Podcasts about at princeton

Today Ledslie talks to Dianah Wynter. Wynter was born and raised in New York. She directed Intimate Betrayal (1999), HappySAD (2009), and Daddy's Girl (1996), for which she received an Emmy nomination. Her stage directing credits include the world premiere of The Interrogation of Nathan Hale at South Coast Rep, Mules at San Francisco's Magic Theatre and American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), the latter starring Anika Noni Rose. She was a regular director for the Mark Taper's New Work Fest, and NEA Director Fellow for The Goodman Theatre. At Princeton, she composed music for Triangle club comedy revues, collaborating with classmates such as Douglas McGrath, David E. Kelley, Eric Schlosser and John Seabrook.A graduate of the Yale school of drama. She was asst director for Lloyd Richards on the world premieres of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Fences. She mounted the second company of Fences at Seattle Rep starring Frances Foster and Samuel L. Jackson. Dianah is an author and co-editor of Referentiality and the Films of Woody Allen (Palgrave Macmillan). Her most recent book is The Post Soul Cinema of Kasi Lemmons.In 2019, she was elected Chair of the Cinema & Television Arts department at Cal State Northridge (CSUN), which consistently ranks in the Hollywood Reporters Top 25 film schools. She is the first black woman to head a Top film school. During her term as Chair, she initiated the virtual production initiative, with the support of strategic partner, Halon Entertainment; by 2021, CSUN made it into the top 20 of The Wraps Top 50 Film Schools, breaking in at #17.

At Princeton, the word "career" can be pretty charged, with endless pressures and decisions to navigate. Susan and Nathan look back on how their ideas of careers have changed over time, what types of career pipelines circulate at Princeton, how their own career paths have changed, and advice they would give to their younger selves. They also discuss their career bucket lists, romanticizing what paths lie ahead of them.Also, Susan chose the job over grad school!This episode was recorded on April 26 and 28, 2023.

Stephen is a Managing Director and Head of Private Equity. In his role, he focuses on forming long-term partnerships with leading private equity managers, including buyouts, growth equity and venture. Stephen serves on the Investment Committee, which is directly responsible for the firm's asset allocation strategies and the selection of investment managers for client portfolios. Stephen has over 15 years of industry experience, most recently at the University of Pennsylvania's Office of Investments, where he focused for eight years on growing the private equity investment program for the University's $13 billion endowment and $2 billion pension fund. As a senior team member, Stephen played an active role in investment committee discussions across public equity, private equity, real assets, and absolute return strategies. Prior to joining Penn, Stephen was a Senior Associate at Princeton University's endowment. At Princeton, he worked in private investments across buyouts, venture capital, natural resources, and real estate. Before Princeton, Stephen was a Principal with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he led a wide range of projects in the firm's Corporate Finance, Technology & Telecom, and Healthcare practice areas. Stephen began his career in telecommunications software for Nortel Networks. Stephen holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.B.A. from Yale University. He is a CFA® charterholder. In addition, he is an Investment Committee member for a global non-profit.  

Luke Timm was a two-time all-state wide receiver in New York before he decided to play college football at Princeton. At Princeton, it wasn't long before he was arrested for fighting with a police officer who found him with cocaine and marijuana. A short time later, he'd hit a bottom, as he couch surfed and failed to hold a steady job. It's easy to relate to Luke and his alcoholism if you are an addict but what's inspiring is his comeback. After getting sober and returning to school, Luke graduated from Princeton and is on a mission to change the recovery space. Great dude, great podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join The Ivory Tower Boiler Room Café and get access to our bonus episodes and unedited videos: patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom Dr. Stacy Wolf, one of America's leading scholars on musical theater, sits down with Andrew to talk about the magic of musical theater. Right away, she realizes that Andrew is just as obsessed with Broadway, and they discuss their approach to teaching the Broadway Musical. At Princeton, Stacy is a professor of theater and the director of the program in Music Theater, and she explains that one of her favorite questions to ask her students is their experience with going to Broadway. Stacy dissects all of the elements that are involved in putting together a Broadway musical. While opening up about the importance of community theater, Stacy reveals why theater is an art to be cherished in any community. Andrew even gets to talk about how important his summer theater camp, Mainstage was and how it allowed him to embrace his gay identity. And because Andrew couldn't help himself, he asks Stacy so many hard hitting musical theater questions. What does she really think of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals? Which musical does she always have playing in the background when she's writing? What it's like to teach a Stephen Sondheim course? Be sure to check out Stacy's writing including her books Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theater Across America, A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical, and Changed For Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical: https://bookshop.org/books?keywords=stacy+wolf You can find more information and all of Stacy's work here: https://stacywolf.princeton.edu/bio/ Get your tickets for the Halloween Lit. Bash Here: https://www.store.penandbrush.org/event-details/ivory-tower-boiler-room-and-p-b-reads-halloween-lit-bash Head to Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, for all your humanities related books. Use code ivorytower for 20% off your broadviewpress.com order. To subscribe to The Gay and Lesbian Review visit glreview.org. Click Subscribe, and enter promo code ITBR to receive a free copy with any print or digital subscription. Follow Ivory Tower Boiler Room on Instagram, @ivorytowerboilerroom, TikTok, @ivorytowerboilerroom, and Twitter, @IvoryBoilerRoom! Many thanks to the Ivory Tower Boiler Room podcast team: Andrew Rimby, Executive Director; Mary DiPipi, Chief Contributor; Kimberly Dallas, Editor Educational Copyright: "Dreamgirls" (Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen, Geffen Records, 1982), "End Credits" (Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Disney, 1997) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ivorytowerboilerroom/support

