_{Thanks to =kuschelirmel-stock for the CSS and ~Kip0130 for the individual gallery CSS}



Well, with two days left of 2008, I think it would be a good time to wish everyone a happy new year, and I for one cannot wait for the new year!

I wrote a little about this on my 500th deviation, which I just posted, but I'll fill everyone in here a little more about what I meant.


2008 really was a difficult year, for everyone I'm pretty sure.  Reflecting back, I can't find a better highlight than the election of Barack Obama.  Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or other party, I find that America electing an African-American to be the most powerful man on Earth, and lead a nation with such a provocative history of racial segregation, prejudice, and hate to be a huge mark on history.  Even if he falls short on the many promises he made, he is an inspirational person who highlights the good and forward-thinking members of America and I think we all "hope" for better times.

At the same time of the historic election, there were also a few things that happened in 2008 that were very much a draw back from the step we, as a nation, have just taken.  The biggest one, I think, was the emergence of the hateful fringe of America during the 2008 Presidential campaign.  What the world saw was a nation with citizens who still believe that a black man has no place in politics and that anyone with a Muslim background or name is a terrorist.  It was a sad election for those reasons, because while we took a huge step forward, another part dragged us back and reminded us that racism, sexism, and xenophobia still exist.

More on the same subject, I found the decision to not only reverse the gay marriage privilege in California, but to make gay-marriage a constitutional matter in 30-something states, to be a travesty.  Many of these states, including Florida, had gay-marriage as illegal, meaning it is not allowed to happen.  But they decided to not just make it illegal, but unconstitutional.  Hoping for people to accept those of all nationalities, races, and sexual preferences seems to be nothing more than a fantasy, but I still hope there will be a day when that happens.

The good news is that even with the world around us going insane, one thing got better, and that's the fractal community on deviantART.  I really enjoyed seeing all of the new styles and resources that became available in 2008.  While I am not a fan of all of the new styles, I do find that the bar has been raised for everyone with so many new and different fractals being made. I met many new people, reestablished myself with some old friends, and am loving being in the position where I am both asked questions and encouraged to ask questions.

But anyway, that's enough of a long-winded journal, even though I could go on for hours.

Best of luck in 2009 everyone!

And take a look at my "Best of 2008:" feature below!