Feeling the Christmas blues? Here are some solutions (and some hope!) . . . .

December 2024 Vol 6 Issue 12

“Tell Your Story Newsletter”

Teaching English as a second language
Let us help you tell your story!

Welcome Mid-December, 2024!

In contrast to 2023, when Christmas saw virtually no snow and few days below -10 or -15 degrees (Celsius), this year Ol’ Man Winter packed an early punch (on November 18th) that has since stayed!

However, many of my readers have written me over the years to say they prefer a white Christmas, Advent, Hanukkah, or other celebration at this time of year. The snow can be beautiful.

Through the “Advent Appeal” program in my church, we have continued our
annual practice of collecting thousands of dollars worth of winter coats and
clothing, warm blankets, food and hygiene supplies for some of the city’s
burgeoning homeless population.

For this last issue of 2024, “Article One” revisits “Coping with Christmas,” a
publication of the American Hospice Foundation (AHF). Given the financial
struggles many face these days paying for housing and groceries, “coping” may be the “new normal” for many of us.

Entrepreneurs are studying markets, coping with the national postal strike and
leveraging new or renewed strategies to keep their businesses successful.
For those of us who care for others on a daily basis and/or who face complex
health problems ourselves, the AHF reminds us to be aware of our own emotional needs, so as to avoid burnout.

And in this month’s “Storytellers’ Corner,” I share a joke attributed to Oscar Wilde on exceptions to rules for spelling and pronunciation in the English language! As an ESL teacher, I find it warrants repeating, if you’ve seen it before.

In spite of inflation at our grocery stores and gas stations and other losses in these ongoing times, I hope that you, good reader, have warm and safe homes, not just this season, but throughout the year.

And if you (like me) are so blessed, I know you’ll share with those who are less so, whether through your “office pool,” the Salvation Army Kettle Campaign, or
similar work done by your faith or neighbourhood communities.

I also hope you’ll enjoy the final days of 2024 with family and friends, giving
thanks for the family, friends, mentors and clients who grace our lives. (Sometimes these roles overlap in wonderful ways!)

May you find peace this holiday season; and good health, happiness and prosperity in 2025!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Principal
Storytelling Communications
www.elizabethshih.com
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IN THIS ISSUE:
ARTICLE 1: Feeling the Christmas blues? Here are some solutions (and
some hope!) . . . .
STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:
A joke on the (Christmas) potato: On the quirks of the English language
SHOP NEWS
ABOUT US
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Article One: Feeling the Christmas blues? Here are some solutions (and some hope!) . . .

For many of us, even if we have been blessed to enjoy Advent, Christmas,
Hanukkah or other spiritual traditions at this time of year, the holiday season can be painful.

Pain may come from to the loss of a loved one, a job or business, separation from a “significant other,” health challenges or financial difficulties, the excessive pressure to buy and give, and so on. The so-called “holiday season” can in reality be anything but “ho-ho-ho.”

This holiday survival guide, written originally by the American Hospice
Foundation, offers some ideas that may help as we plan (or, choose not to plan)
holiday festivities.

Please read on and share with others who may find this helpful.
And please know you are not alone if you have “holiday blues,” and that it is
important to live through the holiday season on your own terms.

Christmas or Holiday cards (choose one like these):
1. Mail (if Canada Post’s labour strike ends), or email to save on stationery and
postage
2. Shorten your list
3. Include a Christmas letter that you’ve written yourself
4. Skip it this year

Christmas or Holiday music (choose one like these):
1. Enjoy as usual
2. Shop early, to avoid Christmas music
3. Avoid turning the radio on
4. Listen to the music and allow yourself to feel sad (or to cry, if needed)

Decorations (choose one like these):
1. Decorate as usual
2. Let others do it
3. Choose not to have decorations
4. Have a special decoration for a loved one, who may have died or left
5. Modify your decorations
6. Make changes, such as putting up an artificial tree, instead of a real one
7. Ask for help from others

Shopping (choose one like these):
1. Shop as usual
2. Shop early
3. Make your gifts by hand
4. Make a list of gifts to buy
5. Shop online
6. Ask for help wrapping gifts
7. Shop with a friend
8. Give cash
9. Give baked goods
10. Ask for help
11. Give an “experience” gift, like a gift card to a much- loved restaurant, or a
concert or sporting event
12. Go giftless and (if possible) make a donation to charity

Traditions (choose one like these):
1. Keep the old traditions
2. Don’t attend Christmas parties
3. Open gifts on the usual day
4. Attend a worship service
5. Attend a totally different place of worship
6. Visit the cemetery
7. Attend Christmas or holiday parties
8. Travel to an entirely new place
9. Open gifts at another time
10. Do not attend a worship service
11. Light a special candle to honour a loved one
12. Bake the usual foods
13. Modify your baking and cooking, to save money
14. Buy the usual foods
15. Spent quiet time alone, in meditation or relaxation

Christmas or Holiday Dinner (choose one like these):
1. Prepare as usual
2. Invite friends over
3. Eat in a different location of the house
4. Go out to dinner (such as to a hotel restaurant), possibly with someone else who is alone
5. Eat alone, while listening to favourite music
6. Change the time of dinner
7. Have a buffet/potluck and share the clean-up, after
8. Ask for help

Post-Christmas and New Year’s Day (choose one like these):
1. Spend the days as usual
2. Avoid New Year’s parties
3. Spend time with only a few friends
4. Write in a journal about your hopes for the next year
5. Go out of town
6. Host a New Year’s Party
7. Go to a movie, watch a movie on a streaming service or even borrow a DVD
from the library (if it’s an old title)
8. Go to bed early and feel refreshed the next morning for the new year ahead

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A recent update on this holiday survival guide appeared from “Becoming
Minimalist,” over Facebook:
“De-cember:
De-clutter your home
De-tox your schedule
De-stress your mind
and De-cide what matters most.”
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And now it’s your turn: Does the Christmas, Hanukkah or holiday season present  challenges for you? Please consider some of the above options to experience the holidays on your own terms.

