Texas head coach Tom Herman, center, takes the field with his team before an NCAA college football game against Rice Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019, in Houston.

This week The Dallas Morning News college sports writer Chuck Carlton sat down to speak with Texas football head coach Tom Herman about the state of his program, his quarterback Sam Ehlinger and how hes making the best of trying times.

Here is the transcription of that conversation, edited for clarity.

Carlton: Im Chuck Carlton, with The Dallas Morning News. Were here with Texas football coach Tom Herman, whos headed into his fourth season -- fingers crossed that we have a season -- at Texas and is taking the time to join us in probably one of seven Zoom calls hes doing today. First, appreciate your time today, Tom.

What has a spring without football been like? I know youre doing as much as you can with your staff, with your players, but not being out on the field, not going through the ritual of spring practice, not doing all the things you associate with spring practice, whats that been like?

Herman: Before we start, I just want to make sure that you and everyone in your family is staying safe and healthy.

Carlton: Thanks for asking. Yes, and I assume you and your family are holding up OK.

Herman: Yeah, we are. One of the silver linings in all of this is as a coach, as Ive told people before, is the added family time that I get. Now Ive sat in front of Zoom meetings from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., sometimes I feel like Im working longer hours than I do in a normal year, but at least on the weekends, weve got some free time.

But that wasnt your question. Your question was about how are we doing in offseason without spring practice, without the normalcy of everything. Were doing as good as, I think, anyone in the country. Our kids are all working out. We have, or had Zoom meetings eight hours a week with our players for installation.

The one thing people may not realize is we got a lot of work done in January and February, too. The NCAA has relaxed a lot of rules over the last 10 or so years of what we can do as coaches with our players there in the offseason. We had two hours of meetings every week, which we maximized. We had position-specific conditioning drills, so our kids have been coached by their position coaches multiple times a week for two months. And just a couple of years ago they allowed us to have walkthroughs, so our players have walked through all of the base concepts.

Now the one thing that were missing is obviously the spring practice and the full-speed 11-on-11 body reps on some of these things. My biggest concern right now is the health and well-being of our players, their nutrition, them finishing strong academically with their finals going on right now, and then making sure that they have a place to work out and stay in shape.

As far as the Xs and Os go, Im not real concerned because we had so much time to install and walk through offense and defense in January and February and then eight hours a week with Zoom and the technology that we have right now with coordinators and position coaches being able to share video and telestrate on the screen, if you will. Its gone as smoothly as I could have hoped and really the one thing were missing is those 15 practices and the full-speed 11-on-11 reps.

Carlton: One thing thats come out of this is all the different scenarios out there. I know Big 12 coaches are talking about it, ADs are talking about it. How much attention do you pay to those? How much do you try to game-plan, as to, If we have this happen, if we come back in September instead of August, if we have conference-only like the Pac-12 is talking about, all these sorts of things? If you have a split schedule like Bob Bowlsby is talking about. Is that too far away? Do you have plans A, B, C, D, E?

That part of it is too far away. What the season is going to look like is way too far away. What were worried about right now is June 1. You know all the power five commissioners and conferences got together in late March and agreed on a bunch of different stipulations in terms of what we can and cant do with our players, but that was set through May 31. Well, were getting pretty close to May 31.

You know, every state has different laws. Our state just opened gyms, so does that mean we can open the weight room doors on June 1 for our players even though its discretionary or because some other state in our conference cannot? Are we bound by the lowest common denominator? Those decisions are being made well above my head by ADs and university presidents and commissioners and, first and foremost, government health officials telling us what is acceptable and appropriate and what isnt. I think the biggest thing the NCAA said is that we cant meet with our players during finals, so this week and part of next week, we havent met a whole lot.

Starting Wednesday of next week, well resume meetings with our players starting on Wednesday, the 20. Weve got contingency plans based on a lot of different scenarios that could happen June 1. As far as what the season looks like, I think the only thing that we kind of all -- and when I say all, all of us in the Big 12 and really most of the Power Five conferences -- have agreed on is that were going to need six weeks.

Whenever you tell us were going to start the season, whatever that season looks like, were going to at least six weeks prior to that to have the first two weeks kind of be an assessment -- a medical assessment of our players and see where theyre at from a physical conditioning standpoint -- and spend two weeks slowly getting them acclimated and then have training camp, and then go play the season. But whether it starts late or starts on time -- 12 games, nine games, fans, no fans, split season, spring season -- I think its way too early to tell. Again, were really just focused on: What are we going to be able to do with our players come June 1?

Carlton: During this time, youve been busy with fundraising and donations for various charities -- the Central Texas Food Bank, the Front Steps homeless shelter and I think about three or four others in Austin. What prompted you and Michelle to take those steps to go for it, and whats it meant to you on a personal level to be involved?

Herman: Well, to be honest with you, there wasnt much prompting needed. These were things that Michelle and I had done in the past. We try to lead as private a life as possible. Its something we believe in. Were fortunate enough to have resources to be able to help others that others dont. I think probably the biggest catalyst for us at least letting the world know what were doing is to try to encourage others to do the same in this extreme time of need. We werent prompted by anything. Were still helping the same causes weve always helped.

It was a matter of trying to get the word out to the Longhorn Nation and to the whole country to help these organizations that are in dire need at this point. Personally, my father died in a homeless shelter when he was 52 years old and he struggled with addiction issues. We werent able to save him. If we can help maybe save somebody elses dad, you know, were going to feel pretty good about that. You look at the food bank and Meals on Wheels, they usually spend, we toured on Tuesday the facility they have in southeast Austin, and what a massive facility, and the CEO Derrick Chubbs, told me in a normal week, they spend about 25,000 per week on food, theyre spending a quarter of a million dollars a week on food right now just to feed Central Texas alone.

That is a strain on them and their resources that is unimaginable. Then the Safe Alliance -- I witnessed some domestic abuse in my childhood, my wife has friends who have been victims of domestic abuse -- so we felt like with people being quarantined and stuck in the same house, all the statistics say that the rate of domestic violence has risen during these times because of that.

We wanted to make sure that the people who are supporting them have the resources to do so. In fact, we had a little special gift for them on Mothers Day which was kind of cool. Then the Boys and Girls Club, well, one, the emergency fund that President [Gregory] Fenves was near and dear to our hearts because the student population is our lifeblood. They are our biggest supporters so in this time of need we wanted to help them.

I was a club kid myself growing up. My mom worked her tail off but needed a place to send me after school and in the summertime. The Boys and Girls Club was always there for me in my youth so we wanted to be sure they have the resources to provide the same kind of education and nourishment that they provided me 35 years ago.

Carlton: Dont want to get you in trouble on this, so feel free to take the 5th if you want. Is there a favorite restaurant either in Austin or on the road when youre recruiting and is on your list to hit when we get back to normalcy?

Herman: Favorite restaurant in Austin, there are so many good ones. It would take too long. I literally dont have a favorite, theyre so many good ones. The one on the road that I love is in Houston is El Tiempo. I think its the best fajitas and Im a big fajita guy. Cyclone Anayas is also great when we lived in Houston. Here in town, weve, you name it -- weve tried it and everything downtown to out here to Maudies, all of the above whether youre in the suburbs or downtown, Austins got some unbelievable food.

Carlton: Now youre in the office and on Zoom calls for about 12 hours a day, waiting for calls from recruits, but you go home and theres only so much football you can do, whats it like for you? Have you developed any new hobbies, whats it like having that quality time with the family? Have things changed a little bit for you?

Herman: Oh, certainly and were not in the office so Im home all day. Im in the home office and you tell your wife and kids pretend Im not here, but that never works, so I usually get interrupted from time to time.

I think the evenings have been particularly special. I think were going on a couple of weeks in a row of all five of us sitting down to a family dinner. In all of the years combined, I dont know that we had 14 days just because of the kids different schedules, my different schedule, Michelles different schedule.

So, its been really important and then after dinner -- if theres not more recruiting calls to make -- we try to have a family game night or family movie night. Ive played more Uno then you can imagine. Monopoly, The Game of Life, Jenga -- we played the other night -- Cornhole, ping pong -- you see the ping pong table behind me.

Then we alternate -- do the kids get to pick the movie or do the parents get to pick a movie? Usually when the parents pick the movie its something that meant something to Michelle and I growing up that maybe our kids hadnt seen.

Our kids hadnt seen Ferris Buellers Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, some of these movies that kind of shaped us growing up that we wanted to expose them to. They kind of grit their teeth and fight through it a little bit. Caddyshack isnt near as funny to my 12-year-old son as it was to me back in the day, but Ill be damned if hes going to grow up not having watched Caddyshack.

Carlton: How has the adjustment gone to the new normal in recruiting now? Weve heard about virtual recruiting, kids arent taking visits, youve had the dead period extended. What kind of adjustments have you and your staff have to make?

Herman: Weve got a greater appreciation for Facetime and Zoom. I dont know that -- had this not happened -- that we would have utilized those face to face interactions. We rely on texts and old school phone calls a lot where its neat to be able to see these kids face to face. I know its not in the flesh but its as close as we can get, so thats been good. Thats a change that will probably last well beyond the pandemic. I think its just constant communication.

Weve got virtual unofficial visits where well get a kid on Zoom. Hell have an opportunity to watch videos, some promo videos on our different departments, then talk to Brett Wohlers, [director of football student development], Kevin Washington, head of our player development department, the guy who leads our forever Texas series, our life after football series.

They talk to coach [Yancy] McKnight and they talk to me and the parents get involved. Thats the best we got, and get as creative as we can be virtually and get these kids and their parents and the key people in their lives who will help them make this decision feel as comfortable as they can with us and our program.

Carlton: A question from reader Diego, Texas fan: How much did you get done that you wanted to get done with Mike Yurcich and Chris Ash stepping in as your new coordinators and how much is left to get done in terms of that going forward?

Herman: Again, prior to everything shutting down, we had pretty much normal down and distance, normal field zone, offense and defense installed mentally. We went back and reinstalled it. Youre going to run out of things to meet about at some point, so we introduced some third down and red zone stuff on both sides of the ball, some specialty situations.

So again, the mental aspect of it is not a huge concern of mine. The kids are going to know this offense and this defense like the back of their hand mentally. Its going out and physically doing it, well have to accelerate that learning curve as soon as we get them back.

Carlton: At a place like Texas, changing one coordinator is a big deal, changing two is a really big deal. What made you decide that Ive really got to make these changes?

Herman: I think it all started offensively. I had become a jack of all trades and master of none. There are just so many things that tug at you as the head coach at the University of Texas. To be the best play caller that I could be, it was difficult for me to find the time to really dive into that and I was burning the candle at both ends.

Obviously, Im involved in the offensive game plan and our previous offensive staff, the guys that are no longer here, did a phenomenal job when I wasnt there. But being the primary play caller on game day requires so much more added time and film study that it was taking me away from them.

The second part was managing the defensive side of it. We did not perform to our expectations defensively, so to hire a guy who Ive admired from afar for a long, long time in Mike Yurcich, that was a big recruit for us. I dont want to name names, there were plenty of schools -- Power 5, big-time jobs that had offensive coordinator openings. He chose to come to Texas because he believed in what were doing, he believed in the vision and he believed in our ability to win championships here.

Then Chris [Ash] was a no brainer. Again, Chris had numerous, numerous offers whether it be in the Power 5 and even in the NFL. And this will be our third spot working together at Iowa State then Ohio State. We won a national championship together as coordinators there. I think his three-plus years as a head coach, he now has a great idea of what it means to sit in this chair. Hes done a great job of being head coach of the defense.

We underperformed on both sides of the ball at times. You look statistically, we were, I think, top 15 offense. We did some really good things offensively. Had the leading receiver in the country. Sam Ehlinger had statistically one of the best seasons in the history of Texas football. We bogged down at times, and so the only way I knew how to fix it is to look at myself as the leader of this organization.

How do we get to where we all believe that were headed? Dont get me wrong, Chuck, the trajectory is right where we thought it would be when we came in. 2018 probably, our kids played well above expectations, but weve now got a four-year starter at quarterback, a potential first rounder at left tackle from a signing class that was ranked 31st in the country or something like that.

So weve done a good job developing those guys and then having the class of 18 and class of 19 -- two classes that were top five classes now be mature guys that have been in the system, that have been with Coach McKnight and have gotten bigger, faster, stronger. We might have hit a bit of a dip -- its pretty easy to see the trajectory, the long term trajectory, is headed in the right direction.

