The school bell tolls for thee...and thee...and thee

I don't know about everyone elses children, but mine were happy and excited for school to start again. Tuesday morning came bright and early after our last salute to summer weekend away at the cottage (one last swim in the lake--somewhat more refreshing now than it was in July, one last kayak against the backdrop of yellowing birch, one last attempt to catch and study the water snakes--we failed - they're too quick).

There's a great Vinyl Cafe story that Stuart tells about Marley wanting to make sure the first day of school is perfect for her children, and I get that. It's about starting the year off on a high note, about setting the stage for a successful year. Nutritious dinners and early nights, laid back non-rushed mornings, favourite sandwiches, and a bookbag full of fresh school supplies...these are the things that we do as if they are a talisman against things ever going wrong.

First day of school 2011

I called the school last week to find out what classes they were in, because they deal better with the first day knowing what to expect. I don't understand why some schools won't tell you until the day of school - it seems a bit over controling to me. (Then again, maybe it speaks to our reluctance to relinquish control of our kids' lives that we want to know in advance as much as possible.) And judging from what I know of their respective teachers, all three are in for a year of top notch education with teachers who will inspire and challenge them and their abilities.



My 1st day pic - at the insistence of the kids



This morning I was back in the classroom too, facing a fresh new cohort of students some fresh out of high school and others transitioning into college from the work force or other university programs. One of the many things I love about teaching is that sense of anticipation, of optimism, and of hope that crackles the air this time of year. Students in their new indigo jeans with laptops and books and plaid jackets crowded the campus and the place fizzed with excitement. It's now wonder back to school feels like the real start to the year.

Here's to September.

Summer School

School is out soon, and two long hot, fun months of summer begin. I am off this summer - or rather working from home, which is really not quite the same, but will give me the flexibility to take to the kids to parks, the beach, daytrips, the cottage and camping.

And one of the things we do each year is summer school.

I can hear the groans now.

It isn't to be mean, or because the kids need remedial help. Not at all. But two months of summer, while relaxing and rejuvenating and laid back, is also two months away from all the writing and math and french and science, and frankly, when the kids do return to school in September, it always feels like it takes a month for them to get back into the swing of things. A little bit of work through the summer seems to ease that transition.

There is another reason. So much of what they do in school is done, well, in school. But teachers as we all know are spread thin with so many students, and summer is a chance for me to focus in on what the kids do well and help them in areas where they may struggle. The one-on-one experience also allows them to try new things, and to expand on the learning they are already doing.

For us, summer school is largely self-guided. I want to have them read books that interest them, and be able to write about them. I want them to research a topic that fascinates them, partly because research ability is crucial, but also to show them that it can be fun. I want them to get comfortable with thinking and discussing the kind of topics that you may never get a chance to do in school. And most of all, I want to show them that learning is active and hands on and exciting when you are able to engage with your subject.

So summer school. But no desks. The world will be our desk.

History Mystery: Steaming Along

I made what is widely considered my first true movie debut this week in 1928. The movie also featured the gal who would become my main squeeze - although we actually met in a short piece about six months earlier. My most famous role came in a classical piece made about 11 years later, and which is still popular to this day. I received my star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on Nov. 18th, 1978 - on the 50th anniversary of my movie career.

I have been in movies, books, and video games. I have been translated into countless languages, and used politically. The British navy unofficiallly bestowed my name on some of their WWII era minesweepers as a friendly nickname. Sometimes, my name is used pejoratively, which hurts my feelings, but at least in Australia they use my name to mean excellent. I like that.

Who Am I?

That's right, Leanne!

I am Mickey Mouse!!!  M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

History Mystery: Canadian Women

October is National Women's History Month, so I thought we'd take a look at some of our Canadian ladies - not all of whom are as well known as perhaps they should be.

