W
e decided to look forward. This is not an exercise in fantastical thinking. We are not pretending the pandemic isn’t still happening or that this hasn’t been a depressing, enraging and exhausting year. Honestly, it will take a while to process 2020, and we don’t have the appetite for it right now. So, forward. We asked 21 people in the St. Louis metro to tell us what they hope 2021 will bring. There are teachers here as well as activists, restaurant owners and political leaders. High school students who have spent their senior years navigating a frustratingly uncertain landscape told us what they are looking for in the new year. We asked immigrants and people who can trace their St. Louis roots back generations to look out toward the same, unknowable horizon and conjure best-case scenarios. Ever play that game where you imagine what you would buy if you won the lottery? It feels easy and silly, full of ridiculous cars, island dreams and mansions. But we discovered that if you ask someone right now about their hope for the near future it tends toward the most basic of desires — justice, a hug from a relative, people over politics, a planet that will survive us, to eat a sandwich together, to eat ice cream without worry. Try it. Look into the future and ask yourself what you want to see. Here’s hoping it comes true. — Doyle Murphy
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RIVERFRONT TIMES
DECEMBER 30, 2020-JANUARY 5, 2021
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