After returning to a full-time law practice from maternity leave, Lori Mihalich-Levin discovered that she did not have the resources she needed to manage her life in the ways she wanted. Once her second child was born, her stress multiplied. Lori decided to do something about it and help other parents who had many of the same issues. She created Mindful Return to help parents transition back to work after parental leave. Mindful Return offers a multitude of resources for new working parents, including e-courses, programs that employers can offer to their employees, and chapters based in the US, UK, India, and South Africa.  Lori has been committed to promoting women's equality and leadership throughout her career.  As a Partner at Dentons US LLP, Lori founded and Co-Chaired Dentons' Parent Professional Network for two years. In her prior role at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), she founded the Returning to Work Community (RWC) for mothers returning to work from maternity leave and a D.C. Health Policy Lean in Circle. At Princeton, Lori wrote her undergraduate thesis on immigrant women in France who experienced domestic violence. At Georgetown Law, she was co-President of the Women's Legal Alliance and represented clients through the Domestic Violence Clinic. She is the author of Back to Work After Baby How to Plan and Navigate a Mindful Return from Maternity Leave, and co-host of the Parents at Work podcast.  In this week's Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Lori's journey: Lori's thought leadership has been featured in publications, including Forbes, The Washington Post, New York Times, Parenting, and Thrive Global.  Today, Lori advises clients in her law practice on issues relating to Medicare graduate medical education payments. Learn more and connect with Lori here: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulreturn/ https://www.facebook.com/mindfulreturn https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindful-return https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorimihalichlevin/ https://twitter.com/mindfulreturn https://www.mindfulreturn.com

Today's discussion is with Dr. Dannelle Gutarra Cordero, she is a Lecturer in African American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University. She earned a Ph.D. in History from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus in 2012. Gutarra Cordero specializes in the Intellectual History of the Caribbean and the Atlantic World, and her research and teaching interests include the topics of scientific racism, slavery, gender, sexuality, and colonialism. Her first book, titled She Is Weeping: An Intellectual History of Racialized Slavery and Emotions in the Atlantic World, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. At Princeton, Gutarra Cordero is currently a Faculty Adviser at Forbes College and is affiliated with the Program in Latin American Studies and the Global Health Program. She has previously been a Visiting Fellow of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University and taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and Virginia Commonwealth University. 

This episode is brought to you by ModMed. To learn more and see a demo of the #1 EHR system, EMA®, as well as Practice Management, Revenue Cycle Management, Analytics, Patient Engagement tools and more, visit modmed.com/orthopod. ModMed — it's about time. Dr. Veronica Diaz is a solo private practice orthopedic surgeon at Palm Beach Hand to Shoulder in Jupiter, FL. She has performed thousands of upper extremity procedures and has extensive training and experience in managing degenerative, traumatic, and sports-related conditions of the Shoulder and Upper Extremity. Topics include: -A native of Miami, Florida, we discuss her Cuban fire with family history in the medical field. -Dr. Diaz graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Molecular Biology. At Princeton, she was a member of The Tiger Inn, as well as the Women's Varsity Swimming and Water Polo Teams. Dr. Diaz earned her medical doctorate from the University of Florida and completed her Orthopedic Surgery residency at the University of Miami - Jackson Memorial Hospital. She completed a fellowship in Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery in Pittsburgh. Dr. Diaz is a member of the prestigious American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons and American Society for Surgery of the Hand, and an Active Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. -Dr. Diaz is embracing technology as the Medical Director of Orthopedics at Modernizing Medicine where she helps with the development of the orthopedic platform and works with clients to help improve the software solution. She discusses how the EMR software intuitively adapts to your unique style of practice, remembers your preferences and aids clinical collaboration to streamline your entire process. Find out more about Dr. Veronica Diaz here. This content in this Podcast is not approved for credit by CMEfy, however, you may reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and engage to earn AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ via point-of-care learning activities by clicking below.

The Social Contract The state of nature is a human condition that exists in any space that lacks a civil authority. With the social contract, we're prepared to make a deal with each other in order to live together as best we can and exit the state of nature. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau expressed versions of the social contract that influence governments around the world today. Co-Creating Reality We are all co-creators of our community politics and social outcomes. The ancient Greeks embraced civic thought as a pervasive and abiding concern for the matters belonging to the community in common. Classical ideas can provide a lens for choosing to embrace or to abandon the obligation to sustain and participate in a mutually beneficial reality. Mutual Aid Where is the social contract working today? In response to the pandemic, mutual aid sprung up to meet people's needs in many communities. Members participate as much as they're able to and ask for what they need. In doing so, the group can work together to sustain and provide for its members.  FIND OUT MORE: Melissa Lane is the Class of 1943 Professor of Politics and the Director of the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. Her research and teaching are focused in the area of the history of political thought, with a special expertise in ancient Greek thought, and in normative political philosophy, including especially environmental ethics and politics. She is an associated faculty member in the Princeton Department of Classics and Department of Philosophy. Her books include The Birth of Politics: Eight Greek and Roman Political Ideas and Why They Matter (PUP, 2015); Plato's Progeny (Duckworth, 2001); and Method and Politics in Plato's Statesman (CUP, 1998). At Princeton, she was the first director of the Program in Values and Public Life, and is co-chair of the Steering Committee for Service and Civic Engagement and of the Climate Futures Initiative. She received a Phi Beta Kappa teaching prize in 2015. Before joining the Princeton faculty in 2009, she taught in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge and was a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. She is a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Royal Historical Society, and the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (RSA).