And remember that crisis counselling is available 24/7, such as at number

9-8-8.   Please do not suffer in silence.

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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . .

 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Words, Stories and Riddles on Writing and Editing . . .
A joke on the (Christmas) potato: On the quirks of the English language

For many cultures that will engage in Christmas, Ukrainian Christmas, Hanukkah,  Kwanzaa or other celebrations this winter, the lowly potato will be a part (in some cases, a staple) of the cuisine.

The potato may be thought “lowly,” as the late Queen Elizabeth the Second was reported to dislike the starchy vegetable (she apparently refused to have it served at dinners over which she presided).

Yet the potato has historically been an inexpensive, bland and versatile vegetable that easily becomes “comfort food” in holiday times (e.g. Bangers & Mash; Scalloped Potatoes; Latkes; Perogies; Poutine; etc).

Now, what has the potato to do with spelling or pronunciation of the English
language, you may ask? Well, I present from friends on Facebook a joke attributed to Oscar Wilde, on the underappreciated potato.

The word itself may be used to show some of the many exceptions that exist to the rules of English spelling and pronunciation! Exceptions that beset the newcomers who study English with me.

Buckle up! Here we go:

” If ‘GH’ can stand for ‘P‘ as in ‘Hiccough,’
If ‘OUGH’ stands for ‘O’ as in ‘Dough,’
If ‘PHTH’ stands for ‘T‘ in ‘Phthisis,’
If ‘EIGH’ stands for ‘A‘ as in ‘Neighbor,’
If ‘TTE’ stands for ‘T‘ as in ‘Gazette,’
If ‘EAU’ stands for ‘O‘ as in ‘Plateau,’ . . . .

Then the right way to spell (and pronounce) ‘POTATO’ should really be this:
‘GHOUGHPHTHEIGHTTEEAU!’

Now, if you try to explain the above (joke) to a newcomer to Canada, you may
soon join the late Queen in her distaste for the potato!

And now it’s your turn: Have holiday foods or activities familiar to you raised
challenges in the English language for you or others? Please write in and share
your stories for a future issue!

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SHOP NEWS:
Entrepreneur of the Month:
I’m pleased to introduce a new member to my writers’ group, “Saskatoon
Freelancers’ Roundtable”: Carmen Gilmore.
Carmen entered the freelance world after working in environmental and energy policy. Then, her “bread and butter” was writing briefing notes, memos and drafting policy.

For the past five years, family responsibilities have seen her hyper-focused on local environmental issues and on connecting families and children to nature, through art.

Carmen has experience in writing grants and annual reports for non-profits; and in creating marketing materials, websites and social media for small businesses. Her graduate degree in public policy keeps her interested in governance, lately on non-profit boards.

Like many freelancers, Carmen says she “tiptoed into communications work
through volunteer roles, putting her hand up to say, ‘I can write that
article/newsletter/report!'” A long-time enthusiast for heritage research, she is interested in place-based storytelling. Carmen created a history walk that landed her awards in both Provincial Heritage and in Regional Centre of Excellence UN Sustainable Development.

She enjoys creating hands-on learning resources on nature for families and educators.

To learn more about Carmen, or to explore the possibility of working with her,
please visit her website: https://www.woodlandartadventures.ca/

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Heartfelt thanks go out in this final issue of 2024 to friends, colleagues, followers and mentors who encourage me to facilitate language (ESL) classes; who respond to my blog postings and this monthly newsletter; who have coached or encouraged me to achieve greater clarity in entrepreneurial goals; and who have lightened some of the weight of elderly caregiving that I have carried for the past five years.

With apologies to anyone whose name I temporarily forget, here is a roundup of some of the truly beautiful people who regularly grace my professional and
personal lives:

Chief Visionary Officer, Monica Kreuger, and the amazing team at the Praxis
School of Entrepreneurship (PSE); English and ESL teacher, Steve
Cavan; Saskatchewan’s best entrepreneurial coach (and PSE facilitator), Deanna Litz, of Powerful Nature Coaching & Consulting, Inc.; Minister of Word and Sacrament, the very empathetic Rev. Roberto De Sandoli of St. Andrew’s
Presbyterian Church; the always supportive Ashleigh Mattern (of Vireo
Productions) and Julie Barnes (of Julie Barnes Creative Services) for co-leading our monthly writers’ group that we pioneered, more than 10 years ago, and for offering leads or contracts to fellow members, when available.

Fellow writers, including both Ashleigh and Julie, along with Merle (Massie)
McGowan, Adele Paul, Ashlyn George, Tara Kalyn, Meredith Hambrock, Carmen Gilmore and Dawn Loewen keep pushing the envelope as they write (illustrate and/or publish) their remarkable work.

A “thank you” and smile to the wonderful Katrina German for sending freelancer Carmen Gilmore to “Freelancers’ Roundtable”; and to Candiece Griffiths and Sydney Boulton, for connecting with us by prospecting through WESK or Editors SK.

Many of us in the writing world have shared insights on self-employment and
been the better for the camaraderie.

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Congratulations to my client and fellow writer, Greg Gilroy, on this month’s
publication of his memoir, Behind the Wheel: Ramblings of a Veteran Bus
Driver, which I had the pleasure of editing last summer and fall.

