PURELY COMMENTARY for openers
Unlock Your Speech
I
n the morning, as part of your mad dash to work/ class/exercise, you grab your essential equipment before running out the door. A major element in what you take: keys. These are needed for the car, your office, your locker at the gym, your Sy Manello bicycle padlock, Editorial etc. Assistant However, the word key is often a key element in expressions we use daily. Your key to success may often be defined by how up to date you remain in your field of expertise. Are you a
key figure in your company’s operation? If so, you may be asked to be the keynote speaker at a training session. Do not expect to be recognized for your contributions if you are always low-key. Sometimes it pays to speak up; you hold the key to your progress. It is not uncommon these days to discover latch-key children; working parents are quite common. Do not leave sugar treats for after school, however, or the kids may get too keyed up. (All children are special and hold the keys to our hearts.) To be an integral part of a choir you must not sing off key. Listen carefully to each
piano key. A church key (bottle opener) is not going to get you into a place of worship. Use one too often and you may find that police will lock you up and throw away the key. Depending on your age, you may recall vividly such things as skate keys (used on roller skates) and a can key (used to open sardine cans). The latter often broke and left one with a partially opened tin; ugh! Pennsylvania is known as the Keystone State. Just as a keystone is the central support in an arch, this state
was central to the original colonies. (Let that be your lesson for the day.) Do you read the credits at the end of a film? Then perhaps you have seen the term key grip. This person directs the crews of offcamera workers. I shall now stop keying in information and let you go with the reminder that you, too, can unlock — expand — your daily conversation.
guest column
Masked Windsorites Look Across the River with Envy
D
espite Canada’s recent announcement that fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents will be able to enter for non-essential travel starting Aug. 9, the Department of Homeland Security has Dan Brotman regrettably decided to not reciprocate and renewed its ban on non-essential travel for most foreign nationals — including Jewish Windsorites — at the U.S.-Canada land border until at least Aug. 21.
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As a U.S. citizen who lives in Windsor and works on both sides of the border, I am permitted to travel relatively freely between the two countries, which I do several times a week. This puts me in a somewhat unique position, as I am one of a handful of members of the Windsor Jewish community who has experienced first-hand how two different countries have adapted to living with this rollercoaster of a pandemic. These days, driving between Windsor and Detroit is what I imagine crossing East to West Berlin might have felt like in the 1980s. Although the situation
in Ontario has improved due to Canada’s accelerated vaccination campaign and subsequent loosening of restrictions, it has not been this way for the majority of the nine months I have lived here. Up until earlier this month, even fully vaccinated Canadians were required to enter quarantine for 14 days upon returning to the country, and non-essential travel was banned between certain Canadian provinces. For a good part of this year, Canada trailed behind the U.S. in vaccinating its population due to lack of supply. Canadians were waiting four months between
doses and encouraged to mix vaccines, whereas our American neighbors were waiting the standard three to four weeks between two doses of the same vaccine. For many months, we looked across the river with envy as our neighbors in Detroit were awash in vaccines, and our mayor even attempted to lobby the federal government to allow Michigan to share some of its surplus vaccines with Windsor. Finally, the flood of vaccines arrived, and similar to the U.S., now most Canadians who want to get vaccinated have already had the opportunity to do so, continued on page 6
AUGUST 5 • 2021
