And Simone Biles!
4 Likes
And Tony Shalhoub, UW Green Bay student (transferred to U Southern Maine)
2 Likes
Of the 9 finalists, I can’t imagine that Taylor Swift won’t be Time’s person of the year when they announce their choice tomorrow. 
5 Likes
You called that correctly. 
5 Likes
Can someone please justify Taylor being the person of the year? I’m not seeing it.
In a world filled with divisiveness and sadness, she has brought happiness to millions this year. And dang, the woman has built an empire … oh, and she gave bonuses to her employees (not just to her “executives”).
9 Likes
And her tour kept the US out of recession (or delayed it), according to some esteemed economists.
5 Likes
From Time website : The criterion is “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.”
I called it too, although only to my husband and dog. Who else could it be for this past year? She’s been like Roy Kent - here, there and everywhere.
5 Likes
Did she most affect the news?
Did she most affect our lives?
Did she embody what was important about the year?
Think about 2023. If there are 330,000,000+ people in the U.S., how many would say she met any of those criteria?
Choosing her seems like a cop out. That said, the empire she built is extremely impressive.
I think Peggy Noonan put it well.
8 Likes
LOL - I’m not saying I personally think she’s the greatest person who ever lived, just that looking at how Time defines their person of the year and at past recipients it was pretty obvious they’d pick her. Remember this is Time magazine’s POTY and they are focused on who’s in the news. And not just in the US. She does have over 273 million social media followers and oodles of sold out concerts so she definitely affects some people.
1 Like
Very cool photo of Taylor and her cat (one of our cats loves to ride on my husband’s back in a similar manner so this is not cat abuse 
) :
5 Likes
I think in a time of such heavy news, I was happy to have the bright spot of Taylor mania. And her budding romance with Travis Kelce
Also Taylor will sell tons of magazines and get lots of clicks for Time Inc. 
6 Likes
I think Valerie Bertinelli said it best- “Can all of you negative Nellies just stop? Just stop”
Let us enjoy this time of Taylor Swift - her empire, her squad, her woman power and her falling in love. You don’t see it? Ok. But millions do and we’re enjoying the ride.
ETA - I’m not directing the “you don’t see it” at you!
9 Likes
I love Taylor. But I’m cynical enough to think that Time picked her because of the economic boost to them. They will sell more physical copies of their magazine than they have in the last decade for any one issue, just watch. Vladimir Putin may be trying to destroy the world as we know it in his quest for power, but he can’t fill stadiums around the world the way Taylor can. Her concert movie made 3X the box office of any other concert movie in history. And my daughters and I were just talking about how her music (and romance) are just such a positive happy thing to share at a time when world events aren’t.
4 Likes
You don’t think this choice was based on objective measures across the board and journalistic integrity?!!
I think there had to be legitimate reasons to select her. And there totally are. But after that, money talks.
2 Likes
Had they picked Putin, the cover could have been used to throw darts at or as a shooting target. Other than that… not much use for it, so not a huge seller.
5 Likes
I for one can’t stand when they choose the person who affected the news or our lives for ill. So ridiculous to “honor” a person for being a terrible person.
Much prefer the positivity and let’s face it Taylor Swift has dominated the news this year and has affected many lives for happy reasons. The highlight of my children’s year, what they most looked forward to and what they enjoyed the most was the Taylor Swift concert!!! I think she fits the criteria.
8 Likes
I have seen dozens of articles over the past several months about the ERAS tour and how it has single handedly bolstered the American economy (In the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NYT, pretty much everywhere). She gave her employees bonuses that totaled $55 million dollars. She will have the highest grossing tour in history, the first person to become a billionaire from music, and then put out the most successful music film ever. She reclaimed her music from an industry that abuses its stars and on top of that her album re-releases have ruled the charts. She did more to get people to register to vote in a single day by tweeting the website than anybody else, ever. Yeah, she has had a pretty legendary year by all objective standards and for the most part, it was all positive (not saying there aren’t haters who are gonna hate hate hate - sorry, couldn’t resist), but she’s not a negative person. So, I’ll take a positive pop star as Person of the Year over an evil dictator or a boring king any day of the week. 
19 Likes