By Grace Acosta

In his play, “No Exit,” Jean-Paul Sartre famously wrote, “Hell is the others,” a phrase that always comes to mind when shopping at Valley Fair on any weekend during the holiday season. Yeah, I know, I need to lighten up about December, but I can’t do that in the same way as most. I am the Grinchiest, Scroogiest, holiday kvetch I know.

I entertain myself at the end of each year by reviewing its odd, memorable moments, like Barbara Bush at the Houston Astrodome. After visiting victims of Hurricane Katrina, Mrs. Bush was quoted in a radio interview as saying, “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working well for them.”

That just cracks me up. I love the let-them-eat-cake callousness and the utter lack of self-consciousness about the gaffe. It makes me imagine Mrs. Bush touring the facility and being goofy enough to walk into walls or step on somebody’s foot or offer a breath mint to a wheelchair-bound senior who hasn’t had access to his or her medication for days.

I also liked the news item about Ashley Smith, the Atlanta woman who was held hostage by fugitive Brian Nichols. Smith’s reading aloud of a passage from “The Purpose-Driven Life” - the guide to Christian living by Rick Warren - was largely credited with aiding Smith’s escape. However, in her ensuing book, “Unlikely Angel,” Smith reveals that during her ordeal, Nichols made a request for marijuana. Smith did not have any marijuana on hand, so she gave him crystal methamphetamine instead. I find that hilarious only because initially, the Warren book’s role in the drama was such a big deal, but then the crystal meth revelation kind of twisted the story around a bit in the end. It’s very O. Henry in an edgy sort of way.

Finally, there remains one of the least amusing subjects in the world - torture - but this year’s political debate over the issue defines odd and memorable for me.

American soldiers in World War II took pride in distinguishing themselves from the enemy by never resorting to torture; during the Iraq conflict, we as a nation are actively discussing what justifiable torture is. Condoleezza Rice’s recent trip to Europe was dubbed - behind her back, I’m sure - the “Secret Prisons Tour,” and there are undoubtedly those in the world community who would now place the United States just a notch above China when it comes to human rights.

Sept. 11 may have changed everything, but change is one thing, and genetic mutation is quite another. Sometimes, I feel that we’re not only culturally sliding down a slippery slope, but we’re also sliding right into the La Brea tarpits, joining our reptilian brethren whose brain stem, according to triune brain theory, we’ve inherited - a brain stem whose principal function is survival and governing behaviors that are automatic, cannot distinguish between right and wrong and are highly resistant to change.

December is such an appropriate month for reflections, some that make you think, some that make you grin. But, no matter the splendor, the tragedy or even the wackiness of the concluding year, I always look forward to the new one.

I’ve always been a morning person. I’ve always believed in the promise of a new day.