The Witherly Heights Yearender 2021
2021 has been a rollercoaster. Covid-19 got better then it got worse. Vaccines were distributed and then new variants sounding like Calculus terms were discovered. But on the plus side, schools and businesses opened up. Alameda County and Fremont for the most part have doing pretty well! To quote the great Katy Perry to describe Covid: “’Cause you’re hot then you’re cold. You’re yes then you’re no. You’re in then you’re out. You’re up then you’re down.” To commemorate our hard work, look back on our struggles, and admire our changing, here are some of the top shows, books, and movies that got us through this year, as well as some of our favorite memories.
What was your favorite new show to watch this year?
“Loki” x2
“You, Season 3”
“Cowboy Bebop live-action!”
“Extraordinary You (it’s not a super new show but it was new for me lol)”
“JoJos buzzard adventure”
“Nevertheless”
“Darwins Game”
“A lot. Corner Gas, Detectorists, King of the Hill, Ted Lasso”
“Stranger Things”
“Money Heist”
“Squid Game” x3
“Glee”
“I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson”
“Animations vs Minecraft”
“Ted Lasso”
“Annoying Villagers by MrFudgeMonkeyz”
“Grey’s Anatomy”
“Shadow & Bone — it did not disappoint at all”
“Glee or Grey’s Anatomy”
“Seinfeld”
“I don’t watch TV. Maybe Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but I only watched a few episodes.”
“This show is definitely not a new one, but I started watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine this year and so far I really love it.”
“Succession”
What was your favorite album/artist you listened to this year?
“J Cole”
“Walter Mitty and his makeshift orchestra”
“Cody Fry”
“Lana Condor (I actually have no idea so this is just the artist of one of the songs I listened to most this year)”
“Set it off”
“if i could make it go quiet- girl in red”
“keshiiii and lullaboy”
“Doja Cat, Taylor Swift, Juice Wrld, The Kid Laroi”
“Abcdefu by Gayle”
“Bi-2”
“U2 (mainly Joshua Tree)”
“Taylor Swift–OG Album”
“Sungazer – Perihelion”
“Planet Her by Doja cat or Juno by Remi wolf”
“Dm Dokuro- Tale of a Cruel World”
“Megan the Stallion”
“pilotredsun/pilotredsky (Same guy)”
“Taylor Swift”
“Drake/ Illmatic”
“I’ll have to make it a four-way tie between Mutemath, Dua Lipa, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar. Mutemath is, of course, the best band ever, so I had to include them. Dua Lipa’s new album Future Nostalgia is fantastic—I highly recommend you give it a listen. As for J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, they are probably the two best hip-hop artists at the moment (still waiting on that collab).”
“Taylor Swift”
What was your favorite book that you read this year?
“Pffft”
“Continental drift”
“King of Scars (Leigh Bardugo)”
“Thunderhead”
“To Kill a Kingdom- Alexandra Christo”
“Pretty Little Liars”
“Last girl ghosted”
“Oryx & Crake”
“Calvin and Hobbes Treasury”
“The Four Agreements”
“Why would I read a book? nerds”
“I don’t read sorry 💔”
“For English class, probably Things Fall Apart; otherwise, hard to say.”
“The Thursday MURDER Club by Richard Osman”
“The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov”
“I Am Malala”
“didn’t read any books and I don’t like my textbooks”
“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”
“Born a Crime”
“Mastering the Market Cycle/ Howard Marks”
“Without a doubt, Foundation by Isaac Asimov. It’s a science-fiction masterpiece.”
“Lovely War has been one of my favorite books I have read this year. The premise is really interesting and the narration was perfect. I also liked the Midnight Library.”
“Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982”
What’s your favorite memory from this year?
“Working at Camp Galileo”
“Spending time with my fam in Florida in the winter”
“Going to see live theatre for the first time since lockdown”
“My best friend visiting from Florida”
“Hanging out with the bros”
“Rock climbing competitions”
“End of may when I finally was able to leave the bay area and see all my cousins and family in SoCal and the last night on the college tour trip”
“made a really good friend in Alsion :)”
“Being in Pasadena and buying my car”
“Sproutball!”
“Going to Alaska”
“SoCal College Tour”
“Climbing Mission Peak”
“Hanging out with my little cousin who’s like 3 feet tall”
“My birthday party, although probably mostly because that just happened and I don’t have a good long-term memory.”
“Being able to come back into in-person school”
“Getting back to a physical school, that point essentially marked when I started to go outside again a lot more.”