Carlton: Another reader asks -- you can anticipate coming from somebody on the Internet -- he wants to know is Texas back? Whats it like being at a school where that takes on a life of its own because Texas is Texas? There arent many schools where people expect national prominence year in year out. It might be aspirational; it might be a hope. At Texas its expected, it seems to be.

Herman: When you win, its not enough, you didnt use the right people or call the right plays, and if you lose, God forbid the sky is falling. But I get it. I know what we signed up for.

We dont use the term back. I dont know what back is. Back means that youve settled. Youre not striving for anything beyond that. I dont know the definition of back. Our big picture goal is always to compete for championships in the months of November and December. We feel like were on our way to doing that.

We did that in just our second year here. Weve beaten two top 10 teams, one top five team and some pretty big time bowl games. We got to work out some of the kinks that had us stub our toe a few times too many last year.

In terms of us being in the national discussion, yeah, like I said I think the trajectory is there. Well never internally use that phrase back. A -- I dont know how to define it and B -- to me, youre settling for something. Each year were going to try to do this (points upward with his hand and arm). I don't know what that question means. I hope I answered it sufficiently though.

Carlton: Another question here, again, not trying to offer negative statistics. Everybody in the Big 12 knows Oklahoma has won five straight conference titles.

Herman: Were well aware, yes.

Carlton: Whats it going to take to knock Oklahoma off? From the standpoint of a competitor looking at a great rival, does that grate on you at all?

Herman: Sure it grates on us. It would grate on us if anyone won it five years in a row and it wasnt us. But for it to be our hundred and some odd-year rival and across the state line, it certainly sticks in your craw a little.

To answer the first part of your question, whats it going to take? Theyve had really good teams, theyve got really good coaches. Theyve had two No. 1 picks at quarterback, back to back years as well as a second-round pick this past year. We all know how important that position is in all levels of football. Theyve done a phenomenal job of recruiting and developing that position.

We beat them in the regular season. Couldnt pull off the second part of that, which was beating them in the conference championship game. Theres no moral victories at Texas especially when it comes to that school, but considering where we started, weve played them admirably and beaten them once in three years.

So whats it going to take? Its going to take a continued effort to recruit elite talent and to develop that talent and then hopefully one of these days theyll stop having first- and second-round draft picks at quarterback. But weve played draft picks, thats certainly not an excuse at all, weve played draft picks at quarterback damn near every week, but those three guys theyve had in the last three years were special -- really, really special.

We feel like were building something here that is sustainable and that rivalry is going to be, on a national perspective, I still think its the greatest rivalry in all of college sports because of the venue, because of the two states, because of the history of it. Weve got to do our part in making sure that we win some more of those battles.

Carlton: What do you know now? You were familiar with Texas as back up to Mack Brown, but what do you know now that maybe you didnt know when you were introduced four years ago?

Herman: I didnt know, when you take these kind of jobs, you take them sight unseen, so I didnt have a grasp at how far behind we were from our competitors from a facility standpoint. My hats off to Chris Del Conte and Greg Fenves for understanding that, realizing that and going out and raising the money to rectify that. Well have the finest facility in the fall of 2021.

What else didnt I know? I lived in Austin for two years as a graduate assistant. I had to live in Austin on $400 a month, which wasnt easy. I think on a positive note, I knew what a great city Austin was, but never had been exposed as much as Ive been exposed to what a remarkable city this is to live in and raise a family. That was a pleasant surprise.

I just think those are probably the two biggest things that I know now that I didnt know then. One, holy cow we got an issue here, and the other, holy cow, this is awesome.

Carlton: Beginning with the quarterback, Sam, seems like hes the sort of guy that seems like hes played more than four years. I guess what do people not know about Sam Ehlinger that youve seen behind the scenes that maybe people dont get about him?

Herman: The guys been on the cover of Dave Campbells magazine. Theres been a thousand articles written on him. I dont know that Im going to enlighten your audience much more than they already have been.

Ive been around some really powerful leaders in my coaching experience, but theres always been guys that are 5 stars and 2 or 3 that are 6 stars from a leadership standpoint. Elandon Roberts, middle linebacker at Houston falls into that category. Hes starting middle linebacker with the Patriots as a seventh-round pick. J.T. Barrett falls into that category and Sam Ehlinger falls into that category for me.

His ability to relate to and get the most out of so many different demographics of players on our team because the kids on our team -- theres 150 kids on our teams -- and they come from all walks of life, socioeconomic backgrounds, different parts of the country, different interests, different everything. He could put a dip in and go fishing with a few of the O-linemen and the very next day take the DBs and receivers to JMBLYA, the hip-hop music festival and nobody would blink an eye.

His ability to cross all of those boundaries. His leadership style is phenomenal to be a part of. My biggest regret is hes got to spend his senior year dressing in the visitors locker room because of this construction. Im certainly very proud of the fact that were getting a first class facility, but I wish for everything that hes done for this university and for this program and for the city of Austin, my biggest wish thatll never get granted, is that he wont get the opportunity to enjoy that as a player at the University of Texas.

As we always do in the offseason, we have a corner of our locker room set out for NFL players to come back to Austin to train in the offseason. Hell get to use it. Itll just be when hes in the NFL rather than wearing the burnt orange.

Carlton: Another position question on the offense, last year you had depth problems at running back.

Herman: I would say! Yeah.

Carlton: You were playing a converted freshman quarterback who was pretty darn good. Now with Keaontay Ingram back, Roschon Johnson, Danny Young and recruiting creating an awful lot of buzz coming from the top running backs from the country. How do you look at that position group now? And whats your comfort level?

Herman: Well if we stay healthy, its as healthy as its been in years here. We think Keaontay Ingram is an NFL player, we think Roschon Johnson is an NFL player, we think Bijan Robinson has superstar written all over him, and Danny Young is a great team guy and has his role in that position group.

The one thing, were a scholarship short there. Youd like to carry five on scholarship. Weve got four when Johnson comes in. We tried to sign two. Last year's class was really difficult when the second guy is looking across thinking youre signing the No. 1 running back in the country and hes my age, so that was difficult. So well sign two this year and well see what the future holds for Keaontay in terms of him coming back for his senior year or not.

We feel as good as we ever have at that position considering where we started and where we are now in terms of the quality and quantity of depth there. Knock on wood, we just got to make sure those guys stay healthy.

Carlton: Another reader question: You look at the top national contenders around the country. One consistent quality with all of those is the offensive line, having the big, strong mean guys up front. Its taken you a while to rebuild that. You mention Sam Cosmi being a possible first-round draft pick. Youve got multiple year starters at most positions coming back. How close are you to where you want to be with having the offensive line set? You know, going back to Ohio State, what an offensive line means to an entire football team.

Herman: Our first year there, the players we inherited at Ohio State, I think three of them were drafted. Then you move into the Taylor Deckers of the world who we recruited and wound up being a first rounder. We also had a guy named Ezekiel Elliott back there who was pretty good at covering up some deficiencies, if we had any in the offensive line.

We feel really good. Were returning three starters, playing Cosmi, [Junior] Angilau, [Derek] Kerstetter. Kerstetter will be a four-year starter. He was thrown into the fire as a true freshman and played admirably. Hes developed fine to the point where we feel like hell get an opportunity to play in the NFL, too.

The young guys have not only been developed by coach [Herb] Hand but by coach McKnight. Thats such a developmental position. Very rarely do you see freshmen or registered freshmen or true sophomores starting at that position, but unfortunately weve had to.

Well reap the benefits of that this year with Cosmi being a three-year starter and Kerstetter being a four-year starter. Angilau being a two-year starter and we feel like well have some pretty good position battles for those other two spots.

Carlton: Shifting to the defense, are you going to the four-man front with Chris Ash or a variation of the four-man front, with edge rushers, Joseph Ossai moving from linebacker to moving to one of those JACK positions for you guys. Whats your level of expectation for what that four-man front can deliver especially when you look at what it did in the bowl game, and whats the ceiling for Joseph Ossai as a pass rusher?

Herman: The biggest thing especially in our conference -- sacks are an overrated statistic in my opinion -- because in todays game the ball gets out so quickly. Youve got to make quarterbacks feel uncomfortable and youve got to disrupt them, youve got to hit them, youve got to bat passes down, the whole nine.

We felt like playing on the edges of offensive linemen gives us the opportunity to do that with our front guys rather than having to generate pass rushes from blitzing linebackers or safeties. We feel like in this league with all the RPOs -- sacks again may or may not come -- but we feel like were going to have a much better presence in terms of affecting the quarterbacks and making them uncomfortable.

You asked about the ceiling for Joe. How high can you go up? This is a kid that came in at 210 pounds, hes 255 pounds now. Hes put on 40 pounds of lean muscle. He's dropped his body fat percentage by 3 or 4%. Hes the best pass rusher weve got. Hes a very twitchy athlete. Hes a great leader. The sky is -- I dont want to say literally because that word is literally used out of context and improperly quite frequently -- but figuratively the sky is the limit for him. Hes got a very, very high ceiling for sure.

Carlton: Looking at your secondary which on paper looks like one of your most talented groups. A bunch of guys that came in -- top recruits, guys with all kinds of athletic ability hasnt really come together maybe because of injuries, maybe because of other things, but how do you look at that group and do you see those guys kind of stepping up now that theyve been on campus for a couple of years?

Herman: Oh yeah, if theres one position that weve recruited at a level at or even above anyone else in the country its in the defensive backfield. Theres going to be some big time battles for playing time and starting jobs.

You look at even just our corners. You look at the two deep and youre talking about Jalen Green, DShawn Jamison, Josh Thompson, Kenyatta Watson.

These guys are very highly recruited guys that anybody in the country would be proud to have, then go to the safeties and in 2018 we signed the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 safety in the country. The very next year we signed a five-star in Tyler Owens.

Lets dont forget that especially in this league, well be in nickel personnel most of the time, so Chris Adimora and Anthony Cook will battle for that position. You look in the back end, youre talking about Caden Sterns, B.J. Foster, Chris Brown, Tyler Owens, the list goes on and on.

The old adage is iron sharpens iron. Our goal is to get every position group to that depth so that every day at practice is a battle so that these guys are making each other better just because theyre pushing each other.

Carlton: Are you still looking for a little help in depth in linebacker in the grad transfer market, or what is your comfort level with the linebacker right now?Herman: I think its the most nerve wracking position from a depth stand point on our team right now. We feel good about the move on DeMarvion Overshown, but hes inexperienced there. We feel like Juwan Mitchell has shown us in spurts that he can play at championship level.

Im excited to see about David Gbenda. You know Ayodele Adeoye and Marcus Tillman are both coming off injuries. Theyve been very diligent in their rehab. Marcus Tillman was a guy that was certainly turning heads before he got hurt as well as [Adeoye]. [Adeoye ]had started a few games for us as well.

But theyre all young and inexperienced so if we can find a grad transfer at that position that we feel like can help us win a championship, well look at that. Weve had quite a bit of success with grad transfers over the years coming in, but we also feel like weve got a great linebacker coach in Coleman Hutzler.

But if we dont, its not the end of the world. The guys that we have on our roster currently, will be developed to the point that theyll be an asset rather than a liability.

Carlton: You made a one day trip to South Bend to visit with Brian Kelly and when you look at Notre Dame and Texas you see some similarities in terms of the tradition, the media coverage and the fan expectations. Both of you guys even have your own network. What was your takeaway, what did you bring out of that meeting with Kelly? Hes been a head coach a little longer than you have, so what was your takeaway?

Herman: Hes been a coach a lot longer than I have, all the way back to Grand Valley State, and Central Michigan, and Cincinnati and Notre Dame so he went through a coaching transition, much like we did.

He had the luxury, I call it a luxury, the year that he made a few changes on his staff, they were 4-8, they didnt go to a bowl game. He had that whole month of December and January to hire his new staff and onboard them in terms of expectations of their culture.

We were getting ready to play the No. 10 team in the country on New Year's Eve. That made December and January pretty hectic for myself. I think the biggest takeaway was one -- that, some guys are built differently, and have different responsibilities.

There are head coaches out there that call the offense and the defense, and do a really good job at it, but if youre going to do that, youve got to make sure youve got the time to do that and the support system on both sides of the ball to step away from it.

The takeaway was hire coordinators that you believe in and you trust. Get out of the offensive meeting room from time to time, build your relationship with your players and make sure youre seeing the entire enterprise of Texas football from a 30,000-foot view rather than a play caller view. It was very helpful.

