SquireForYou

I’ve spent the past two years working in the emergency room on the front line of this pandemic, where I have lost count of how many people have been intubated, brought back to life, were told they will never see a loved one again, or learned they have life-altering conditions due to COVID-19. So to say I’m disappointed about Wednesday’s passage of an anti-masking bill in the Virginia Senate is an understatement.

It’s like clockwork—almost rote at this point. A patient comes into the ER. There are months of notes from their primary physician that they tried to get them vaccinated. The patient steadfastly refuses. The patient gets COVID. They try every home “treatment” available. Finally, the patients shows up in the ER, panicked. We stabilize them. But it’s too late.

Well, COVID-19 is back with a vengeance after a few precious months when it seemed like we might finally be able to breathe again. We thought it could be a chance to recoup, refresh ourselves, and move forward for those of us on the front lines.

I should say we hoped it would be all those things, in the same way Charlie Brown hopes Lucy will finally let him kick that football.

This is the fourth in a series of interviews with Democratic candidates for statewide office in Virginia.

I don’t think I have to remind anyone here what 2017 was like for those of us in the Netroots. I’d argue the majority of us immediately understood the systemic threat represented by Donald Trump and became determined to do whatever it took to keep our democracy alive.

There is perhaps no better example of that than Virginia in 2017.

This is the second in a series of interviews with Democratic candidates for governor of Virginia.

“Black women have done the hard work of building and saving this country from itself, time and time again.” The steel I heard in state Sen. Jennifer McClellan’s voice was unmistakable. We had spent the last half-hour on the phone, discussing her campaign for governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.