The markets (stock and bond) don't seem sanguine; most Black people don't; Jews are nervous; environmentalists are up in arms; the Supreme Court has been compromised in the minds of most serious Court watchers and legal experts; foreign governments expect the worse from the USA on foreign policy when they read the speeches and writings of Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Bush's new National Security Advisor choice.

Most of all, the Clinton Legacy question has turned out unlike any commentator would have predicted it would a year ago. Then the Monica Lewinsky scandal seemed a dark cloud over the Clinton presidency. Today, as we have argued here at the G21 since the botched election, many are beginning to believe that we will look back on the Clinton years as "the Good Times."

No one is more aware of this (startling and characteristic) development than Dollar Bill himself. The Great Thespian is just waiting in the wings for the time to be right for his next performance.

Only his wife is better positioned to become titular leader of the Democratic party during its off years. And the next Congressional elections are only two years away.

The era of Dot-com enthusiasm has imploded. At last count, more than 170 over-hyped Internet enterprises have tanked this year, laying off over 30,000 workers.

"E-tailers" were frantically sending out spam e-mail just this past week to lure back customers who were under-buying (is that anything like under-voting?) so that they wouldn't lose their shirts. They were offering to pay for shipping, and promising to do whatever it takes to deliver by Christmas if you and I would just buy SOMETHING! ANYTHING! before they became another part of the roadkill on the Info Superhighway.

The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ reflected these changes.

The Federal Reserve Board and President-elect Bush were both talking about forestalling a recession.

The Magazine

I actually let one of them try it for about three weeks, all the while reading e-mails about what a blunder I had made. "G21 without Rod," one Loyal Reader wrote, "What's the point?"

But times were turbulent here, too.

At this time last year, before I left for my "vacation" in Cancun, the roster of the magazine was very different than it is today.

During this year, we lost AL DUNSMUIR, FELICITY USSHER, JENNIFER BLUE, JULES SIEGEL, NATHAN BLACK and WOLF DE VOON.

We gained ADRIAN LOPEX DENIS, ANA JUMARI, BINYAVANGA WAINANA, DAVID ANSEL, DAVID TYSON SMITH, DOUGLAS MC DANIEL, ED CANTARELLA, FAYCAL FALAKY, HUW TURNER, DR. PAUL KAIL, PHALA-RAY ORIANS, PIYUSH KUMAR, RAKESH AGRAWAL, RENDT GORTER, ROBERT ODOUL, STEVE VIVIAN and NATALIA ABAKANOVITCH. I think we expanded our international coverage in the process.

This was also the year when our alumni came back to shine. We had great contributions from "Old-Timers" the ever-controversial CHARLIE THE TUNA, DRAGRANA VICANOVICH, HARRISON CHASTANG III, JOE O'NEILL and RADIO RAHEEM. By all estimates, I would say this has been one of our most prolific and dynamic years.

Rod Amis

Our design has changed significantly in the process, including our "peeling" headline animation sharing space with our masthead, and the look of our (now year-old plus) "MEMOIR OF THE INFORMATION AGE" feature.

Meanwhile, the "anchor" writers have been here for years now: BOB POWERS, KEVIN CAREY, THOMAS HART and I haven't lost our strides. (As far as I know.)

My Family

She began her efforts by simply observing. She would come here to G21 and read my "Glass House" statements, the articles of my writers, and share her thoughts.

Then she became physically involved, showing up to share lunch with me in nearby Washington, D.C. (now that I was on the East Coast of the US), bridging gaps between me and other members of my family.

A year ago, I was estranged from my family as I had been for almost 30 years, despite visits, conversations, letters, telephone calls.

This year, I made an effort to stay in contact with my mother. Rudell practically dragged me to a doctor's office to make sure that I was still the healthy and ornery cuss I have always claimed to be. She brought my family back into my life. This Christmas I accepted the first present from my mother I ever have in decades.

This year I feel less like an orphan than I have since I was sixteen. And I have my sister-in-law (what a silly term! I feel that she is my sister these days) for bridging that great chasm.

My mother's Christmas gift was generous and needed.

My mother, Hilda, called me today and said, in her own way, that she very much needed to see me. She talked about her sisters, my Aunt Ruth, who passed away last year (and was always my personal favorite of the three "girls") and my Aunt Hester, also younger than my mom, who just left a hospital in Boston.

My Mom always knew that of the three Bermudian girls, I liked Ruth best. I could joke to Ruth about me stealing her away from her husband to take her out dancing. She would chuckle and say, "Behave yourself, Bhai!"

I always found Aunt Hes' too serious and judgmental. And my Mom --- well, she was my Mom... I always longed for her approval and never felt that I had it. Becoming a writer, instead of a doctor, was part of the rub. There were other things, too. Lots.

It's odd now. My mother has finally accepted that I am not a child but rapidly becoming an old man, childless, alone and single.

She has also learned --- from my sister-in-law again --- that I'm possibly a good writer; that I have an impact on the lives of other people with what I say. That word "respect" has entered the equation.

So when my mother and I talked on the telephone, I could tell that the dynamic between us had *finally* shifted. She talked to me as an adult in my own right.

It is impossible for me to think of my mother as a "little old lady." She is not. She is the matriarch of my family. She is the second person I have spent my life trying hardest to please.

My entire sense of abandonment has been based on two women who I felt simply walked away from me....

Me

Among my writers and friends I have shared births, deaths, near- and actual nervous breakdown, jettisons, betrayals. I have all the stuff of numerous soap operas!

And I have done the stupid thing, I know, of sending thousands of dollars abroad to support writers so that I am now barely hanging on. But I think I had no choice in that matter.

The aforementioned "jettisons" were of friends. Yes, I know that sounds cold. But sometimes you have to realize that so-called friends are actually deleterious to your so-called life. That was the case with some people I had known for years. It was time to move on and make space for people who actually fed my (radical) head.

For example, I had one so-called friend who was actively involved in sabotaging my career as a columnist. It turned out to be a case of pure and simple jealousy. He got tired to hearing that I was a better writer. So it goes, as Linda Ellerbee used to say.

This time last year I was planning to take off on my New Year's trip to Cancun, Mexico, my first "vacation" in five years. It was a poor decision, but I was so conflicted about my job with Andover.net (now VA Linux) that I needed to flee the familiar. It was precursor of what the year 2000 would be for me. Mostly alone and conflicted.

Though I am not nearly as well-off, net-worth wise, now as I was then, I am emotionally much more healthy --- thanks to the gods, my friends and family. My self-esteem is much higher, too. Thanks ditto.

I have a larger readership today, after leaving VA Linux, than I have ever had in my life. 10.5 million people in 100 US newspapers now read my opinions on Internet law, Web sites and lifestyle issues. (None of it as radical as what I present here, of course.) Though cash-poor, I am richer in genuine friendships and as a writer.

The next challenge is to find a place to live that I can call "home."

The choices for the Next Place have now narrowed down to a return to Manhattan and emigrating to N'Orleans. Just so you know.

Oddly, I have been thinking about moving to Bermuda, the place of my family roots, somewhere along the line. It is a paradise, you see. I can't spit there without hitting a relative. But, like a salmon, lately I have felt a desire to return to my roots.

It's dawned on me that I should be thinking about New Year's Eve. That's the Rod Holiday. They have the new Acela Express that goes to New York City, Pennsylvania Station, and I know my pal, Lars, would be more than willing to meet me there.

Me? Still God's Own Fool. As it should be...

Stay tuned for the Next Adventure.

COMMENTS? QUESTIONS? Go ahead and e-mail Rod.