It's National Transfer Student Week!  In this episode, we hear from Alejandro Garcia, a member of the Class of 2022, about the many factors he considered in determining his educational path and how a service-focused curriculum has shaped his Princeton experience. But first, Dr. Keith Shaw, director of transfer, veteran and non-traditional student programs in the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity, offers an overview of the support and resources available to transfer students and his own advising role within the programs. Princeton's Transfer program, which was reinstated in 2018, looks for a small group of exceptionally well-prepared students from a range of backgrounds, and we particularly encourage applications from students from low-income backgrounds, community college students, and U.S. military veterans. About Alejandro Garcia '22 Alejandro Garcia is a politics concentrator pursuing certificates in Latin American studies and American studies at Princeton University. As a member of the second group of transfer students admitted to Princeton, Garcia holds an associate in arts degree from the Miami Dade Honors College in political science. Prior to transferring, Garcia was recognized as the top transfer student in Florida and among the top ten transfer students in the nation as a Hites Transfer Scholar, All-USA Academic Team Scholar, and New Century Transfer Pathway Scholar. He was also recognized with the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, the most prestigious transfer scholarship recognition. Garcia's professional and research interests lie in the intersection between law and political institutions, as he aspires to improve access to civil rights, education, and professional opportunities for underdeveloped and underrepresented Hispanic communities. At Princeton, he serves as a co-founder and president of the Princeton Transfer Association, a student organization focused on representing, advocating, and improving Princeton's non-traditional student and transfer experience. About Dr. Keith Shaw Dr. Keith Shaw is the Director of Transfer, Veteran and Non-Traditional Student Programs. A native New Jerseyan, he earned his B.A. in history at Rutgers, and his doctorate in political science at Stanford. At Princeton, Keith teaches the transfer cohort's Writing Seminar, “Everyone's an Expert,” along with the academic writing curriculum for the Warrior-Scholar Project.

Isaac Serwanga is a force to be reckoned with and is one man I would want by my side if I was going to war. The Sacramento Native has the gift of story telling. With that gift, Serwanga has made a name for himself as a motivational speaker under the direction of Inform + Inspire. He is beyond his years. He gets it. He understands and just wants to pass it along to those who are in need of inspiration and direction.In today's episode of Experience the Buzz, Host Steve Buzzard takes in everything Isaac has to offer."Isaac is just one of those amazing individuals you don't see every day. His gift is unique. He is his authentic self that derives from his journey. It's impressive and inspiring. I am a BIG fan!"  Our conversation hits THREE areas:  Segment ONE

Charlotte Whelan joins the podcast to talk all things nuclear energy, the largest source of clean energy in the U.S. Yet even with the advancements of this safe and reliable method of reducing carbon emissions, efforts continue to reduce nuclear energy's role with a big focus on pushing renewable energy sources. Charlotte explains what this means for energy production in America and what the new energy policies and commitments from the Biden administration signal for the future of nuclear energy. Charlotte is a policy analyst at IWF. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in French and a certificate in Global Health. At Princeton, she was involved in a variety of activities including the James Madison Program and was the President of the Princeton Chapter of the Network of Enlightened Women. Charlotte is also a member of the Emerging Leaders Council at the Steamboat Institute.--She Thinks is a podcast for women (and men) who are sick of the spin in today's news cycle and are seeking the truth. Once a week, every week, She Thinks host Beverly Hallberg is joined by guests who cut through the clutter and bring you the facts. You don't have to keep up with policy and politics to understand how issues will impact you and the people you care about most. You just have to keep up with us. We make sure you have the information you need to come to your own conclusions. Because, let's face it, you're in control of your own life and can think for yourself. You can listen to the latest She Thinks episode(s) here or wherever you get your podcasts. Then subscribe, rate, and share with your friends. If you are already caught up and want more, join our online community. Be sure to subscribe to our emails to ensure you're equipped with the facts on the issues you care about most: https://iwf.org/connect. Independent Women's Forum (IWF) believes all issues are women's issues. IWF promotes policies that aren't just well-intended, but actually enhance people's freedoms, opportunities, and choices. IWF doesn't just talk about problems. We identify solutions and take them straight to the playmakers and policy creators. And, as a 501(c)3, IWF educates the public about the most important topics of the day. Check out the Independent Women's Forum website for more information on how policies impact you, your loved ones, and your community: www.iwf.org. Subscribe to IWF's YouTube channel. Follow IWF on social media: - on Twitter- on Facebook- on Instagram#IWF #SheThinks #AllIssuesAreWomensIssues See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What is Marine Permaculture? According to the Climate Foundation, “Kelp forests are one of Earth's most vibrant biomes and dynamic carbon sinks, drawing down more CO2 from the atmosphere by area than land-based rainforests do. They comprise a major tool in the fight against ocean acidification, climate change and biomass loss and hold the potential to help reverse global warming. In addition, kelp forests are the habitat and foundation of the food chain for countless of the fish and crustaceans many of us consume.” To learn more, please visit their website: www.climatefoundation.org. Who is Dr. Brian Von Herzen? Brian Von Herzen obtained his A.B. in Physics, Magna Cum Laude, from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Computer and Planetary Science from Caltech where he was the recipient of the prestigious Hertz Fellowship (http://www.hertzfoundation.org). While at Princeton, Brian spent four years working closely with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. At Princeton, his dissertation on global climate models demonstrated how changes in the Earth's orbit affects climate. During his Caltech years Brian worked on models of the overabundance of carbon in Jupiter's atmosphere. Much of Brian's career has been in Silicon Valley, where he developed innovative technical solutions for companies like Pixar, Dolby, Microsoft, and others. Among other projects, he designed field programmable gate array (FPGA) applications considered to be among the world's fastest at the time. Brian leads projects on land and sea with individuals and groups in all parts of the world, including India, Africa, and the USA. He is the founder of The Climate Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to halting global warming in our lifetime. His work has also been featured in the new documentary, "2040: Join the Regeneration" You can find out more about him by visiting www.climatefoundation.org.

