These Year in Review blurbs were used to create “Year in Review” pages that our customers could add to their yearbooks. Most of our clients design yearbooks for elementary schools, so our focus was to encapsulate the previous year while remaining as factual and unbiased as possible.
News/Politics
Historic overturn
In June 2022, in a decision for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 6-3 to overturn a decision from Roe v. Wade which provided a constitutional right to abortion. Initially, the decision was leaked before it was made official, a rare break in the strict confidentiality within the highest court in the country. The decision sparked protests and state legislation across the nation.
Titan of journalism
Barbara Walters, a broadcast journalist who was the first woman to co-anchor an evening network news program, died on Dec. 30, 2022. Walters was best known for her direct interviewing style and her ability to score interviews with even the most elusive sources. She was part of ABC’s 20/20 program for 20 years, she won two Emmy’s for Best Interviewer and she was added to the Hall of Fame of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1990.
Landmark legislation
After two full years in office, President Joe Biden has made a total of 107 executive orders. The President has signed legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure plan, CHIPS and Science Act, the Respect for Marriage Act and a gun safety act. At the State of the Union Address in January 2023, President Biden emphasized his goal to continue the U.S. economy’s recovery by providing jobs and supporting American manufacturing.
118th Congress
In the 2022 Midterm Elections, Democrats won a majority in the Senate but lost to a Republican majority in the House. The GOP now has 222 representatives, 4 more than they need to control the House. In the Senate, it’s an even closer split at 51 Democrats to 49 Republicans.
The midterms were followed by unprecedented events like Representative Kevin McCarthy being elected Speaker of the House after a record-breaking 15 rounds of voting. Typically, the vote for speaker is ceremonial. And, freshman Representative George Santos being exposed for fabricating significant parts of his résumé including his education and work history.
Gone too soon
Saying goodbye these pop culture figures:
Leslie Jordan, actor; known for his roles in Will & Grace, American Horror Story and Call Me Kat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan gained online notoriety for his light-hearted videos.
Olivia Newton-John, actor and singer; Many know and remember Newton-John as “Sandy” in the classic 1978 movie musical Grease, or as a pop-singer with hits like “Physical” and “Xanadu.”
Christine McVie, singer, songwriter, keyboardist, singer; member of Fleetwood mac, wrote many of their hits including “Songbird”Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, dancer, choreographer, actor, producer, DJ; ‘tWitch’ appeared on many TV shows including So You Think You Can Dance and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Sorry to burst your bubble
The Department of Defense tracked a 200-foot-tall surveillance balloon as it launched from an island province of China and floated across the United States until it was shot down on Feb. 4, 2023 off the coast of South Carolina. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the balloon was clearly an attempt to surveil military sites which China denies.
History in the making
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the 116th Associate Justice on June 30, 2022, becoming the first Black woman to be on the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Biden in February and succeeded retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
Southwest fiasco
Thousands of people had their holiday travel plans upended when Southwest Airlines cancelled more than 16,000 flights the week of Dec. 29, 2022. An ice storm that was sweeping through the south, and Southwest being understaffed, resulted in the massive volume of cancellations. The disruption was so unprecedented that the Department of Transportation launched an investigation into Southwest’s scheduling practices.
The more the merrier
The U.N. projected that the human population would reach eight billion people on Nov. 15, 2022. It took 12 years to add another billion humans to the world, mostly thanks to improvements in public health, nutrition, hygiene and medicine. But, the U.N. doesn’t expect the next billion to happen so soon, it predicts that the population will reach nine billion in 2037.
Big win for little league
In the 2022 Little League Baseball World Series, Hawaii won the championship after defeating Curaçao 13-3 in Williamsport. This marks the fourth championship win for Hawaii in 22 years. From 2019 until now, these international teams had not been able to participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conflict in Eastern Europe
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. World leaders denounced the attack and imposed sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, appealed to Western allies and garnered support for the Ukrainian resistance.
Price hikes
Prices everywhere are rising with inflation, but the cost of eggs spiked considerably due to a combination of factors including an outbreak of a new avian flu variant. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, the price of eggs in January 2023 was $4.82 per dozen, which is 250% higher than in January 2022.
Teenage world record holder
17-year-old Mack Rutherford breaks his older sister’s Guiness World Record for youngest person to fly around the world solo. Overall, it took six months of flying over 52 countries to circle the globe.
Mourning the Pope Emeritus
On Dec. 31, 2022, Pope Emeritus Benedict X VI died at the Vatican. The 95-year-old emeritus pope was mourned by thousands of attendees at his funeral in St. Peter’s Square less than one week later.
