Where Have I Been? – The Cultural Revue in 2021 Review

2021 has been one of the strangest and most interesting years of my young life. After the cataclysm of the COVID-19 pandemic, losing my job in IT, watching the United States descend into political hostility the likes of which we haven’t seen (only getting worse in the last year), I made the effort to branch out and find new opportunities. After months of false starts, I managed to completely rebuild my life with a new job and a new home!

If you had told me I would end 2021 by moving 500 miles from Chicago to Nashville, finding my first apartment, and becoming a full-time journalist, I don’t know if I would have believed you. At least I wouldn’t have believed that my life could change completely for the better in less than two months.

Here I am though! I’m writing for multiple publications, making a living doing a job I’m deeply intellectually challenged and satisfied by, and staring down new opportunities in a new state and a new life!

Readers of the Cultural Revue may have noticed that fall 2021 was particularly light on the content here at the website. Frankly, I had to take a hiatus to deal with the realities of my new job. It was unannounced and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever return to the editor’s chair at this website now that I was busy with a full-time journalism position.

Thankfully, 2021 has been quite fruitful on the writing front! Cultural Revue started up weekly content again in late December! New movie releases meant I was able to get out there and revive my film criticism on a monthly basis with interesting content! My classics column has expanded into a massive series of multiple thousand-word essays on great works of classical literature! My journalism work has blossomed thanks to the mentoring hand of my editors at The College Fix and Main Street Nashville! Additionally, Cultural Revue was honored to host dozens of great pieces of content from fellow writers!

Today, I want to highlight all the work we’ve done since we launched the website!

When I started the Cultural Revue, I made a similar article as this documenting my best work from 2014 to 2020. This article is something of a continuation of that documenting my work from October 1st, 2020 to January 15th, 2022. These two pieces cover the breadth of my published portfolio and show which pieces I still stand by most publicly, as many of my pieces have not aged well and are scattered over dozens of websites.

The Best of Cultural Revue – Tyler Hummel