"TENT," "TENSIVE," "TENACIOUS," "THIN," "TONE"

        From “tense” to “tenacious” to “tenuous” to “tone” we traverse a considerable distance, but the Indo-European root ten- will stretch all the way from here to there.

       Whether in life, literature, or performance, that which has tensiveness, tautness, is not dead; similarly with tone whether of muscles, voice, or literary mood or attitude.  Without “stretch,” without elasticity, the “patient” is moribund.

       Tensiveness and tone, as I would try to explain to my students, are measures of being alive.