Moments in medicine
By August 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared mpox, or monkeypox, a public health emergency. This came one month after the World Health Organization had declared it a public health emergency, following rising cases in Europe. At the time, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had shipped over over a million vaccines to various states. By December, the HHS announced that it would not renew mpox as a public health emergency in 2023.
In her honor
On Sept. 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died as the longest-serving monarch in the UK after reigning for more than 70 years. Queen Elizabeth’s reign began in 1952, spanning 15 prime ministers from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss. Her son, King Charles III, took the throne following his mother’s death.
Change(s) in management
The UK experienced an unprecedented number of Prime Ministers in just 4 months following the resignation of Boris Johnson. Johnson’s successor, Conservative party member Liz Truss, pushed for tax cuts, but ultimately was unsuccessful implementing her agenda. 44 days after her inauguration, Truss resigned. Rishi Sunak won the race to lead the Conservative Party next and became the first person of color to serve as Britain’s Prime Minister. The unique succession played out amid the death of their long-reigning Monarch Queen Elizabeth II, and a turbulent economic environment.
Sports
The Superbowl LVII Champion
Patrick Mahomes brought back the Kansas City Chiefs from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in this year’s Super Bowl Championship. Mahomes played on an injured ankle, helping to lead the Chiefs to a 38-35 victory over the Eagles with eight seconds left in the game, scoring a second Super Bowl MVP Award.
Home run record
Yankees player Aaron Judge set a new American League record for 62 home runs throughout the 2022 MLB season and was named AP Male Athlete of the Year. Judge surpassed the records of other big league players like Jamie Foxx who hit 58 homeruns for the Philadelphia Athletics and Babe Ruth who hit 41 for the Yankees.
Competing Golf Series
LIV Golf has emerged as new competition for the long-standing PGA golf tournaments. Notable players such as Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood have left PGA for LIV. Just before the LIV tournaments started in October 2022, PGA released a letter to its members, suspending these players from competing in its tournaments.
Warriors win seventh title
The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics 103-90 in the 2022 NBA Finals. This makes the Warriors’ seventh NBA Championship win. Warriors guard Steph Curry earned the Bill Russell NBA Most Valuable Player Award.
Avalanche for the cup
After over 20 years without a championship win, the Colorado Avalanche won the 2022 Stanely Cup against the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The Colorado Avalanche won their third Stanley Cup 2-1, its first since the 2000-2001 season.
America’s top skier
American Skier Mikaela Shiffrin became the most successful skier in the modern era with 13 medals, now holding the record for most number World Cup wins. The two-time Olympic gold medalist broke the previous record set by Lindsey Vonn.
Home victory for Houston
The Houston Astros won the 2022 MLB World Series in game six against the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1. The Astros secured their second win in six seasons in front of their home crowd.
Historic title win
The Las Vegas Aces won their first WNBA championship, defeating the Connecticut Suns 78-71 in game four. This is the first major pro sports title won by any team from Las Vegas.
Landslide win
The Georgia Bulldogs won the College Football playoff title against Texas Christian University 65-7 in January 2023. In this game, the Bulldogs scored the most points in a BCS or College Football Playoff championship game.
Argentina World Cup Champion
Argentina won the 2022 World Cup after a nail-biting shootout against France at 4-2 after 3-3 full time draw. Lionel Messi secured the third world championship for Argentina and became the first player to score in every round of the FIFA World Cup.
Weather & Science
Say cheese, galaxy!
NASA shared the first full-color images and spectroscopic data from the James Webb Space Telescope via televised broadcast in July 2022. The images represent the beginning of full-color scientific images that the observatory has gathered.
Turbulent weather
The Category 4 storm Hurricane Ian touched made landfall in Florida on Sept. 23, 2022 and swept through the Caribbean causing dangerous weather conditions and massive amounts of damage until Oct. 2, 2022.
NASA’s intergalactic safety plans
For the first time in history, NASA successfully altered the course of an asteroid by crashing a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission success was confirmed Oct. 11, 2022 by NASA. This is part of NASA’s plan to reduce the effects of potential impact, should the need arise.
Eruptions in Hawaii
The largest active volcano in the world ended its longest dormant period when it erupted on Nov. 27, 2022. Lava overflowed from Mauna Loa in Hawaii for the first time since 1984. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory determined that the eruption ended Dec. 13, 2022.
Humpback whales are back
The U.S. government removed most humpback whale species from the endangered species list in September 2022. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined that these species have recovered over the last 46 years.
Tech
Chatting with Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT is a learning-based AI chatbot made by OpenAI that was released in November. In February, Microsoft announced that ChatGPT will be part of the search engine Bing and allowed some users who registered on a waitlist to test out the new feature. Some users engaged in surprising conversations with the AI.
