The New York Times has placed the story of the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi as one of the top 100 stories of 2020. (The Slice Report agrees.) Before the pandemic, the nation joined together to heal from the loss of the baller and his child collectively, not knowing that grief would soon come to define the remainder of the year in America. This sad news set off a domino effect of gloomy reports that materialized into pain.
The Coronavirus dominated the news as well as the general election that made Donald Trump, the 45th US president a one-termer. As the worldwide leader in COVID-19 deaths, the nation was overwhelmed with how to handle loss from hospitals to churches and funeral homes.
The nation has been in perpetual mourning in 2020 and there is a numbness that social media interaction is left to cure. Most people seem to have online access and have been using the space to cope through self-expression, grief and keeping in touch. Social media and the internet helped people challenged by unprecedente times hold it together.
It can be argued that the artist community saved us. Dancers, poets, msuicians and toher creative -- even a they struggle to figure outhow to survive with live performances being swiped away from them -- have broguht a sense of hope to us all.