The Year in Limbo

So much happened in 2021. But did it?

If you managed to stay up late, you probably already knew: The very first moments of 2021 arrived with weird vibes. New York’s traditional New Year’s Eve celebration was uncharacteristically muted. No sloppy kissing crowds jammed into Times Square, no messy bar crawls through the streets.

As the year ticked on, we had no boners — and we had no bones: Noodle the pug, a dog in a perpetual state of melting, showed up on TikTok skillfully illustrating the limp limbs of limbo. Given a chance to get out of bed, Noodle would often “crumple with ennui.” So did many of us.

Signs of disruption turned up from the start. The U.S. Capitol was attacked by rioters on Jan. 6, including a shirtless man wearing a horned helmet, people waving Confederate flags, someone in a sweatshirt with the words “Camp Auschwitz” on it and others wielding red-and-white flags representing the Republic of Georgia.