Popular opinions of 2021
For a crummy pandemic year, 2021 produced delightful writing that readers gobbled up. Here are the 15 most-read online opinions from our websites this year. They are a snapshot of the highs and lows of 2021, from Delta breaking through to New Yorkers discovering Connecticut’s magic. Enjoy. — Carolyn Lumsden, Group Opinion Editor
1. “I’m Matt Amodio. How I win at ‘Jeopardy!’ and why I love CT” was our mostviewed personal essay in 2021. Matt, a Yale student with the second-longest winning streak in “Jeopardy!” history, declared his love for Pepe’s pizza, praised Gov. Ned Lamont as “extremely nice and energetic,” and confessed to being “pretty introverted.” We thank him for being extremely nice in writing this before his streak ended in October.
2. “The right to lie,” by Elizabeth Page. This essay about trusted figures and institutions lying to the public has been viewed tens of thousands of times.
3. “She once thought living in New York was magical. Now she calls moving to CT ‘best decision of my life.’” Amanda Salzano decamped for Stamford when New York turned nasty. Connecticut’s calmness, “its kind citizens,” brought her peace. “2020 will always be the year I fell out of love with New York,” she wrote in a remarkable essay that spoke for those fleeing COVIDstricken New York City — and those wanting to.
4. “Why I love to make fun of Connecticut.” Longtime “Simpsons” writer Mike Reiss grew up in Bristol. He may be the first (and last) person ever to write a comical play about this Land of Steady Habits. Seriously, this is funny.
5. “COVID displaced me from NYC and sent me back to Norwalk. It also reminded me of why I love my hometown.” Another New York exile, Brian O’Neill, had to move back in with his parents for a year. This is his paean to the town that sheltered him and to the buffalo calamari at Rowayton Seafood.
6. “Warning signs all over CT landscape.” What’s a Top 15 opinion list without Donald Trump? Columnist Hugh Bailey warns that “his ravings can’t be laughed off or ignored,” even in blue Connecticut.
7. “Call me Black, not BIPOC,” wrote Stacy Graham-Hunt. The term BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color. It offends Graham-Hunt, who says it’s only used “so people who are scared to talk about race don’t have to utter the word ‘Black’ or the other non-white groups.”
8. “CT judge says Biles ‘quit on herself, her teammates, and her country.’” Gary White, a state court judge and boxing referee, compared Simone Biles to the indefatigable Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis and said the gymnast quit the Olympics “because the circumstances were too tough for her.” Former gubernatorial spokesman Dean Pagani responded that “Judge White should have followed precedent and deferred his opinion without prejudice.”
9. “Delta broke through my family.” Columnist Susan Campbell turned her ire on whoever gave her masked and vaccinated husband the Delta virus. “Unvaccinated people are extending this pandemic for the rest of us,” she wrote angrily and warned that if you’re unvaccinated, “get your affairs in order.”
10. “A beluga died at Mystic Aquarium, and we need answers.” Two whale experts questioned why sick whales were flown from Canada to Connecticut, which was sure to stress them out. The op-ed also revealed that the Cetacean Society International is headquartered in West Hartford. Who knew?
11. “I left Connecticut. Does CT care why?” Why people leave Connecticut and why they come back are always fascinating topics for our readers — but not for the state, apparently. Suzanne Bates left for Utah a few years ago. She wonders why Connecticut shows no interest in asking migrants like her what’s making them go and what would make them stay. She hazards her own guesses for the exodus.
12. “Will Tropical Storm Henri rival CT storms of the past?” While we huddled at home in August awaiting a possible Stormageddon, NBC Connecticut meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan wrote this op-ed to reassure us that this storm wasn’t it. But he also warned that the Big One will come eventually. This is a fascinating history of natural disasters in our state, including the 1938 hurricane with its Category III winds.
13. “Abolish the income tax to save CT.” This state ain’t cheap, says Geoffrey Morris of Ridgefield, who also writes about the Great Connecticut Diaspora. “More than 10 percent of tax filers left between 2010 and 2020, with 22 percent packing up since 1991.” If we want to stop the rush to Florida, we need to whittle down the income tax, he argues. Massachusetts did and is better off for it.
14. “Dark money behind school board conflicts.” Worried about flaring tempers at local board meetings? In a scary piece, state Rep. Christine Palm and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Hanley Santoro track the money behind the anythingbut-“grassroots” organizations that are stirring up ugliness. “A picture emerges of a shadowy and labyrinthine network of Astroturf groups funded by big money.”
15. Susan Campbell hit the top ranks once again in 2021 with “Kyle Rittenhouse, white lifeguard accused of murder, ambles along.” “If you’re white,” she writes, “you don’t get your door kicked in, you don’t get shot in your home,” and time slows so you can at least have a trial.
Thanks for reading. If these essays inspire you to try your own hand at a first-person piece, please send yours to opinion@hearstmediact.com. But please, no more than 700 words. Please remember that our readers love strong opinion on local issues, backed up with solid evidence.