Person of the Year 2018

Mamoudou Gassama (a.k.a. French Spiderman)

A Malian migrant in Paris who risked his life to save a strangers child while citizen bystanders watched, filmed and cheered him on. His exceptional heroics seemed to fly in the face of: 1) the image many nationalists are trumpeting of the refugee bogeymen that are invading civilization as we know it; and 2) the idea of walls being the answer.  The French President thanked Mr. Gassama with a medal and citizenship.  The City of Paris has offered him a job with their Fire Department.

Animal of the Year: King Coon (a.k.a. the #MPRracoon)

Anxious locals and the world watched while this migrant racoon scales the outside of a 25 story (305 ft) skyscraper in St. Paul, Minnesota.   Earlier in the year, another (or perhaps the same) racoon climbed up (and then back down from) 700 feet on a construction crane in Toronto.