1. Born in the UK in 1838, this woman married a Hudson's Bay official, and spent years living in Canada and travelling by canoe. She sketched her adventures, and later turned them into paintings. Her work shows voyageurs in their canoes, and she is probably our best known artist of this kind of work. In 1988, one of her paintings was featured on a Canadian stamp.

2. A suffragette, a teacher, one of the founders of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design were just some of the qualities describing this lady. But this world traveller, born in India in 1931, and buried in Montreal after her death at age 83, is mostly know for her role as a royal governess.

3. Canada's first female Member of Parliament was elected in 1921. "I want for myself what I want for other women, absolute equality," she said. Equally famous is her quote, "If the preservation of the home means the enslavement of women, economically or morally, then we had better break it." This early feminist was an advocate for prison reform, disarmament, and old age pensions.

4. Born in 1901, this Nova Scotia woman was a nurse, an actress, and a resistence fighter who lived in Holland rescuing downed allied airmen from the Nazis. Betrayed to the Gestapo, she is the only Canadian woman to have been imprisoned and condemned to death by the Germans. She escaped, and returned to Nova Scotia where she died in 1976.

Monday Answers:

This must have been tougher than usual. I intentionally made it that way because friends who know me said I usually make them too easy:( Still got to find that balance.  The answers are....(drum roll):

1. Artist Frances Anne Hopkins
2. Anna Leonowens (of The King and I fame)
3. Agnes MacPhail
4. Mona Parsons

Way to go Julie with a score of 2/4. (kinda reminds me of our marks in 1st year philosophy! Bwa-ha-ha!)

History Mystery: Dark Lady

Who is the best selling novelist of all time? She has sold between 2 and 4 billion books - only the Bible and Shakespeare have sold more (sorry, JK Rowling). Her first manuscript was rejected by six publishers before being published in 1920 and she earned £25 for her first story.

She created two characters, so well loved that when she killed one of them off in 1975, The New York Times ran a full obituary - the only fictional character ever to be given such treatment by the paper.

After a fight with her husband, she disappeared for 11 days, causing a huge manhunt, and fears of her death by drowning, but she was found unharmed and refused to talk about the incident even in her autobiography.

Her books were made into plays and films, and when she died in 1976, London's West End Theatres dimmed their lights for an hour to mark her passing.

She was born 120 years ago today.


Who Am I?

Monday Answer: You are all so clever - of course it's the First Lady of Mystery - Dame Agatha Christie.

If you haven't read her books, get thee to a used book store or the library. Murder should always be so gentile! They are perfect for a Fall afternoon.

First Week Of School - And All Is Well

That sigh you hear…? It's the collected sigh of relief from parents everywhere as their children return to school, as they mingle with old friends and new, as they get used to new teachers and new routines, as the dust settles on the first week of classes.

A sigh of relief not just because a return to school means a return to a routine (a routine that us parents become very good at over the years), and not just because for us working moms we now get a reprieve from the summer expense of child care. But also a sigh of relief because the first week is so fraught with concerns and worries – all little, but as a parent, you can't help but enlarge them. Will he be okay on the bus? Will he make new friends? Is she going to like her teacher? Will she eat her lunch?

A friend of mine was upset because her daughter and son had been put in the same split grade; another friend whose daughter started kindergarten was worried because she wouldn't know any of the other kids; the mother of one of Erik's friend's confided that she was concerned her son will have a hard time adjusting after a summer of fun.

Oh yeah. Been there. And I'd like to say now that my three are in grades 5, 4 and 2 that I've stopped listening to those niggling doubts and worries. But I haven't. I still wonder if Anna will mind that she is in a different class from her friend. Or if Erik will be more assertive this year. Or if Grace will make a special friend of her own instead of always hanging out with her sister.

But while I can't stop my brain from thinking this stuff up, I know from experience that I am making it bigger than it needs to be, and that in the end there is one over-riding truth. The kids will be all right. No matter what gets thrown at them, what obstacles get in their way, or what concerns I may have, they will adapt and they will succeed.