Fellow transit drivers and riders, past, present and future, will enjoy and benefit
from reading the stories of Greg’s 32+ years of driving city buses in Saskatoon.
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I’m also grateful, as always, for the support of dear friends, Erin Watson, Dani
VanDriel, Barbara McEown, MaryAnn Lyle, Martha Fergusson, Donna Briscoe,
Jane Campbell, Sharon Wiseman and other “St. Andrew’s women” (too numerous to name here), as well as lawyer, Ben Nussbaum, and–especially, this year, to parish nurse extraordinaire, Laura Van Loon.

With a grateful heart, I dedicate this issue of “TYSN” to Laura and her family.
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For providing me with a good home-office space, I am thankful to Colliers
McClocklin Ltd, including Gladys Fehr, Kirstin Halliday, Gabriela Valdez, Rick,
Ann and Brenda Dietner.

Thanks are due every year to Kanchan Manek and the Manek family of the Raj
Manek Mentorship Program, who since 1998 have provided monthly seminars and facilitated extraordinary relationships between junior entrepreneurs and seasoned mentors on the Prairies.

Thanks also go out to the team of Women Entrepreneurs of SK (WESK) for
hosting refreshing and collaborative networking events that prompted me to renew my membership well before the official start of their fiscal year in April, 2025.
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I have especially appreciated the chance to teach English phonics this past year to one of my (now graduated) students from North East Africa; I wish her every success in her future studies and career.
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At a time when senior care in our province is challenged and when many private care homes struggle to provide sufficient support at high costs, the geriatric transition ward at Saskatoon City Hospital provided a bulwark from the storm, for one of my family.

My family remains grateful to its staff (City Hospital) as well as to several of the hardworking staff at Sunnyside-Adventist Care Centre, where a “first bed” offered stability and support to my family.
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As we look back over the past year, I’m sure that you (like me) have experienced your own losses or disappointments–and not all small ones.
But I hope you have also felt the support and camaraderie of peers and
organizations in our friendly and beautiful city, for which we are grateful.

And . . . if you are, or know, a newcomer to Canada who wants to elevate their
degree of fluency in English (listening, speaking, reading and writing), please
reach out to me. (Email is usually fastest: shih.ea@gmail.com .) I’d be happy to
conduct a no-cost, 15-minute interview to assess the learner’s needs for English language lessons.

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Meantime, at the portal of a New Year, I wish all of you, good readers, the very
best!

Look out, 2025: Here we come!

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ABOUT US:
Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now
help economic immigrants to land better jobs or secure larger contracts by
improving their language skills. . . . And I help major companies write and edit
their legacy stories.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant
website.

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss services with you!

Please visit my website for more
information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca)

 

 

What are some of the (dis)advantages of having a global language? Alexandre Chemla weighs in

November 2024 Vol 6 Issue 11

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Teaching English as a Second Language

Let us help you tell your story!

Welcome Mid-November 2024!

November seemed to sneak in my back door, prior to this issue, bringing with it several days of overcast skies and brisk winds . . . . But since then, much of the first half of this month has more frequently seen days of above-seasonal warmth and sunshine. November has often felt like September and has thereby earned our collective gratitude for deferring seasonal snow and cold.

Since mid-October, Saskatchewanians’ emotions have run high, due to the Provincial election; today’s Municipal election; and a Federal one to follow (date TBA). If these weren’t sufficiently engrossing, social and traditional media have been abuzz over the extremity of the US election and all of the negative global implications it brings.

And yet, Canada remains a democracy where we defend a just rule-of-law, despite the incursions of bullies and their increasing authoritarianism in our world.

In “Article One” this issue, we return to language issues. I summarize a blog posting of trilingual Canadian, Alexandre Chemla, on the advantages and disadvantages of having a “global language” (i.e. English).

In these challenging times, the status of the English language does not seem to be threatened. But what are the implications of its dominant status? What have we gained—and lost—as users of English, worldwide?

In “Storytellers’ Corner,” as the year winds down, I visit an official (and a second, unofficial) word of the year (2024).

Have you heard of these? And what other words have developed in the English vocabulary throughout the past 12 months? That segment provides some answers.

And in “Shop News,” I return to the popular feature of “Entrepreneur of the Month” (this month: editor, Dawn Loewen) and find new organizations and people to thank in my multifaceted career.

If you’re feeling troubled by the “news,” good readers, I remind you of a meme that recently circulated on social media. It quotes The Talmud and was used by US Vice President Kamala Harris in her recent concession speech:

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now.

Love mercy now.

Walk humbly now.

You are not obligated to complete the work,

but neither are you free to abandon it.”

As we approach the final month of 2024, may you also continue resolutely with your work, and with the witness it bears to the justice, mercy and humility that still flourish in our community–and beyond.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal, 

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE ONE: What are some (dis)advantages of having a global language? Alexandre Chemla weighs in

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: What is the word of the year for 2024?

SHOP NEWS

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Article One: What are the (dis)advantages of having a global language? Canadian Alexandre Chemla weighs in . . . 

On the Government of Canada’s Language Portal and under its “Our Languages” blog, I recently read a posting by Alexandre Chemla, a trilingual (now former-) student at the U of Ottawa who studied environmental studies (in both the English and French languages). Chemla values languages that connect him to his family history–that is, both French and Italian.

He presents two clear advantages and two clear disadvantages in learning and using a “global language,” like English. He recalls that his mother showed him his maternal grandfather’s work card used during the Second World War.

Chemla’s grandfather had left his village in Calabria (S. Italy—incidentally, where friends Steve Cavan and Kathleen James-Cavan have recently retired; but I digress . . .). Chemla’s grandfather sought work elsewhere in Europe. During World War Two, his German work card notably lacked any English translation. It was instead translated into French—the language that then occupied the global position that English now does.

