The end of the year always inevitably comes with a fair amount of retrospection and best-of lists. Since I am only human and am also influenced by annual trends, today I'm bringing you a list of my five favorite stories written by my colleagues this year. If you didn't get a chance to read them earlier in the year, I highly suggest setting aside some time to read them each in full. They're all just as impactful, important and/or entertaining as they were when they were written weeks or months ago.
No. 1: Faced with a two-decade wait, these families had to leave Texas to receive disability services, from Alex Stuckey
This story is hands down one of my favorite things I read all year and is what I wish every piece of journalism would be. It points out the glaring problems of a faulty system that is letting people down while also showing readers where success has been found and how things could be better. Read to the last line of the story. It may be the best ending I've read in a news story yet.
No. 2: 20 years of Yao: How the former Rockets legend impacted generations of Chinese American basketball fans, from Sam González Kelly
As a child I wasn't much of a sports fan, but growing up in Houston, Yao Ming was one of the few players I could actually name. Part of what I loved about this story is that it helped me think of Yao as the young man he was at the time he was drafted rather than just as the looming basketball superstar he is in my memory.
No. 3: A Houston mother's terrible choice: deliver Theodora and watch her die or terminate her pregnancy, from Julian Gill
Whatever your feelings about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we can all agree that decision marked a dramatic change for America with an enormous impact on innumerous people's lives. Part of what I appreciated about Julian's reporting following the decision is how so much of it focused on how devastating and complex the decision to have an abortion can be and how Texas' laws following the end of Roe has only made that harder and more complicated.
No. 4: 53 Houston children have died from gun violence this year, from Anna Bauman, Alejandro Serrano and Kirland An
While we all know the names of Sandy Hook, Santa Fe and now Uvalde, it's important to remember that gun violence is affecting kids throughout our city and country on a near-daily basis even when it doesn't make national headlines. This interactive is a heart-wrenching memorial for the 53 children who lost their lives to gun violence in Houston this year. They laughed. They loved unicorns. They were rebellious, sweet, smart, and they had dreams.
No. 5: Why Houston's restaurants are more exciting than New York City's, from Bao Ong
I'm not gonna lie. There's plenty in Houston that I find to complain about, and plenty of things in New York that I prefer (*cough* public transportation). But this story touched on the very thing that has made me so excited about Houston since I first returned here as an adult: this city's food scene slays. And a big contributing factor to that (and to why I think this city is so cool) is how diverse this city is.
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