In this episode, Matt is joined by Dr. Kathryn Stoner of Stanford University to talk about her new book, Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order. The book pushes back at some misconceptions about Russia's place in the international system while offering a new perspective on how the West should approach Russia. Matt and Dr. Stoner discuss how the book informs ongoing policy challenges related to recent news coming out of Russia. ABOUT THE GUEST https://fsi-live.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/styles/headshot_195x260/public/rsd20_007_0221a.jpg?itok=TsXmammL Dr. Kathryn E. Stoner is the Deputy Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and the Center on International Security and Cooperation at FSI. She teaches in the Department of Political Science at Stanford, and in the Program on International Relations, as well as in the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy Program. Prior to coming to Stanford in 2004, she was on the faculty at Princeton University for nine years, jointly appointed to the Department of Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School for International and Public Affairs. At Princeton she received the Ralph O. Glendinning Preceptorship awarded to outstanding junior faculty. She also served as a Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at McGill University. She has held fellowships at Harvard University as well as the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. Her latest book can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Russia-Resurrected-Power-Purpose-Global/dp/0190860715/ref=sr11?crid=9MQKXDSGNDSU&dchild=1&keywords=russia+resurrected&qid=1613682696&sprefix=russia+resurre%2Caps%2C191&sr=8-1 https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/TK2iqeCppTH5lB63FmW2WL99PrWJMqN2LyrBBv1-ANeeToKmbBXBKH2-u3woLREbAoEjXw4pDjhse0KBNMLQV1V6K-PEwPS3XFrpWKK2-0z8OYLZbGhuBbsoQu7xA8g8EMvPyQrkvxtfY-0=s0-d-e1-ft#https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51-mOqzm3ZL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg CREDITS Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: Twitter @More_Orr) Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: Twitter @RehnquistTom) Associate Producer: Lera Toropin Associate Producer: Cullan Bendig Assistant Producer: Samantha Farmer Assistant Producer: Katherine Birch Assistant Producer: Zach Johnson Assistant Producer/Administrator: Kathryn Yegorov-Crate Recording, Editing, and Sound Design: Michelle Daniel, Charlie Harper Music Producer: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Main Theme by Charlie Harper and additional background music by Charlie Harper) Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com DISCLAIMER: Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin. https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/9/9a59b135-7876-4254-b600-3839b3aa3ab1/P1EKcswq.png Special Guest: Kathryn Stoner.

"Seeking Virtue in Finance: Contributing to Society in a Conflicted Industry" is the newest book by JC de Swaan, a lecturer in the economics department at Princeton University, where he is affiliated with the Bendheim Center for Finance, and a partner at Cornwall Capital, a New York-based investment fund that the movie "The Big Short" portrayed. At Princeton, Prof. de Swaan teaches classes in Financial Ethics as well as Asian capital markets. Since the 2008 Financial Crisis, a surge of interest in the use of finance as a tool to address social and economic problems suggests the potential for a generational shift in how the finance industry operates and is perceived. Prof. de Swaan seeks to channel the forces of well-intentioned finance professionals to improve finance from within and help restore its focus on serving society. Drawing from inspiring individuals in the field, Prof. de Swaan proposes a framework for pursuing a viable career in finance while benefiting society and upholding humanistic values. In doing so, he challenges traditional concepts of success in the industry, making his work applicable to everyone in and outside of the world of finance. In this interview, we discuss the fundamental reasons behind frequent ethical violations in the financial industry – from asymmetry of information between financial professionals and customers to flawed corporate culture that incentivizes unethical competition. We also talk about the various ways how individuals can effect positive changes within financial institutions and transform corporate culture. We even venture to some "meta" questions about institutional and system design: it seems that in order to fundamentally disincentivize unethical behavior in finance and business, one would need to create a system of better sense-making and choice-making – a system with infinite capacity to solve problems that the current world cannot solve well. We would also need more individual ecosystems where people no longer feel the need to climb up a few corporate ladders in order to be considered as successful; and we need to have a better social architecture where one no longer needs to win at the game of power against some external force in order to not lose at the game of power… Is this a realistic vision? Do we need to fundamentally upend the current financial and regulatory regime to root out unethical behaviors?

Addie Micir had a prolific all-around athletic career at Council Rock North, starring in basketball, field hockey and lacrosse. On the court, Addie surpassed 1,500 points, 600 rebounds and 300 assists in her career, while being named All-State and a McDonald's All-American nominee! Addie took her talents to Princeton University where she led the Tigers back to back Ivy League titles! At Princeton, Addie scored over 1000 pts, 400 rebs, shot 41% from three making 240 and was a 3-time all-league selection! In her senior season, Addie was a unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year. She then transitioned her college success into the professional level, as she played in Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Addie has since served as an assistant coach at Dartmouth for five seasons and is currently the associate head coach at Lehigh University! Enjoy! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Melissa Reynolds is Perkins-Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Princeton University. A historian and humanist, Dr. Reynolds recently published an op-ed in Washington Post comparing the coronavirus epidemic to “the sweat” outbreaks in 15th century Europe. She suggests that, despite the obvious advances in modern medicine since the 15th century, there are similarities between the two epidemics, most notably the failure of government to communicate adequately with the public. In this interview, Dr. Reynolds explains why the public can so easily fall into misguided conceptions about a pandemic regardless of one's education level; how the government can step in to provide a clear and coherent voice about the pandemic while not being the only authority dictating public opinion; why media follows unique "cultural scripts" that end up posing a potent threat to the health of our socio-political discourse; and many other fascinating historical comparisons between today and the 15th century. Dr. Reynolds is a historian of medieval and early modern England whose research focuses on practices of reading, writing, and knowledge-making at the moment of transition from manuscript to print. At Princeton, she is working on her first book, tentatively titled, “How To: Practical Books and the Making of Early Modern English Culture,” which examines the circulation of practical knowledge in late medieval manuscripts and early printed books.

