The Year That Was...A Total Bitch.

2016 took way too many icons--some who were more important to me than others, but still, it's hard not to get caught up in the collective public grief. This post is to honor a few of those people, and their contributions to the world that touched my life.

David Bowie

I don't have memories of listening to David Bowie as a kid, but as an adult, I've come to know his music and it's bloody brilliant. From "Space Oddity" to "Starman" to "Golden Years," so many of his songs are just timeless and amazing.

Harper Lee

I have loved To Kill A Mockingbird ever since my first compulsory reading of it in high school. It's a beautiful story, and I won't hear otherwise. I re-read it every couple of years, and finally watched the classic movie a few years ago.

Alan Rickman

Goodness, but this one punched me in the gut. Aside from his amazing turn as Severus Snape, shared here, Alan Rickman was a prolific stage and screen actor who amazed and delighted whether he was a villainous Sheriff of Nottingham in the horrid "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" or the noble Colonel Branden in "Sense and Sensibility."

Morley Safer

My dad has long watched 60 Minutes, and growing up, the familiar tick-tick-tick was the soundtrack of my Sunday evenings. I particularly loved Andy Rooney, but sometimes I'd watch certain segments if I was interested, and the name Morley Safer was a big part of that.

George Michael

Of course "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" was a staple of my childhood soundtrack, as was "Father Figure" and "Careless Whisper." But the George Michael song that stands out for me most is "Too Funky," which had a lot of play on MTV in my young teenage years. I loved the absurdity of it, and still do.

Carrie Fisher

It wasn't until I was in college that I truly began to understand how awesome the Star Wars trilogy was--they were first released before I was born! I remember seeing them on TV growing up, but when they were re-released on the big screen in the late 90s, I was excited to see them. Carrie's Princess Leia was a princess like no other.