Read more from the original source:
Q&A with Texas coach Tom Herman: What it will take to dethrone Oklahoma, which 80s movies he's showing his kids and more - The Dallas Morning News

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Many people have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. As unfortunate as that is, this means that there theres an access of a larger talent pool that you could recruit for your business. You could also look at remote workers as an option which is more cost-efficient, and could be effective in a number of fields such as customer service, IT support and design.

A colleague of mine is setting up a mobile application business. Prior to Covid-19, he was exploring the option of working with an agency based in the region. The offers he received were above his expectations. He recently signed with a mobile app developer in another country who works on a freelance basis and who agreed to deliver the scope of work for 50 per cent less than the offers he received from developers in the region. He saved the other 50 per cent to spend on digital marketing over the next few months.

Given all that, take your time to build a solid foundation and dont rush through setting up a business too quickly. Figure out the most cost-efficient way to set up your business, evaluate the financing options, look for the most effective way to raise awareness about it, and build your clientele.

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati journalist and entrepreneur, who manages her marketing and communications company in Abu Dhabi.

Updated: May 16, 2020 11:54 AM

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Why now is a good time to start a new business - The National

CHENNAI: At a time when the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown has hit sportspersons globally, an app launched by a Holland-based techie from Chennai is helping scores of cricket players and coaches to remain in touch with the game.

Ludimos, launched by Madhan Raj, is an online platform which can be used by players to upload videos and receive tips from coaches from any part of the world.

Asked what made him come up with Ludimos, Madhan Raj said it was because of the potential of video analysis and the need to learn from the best coaches.

"I used video analysis a lot when my batting form was down a couple of years ago and realised the true potential of it," Madhan Raj, who played at the university level in Chennai, told PTI.

"However, when the number of videos and feedback grew I couldn't manage and structure them making it difficult to track my own progress and development. I came up with the idea of Ludimos after validating that several players and coaches are facing the same problem."

Platform also helps players from associate nations connect with top coaches and get a clarity on technical issues.

"In addition to that, our research showed that the level of cricket and gap between associate nations and major cricket playing nations is very big.

"Primary reason being lack of access to good coaches in associate countries. To become the best you need to learn from the best and I wanted to connect the best coaches to any aspiring cricketer in the world," he added.

He said all one had to do is to record their training videos using either a smartphone or the web application, adding it would be useful for aspiring cricketers who are not able to attend coaching camps due to the lockdown now.

About the advantages of Ludimos app, he said it could be beneficial for clubs and academies and individual players in its own way.

"Clubs and academies benefit from having player management and video analysis under one platform. In short, clubs can stay innovative, increase player engagement and provide the right tools for their coaches to build winning teams.

"As for an individual looking to improve his/her game, one can now simply hire an online coach from Ludimos and get feedback using our tool," he added.

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Holland based Indian techie's cricket app helping numerous players and coaches - Times of India

WITH hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost, and the death toll continuing to rise, it can be hard to see how a global pandemic can be in anyway positive.

For the most part, it really isnt - to put it bluntly, coronavirus is a horrific, unrelenting, indiscriminate, grim, ravaging and merciless beast, which takes no prisoners.

But it is the by-products of the outbreak and subsequent lockdown which, when you take a step back, glow brighter, and rise higher, than the virus ever will.

Front line workers, for example, are finally being showered in the appreciation they have always warranted, even if only sincerely from members of the public.

Communities have come together like never before to ensure the most vulnerable are cared for, protected, and not left without essential food and drink.

From a more personal and individualistic point of view, the free time afforded to many has provided people and families with a wider and more panoramic perspective.

Less cluttered headspaces in which to think, coupled with empty itineraries, has offered elongated periods to self-reflect, unwind, and reassess the pace of life.

Some residents, for example, have used this break from normality to pursue passions or hobbies which they previously couldnt due to the restrictions of modern life.

Chloe Everett, 20, from Walton, has dreamt of launching her own a card-making business for a while, but never had the time to actually start it up.

She has produced minimalistic handmade cards for friends and relatives for special occasions since she was young, after being inspired by her mums love of the craft.

I have wanted to start-up my own card-making business for a while now, and always considered it, but with other commitments, I never had the time, she said.

I find it quite therapeutic and I love having an idea in my head and then making it come to life - time just seems to pass so quickly when I am being creative.

Since the lockdown, Chloe has founded and set-up Sending Love and Happiness, and custom card orders have already started to come in.

I really enjoy making things and drawing, and it is a good way to keep busy, so I thought it would be a good way to use my time during isolation, she said.

I have always been anxious that it wouldnt be successful, but now I have done it, I have proved myself wrong.

Talented theatre performer Lucy Barrett, 15, from Clacton, has taken it upon herself to use her new-found free time to learn British sign language.

Her mum Jenny, says her daughter was inspired to master the hard discipline using her free time by her own passion for ensuring inclusivity runs through the world.

She has always been very conscious of making sure she never discriminates against others and has always looked to make sure no one gets left out, said Jenny.

At the beginning of lockdown, the British Sign Language offered a massive discount for school pupils to participate in their online course.

Lucy thought it was an amazing opportunity to learn a new language and to communicate with others and broaden her knowledge.

She has been really enjoying it and we are very proud of her.

Matthaeus Rozier, 29, from Harwich, on the other hand, has completed a life coaching course and subsequently set-up a new business during lockdown.

He has now started recording and releasing a programme called Sixty Second Series, which is designed to help people set goals and not indulged in unnecessary eating.

Matthaeus, who has a degree in sports and exercise science, and psychology, is also now writing a self-help book which he is planning on releasing soon.

"Usually I am travelling around Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, as I work for England Rugby doing training, mentioning, and coaching," he said.

"So, being on furlough has given me the opportunity for personal development and a chance to develop the businesses."

The Brightlingsea Musical Theatre Group has used the time to be productive, despite the obvious hurdles you would expect them to face as a result of a lockdown.

Six weeks ago, the companys passionate performers joined forces with the Clacton Musical Theatre Society to produce a special virtual pantomime.

The two groups rehearsed, filmed, and edited the performance, and it has since helped to lift the spirits of both the cast involved, and those who have watched it.

Usually shows take five months of rehearsals, so this definitely allowed to us to speed things up, said Lucy Rosina, chairman of the Brightlingsea Musical Theatre Group.

The editing also took 60 hours alone, which I would not have been able to do with normal work patterns.

We released it online and so many people have said how much it has cheered them up and has given them some much needed laughs during what is a tough time for so many people.

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The silver lining of lockdown? Free time to do what you really love - Clacton and Frinton Gazette

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A sesquipedalian is a person who overuses uncommon words like lameen (a bishops letter expressing a fault or reprimand) or salvestate (to transport car seats to the dining room) just for the sake of it. The first of those italicized words is real. The second two arent. But they totally should be. Theyre the invention of a new website called This Word Does Not Exist. Powered by machine learning, it conjures up entirely new words never before seen or used, and even generates a halfway convincing definition for them. Its all kinds of brilliant.

In February, I quit my job as an engineering director at Instagram after spending seven intense years building their ranking algorithms like non-chronological feed, Thomas Dimson, creator of This Word Does Not Exist, told Digital Trends. A friend and I were trying to brainstorm names for a company we could start together in the A.I. space. After [coming up with] some lame ones, I decided it was more appropriate to let A.I. name a company about A.I.

Then, as Dimson tells it, a global pandemic happened, and he found himself at home with lots of time on his hands to play around with his name-making algorithm. Eventually I stumbled upon the Mac dictionary as a potential training set and [started] generating arbitrary words instead of just company names, he said.

If youve ever joked that someone who uses complex words in their daily lives must have swallowed a dictionary, thats pretty much exactly what This Word Does Not Exist has done. The algorithm was trained from a dictionary file Dimson structured according to different parts of speech, definition, and example usage. The model refines OpenAIs controversial GPT-2 text generator, the much-hyped algorithm once called too dangerous to release to the public. Dimsons twist on it assigns probabilities to potential words based on which letters are likely to follow one another until the word looks like a reasonably convincing dictionary entry. As a final step, it checks that the generated word isnt a real one by looking it up in the original training set.

This Word Does Not Exist is just the latest in a series of [Insert object] Does Not Exist creations. Others range from non-existent Airbnb listings to fake people to computer-generated memes which nonetheless capture the oddball humor of real ones.

People have a nervous curiosity toward what makes us human, Dimson said. By looking at these machine-produced demos, we are better able to understand ourselves. Im reminded of the fascination with Deep Blue beating Kasparov in 1996 or AlphaGo beating Lee Sedol in 2016.

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This A.I. makes up gibberish words and definitions that sound astonishingly real - Digital Trends

You are a spiritual being and have the potential to fully embrace your spirituality. However, like everything in life, embarking on your spiritual path is a choice.In life you are presented with several choices leading to new stages of development. Initially, most progress along the same path but, at certain points, you have choiceswhether to stay immersed in the status quo world or to explore the splendors of your spiritual journey. These choices can appear at any time during your life; the key is to stay alert and listen to the wisdom of your heart.

You are born into a material world, where your life is dominated by your lower three chakras. You enter the world in a state of innocence and as long as you are healthy and have a loving family, you live in a world of joy and bliss. You still have a strong connection to the Divine and the field of the Absolute from which your consciousness just emerged. The spiritual being is still very much awake. However, for most this memory begins to fade as you are taught how to fit in and you become distracted by the world around you. A rare few manage to maintain their Divine connection and enjoy spiritual greatness.

As you grow, the ego emerges and soon you realize that you are completely at the mercy of all around you. The pure love you have experienced up until now begins to be overshadowed by fear and its corresponding emotions. You find that to get what you want, you have to please those in charge. You develop your personality and begin creating all the stories that will shape and define your life.

In your desire to overcome fear, you create success in your life. You become educated, start your careers and family. You want to have control to eliminate fear. You accumulate things to give you a sense of security.

For many people, further growth and spiritual development ends here. You choose to continue to be consumed with material desires, you seek more and more power and control. Your life becomes self-centered and you remain at Stage 3.

For others, a feeling that there is more to life begins to dawn. Rather than just accumulating possessions and power, you look for a deeper meaning to life. You start to awaken spiritually and continue to Stage 4.

In this stage, you begin to realize that there is more to life than personal power and material gain. You ask yourself how you can help others, how can you serve the world around you. You become comfortable with giving as well as receiving.

However, giving can also create a sense of power. At this stage, giving can often still be ego driven. You give because you expect some form of recognition or because it makes you feel good about yourself.

You can continue to give from the level of ego, always expecting something in return for your giving. This obviously can have a lot of merit, and you can do many good things in the world. However, it leaves a constriction to your full spiritual growth.

The opportunity of your second choice is when you begin to give from the level of love and compassion without any concern for recognition or reward. Your giving becomes selfless and your true spiritual journey begins.

Now you begin your regular spiritual practices. The longing for Enlightenment grows within you. Your decisions now come mostly from the fourth chakra, the heart center.

You begin to look for the deeper meaning of things. You try to understand why you are here and how you can make your life more meaningful. You may study with teachers and gurus. You read books and practice techniques. You have glimpses of the goal that encourages you to remain on the path.

The throat chakra opens as you express the qualities of the heart in your life.

Cosmic Consciousness dawns. Your mind fully awakens. You become the witness of your actions and realize that you are the role player in the multitude of roles you play. The fear of death dissolves as you realize that life is just another role. Simple yogic powers become available to us.However, there is still a separation between the giver and the recipient.

You have now reached another critical junction point in your journey. Your mind is fully awake but some ego is still present. The choice or mistake here is to believe that you are something special. You mistakenly think you have reached the goal and may promote yourself as such. The end is in sight but you have allowed the ego to hide it from view and you remain stuck in a false sense of spiritual attainment.

The alternative choice is to recognize the ego but not succumb to it, to allow it to find its place harmoniously within the whole. You continue your journey with humility and devotion. Giving is done purely for the sake of giving. Whats in it for me becomes How can I serve?

Insight and spiritual inspiration begin to grow, you hear the voice of the inner guru as the sixth chakra opens.

Your heart now fully awakens. You experience Divine and Unity Consciousness.

There is no longer any separation. No giver, given, or giving. No sense of I or me, just an awareness of Oneness. You still live in the world, but are no longer of the world.

Your spiritual practice is Pure Joy. All the chakras are open, spiritual energy flows freely.

When you reach the seventh stage there are no longer choices. You function totally in harmony with nature. Everything is provided exactly as needed, at exactly the right moment. You are the Totality.

