Page 7 - January 2021 Voices

Shoot for the Net!

Bianca Martin, MS2

As I brainstormed ideas for this article mid-December, Phyllis

Harmon’s brief echoed in my head: “January will be about setting
goals for the rest of the year. . . an inspirational article that gets
people off their behinds.”
Normally, I’m great at that.

Normally, I would have no trouble coming up with something.
Normally, I wouldn’t struggle to find uplifting words.
Normally, this would have been easy.
Yet when the time came to turn that brainstorm into a

calculated weather pattern, I realized it wasn’t going to be a walk
, in the park. Things are FAR from normal, and I would need to

grab my umbrella.
Here are the facts: we are in month 13 of a global pandemic,

living through the most politically divided America of our time,
teaching an entire generation of students from home, protesting
for racial justice, and giving Toastmasters speeches to small square
boxes over Zoom in our pajama pants. Did I miss anything?

Probably. Oh yeah, how about ‘Murder Hornets’ becoming a part
of our vocabulary! That one was fun.
2020, and now seemingly 2021, which is off to a rather rocky
start, are going to have to be their own classes in school someday.

History as a catch-all subject simply won’t suffice anymore at
this rate. Bright eyed college students 30 years from now will
be enrolling in courses entitled “March 2020: The Month that
Wouldn’t End;” “June 2020: Maybe the Sun Will Help;” “October

2020: The Second Wave;” and maybe, just maybe, “2021: The Year

VOICES! | JANUARY 2021 7