Chemla found himself pondering what the advantages and disadvantages are of having “global” or “universal” languages? This question should matter to anyone who, like me, studies or teaches languages, in general, and English-as-a-Second Language (ESL), in particular.

He observes two advantages:

(i)   A global language allows people from different cultures to communicate. Language is the foundation for cultural identity, so having one with global reach enables people to understand each others’ cultures.

As an example, he recalls in the 2010s speaking to an Argentinian university student, after watching a live European football game in Buenos Aires.

English was not the native language of either man. Despite coming from different countries, they could still connect culturally through their ability to speak English.

(ii)   A global language facilitates international trade. Chemla acknowledges that “with the rise of globalization and neo-liberalism since the 1970s, wide-scale international trade between different countries has occurred.” This is fairly obvious.

Business transactions require effective and accurate communication. The outcome is opportunities for economic growth on both sides.

By contrast, barriers caused by linguistic differences have been seen and statistically shown to decrease trade between countries.

Chemla also observes two major disadvantages:

(i)   The dominance of a language like English has meant that “scientists who access a vast amount of literature from around the world” find challenges in publishing on it, “when they are non-native speakers [and writers] of English.”

Scientists need to clearly communicate “their findings, conclusions and methods,” which isn’t easy when they fail to speak and write idiomatic English.

Chemla writes: “Scientists who want their work to be globally recognized need to attend English conferences or discussions and read English scientific papers.” He cites “The Atlantic” (2015) as assessing that “80% of scientific papers are published in English.”

(ii)   The global dominance of one language (i.e.  English) threatens minority languages. A BBC article that Chemla cites says that “some 400 languages have become extinct” in the last century (1921-2021). This amounts to “one language every three months.”

The same source says that “50% of all remaining languages will become extinct” in the next century. He asserts that this is worrisome, because “an extinct language means the loss of a unique culture.”

Chemla says that while speakers of a global language may access “greater opportunities for employment, education and overall success,” those gains should not be part of a “takeover of minority languages by a global language.”

He rightly says that having English as our “global language” has both advantages and disadvantages.

What other advantages and disadvantages arise from the domination of a “global language?”

What does it mean that English continues to be the world’s “global language” (and in the context of this blog, of education and entrepreneurship)?

How might the digital language of AI or the languages of billions of Asians (e.g. Mandarin and Hindi) eclipse English? What implications would follow?

And now it’s your turn: when should we start studying other, less dominant (or minority) languages?

And when should we teach them to our children and grandchildren, rather than relying wholly on English and a monolinguistic culture?

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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . . 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Words, Stories, Riddles and Jokes on Writing and Editing . . .

 

This month:  What is the word of the year for 2024? 

 The American “Collins Dictionary” has declared the word “brat ” to be the 2024 word of the year. The word, adopted by the Anglo-Indian singer, “Charli XCX,” as the name for her sixth album, has been redefined: it means “characterized by a confident, independent and hedonistic attitude.”

Some other words that have been added to the English language this year follow. (This is not an exhaustive list.)  Would you use these in common parlance?

–“Prompt” (verb)—instruction given to an AI program to influence or determine the content it generates. (“There is a job posting on Indeed.com for an AI prompt writer.”)

–“Bed rotting” (noun) – spending many hours in bed during the day, often with snacks or an electronic device, as retreating from activity or stress. (“The teenager celebrated his graduation from high school with a two-day episode of bed rotting.”)

–“Girl dinner” (noun) –an often attractively presented collection of snacks that involve little preparation, such as a small charcuterie enough to provide a meal for one. (“Feminists have queried the use of the term ‘girl dinner’ for a light meal.”)

–“Mid” (adjective) –mediocre or disappointing. (“It turned out to be a mid event, despite all the hoopla and promotion.”)

–“Bussin’” (adjective) – great; wonderful; amazing. (“It was a bussin awards show.”)

–“The ick” (a noun) –a sudden feeling of disgust or dislike, often in response to the actions of someone else. (“Hearing about his exploits gave me the ick.”)

–“Pretty privilege” (noun) – an unearned societal advantage that a person has, by fitting into the beauties of their culture. (“Until she developed cancer, many non-royalists thought Kate Middleton was a figure of pretty privilege).

–“Barbicore” (noun) – an aesthetic or style featuring playful pink outfits and décor, etc., modelled on the wardrobe of the Barbie doll. (“After raising three young daughters during the last decade, Jean-Paul felt he’d had enough of Barbicore culture.”)

However, I’d like to suggest an alternative “word of the year”–a term stronger than “brat.” It left the digital pen of British dictionary writer, Susie Dent, and dates to the 17th century: “recrudescence.”

“Recrudescence” means “the return of something terrible after a time of reprieve.”

References to Covid and cold and flu season may momentarily come to mind. But for many of us, “recrudescence” refers to the rise and/or return to power of abominable “leaders” like the one south of our border!

Communications newsletters (like this one) generally aim to be politically neutral. Not so, this month!

But based on your friendly comments and social media postings during the past year, I believe Dent’s word may strike a chord with you, good readers.

Just as authoritarian leadership will sadly last longer in our world than just four years, I believe “recrudescence” has staying power!

And now it’s your turn: What do you think of these commonly used words? And what is the word(s) of the year in your house?  Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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SHOP NEWS:

This month—a return to the popular “Entrepreneur of the month” segment!

Introducing,  Dawn Loewen . . . a new recruit to my writers’ group, “Saskatoon Freelancers’ Roundtable.” Here is some of her story:

 Dawn is a certified copy editor who has worked in the publishing industry since 1998. She specializes in detail work (copy editing and proofreading), though “copy editing” for her usually includes line editing and even some substantive suggestions, where the brief permits.

Her work spans everything from academic journal articles to fiction, World Bank reports to picture books.

Dawn tries to balance jobs that she says (to be frank) “pay well, but may be less exciting, with book editing, which does not pay well but is almost always fun and rewarding.”

She has worked on close to 200 books to date, in a wide variety of genres.

Lately, Dawn has worked a lot for Greystone Books and Nature Saskatchewan, as well as for self-publishing authors and professors.

She also enjoys a fulfilling collaboration with a local editor who prefers the “big picture” work and trusts her with the finer grades of editing sandpaper.

Dawn came to editing via a nontraditional route, earning a BSc in biology and physical geography from U of S and an MSc in ethnobotany from UVic. She received specific training in the form of editing courses from Simon Fraser (SFU) and elsewhere, countless seminars, and in-house mentoring.

After working for two different publishers, she turned to freelancing in 2004.

To learn more about Dawn, or to discuss your project with her, please visit https://loewenediting.com.

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A very deep “Thank You” goes this month to my church’s parish nurse, Laura Van Loon; and to mentors and advisors, Monica Kreuger, Adele Kulyk and Linda Catton, who have been supportive, when an aging family member of mine has long needed the care of a nursing (long-term care) home.

The advanced senior care system in SK (and beyond) is broken and tough to navigate. But whether over the past five+ years (or just a few weeks), these individuals have become not only trusted mentors but also valued friends.

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And special thanks to the nurses, care aides and communicators of the post-surgical and seniors’ transitional wards at Saskatoon City Hospital. Their kindness toward seniors has been remarkable and gratefully received.

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A hearty thanks goes out this month to “Chris” at Amazon.ca’s headquarters in BC.

Chris processed a return by phone of some seniors’ supplies that were delivered before I could cancel the order.

Most of us small-business owners would much rather shop locally to support each other. For instance, we would frequent Steep Hill Food Coop, instead of Superstore; and “Turning the Tide” instead of Amazon.ca!

But sometimes life circumstances see us needing to use a conglomerate like Amazon, with its capacity to deliver quickly!

Notwithstanding the concerns many of us have about such companies, I remain grateful that Chris stepped up to improve what otherwise was a frustrating day.

Thank you, Chris!

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I’m equally grateful this month for another engaging networking event, provided by the current team at Women Entrepreneurs of SK (WESK).

Last week’s “Open mic” session gave both experienced and newbie entrepreneurs a three-minute opportunity to speak about their businesses and receive feedback from WESK’s team of strategists.

The engagement that resulted was powerful, especially when entrepreneurs had differing experience levels. Recent photos are posted on LinkedIn.)

Thank you to WESK’s team: CEO Miriam Johnson, Jess Paul, Cara Cote, Jenelle Yochim and Michael Betteridge. (And sincere apologies if I missed anyone else on the team that evening.)

There are always new “thank yous” to share and new businesses and entrepreneurs to promote. 

But this is a wrap for mid-November!

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 ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.”

I help economic immigrants to Canada to find better jobs or secure greater contracts by improving their English skills (ESL); and I write and edit the legacy stories of major companies.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

 

STAY IN TOUCH:

Follow us on Twitter  Become a Facebook fan  Subscribe to my blog

Contact us

What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers in this month’s issue of ‘Tell Your Story Newsletter’

October 2024 Vol 6 Issue 10

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

 Teaching English as a Second Language

Let us help you tell your story!

Welcome Mid-October, 2024!

What does “October mean (to you)? What changes does it bring?Media reports in late September and early October have concentrated notably on social justice and public health issues in our community, and at a time when Saskatonians prepare to vote in upcoming civic, provincial and federal government elections.

On September 30th, we observed the “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation,” to honour the Indigenous children, who (as the Government of Canada acknowledges), “never returned home (from  government- and church-led residential schools), and their survivors, alongside their families and communities.”

Young Indigenous children faced emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and endured the forced suppression of their language, culture and familial relationships. But change has been slow to arrive.

The day has also become known as “Orange Shirt Day,” an “Indigenous-led, grassroots commemorative day, intended to raise awareness of the . . . impact of residential schools [and] to promote the concept that ‘Every Child Matters.’”

In my faith group on September 29th, we donned orange shirts and listened as guest speaker Patti Polowick discussed the need for change: through public apologies to the Indigenous people of SK (and beyond); through our refusal to condemn those who (intergenerationally) struggle with homelessness and addictions; and through recognizing the Biblical and spiritual basis of both truth and forgiveness.

 

And on October 10th, we observed “World Mental Health Day,” an international day (writes the the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union [UFCW]) “to raise awareness of the stigmas surrounding mental illness and the importance of promoting mental health.” Change here, too, is desperately needed.

Globally, close to one billion people now live with mental illness (reports the World Health Organization [WHO]); and the Covid-19 pandemic has further reduced people’s mental wellbeing. Yet mental health continues to be “one of the most neglected areas of public health.”

Efforts need to be mobilized to increase the quality and accessibility of good mental health care–and no place greater than in SK. On its website  (https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day), the WHO reminds us that good “mental health is a universal human right.”

Yet we find ourselves experiencing impoverished (some might say “third-world”) healthcare in a first-world province. Change is needed.

Indigenous healing and reconciliation with settler cultures and the improvement of human mental health are two of the greatest cultural and health-related movements we face world-wide. They demand that we work toward meaningful change (and surpass mere “lip-service”).

Survivors have important stories to tell that can yield change, as we advocate for more respect, tolerance and support than current times provide.

And appropriately, the month of  October is usually a month of seasonal change. As Environment Canada’s forecasts indicate, our current warmer-than-seasonal weather will be displaced at month’s end, by single digit degrees above zero, Celsius.

