Is it fate, kismet or just an interesting coincidence that GonzoPR's annual year-in-review marks the 500th blog post since initiating this forum in 2008? According to astrologers, numerologists and those in touch with the etherial plain, 2024 translates into a year of karma because of its association with the number 8. Karma, of course, can be both good and bad, and we've certainly had plenty of both over the past 12 months.
January's post featured some of my best photography for 2023, including shots of the second blue moon in August, a rare event known as a lunar perigee, or supermoon, taken with my Canon EOS 60D utilizing a 70-200 millimeter zoom lens to catch the full moon at its closest point to the Earth. Another favorite was my shot of UO PRSSA on its first professional development tour in Seattle (below) since before the pandemic.
As winter morphed into spring, we witnessed the waning months of the Pac-12 Conference, a collection of west coast institutions of higher learning that had been conference members since 1916. Blame Big TV and a feeble NCAA for its demise. We also suffered the loss of a beloved colleague at the UO School of Journalism and Communication, Ralph "Pete" Peterson, one of many part time instructors in "the bullpen."
Also in May, those of us near the 45th parallel had the good fortune to observe the northern lights due to unusual solar storms. In late May, I joined UO PRSSA for another professional development tour in Seattle, where we had the opportunity to visit Starbucks Headquarter, the Seattle Kraken hockey team, Edelman Public Relations, The Fearey Group and Raffetto Herman Strategic Public Relations
As spring waned, we said good-bye to my college chum, fellow newspaper reporter and public relations practitioner, Jeff Foreman. "Mr. Duke," as I called him, weathered Parkison's supranucear palsy with great patience and good humor. He was a fighter. We continued to meet to consummate our annual bet on Duck football, usually at Bier Stein. Jeff’s mind and wit remained as sharp as ever. He was a friend indeed.
Prior to the summer solstice, we concluded our labyrinthine journey through the complex and torturous process of securing the contents of our brother's storage locker in Portland's Pearl District following his passing in May, 2023 after a brief illness. Later in the summer, lightning strikes ignited forest fires uncomfortably close to the Owl Conservatory. State and federal firefighters quelled the blaze quickly.
As autumn began, I attended professional gatherings in my role on the PRSA Oregon board of directors: the PRSA CommCon held annually in Portland, and the PRSA Leadership Assembly in Anaheim, California during the PRSA International Conference. It was refreshing to reconnect with longtime colleagues (above) from near and far, along with students from the UO Chaper of the Public Relations Student Society of America (below).
In November, karma took a stark turn as Americans inexplicably elected a convicted felon as president, spawning the return of a popular series known as Rude Notes From The Field, an unfiltered review of the fear and loathing coming from this savage journey into the heart of the American Dream, where GonzoPR's far flung team of crackerjack reporters will skewer the Pointless Man and his demonic minions. Stay tuned.
