point of view

Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2023 is “authentic.” Lookups for the word, are routinely heavy on the dictionary company’s site but were boosted to new heights throughout the year. “We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity,” Sokolowski of Merriam-Webster said ahead of this year's announcement of the word. “What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.” Sokolowski & his team don’t delve into the reasons people head for dictionaries & websites in search of specific words. Rather, they chase the data on lookup spikes & world events that correlate. This time around, there was no particularly huge boost at any given time but a constancy to the increased interest in “authentic.” This was the year of artificial intelligence, for sure, but also a moment when-maker OpenAI suffered a leadership crisis. Taylor Swift & Prince Harry chased after authenticity in their words & deeds. Elon Musk, urged the heads of companies, politicians, ministers & other leaders to “speak authentically” on social media by running their own accounts. Here’s what you need to know about Merriam Webster’s previous words of the year.

• "Gaslighting" was word of the year for 2022, as lookups 1,740% in 2022 over the year before.
• In 2021, it was “anti-vaxxer.” And in 2020, for the first time, Merriam-Webster & Dictionary.com declared the same word as their tops: pandemic.

Monday, noon - Hospital Board of Trustees; 4pm - Capital Improvement Authority; 6pm - Citizen's Leadership Academy Graduation

Tuesday, 4pm - Municipal Court

Wednesday, noon - Chamber of Commerce Holiday Luncheon & Awards

Thursday, 9:30am - Thrive Steering Committee; 11:30am - CCEDC Keystone Awards

Friday, 7:30am - City Council Work session

• Hospital Board hears reports from CEO, CON, CFO, & considers policy & procedure approvals. Introducing Matt Untch, Interim CFO
• CIP hears CIP financials, considers $200,000 request for Fire Training Facility, & considers approval of Trans Trust amended budget.
• City Council hears presentation from auditors, & Trans Trust recommendations

• Celebrating work anniversaries this week - Larry Tarrant, Reserve Police Lieutenant - 18 years.
• Last week's Christmas Lunch was an opportunity to express appreciation to our employees for everything they do all year to serve our citizens. Thank you for giving so much of yourselves to bettering our community.
• Community Center is sponsoring Youth Mental Health First Aid Training on 1/18, 8:30-3:30, free includes lunch

• Garland Bridge is on schedule, currently under design, preliminary plans are coming along; currently under review by State Historic Preservation Officer. We anticipate this project will be ready for construction in the spring of 2024.
• RAISE project is under a document review as we seek obligation of funds to begin design. We anticipate the neighborhood projects around Cornerstone elementary will be ready for construction in the spring of 2025.
• Dry Fork Greenway project has completed the survey work and preliminary design is underway. We anticipate this project will be ready for construction in the fall of 2024
• We have declined the grant/loan offered to complete the Lead Service Line Inventory required to be completed later in 2024. The cost to dig up each water service line greatly exceeds our cost to do the work using city employees. Use of the grant funds did not permit us to use our own workforce. We have completed over 10% of the service lines to be inventoried to date.

We were fascinated as we walked around in this Cure-All Water Bar & 'Health' Spa. It was amazing to walk around inside this deserted spa that had old equipment & steam cabinets, bathtubs, massage tables, specialty showers with high pressure water hoses, etc. It was interesting & yet somehow creepy to imagine all the people that came here in hopes of finding a cure. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g44354-Activities-Excelsior_Springs_Missouri.html