I guess that I should start off with a statement like, “2003 was a year of changes, affirmation, loss, and learning.” I should, but I think that I’ll just capsulate as I go.

In March, I was glued to my television, along with the rest of the nation, as we watched the armed forces successfully invade Iraq. We collectively mourned when a convoy of our servicemen and women were captured, and we celebrated when they were rescued in a blaze of glory (or not– depending on to whom you are listening). Here at the end of the year, Saddam Hussein, a man that I cannot remember not looming threateningly in the back of America’s mind, is in the hands of our interrogators, and the country that he controlled for decades is rebuilding.

This was the year that we watched the space shuttle Columbia break into pieces over Texas, and the same year that SARS managed to invade our neighbor to the north, Canada. In recent days, we’ve seen mad cow disease inside of our borders for the first time, and since the spring the RIAA has been suing file sharers.

2003 took from us both Bob Hope and Johnny Cash; America’s most celebrated vaudeville performer and the man in black were preceded in death by our favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers.

In the art world, the cinema was largely disappointing; most of the music released was just a rehashing of what has been released before. Visual art made no groundbreaking bounds, and fashion just borrowed from the past. Literature gave us several best-sellers, but most of them were entirely forgettable; some of the books that worked themselves into the public’s affection did not deserve the hype that they received– I can only hope that The Purpose-Driven Life will fade away into eternity, and I thank God that the final Left Behind book will be released next February. I would be in err, though, if I did not tip my hat to those who did capture my attention this year: John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life inspired me in the way that Rick Warren intended to; John Mayer’s Heavier Things deserves all the hype that it has received (the singer-songwriter will rise again!); I’ve discussed how Peter Jackson has done us a cinematic favor, and Steven Spielberg proved with Catch Me if You Can that the intelligent popcorn movie is not a dead genre.

In the world of academics, Louisiana College fell into an only slightly veiled turmoil– first when the Board of Trustees passed a new hiring policy, and second when they passed a new academic freedom policy. Protest was much louder after the second decision was announced, and because of it I have been forced to come out of the closet as a conservative (though I daresay that my beliefs as a “conservative” would make most Republicans cringe).

On a personal level, I graduated from high school, dated for the first time, worked for my first serious employer, moved to college, broke up for the first time, and have learned a good deal in between; how much of that I can share in words is hard to say. One day, if I have the time and I’m not working on another book (I’m always writing some kind of book– there’s no telling how many half-finished projects I’ve started this fall and mean to pick up again), I think that I’ll write about what I learned in the summer between high school and college; between the insights into life that working in the junkyard provided me and my first Great Infatuation, I could write something meaningful, or at least beautiful.

Since September, I’ve been attending a Presbyterian church instead of just talking about attending a Presbyterian church, and for a few months I worked with the Heart of Spain, a display of Roman Catholic icons. I’ve become a lot more hardcore when it comes to being Reformed (this may be a direct result of working with the Heart), and my family allows me no end of ribbing about it.

I’ve met a lot of friends, and I can say that I’m honestly changing for the better because of it. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I’m becoming more sensitive to the needs of others, and I’m less sarcastic and corrosive than I have been; one old friend has jokingly told me that I’m “not bitter anymore.” If I was to list and thank every person that has helped me out in the past year, I would bore everyone, including myself.

I don’t know how to conclude this article, and that’s kind of how I feel about the year. It contained its hard moments, and it contained its wonderful moments. The only appropriate ending that I can think of is: