Wider screens, viruses, and an increased push for basic human rights made 2014 quite a year. Now full of new inventions, ideas and people, the world is a lot different than it was in 2013.
Apple released the heavily anticipated iphone 6 during the fall of 2014 with a much larger screen, sleeker design and entirely redesigned camera. Just after three days of being on the market, Apple sold over 10 million new phones.
Apple also controls most of the modern music industry with its application, iTunes, which, not surprisingly, had a very successful year. Taylor Swift released her album,1989, which sold more albums in its first week (1.287 million) than any artist has since 2002 . She also removed all of her music from spotify (a commercial music streaming service) which caused massive speculation and judgement from other artists. Coldplay released a new album, Ghost Stories, which sold 383,000 copies its first week, the second highest first week sales of the year.
2014 was also a big year for sports. The winter Olympics took place in Sochi, Russia and did not live up to already dampened expectations. President Putin issued laws restricting the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association leading up to the games. Russia also has extreme anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender laws which made people hesitant to travel to or support the games.
The San Antonio Spurs won the championship game in 2014 in the National Basketball Association beating Lebron James and the Miami heat. With this win the Spurs denied the Heat a chance at three consecutive titles. Tim Duncan now has three championships in three different decades, thus, proving exactly what kind of player he is. Winning stayed on the west coast for both the National Football League and for Major League Baseball with wins from the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco Giants.
On a more global spectrum, the Ebola Virus was contracted all across West Africa killing 6000 people. It even made its way back into the United States where only two people, Thomas Eric Duncan, and Dr. Martin Salia have died from it. Ending this worldwide pandemic is at the forefront of most international organizations and will most likely continue into 2015.
On August 9 in Ferguson, Missouri, Mike Brown–an unarmed african american teen–was shot and killed by a police officer. On November 24 the verdict on whether Darren Wilson would be put on trial for killing Mike Brown was made public. No charges would be placed upon him. People took to the streets, this time not all peacefully as many buildings were set ablaze. Protests did not stay only in Ferguson. Here in Arlington, people closed down I-395 by making a human chain across the interstate to show their distaste in the decision. There were protests all across the world demanding justice for Mike Brown.
2014 was a year full of both struggles and triumphs. It will help shape what 2015 looks like, and it will most likely be remembered as a year of pandemic, west coast wins and a push for change.