As you progress though these stages, the material world seems very attractive at first while the spiritual might seem empty and hard but, if followed, it eventually leads to the experience of the True Self and eternal bliss.

There is nothing lacking in the life of a great yogi. He or she doesnt feel that anything has been given up. In fact, its the reversegreat yogis feel that by not following a spiritual path, eternal bliss has been renounced for the sake of a few passing moments of happiness. The material world is like a dry garden waiting for knowledge of the Divine to make it bloom. In the material world you only have the energy of the body, on the spiritual path you tap into Divine Consciousness, Cosmic Energy. The material world is a prison, the spiritual path leads to unbounded freedom.

You are always at a junction in your path, Truth or illusion, material or eternal. The ego will constantly try to keep its limiting hold on you. Choose wisely. Everything you do is a spiritual act if you do it with awareness. Find your path and inner peace.

Be regular and disciplined with your spiritual practice. Dont be disheartened if you wander off. Ultimately your spiritual journey becomes your way of life, like a lush oasis in the desert of mundane living.

Embark on the path to self-mastery with Deepak Chopra and Roger Gabriel in our Primordial Sound Meditation Online Course. Learn More.

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The 7 Stages of Spiritual Development | The Chopra Center

Astrologer Joyce Van Horn might have predicted the novel coronavirus pandemic in vague terms, at least. First it will cause a massive separation, but then it will cause a co-joining, Van Horn says, explaining that she and others in her field saw that a major global event was on the horizon.

But forecasting global catastrophes isnt necessarily in Van Horns wheelhouse. Shes an evolutionary astrologer, someone who reads birth charts for individual souls. And shes one of many psychics in San Francisco, a blanket term used by a 2003 city law to categorize astrologers, along with numerologists, tarot card readers, fortune-tellers, seers, and other such metaphysical practitioners.

In San Francisco, psychics are revered by young startup CEOs seeking their spiritual business acumen, or sought out by believers needing advice about love, family, or their personal crossroads. In troubling times, such as a global pandemic, they can offer comfort in the form of mystic wisdom, or provide tools to help their clients cope with the chaos. Some recognize how the relationship between psychics and their clients can mimic that of therapists and their patients though they arent the same.

Thats what Chris Branson realized when he spoke to Van Horn for the first time. Six years ago, Branson found out his girlfriend, who lived in San Diego, was pregnant.

She planned on moving to San Francisco, Branson says. The promise of a child conjured a vision of their shared future, and motivated his girlfriend to make the move so they could be together.

But just a few weeks before she was set to arrive, the couple found out some troubling news. She wasnt able to keep the baby, Branson says.

Confused, Branson went to Van Horn looking for hope a reason to why things were happening. Van Horn read Bransons birth chart and used a deck of cards to provide some clues. From what Im seeing, Van Horn told him, this is setting you up for the life you really want.

And that was true, as far as Branson is concerned.

We got married, and we had a family, he says. But it wasnt just the prediction that reassured Branson. The conversation itself helped him walk away from the session feeling more confident in his and his partners future together. I didnt see it at the time that it was part of a bigger picture. Years later, while raising a family in Maui with his wife, he would see it as a turning point.

Nicki Bonfilio, a clairvoyant and clairaudient intuitive counselor, hasnt bought into the Zoom frenzy.

Theres that barrier of electricity, says Bonfilio. Shed rather her clients look into themselves, rather than their mirrored image on a laptop screen. Thats why all her pandemic sessions have been conducted over the phone, where she teaches her clients an internal calming monologue.

What Ive been guiding clients through is just to ask some simple questions within themselves, and to create an internal practice, Bonfilio says, which is about telling themselves, I am happy, I am safe, I am secure.

Its particularly useful as shes seen a spike in anxiety and fear in her clients, especially from those who are concerned about the health of their loved ones. Bonfilio says she can see or hear things the average human eye might not. For example, she might be able to tell that youve been eating too much sugar, or that you need to reduce your screen-time, or that youre in need of some fresh air. Once, she saw that her friend had a brain tumor after he fainted. That prediction was what encouraged her to abandon her previous profession accounting to become a full-time psychic.

But Bonfilios gift is most useful when combined with the techniques shes learned from other jobs. I was very much in the birthing community at one point, Bonfilio says. Im actually a certified labor and birth coach, or a certified doula.

One of her long-time clients, Courtney Wilson, believes that Bonfilios breathwork (along with meditation classes and a holistic chiropractor) helped her survive April.

After I do it for ten minutes, Im way more grounded, Wilson says. And I just dont have that anxiety.

Wilson started seeking out psychics after she moved to San Francisco from the Midwest, in Des Moines, Iowa. I grew up Catholic, so it was always super strict, and there were all these rules, Wilson says. And I just knew in my gut that there was more out there a bigger universe, a bigger spiritual realm.

She went to an astrologer and a medium, but none of them were as good, or as accurate, as Bonfilio, who she found on Yelp. That was ten years ago, and shes been seeing Bonfilio four times a year ever since.

Shes like this big sister. She makes you feel that way, Wilson says. Going to her, I ask her questions, she tells me where her intuition lies, how she feels about things, and then I feel better.

Wanugee Kanagaki of Golden Dragon Fortunes has experienced a similar relationship with his 600 clients. Wanugee, who prefers to be addressed by his first name, is a fortune teller who uses mahjong tiles to discern energies.

For Wanugee, its more about appearing as a friend or a trusted confidant perhaps thats the therapeutic aspect people pick up on: You can share your worries and hopes with a person, and theyll listen, and try to offer some guidance.

He emphasizes that he isnt a licensed therapist. His clients are rarely ever deciding between seeing him or a trained mental health provider.

I try to help my clients when I can, Wanugee says. Some people are adapting with the shelter-in-place. Some people deal with it well. Some people dont.

Recently, one of Wanugees clients struggled with social isolation. All her roommates went back home and she was all by herself, Wanugee says. She was in a bad place. I gave her a reading, and offered her some tools.

These tools are available for free on his YouTube channel, where Wanugee sits in front of a green screen upon which he superimposes a looping video of a sunset-painted lake. On his right is a pillow stitched with the words I Love You.

Welcome seekers, he says, raising his hands as geese float in the recorded water behind him.

Theres no reason why you cant continue seeing your astrologer or fortune-teller, Dr. Davina Kotulski, a clinical psychologist and former client of Van Horns says. But if you have a mental health concern, you should go see a therapist.

Dr. Kotulski herself is a believer in astrology and numerology, and Van Horns services have been life-changing for her. But there is still a necessary disclaimer to be made. If youre struggling with mental health and addiction, Dr. Kotulski says you should see a licensed therapist a mental health provider whos trained specifically for this purpose.

Something can be helpful, but it doesnt mean its curative, Kotulski says. Massages can be rejunative, but theyre not the same as physical therapy.

Psychics and therapists may have similar goals to improve the well-being of their clients. But they serve different functions, and psychics wont be covered by your health insurance. (And they can get pretty pricey: Wanugees individual readings range from $77 to $149; Bonfilio charges $210 an hour; and Van Horn is currently working on a sliding scale during the pandemic, though her rate is normally $200 an hour.)

However, there are people who blend the practices. Berkeley-based Dr. Greg Bogart is one of them.

I became an astrologer at age 23, and did that for a number of years, but realized I needed more training to be able to do more emotional process work, to understand family issues, to understand development stages, Dr. Bogart says. Becoming a therapist gave me a whole new set of tools to make astrology beneficial. Sometimes he practices therapy and astrology as separate entities, other times, he blends the practices, depending on what the client wants.

He rejects the term psychic for astrologers, despite San Franciscos umbrella categorization. Astrology, specifically, is about finding life patterns on birth charts to identify present and current issues, recurring themes and relationship and career challenges.

That might offer reassurance and guidance explanations to why transformative events are happening, or illuminations on pivotal pathways.

But Dr. Kotulski wants everyone to know to be on guard when seeking answers.

If you work with healers of any kind be they therapists, psychics, or astrologists make sure that they have your best interests in mind. There are predators out there, Dr. Kotulski says. She cites an example from a client, who had $6,000 extorted from them after they saw a psychic who told them they had been a horrible person in a past life, and now had to pay the price.

If someones trying to scare you into working with them, Dr. Kotulski says. thats a predator.

Wanugee also warns against those who try to frighten emotionally vulnerable people. Theres a neon sign in every neighborhood, Wanugee says. But if the psychics behind them are asking for large sums of money to break a curse, they might not have your best interest in mind.

Aquarius is a wild card, Van Horn says. Thats the sign that Saturn is currently in.

Saturn is saying its time to mature into a new this is the Aquarius part a new way of collectively building something together that will support us as a worldwide community, Van Horn continues.

And if Aquarius is the sign of technology, and Saturn is the planet of innovation, then perhaps this means its time to get creative with connecting while social distancing.

Aquarius is saying this is a collective. Were in a pandemic, were in this together. What is the truth? Van Horn says. How do we liberate ourselves from saying other cultures are wrong? She warns against ethnic or religious discrimination.

Thats what Van Horn has seen in the stars. At ground level, shes noticed that the pandemic might have forced everyone into a mental reset. People are starting to recognize its more about family, and more about connection, and its less about stuff, its less about impressing people, Van Horn says.

Bonfilio, on the other hand, has noticed an environmental reset. Two years ago, she remembered feeling like the city was getting more and more congested. There were more buildings, more traffic, and more tech companies.

I remember recalling back then, that things were going to need to change drastically in San Francisco in order for there to be more harmony and balance and more ease, more peace, Bonfilio says. because things were getting way too aggressive.

But just recently, Bonfilios friend spotted a whale in the Bay, a sign that Bonfilio interpreted as nature returning to spaces where humans use to windsurf or travel.

Were all just little specks here on the earth. Were just one person on the earth with billions of people and so many other natural animals, fish, birds, bees, trees, everything, Bonfilio says. With humans mostly inside and sheltered in place, its given a chance for the earth to come back into balance.

Now the challenge is to keep it that way, even after the shelter-in-place is lifted.

Be afraid, Van Horn says. But dont get paralyzed by the fear.

Astrology is a practice that a lot of people dont believe in, Van Horn says. The same can be said of fortunetelling or clairvoyance. Skeptics like to poke holes in their practices, citing vague predictions or personality measures as tricks psychics use to fool naive participants.

But believers have found solace in looking for celestial or otherworldly guidance. I think what a lot of psychics and fortune-tellers can do [is] help you see things that are coming up and possibilities, Dr. Kotulski says. That doesnt mean you dont have free choice and you cant change some of the things that can happen. You always have free choice.

The goal of a psychics prediction isnt to prescribe, its to guide. They may not be able to help their clients work through cognitive distortions or substance abuse disorders that is work for trained mental health providers. But they can certainly provide some comfort in times of trouble.

Its like Hey, theres a divine plan going on, says Branson, who was raised in a religious household and finds some similarities between the way one feels walking out of a session with a psychic and heading home after church. Its not saying this is going to happen or thats going to happen. Its about getting better insight and clarity, so you can make decisions.

For some, its about finding hope. For others, its about talking to a friend.

She knows so much about my family. She knows so much about the things Ive been through. No ones seen my growth like her, Wilson says of Bonfilio. Going to a therapist, I would have to start all over.

Grace Z. Li covers arts, culture, and food for SF Weekly. You can reach her at gli@sfweekly.com or follow her on Twitter at @gracezhali.

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Psychics Arent Therapy But They Can be Therapeutic - SF Weekly

Liberty University in the United States closed down its philosophy department, recently. The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy over sex abuse lawsuits. Nones became part of common academic discourse. Movement atheism rose, failed, has begun to change, to adapt internal pressures, and incorporate wider needs and represents another part of a common trend in the hobby-ing of religion in our societies. Canada comes out no different. The fear discourse towards the formally, institutionally non-religious continues apace and the surrounding magical thinking, gullibility, superstition, pseudoscience, fake medicine, and more, co-exists with us, nonetheless. I note a mutual reinforcement, too. If magic can happen from the pulpit, why not from a local clinic or a home remedy sold on the shelf? It would harbour more a sensibility of humour if not for the tragically awful impacts derived in some domains on so many peoples lives. Liberty Universitys replica, in part, can be found in the largest fundamentalist Evangelical Christian university in Canada called Trinity Western University with some controversy in its history and in the formulation of community culture in the Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Those students live in its surrounding Fort Langley environment in reasonable numbers. Some times falsely advertised by Trinity Western University marketing as the Trinity Western University village or town, as if an official designation, as in the YouTube clip entitled This is Fort Langley TWUs university town. Thats a lie. Its a National Historic Site.

