To commemorate the year that was, we invited artists, designers, and thinkers across disciplines — from interdisciplinary artist Ralph Lemon and ebook publishers Badlands Unlimited to design firm Experimental Jetset and musician Greg Tate — to share a list of their most noteworthy ideas, events, and objects of 2013.

As her bio says, Dessa has been described as “Mos Def plus Dorothy Parker.” As her lyrics say, she’s “half Dorothy Parker, half April O’Neil” (a nod to the famed poet and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ truth-seeking sidekick, respectively). However you categorize her — scrappy, rappy, or writerly — the Minneapolis-based emcee, poet, writer, activist, and veteran member of the hip hop collective Doomtree is busy. In the last year, she’s published a chapbook of poetry (launched at the Walker in October), released the solo album Parts of Speech, performed an NPR Tiny Desk concert, performed in the ninth annual Doomtree Blowout, published the “miniature book” Are You Handsome?, conducted some excellent interviews on music and food for the beer magazine The Growler and gave some excellent interviews on topics from homophobia to humanism, toured the country with her band, and got going on a new project, a collaboration with classical composer Jocelyn Hagen: commissioned by Minneapolis Public Schools, it’ll be performed in April by a student choir and orchestra. To name a few.

Given the nature of the work she did last year, Dessa — aka @dessadarling on Twitter — offers a fittingly diverse best-of-2013, covering her favorites in religion and TV, politics and hip hop.

Marriage Equality in Minnesota

I spent much of 2013 in a Ford van nicknamed MOUNTAIN, touring the country with my band. During the long drives, I usually work on my laptop, Joey plays video games, Aby dons headphones to read her book, and the driver enjoys DJ privileges. On the day that Minnesota announced the official legalization of gay marriage, however, we all leaned forward in our seats to be a bit closer to the pair of working speakers. Everyone stayed still and silent as we listened to a streaming feed of MPR. I remember wiping my eyes with my sleeve, and making happy eyes at all my friends reflected in the rearview.

The “Control” Verse

Kendrick Lamar wrote a guest verse on a Big Sean track and sent the question “Did you hear it yet?” ringing ’round the world. In this verse Kendrick challenges the rap community, even calling out good friends by name, to up the bar. His contemporaries scrambled to write responses and recorded them before morning; veterans spoke of a healthy jolt to the system. Rap is a contact art.

Pope Francis