If you’re reading this, let me start by congratulating you for making it through 2020. According to data scientists at the University of Vermont who studied social media data dating back to 2008, this year was indeed the worst of the last 12 years.

An Ohio cop shot and killed an innocent Black man and it occurred to officers on the scene to handcuff the dying man before they even tried to get him help, according to body camera video Columbus police released Thursday. Officers “hung crime scene tape, searched for shell casings and shined flashlights into a garage” on the Oberlin Drive scene as Andre Hill laid on the ground dying without aid for more than 10 minutes, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

This was a year when a host of musicians transitioned. As we ring out the old year and bring in the new, I’d like to honor some of them who shaped my musical tastes over the years spanning multiple genres.

For those folks who believe in heaven, the choir up above is certainly rocking, the jazz band has St. Peter swingin’, and there are soulful serenades harmonizing with angel’s harps. I like to think about it that way.

How are we rounding out 2020? Most of us are staying safe and staying home, donning masks and heading into nature, or going out for essential work and errands and trying to stay as safe as possible. Some people, however, are attempting to hold maskless worship concerts. Yes, really.

If you’re white, it can be all too easy to normalize your whiteness. The powers that be put whiteness at the dead center of our politics and culture—think about how often white people are framed as the real Americans or the most meaningful voters in our politics—and you, a white person, could go through your life thinking that’s an accurate reflection of the world around you. It’s not.