Maybe it was something in the champagne—you know, the bubbly stuff we bought by the case last year to do jubilant justice to the coming millennium. Or maybe it was just relief that we got through Y2K without a glitch—not counting the little confusion over the presidential election. But Florida aside, folks seemed to face the arrival of the 21st century feeling decisive and emboldened, as evidenced by the gamut of gumption displayed by this year's Intriguers. Nine years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, actor departed
Spin City to become a fund-raiser and activist for more research into the disease. Britain's
Prince William celebrated his 18th birthday and moved into manhood as he publicly decried one author's betrayal of his late mother. Drew Barry more turned herself into a Hollywood powerhouse; the World Wrestling Federation's The Rock turned himself into an industry. Tennis champ Venus Williams delighted her fans with an amazing comeback, and movie sweetheart Meg Ryan stunned hers by her affaire de coeur with Aussie actor Russell Crowe. For feminist icon Gloria Steinem, it was her decision to begin married life (with animal rights activist David Bale) that proved surprising. Although not as shocking as the million-dollar triumph of Survivor schemer Richard Hatch (or our obsession with the show). As in centuries past, old-fashioned determination proved to be the key not just to tribal domination but to a better future. Taking an almost unfathomable leap toward treating genetically linked illnesses, biochemist J. Craig Venter broke the 3 billion-plus letter code of the human genome. "We differ from each other by one letter out of a thousand," he says. We'll toast to the differences.
