A national drug chain runs a television ad saying as you get back to “your version of normal,” we want to help.
An interesting concept. We can customize normal. For sure, a year and a half of Covid-19 and its variants has blown up the old normal and we won’t be going back.
People lucky enough to have a home remember why they chose it – a sanctuary and a place of peace. We’re not in a hurry to be out every night. Some of us have created home offices that work just fine. We won’t be returning to cubicles.
Health has become a focus – the protocols that kept us safe from Covid also drastically reduced incidences of flu and colds. While masks are the most visible, the hand-washing, social distancing, staying home when sick and coughing into a tissue or elbow are ideas that will stay.
With fewer face-to-face meetings, we eliminate the limitation of distance. We can talk, text or tweet with folks across the globe. Worship services and funerals are being streamed online. Webinars and podcasts give learners more, not fewer, options.
I’m liking my version of normal. How about you?
Special session woes
Gov. Bill Lee has called the Tennessee General Assembly into special session on Monday, Oct. 18, to address incentives for Ford Motor Company’s historic $5.6 billion investment at the Memphis Regional Megasite. Lee wants the state to kick in $500 million plus job training. Lee said he wants the special session to be restricted to this issue. But here is his call. When the rowdy Republicans rally, though, look for attempts to restrict mask mandates, pass a Texas-like abortion bill, and maybe give every citizen a Smith & Wesson. Stay tuned.
WWJD
Three folks are running for General Sessions Court Division II in 2022. Two candidates are assistant district attorneys, Judd Davis (R) and Sarah Keith (D). Magistrate Ray Jenkins is running as an independent, in reaction to the state Republican Party seeking to charge a fee to get on a primary ballot. (Ray’s against it and so am I.)
Incumbent Judge Geoffrey P. Emery has resigned effective December 2021. That means Knox County Commission can appoint a judge to serve from January to September. Will the commission appoint? Will the appointment give the election edge to the incumbent? For answers to these questions and more, think WWJD. The J here is John Valliant, lobbyist extraordinaire, who has been heard to say, “I like Jimmy Kyle’s boy.”
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.