We assume there are others out there on both sides of the debate, and if they're talking, that's good. One role of a newspaper is to get people talking about stuff.
But the argument does beg for an explanation of what Citizen of the Year is, and what it isn't. For one, Citizen of the Year coverage provides meaty content during what is an otherwise slow holiday season news cycle. That's the practical application. Talkers don't think newspapers should just blow off an issue in which advertisers are paying good money because news is a little more difficult to come by.
Mostly, though, it's about what Talkers feel is the year's biggest newsmaker. The rapid resurrection of the Red Line Regional Rail Project plan was, without question or reservation, the region's most significant story of 2011, and as a proponent of the project and the chairman of the Red Line Task Force of the Metropolitan Transit Commission, Woods is the face of that story. It's not an endorsement of the plan nor of Woods' work, but an acknowledgement of the year's biggest story.
The complaining texter informed the Talker that the Red Line will be the story of 2012, not 2011. Perhaps it will be the biggest story of 2012. That's impossible to predict. It's a long way to December. Talkers do say it was the story of 2011, and Woods is the most notable local citizen behind it. The merit of that choice is for others to ... well ... talk and/or text about.
The day that wasn't
Talkers know everyone has had days when they wish that would have just stayed in bed. And rumors abound of folks who have — especially around the New Year's holiday — had an entire day silently slip by unnoticed.
But it still had to be a little awkward in Somoa last week having an entire day just wiped off the calendar. In a simple yet still tough-to-grasp concept, Somoa and neighboring Tokelau whisked away Dec. 30 and jumped from the 29th right to New Year's Eve. The reverse leap year move was designed to put the Pacific islands in the same time zone as their primary trading partners Australia and New Zealand. On paper, the move was simply a small geographical shift across the International Dateline that dissects the Pacific. That line already conveniently zigs and zags a little, which got Talkers thinking about the possibilities.
If you can skip a day, is it also possible to get everyone on board to jump backward every now and then? For example, judging from the groggy faces that showed up at schools Monday morning, the day after New Year's, Talkers feel pretty confident a majority would have voted for a Sunday re-do.
And what about just a few daily time adjustments? The morning commute on Interstate 77, for instance, would be a great time to just halt everything since nobody is moving anyway. No one could be late, so maybe no one would do anything bizarrely idiotic in order to get just a few cars ahead in line. Around 10 or so each morning, it would be nice to speed things up until lunchtime, when a luxurious slowdown would be good for everyone's digestion and disposition. Whipping through the afternoon would also fit in nicely with the slowdown required for the trip home.
Talkers realize that in dismissing an entire day there are some compromises and calculations — tourists in Somoa missed a day of vacation but, on the other hand, could not be charged for the day that never was — but having the option of just skipping, or maybe even repeating, a day now and then has some intriguing potential.
