A longtime friend of Longboat Key, a loyal and loving wife of more than 60 years, and a mother to two loving children, Hazel Lenobel, passed away Thursday evening.

It is usually a simple ritual — our Year in Review edition. We scan the stories, make some judgments based on impact of the events and weave together pictures and narratives. But 2011 was an intense and beguiling year. It is as if all the sands have shifted metaphorically speaking, and yet we have not had a hurricane. Take the encouraged resignation of Longboat Key Town Manager Bruce St. Denis after it came to light that five of seven commissioners wanted him replaced.

You could take James Taylor at his insipid mellowest and hand him an acoustic guitar and force him to play “Kumbaya” — even that could not get the Colony dispute resolved. And we should not be naïve and take the words and actions of those involved as literal and at face value. Everyone is angry, everyone is frustrated, and everyone is all fingers and no ears.

Town Manager Dave Bullock — one month into the job — maintains an amazing sense of humor considering what he walked into Nov. 1. He was told job-one is to determine if Planning and Zoning Director Monica Simpson should be terminated over allegations of a hostile working environment.

Too fast, too slow, just right. It is a Goldilocks dilemma of timing for the Longboat Key Town Commission when it comes to selecting a new town manager. And as in all uncertainties — it causes fear, vacillation, criticism, self-doubt and worry about doing what is right

It is easy to be critical, sometimes innate to be cynical. Especially in a world where 280 million people a day play Xbox 360 killing zombies and recreating historical moments with perversions of Castro, Kennedy and McNamara. This is the world my 10-year-old son inhabits. Surprisingly, even more surreal are his 42-year-old father’s Town Commission meetings where topics are discussed like chewing on a collective trough of tapeworms

I wrote the following story years ago about my father, Lou Reid. He passed away last year and although it sounds hokey, his voice and presence in me grows stronger as I get older. His loyalty and love and dedication in raising my brother and I is unmatched in most anyone I have met. He never failed me as a father or let me down. He taught me how to throw a curveball, how to love writing and politics and how to get done whatever it is you say you are going to do. He taught me the meaning of loyalty and commitment

Redevelopment. Revitalization. The good old days. Americans are always fascinated with what they do not have at the expense of the surrounding world. Botox, Viagra, breast implants, Rogaine, tanning booths, teethe whitening and even the diminutive acacia berry are all tonics and formulas promising to bring back a youthful, potent past

The Longboat Key Community Center — it can end up a collective manifestation of all that is wonderful about our island

It is high time Longboat Key becomes impregnated with bullish, forward thinking energy. Let us leave last year, last month and the last week behind as a tear-jerking session of peeling the metaphorical community onion. As a town we tackled — or some may say fumbled — the Key Club redevelopment, beach renourishment and we are starting to address the pension crisis. And as we entered each of these topics, we found dark and deep waters. Take the Key Club