“What could I possibly say about Elvis for FāVS that remotely connects to faith and values?” I ask, foolishly in retrospect.

I was a newspaper reporter and editor for nearly 40 years, a university professor for 10. And this month, I am celebrating one year as a columnist for Spokane Faith and Values.

Most of us have a few, maybe a handful, of best friends who go back to our beginnings. We share common history, of course, and that is part of the friend dynamic. But there often are long gaps in those shared experiences. I have not seen some of my best friends in several years and we communicate by phone or email or social media infrequently.

Movie musicals are fantasies, in general. But there is real history in “1776,” compressed, synthesized, and often subordinated to narrative drama, of course. But that history, such as it is, is more relevant now than when the film debuted.

Response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as it wanes (we hope), varies from place to place.

I understand the almost reflexive reliance on prayer when crises engulf our lives. People deserve to find comfort how and where they can. If praying provides that comfort for people of faith, so much the better.