You preferred Instagram to Pinterest … before Instagram disabled photo integration with Twitter.

 

Survey Says

 
That thing where the answers you supplied were lame so we came up with better ones for you. #jk
 
But let’s start off this look back at 2012 at the year’s catchphrases anyway. Love it or hate it (and even NPR music critics have decreed those who “continue to dispute this song’s limitless charm” must “hate happiness”*) Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” infected the country this summer. If you didn’t just once write your own version of the 27-year-old singer/songwriter’s “Hey I just met you, and this is crazy” lyrics, you are the only one.
 

Phrases jump the shark so quickly in social media’s real time-defined cool, it’s increasingly hard to tell the difference between today’s hip zing! and tomorrow’s overused #fail. Here’s a #protip for you – stop worrying about what everyone else is saying. Who made them the language police? There’s no rule that says you can’t design your own language. YOLO.
 
While on the topic of self-improvement, it’s been decreed that you – yes, you heard me right – YOU, darling reader, are to be commended for your outstanding volunteer work in the community. Let’s face it, NEPA needs all the help it can get. You know you live in NEPA when you feel so persecuted you think potholes are unique to the ground underneath your wheels. (Breaking news: Everybody gets potholes. Even Canadians.)
 
Individually we may be unfortunate case studies in hardscrabble stress disorder (HSD), but when we come together we are a formidable force. Thus the well-documented wooing of greater Scranton by big wig politicos. No longer just the place where they pretend to shoot NBC’s The Office or the hardscrabble down on its luck former coal capital of the US, Scranton saw its reputation take on new nuances in 2012. If only they were flattering. After two separate cat stabbing incidents in one week in August resulted in the death of three of the five feline victims, the Humane Society of the United States mentioned our Electric City by name in a press release condemning such acts of animal abuse. Elsewhere in The 570, our embarrassing exploits with bath salts raised eyebrows across the country.
 
Is it any wonder that we stumped you with the category Best Thing to Happen in 2012?
 
Yes, too many businesses have closed shop this past year and our government is bankrupt and our elected officials have a weird way of showing their loyalty. If you have any doubts about exactly how bleak things are you must not be following the unflinchingly honest confrontations of @tomdobb on Twitter. You must have missed his brief hiatus from the microblogging site as much as we did this year. Morgan is the honorary winner of 2012’s Best Category We Forgot = Best Local Twitter Critic.
 
Cynicism is one of the more debilitating side effects of HSD (hardscrabble stress disorder), but if we can rinse our eyes of self-pity long enough to see the good things happening in The 570, things could start looking up again.
 

Born and raised in Taylor, former radio and television broadcast personality, Sid Michaels Kavulich (www.sidmichaels.com) impressed locals with his volunteer work, guts on community theater stages and inspirational can do attitude before taking on the challenge of representing the 114th district Pennsylvania House of Representatives. We were a big fan of Big Sid before he ran for office and aren’t surprised to see he’s serving his constituents better than the average Rep, or at least well enough to earn your votes for Best Local Politician in 2012.
 
And in our determination to hold on to a sense of humor as potholes form all around us we at ec/dc are partial to “Drunk Scranton man raids stranger’s refrigerator” as the best headline of 2012. You like your news a little harder, however, and were gratified to see justice done when serial child sex offender Jerry Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts and sentenced to 30- to 60-years in prison.
 

A quick note on the subject of drinking: We’ve done our share of partying, sure. But at the end of the day, we think life is pretty spectacular. We like it a lot. And if the world was going to end tomorrow, we wouldn’t want to spend our last hours on earth three sheets to the wind. But the most vocal of you have already thrown in the towel. You so thoroughly associate drinking with a “good time” that were the world were to end tomorrow you’d want to face it with a hangover. Salud. Thanks for sharing.
 
Presumably gas will eventually get so expensive that something will have to give (the earth wasn’t making more of the stuff last we knew) but in the meantime you fail to see how your minuscule personal actions could possibly make an impact on the big picture of climate change and would rather pump your paycheck into the gas tank than explore your world on foot or from a bicycle seat. Hey, we’re not judging you. The hills here just north of the Poconos are admittedly daunting. Biking would be more feasible if our cities were flat. And it’s going to take a lot of hardcore hip campaigning to change your minds about public transportation, especially if you can’t keep your car parked long enough to even try the county buses out for a day. Resist for now, but big change is gonna come in the next few of decades.
In the meantime, we will continue our brainwashing attempts to instill the “Buy Local” manta deep enough in your subconscious to bring small businesses back to our neighborhoods. You can thank us later.
 
 
American Idol, the X-Factor or the Voice? The Voice • Best Catchphrase of 2012 Call Me Maybe • Best Category We Forgot Best Twitter Critic, @tomdobb (Morgan Evans) • Best Community Volunteer You! • Best E-Reader Kindle • Best Headline in 2012 Sandusky Found Guilty • Best Local Politician Sid Michaels Kavulich • Best Local Trend Buying Local, The Pop-Up Studio • You Know You’re in NEPA When… Potholes • Worst Local Trend Economy • Worst Catchphrase of 2012 YOLO • The world ends tomorrow. What are you doing today? Drinking • iPhone or Droid? iPhone • Instagram or Pinterest? Instagram • Bus, Bike or Buy Gas? • Buy gas • Best Place to Work Allied Services