Lesbian Pop Culture Reviews

The Whole 9 Yards: Year in Review

We associate the number nine with extremes: highs (cloud nine), lows (the ninth Psalm, predicting the coming of the Antichrist), good luck and bad. Considering the spectrum of events we lived through in 2010-2011—from the greatest victories to the worst tragedies—the number nine seems a particularly apt symbol for the past twelve months’ happenings. On the plus side, DADT was repealed; on the minus side, a near-apocalyptic disaster devastated Japan. Last year, we opened our Annual Year in Review with the crisis in Haiti, which proves again that life is fragile.

3. BORN THIS WAY

Lady Gaga—pop star, musician, fashion pioneer, performance artist and humble leader of an army of fans she affectionately calls “little monsters”—waged a successful campaign against inhibition so that we could benefit from her amazing talent. This year brought us Gaga the LGBT activist, campaigning for DADT repeal in Maine; and Gaga the style revolutionary—who can forget Gaga‘s meat dress at the MTV Video Awards, or her dramatic arrival at the 2011 Grammy Awards, where she was carried onstage inside a semi-transparent egg? After “hatching,” she launched into the debut performance of her defiant anthem “Born This Way.” Whatever you think of Gaga, it’s hard to listen to that song and not feel the urge to break out of your shell.

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