Tense/ tens/ adjective: 1) stretched tight or rigid 2) unable to relax because of nervousness or anxiety. verb: 1) to flex, as in a muscle 2) to make tight or rigid. noun: 1) a set of forms taken by a verb, indicating the timing of the action I am in…

Naïveté /ˌnäˌēv(ə)ˈtā, / noun 1) the quality of being naïve; lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment. 2) innocence or unsophistication. Of the many insults that this awful year has wrought, one of the most unexpected is a distorted sense of time. Many of the annual milestones I use to orient…

“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” Thomas Jefferson I have been spending a lot of time, in recent weeks, texting and phoning voters, hoping to “get out the vote.” As my readers already know, I want them to…

ex·per·i·ment noun /ikˈsperəmənt/: a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact. In recent weeks, two Coronavirus vaccine trials and a Covid-19 treatment trial, combining a new monoclonal antibody with the medication Remdesivir, have been temporarily paused while scientists evaluate harmful effects that…

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. — Winston Churchill At the age of four, my grandmother, and her two younger siblings, lost their mother in the 1918 influenza pandemic. Their paternal grandmother moved…

Identity: /ˌīˈden(t)ədē/ noun: 1. The fact of being who or what a person is. 2. The condition of being oneself, and not another I hate my mask. It doesn’t interfere with my breathing. It doesn’t hurt my ears. It isn’t really all that uncomfortable. I now have enough of them…

Our dear leader continues to insist that the Coronavirus pandemic is under control. The suggestion is made that this disease will just work its way through our population as part of the natural spread of any pathogen new to the human population. After all, the goal was not to stop…

lab·​y·​rinth: ˈla-bə-ˌrin(t)th — n — 1a: a place constructed of or full of intricate passageways and blind alleys b: a maze formed by paths separated by high hedges 2: something extremely complex or tortuous in structure, arrangement, or character 2020 has been terrible for my mental health. I recognize that…

Fearmonger: ˈfir-ˌməŋ-gər n. someone who spreads fear, or needlessly raises the alarm. Last week, armed with face masks and hand sanitizer, my family and I went to the corner of Maple and Main in a nearby small town here in Virginia. We marched with others who wanted to make their…