{"id":403286,"date":"2023-12-29T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=403286"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Taylor-Swift-s-new-romance-is-among-most-joyous-moments-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Taylor-Swift-s-new-romance-is-among-most-joyous-moments-of-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift’s new romance is among most joyous moments of 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, Mo.<\/strong> (AP)\u2014A romance that united sports and music fans, a celestial wonder that drew millions of eyes skyward and a spiritual homecoming for some Native American tribes were just some of the moments that inspired us and brought joy in 2023.<\/p>\n

In a year that saw multiple wars, deadly mass shootings, earthquakes, wildfires, sexual harassment stories and other tragedies, these events were among those that broke through the tumult of 2023 and made people feel hopeful.<\/p>\n

As Taylor Swift would say, \u201cHold on to the memories.\u201d Here are a few of them:<\/p>\n

A friendship bracelet with a phone number<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce planned to woo superstar Taylor Swift when he went to her Eras Tour concert stop in the Missouri capital. It didn\u2019t work\u2014at first.<\/p>\n

But the romantic gesture, and public admission of defeat on his \u201cNew Heights\u201d podcast, caught the Grammy Award-winner\u2019s attention. After the power pair took their relationship public\u2014she went to a Chiefs game and sat in a box with Kelce\u2019s mom, to the delight of fans\u2014they began taking the world by storm.<\/p>\n

Sportscasters calculated Swift\u2019s effect on Kelce\u2019s game stats and TV viewership, national magazines offered up comprehensive dating timelines, and Swift fans scoured Kelce\u2019s old social media posts to make sure he was fit for their queen.<\/p>\n

On tour in Buenos Aires, the then-33-year-old singer changed a lyric from \u201cKarma is the guy on the screen\u201d to \u201cKarma is the guy on the Chiefs.\u201d And fans went crazy when she jumped into Kelce\u2019s arms for an iconic post-concert kiss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re all excited about it. Until they start making good romcoms again, this is what we have,\u201d said Michal Owens, a 37-year-old longtime fan from the Indianapolis suburb of Zionsville.<\/p>\n

While pint-sized pairs of trick-or-treaters donned glitzy dresses and Chiefs jerseys this Halloween, Owens transformed her outdoor display into a tribute. The mother of three dressed one 12-foot-tall (3.66-meters-tall) skeleton in a Chiefs jersey, another in a sparkly dress and then stacked three smaller skeletons atop one another to create what she called a \u201ctower of Swifties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got so many things in the world to be sad about,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy not find something to root for and give us some joy?\u201d<\/p>\n

An awe-inspiring eclipse<\/p>\n

From Oregon\u2019s coast to the beaches of Corpus Christi, Texas, millions of people in October donned special glasses and gazed upward to take in the dazzling \u201c ring of fire\u201d eclipse of the sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of spiritual, but in a way that is almost tangible,\u201d University of Texas at San Antonio astrophysics professor Angela Speck said as she recalled the type of eclipse that ancient Mayan astronomers called a \u201cbroken sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowds in the path of the eclipse erupted in cheers when the moon blocked out all but a brilliant circle of the sun\u2019s outer edge. Participants at an international balloon fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, whooped from the launch pad. Broadcasters for NASA said they felt a chill as the moon cast a shadow over the earth\u2014and one broadcaster was so overcome with emotion that she began crying.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon was a prelude to the total solar eclipse that will sweep across Mexico, the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, in April 2024. But the next \u201cring of fire\u201d eclipse won\u2019t be visible in the U.S. until 2039 and then only in parts of Alaska.<\/p>\n

In death, a selfless act<\/p>\n

Surprise letters are showing up in mailboxes, informing recipients that their medical debt is wiped away.<\/p>\n

They have Casey McIntyre to thank. The 38-year-old New York City book publisher nearly died of cancer in May. But in what her husband, Andrew Rose Gregory, called a \u201cbonus summer,\u201d the young mother made plans to help people after she was gone. Her goal: To erase medical debt.<\/p>\n

In a message posted after her death in November, she asked for donations, writing, \u201cI loved each and every one of you with my whole heart and I promise you, I knew how deeply I was loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

