This year featured one of the busiest news cycles that The 19th has endured as a newsroom. And while it might have felt like we were working 24/7 to cover the election, the things outside of work — what happened after we slammed our laptops shut — became more important than ever.
Here are the things that we did, read, watched, listened to and wore that brought us joy in 2024.
Do
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On a 40-degree November morning in Philadelphia, fueled by cheering friends and my numb quads, I finished my second marathon. It was a moment of exhaustion and euphoria — a capstone to the pursuit that grounded me through 2024.
I adopted running in my mid-20s, proof that it will welcome you no matter when you start. In 2024, I decided marathon training could offer stability in a year that involved publication of my first book, multiple Supreme Court cases about the future of reproductive health, and a historic election. No matter where I traveled, I could bring running shoes, a playlist and a water bottle. Running let me explore new places. It offered a meditative space that was mine alone. It was consistent, comforting and rewarding.
And if you’ve never tasted a breakfast taco right after running your fastest, I promise there are few greater joys. — Shefali Luthra, reproductive health reporter
If 2022 was my year of the heroic romantic comeback, 2024 was the yeah-no-just-kidding sequel, complete with a montage of Big Life Things Going Wrong. What I loved most in 2024 was that I didn’t weather it alone, and I was reminded once again that I am surrounded by guardian angels. They wrapped my most fragile belongings in bubble wrap, not-so-gently eased my phone from my hands to save my lost luggage (I love you, 19th staff) and reminded me that we’re only as alone as we let ourselves be. — Karen Hawkins, story editor
I so loved teaching myself how to play the ukulele this year. It’s my first attempt at playing a stringed instrument, creating a fresh challenge for my brain (and dexterity) and helping me focus on one thing in the moment. The teachers I’ve discovered on YouTube are just delightful. And because it’s a small instrument, I can easily leave it nearby to pick up throughout the day and spend a few minutes of creative play time to ease the stress of a workday. — Alexandra Smith, chief strategy officer
The first foster dog’s name was Hope. She was 60 pounds of floppy happiness and came into our life less than two months after we said goodbye to our beloved, stubborn, loyal dog. The second was Isadora, a shepherd mix almost too smart for her own good. The third was Haines, an exuberant, cuddly pit-lab mix who on her second walk in the neighborhood confidently trotted up the steps to our house. It took us a whole additional 24 hours to figure out she was home forever. My daughter and I renamed her Jovie — and now we’re dipping our toe into short-term dog fosters. More dogs means more joy. — Terri Rupar, politics editor
This year, I fell in love with playing with mud: I am able to confidently call myself a ceramicist. I signed up for a class at my local pottery studio and never looked back. When I close my laptop after a day of writing code, there is nothing that scratches my brain just right like throwing a massive ball of clay on a wheel and letting my hands guide me. I’ve pushed myself to hone in technically on my craft, creating larger and more complex forms. I’m so proud of how far I’ve come. Best of all, I’ve learned to embrace the simple joy of small failure: the pure hilarity of a pot flying off the wheel and hitting me splat in the face. And still, I start again. — Abby Blachman, interim engineering manager
Asia. This year I flew back to Hong Kong to be with family I hadn’t seen since before the pandemic. The city’s changed so much and yet is still so vibrant — and full of all my favorite foods. I also traveled to Vietnam for the first time to witness friends make the ultimate commitment to love each other. Da Nang, a beachy city with all kinds of history just bus rides away, was an adventure full of, yes, more hella good eats, wildlife, nature and peace. — Julia B. Chan, editor-in-chief
Lou is my cat and also my roommate and confidant. I adopted her five years ago, where she was one of the many adult cats stuck at the county shelter the week of Christmas. As little kids picked out their kittens, I walked around with my parents to search for a sweet companion. My dad spotted her first. In contrast to the other loudly meowing cats, Lou was silent, her eyes wide as she watched us through her cage. I brought her home the next day.
