It might seem like a dick move to be talking about celebration when we're rounding the one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic. After we've lost so much, as we miss more birthdays and anniversaries, postpone weddings and drastically alter the way we mark transitions, what place does celebration have in our lives?

Words have meaning—both literal and figurative—and if we are careless with either type of meaning, it can have long-lasting and far-reaching consequences. Uninformed or hasty word choice can be a window into our biases, and shape people's perception of issues and events. Which is why we need to stop using war imagery when we talk about COVID-19.

I am a person first. I want to know when it’s safe for me to get together with my friends and family, and how we can protect each other when that happens. So here I am, putting my old journalism hat back on, and writing the article I haven’t yet seen: about how the people of Saskatchewan need to respond as businesses begin to re-open while COVID-19 continues to circulate.