By December, the campaign had raised more than $1 million, enough to erase around $100 million in debt. That\u2019s because the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt says every dollar donated buys about $100 in debt.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer positive spirit is just resonating with a lot of people,\u201d said Allison Sesso, the nonprofit\u2019s president and CEO.<\/p>\n

The effort was inspired by the people McIntyre met during treatment. They weren\u2019t just worried about their health but how to pay for their care. She had good insurance\u2014and \u201ccouldn\u2019t even fathom having to deal with that on top of the cancer,\u201d Sesso said.<\/p>\n

The fundraiser, which quickly shattered its initial goal of $20,000, gave her family a sliver of \u201csomething positive\u201d to focus on amid their grief. It was particularly hard for the family because when McIntyre died, her daughter was just a toddler, not yet 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sounds crazy but she didn\u2019t seem angry at all,\u201d said Sesso. \u201cShe was like, \u2018This happened. I\u2019ve accepted that this has happened, and I\u2019m going to do this positive thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A spiritual homecoming<\/p>\n

When the Grand Canyon became a national park over a century ago, many Native Americans who called it home were displaced.<\/p>\n

In 2023, meaningful steps were taken to address the federal government\u2019s actions. In May, a ceremony marked the renaming of a popular campground in the inner canyon from Indian Garden to Havasupai Gardens, or \u201cHa\u2019a Gyoh,\u201d in the Havasupai language.<\/p>\n

It marked a pivotal moment in the tribe\u2019s relationship with the U.S. government nearly a century after the last tribal member was forcibly removed from the park. The Havasupai Tribe was landless for a time until the federal government set aside a plot in the depths of the Grand Canyon for members.<\/p>\n

Then in August, President Joe Biden signed a national monument designation\u2014over the opposition of Republican lawmakers and the uranium mining industry\u2014to help preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) to the north and south of Grand Canyon National Park.<\/p>\n

It was another big step for the Havasupai, and for the 10 other tribes that consider the Grand Canyon their ancestral homeland.<\/p>\n

The new national monument is called Baaj Nwaavjo I\u2019tah Kukveni. \u201cBaaj Nwaavjo\u201d meaning \u201cwhere tribes roam,\u201d for the Havasupai people, while \u201cI\u2019tah Kukveni\u201d translates to \u201cour footprints,\u201d for the Hopi Tribe.<\/p>\n

The move restricts new mining claims and brings tribal voices to the table to manage the environment, said Jack Pongyesva, of the Grand Canyon Trust, an advocacy group that represents tribal and environmental issues in the region.<\/p>\n

He said it also could open the door for more cultural tourism, where visitors could learn not just about the landscape but about the tribes\u2014from the tribes themselves.<\/p>\n

Pongyesva, a member of the Hopi Tribe, said the dedication is \u201cThe beginning of hopefully this healing and looking back and seeing what was wrong and moving forward together.\u201d<\/p>\n

A resilient return<\/p>\n

Firs are mainstays of Christmas tree lots. But on the Isle Royale National Park near Michigan\u2019s border with Canada, balsam firs were being devoured.<\/p>\n

Gray wolves on the remote island cluster in Lake Superior were already dying out from inbreeding, causing the moose population to become a \u201crunaway freight train\u201d and strip trees that were wolves\u2019 primary food during long, snowbound winters, said Michigan Tech biologist Rolf Peterson.<\/p>\n

An ambitious plan was hatched to airlift wolves from the mainland to the park\u2014and it\u2019s starting to make a big difference. A report this year shows the resurging wolf population is thriving and the moose total is shrinking, giving the trees a chance to recover.<\/p>\n

There were critics of the plan, but Peterson said there weren\u2019t other viable options. Because of climate change, particularly global warming, there are fewer ice bridges, reducing wolves\u2019 ability to trek from the mainland and diversify the gene pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a huge undertaking,\u201d Peterson said, and it turned out \u201cspectacularly well.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This family photo shows Casey McIntyre.<\/p>\n

-Andrew Rose Gregory
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