“Going to LA”
“Visiting the bio lab at UC Davis”
“Wearing my binder for the first time”
“Walking around Alsion after English class during hybrid school”
“My San Diego bus ride”
“A school memory was seeing everyone for the first time.”
“I enjoyed visiting my family in the Midwest and East Coast and touring colleges there.”
“Going to LA in the summer with my friends.”
What’s something that’s changed the most about you this year?
“My clothing style”
“My hair—it all fell out”
“My time balance”
“I’ve stopped caring about everything a lot more”
“Gay”
“my physical strength”
“my interests, style, and priorities. I got very into Kpop and Kdramas and many other musical artists I would have never listened to before. I also finally started dressing like how I wanted to and learned to prioritize different people and things…”
“no longer scared of bugs because I see a billion every school day”
“What I value, how I think about myself, my goals, etc.”
“Starting middle school”
“style”
“My work ethic greatly improved, in some subjects, I’d consider myself to be a perfectionist now.”
My leadership skills – they’ve gone from being nonexistent to being one of my defining qualities. I’ve had to apply these at forums like Saberchat, HackHighSchool, and ASDRP, and they have really made”
“My appearance”
“My mindset”
“Grew like 8 inches”
“My music taste lmao”
“Not much, really.”
“I got older. Probably a bit better at calculus too.”
“My perspective”
“enthusiasm decay”
“gender.”
“My work ethic”
“I realized how much utter of an utter fool I looked like sometimes, so I tried to change that.”
“I don’t think I have changed all that much this year.”
“Work ethic”
“I guess the way that I think because of everything that happened this year this somewhat changed me.”
“Became more awesome”
What are you looking forward to the most for next year?
“In-person classes”
“Traveling”
“Less stress from school”
“A chill spring semester (it won’t be but I can dream BUT college apps will be done so that’s nice)”
“no covid-19”
“turning 18, in-person classes, and going to college”
“meeting my online friend in ct”
“Going to college and exploring new places and meeting new people.”
“new appearance (new fashion sense, possibly lightly curled hair?)
a fresh start
“Getting out of high school FINALLY
“New soccer and debate season”
“1. My college acceptance (fingers crossed).
2. Getting my license in January.
3. Traveling and performing in Eastern Europe with my friends in July.”
“Becoming a better singer and discovering new options for “things” in my life.”
“Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse”
“not doing math!!!”
“making more video games, and maybe publishing them somewhere”
“MOVING”
“Nothing. I don’t want time to go as fast as it is.”
“Getting ready for and starting college”
“no more college apps”
“graduating”
“Soccer season”
“My courses”
“I’m looking forward to being done with college applications and senior year.”
“Going back to school in person hopefully.”
“Hopefully graduating”
What’s a news story you heard about this year that really stood out to you? *
“Those Michigan school shooter parents running away”
“A story about why non-organic food really isn’t that bad for our health.”
“not something necessarily new but it just amazes me the lengths anti-vaxxers could go to and how many people still refuse to get vaccinated”
“any shocking celeb news”
“Britney Spears drama”
“The results of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.”
“Not sure if this is about real-life events or a fictional story I’ve read? I’ll answer both: Real-Life: The Rittenhouse Trial, and everything about it. Story I Heard/Read: “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe.”
“The one about these parents in the UK torturing their kid, with him shouting “no one loves me” right before he died at like 6.”
“The loss in the Kyle Rittenhouse case”
“Isaac Asimov’s works, essentially. They’re definitely old but I was newly exposed to them.”
“Some guy on youtube based his content around eating spicy peppers. They keep emergency toilet paper in the fridge for whenever their bum hole burns when they go number 2. Crazy what people do for views.”
“definitely the capitol riot”
“It was an article about the inequalities that COVID-19 highlighted in our society”
“Messi transfer to PSG”
“U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan”
“I was surprised and disgusted during the events of January 6th, 2021. I was watching the Senate proceedings live and saw the exact moment when the mob broke into the Capitol. It was terrifying to watch.”
“Everything about the new Covid variants”
What’s something that happened this year that really disappointed you or made you sad?
“Hearing about my cousin’s worsening cancer.”
“Reading to the lighthouse for English class.”
“Kyle Rittenhouse’s lack of conviction.”
“I wasn’t able to read many books :((”
“Breakup moment”
“covid-19 not ending”
“almost losing some friendships and someone I know not getting vaccinated”
“I couldn’t apply to miss porters”
“My favorite fashion designer, Virgil Abloh, passed away November 28th. He was a huge inspiration to me and it is really unfortunate we lost him.”
