With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, alongside so many other dark stories in the news each week, current events can sometimes feel overwhelming. That’s why the staff of The City Voice student newspaper have decided to kick off the new year by reviewing the best news stories of summer 2021. Read on to find out what our writers found exciting and inspiring this summer, or head over to thecityvoice.org/contribute to learn more about us.
Kumar Varma
One of the best things that happened this summer is that the number of vaccinated people climbed. As of August 3, 57% of the US had received at least one dose of the vaccine, and that number is slowly climbing, so we are on our way to herd immunity! Another great thing that happened this summer is that Chan Sung Jung (one of my favorite fighters) won an excellent rebound fight against a tough opponent to keep his spot among the top 5 Featherweight contenders. A final good thing that happened this summer was the release of “The Green Knight,” a movie that I believe could win Best Film this year.
Declan
While I’m certainly aware that there were more important news stories to focus on this summer (I see you vaccine people), I personally still haven’t gotten over the new Dune trailer. Despite the relative failures of multiple past attempts, this latest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sprawling behemoth of a novel looks genuinely amazing, and it may just convince me to go back to theaters. Apple TV’s Foundation show also looks unbelievably good, and I remain pleasantly shocked that there’s a market for not one but two big-budget adaptations of atompunk era sci-fi classics in one season. All in all it’s a good time to be a fan.
Lena Reeves
Music sensation and holder of three Grammy awards, Lizzo, has released her newest song. In April 2019, ‘Cuz I Love You’ , was released and reached the Billboards Top 10 by September 2019, that along with her song ‘ Truth Hurts’ began to skyrocket her fame. Following a two year hiatus from releasing new music, she has recently released a new song ‘Rumors’. Rumors was released on August 13, but she had been hinting at it since July 27 on the app tiktok by : responding to rumors about her, talking about rumors in captions of videos, as well as using a clip of the song as a sound on August 1. After using a draft of the song she announced that the drop of her single would on the 13th on August third. This may seem a small part of the summer as it is only the release of one song, but this is leading to a “NEW ERA” in her career, which will most likely smash charts and take over the music industry.
Vishnu Mano
When you hear “summer of 2021”, the infrastructure bill was probably not your highlight. However, as boring as politics may be for you, there is no denying the monumental importance this bill carries in the future of transportation, employment, and industry growth in the United States. Infrastructure is defined as the basic structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society: roads, bridges, buildings, buses, etc. This bipartisan infrastructure bill assists 3 main categories: Transportation, Utilities, and Jobs/Innovation. The transportation section of the bill focuses on current systems in place, like roads, bridges, and planes, while it also encompasses a plan for the future, by providing funding for electric vehicles. The utilities section includes funding for water systems, removal of lead pipes, and widespread broadband internet. The final section, Jobs/Innovation, aims to create sustainable jobs in the clean energy field as well as further develop the workforce. This bill, from a political perspective, has been a significant highlight of this summer.
Krishna Mano
Personally, I thought the best news of the summer was when CBS News reported on August 2, 2021 that 70% of American adults officially had at least 1 dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. This gave me some hope that things would finally be back to a world where we wouldn’t have to Clorox wipe our bananas before eating them, or wash our hands every few minutes. It gave me hope that we would come back to something near normal where everybody can be together again and not have to look at each other through computer screens.
Maya Oeverman
While it’s nothing big on a global scale, I am personally very excited about about a handful of movies that have gotten release dates over the summer. Specifically Shang Chi (September 3), The Eternals (November 5), and Spiderman: No Way Home (December 17). Plus a slew of others but those are the top of my list. There is some good movies on the horizon, plus many released over the summer, and I look forward to watching them all!
Ryan Yon
I would say that the best news of my summer would be that we were definitely, finally, going back to school five days a week. I knew that that was the plan all along for the 2021-2022 school year, but I definitely had my doubts. This news was such a relief for me, and I’m sure it was for many others. Learning through a computer is far more difficult than being in a classroom environment. This back to school plan also assured that I would be able to be with my friends again, which was very good news.
Sparsh Aiyar
The best news of this summer has to be the newest “Third Dose” of the vaccine. Or just the vaccine in general! Michigan has over 5 million people fully vaccinated and a total of 10.1 million doses were given. 50% of Michigan has been fully vaccinated which is a huge milestone for beating the pandemic. We’re halfway to a fully vaccinated and safer Michigan, so let’s all keep pushing until everyone is vaccinated!
Romy Mckellar
My personal best part of summer was probably going to Gatlinburg and getting to view a mountain range.
Micaiah Lane
We got to go back to school and Lorde released a new album.
Sophia Xu
While the summer of 2021 has been quite a metaphorical rollercoaster for everyone all over the world, there has still been a silver lining amidst all the fear and danger we have been living through for the past nineteen months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the summer, COVID cases dropped significantly to a daily average of 72,790 in the US, similarly to the summer of 2020, which was a major improvement compared to a peak of 275,000 daily cases in January 2021. In addition, the distribution of COVID vaccines was approved for those ages 12 and over, leading to a drastic increase in vaccination percentages. Lastly, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine was finally approved by the FDA on August 23, 2021, meaning that vaccination efforts are expected to increase dramatically and further prevent the spread of COVID-19. While it may seem like there are a lot of bad things going on in the world right now, hope still remains that the end of the pandemic is nearing.
Jonathan Hoffman
Some of the best news of the summer for me was the opening of particular places to the public for many activities. For example, the city public pools were able to open back up this summer for the first time since 2019. Many families frequently visited because of the closures last year, which brought the community together. Other facilities and businesses also opened up this summer. We even have the opportunity to go back full time at school! Although we may have to shut down again soon, it was still the best news of the summer in my opinion.