2011

Started writing at 10:28 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 30, while sitting in my home office in Washington, D.C.

It’s always a struggle to categorize a particular year in one word, but monumental seems an appropriate adjective to describe 2011.

This year’s datelines included Santiago de Chile, Budapest, Fire Island, Philadelphia, Puerto Vallarta and Boston. My beautiful nephew Liam was born on March 26. Andrés and I celebrated our first anniversary in September. And I officially moved to the District of Columbia on Oct. 1.

I finally cut my hair in March. The 30th anniversary of the first cases of what became known as AIDS on June 5 provided a somber reminder that the epidemic is far from over. I was a proud New Yorker when the state Senate passed a marriage equality bill in a 33-29 vote on June 24. I turned 30 on Aug. 16. Hurricane Irene prompted a mandatory evacuation of Fire Island on Aug. 26, three days after an earthquake shook the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. President Barack Obama’s rose garden press conference on former Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi’s death on Oct. 20 coincided with a previously scheduled event for which I had been credentialed. I wore a sari for the first time. I quickly learned that many elected officials in the District of Columbia are utterly shameless. And machas a la parmesana are really, really delicious.

To a happy, healthy and just 2012!