She charms everyone she meets, loves a good pet and is actually much more vocal than she let on. She’s been a consistent companion throughout the years of life’s ups and downs and a pandemic. And, as someone who works from home, I’ve found her to be a great coworker, crawling into my lap as I type away at my computer, or sitting to the side of my screen watching me as I join Zoom calls.
Maybe it’s unfair for me to pick her this year, because I’ve loved her all the other years, too. But, considering the splash cats made this election season, I figured it was right to proudly declare my love for her. — Jessica Kutz, climate and sustainability reporter
In 2024, I found joy in the little moments and the living things that make life rich. Practicing mindfulness deepened my appreciation for nature’s beauty, whether it was stopping to smell the bluebonnets on walks with my dog, Frankie, or marveling at the intricacies of breeding isopods and caring for tarantulas. Nurturing my plants and experimenting with propagation brought me calm, as did listening to audiobooks. The love and companionship of my son, partner, and my pets — Frankie, Bubba and Ethel — filled my days with warmth. This year reminded me to slow down, connect, and find joy in life’s precious, simple pleasures. — Casey Brzozowski, staff accountant
Listen
Chappell Roan, full stop. Her lyrics are moving and transportive and hilarious; her vocals are astonishing; her genre-bending (and gender-bending) is brilliant. I think I’ve listened to “Casual” 5,000 times. Despite the risqué lyrics, I share this obsession with my 8-year-old daughter, Sophie, with whom I braved historic crowds to see Chappell’s last live show of the year at the Austin City Limits musical festival. It was Sophie’s first-ever concert, and it was an epic one — for both of us. — Emily Ramshaw, CEO
At a time when our Black identity is often under attack, it was wonderful to find comfort, pride and joy in the music of Kendrick Lamar this year. From his triumphant anthem “Not Like Us” to the kinetic energy of his new album “GNX,” his music has been the soundtrack that I didn’t know I needed. Kendrick truly is the culture. — LaSharah S. Bunting, vice president
These days I rarely find myself daydreaming about male crushes — I left that kind of romanticizing in high school. That was, in part, because I have since discovered my queerness. And it also may have been fueled by my resistance to the male gaze and what felt like an emphasis on bids for male attention and pleasure.
That changed when Sabrina Carpenter released her latest album, “Short n’ Sweet,” this summer. Suddenly, I found myself belting the lyrics to “Juno” with friends in my kitchen — and instead of feeling a tinge of pain (because, well, the above), I felt empowered and deeply connected to my womanhood. And hell, I was even considering finding a man to dream about.
This summer was, in many ways, a pop girl summer, thanks to artists like Carpenter and Chappell Roan. And although their lyrics are just as sexual and raunchy as ever, men were far from at the center — even for female artists singing about them. Instead, songs like “Bed Chem” and “Slim Pickins” feel more like the playful conversations we have with our friends, steeped in confidence, some commiseration and dare I say it: female desire. — Marissa Nelson, executive coordinator
After owning a word, a color and a season, Charli XCX could have left the masterpiece of “brat” as is. Instead, she reimagined it with a brilliantly executed remix album released on October 11, one that became my closest companion as I traveled thousands of miles across the country covering the election. The extra layers of vulnerability and introspection woven through the lyrics and production gave voice to so much of what I felt, from The 1975 frontman Matty Healy’s melancholic, raw vulnerability on “I might say something stupid” to Caroline Polacheck’s ethereal vocals as she questions: “Everything’s still romantic, right?” — Grace Panetta, politics reporter
This year was all about revisiting the music of my youth. For the first time, hip-hop band The Roots held their annual picnic at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles rather than their native Philadelphia. The concert, which took place in June, included a reunion of rap’s women pioneers — Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Monie Love, Yo-Yo and the Lady of Rage.
At the end of August, my husband and I made a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas to see rapper Nas perform a 30th anniversary concert, accompanied by the Las Vegas Philharmonic, of his 1994 debut “Illmatic,” widely considered hip-hop’s greatest album. To say the show was “lit” would be an understatement. Nas may be over 50, but you’d never know it from his dynamic stage presence.
