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Context

2010 July 11
by Sarah

My high school yearbooks included a cool feature: a “Year in Review” section in the back, outlining national news stories in various fields. I haven’t pulled those yearbooks out of the basement in quite awhile, but I always loved how they kept everyday high school life in context.

I’d occasionally like to do something similar here on the blog. I sometimes need the reminder to look outside my day-to-day experiences to the bigger context of things happening in this world.

  • 7.0-magnitude earthquake hits Haiti on January 12 devastating an already severely impoverished nation and ranking as the 6th deadliest earthquake in history
  • Vancouver successfully hosts 2010 Winter Olympic Games
    • Canada wins the most gold medals, including Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey
    • United States tops the standings of total medals won
    • Apolo Ohno became the most decorated American Winter Olympic athlete of all time with eight medals (passing Bonnie Blair’s six)
  • 8.8-magnitude earthquake hits Chile on February 27
  • The Hurt Locker wins best film at the 2010 Academy Awards
  • Congress passes historic healthcare overhaul
  • Icelandic volcanic ash cloud covers Europe for weeks and grounds flights
  • An April 20 explosion at offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon operated by BP in the Gulf of Mexico causes the largest oil spill in history as oil continues to gush from the sea floor
  • Apple launches the iPad
  • Chicago Blackhawks win first Stanley Cup in 49 years
  • L.A. Lakers win their 16th NBA Championship
  • In the first round of Wimbledon Men’s Singles, John Isner (U.S.) defeats Nicolas Mahut (Fr.) in the longest match in tennis history: 11 hours, 5 minutes over 3 days by a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(9-7), 7-6(7-3), 70-68 (183 games in total)
  • General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, “resigns” after his critical comments (of President Obama and VP Biden, among others) are published in a Rolling Stone interview
  • Spain win their first World Cup trophy (also the first for a European team on a foreign continent), and South Africa proves itself worthy of hosting the tournament
  • Unemployment levels continue to stay high as the U.S. seeks to find a way out of economic recession

What headlines have I missed?


2 Responses
  1. July 11, 2010

    I can’t think of anything except small local (American) things. Maybe something about the unemployment level SUCKING. Haha.

  2. July 17, 2010

    Oh yeah, THE RECESSION. How could I forget? 😛

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