Lesbian Pop Culture Reviews

The Whole 9 Yards: Year in Review

We associate the number nine with extremes: highs (cloud nine), lows (the ninth Psalm, predicting the coming of the Antichrist), good luck and bad. Considering the spectrum of events we lived through in 2010-2011—from the greatest victories to the worst tragedies—the number nine seems a particularly apt symbol for the past twelve months’ happenings. On the plus side, DADT was repealed; on the minus side, a near-apocalyptic disaster devastated Japan. Last year, we opened our Annual Year in Review with the crisis in Haiti, which proves again that life is fragile.

1. FUKUSHIMA, MON AMOUR

In March, Japan suffered a 9.0-magnitude undersea megathrust earthquake followed by a killer tsunami that washed entire villages into the ocean. The one-two punch killed tens of thousands of people and reduced large areas of northern Japan to a sea of crushed debris and human remains. The quake also damaged nuclear power plants operating near the epicenter, causing life-threatening radiation leaks that authorities have been unable to stem despite frantic efforts. Radiation tests revealed contamination in milk, spinach and seawater, but the long-term effects of the threefold disaster are unknown.

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