All is well.

The Third Little Pig

Le troisieme petite cochon dit: je ne suis pas fou, fou, fou

Grace did a great job in her first french play at school. Loud and clear and sooo adorable in her little pink snub piggy nose as she told off that Big Bad Wolf.

Golden Girl In The Sunlight

April was National Poetry Month and being the kind of Mom I am I made the kids study poetry. I wrote about Grace's poem (Daffodils) and Erik's (Charge of the Light Brigade), but not about Anna's.

There was a reason. Anna read both The Lady of Shallot (Tennyson) and  The Highwayman (Noyes). But I was holding off because I was awaiting the results of a poetry competition.

Back last summer, Anna wrote a poem which she subsequently entered in a nationwide competition. She was shortlisted earlier this year for publication, and in mid May the award winners were announced. Anna got third prize for her poem Golden Girl in the Sunlight. We received a free copy of the book (Over The Moon) and she also got a cheque. The excitement around here was pretty high as is always should be on seeing your name in print for the first time.

And though I won't quote the poem here for copyright reasons, I thought it much more appropriate that Anna's contribution to National Poetry Month be something she had done herself.

Anna, you're my Golden Girl.

National Poetry Month - Charge Of The Light Brigade

April is rapidly drawing to a close, so I thought I'd better catch up with my contributions to National Poetry Month. I thought it was a great opportunity for the kids to each learn a classic poem. Grace did Daffodils, and Erik chose (or rather had chosen for him) Alfred, Lorn Tennyson's Charge of  the Light Brigade, incidentally one of the first poems I ever remember being awed by.

Apparently that bloodthirstyness is a family trait. Erik loved this poem, and was interested enough to learn more about the Battle of Balaclava as well. So good for me, combining history and poetry in one fell swoop.
-
Charge Of The Light Brigade
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
     Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
     Rode the six hundred.
-
'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
     Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
     Rode the six hundred.
-
Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them
     Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
     Rode the six hundred.
-
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
     All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
     Not the six hundred.
-
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
     Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
     Left of six hundred.
-
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
     Noble six hundred!

National Poetry Month - Daffodils

April is National Poetry Month. I love poetry. I can forget this for months on end, but something will happen and it will come upon me suddenly that I need it. To read it or write it, just to immerse myself in the flow of words, the quick breath of an emotion, the hint of a moment captured.

To mark it this year, being the fun mom I am, I thought I'd make my kids look at some classics. I'm sure plenty of people don't agree that kids should be made to memorize poetry, and I don't want to spoil their enjoyment of it, but I still made them memorize their favourite parts. I don't think it hurts. And then they can come out with random lines with their future spouses and get the look Andrew gives me when I do that.

I started with Grace. She's not quite 7, she loves the flowers that are just coming up in the garden, and I thought WIlliam Wordsworth's Daffodils was perfect. She has the first verse memorized,

Daffodils
by William Wordsworth


I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.


Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.


The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:


For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Me: So what do you like about the poem?
Grace: The daffodils. And the stars. I'm going to be a rocket scientist.
Me: Why do you think the poet likes the daffodils?
Grace: Because they're golden, and because they mean spring is here.
Me: Have you ever seen daffodils dance?
Grace: Mom! Flowers don't really dance, you know.
Me: Why do you think the poet thought they were dancing?
Grace: Because he was a rocket scientist looking down from space and he couldn't see them properly.
Me: How does the poem make you feel? How do the daffodils make you feel?
Grace: Happy.
Me: Would you like to dance with daffodils?
Grace: No. I'd like to cut some and put them in a vase.

History Mystery: Adventurous Dreamer

He came to fame initially as a dramatist, but his legacy is that of a writer of swashbuckling fiction. His characters are legendary, his stories sweeping and adventurous.

His grandfather was a french nobleman and his father a general in Napoleon's army. It was these stories that captured his young imagination. He was a gourmet cook and wrote non fiction articles on politics, history, literature and travel.