Small towns all over Canada mirror many of the dynamics, magical thinking, and reliance on false or pseudo-medicines in place of (actual) or efficacious medicine. Among the local churches in the area, (e.g., Fort LangleyEvangelical Free Church, Living Waters Church, Fraser Point Church Meeting Place, St Georges AnglicanChurch, United Churches ofLangley St. Andrews Chapel, Vineyard ChristianFellowship, Fraser Point ChurchOffices, Jubilee Church, and Fellowship Pacific) different interpretations of the Gospels may be taught, but the community retains its Christian spirit in spite of a scuffed, mind you, rainbow crosswalk one can find the in the town business center with many of the 100+ local businesses hiring many, many Trinity Western University students. The economy is integrated with the institution, in other words. Its an expensive private Evangelical Christian university with extensive fees, where students pay international student prices as domestic students. Students need to make their way through education without substantial governmental assistance, somehow. In this context, highly educated and well-to-do fundamentalist Christian culture and a local town converge into a strange admixture. A town with a large number of community organizations including Kwantlen First Nations,Seyem Qwantlen Business Group,Fort Langley Youth Rowing Society,Fort Langley Community Rowing Club,Fort Langley Canoe Club,History of Fort Langley,History of the Albion Ferry, The BEST of Fort Langley,Langley Weavers and Spinners Guild Biodegradeables ~ Organic Recycling,Fort Langley Community Association, Langley Heritage Association, andFort Langley BIA. Indeed, many towns across the country replicate this with different inputs and similar outcomes.

In its recent history, as a starter example, there has been some predictable commentary flowing in the pens and notifications. One from Derek Bisset exhibited a particularly interesting article entitled There Are Atheists in the Church as recent as August 4, 2015. Not necessarily a rare view, its more a common sentiment based on the trend line of history and the adaptations for the modern world with Liberal Theology and the tenuous status of some foundational tenets with the continual onslaughts of modern empiricism. This was formulated around a somewhat critical commentary about the welcoming-everyone attitude of the church to the general membership of The United Church of Canada. He stated:

It shouldnt come as much of a surprise that after years of saying All are welcome in this place that the result is a range of views within the church about the existence of God, especially as we seem to live in a society becoming ever more secular and inclining to require evidence for what we are willing to believe.

I suppose a space journey through emptiness four and a half hours away at the speed of light should have some bearing in putting early concepts of the Heavens to rest. Now I think we will have to stick with a range of ideas about a Godwho is here on Earth, interventionist or metaphorical, according to our personal views about what we need as individuals or what is needed to make the world a better place for all.

These amount to intriguing propositions about the reasons in which evolution for the church ideology become necessities within a secularizing/de-churching culture rather than true rebukes. The reason for the theological changes come from the empirical revolutions and educational improvements with the churches harbouring less tenable propositions about the nature of the world. Many propositions some deem outmoded, comical, or equivalent to others requiring fewer personal sacrifices of individual and communal wellbeing. The implication of a rejection of the modern views would be a return to more primitive mental constructs, models of the world. Is the concern the truth or the retaining of members? As it turns out, the most worrying development came not from a more reality-based church, but the loss of a member to a rival church. This tells the tale of the tribe.

Indeed, the reasons provided for leaving the local church from the member who left: the hot-wax nature of the beliefs rather than the rigid stone pillar faith. Probably, a rigid faith where men have a defined active role. Women have a defined passive role. God intervenes in the world. Prayer can aid in healing ailments. Homosexuality is a sin. The Bible is the literal truth, God-breathed Word of the Lord. And Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days. And evolution is the work of He down Below. If one wants to move back the civilizational lens in the West several centuries, I suppose one could upgrade or, rather, retrograde the theology and the worldview. Of course, the personality focus for the critical examination of a local United Church of Canada congregation came around some of the beginning of the controversy for Rev. Gretta Vosper. Bisset continued:

When a minister of the United Church of Canada declares herself for atheism in the Church and still retains her position with her own church and a sizeable congregation things appear to be coming to a head. That Gretta Vosper has changed the practicing of religion in her church drastically and has been on a personal speaking crusade to persuade Christians that more change is needed has brought her into conflict with those responsible for allowing her to act as a United Church minister. She may require to be defrocked and no longer allowed to preach her heretical doctrine

A woman on a personal speaking crusade to persuade Christians who has been brought into conflict and may require to be defrocked and no longer allowed to preach her heretical doctrine. Although, the bias is obvious. The larger, more interesting point is the focus on having to snuff out dissent and retain membership. Its not about the ideas, except as derivative, inasmuch as it is about the numbers of the followers, the flock, for which the local church is bound to shepherd. This is relatively marginal and isolated talk or idle public conversation within an individual church. Behind the closed doors of home & hearth, and church on Sundays, the discussions, rumours, and insinuation & innuendo will be much the same. Only some retain the gumption to speak in this manner in public. He leaves off a nice skeptical note, After all, if you cant have a good argument about religious beliefs within the Church, where is there a better place to have it, and deserves kudos for it. In general, though, the undercurrent probably replicates in events with different churches and similar phenomena. Demographic decline and theological liberalization seen as watering down concern significant sections of 2/3rds of the population of Canada.

As noted in Issue 48 of the Fort Langley Evangelical Free Church from 2017, they describe an event with The Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation. An organization The Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation, akin to the Templeton Foundation, devoted to strange attempts at bridging religion and science. Although, the Templeton Foundation comes with a huge cash prize. Thats motivation enough for some. The Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation focuses on science and a life-giving Christian tradition with a statement of faith (common in Christian organizations throughout the country):

As implicitly admitted in the Commission on Creation of the American Scientific Affiliation taken by The Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation for presentation to its national public, some members of the affiliation will adhere to a Young-Earth (Recent Creation) View, Old-Earth (Progressive Creation) View, Theistic Evolution (Continuous Creation, Evolutionary Creation) View, or Intelligent Design View. Theres the problem right there. Only one real game in town, evolution via natural selection. This becomes four wrong views plus one right position with the four incorrect views bad in different ways or to different degrees, i.e., four theological views and one scientific view. In other words, the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation, by its own claims and standards, amounts to a theological affiliation, not a Scientific affiliation. Its false advertising if not outright lying by title and content.

Anyway, the Issue 48 newsletter of the Fort Langley Evangelical Free Church presented the event entitled Science, Religion, & the New Atheism, by Dr. Stephen Snobelen, who is an Associate Professor of the History of Science and Technology Programme at University of Kings College, Halifax. This is common too. This is, based on extensive research in Canadians and Others Convictions to Divine Interventionism in the Matters of the Origins and Evolution, the trend for years now. (Any commentary considerations for creationism and Intelligent Design can be considered there, as the rest would be repetition.)[1] In short, the only places, or the vast majority of places, to present these ideas are churches and religious institutions. Outside of those, these theological hypotheses posed as scientific arent taken seriously or, generally, are seen as a hysterical joke when posed as science rather than theology. Some, like Zak Graham in Atheism is simply a lack of belief, get the point published in The Langley Times. That seems like an uncommon stance in the wider community.

As Brad Warner notes in a short confessional post in Fellowship Pacific, he came to the Christian religion in university. Its a sweet confession, which tells a sociological tale. The personalities are landmarks or guideposts, so largely irrelevant, not the main points in this article. Either someone is indoctrinated into faith or religion with specific thou shalts and thou shalt nots before critical thinking becomes a real possibility, or the individuals, typically, attend a Christian or private university and become suffused within a Christian ethos in a vastly dominated-by-Christianity culture in Canadian society with 2/3rds of the general population identifying as Christian. Even in some indications of the counselling professionals in the area, as an individual case study, statements emerge as in Alex Kwee, Ph.D., R.Psych. stating, A distinctive of my approach lies in the fact that I am a Christian. The practice of psychotherapy is never value-neutral; even the most ostensibly objective of counsellors must possess certain irreducible value propositionseven atheism or secular humanism are value systems that cannot be proven right one way or another. Note, he makes Christianity or Christian identity as part of the approach, as I am certain of the same for countless others in the area and around the country. Also, the conflation or dual-linkage between atheism and secular humanism alongside value systems. Its a quaint proposition and half-false. In the instance of atheism, it does not posit values, but it proposes a lack of belief in gods not values. (Hence, half-wrong, Q.E.D.) Coming from a Christian worldview with the good coming from God, the denial of such can only seem as if this. Its not. What does propose values? Secular humanism, certainly, proposes values; Christianity asserts values too. Why bring atheist and secular humanism into the equation? Does this come from a pre-emptive defensive posture for the inevitable conflict of professional ethics and the introduction of theological constructs into psychotherapeutic processes with clients? Indeed, the potentially inevitable, seemingly incurable prejudice and bias in practitioners bringing their religious faiths with supernatural structures may bleed into the therapeutic process. Mr. Kwee states:

As a Christian, I contextualize my approach and strategies within a spiritual and faith-affirming framework, which is important for many of the Christian clients with whom I work. I firmly believe that therapy cannot be done in an existential or spiritual vacuum, but that the most effective therapy contextualizes evidence-based techniques to a clients system of personal meaning to help them to create a life that is rich with meaning and purpose, not just devoid of psychological pain. Because most people are in search of greater meaning and appreciate a more ultimate frame of reference, I find that clients of many walks and backgrounds are comfortable working with me even if they do not share my worldview.

One can come as a non-religious person, but one should be wary as has been commonly reported by prominent secular therapists as Dr. Darrel Ray of Recovering From Religion and the Secular Therapy Project. Furthermore, some of the peer-reviewed research presented on the professional website for Mr. Kwee amounts to assertions of sexual addiction or sex addiction. This is a pseudoscientific view or a theological assertion, not a psychological construct viewpoint. Take a counselling psychologist, Dr. Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson, in an interview with me entitled Ask Dr. Robertson 13 A Hawks Eye on Counsellors Professional Ethics and Morals, stated:

When an ideology or religion is used to modify terms like psychology, counselling or psychotherapy, I become wary. For example, how does Christian Counselling differ from counselling? Christian counsellors I have talked to define their religion as having certain superior attributes with respect to love and spiritual fulfillment. But a secular counsellor, on finding that a client believed in prayer, for example, might invite the client to pray as part of his or her therapeutic plan. A difference might be that if the prayer does not work to the clients satisfaction, the secular counsellor might be more willing to explore other alternatives while the Christian counsellor might be more prone engage in self-limiting platitudes such as, Maybe God does not want this for you. Counsellors employed by Catholic Family Services are routinely required to sign a statement stating they will respect the Churchs beliefs regarding the sanctity of life. This is regularly interpreted to mean that counsellors in their employ may not explore the option of abortion with pregnant clients, and if a client chooses that option, she will do so without the support of her counsellor or therapist. Counsellors from a variety of Christian denominations actively discourage people who are non-heterosexual. A particularly unethical practice is encapsulated in the oxymoron Conversion Therapy. Conversion implies a template outside of the individual to which the individual converts. It is, therefore, the opposite of therapy where the client defines his own template. Overall, Christian counselling does not add to the professional practice but is subtractive, limiting the options permitted clients.

The notion of limiting psychologys ability to increase to individual choice and volition is pervasive

Scott, you asked me about professional codes of ethics. Codes of ethics are written by those with the power to do so. Conversion Therapy as practiced by some Christian groups has been ruled unethical. The feminist version has not. I believe that freedom of conscience involves a duty to conduct oneself to a higher ethic, and in my case that ethic involves supporting individual volitional empowerment. Individual volition operates within the constraint that there is a reality outside ourselves and if we stray too far from that reality we will harm ourselves and others. We cannot gain empowerment by feeding a delusion.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 or the DSM-5 rejected sex addiction for inclusion in 2013. Theres no such thing as sex addiction as a formal psychological construct; sex addiction is a theological construct, i.e., a pseudoscientific and worldview construct posed as psychological. This seems like bad science and, thus, leading to the potential for a bad theoretical foundation for praxis, for practice. Could purity culture from Christian doctrine and worldview be influencing this particular academic output? Could these views influence the meaning and purpose of those coming to the Kwees of psychotherapy or counselling psychology? Its an open question; I leave this to clientele, while I intend this as a case study of a larger issue within the therapeutic practice culture. As Dr. Darrel Ray in Extensive Interview with Dr. Darrel Ray on Secular Therapy and Recovering From Religion stated:

So, #2 behind the fear of hell are issues around their sexuality and things like, I know its not wrong to masturbate, but I still feel guilty, I am a sex addict because I look at porn. Theres tons of evidence that the most religious people self-identify the most as sex addicts. Not to mind, there is no such thing as sex addiction. Theres no way to define it. I have argued with atheists that have been atheists for 20 years who say that they are sex addicts. Help me understand, how did you get that diagnosis? My mother-in-law diagnosed me [Laughing]. I look at porn once or twice a week. I do not care if you look at porn once or twice an hour. You are still not a sex addict. So, get over that. You may have other issues. You may have some compulsions. You may have some fear of driving the issue. But it almost always comes down to early childhood religious training, as we spoke about earlier. So, people are simply responding to the programming. Even though, they are atheist, secular, agnostic. I do not care what you call yourself. You are still dealing with the programming. Sometimes, you can go an entire lifetime with a guilt, a shame, a fear, rooted in religion.