“Netflix canceled a good show.”
“My friend’s pet died (she was really cute…)”
“Delta and Omicron variants, it seems to be a long while until we finally do get out of this pandemic” 🙁
“My grandmother passing away in April from COVID, and the fact that my family couldn’t visit her or even hold a funeral for her.”
“My cousin’s cancer treatment is not working anymore, right now at least.”
“Omicron variant, although that’s a great name for a variant.”
“The loss in the Kyle Rittenhouse case”
“Having to get tested for COVID (it sucked)”
“Missed the first biome trip, we’re all gettin’ scammed.”
“The Oxford School Shooting”
“parents not being helpful”
“A large increase in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, as well as constant news stories about school shootings as we return from a virtual setting”
“My ankle injury in Feb”
“Messi to PSG”
“Klay Thompson injury”
“I missed out on a few opportunities that I would have enjoyed being a part of.”
“Saying goodbye to all my friends who left for college and still having mostly online school.”
Favorite movie from this year? and perhaps why? *
“Shang chi. Great visuals and action. Amazing in general”
“Shang-chi was good. I don’t watch very many movies but I didn’t fall asleep during this one so that means it was good.”
“Tick tick boom! The genius and tragedy of Jon Larson had me sobbing by the end. His works, mainly Rent, really shaped American culture surrounding AIDS in the 90s and onwards.”
“I did not watch many movies anytime recently.”
“Shang chi”
“Shang chi, it had impressive VFX and cool landscapes”
“The Fear Street series. I’ve watched very few movies this year but these were my first set of horror movies I really liked, plus I watched them with friends and made fun of the characters who made dumb decisions so it was so much fun.”
“I didn’t really like any of the movies I watched that were made in 2021, but a 60s movie I saw called “Danger!! Death Ray” I really enjoyed. It’s so bad it’s good.”
“a quiet place”
“No Time to Die”
“Haven’t watched that many movies, but I liked both Shang-Chi and Red Notice. No deep reason, just I’m fond of superhero and heist movies in general.”
“PITCH PERFECT. It reminds me of all the reasons why I like singing (even though it’s an unrealistic representation of, well, everything), and just makes me happy when I see it because the music and plot is just so GOOD!”
“Bo Burnham – Inside; While it doesn’t live up to 2015’s MAKE HAPPY, Inside is an incredible examination of the way technology affected our minds and bodies during the COVID – 19 era.”
“Shang-chi!! it surprised me because it was Asian representation done really well in my opinion. It’s also the only movie I remember watching this year haha”
“Princess Bride, same as every year pretty much.”
“Eternals because it was just really good like so good.”
“Dune. One of the better movies this year, excited for the second part. Great worldbuilding, storytelling, camerawork, visuals, acting, lore, book, desert, and it even has a dune! Multiple!”
“The title doesn’t lie.”
“Good Will Hunting”
“Venom II — I adore the approach they’re taking and as a hardcore venom fan it’s so nice to see how they’re incorporating comic canon into the MCU multiverse”
“Red Notice: I didn’t watch many movies this year so it’s one that I remember and liked.”
“Shang-chi because there weren’t many good movies that came out this year. But I expect the new Spider-man movie coming out will surpass Shang-chi.”
“Rocky. Couldn’t watch many new movies so I watched old ones.”
“I don’t watch movies. I’ll talk about my favorite video game from this year instead: Saint’s Row The Third Remastered. It’s just an incredibly fun game with a wacky storyline and hilarious mechanics.”
“The only new movie I remember watching this year is He’s All That, but its most definitely not my favorite movie of the year.”
Who do you think was the most influential person of this year? *
“Tom Holland”
“Andrew Cuomo”
“Doja Cat I love her”
“Anthony Fauci”
‘Dr. Fauci”
“whoever introduced me to esports”
“Olivia Rodrigo”
“Spongebob”
“JOE BIDEN”
“Idk— Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk?”
“Boe Jiden, President Vice”
“probably Biden”
“Greta Thunberg”
“The president, idk”
“Influential is a strong word since not everyone consumes the same media, but personally, I think some of the most impactful people of this year were Serena Williams, Dolly Parton, and Taylor Swift.”
“Elon Musk or Bill Gates”
“Biden”
“In the US, definitely Joe Biden. There’s not much competition there.”
“Megan thee Stallion”