Although wildly successful, he spent more than he earned and was frequently in debt, eventually having to sell his country house, with its separate work building.

He also battled racism because of his mixed race heritage (his grandfather married a African Carribean woman) and was banned from Russia by Czar Nicholas I because of one of his novels

130 years after his death, his body was exhumed and reinterred by French President Jaques Chirac who in a televised speech claimed, "with you, we dream." 

Who Am I?

Tuesday Answer: 6 guesses in total, split 50-50 between Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas. Hugo, best known for Les Miserables, was incorrect.

Fortunately the one person who posted their response got it right: Leanne, you win, um, you win....the satisfaction of knowing you're a literature whiz.

Dumas of course is remembered for his adventure stories such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Homework Helpers

Last week, Erik had to write a three paragraph description of an Olympic event. The kicker: it had to be from the point of view of the equipment.

This is the conversation Andrew and I had with him, highlighting, I think, our respective approaches towards homework and parenting.

Erik: I'm going to pick a snowboard.
Andrew (under his breath): How about from the viewpoint of the hot pants on the skaters?
Erik: What?
Me: Ignore Daddy. A snowboard is good. So how do you (the snowboard) feel going down the hill?
Erik: Um - happy?
Me: And what else. Are you excited, proud, nervous?
Erik: Yes. (He writes the opening paragraph)
Me (trying again): What else? What do you think a snowboard would be thinking going down the mountain?
Andrew: Boom! Ow! Boom! Ow! Boom! Ow!
Erik (laughing): Can I just write that over and over?
Andrew: Sure, that's what a snowboard would think.
Me (also laughing): No.

In the end he wrote a fine piece of prose that will likely earn him a decent mark. But I wonder what would have happened if I had let him colour outside the lines, let him Boom and Ow himself down the mountain, laughing all the way?

Is there still room for creativity?

Literacy Day

It was Literacy Day yesterday and the kids all went to school dressed as a favourite literary character.

Sort of.

No, not King Arthur. Not Aragorn. Erik could have been either but chose instead to be Peter Pevensie from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I wouldn't let him take the sword to school.

Keeping with the Narnia theme, we have Grace. Or rather, Aslan. She just wanted an excuse to wear the lion costume.

And though I tried to encourage Anna to go as a Musketeer with the great costume she made herself a couple of weeks ago, she had other things in mind.

Indiana Jones is not a book, I told her. But of course it is a book. We have a dog eared copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark in the library, and she knew it. Apparently I'm the only purist who doesn't think books written from movies are real.

This is a real book:

But then, Harrison Ford wasn't in the Narnia movies. To the detriment of the movies.

History Mystery: Christmas Legend

The Duke of Bohemia, (907-935) known by his subjects as a just and rightous ruler, was also docmented as being noble in deed. According to 12th century chronicler, Cosmos of Prague, he "gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched."

Murdered by his brother, he was martyred, post-humously given regal title by Pope Otto I, and later canonized as a Saint. The patron saint of the Czech people, he is also the subject of the most famous statue in the Czech republic which sits in the square also named after him in the city of Prague.

He has inspired many legends, (such as the one which claims that when the motherland is in danger, his equestrian statue will come to life, raise a sleeping army and destroy the enemy with a legendary sword) and a well-known Christmas carol.

Who is he??

Answer: Good King Wenceslas

The Homework Debate

Lots of people arguing right now over whether homework is good or bad for kids, whether it’s useful or just a waste of time that gets in the way of other fun activities.


Here’s what I think:

1. Homework can be tough on families, especially these days when both parents work and the kids go to after-school programs. When the family gets home at 6pm and has to fit in homework between supper and running out to Cubs, the kitchen can quickly become a battlefield where nobody wins.

