornerstone rule of thumb, “Yes, and,” as it spent much of the year inventing reasons not to consider an ordinance seeking to lift the tribe’s hard-line ban  on same sex marriage. 

Residents of the Qualla Boundary and Robbinsville can now join the rest of the state in a collective 5 p.m. ‘cheers’ after voters in those jurisdictions chose to lift some of the last alcohol bans still in effect in North Carolina. 

This one goes to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which, like the much-memed Hollywood actor, just seems to be in everything these days. 

As Kenny Rogers famously sang, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.” Franklin’s long-time mayor Bob Scott knew it was time to fold ‘em and walk away from his late-in-life political career that he loved so much. He probably could have won another term in office but decided not to seek re-election and give someone else a turn at the helm. 

This award goes to the members of the Waynesville Task Force on Homelessness who were hell bent on not doing anything to solve the problem of homelessness in Haywood County.