On this week’s episode, Charlotte Whelan joins to discuss whether women need quotas in order to achieve great things in corporate America. California and some European countries have installed corporate board gender qoutas, so we consider whether this practice leads to higher profits and/or actually helps women move up the economic ladder. Charlotte recently joined IWF as a policy research assistant. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in French and a certificate in Global Health. At Princeton, she was involved in a variety of activities including the James Madison Program and was the President of the Princeton Chapter of the Network of Enlightened Women. She Thinks is a podcast for women (and men) who are sick of the spin in today’s news cycle and are seeking the truth. Once a week, every week, She Thinks host Beverly Hallberg is joined by guests who cut through the clutter and bring you the facts. You don’t have to keep up with policy and politics to understand how issues will impact you and the people you care about most. You just have to keep up with us. We make sure you have the information you need to come to your own conclusions. Because, let’s face it, you’re in control of your own life and can think for yourself. You can listen to the latest She Thinks episode(s) here or wherever you get your podcasts. Then subscribe, rate, and share with your friends. If you are already caught up and want more, join our online community. Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) believes all issues are women’s issues. IWF promotes policies that aren’t just well-intended, but actually enhance people’s freedoms, opportunities, and choices. IWF doesn’t just talk about problems. We identify solutions and take them straight to the playmakers and policy creators. And, as a 501(c)3, IWF educates the public about the most important topics of the day. Check out the Independent Women’s Forum website for more information on how policies impact you, your loved ones, and your community: www.iwf.org. Be sure to subscribe to our emails to ensure you’re equipped with the facts on the issues you care about most: https://iwf.org/sign-up. Subscribe to IWF’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/IWF06. Follow IWF on social media: - https://twitter.com/iwf on Twitter - https://www.facebook.com/independentwomensforum on Facebook - https://instagram.com/independentwomensforum on Instagram #IWF #IWPol #AllIssuesAreWomensIssues

https://www.lightingthevoid.comLive Weeknights 9 PM Pacific - MidnightDr. Claude Swanson was educated as a physicist at MIT and Princeton University. During those years he worked at the MIT Science Teaching Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory and a Virginia cyclotron in the summer. At Princeton he received the National Science Foundation Fellowship and Putnam Fellowship. His Ph.D. thesis at Princeton was done in the "Gravity Group," which focuses on experimental cosmology and astronomy, and was headed by Prof. Robert Dicke.Swanson conducted postgraduate work at Princeton and Cornell Universities on the design of superconducting plasma containment vessels for fusion energy systems. He then began work for Aeronautical Research Associates of Princeton, a consulting company, and later formed his own consulting company which carried out studies in applied physics for commercial and governmental agencies.For the last twenty years, interspersed with his conventional professional career in applied physics, Dr. Swanson has pursued investigations into "unconventional physics." His principal interest has been unified field theory, the so-called "Theory of Everything" which could explain the universe at the deepest possible level. This has led him to investigate many aspects of the paranormal, which appear to be completely real phenomena which violate our present science. Paranormal phenomena, which have now been proven in the laboratory in many cases, offer a window into the deeper universe, the mysteries of consciousness, and unlock new forces and principles which conventional science has only begun to glimpse.Dr. Swanson has conducted extensive research in these areas, including research of the scientific literature, interviews with scientists in these fields, attended and spoken at conferences, and conducted experiments and investigations, to better understand how such paranormal phenomena can be incorporated into modern science.http://www.synchronizeduniverse.com/Music By: Chronox at https://www.chronoxofficial.comGuitar By: Bundy

Where do I begin with Jordan? I suppose I can talk about how we first met. I was assigned by the Harvard Club to interview a student from University High School in Newark, one they were quite interested in. The person I met astounded me. He was easily admitted into Harvard. However, and unfortunately, he decided to attend Princeton instead. Still, we’ve kept in touch, and I remain fascinated by every thing he does. Rather than explain who he is in this article, I ask that you listen to the episode to get the full sense of Jordan.Guest:Jordan Thomas—Jordan is a 2018 graduate of Princeton University, where a successful academic career culminated in such distinctions as Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, the Myron T. Herrick Thesis Prize, and a 2018 Spirit of Princeton Award. At Princeton, he concentrated in Public and International Affairs; he received dual certificates in Portuguese Language and Culture and in African American Studies; and he focused his academic coursework on poverty, inequality, and social mobility. Jordan is particularly interested in the role that law, public policy, and high-quality education play in expanding access and opportunity for disadvantaged populations. In addition, he has a growing interest in impact investment, urban economic development, and the ways in which the power of capital can be harnessed for social good. As one of 32 American students selected from a pool of over 2,500 applicants to receive a 2018 Rhodes Scholarship -- the first Rhodes Scholar in the history of the Newark Public Schools system -- Jordan recently completed a year of postgraduate study at the University of Oxford. He spent this year pursuing a Master's degree in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation. Jordan will spend the next two years gaining professional experience before enrolling at both Yale Law School and Harvard Business School for a unique JD/MBA dual degree between the two institutions. Ultimately, he intends to engage in work that most directly promotes equal opportunity, social mobility, and justice for all.Background & Articles:Some articles featuring Jordan: here; here; hereA website for help with eating disorders: hereQuote:”There are not enough roses in the world for me to lay at the feet of this impossible group, but I hope this effort counts. I hope Phife can see all of us trying, from wherever he may be. I hope Q-Tip knows that he’s done something great. I hope when the time comes for the generation after mine to talk about what’s real , they’ll pull a Tribe CD out of their pockets, worn down from a decade’s use and perhaps an older sibling. I hope they’ll put it in a CD player and let a room be carried away.” —Hanif Abdurraqib, Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest

Kyle Koncz is currently the Head Boys’ Varsity Basketball Coach at Lake Forest Academy, just outside of Chicago, IL. This will be his 3rd season as Head Coach, and second stint at Lake Forest after beginning his coaching career there upon his college graduation as an assistant under Head Coach Matt Vaughn from 2008-11. During his 5+ years coaching at Lake Forest Kyle has had the opportunity to work with 12 players who have continued on to play basketball at the collegiate level, some of which are still playing professionally today. He also currently works in the admissions office at the Academy. In between his time at Lake Forest Academy, he spent 6 seasons coaching at the college level including one season as an Assistant Coach at Williams College under Head Coach Mike Maker. Following his year at Williams he spent 5 years as the director of basketball operations at Fairfield University, working under Head Coach Sydney Johnson who coached him at Princeton University during his senior year. At Princeton, Koncz was a 3 year starter for the Tigers. He finished his career with the 5th most 3 pt. makes in school history, and currently sits just outside the top ten. After his Junior and Senior season Kyle was the recipient of the B.F. Dunn Award, which is presented annually to the team member who through sportsmanship, play, and influence most greatly contributed to the sport. Kyle attended Strongsville High School, where he finished his high school career as the school’s all-time leading scorer, and as the record holder for 3 pt. makes in a season & career, and in the top 3 for rebounds in a career. He is a member of the Strongsville High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Kyle recently had the opportunity to speak at the USA Basketball Coaches Clinic in Chicago, IL and also worked his first session of Snow Valley Basketball Camp this past summer. Thanks for checking out the Hoop Heads Podcast. Our line-up of podcast guests includes some of the top minds in the game across all levels, from grassroots to the NBA. They’ll share insights to help you grow as a coach, improve as a player, or enhance your experience of the game as a parent. You’ll gain new perspectives on what the best coaches are doing, how they do it, and why they do it. We hope to make you think and challenge you to consider your approach to the game of basketball. Please subscribe to the Hoop Heads Pod and leave us a 5 star rating and review wherever you listen to the show. Help us grow the game by telling your friends and colleagues about the Hoop Heads Podcast so they can give us a listen too. You will definitely want to have pen and paper handy so you can take some notes as you listen to this episode with Kyle Koncz from Lake Forest Academy in Chicago, Illinois. Email - kkoncz@lfanet.org Twitter - @LFAHoops Support this podcast

Acclaimed young composer Viet Cuong joins the show to share his thoughts about band music, his work as a composer, and how growing up in the Lassiter band helped him fit in and find his place in the world. Topics: 
Viet’s background and how he got his start as a musician, percussionist, and composer. How band and music helped Viet “find his place” in the world and the importance of band as a place where kids who are struggling to feel accepted have a place where they can fit in and grow. Growing up in the legendary Lassiter Band Program under the baton of Alfred Watkins. Thought about what band directors can do to support young musicians who are writing music or want to become composers. Thoughts about academic music, new music for band, and some insights into building design at Princeton. The Blue Dot Collective Links: Viet Cuong, Composer The Blue Dot Collective Cuong: Diamond Tide Cuong: Moth Stravinsky: Rite of Spring Biography: Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, the “ingenious” and “knockout” (Times Union) music of Viet Cuong (b. 1990) has been performed on six continents by musicians and ensembles such as Sō Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, Alarm Will Sound, Sandbox Percussion, the PRISM Quartet, JACK Quartet, Gregory Oakes, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, among many others. Viet’s music has been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Aspen Music Festival, New Music Gathering, Boston GuitarFest, International Double Reed Society Conference, US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, and on American Public Radio’s Performance Today. He also enjoys composing for the wind ensemble medium, and his works for winds have amassed over one hundred performances by conservatory and university ensembles worldwide, including at Midwest, WASBE, and CBDNA conferences. Viet holds the Curtis Institute of Music’s Daniel W. Dietrich II Composition Fellowship as an Artist Diploma student of David Ludwig and Jennifer Higdon. Viet received his MFA from Princeton University as a Naumburg and Roger Sessions Fellow, and he is currently finishing his PhD there. At Princeton he studied with Steve Mackey, Donnacha Dennehy, Dan Trueman, Dmitri Tymoczko, Paul Lansky, and Louis Andriessen. Viet holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts and Oscar Bettison. While at Peabody, he received the Peabody Alumni Award (the Valedictorian honor) and the Gustav Klemm Award for excellence in composition. Viet has been a fellow at the Mizzou International Composers Festival, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Cabrillo Festival’s Young Composer Workshop, Copland House’s CULTIVATE emerging composers workshop, and was also a scholarship student at the Aspen, Bowdoin, and Lake Champlain music festivals. Additionally, he has received artist residencies from Yaddo, Copland House, Ucross Foundation, and Atlantic Center for the Arts (under Melinda Wagner, 2012 and Christopher Theofanidis, 2014). Viet is a recipient of the Barlow Endowment Commission, Copland House Residency Award, ASCAP Morton Gould Composers Award, Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award, Theodore Presser Foundation Music Award, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra Call for Scores, Cortona Prize, New York Youth Symphony First Music Commission, Boston GuitarFest Composition Competition, and Walter Beeler Memorial Prize, among others. In addition, he received honorable mentions in the Harvey Gaul Composition Competition and two consecutive ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prizes. Scholarships include the Evergreen House Foundation scholarship at Peabody, a 2010 Susan and Ford Schumann Merit Scholarship from the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the 2011 Bachrach Memorial Gift from the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