If you do not believe in the Christian influence on the research and views, please review the articles in the most superficial of ways with articles entitled Theologically-Informed Education about Masturbation: A Male Sexual Health Perspective, Sexual Addiction: Diagnosis and Treatment, Sexual Addiction and Christian College Men: Conceptual, Assessment and Treatment Challenges, Constructing Addiction from Experience and Context: Peele and Brodskys Love and Addiction Revisited, and even a society entitled Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH). Its like this on issue and after issue. Fundamentalist Christian universities and theological beliefs in areas infect towns, attract similarly minded individuals from around the fundamentalist Christian diaspora, and reduce the amount of proper science in professional lives and the critical thinking in the public. People are part of the culture in some framings. Then these connect to academic formalities around pseudoscientific views with societies and groups built around them too, e.g., SASH, as the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) was founded in 1987 by Patrick Carnes, Richard Santorini and Ed Armstrong, SASH began as a membership organization for people concerned with sexual addiction problems. [Emphasis added.]

Again, the point isnt the individuals inasmuch as trends in culture with representative case studies as important for this. In those cases of the Bissets with a marginally skeptical view, its not about factual accounts of the world. It is about maintenance of numbers. In the cases of the Kwees, its not about factual and empirical all the time, but its about selective factual-and-empirical, and buttressed and warped by theological pseudoscience (by the most up-to-date standards of the professional diagnostic and statistical manual for psychologists or the DSM-5 with lack of inclusion on one theological theory of sexual dysfunction in sex addiction). It should be noted. In the United States of America under the American Psychological Association, any imposition by an American-trained counselling psychologist can be called out on ethics violations. Slippery language should not be a basis upon which for a tacit claim for circumnavigation of A.4.b. Personal Values of the ethics code for American counsellors, which stipulates, Counselors are aware ofand avoid imposingtheir own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. Counsellors respect the diversity of clients, trainees, and research participants and seek training in areas in which they are at risk of imposing their values onto clients, especially when the counsellors values are inconsistent with the clients goals or are discriminatory in nature. However, this is in Canada. If one sees presentations crossing the line in an explicit manner in a local or national context, one can express appropriate concerns with formal channels to act on it, whether non-Christians in general or the non-religious in particular. I doubt in this case on some levels, though, as the statements are reasonably carefully worded and is grounded in psychotherapy as opposed to counselling psychology.

Fort Langley culture follows from the culture of Trinity Western University on a number of qualitative-observational metrics. A university that failed to attain a law school status based on the bias and prejudice stemming from a Community Covenant with statements deemed repeatedly and nearly unequivocally as biased and prejudiced against members of the LGBTI community. They overwhelmingly lost the law school case 7-2 in the Supreme Court of Canada with denial of status as a law school as reasonable by the judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada. It was June 15, 2018; the decision where the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of the British Columbia and Ontario law societies in a 7-2 collective decision for Trinity Western University v Law Society of Upper Canada and Law Society of British Columbia v Trinity Western University.Shortly thereafter, they retracted the mandatory nature of the Community Covenant for the students, but, as I have been told, not for staff, faculty, and administrators. A faith needing community legislation appears weaker than one strong enough as written on the heart and lived out in ones life. Bearing in mind, Christ never wrote anything down on paper. Perhaps, there has been some wisdom in this fact worth retaining in this case. Dissenting views exist on the campus and in the community. One TWU is one LGBTI community group around campus without formal affiliation (*We are run completely independently from and bare no formal affiliation with Trinity Western University), though small, for individual students who may be struggling on or around campus. While others outside the formal TWU community, and in the extended fundamentalist Christian community, and taking the idea of think differently differently as in think the same, as always, Richard Peachey is as fast as proclaiming the literal Word of God Almighty with homosexuality as an affront to God and fundamentally a sin in His sight. In spite of this, at one time or another, based on Canadian reportage and some names in the current listings, Matthew Wigmore, Bryan Sandberg, and David Evans-Carlson (co-founders of One TWU), and Nate/Nathan Froelich, Kelsey Tiffin, Robynne Healey, and others in the current crop Kieran Wear, Elisabeth Browning, Queenie Rabanes, and Micah Bron stand firm against some former mandatory community covenant standards either as supports for themselves or as allies who have been negatively impacted by the Community Covenant. A minority gender and sexual identity is completely healthy and normal. If the theology rejects this, then the theology is at odds with reality, not the students sense of themselves, who they love, and their identities, or the science. I agree with them and stand far more with them. When the Community Covenant was dropped as a mandatory requirement for students, many were excited and thrilled. Although, some questions arise about the reaction of excitement and thrill about some who left the university and see the change in the mandatory nature of the Community Covenant.

Why excitement? Why thrill? Arent some of these students gone? Wouldnt this leave the concerns behind them? Arent others graduated at this point? Havent others already signed and suffered in the past? In short, isnt it history? Insofar as I can discern, its a grounding of common suffering across academic cohorts at Trinity Western University for compassion and empathy for a sense of no more and not to you, too in the community of the fundamentalist faithful. These students, many of them, went through hell by the attitudes and behaviours reflected in a Community Covenant and selective literalist reading of purported sacred scripture of a larger sex and gender identity majority who, sometimes, treated them with suspicion, pity, or contempt grounded in theology and legislated in the Community Covenant. I feel a similar sentiment around the denial of same-sex marriage by some fundamentalist Evangelical Christians. The proportional response: I dont believe in heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman for those particular fundamentalist Evangelical Christians. It sounds absurd because the former is outlandish, too.

Anyhow, continuing, why make others experience hell here-and-now in the belief of ones personal near guarantee to hypothetical heaven there-and-then when ones corpse is ash, ice, or six feet under, regardless? Does it matter? That is to ask, if God has a Divine Will and is the source of the Moral Law, the Good, and all in, of, and under Creation, why not let Him deal with it, not you? Its obvious as to the implications here. All this is not due to the Devil, to demonic forces, to non-literalist Christians, to secular humanists, to atheists. This is entirely mundane. It is due to community attitudes and beliefs leading to actions making vulnerable members of the community feel wrong by the nature, not of what they believe or their moral character but because, of who they are; that which they cannot change and are born with as human beings with minority sexual and gender identities. Thats bigotry. A nativist sensibility for negative presumption of an individual based on, more or less, inborn characteristics with thin disguises in the form of dont hate the sinner, hate the sin. Does anyone seriously buy this outside of the informational, emotionally, and theologically confined and constricted fundamentalist walls where A Might Fortress Is Our God? These are human, all-too-human, follies and foibles wrought forth on the lives of the few by the many in the hallowed halls of the largest Christian university in the country. The relief felt was less for themselves and more for others who would not have to endure as much next time around. I consider freedom of religion, belief, and conscience important for a secular democratic and pluralistic state. Thus, the students may feel healthier in a non-Christian or public university. However, if they choose a Christian university, or if they are pressured into this by parents, community, friends, church, and theology, then they have personal respect to choose, and in making the choice, to me, because, based on the readings, the reactions, and the sensibilities expressed, theyre entering hostile territory.

Congratulations for making it this far, but freethought extends into other areas too, of the local culture, as with hundreds of towns in this country, whether colonics/colonhydrotherapy, aromatherapy, chiropractory, acupuncture, reflexology, naturopathy/naturopathic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, or simply a culture of praying for help with an ailment (which is one overlap with the religious fundamentalist community and the reduced capacity for critical thought). Colonics/colonhydrotherapy is marginally practiced within some of the town in Fort Langley Colonics. Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D. in Gastrointestinal Quackery: Colonics, Laxatives, and More stated rather starkly:

Colonic irrigation, which also can be expensive, has considerable potential for harm. The process can be very uncomfortable, since the presence of the tube can induce severe cramps and pain. If the equipment is not adequately sterilized between treatments, disease germs from one persons large intestine can be transmitted to others. Several outbreaks of serious infections have been reported, including one in which contaminated equipment caused amebiasis in 36 people, 6 of whom died following bowel perforation. Cases of heart failure (from excessive fluid absorption into the bloodstream) and electrolyte imbalance have also been reported. Direct rectal perforation has also been reported. Yet no license or training is required to operate a colonic-irrigation device. In 1985, a California judge ruled that colonic irrigation is an invasive medical procedure that may not be performed by chiropractors and the California Health Departments Infectious Disease Branch stated: The practice of colonic irrigation by chiropractors, physical therapists, or physicians should cease. Colonic irrigation can do no good, only harm. The National Council Against Health Fraud agrees.

In 2009, Dr. Edzard Ernst tabulated the therapeutic claims he found on the Web sites of six professional organizations of colonic irrigations. The themes he found included detoxification, normailzation [sic] of intestinal function, treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, and weight loss. He also found claims elated to asthma, menstrual irregularities, circulatory disorders, skin problems, and improvements in energy levels. Searching Medline and Embase, he was unable to find a single controlled clinical trial that substantiated [sic] any of these claims.

On aromatherapy, this one is a softball. One can find this in the True Aromatherapy Products and Spa (TAP) store. As William H. London, in an article entitled Essential Considerations About Aromatherapy in Skeptical Inquirer, describes the foundations of aromatherapy as follows, The practice of administering plant-derived essential oils on the skin, via inhalation of vapors, or internally via ingestion for supposed healing power is commonly calledaromatherapy. Theoils for aromatherapy are described as essentialto refer to the volatile, aromatic components that some people describe as the essence of the plant source, which represents the plants life force, spirit, or soul. Aromatherapy is thus rooted in vitalism RationalWiki states:

Like most woo, aromatherapy starts with observable, real effects of smells on humans, and extrapolates and exaggerates into a whole range of treatments from the effective, to the banal, to the outright ridiculous

As well as the inherent problematic practice of wasting money on useless medicine and potentially substituting useless concoctions in place of conventional medicine, the essential oils in aromatherapy may be a skin irritant. It is also poorly regulated, as the claims that scents having any beneficial effects are regulated as a cosmetic claim, and it thus does not require FDA approval. Combined with the lack of evidence it really is a waste, but for you, not for those that sell the products. According to Quackwatch, Health Foods Business estimated that the total of aromatherapy products sold through health-food stores was about $59 million in 1995 and $105 million in 1996.

To chiropractory, it is widely regarded as a pseudoscience with either no efficacy or negative effects on the patient or the client.Fort Family ChiropracticandEvergreen Chiropracticare the two main businesses devoted to some practice of chiropractory. AsScience-Based Medicinein its Chiropractic entry states:

Chiropractic was invented by D. D. Palmer, Sep 18, 1895 when he adjusted the spine of a deaf man and allegedly restored his hearing (a claim that is highly implausible based on what we know of anatomy). Based on this one case, Palmer decided that all disease was due to subluxation: 95% to subluxations of the spine and 5% to subluxations of other bones.

The rationale for chiropractic hinges on three postulates:

There is no credible evidence to support any of these claims

In over a century, chiropractic research has produced no evidence to support the postulates of chiropractic theory and little evidence that chiropractic treatments provide objective benefits. Research on spinal manipulation is inherently difficult, because double blind studies are impossible and even single blind studies are problematic; a placebo response is hard to rule out

There is no acceptable evidence that chiropractic can improve the many other health problems it claims to benefit, from colic to asthma. There is no evidence to support the practice of adjusting the spines of newborns in the delivery room or providing repeated lifelong adjustments to maintain health or prevent disease.

Up to half of patients report short-term adverse effects from manipulation, such as increased local or radiating pain; and there is a rare but devastating complication of neck manipulation: it can injure the vertebrobasilar arteries and cause stroke, paralysis, and death. Some chiropractors do not accept the germ theory of disease and only about half of them support immunization.

