Period 9/10 Blog #13

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What Were the Best and Worst Things About 2017 for You?

Clockwise from top left: J. Cole; nothing,nowhere.; Taylor Swift; Moses Sumney; Lorde; and Jaimie Branch.CreditNicholas Hunt/Getty Images; Greta Rybus for The New York Times; John Salangsang/Invision, via Associated Press; Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times; Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times; Mark Abramson for The New York Times

By Caroline Crosson Gilpin

Dec. 13, 2017

As December winds down and 2017 retrospectives begin to roll out, we thought we would ask you for your own lists.

What were the top five to 10 best things about this year? What were the top five to 10 worst things about 2017?

You can put anything you like on your lists — movies, music, TV shows or books you liked best; politics, other news stories, viral videos or sporting events that you thought were great or terrible; the aspects of your personal, family or academic life that were most notable for being bad or good; or a mix of all these things.

To help you remember the year, take a look at our Special News Quiz, "2017 in Review," and at a few of the Top 10 lists New York Times critics have posted, then create your own.

In “The Best Albums of 2017,” Times critics give their top picks for 2017. Here, for instance, is the music critic Jon Pareles’s No. 1 choice:

1. ST. VINCENT “Masseduction” (Loma Vista)

The hefty programmed beats, emphatic electronic hooks and gargantuan choruses of current pop are the framework that Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, chose for songs about pleasure, fame, lust and drugs — and their extreme, even deathly consequences. The songs ended up cryptic and emphatic, tragicomic and bold: taking things to the limit in taut three-minute packages. [Read the review | Read the Q. and A.]

And here are the top two picks of the Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris, who wrote The Best Performances of 2017:

STEPHANIE J. BLOCK, “FALSETTOS” There are certain musical numbers that, in addition to flooring you, generate a lot of suspense. Ms. Block doing “I’m Breaking Down,” in that revivified “Falsettos” revivalthat I saw on Broadway last winter, is one of those numbers. She stood, aproned, behind a kitchen block, wielding a bowl and a knife, on her way to becoming an anxious cuckoo clock. Her voice went up and down the scale, the bowl went on her head and the carrots went to their grave. Would she survive all the neurosis she put into the song? Yup. She broke down. We cracked up.

VENUS WILLIAMS, THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN In January, when, at 36, the legendary Ms. Williams made it to her first major final in 8 years, she was all body and mouth and ecstasy and style. Her arms went up and down. Her hands clasped her face. One went over her heart. She did a little turn then minced toward the net for a handshake. After that, she launched into the mightiest pirouette I’ve ever seen. She then bent at the knees, threw open her arms, put her forearm to her forehead and sashayed — sashayed — to her chair. Every spring, tennis goes to Paris. But it’s never been to “Paris Is Burning.” Ms. Williams took it there.

Need more inspiration? The New York Times has published its critics’ lists of the best movies, television shows, albums, songs, classical music performances, dance, theater, performances, art, crime novels and books.

Students: Scan the many sources of inspiration we’ve included above, then tell us:

— Make your own 2017 Top 10 List. What would be on it?

— What were the best things about 2017 for you? What type of Top 10 Lists or Best of 2017 Lists would you make? What world, local or national events did you enjoy? What breakthroughs in science or technology excited you?

— What were the worst things about 2017? What happened in the news that would make the list? What annoyed you about pop culture?

— What happened in your own life this year that was wonderful? In what personal ways will you be sad to see 2017 go? What aspects of your personal, family or school life will you be happy to leave behind?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.