The Rise of Technology is a Double-Edged Sword for many African Americans Recent reports suggest that African Americans have the most to gain, and yet the most to lose, from advances in technology. The digital divide persists. Recent Pew research shows 86% of blacks reported being internet users, compared to 90% of all respondents. However, just 65% of Black survey respondents to the Pew study have access to broadband at home, compared to 73% of Internet users overall, and 78% of white users. African Americans are both disproportionately impacted by climate change, and underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations. Paradoxically, the Koch brothers' lobbying efforts have tended to focus on increasing STEM skills among African Americans to prepare them to work in the fossil fuels industry. African American citizens have as much to gain as anyone else from law enforcement's proper implementation of technology. However, newer law enforcement technologies, such as facial recognition technologies, have proven to be less accurate in correctly identifying African Americans than they are at identifying others. A recent Global Policy Solutions report entitled Stick Shift: Autonomous Vehicles, Driving Jobs, and the Future of Work illustrates the ways in which African Americans, who are highly represented in driving occupations, will could be negatively affected by a poorly-regulated self-driving vehicles industry. How can local officials, particularly mayors, address these and other concerns? Stephanie Mash Sykes shares her insights. Bio Stephanie Mash Sykes (@StephMashSykes) is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the African American Mayors Association. Prior to joining AAMA, she served as the Director of Governmental Affairs for African Americans working with the Office of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. Stephanie has also worked as an executive compensation and employee benefits attorney in top law firms in New York City, NY and Palo Alto, CA. As an attorney, she also devoted many pro bono hours to advising non-profit organizations and small businesses. She has received the New York Legal Aid Society Pro Bono Publico Award for outstanding pro bono legal service. Prior to law school, Stephanie worked as a policy analyst at the New Jersey General Assembly where she focused on legislation related to municipal governance, consumer affairs, and economic development. Stephanie also assisted with the Black Caucus of the General Assembly. Stephanie received her J.D. from Duke University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Princeton University . At Princeton, she majored in Politics and received certificates in African American Studies and Latin American Studies. Resources African American Mayors Association The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Compton, CA Mayor Aja Brown Stockton, CA Mayor Michael Tubbs News Roundup Federal Judge reports sevenfold increase in warrantless searches Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia released information last week showing a sevenfold increase in warrantless data searches by law enforcement. Judge Howell released the previously sealed information following a petition by BuzzFeed investigative journalist Jason Leopold. According to the data release, law enforcement requests for phone location and internet activity jumped from 55 in 2008, to 1,136 in 2016. Spencer Hsu has the story in the Washington Post. WH supports overturning net neutrality The White House has endorsed overturning the FCC's net neutrality rules. Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Congress needs to weigh in with new legislation instead of having the FCC write the regulations. Sheriff's to implement iris scanners along U.S./Mexico Border Demos's George Joseph reports for The Intercept that every sheriff's department along the U.S./Mexico border will now be using iris detection scanners. That's right. Trump's campaign promise to build a border wall has stalled, but the "digital wall", of sorts, is moving forward. Apparently iris scanners can detect as many as 240 unique identifying characteristics, compared to just 40 to 60 for fingerprints. And, of course, what would new law enforcement technology be without the typical disproportionate impact on communities of color? Check out the Intercept for more. House approves self-driving car legislation By a voice vote last week, the House Commerce consumer protection committee approved self-driving car legislation. The bill would set the annual number of autonomous cars that automobile companies can manufacture to 100,000. The legislation would also preempt state laws pertaining to autonomous vehicle manufacturing. Harper Neidig has the story in the Hill. House passes bill to re-authorize the Department of Homeland Security The House last week passed a new bill to re-authorize the 15-year old Department of Homeland Security. The bill includes provisions for TSA and the US Coast Guard to issue reports on cyber risks to airlines and ports. You can find the story in Next.gov. Elon Musk claims provisional approval to build "hyperloop' Finally, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted last week that he had obtained verbal pre-approval from regulators to build a "hyperloop" that would link New York and Washington. Musk claims this hyperloop would send commuters speeding in pods through vacuum tubes allowing them to travel from midtown Manhattan to downtown Washington in just 29 minutes. The increased speed would be achieved by having the pods travel on magnetic cushions. Of course, the first obstacle would be getting the cost to build down from $1 billion per mile. Peter Henderson has the story in Reuters.  