Yet our days are marked with the turning and falling of gloriously golden and crimson leaves, that bring great beauty to our lives, even as we brace ourselves for the change of winter.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells us that the name “October” shares roots with  “octopus” and “octagon,” which originally meant “tenth” in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English—so that “October” designates the tenth month of our Gregorian calendar. That is one of its stories.

But to add to the complexity of linguistic history (a theme popular with this month’s featured dictionary writer, Susie Dent), the name “October” also reflects the earlier Latin “octo” and the Greek “okto” (both of which mean “eight”). So in the earlier Roman calendar, “October” occurred in the eighth month, an earlier story . . .

In keeping with stories of change, in “Article One” this month, I visit a recent book from acclaimed British lexicographer (dictionary writer), Susie Dent, on the meaning of words that have surprising (hi)stories to tell.

In “Storytellers’ Corner,” I cite Canadian entrepreneur and strategist, Arlene Dickinson on how, by exchanging the often harsh thoughts we have of ourselves with ones of self-worth, we can empower our minds and lives.

And in this month’s “Shop News,” I share sundry items of visits, events and news that energized me in recent weeks, making me glad to have exchanged time in my office to engage with peers like you!

What has October brought to you?  Have you plunged into your work, embracing the reality that summer has finally passed? Or have you stepped aside from the daily grind, mindfully, to notice the season’s beauty and distinctness?

And please send your updates and ideas for  future issues of “TYSN.” I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE ONE: What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers

–STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Arlene Dickinson on retelling your story of self-worth

–SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers

In her recent book, Interesting Stories about Curious Words: From Stealing Thunder to Red Herrings, Britain’s most popular “lexicographer” (dictionary writer), Susie Dent, shares some of the fascinating stories behind common English words and phrases.

Those of us who communicate for our living (I teach English-as-a-Second Language) are not surprised to know (as Languagelinks.ca reports) “that over half of the English language comes from French and Latin.”  In fact, “more than 60% of our vocabulary has its origins in France.”

And when we read the work of Susie Dent, it’s not hard to imagine her as the heroine of Pip Williams’ recent popular novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, a plausible but fictional telling of the work of late Victorian and early 20th-Century lexicographers who developed the first-ever edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

Describing her career of researching and writing dictionaries, Dent cites Eric Partridge (Britain’s “20th-century chronicler of slang expressions”) as saying there are “more imagination and enthusiasm in the making of a good dictionary than in the average novel.”

Dent cites a favourite anecdote, also from Partridge–of an elderly Englishwoman who, after borrowing a dictionary from the public library, returned it with the comment that it was “a very unusual book indeed—but the stories are extremely short, aren’t they?”

In Interesting Stories, Dent brings together hundreds of her favourite eclectic histories of English words, whose criterion for inclusion was only that the stories “might elicit an ‘ah!’, an ‘of course!’ or maybe even a ‘what!’”

Dent writes that “curious minds will always need curious words,” so learning languages, such as English, including the fantastic words that she collects, need never be boring.

Here, this month, are ten of the favourite words Dent chronicles in her book:

(1) “Long time no see: “A mock traditional greeting to a person one has not seen for a long time. It is a form of Pidgin English based on Chinese “hăo jiǔ méi jiàn.”

(2) “Wotcher”: “A late 19th-century alteration of the greeting, ‘What cheer?’, or ‘How are you?’”

(3) “All one’s geese are swans”: “To overestimate; to see things in too rosy a light. All one’s children are paragons, and whatever one does is, in one’s own eyes, superfluous.”

(4)  “Booby”: “A species of ‘gannet’ (large seabird) is called a booby because of its apparent stupidity. The Spanish bobo means ‘silly.’ It was this that gave rise to the idea of a ‘booby prize.’”

(5) “As mad as a March hare”: “Hares are unusually . . . wild in March, which is their rutting [mating] season.”

(6) “A Leopard cannot change its spots”: “A person’s character never changes fundamentally. The allusion is to Jeremiah 13:23: ‘Can the Ethiopian change is skin, or the leopard his spots?’”

(7) “Teddy bear”: “A child’s toy bear, named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (1858-1919), who was fond of bear-hunting. Roosevelt was shown sparing the life of a bear-cub in a cartoon drawn by C.K. Berryman in 1902 as a spoof on the president’s role as an ardent conservationist.

In 1906, The New York Times  published a humorous poem about the adventures of two bears named Teddy B and Teddy G, in Roosevelt’s honour. The names were then given to two bears newly presented to the Bronx Zoo, and manufacturers seized on the event to put toy bears called ‘teddy bears’ on the market.”

(8)Higgledy-piggedly”: “Jumbled up in a confused mess. The word first appeared at the end of the 16th century and may have been inspired by the slovenly reputation of pigs. It is an example of what linguists call a ‘reduplicative compound,’ in which two words are paired on the basis of their sound, and one of them tends to be a fanciful add-on.”

(9) “To get someone’s goat”: “To annoy a person. The expression, an old Americanism, is said to relate to a practice among racehorse trainers of soothing a nervous horse by putting a goat in its stall. Someone wanting the horse to lose could sneak in and remove the goat. The horse would again succumb to an attack of nerves and would not run well. But one can irritate a person by constantly butting in, and this may be a more likely reference.”

(10) “Dogsbody”: “Someone who does all the menial jobs that no one else wants to do, typically a young person or trainee employee. The term dates from the 1920s and was originally applied humorously to peas boiled in cloth on board ships and subsequently to a junior officer.”

And now it’s your turn: Do these “curious” stories about words appeal to you? How much of a role does storytelling (more broadly) play in the languages you speak and write?

