Illustration by Kristy Heilenday
January: The VMFA takes its Fabergé egg collection on a two-year tour. Before sending the eggs off, museum curators open each of the Styrofoam cartons to ensure that the priceless jewels are not cracked.
March: The Virginia Senate kills the "Tebow bill," which would have allowed home-schooled children to pray on one knee just like Tim Tebow does.
April: Green inchworms cling to our clothes, defoliate our trees and overload our data networks with their tiny iPhones.
May: Replicas of the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria sail up the James and dock at Rocketts Landing, where a replica Christopher Columbus disembarks and replica takes credit for replica discovering a place we've been living for hundreds of years.
May: Openly gay Richmond prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland is denied judgeship on a criminal court by the House of Delegates for his "pro-homosexual" agenda, since homosexuals are, as everyone knows, well-documented supporters of traffic violators and minor criminals.
May: Virginia Commonwealth University leaves the CAA, skips conferences A-1 through A-9, and goes directly to the A-10.
June: Thorne-Begland gets judgeship after all, making him the first openly gay judge in Virginia. Also cool? Two last names.
June: The first half of the new Huguenot Bridge opens to traffic. When the second phase is completed next year, the bridge will feature bike lanes, pedestrian sidewalks and three Starbucks locations.
June: A derecho storm passes through, leaving 1 million Virginians without power and reaching for a Spanish dictionary.
September: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney rallies at the NASCAR race in Richmond and showcases his extreme wealth by giving fans hot dogs and not charging any money.
October: President Barack Obama holds a campaign rally at the Carillon in Byrd Park then walks over to the Dogwood Dell amphitheater and gives a triumphant one-man performance of Puccini's La Bohème.
November: Steven Spielberg's Lincoln premieres and includes some familiar-looking buildings, settings and faces, leading Richmonders to speculate that portions of the film were shot here.