2. Some of the homework kids get is, let’s face it, silly. I completely identify with the lawyer parents who started this debate when, after questioning the value of the crossword puzzle homework and being told it was for fun, they sent in a note to the teacher that said, thanks, but we’ll make our own fun.

3. Days are short for much of the school year, and kids aren’t getting outside enough. Having hours of homework doesn’t help that.

Having said all that, I agree with homework. I believe it is valuable and an important part of school life, and here’s why:

1. Homework is the bridge between school and home. It allows me (as a parent) to get involved in what my kids are learning, to reinforce lessons learned in class, to see how they are handling new material, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. (Without homework, for example, I would never have known that my 9 year old, in a composition, described the older cat as being pissed off, and would not have had the opportunity to brainstorm more suitable descriptors and remind him that not everything Daddy says should be repeated.)

2. Teachers do a great job, but sometimes kids who are having difficulty in a specific subject benefit from a little one-on-one time with Mom where we can go over trouble areas and figure out how to solve problems in a way that makes sense for that child. And when Grade 4 Math seems just a little elusive, we can send them to Dad. (And what’s with Grade 4 Math anyway – the answers are easy, but the way they want to solve them are so convoluted and unclearly worded that it drives me crazy).

3. Doing homework regularly at a younger age makes the transition into high school much easier, and establishes solid study/work habits that will help them later in life.

Homework should never be about new work. It should not take up too much of a child’s time (I think the 10 minute per grade rule is good). I like the younger grade (K-3) approach our school uses where they send homework for the week, and allow parents to figure out when and where it gets done, allowing us to schedule around Cubs, Karate, and days when we just want to go outside and play.

For the most part though, at least at our house, homework is a priority. I know it, the kids know it, and their teachers know it. Sure, we’ve had days when I’ve written a note to my son’s teacher saying I told him to leave his homework, and I don’t apologize if I decide to bury the kids in fallen leaves one glorious afternoon instead of making them sit at a table practicing spelling. And some nights there just isn’t time for one reason or another.

But I get tired of the debate that it has to be all or nothing. Like so much in life, it’s all about finding a balance that works so that work and fun happen side by side.

History Mystery: Queen of Castile

1451-1504

Married to the King of Aragon, but Queen in her own right, she and her husband unified Spain. She spent much of their reign purifying the Catholic Faith, and is renowned for her institution of the Spanish Inquisition in 1480,  and the slow expulsion of the Spanish Moors (Muslims).

She sponsored Christopher Columbus' voyages to the New World and was sympathetic to the North American Natives who were brought back as slaves.

Widely read and well educated herself, she insisted on the same for her sons and her daughter.

Although she died without an heir, she was grandmother to one of the great tragic Queens of England.

Who Is She?

Monday Answer: Queen Isabella I, also known as Isabella the Catholic, also known as the mother of Katherine of Aragon (1st wife to Henry VIII) and grandmother to Queen Mary I (later known as Bloody Mary).

Leanne, I thought you said you didn't know your history... nice guess then.

I picked this one in honour of my beautiful 3 month old niece, Isabella, who I went to visit in Toronto this weekend.

History Mystery: The Plot Thickens!

Erik had no trouble guessing the last History Mystery so if a 9 year old can do it, I obviously need to make it more difficult.

This man was born in 1570, and at the age of 35, was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered for conspiracy against the King. He avoided being drawn and quartered by throwing himself off the scaffold, breaking his own neck.

He and his deeds served as inspiration for the poet, John Milton, who modelled Satan in Book 6 of Paradise Lost on this character. Although he has been vilified since his treason, he is also known as, "the last man to enter (UK) Parliament with honourable intentions," and his reputation has been somewhat modified in recent years.

Who is he?

(Wed Answer: Guy Fawkes. Congratulations Julie Queen, NB for getting the right answer. You win....um....the satisfaction of knowing the right answer.)