 

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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . . 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER

This month: Arlene Dickinson on retelling your story of self-worth . . . 

From entrepreneur extraordinaire, Calgary-based Arlene Dickinson  (Dragon’s Den investor and Canadian strategist), comes some other words we can tell ourselves–these in keeping with the advancement of all entrepreneurs, but women, in particular:

“The next time you stop yourself from enjoying life’s moments, doing something new and exciting or putting yourself out there, because you don’t like your body or your looks, here’s a new short tape”– a change to your  personal story –“to play in your head”:

“I am more than good enough.
I am beautiful exactly as I am.
I can’t wait to show myself what I can do.
I am uniquely and proudly me.

And then, thank your body for its strength in getting you through the days and nights and for keeping your spirit alive.”

Dickinson concludes from her own experience that it’s not easy for entrepreneurs “to drown out the insecure thoughts” that run through our minds.

But she says: “Keep rehearsing these lines” and you will revise those thoughts–and with them, your story!

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SHOP NEWS:

This month, I am especially thankful for the collaborative articles I have co-authored with fellow women writers of “Saskatoon Freelancers’ Roundtable.” The fifth of our pieces appeared in this fall’s issue of  “Freelance” magazine and online ezine, publications of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild.

Thank you to Ashleigh Mattern, Julie Barnes, Adele Paul and Ashlyn George for the collaboration.

Our final article addressed issues of “time management.” And our group looks forward to writing collaboratively again, in the future. Perhaps we will then include our group’s photographers and designers.

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CORRECTION from last month’s (September) issue!

The Praxis School of Entrepreneurship’s 30+ year, “startSMART” program is not ending, as I earlier reported, but is instead changing shape through a new online network for January, 2025.

Alumni of the past 30+ years are cordially invited to a “refresher” socializing and networking potluck, with date and time forthcoming, early in 2025. Stay tuned!

And please let fledgling entrepreneurs in your circles know that powerful training and community building opportunities, via the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship, are coming soon!

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I have been deeply moved this month by a visit I made to Rev. George Yando, of Prince Albert, who served as a spiritual advisor and interim minister (five years ago) to my faith community (St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church).

During a recent visit, I was touched by Rev. Yando’s continued humanity, warmth and empathy for others, even in the face of his own terminal illness.

Sometimes hospital visits become visitations, in which the visitor themselves is transformed.

Thank you, Rev. Yando.

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Special thanks this month to WESK’s CEO Miriam Johnson, and WESK team members, including those I spoke with–Program Lead, Jenelle Yochim; Brand Manager Michael Betteridge; and Client Services Manager, Cara Cote, for developing a “speed networking” format for “YXE Connect” on October 9th.

All entrepreneurs were given 15 minutes in each of four sessions to ask questions and network with service providers.

The service providers included representatives from representatives from Saskatoon’s legal, financial, banking and other advisory services (who also deserve our thanks).

The smaller group format  enabled ambiverts (like me) and introverts and newbies (whom I met) to speak more openly and engage more deeply with others, thereby extending the event’s “connective” power.

I look forward to seeing what the WESK team does for YXE’s November meeting to encourage engagement from our diverse entrepreneurial community.

Thank you, WESK!

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I’m happy to share that my ESL/EFL training organization, the TEFL Org (formerly known as TEFL Scotland) founded in 2008 by EFL teachers, Jennifer MacKenzie and Joe Hallwood, celebrated its 16th anniversary on October 9th!

TEFL Org has recently been awarded the label of a “B-Corp Certified business” for “meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability” in business. TEFL Org has won numerous awards, including the “Queen’s Award” in 2022.

The company “has trained over 185,000 TEFL teachers [including me], who have entered the industry as confident and capable educators” (www.Tefl.org)

Here’s a birthday video about TEFL org:  Congratulations on 16 great years to Jennifer, Joe, Alan, Carl and the entire TEFL Org team!

There are always new businesses or events to promote and new people to thank.  But this is a “wrap” for mid-October!

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ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now help new and economic immigrants to secure  contracts or find better jobs by improving their language skills. And I also write and edit “legacy stories” of businesses in our community.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

On “knowing our worth” with Jade Bonacolta

Head of North American Marketing for Google Cloud (for Media, Entertainment and Games), Jade Bonacolta, recently blogged on the importance of “knowing our worth.”

For those who repeatedly say “sorry” when no apology is due . . . she writes:  “Our words create a reality. The more we unnecessarily apologize, the less confidence we show (to ourselves and to others). And if we say ‘sorry’ every time we simply speak up on a work call or bump into a table, it actually dilutes the power of the word when we DO owe any apology.”

Bonacolta suggests these alternatives:

(1) “Sorry for rescheduling” —–> “Thanks for being flexible!”

(2) “Sorry to bother you” —–> “Thanks for carving out time.”

(3) “Sorry for venting” —–> “Thanks for listening.”

(4) ” Sorry for running late” (by 1-2 minutes) —–> “Thanks very much for waiting”

(5) “Sorry I had to take that call” —–>”Thanks for your patience.”

(6) “Sorry for jumping in” —–>”I have an idea that may help.”

(7) “Sorry for the mistake” —–>”Thanks for catching that!”

(8) “Sorry, I don’t get it” —–> “Could you repeat that? I just want to be clear.”

(9) “Sorry does that make sense?” —–>”I’m happy to answer any questions.”

Give these a try in your next entrepreneurial exchange and you may find everyone around the entrepreneurial table feels better respected and so better enabled to do great work.

And now it’s your turn: Do you apologize too easily? How will you integrate these alternatives into your work?