Acupuncture is another issue. Hardman Acupuncturist & TCM,Integrated Health Clinic, devote themselves, in part, to this. Dr. Steven Novella ofScience-Based Medicinein Acupuncture Doesnt Work stated:

according to the usual standards of medicine, acupuncture does not work.

Let me explain what I mean by that. Clinical research can never prove that an intervention has an effect size of zero. Rather, clinical research assumes the null hypothesis, that the treatment does not work, and the burden of proof lies with demonstrating adequate evidence to reject the null hypothesis. So, when being technical, researchers will conclude that a negative study fails to reject the null hypothesis.

Further, negative studies do not demonstrate an effect size of zero, but rather that any possible effect is likely to be smaller than the power of existing research to detect. The greater the number and power of such studies, however, the closer this remaining possible effect size gets to zero. At some point the remaining possible effect becomes clinically insignificant.

In other words, clinical research may not be able to detect the difference between zero effect and a tiny effect, but at some point it becomes irrelevant.

What David and I have convincingly argued, in my opinion, is that after decades of research and more than 3000 trials, acupuncture researchers have failed to reject the null hypothesis, and any remaining possible specific effect from acupuncture is so tiny as to be clinically insignificant.

In laymans terms, acupuncture does not work for anything.

This has profound clinical, ethical, scientific, and practical implications. In my opinion humanity should not waste another penny, another moment, another patient any further resources on this dead end. We should consider this a lesson learned, cut our losses, and move on.

Many of these practices are swimming in the, or have a foot in the, waters of pseudoscience practiced as if medically or physiologically feasible, but, in matter of fact, remain a drain on the publics purse based on taking advantage of public confidence in medicine in Canada while having givenzero benefit while failing to reject the null hypothesis.

Another issue practice is reflexology, as seen in Health Roots & Reflexology. Quackwatch concludes, Reflexology is based on an absurd theory and has not been demonstrated to influence the course of any illness. Done gently, reflexology is a form of foot massage that may help people relax temporarily. Whether that is worth $35 to $100 per session or is more effective than ordinary (noncommercial) foot massage is a matter of individual choice. Claims that reflexology is effective for diagnosing or treating disease should be ignored. Such claims could lead to delay of necessary medical care or to unnecessary medical testing of people who are worried about reflexology findings. Health Roots & Reflexologyappears to be one business devoted to thus. As Dr. Harriet Hall in Modern Reflexology: Still As Bogus As Pre-Modern Reflexology said, Reflexology is an alternative medicine system that claims to treat internal organs by pressing on designated spots on the feet and hands; there is no anatomical connection between those organs and those spots. Systematic reviews in2009and2011found no convincing evidence that reflexology is an effective treatment for any medical condition.Quackwatchand theNCAHFagree that reflexology is a form of massage that may help patients relax and feel better temporarily, but that has no other health benefits. Our ownMark Crislipsaid, The great majority of studies demonstrate reflexology had no effects that could not be replicated by picking fleas off your mateAnd it has no anatomic or physiologic justification.

A larger concoction of bad science and medicine comes from the Integrated Health Clinic devoted, largely, to naturopathy/naturopathic medicine (based on a large number of naturopaths on staff) and traditional Chinese medicine with manifestations in IV/chelation therapy, Neural therapy, Detox, Hormone Balancing & Thermography, Anthroposophical medicine, LRHT/hyperthermia, Bowen Technique, among others. Well run through those first two, as the references to them are available in the resources, in the manner before. Scott Gavura in Naturopathy vs. Science: Facts edition stated:

Naturopaths claim that they practice based on scientific principles. Yet examinations of naturopathic literature, practices and statements suggest a more ambivalent attitude. NDhealthfacts.org neatly illustrates the problem with naturopathy itself: Open antagonism to science-based medicine, and the risk of harm from integrating these practices into the practice of medicine. Unfortunately, the trend towards integrating naturopathy into medicine is both real and frightening. Because good medicine isnt based on invented facts and pre-scientific beliefs it must be grounded in science. And naturopathy, despite the claims, is anything but scientific.

The Skeptics Dictionary stated:

Naturopathy is often, if not always, practiced in combination with other forms ofalternative health practices.Bastyr University, a leading school of naturopathy since 1978, offers instruction in such things asacupunctureand spirituality. Much of the advice of naturopaths is sound: exercise, quit smoking, eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, practice good nutrition. Claims that these and practices such as colonic irrigation or coffee enemas detoxify the body or enhance the immune system or promote homeostasis, harmony, balance, vitality, and the like are exaggerated and not backed up by sound research.

As Dr. David Gorski, as quoted in RationalWiki, stated, Naturopathy is a cornucopia of almost everyquackeryyou can think of. Be ithomeopathy,traditional Chinese medicine,Ayurvedic medicine,applied kinesiology,anthroposophical medicine,reflexology,craniosacral therapy, Bowen Technique, and pretty much any other form of unscientific or prescientific medicine that you can imagine, its hard to think of a single form ofpseudoscientificmedicine and quackery that naturopathy doesnt embrace or at least tolerate. The Massachusetts Medical Society stated similar terms, Naturopathic medical school is not a medical school in anything but the appropriation of the word medical. Naturopathy is not a branch of medicine. It is a combination of nutritional advice, home remedies and discredited treatments Naturopathic practices are unchanged by research and remain a large assortment of erroneous and potentially dangerous claims mixed with a sprinkling of non-controversial dietary and lifestyle advice. This is the level of qualifications of most of the practitioners of the IHC or the Integrated Health Clinic.

Now, onto Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, or Chinese Medicine or CM, also coming out of the Integrated Health Clinic, RationalWiki notes some of the dangerous, if not disgusting to a North American and Western European palette, ingredients:

CM ingredients can range from common plants, such as dandelion, persimmon, and mint, to weird or even dangerous stuff. Some of the more revolting (from a Western standpoint) things found in TCM include genitals of various animals (includingdogs, tigers, seals, oxen,goats, and deer), bear bile (commonly obtained by means of slow, inhumane extraction methods), and (genuine)snake oilUrine,feces,placentaand other human-derived medicines were traditionally usedbut some may no longer be in use.

Some of the dangerous ingredients includelead, calomel (mercurouschloride), cinnabar (red mercuric sulfide),asbestos(including asbestiform actinolite, sometimes erroneously called aconite) realgar (arsenic),andbirthwort(Aristolochiaspp.).Bloodlettingis also practiced. Bizarrely, lead oxide, cinnabar, and calomel are said to be good fordetoxification.Lead oxide is also supposed to help with ringworms, skin rashes, rosacea, eczema, sores, ulcers, and intestinal parasites, cinnabar allegedly helps you live longer, and asbestos

Dr. Arthur Grollman, a professor of pharmacological science and medicine at Stony Brook University in New York, in an article entitled Chinese medicine gains WHO acceptance but it has many critics is quoted, on the case of TCM or CM acceptance at the World Health Organization, saying, It will confer legitimacy on unproven therapies and add considerably to the costs of health care Widespread consumption of Chinese herbals of unknown efficacy and potential toxicity will jeopardize the health of unsuspecting consumers worldwide. On case after case, we can find individual practices or collections of practices of dubious effect if not ill-effect in the town. Indeed, this follows from one of the earliest points about the infusion of supernatural thinking or pseudoscientific integration of praxis into the community, whether fear of liberal theology, encouragement of pseudobiology, prejudice and bigotry against the LGBTI members of community, pseudo-psychological diagnoses passed off as real psychological and behavioural issues while simply grounded in theological bias and false assertions as psychological constructs, or in the whole host of bad medical and science practices seen in colonics/colonhydrotherapy, aromatherapy, chiropractory, acupuncture, reflexology, naturopathy/naturopathic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.

This isnt a declaration of what to do, but if done, be, at least, informed about bad science, bad medicine, questionable theology, etc. As noted about the right to freedom of belief, religion, and conscience (and expression and opinion), people are free to lose money on dubious treatments or otherwise. Freedom seen throughout Canada on the basis of what people, in fact, do anyway; whereas, at a minimum, the critical thinking of the culture should rise to the bare minimum standard of if done, be, at least, informed about bad science, bad medicine, questionable theology, etc.

[1] Canadians and Others Convictions to Divine Interventionism in the Matters of the Origins and Evolution states:

Canadian Mennonite University invited Professor Dennis Venema from Trinity Western University as the Scientist in Residence. Venema, at the time, stated, Im thrilled to be invited to be the Scientist in Residence at CMU for 2019. I think its a wonderful opportunity for students, and I am honoured to join a prestigious group of prior participants I hope that these conversations can help students along the path to embracing both Gods word and Gods world as a source of reliable revelation to us. Venema defends the view of evolutionary theory within a framework of evolutionary creationism, which appears more a terminologically diplomatic stance than evolution via natural selection or the code language within some religious commentary as things like or almost identical to atheistic evolution or atheistic evolutionism. He provides education on the range of religious views on offer with a more enticing one directed at evolution via natural selection. The Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation provides a space for countering some of the young earth geologist and young earth creationist viewpoints, as with the advertisement of the Dr. Jonathan Bakers lecture, or inpamphlets produced on geological (and other) sciences.

He works in a tough area within a community not necessarily accepting of the evolution via natural selection view of human beings with a preference for special creation, creationism, or intelligent design. Much of the problems post-genetics as a proper discipline of scientific study and the discovery of evolution via natural selection comes from the evangelical Christian communities sub-cultures who insist on a literal and, hence, fundamentalist interpretation or reading of their scriptures or purported holy texts. Another small item of note. Other universities have writers in residence. A Mennonite university hosts a scientist in residence. Science becomes the abnorm rather than the norm. The Kings University contains one reference in the search results within a past conference. However, this may be a reference to creation rather than creationism as creation and more creation speaking to the theological interpretations of genesis without an attempt at an explicit scientific justification of mythology.

By far, the largest number of references to creationism came from the largest Christian, and evangelical Christian, university in the country located in Langley, British Columbia, Canada called Trinity Western University, which, given its proximity and student body population compared to the local town, makes Fort Langley in one framing and Trinity Western University the heart of fundamentalist evangelical Christianity in Canada. Trinity Western University teaches a SCS 503 Creationism & Christainity [sic] (Korean) course and a SCS 691 Creationism Field Trip course. They hosted a lecture on Stephen Hawking, science, and creation, as stated:

In light of Steven Hawkings theories, is there enough reason for theists to believe in the existence of God and the creation of the world?

This lecture will respond to Hawkings views and reflect on the relationship between science, philosophy and theology.

Speaker:Dr. Yonghua Ge, Director of Mandarin Theology Program at ACTS Seminaries(Ibid.)

They hosted another event on evolution and young earth creationism:

All are welcome to attend, Public Lecture, hosted by TWUs Science, Faith, and Human Flourishing: Conversations in Community Initiative, supported by Fuller Seminary, Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, and the Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation, Evolutionary and Young-Earth Creationism: Two Separate Lectures (Darrel Falk, Evolution, Creation and the God Who is Love and Todd Wood, The Quest: Understanding Gods Creation in Science and Scripture)

Dirk Bchner, Professor of Biblical Studies at Trinity Western University, states an expertise in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac (grammar and syntax), Hellenistic Greek (grammar and lexicography), The Septuagint. Of more popular interest: The Bible and Social Justice, and Creationism, Scientism and the Bible: why there should be no conflict between mainstream science and Christian faith. Professor Bchner holds an expert status in creationism. A non-conflict between mainstream science and the Christian faith would mean the significantly reduced status of the intervention of the divine in the ordinary life of Christians. He remains one locus of creationism in the Trinity Western University environment. Dr. Paul Yangs biography states, Paul Yang has over twenty years teaching experience, lecturing on physics and physics education, as well as Christian worldview and creationism. He has served as the director of the Vancouver Institute for Evangelical Wordlview [Sic] as well as the Director of the Christian. Yang holds memberships or affiliations with the American Scientific Affiliation, Creation Research Society, and Korea Association of Creation Research. Dr. Alister McGrath and Dr. Michael Shermer had a dialogue moderated by a panel with Paul Chamberlain, Ph.D., Jaime Palmer-Hague, Ph.D., and Myron Penner, Ph.D. in 2017 at Trinity Western University.

