Year in In My Eyes

Thanks to a calendar quirk involving leap year, the CN&R got an extra issue for 2008. We decided to carry over some year-in-review coverage from the 52nd to the 53rd, which explains the reflective Arts DEVO, cover and music stories … and this column, in the vein of last week’s Year in Letters, only first-personal from me. (Click here for more.)

Observation: My prognostication talent is kinda iffy …

• I’m not quite ready to ditch my Edwards-Obama prediction. As for Clinton: Thanks for the autograph, Prez, but I’m not such a fan of your wife. (Jan. 10)

• “Change we can believe in"—I believe! (Jan. 31)

• Andy Holcombe is up for re-election to the Chico City Council. His odds are pretty good. Ann Schwab wants another term, and the mayorship she’s primed to achieve. Larry Wahl has positioned himself for another run. Steve Bertagna loves to watch his youngest daughter play basketball—will he leave a vacancy for Mark Sorensen to fill? Or Jim Walker? (Feb. 28)

• I’m sticking with my revised prediction of Obama-Edwards. I don’t see Obama tapping a bitter rival as his running mate. Who’ll McCain pick? How about … Joe Lieberman? (March 13)

• I’ve gone into parts of Oroville that remind me of drive-by-fast ‘hoods in L.A. Know what? I get the same déjà vu in places on the Ridge and (gasp) in Chico. Know what else? I’ve seen some cool things in Oroville! (March 20)

• Sorry, firefighters, OT is not a right. If you’ve planned your home finances around it, you have a lot in common with the city. (May 8)

• I like Candace Grubbs personally, and as a Butte County citizen I truly hope she’s been aboveboard with her reasons for discontinuing marriage ceremonies. Covering up is always worse than fessing up. (June 19)

• Wahl cast himself as the contrarian who isn’t afraid to speak up when he sees taxpayers’ money getting thrown around. Except, of course, when he’s throwing it around. Methinks he doth protest too much and propose too little. (July 10)

• We’ll always have bad cops. What’s crucial is their pervasiveness: a few moldy apples or a toxic orchard? A healthy department should have no fear of oversight. Only if there’s something to hide should CPD worry—and in that case, we all should be worried. (Aug. 28)

• Those craving a major overhaul may wish someone like Ralph Nader were a viable candidate. He’s not. For now, we have a two-dimensional system. Make sure to make your vote count, for we know from 2000 and 2004 that who gets elected really matters. (Sept. 4)

• OK, I get it: McCain is the maverick who says he wants to shake up Washington, and Palin clearly is a wild card. Sadly, she’s not even a joker—more like the queen of clubs against aces. (Sept. 11)

• It’s easy to take a cynical paradigm and apply it universally. Does anyone seriously think Friends of Bidwell Park has enough cash for tempting kickbacks? Puh-leeze. (Nov. 27)

• Of all the serious issues we’re facing, the one that has Chicoans mobilized and City Council members running all over town involves tossing pieces of plastic at metal posts. (Dec. 11)