On teaching the English language: How can we open doors for Saskatchewan’s immigrants?

IT was one of those rare days when you wish you’d just stayed in bed . . . I had invested more than due diligence in writing a talk on workplace preparation that I was booked to deliver. But when the day finally arrived, everything seemed doomed to fail.

I arrived early at the venue where I was registered to speak on a panel, since the location (a historic church) was new to me. The organizer had given me a street address but no further details. I was aware that talks in this particular series recurred throughout the year, often without much organization. So I entered the door marked “public” (not the one marked “church”), intuiting that would be wisest: this was a weekday, secular presentation.

That was my first (and huge) mistake.

I found myself in a large and well-lit church hall with a rickety table and a few old metal chairs. No one was there. My watch now showed that the panel would start in 15 minutes. So I pushed further into the building to find the right room.

I tried all of the six doors available in the hall. All but one was locked. The only one that did open was a storage closet, stacked high with ramshackle furniture. In the same corner, I found one final door, marked in large and ominous black stencilling: “Danger: Do Not Enter.” The intensity of the sign (words and printing) made me stop and respect it.

(photo credit M. Nunzio)

Looking around desperately,  I heard only crickets!

I tried to call the organizer on my smartphone, thinking that he’d given me the wrong address or at least could redirect my search. But he was out-of-the-office, leaving only voicemail.

By now, some 20 minutes had passed and still no one had appeared. I felt chilled, as it was a blustery, early winter day and the large hall wasn’t well-heated.

The only human I saw took the form of a caretaker—a dour-looking, wizened, old man–who entered the hall by the same doors I had used, picked up one of the chairs and exited the same way. He seemed skittish.  When I shouted after him, the only response was the metal clank of the door closing behind him.

My anxiety had now risen to the point that I didn’t think to leave and instead try the “church” entrance. But, in an effort that some would have tried earlier, I tested the door marked “Danger.” I grabbed the handle, fearing the outcome. But to my surprise, the door gave way and I immediately felt a swoosh of warm air and heard the bustle of an administrative office.

“Do you need help?” inquired a middle-aged woman, who resembled a young Miss Marple. She seemed unaware that I’d just crossed a forbidden doorway. When I explained that I was trying to find a workplace preparation panel, her eyes widened and she pointed to a new room, saying: “Well, it’s just through there, dear. But you’re very late. They may soon be done!”

Exasperated, I rushed through the door and sure enough, the second speaker was well into her talk. Both she and the first panelist, neither of whom I’d met before, looked up and scowled. The first speaker whispered furiously to me: “We’re nearly done!” The audience of nearly 100 threw daggers with their eyes. My anxiety and anger started to morph into rage.

And then, in what seemed only a single breath, my turn came. I dropped everything except my notes and introduced myself, saying: “I’ve spent the last half-hour in an adjacent room, looking for you all and only found you moments ago—by crossing through a door marked as “Danger: Do Not Enter.”

Several in the audience gasped as I spoke and then nodded warmly back to me. Clearly I hadn’t been the first to “get lost” in this old and inhospitable space. But no one had changed the signage! I made a “throwaway” attempt at humour by saying I’d been trapped in a re-enactment of both the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter.

Once my and others’ upset abated, my talk went very well.  A full discussion followed. I grew calm enough to engage and noticed a high number of visible minorities in the room, some of whom could have been newcomers to Canada, years before, as my late father once was. (But I did make a mental note to update the organizer and the church administration that better signage and directions were urgently needed!)

Looking back on that ill-fated afternoon, I remember feeling as though I was a lone survivor in some gothic  novel (or, as one of the speakers said, an episode of “Mr. Bean,” without the slapstick humour). The feeling that I was utterly alone in a strange and unwelcoming space was overwhelming.

That feeling must be like what newcomers endure when they first arrive in Canada—some without many (or any) contacts or context to help them. Even if they (and their papers) are prepared; even if they’re poised to start a business or take a job; they often get stuck in the preliminaries, sometimes finding no one to explain, much less, advise.

I felt some of the desperation newcomers describe, when they fear they’ll lose the right to stay in Canada, to build safe and productive lives for themselves and their families.

As an English-as-a-Second Language teacher (ESL), I’ve taught learners based all over the world, teaching them the language and cultural skills they need to unlock doors in inhospitable spaces.

And I encourage economic immigrants to keep trying to find the “right way” to build their lives in Canada. Sometimes, when every last option has been exhausted, they may have to take a risk by trying a door that forbids entry.

In the absence of support, wouldn’t the greater risk have been to return through the main door and go home, losing the opportunity to contribute?  Or to wait, passively (in limbo), in the first empty hall where I’d been, where no progress would ever come?

Thankfully, a gateway through such impasses and obstacles can be found through clear and comprehensible English language skills.

As I tell my students, cultural and entrepreneurial values matter. And my purpose as an ESL instructor is to share both of those, while I teach “bread and butter” grammar, syntax and pronunciation skills (i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing). My goal is to explain as part of my teaching.  And then I refer them to legal and policy experts who can advise them on their immigration matters.

As the audience discussion that followed our wobbly panel that day, our communities benefit when  outsiders bring their knowledge and questions.

I’ve taught local newcomers whose lives improve, as their language skills do—even though the doors they first found were locked.

The better their English language skills, the stronger their resilience to push through misadventures and overcome barriers to success. At a time when career-oriented, economic immigration to Saskatchewan (and to Canada, overall) is declining, I can attest to the inspiring nature of the lives and skills these newcomers share . . . .

But for now, I must run.

I have some doors to unlock and a few misleading signs to paint over.

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Are there economic immigrants in your circle who need to improve their English skills? Please let me know! I’d be delighted to hear from you.