All exist as probably Christian front organizations with the pretense as scientific and Christian organizations. One can see the patterns repeat themselves over and over again. Christian science amounts to creationism, as noted before. Yang, with more than 20 years, exists as a pillar of creationist teaching, thinking, and researching within Canada and at Trinity Western University

Other cases of the more sophisticated and newer brands of Christianity with a similar theology, but more evolutionary biology proper incorporated into them exist in some of the heart of parts of evangelical Christianity in Canada. Professor Dennis Venema of Trinity Western University and his colleague Dave Navarro (Pastor, South Langley Church) continued a conversation on something entitled evolutionary creation, not creation science or intelligent design as Venemas orientation at Trinity Western University continues to focus on the ways in which the evolutionary science can mix with a more nuanced and informed Christian theological worldview within the Evangelical tradition. One can doubt the fundamental claim, not in the Bible but, about the Bible as the holy God-breathed or divinely inspired book of the creator of the cosmos, but one can understand the doubt about the base claim about the veracity of the Bible leading to doubt about the contents and claims in the Bible fundamental and derivative

A more small-time politician, Dr. Darrell Furgason, ran for public office in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. Furgason lectured at Trinity Western University and earned a Ph.D. in Religious Studies. Dr. Furgason claims inclusivity for all while ignoring standard protocol in science, i.e., asserting religious views in written work, Theistic evolution is a wrong view of Genesis, as well as history, and biology. Adam & Eve were real people.who lived in real history.around 6000 years ago...

The main fundamentalist Evangelical Christian postsecondary institution, university, found in Canadian society is Trinity Western University, where Professor Dennis Venema was the prominent individual referenced as the source of progress in the scientific discussions within intellectual and, in particular, formal academic discussions and teaching. Trinity Western University operates near Fort Langley, British Columbia, Canada in Langley. The main feature case for Story comes from a city near to Trinity Western University in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Story considers this the single most controversial case of creationism in the entire country

John Sutherland, of Trinity Western University, chaired the Abbotsford school board of the time, which, potentially, shows some relationship between the surrounding areas and the school curriculum and creationism axis as you may recall Trinity Western University sits in Fort Langley, British Columbia, Canada, next to the city of Abbotsford, British Columbia as an evangelical Christian university. The Minister agreed with Goodman and the Teachers Association and sent a letter requesting assurances from the board that they were adhering to the provincial curriculum, Story explained, The Ministers requests were not directly acknowledged, but Sutherland was vocal about the issue in local media outlets. He accused the Minister of religious prejudice by attempting to remove creationism from the district.

See Canadians and Others Convictions to Divine Interventionism in the Matters of the Origins and Evolution: https://www.newsintervention.com/creationism-evolution-jacobsen/.

Photo by Krista Joy MontgomeryonUnsplash

Assistant Editor, News Intervention, Human Rights Activist.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the Founder of In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal and In-Sight Publishing. He focuses on North America for News Intervention. Jacobsen works for science and human rights, especially womens and childrens rights. He considers the modern scientific and technological world the foundation for the provision of the basics of human life throughout the world and advancement of human rights as the universal movement among peoples everywhere. You can contact Scott via email, his website, or Twitter.

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1 thought on Freethought for the Small Towns: Case Study - News Intervention

Lynn Dominguez in Recreation, Parks and Leisure Services Administration is used to going along on the guided nature hikes her students lead as part of their RPL 552 Environmental Interpretation course.

But the pandemic upended nearly everything Central Michigan University students and faculty are used to, and so her students ventured out alone into parks and backyards all over Michigan to fulfill their assignment with cellphone videos.

"I started noticing all the pine needles and moss all over the trails at the Ludington State Park, and I honestly didn't know much about the different things that are all over the forest floor," said Amber Sadler, a senior majoring in recreation and event management. "That's how the idea originated."

She created themes, goals and objectives; messaged classmates to compare ideas; and took to the trails to record her video.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the state, a few College of Medicine team members suited up in personal protective equipment to run medical scenarios at the simulation lab in Saginaw as students and residents watched and learned from home.

Finding remote learning solutions and successes became a new way of life for students and faculty this semester. Here are a few more examples.

School of Music faculty member Alicia Marie Valoti set out to involve her entire viola studio class in a musical video. She ended up also involving alumni from around the world.

"Each of the violists you see was a CMU student of mine in some way," Valoti said, "and each, including myself, recorded three different parts to be mixed together.

"The students come from Brazil, China, Ecuador and many different parts of Michigan, and in fact, in some of the videos, students recorded themselves in their home country."Graduate assistant Shawn Bouck edited and produced the video.

In the Department of Theatre and Dance, Heather Trommer-Beardslee's DAN 232 Dance Composition students also needed to find a way to perform together. The resulting assignment became a video, "Still Dancing Together," to which each dancer contributed a solo performance.

"Students used the choreography skills they had been working on in class to continue learning and creating together despite the physical distance," Trommer-Beardslee said. Class member Alynne Welch edited the video.

'Live from Home'

Meanwhile, integrative public relations students received real-life lessons in crisis management by watching videos CMU Police Chief Larry Klaus created as he and the department managed the impact of the pandemic on campus. Elina Erzikova's JRN 551 Case Studies in Public Relations class discussed the handling from a PR perspective.

Preschoolers plug in

CMU's Child Development and Learning Laboratory connected with its preschool students and their families through an online learning service called Storypark. Daily video sessions with songs, stories and movement activities kept the children engaged and their teachers and student teachers focused on learning, said Human Development and Family Studies faculty member Holly Hoffman.

MOVE doesn't stop

Community members with Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis rely on the CMU physical therapy program's popular MOVE for Health exercise class. Unable to host it in person, student leaders in the program created a YouTube video to keep participants moving.

Honoring an Honors tradition

CMU Honors Program students wait years to ring the gong in Powers Hall to celebrate completing their senior capstone research projects. The stay-home order only spurred their creativity. Students took to Facebook to "virtually" ring the gong using everything from wind chimes to a dinner bell to a metal bowl to the power of Photoshop.

Pipeline goes online

The nine-week Health Careers Pipeline program recruits a diverse group of ninth and 10 graders from area high schools who are interested in health professions careers. It was scheduled to begin the first week of Michigan's stay-home order, so organizers took it virtual with interactive games and videos and drew nearly 100% participation, said April Osburn, executive director of the Mid-Central Area Health Education Center.

Threads can't be broken

The annual student-run Threads Fashion show, scheduled for April, took on a new look after the pandemic canceled campus events. Instead of sending models to walk the runway, organizers called on alumni to post supportive videos on Facebook and continued to create social media posts with the event's look and theme.

"Threads Fashion show is continuing to promote the brand," said faculty advisor Ian R. Mull. Organizers also created a Threads Fashion show 2020 program, offered for sale, to spotlight the designers who would have been in the show.

Lessons from nonprofits

Even from home, the Nonprofit Leadership Student Alliance stuck to its 5 p.m. Thursday meetings. The academic registered student organization's members aim for careers leading nonprofit organizations. Turning their attention to the ways nonprofits are meeting needs during the pandemic, they produced a video to showcase what they've learned.

"The learning comes from students staying connected and committed," said Political Science and Public Administration faculty member Emma Powell, who works with the alliance. "I am so proud of this group I could probably write a book."

Shifting sales strategy

Marketing and Hospitality Services Administration faculty member Rebecca Dingus' MKT 340 Personal Selling course normally builds up to sales role-plays between Dingus and each of her students. This year, recognizing that not all students could meet virtually from home, she and a colleague from Marquette University recorded four versions of a sales call. Pairs of students critiqued them using the knowledge they'd gained from the course.

"They got to watch me sell four different ways," Dingus said. "It created a much richer learning experience than what I ever could have predicted." She plans to use the new assignment even when classes transition back to campus.

Sharing science stories

Anyone wanting to find successes in the College of Science and Engineering can look to the college's Facebook page.

"We've been highlighting faculty and students since the quarantine started," said Rob Wang, the college's communications coordinator. Among them:

Faculty members Jason Keeler and Jordan Watts teach with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in mind at this time, understanding that students need food, shelter, friendship and a sense of self-esteem before they can expect to succeed academically.

Junior mechanical engineering major Katya Dominguez shifted from a canceled study abroad program in South Korea to being able to quickly register for online classes and two independent studies.

Actuarial sciences and statistics sophomore Julie Colling shares strategies for keeping up with studies and taking time to reduce stress.

Forward into summer

With all campus events, camps and gatherings canceled through June 25 and the first session of CMU summer classes online only, remote connections will grow past the end of the spring semester.

The Speech-Language Specialty Clinic for area children is just one example of a vital program taking new form. About 40 virtual campers in the annual nine-week speech and language therapy program will connect through telepractice one to three times a week beginning May 26. Telepractice links the CMU student clinicians and the clinical instructors supervising them for assessment, intervention and consultation with children and their parents.

Another example is the Center for Excellence in STEM Education's summer camps, which will be held virtually as they begin in June. The free classes open for registration May 18. This year's camps will be smaller to allow for meaningful connections and will offer curbside pick-up for needed materials.

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In a changed reality, finding new paths to success - The Morning Sun

She may have some interesting stories to tell her grandchildren about the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Like many other people her age, Emma Elwell is dealing with the disruption of normal life by engaging in virtual schooling and home-based workouts. But the Boyertown senior has another perspective on the situation: That of an employee of Walmart, a business classified as essential in this time of social distancing and stay-at-home requirements.

I get thanked a lot for serving. Its crazy, Elwell said of the hero status accorded her and others a category headed by medical professionals and first responders that includes retail store workers.

In that capacity, Emma gets a close-up look at how the consumer public is responding to the health-mandated requirements and restrictions placed by the government on retail businesses.

Its mostly pretty good, she said. But you can get someone who doesnt follow the rules or the medical conditions, someone else complains about that and a fight breaks out. It can be a little awkward.

Its nonetheless a meaningful contribution to a society dealing with the closure of schools, restaurants and bars, many stores and personal-service businesses, among others.

It also helps Elwell fill time left empty by the loss of her last high-school athletic season to the pandemic.

The holder of no less than 12 school records in winter and spring track, Elwell was primed for a big final go-round on the track. Coming off an indoor season that saw her top her own standards in all but two of eight events and qualify for nationals, she was looking to enhance her standing as the schools fastest sprinter and add to her medal collection from her junior season.

This spring was supposed to be awesome, Elwell said. We had crazy 4100 and 4200 relays. We were excited.

Boyertown seniors Mattie Gallagher, left, and Emma Elwell bite their medals after winning the state title Friday. (Austin Hertzog MediaNews Group)

Her 2019 spring season was no less awesome. Elwell placed second in the 100 (12.27) and third in the 200 (25.54) at the Pioneer Athletic Conference Championships, and she was eighth in both AAA races at the District 1 meet.

Elwell came into outdoor track season off a strong showing in the Pa. Track and Field Coaches Association (PTFCA) meet March 1 at Penn State University. She placed sixth in the 200 (25.35) and seventh in the 60 (7.86) while helping Boyertowns 4200 relay (Renee Simmonds, Lillian Mauger, Alona Hopkins) scored a fourth in 1:45.50 which qualified them for the New Balance Indoor Nationals. But the event slated for March 13-15 in New York fell victim to the pandemic.

Its really hard to cope with, she added. It was all taken away. We realized bigger things were within reach.

I was focusing on the sprints. Id like to be good in the 200. In the 65, Id like to drop my time.

All was not lost for Elwells senior year of sports: she was the starting right back of the PIAA Class 4A champion Boyertown girls soccer team, earning Mercury All-Area second team selection after the forward converted to defense and added a seasoned and dynamic presence on the Bears right side.

Elwell will be in position to pursue more big things when her time at Boyertown is finished. She will be heading to Millersville University in the fall with the unique status of being a three-sport athlete. In addition to running winter and spring track, Emma will be part of the Marauder womens soccer program.

Millersville plays a back-and-winger shift, she explained. I was used to getting stuck anywhere.

After competing in three sports in high school, Elwell doesnt see that routine being a challenge at the collegiate level.

I focus on nutrition, sleep and hydration. Thats important, she said.

At Millersville, Emma will be reunited with former Boyertown teammate Aurora Conrad. Like Elwell, Conrad was a sprinter who medalled at the PACs 2019 meet she was eighth in the 100 and 200 and is currently finishing up her freshman year at Millersville.

Were close, Elwell noted. It was fun to run track with her. Shes one of my best friends.

Elwell will be pursuing studies in early childhood education at Millersville. She had previously done a student-teaching gig with a class of first-graders and enjoyed the experience.

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Senior Spotlight: Boyertown's Elwell contributes to success on and off the track and field - papreplive.com