Contributed

To speak our language these days with enlightenment is to harbor an ongoing sense that there are words and expressions that come to mind but that, upon reflection, we shouldn’t utter. I refer not only to terms like the N-word — an easy case for self-censorship — but also to an eternally morphing assemblage of locutions that pedants, our kids, human resources and the Twitter herd say we shouldn’t use anymore. Terms that are hardly egregious but maybe just aren’t the best look.

To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, if you feel a shiver of excitement when “school shooting” trends on Twitter, you just might be woke. Last Wednesday, Erica -- a nurse and “humanist” -- proved her wokeness in spades.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni late last week sentenced Shaun Daniel Tara to life in state prison without possibility of parole, plus an additional 57 years, after a jury July 1 convicted Perantoni of first degree murder and attempted murder in the first degree.

Assembly Bill 939, the Denim Day Act of 2021, was co-authored by Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes and signed by Governor Newsom on Oct. 5. Cervantes district includes the cities of Corona, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, and the west side of Riverside. In my 11-minute interview with the assemblymember, she spoke of her motivations to write the bill and shared other bills she authored that Governor Newsom signed.

The COVID-19 pandemic created mental health struggles in people who previously never faced them like kids. The State says 1-in-3 high school students felt sad or hopeless nearly every day and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital says they saw double the amount of suicide attempts in children.