by What’s important for me to say today? Thank you. I am grateful for the community that exists here in the ether. I don’t like to think about what these past months would have been like without all of you.
Ambulance scarcity, long 911 response times: COVID pushes L.A. County to ‘brink of catastrophe’—Los Angeles Times
Employees at suburban Milwaukee clinic unknowingly gave out 57 shots with deliberately ruined vaccine; pharmacist arrested—Chicago Tribune
Georgia Sen. David Perdue, facing tight runoff, will quarantine after close Covid contact—NBC News
December 31, 2020
Entering 2021 together
by Ruth Neuwald Falcon, Seattle, Washington
What’s weird about this time is that I am simultaneously alone in a way I have never been before—none of us has—and more connected than I’ve ever been. All of you who read or write for this blog are part of my life. Our words connect us, even as we each inhabit our own bubbles of whatever size.
Just like we couldn’t have imagined how this year would unfold, I couldn’t have imagined the development of the blog. I just knew I wanted to do something to foster community as our world fragmented in stunning ways. I didn’t realize it would become a place for me to learn to more fully trust myself as a writer. I didn’t even write my own post for the first two weeks. The first post, on March 13, had pieces from five people. The shortest one was 22 words. I was groping for a form for the blog while we were all groping for some kind of understanding of how to navigate this frightening new reality.
We don’t know what 2021 will bring. I am grateful that we are entering it together. To borrow words from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at the end of his interview this morning with Jake Tapper, I wish you all strength and love for the New Year.
Ruth Neuwald Falcon 
I am enormously grateful for your decision to start this blog as it has deepened our connection. Thank you!
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Yes, 2020 is gone and 2021 awaits us. What will we do with it? The story is ours to write. “‘For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”T.S. Elliot
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I think that having started this blog was a wonderful thing to do, dear Ruth, and I am so glad to be a contributing part of it. Many people are touched by the things you and the rest of your bloggers post, and you have made a difference in this trying time! Thank you, dear friend!
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Like Laura Nyro sings “Nothing heals like time and love.”
A calendar year’s beginnings seems like an arbitrary choice, but as we improvisers know, you make an arbitrary choice, act as if and say “yes.”
May 2021 be the stage to dance upon without stepping on one another’s two left feet.
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