With a new year comes new fashion trends, hilarious Vines and eye-rolling presidential tweets. 2018 is the year of the dog and new beginnings. I thought it would only be fair to give a list of the five most exciting things to look forward to this year in politics, pop culture and Clemson life. To counter this, I also included the five things we should be most afraid of in the year ahead.
1. The Year of the Woman
2018 is the year of women empowerment and unity. 2017 ended with a bang with multiple lawsuits against famous politicians, actors, news anchors and other men in powerful positions. 2017 ended at the rise of the “Me Too” movement: a hashtag and battle cry that prompted women to come out and share stories of sexual harassment, assault and discrimination alike. 2017 was the year of these issues being brought to the surface in a brighter light than any other year before. 2018 is the year we actually start to invoke change and stop taking no for an answer.
2. The Winter Olympics
A couple of your favorite stars are coming back to compete in the winter games in South Korea, such as snowboarders Sean White and Jamie Anderson, skier Lindsey Vonn and figure skater Ashley Wagner. The Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics will commence on Feburary 9.
3. Clemson football
Of course Clemson football has to make this list, especially after Christian Wilkins, Austin Bryant, Mark Fields and Kendall Joseph all made the decision to come back to beef up the defense for yet another season. Also, Clemson will be welcoming a new freshman and five-star recruit, Trevor Lawrence. Our efforts may have fallen short this year, but nothing motivates us more than a little Crimson Tide revenge.
4. Space vacations become real
Recently, SpaceX publically announced that they are going to take two ordinary civilians into space for a seven-day long vacation around the moon. It’s unclear if this will be a lottery system or maybe a bid, but updates are to come about how to apply for a vacation that is literally out of this world.
5. Insomnia Cookie comes to Clemson
If you don’t know what Insomnia Cookies is, all I can say is that Clemson is about the last school in America to not have one. Offered at so many college campuses across America, Insomnia Cookies makes warm, fresh cookies for delivery and late-night pickups. Finally, Clemson is getting on this scrumptious bandwagon.
1. The formidable CatBus
With three notable near-deadly incidents within the last six months, the Clemson CatBus is no longer the safest or most convenient mode of transportation in Clemson anymore. You are better off riding a tiger to class than hopping on a CatBus. Stay safe out there folks, my advice is to keep at least 1,000 feet from a CatBus at all times for optimal safety.
2. Trump’s Twitter
You know your country is in a hole when Vinny from “Jersey Shore” has to explain climate change to our Commander in Chief. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if a nuclear twitter war broke out this year.
3. North Korea’s button
Hopefully Dennis Rodman can mend some international relations and keep America safe. Keep in mind it says a lot about the United States that we’re putting our faith of avoiding nuclear war in the hands of an ex-NBA star who is probably on every type of drug imaginable.
4. Trump’s bigger button
Don’t worry, we can just check Trump’s twitter to see if a nuke is on the way to wipeout our livelihoods.
5. Global warming
Antarctica will proceed to lose 100 gigatons (100 billion tons!) of ice yearly, and our president doesn’t believe global warming exists. Bye bye polar bears!