Hold on to your Twitter handle
Twitter finally changed ownership after Elon Musk officially purchased the social network site for $44 billion in October. The sale came after months of back-and-forth on the deal which started in April. Immediately, Twitter began seeing some major changes both internally and externally.
Entertainment/Pop Culture
Un Verano Con El Conejo Malo
The year of Un Verano Sin Ti fueled Bad Bunny’s already meteoric rise to global stardom. Bad Bunny finished out 2022 as Spotify’s most streamed artist in the world for the third year in a row, and as Apple Music’s “Artist of the Year.” Un Verano Sin Ti was the most streamed album globally in 2022 on Spotify, and his following tour grossed over $400, setting a record for highest grossing Latin tour of all time.
Taylor Sweeps
Taylor Swift is still the most awarded artist at the American Music Awards. This year she continued her streak with six more awards. Later, she won a Grammy, making history by being the first artist to win this category as the sole director. Swifties were happy to get more re-released albums plus the brand-new album Midnight. The new album dominated all top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for a whole week after its release in October. The record-breaking success and excitement for her next tour “The Eras Tour” ended up breaking Ticketmaster! Pre-sale tickets were available in November, but the site couldn’t handle the demand resulting in many upset Swifties, and even a hearing at the U.S. Senate.
Don’t you ever give up on you
Sheryl Lee Ralph won her first Emmy at the 2022 awards for supporting actress in a comedy series and became the second Black woman to ever win this award. Ralph won for her portrayal of Barbara Howard in Abbott Elementary which garnered six more wins. Ralph has over 100 titles to her name and was the first actor to play Deena Jones in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls.
The Golden Globes return and give overdue recognitions
Michelle Yeoh for Actress in a musical or comedy; Acceptance speech quote: “And this is for all the shoulders that I stand on, all who came before me who looks like me, and all who are going on this journey with me forward. So, thank you for believing in us. Thank you.”
Angela Bassett for best supporting actress, motion picture; Acceptance speech quote: “We embarked on this journey together with love. We mourned, we loved, we healed. And we will be surrounding each and every day by the light in the spirit of Chadwick Boseman.”
Ke Huy Quan for best supporting actor, motion picture; Acceptance Speech quote: “For so many years, I was afraid I had nothing more to offer. No matter what I did, I would never surpass what I achieved as a kid. Thankfully, more than 30 years later, two guys thought of me. They remembered that kid and gave me an opportunity to try again. Everything that has happened since has been unbelievable.”
Jennifer Coolidge for best supporting actress, limited series; Acceptance speech quote: “I just want to say, some of the people in this room, there were like five people that kept me going for, you know, 20 years with these little jobs.” Coolidge thanked Ryan Murphy, Michael Patrick King, Reese Witherspoon, and the Weiss brothers.
You won’t break my soul, but you can break records
Beyoncé made history at the 2023 Grammy’s by earning her 32nd award, setting the record for most wins by any person in the Recording Academy’s history. Her latest album Renaissance won for best dance/electronica album, including wins for best R&B song, best dance recording and best traditional R&B vocal performance.
2023 Grammy Awards
Harry Styles won Album of the Year for Harry’s House
Lizzo won Record of the Year for About Damn Time
Bonnie Rait won Song of the Year for “Just Like That”
Samara Joy won Best New Artist
“History is freaking cool, you guys!”
Lizzo made history as the first person to play a 200-year-old crystal flute that belonged to former U.S. President James Madison. The 2023 Record of the Year Grammy Winner and classically trained flautist was invited to the world’s largest flute collection by the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden while she was in D.C. for “The Special Tour” this September. Later, the popstar surprised her audience by bringing out the artifact and playing it for them as a special gift.
Thank you, TikTok
Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” was the soundtrack to one of the most pivotal and memorable moments in Stranger Things season 4 volume 2 which returned this summer. The electropop hit then went viral on TikTok, returning it to the Billboard 100 chart 37 years after its debut, peaking at number three.
Try it with butter
The internet fell in love with the seven-year-old’s affinity for corn on the cob after his interview for the web series “Recess Therapy,” went viral, and then was remixed into a viral song. The young internet sensation was dubbed the corn-bassador for his home state South Dakota, and the Governor declared Sept. 3 “Official Corn-bassador Tariq Day.”
“I was told that corn was real, and it tasted good. But then I tried it with butter, and everything changed!”
It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot
Over 30 years later, Tom Cruise returned as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the sequel Top Gun: Maverick which became the only film in history to top the charts on Memorial and Labor Day weekend.The movie was the highest grossing domestic movie of the year, generating over $1.4 billion internationally and earning six Oscar nominations. Steven Spielberg praised Cruise, saying that the film might have “saved the entire theatrical industry.”