Homework

Erik has a school project due tomorrow. A poster to advertise a book they just read in class. The assignment due date has been written in his agenda for two weeks, and being the overbearing, over-achieving interested mom I am I've been asking him every day for two weeks if he needed help with it at all ("No"), if he's working on it with ("two other boys") and if he needed to bring it home ("No, we're doing it all in school"). Cool. I'm cool with that.

Then tonight, Thursday, Cubs, he brings home a poster board that has three lines written on it in pencil in his handwriting in the top left corner, leaving a huge white space to fill.

I thought you didn't need help, I said.  (He shrugged.)

I thought there were two other boys working on it with you, I said. (Both out with H1N1 for the past week or more)

I thought it was all getting done in school, I said. (But apparently they are allowed to bring it home if they want to. He just chose not to until the very last minute.)

I always said I'd never do my kids' homework for them. I always said they could learn the lesson the hard way. So how come I ended up sitting down with him and brainstorming ways to make his poster more interesting? How come we ended up creating callouts and pictures and text boxes on the computer to add colour and visual variety to his poster? How come I found myself at seven o'clock on a Thursday evening with a pair of scissors and a glue stick instead of a glass of red wine and a book?

Perhaps it was because he got left on his own while his project mates were out sick. Maybe it's because it's his first project of the year. Maybe it's because he was telling me how he had to write the three lines he did write upside down because he couldn't reach across the desk to the top of the poster board.

However, the sad truth is that when it came down to brass tacks, I couldn't let him pass it in without some input. He got it done, hopefully learned something in the process (even if it is only to bring it home sooner next time), and got off to Cubs on time.

But next time, next time, he's on his own.

Right!

History Mystery

Children love him, songs have been written about him, even his enemies reportedly admired and respected him. He is renowned for bravery, and stands for all that is chivalrous.

He was an English King who spent little time in England, spoke but little English, and (according to a renowned British historian) was, "a bad son, a bad husband and a bad king."

He revolted against his own father, was betrayed by his brother, and was adored by his mother. He survived mighty battles and a lengthy capture, yet died of a gangrenous arrow wound fired inside his own castle walls at the age of 42.

Who is he?

Answer: Richard the Lionheart (King Richard I)

School Segregation

I'm not sure what I think about a recent proposal by a top Toronto educator to establish "boys only" schools.

Actually, I am sure what I think. I'm not sure how to say it diplomatically.

"Segregation" is the word that springs to mind, and with it, some not-so-nice connotations. It's not exactly new to Toronto - in January 2008, the Toronto Board voted for the creation of a "black-focused" public school, which although open to all ethnic backgrounds would focus on black culture and history.

At the time, I thought this was a big step backwards. It's the same problem I have with the various religious school boards. We all live in this world together, and we need to learn to get along. Segregating children for any reason - race, gender, religion - means they are deprived of valuable opportunities to interact with and understand kids from diverse backgrounds and cultures, and I don't see how this can be beneficial in the long run.

Of course school board officials may not be considering the long run. They want to ensure all kids do well in school today, and this is a laudable goal. I know that there are concerns about boys falling behind in schools, that there are studies to show that boys learn differently, are motivated differently, behave differently.

No surprises here - I have a boy and two girls, and guess what? All three of them learn differently, are motivated differently and behave differently. That isn't enough of a reason for me to think they should all be in their own unique school that caters exactly to their needs. They need to understand that everyone has their own challenges to overcome and they need to learn what their relative strengths and weaknesses are in the context of the greater community.

In my observation, teachers in general go out of their way to figure out what makes individual children tick so that they can teach effectively. But we can't leave it all up to them. Schools need to have resources they can tap into to help individual children who are having difficulty.  Parents (who know their children best) need to follow up to make sure kids who are struggling for any reason have access to the resources they need for success, whether that be peer-tutoring at recess, extra help with homework on the weekends, or simply the occasional shout of encouragement.

If we all work together, perhaps we can leave the idea of segregated schools where it belongs: in the past.