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March 6: Oklahoma presidential primary

April 8: Easter Sunday

April 12: Tulsa Drillers home opener

Spring: Return of 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

May 17: Tulsa International Mayfest begins (runs through May 20)

June 26: State primary elections

July 14: Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday

Sept. 27: Tulsa State Fair begins (runs through Oct. 7)

Nov. 4: Will Rogers' birthday

Nov. 6: General election

Dec. 21: Mayan calendar ends

Some believe the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012. Associated Press

Anything and nothing at all could happen on Dec. 21

Something big is going to happen on Dec. 21.

We're just not sure what.

Dec. 21 is the end of a 5,125-year cycle popularly known as the Mayan calendar. More properly called the Meso-American Long Count Calendar and developed in pre-Columbian Central America, it represents a unit of time called a b'ak'tun.

The scholarly consensus seems to be that ancient Mayans, were they still around, might find the end of a b'ak'tun well worth celebrating but would otherwise not be terribly concerned.

That has not prevented predictions that include an "alien entrainment," the Earth's collision with a phantom planet, magnetic storms, the return of the god Quetzalcoatl, mass extinctions, and the planet being torn apart by a "galactic alignment."

Some, though, have more or less recycled the Age of Aquarius mantra and foretell a new era of peace and enlightenment.

So take your pick: Armageddon or Utopia. Anything could happen on Dec. 21.

And probably won't.

-- RANDY KREHBIEL, World Staff Writer

Readers weigh in on events and movements to watch in 2012

Online readers at tulsaworld. com suggested the following stories to watch in 2012:

"In no particular order:

1. The growing influence of the Occupy movement

2. The economy

3. The 2012 Presidential election

4. The continuing revitalization of Tulsa's downtown

5. The effects of corporate cash on our government

6. The growing poverty rate in the United States

7. Nonprofits being squeezed by decreased governmental grants, decreased contributions and increased demand for services

8. The extremist elements of the Religious "Right" being further discredited and exposed for their racist tendencies

9. City Council Chairman G. T. Bynum

10. Changes in Tulsa Public Schools

11. The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra -- success in a new model of orchestral governance, continues to run in the black while other orchestras are cutting back and even closing

12. Tulsa's neighborhoods and the growing vitality of neighborhood associations ..."

-- M2VIOLIN

"100th birthday of Woody Guthrie"

-- CHAINSAW

"Is 12/21/12 really the very last day of life as we know it?"

-- CLANJOYWALKSIG

Tahaie

ONE YEAR LATER ...

A year ago, the Tulsa World introduced five people to watch in 2011. All five remain active in state and community affairs, four in more or less the same positions. Here's a look back:

- Preston Doerflinger made the biggest change. A political newcomer when elected city auditor in late 2009, the Tulsa Republican was appointed director of state finance by Gov. Mary Fallin in February 2011. He also serves on Fallin's Cabinet as secretary of finance and revenue.

- Mana Tahaie continues her work for racial and social justice through the YWCA, the United Campus Ministry at the University of Tulsa and Oklahomans for Equality.

- Roberta Preston recently completed her first year as chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma, which covers 30 counties.

- David Blatt, director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, remains one of the most respected voices for low-income Oklahomans. The institute added its first two full-time staffers in 2011.

- Denise Northrup continues in her role as Gov. Fallin's chief of staff, a position that essentially makes her gatekeeper to the state's highest office.