#2017GOALS: Righting all my pop-cultural wrongs

Personally, 2016 was a good year. I was able to make a final decision to leave a career that was no longer fulfilling and was fortunate to find a new job that’s just out of my comfort zone. My family is healthy and happy. Most people can say this, but yet 2016 will go down for many reasons as the year we speak not of. The most obvious are political — we understood that even if a good chunk of the population can follow a basic chain of logic, the people who can’t can still impact our lives.

But really what was shocking about 2016 was the loss — the loss of our icons who shaped our popular culture. It was also interesting to note our reactions to that loss. David Bowie dies and his album sales go off the charts. Same with Prince. George Michael. We remember their work more after they die.  That seems wrong.

When Carrie Fisher died, I was only watching the Star Wars movies (which are exactly as old as I am) for the first time and I realized that if I had seen those movies when I was younger, I might well be drinking coffee from a Princess Leia mug and not a Wonder Woman one. That one made me a little sad.

The reason I never saw a Star Wars movie before last year is a stupid one. I have always had this tendency to reject, almost out of hand, things that others embrace and rave about. I guess I’m so cynical that my default is that people are overreacting. I mean, how good can it be, right?

(There is perhaps an incident I can point to that explains these reactions. When I was in school, my teacher had me read “The Great Gatsby.” One of the best books in American literature. Allegedly. I read it and thought, “This whole book and all this drama is about a girl who couldn’t deal and made everyone else miserable. This is a classic?!!” So this isn’t entirely my fault.)

Regardless, it is time to stop dismissing things for no reason. Doing that is actually a little ignorant if you think about it. So. It’s time to open the floodgates. So much missed, so little time. Where do I start? I’m going to start with “The West Wing” because I hear the president in it is pretty good and if I space it out right, it might take me four years to finish the whole series, which should make a pretty good cocoon for these days and times. But I’ve dismissed a lot. A lot. Lady Gaga. Beyonce. (OK, calm down.) “Game of Thrones.” (Stop yelling at me. I told you I’m on it.) If you can think of anything I need to add to the list, it’s probably not on there, so feel free to submit it. I’ll post regular updates and reviews on these things as I tick them off the list.

Now I’m not promising I’m going to like this stuff. I still consider myself pretty highfalutin’, so I have to maintain my standards. So there are things you shouldn’t even bother asking me about. No “50 Shades” of anything. Besides, I tried it. I read one whole chapter, which is enough.

Other than that, go!