While doing research for a film project, I discovered that 2008 is, among other things, The International Year of Languages, The International Year of Planet Earth (really!), The International Year of Sanitation, and the Year of the Frog. There’s probably someone somewhere whose job it is just to think these things up.
Trumping all of those is the fact that 2008 is The Year of the Potato, a piece of information so vital that it’s remarkable it slipped our attention. The reason that 2008 is the Year of the Potato and not the year of something actually interesting is that the United Nations, one of the hippest bodies ever created, wants to highlight “the potential contribution of the potato to defeating hunger,” as if the potato is about to organize a relief committee, like Herbert Hoover.
Now, I’m all in favor of defeating hunger, and I’m sure the potato has very good intentions and will be shortly putting out an instructional newsletter with pictures of the potato traveling to third world countries with Anderson Cooper and frowning at the horizon. I’m even more excited that I will soon be purchasing INSPI(POTATO), EMPOWE(POTATO), and DO THE (POTATO) THING shirts, and I’ll be sure to attend the approaching U2/potato world tour. I look forward to the potato changing our way of thinking. Ideally, I'm hoping Dan Quayle will be involved somehow.
To show my appreciation of the potato, here, on this site, I have added this, to increase all of our awareness of the potato.
We are all now aware of the potato. Hunger will be no more.