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Tuesday, December 29, 2020

2020: ON STORIES, TIME, AND QUERIES

by Jen Schneider


Twenty-eight queries on a year in review. 2020 is nearly hindsight.

 

Q1. Which of the following words is least like the other? Most?

Story

Storied

Stall

Scared

 

Q2. Which of the following words is least like the other? Most?

Relative

Time

Relate

Test

Term

 

Q3. If I cry and no one sees, does my pain matter?

 

Q4. True or false: Not all stories have happy endings.

 

Q5. True or false: All stories deserve to be told.

 

Q6. True or false: All tears are wet.

 

Q7. Which of the following is a symptom of 2020? Choose all that apply.

Headache

Stomachache

Heartache

 

Q8. Define struggle. Define consolation.

How are the two similar? Different?

 

Q9. Which of the following email signatures does not belong?

Stay safe

Stay well

With best wishes

Regards

 

Q10. Which of the following words is most like the other? Least?

Pandemic

Pandemonium

Parade

Puppet

 

Q11. Which of the following is an appropriate 2020 holiday greeting?

With condolences

Season’s greetings

Almost there

The most ____ time of year

 

Q12. Which of the following is most likely to win product of the year?

Masks

Music

Memories

 

Q13. What types of puzzles are hardest to solve?

Puzzle of a thousand pieces

Puzzle of 365 days

Puzzle of 2020

Puzzle of 100,000 pieces

 

Q14. What type of loss can’t be recovered? What types can be?

 

Q15. As citizens, we’ve been told to be patient. Define patient.

 

Q15. Which of the following words is least like the others?

Patience

Patient

Patent

Pest

Plague

 

Q16. Define and explain the difference between 2 and 3 ply paper. 

 

Q17. Which of the following words is most closely associated with 2020? Least?

Toilet 

Tissue

Tear

Time

 

Q18. Which of the following doesn’t belong?

Bookshop

Bookstore

Book swap

Bookmark

 

Q19. Define relative.

 

Q20. Doctors caution arms ache post-vaccine. Why does no one caution against heart aches prior?

 

Q21. How can a virus with only three consonants travels all continents?

 

Q22. Which of the following words doesn’t belong?

Vaccine

Virus

Virulent

Verse

 

Q23. If friends tell me I look different on video, who has changed?

 

Q24. Which of the following words doesn’t belong?

Zoo

Zoom

Zine

Zipper

 

Q25. Define present. Are all presents gifts?

 

Q26. How does the future differ from the present?

 

Q27. Writers speak of the moment in time when strings of words go dead. Define that moment in time.

 

Q28. First thought, best thought. Ready. Set. Go. 

1.     An emotion associated with January 2020

2.     Noun that describes 2020

3.     Another word for truth

4.     The word that describes a deep wound

5.     Word that describes a sibling, parent, aunt, or cousin

6.     A mineral or element on the periodic table of elements

7.     Lyric—two words—from a favorite song

8.     An emotion associated with March 2020

9.     A cartoon character

10.  Antonym for past

 

On Past Truths

Even as a young girl, I knew not all stories have _1__ endings. 

Not all __2__ end well. Knew, also, that not all tales are __3__. 

Time heals some ___4___, but not all. Time, too, is ___5___. 

Eight comes both before and after nine. And not all relatives 

are as strong as __6__. 

 

On Crossroads

With a heart of __7__ and a sense of __8__, 

we rest our heads on sheets of dancing __9__. 

Nighttime falls on the __10__. 

 

Run. Hurry now. We can beat it if we try.

Race for cures, vaccines, and fresh air. 

Friends, too. Run. Hurry now. 

Try, we can beat it now. Hurry. Run.

Race for a reason to live.

 

 

On Futures

Define Future. Define Race. 

How are the two similar? Different?

 

1.     The color of your favorite ice cream

2.     A favorite pub entree

3.     The noise of your daily commute

4.     A carnival food

5.     An airplane snack food

6.     A destination reached only by air

7.     A destination reached only by sea

8.     First love. One word

9.     A word that describes when shoulders rub

10.  Something, someone, somewhere beloved.

Futures are the color of __1__, the flavor of __2__, and the sound of __3__.

Futures smell of __4__ and __5___. Futures tease of __6__.  Futures 

are __7__, __8__ and __9__. The future is __10__. Focus on the Future.

 

Hope

1.     Antonym for damaged

2.     An emotion associated with September 2020

3.     A wish for 2021

4.     An appropriate social distance (whole number only)

5.     Synonym for vaccine

6.     Number of consonants in COVID-19

7.     The color of 2020

8.     The smell of 2020

9.     Humpty Dumpty sat on _____. (Plural)

10.  Humpty Dumpty had great _____. (Plural)

11.  A word that rhymes with wall and fall.

 

Hope is wrapped of ___ and ___. Hope is ___ times ___.

Hope is found in ___ times ___. Hope is ___ and____.

Hope persists despite ____ and ___. ____, too. 

Hope is everywhere. 



Jen Schneider is an educator, attorney, and writer. She lives, writes, and works in small spaces throughout Philadelphia. Her work appears in The Popular Culture Studies Journal, unstamatic, Zingara Poetry Review, Streetlight Magazine, Chaleur Magazine, LSE Review of Books, and other literary and scholarly journals.