Normalcy and tradition held sway as — for the first time in my life — I watched a presidential inauguration live, listening to Lady Gaga sing the national anthem and, then, Joe Biden take the oath of office, becoming the 46th president of the United States.

As I write these words, I find myself swimming in a complex stew of emotions, more moved by what I have just watched than I expected to be.

“. . . if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts . . .”

And then Garth Brooks sang “Amazing Grace,: urging everyone — including the folks at home — to join him. And I did, quietly saying to myself: You’ve got to be kidding me.

The upstart pop act, with releases also ranging in genre from rock to funk to hip hop, Ace & Boris have cultivated the ideal repertoire for live shows post pandemic. The band is prepping for a post-pandemic extravagant live show tour of the Midwest with record label Darlar Productions. Tour dates and locations will be announced soon by Darlar Productions; the band intends for Columbus to be on the schedule. The quickly rising artists are sure to draw large audiences with their stage performances and musical skill alike.

Singers and multi-instrumentalists Ace Peterson and Boris Rockwell began writing and performing music in the greater Columbus, Ohio area in 2019. Their talent as musicians and showmen was quickly recognized by record label Darlar Productions, with whom they entered into a creative collaborative agreement that year, granting them full license overall production decisions and distribution of their works.

As the sun sets slowly on Trump’s presidency and we bid a not-so-fond farewell to the ex-resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, presumably leaving for exile at Mar-a-Largo, it’s worth reflecting: After all he’s said and done, what have we really learned from The Donald?

By this, I don’t mean some sort of high-minded platitude, such as “Democracy is a fragile thing.” Rather, I am referring to what of value, that one can put to practical use, has Trump actually taught us?

At inauguration time, journalist I. F. Stone wrote, incoming presidents “make us the dupes of our hopes.” That insight is worth pondering as Joe Biden ascends to the presidency. After four years of the real-life Trump nightmare, hope is overdue -- but it’s hazardous.

Stone astutely warned against taking heart from the lofty words that President Richard Nixon had just deployed in his inaugural address on January 20, 1969. With the Vietnam War raging, Stone pointed out: “It’s easier to make war when you talk peace.”

That’s true of military war. And class war.

In August 2010, the secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Ahmed Djoghlaf, warned that ‘We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate.’ According to the UN Environment Program, ‘the Earth is in the midst of a mass extinction of life’ with scientists estimating that ‘150-200 species of plant, insect, bird and mammal become extinct every 24 hours’ which is nearly 1,000 times the ‘natural’ or ‘background’ rate. Moreover, it ‘is greater than anything the world has experienced since the vanishing of the dinosaurs nearly 65m years ago.’ See ‘Protect nature for world economic security, warns UN biodiversity chief’.