Don't worry — the tsunami of Best Of lists is almost over. I think we're all looking forward to the fresh mystery of the new year. And right now, our necks ache from looking back so much; we're particularly sick of the forced remembering of Christine O'Donnell and the Trololo guy. To the annals of footnoted history, we banish ye!
But we did want to highlight the pieces in Salon that — through an unscientific staff poll — we decided we liked the best this year. None of these should be a huge surprise to Salon readers; they were all big hits with you, too. From Glenn Greenwald's incisive exploration of WikiLeaks, to Mary Elizabeth Williams' gripping accounts of her cancer diagnosis and treatment, our favorite stories this year run a familiar Salon gamut of world-changing importance to the expressly, meaningfully personal.
And with no more fanfare than that, in chronological order, our 10 staff favorites:
-
Hipsters on Food Stamps
They're young, they're broke, and they pay for organic salmon with government subsidies. Got a problem with that?
By Jennifer Bleyer
-
The Tina Fey Backlash
The "30 Rock" star's pathetic single girl shtick is getting criticism from an unlikely source: Women who love her
By Rebecca Traister
-
The Civil Rights Heroism of Charles Sherrod
Andrew Breitbart sure picked the wrong people to symbolize black "racism." Taylor Branch and Clay Carson weigh in
By Joan Walsh
-
The Strange and Consequential Case of Bradley Manning, Adrian Lamo and WikiLeaks
By Glenn Greenwald
-
My Cancer Diagnosis
Until last week, it was the best summer of my life. Then my doctor gave me the news I dreaded
By Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
How the "Ground Zero Mosque" Fear Mongering Began
A viciously anti-Muslim blogger, the New York Post and the right-wing media machine: How it all went down
By Justin Elliott
-
My Relentless Pursuit of the Guy Who Robbed Me
A thief broke into my car. I used Craigslist, a dating site, MySpace and a fast food joint to track him down
By Amanda Enayati
-
"Sopranos" Family Tree: Edith Bunker to Don Draper
We chart the ancestors of the groundbreaking show — and how it continues to shape American TV
By Matt Zoller Seitz
-
Better Yet, DON'T Write That Novel
Why National Novel Writing Month is a waste of time and energy
By Laura Miller
-
The War Room Hack Thirty
By Alex Pareene
And 10 more honorable mentions: David Rakoff's wonderfully moving "Made" essay on his distinct craft; Andrew O'Hehir's vivid takedowns of "Secretariat" and "Sex and the City 2"; mighty intern Emma Mustich's gotcha on Sarah Palin's desecration of the flag; our inside scoop on the biggest Oscar story of the year; Tracy Clark-Flory's wonderful, moving piece about her mother and Christmas; Glenn Greenwald's searing look at how Americans have been trained to think about Afghanistan; Francis Lam's first time killing a chicken and his illuminating history lesson on General Tso's chicken; and on Open Salon, Nelle Engoron's intensely thought-out coverage of "Mad Men."
Now, on to 2011!
Shares