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What do you want me to write about in 2025?

Nicole Russell   Paste BN

Happy New Year! What a year 2024 was for America and for me. I’m looking forward to seeing what 2025 holds, but I want to take a minute to look back at the year that was.  

I covered a lot of topics this year for Paste BN, after joining the publication in April. From motherhood to movies, Texas politics to Donald Trump, I’m honored you’ve spent time reading my opinions in my newsletter and my columns.  

One of my favorite things to write about is being a parent – and that topic was the subject of one of my most-read columns. Progressives tried to “cancel” NFL player Harrison Butker for his college commencement speech in May when he told the female graduates it was OK to be excited about being a wife and mother, even after earning a college degree. 

While I disagreed with Butker’s assessment that motherhood is all that women can or should be excited about, I agreed with him that it holds extraordinary value – and our culture often discourages women to pursue motherhood in favor of a career. It’s possible to have both, but tradeoffs and sacrifices must be made.

I’d love to hear from my newsletter subscribers who are parents or grandparents on this topic. Did you agree or disagree? 

My most-read column this year was about another topic I still get angry over, and that’s the way our federal government handled COVID-19 restrictions. In June, Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed that the COVID guidelines Americans structured their lives around – including social distancing, shuttering schools and closing businesses – weren’t based on science. In turn, these arbitrary policies caused so many Americans to needlessly suffer. I still can’t think about it without getting frustrated. 

We can’t welcome 2025 without mentioning the biggest topic of conversation and that was, of course, the election. I was right about some things and wrong about others. President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris and the election were the subjects of the majority of my columns that you read the most.

My latest: Democrats lied repeatedly in 2024. Don't let them gaslight us again in 2025. 

I’m proud to say that as early as June, I called out the Democratic Party for covering up Biden’s declining health. He was clearly unwell, but nobody wanted to admit it. His replacement, Kamala Harris, was awful, but her candidacy wound up being a boon for Republicans.

Admittedly I was wrong about Trump. I didn’t think he’d win the presidency, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to. In August, I wrote about how Trump was struggling. I feared the Republican Party had made a huge mistake choosing to support him again.

But something happened during the last months of the campaign: Between JD Vance’s debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and additional exposure to Harris’ terrible ideas, America’s true colors came through.

It was fun to win this election, wasn’t it?

I’m sure some of these topics will be on my radar again in 2025, especially with a new administration. Did I miss any stories this year? Is there anything you’d like to see more of? I’d love to hear about them: nrussell@gannett.com.

Until then, I hope your 2025 is off to a good start. 

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