The Union Street Journal reflects on the year behind us
Times Square’s ball drop event in New York City marks the beginning of 2020 at midnight on Jan. 1. This picture was taken from broadcasts of the New Years event.
From even before the moment the ball dropped in Times Square on Jan. 1, 2020, it was clear that 2020 was going to be a bit different.
2020 began as a year much anticipated: the beginning of a new decade, an election year in the US, the summer Olympics in Tokyo, so much seemed to be happening in this one year. For many, the countdown to the ball drop in December 2019 held much more importance than in previous years. 2019 hadn’t been great, and 2020 held promise of a fresh start.
This year certainly marked a shift in our lives – but perhaps not the one we had been expecting. Wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic upended life all over the globe almost immediately. Even as millions of Americans watched the New Year events on their TVs, the coronavirus was already racing through Asia, soon spreading to Europe and the United States. Fires were destroying Australia; later, they’d do the same to the American West, including Colorado.
The expected Olympics were postponed to 2021, and the presidential election became so much more important than even anticipated, as political divides were widened and we experienced perhaps the most historic and eventful year in over half a century.
This gallery displays 2020 through our staff’s eyes. It’s pieced together using pictures that everyone in the Union Street Journal took as they lived through 2020 – pictures that are both representative of the world’s biggest news and the smaller events that took place throughout the year.
We organized it into a few shorter galleries to make it more digestable – but each individual gallery also represents one “era” of the pandemic – starting with the pre-COVID period of January and February, and going on into the first COVID spike in the spring, the next in the summer, and the last in the fall.
Introduction by Carly Philpott
January-February
Jan. 19: Creek schools had just had their first couple weeks back from winter break. The students were starting the second semester. Many kids like myself and my friends would go skiing on the weekends and get up into the mountains for a small break from normal life.
“I go quite a bit actually, I love being with my friends and being able to absolutely shred,” said my good friend, Joe DuMont. Joe and I ski a lot and enjoy the time in the mountains. -Staff Writer Jonathan Trigg
March-May
Mar. 6: Roughly a week before the first complete lockdown, when no one knew the proportions this pandemic would take, I was surprised after coming to school with what by far was the best gift of 2020, my cat, Lin.
“It was cool we got him when the pandemic started. I wish we got him sooner because we missed his early months and because he is baby now, imagine then,” said my brother, Andrei Machado.
Lin has just completed one year of life on December 14, 2020. According to purina.com the first year of a cat’s life is equivalent to its late teenage years.
The second picture was taken Dec. 14. - Opinions Editor Gio Machado
June-August
Jul. 11: Usually there are kids that play at the park by my house. Due to restrictions, it was closed and this climbing wall was left abandoned. My neighborhood, which generally hosts an annual block party, remained completely empty. It was a huge change to go from super busy to completely quiet. I missed seeing other people and didn’t realize how isolating this summer would be without my friends. It also solidified the idea that large gatherings were not going to happen for a while. - Editor-in-Chief Hannah Edelheit
September-November
Sep. 20: My girlfriend and I enjoyed a COVID-19 safe hike on the weekend. Due to the pandemic, many people, including myself, were forced to enjoy safer activities.
“There is still a lot you can do, you just have to get creative, like going on a hike!” said student Elizabeth Ross.
I got used to doing things outside this summer and trying to limit the amount of people I am with. While this is hard, I know it’s the right thing to do in order to keep myself and others safe. - Staff Writer Jonathan Trigg
December
Dec. 1: I was staring at my screen. It was the fifth time this song had come up in the past hour. I was tired of studying and spending the day looking through a tiny box. But, here I was - holding one in my hand.
Music had been a really good thing for me lately. It took my mind off of all the craziness that had been going on the past few months.
“I think, probably, most of the world is feeling like that,” my mom, Elissa Deitch, said to me when I would tell her how I was feeling. “Everybody would rather go out and see their friends or do something fun, but if that's not an option, it's great to have some kind of escape.”
It felt like an eternity ago when I had listened to the same songs with my friends, not even aware of what was coming. – Staff Writer Lily Deitch