Throughout the year, I found myself watching music videos on YouTube of the largely overlooked 1990s R&B boy band Hi-Five, best known for their No. 1 hit “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)” and their gifted lead singer, the late Tony Thompson. At the height of Hi-Five’s popularity, they rocked the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, not to mention “The Arsenio Hall Show” and BET with their live performances. — Nadra Nittle, education reporter
Early this year, I heard that Taylor Swift would be playing in Dublin, Ireland, in June, the month my daughter would be turning 15. In Brazil, as in much of Latin America, a girl’s 15th birthday marks the passage from childhood into womanhood, a special occasion that is often celebrated with a big party. I asked my daughter if she wanted, instead, to travel to see Taylor. She replied, “You know who else is playing in Dublin in June? Rammstein.” And that’s how I found myself banging my head to German electronic heavy metal in a Dublin arena, hands held with my daughter, a smile stamped on both of our faces. Rammstein isn’t quite my kind of music, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I had my girl by my side. — Fernanda Santos, managing editor
Read
This year, I found refuge in horror books — specifically, queer horror. I’ve always loved this genre (I was reading Stephen King in middle school), and now I love the beautiful and terrifying tales being written by LGBTQ+ authors. My favorites this year: “Model Home” by Rivers Solomon, “Cuckoo” by Gretchen Felker-Martin and “Your Shadow Half Remains” by Sunny Moraine. Face the depth of family trauma in Solomon’s book, rejoice in found family with Felker-Martin and plumb the depths of isolation with Moraine. — Orion Rummler, LGBTQ+ reporter
Watch
I’m going full nerd about a piece of entertainment I anticipated more than just about anything else in 2024: season two of Arcane: League of Legends.
There are better shows from this year in execution and craft, but I love this universe, the style, the incredible animation, the music, the voice acting — all of it!
And also the complex characters, the ways LGBTQ+ love and diversity are built into the world’s DNA, its statements on power’s corruption, the fallacy of perfection, the role of destiny and choice, and how love, family and forgiveness are powerful anchors.
I’ll ride for this show forever: blisters and bedrock (IYKYK). — Lance Dixon, audience producer
What I loved in 2024 can be easily summed up in four short words: The Wicked Press tour.
It was even longer than the very long (and superbly executed) movie musical itself, and yet I never wanted it to end. From the extreme fashion, to Ariana Grande failing a lie detector test over whether the moon landing was staged, to holding space for the lyrics of “Defying Gravity,” to Cynthia Erivo clarifying that she has no idea what that even means — this press tour was high camp of the truest academic definition and pure joy because of it.
Is it time for the “Wicked: Part 2” press tour to start yet? I’m ready. — Jennifer Gerson, reporter
I spent a good chunk of 2024 on parental leave, and early on in the newborn haze, I got the tip to pick a show to watch to keep myself tethered in between rocking and nursing and changing diapers. That’s how, over a decade after it began, I found myself watching “Vanderpump Rules.”
I’d heard of Scandoval, sure, and that high-profile drama drew me to the 11-season show. But I wasn’t prepared for how much these characters would be my only English-speaking companions during long days (shoutout to my assistant editor, Greer, who is babbling), and how much they would worm their way into my heart. It’s a show I kept on in the background as I washed endless bottles and folded tiny clothes, but the emotional investment I made in the growth (and, uh, regression) of the cast members shocked me. It’s mindless, indulgent escapism into a world of unencumbered hot people who I watched grow into themselves as I, too, started a new chapter. Shoutout to the group texts that entertained me as I texted them, shocked at things that had happened literal years before. — Abby Johnston, partnerships editor
Wear
One week I was just another New York mom —walking to the store, to bus pickup, to the kids’ afterschool activities — and the next, my soles seemed to hurt the moment my feet hit the floor. Plantar fasciitis was just one of many midlife indignities to strike in the past two years. My sister solved this for me with a recommendation, and I am passing it on to you: Cloud Slides. These slippers (and a few stretches early on) helped my feet heal, and now I wear them all the time, or at least when my children aren’t stealing them. — Flora Peir, news editor