While today’s topic might not be an issue in higher education generally, it could well be an issue in your own teenager’s higher education--and it’s an issue that you might want to think about quickly right now if you have a high school senior. It is the notion of having your teenager take a gap year between finishing high school this spring and starting college this fall. For those of you who have high school juniors at home, it’s not too early for you to be thinking about this option, too. For those of you wrestling with which college your teenager should attend when he or she has some options, let us remind you that, last year in April, we did a series of three episodes on how to think about that college decision--one for above-average students, one for average students, and one for below-average students--because we felt that their options and their reasons for choosing one college over another might be very different. You should go back and re-read the show notes or re-listen to Episodes 69, 70, and 71--or, at least, the one that best describes the academic standing of your own teenager. As we said last week when we highlighted some key points from those three episodes, we just can’t do any better now than we did then in pointing out the serious questions you should consider in making this all-important choice with your teenager. With all that said, we are guessing that there are some families that are not thrilled with the college options they have at the moment, and today’s episode might give those families something else to consider. Like everything, the notion of a gap year has pros and cons, though I have to say that there are a lot of fervent supporters--far more than I thought before I did this episode. Let’s get some background. 1. The Background Let me start by saying that I happened on an article from The Conversation from way back last May. The Conversation is, in its own words, “an independent source of news and views from the academic and research community.” The Conversation explains that its “team of professional editors work with university and research institute experts to unlock their knowledge for use by the wider public. Access to independent, high quality, authenticated, explanatory journalism underpins a functioning democracy. Our aim is to promote better understanding of current affairs and complex issues. And hopefully allow for a better quality of public discourse and conversation.” (quoted from the website) The Conversation, which was founded in Australia and now operates in the U.K. and U.S. as well, is a free resource, which addresses issues in arts, business, politics, the environment, health, technology, education, and more--so check it out. The discussion today comes from an article by Joe O’Shea, the Director of Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement at Florida State University, and Nina Hoe, the Study Director at the Institute for Survey Research at Temple University. In the interest of full disclosure, Mr. O’Shea is the president of the board of the American Gap Association, and Ms. Hoe is the Association’s Director of Research. My guess is that they might not be the most impartial chroniclers of the benefits of a gap year; nonetheless, they offer a lot of information on the topic in their article. Although gap years have been discussed--and taken--in the U.S. for many years, the notion of a gap year landed squarely on our collective radar when Malia Obama decided to take 2016–2017 as a gap year before attending Harvard this coming fall. Now, that probably had to do with the fact that her father was finishing up his presidency more than anything else, but perhaps she put gap years on the map for a lot of families that had never thought about them. The data show that about 11 percent of Australian students more than 10 years ago were taking gap years compared to no more than 3 percent of U.S. students today. What is a common topic of discussion and real alternative for educated families in the U.K. is rarely discussed here in the U.S., especially among middle-income and lower-income families. And yet, Mr. O’Shea and Ms. Hoe assert, in their article, that gap years are getting more popular in the U.S. So, let’s look at what the research shows. 2. The Research The authors present evidence that an alarmingly sizable percentage of students on college campuses are stressed severely enough--including to the point of being medically diagnosed with anxiety or depression--to cause them to seek counseling from on-campus health services. The authors also note that “faculty and staff are reporting that today’s students lack coping skills such as resilience and the ability to succeed independently despite adversity” (quoted from the article). It is a picture of too many college students who are burned out from intense high school years, over-anxious, and unable to handle the many demands of college academic and social life. Well, if that’s the problem, what does research say about the solution? Here is what the authors say: Research shows that a gap year . . . can provide students the opportunity to gain personal skills such as independence, resilience, confidence and focus. A combination of activities during this year that involve volunteering, interning or working, either domestically or internationally, can provide meaningful experiences that challenge students outside their comfort zones. These experience[s] can help students reevaluate how they understand themselves and the world. Several peer-reviewed studies focusing on students in the U.K. and Australia have shown that students who took a gap year experienced a host of personal benefits, such as higher levels of motivation and higher academic performance in college. A 2015 survey of over 700 former gap year participants found overwhelming personal, academic, career and civic engagement benefits associated with taking a gap year. Over 90 percent of all respondents indicated that their gap year provided important time for personal reflection, aided in personal development, increased maturity and self-confidence, and fostered the development of interpersonal communication skills. Specifically related to college, 73 percent of respondents reported that their gap year helped them increase their readiness for college, 59 percent said it increased their interest in attending college and 57 percent said it helped them figure out what they wanted to study in college. (quoted from the article) As loyal listeners of USACollegeChat know, we are all about getting kids outside their comfort zone, so that is an appealing aspect of a gap year. And I do think that what the research finds is entirely believable. I imagine that most adults would agree that a one-year dose of the real world—whether that is in a volunteer or paid setting, whether that is at home or far away, whether that is working with people like you or people not at all like you—is likely to help teenagers grow up and give them more life-coping skills than they had when they started. But what about their future academic life? What if they like the path they are on in their gap year so much that they decide not to go to college at all? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? And what happens when they do go to college after a gap year? Here is some research cited, with obvious approval, on the American Gap Association website: From Joe O’Shea’s book, Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs: “. . . In Australia and the United Kingdom, economic researchers found that high school students who deferred their admission to college to take a Gap Year went to college (after their Gap Year) at the same rate as those who accepted an offer and intended to go straight there (Birch and Miller 2007; Crawford and Cribb 2012). They also found that taking a Gap Year had a significant positive impact on students’ academic performance in college, with the strongest impact for students who had applied to college with grades on the lower end of the distribution (Birch and Miller 2007; Crawford and Cribb 2012).” In fact, in the United Kingdom and in the United States, students who had taken a Gap Year were more likely to graduate with higher grade point averages than observationally identical individuals who went straight to college, and this effect was seen even for Gap Year students with lower academic achievement in high school (Crawford and Cribb 2012, Clagett 2013). (quoted from the website) Well, now I am really interested--because I feared that kids who took a gap year might end up opting out of college (which would obviously not be my preference for them). It is also persuasive that gap-year kids with lower grades in high school graduated with higher college grades than similar students who went straight to college. Whether that finding is the result of academic knowledge actually gained during the gap year or of enhanced personal traits (like motivation and self-confidence) doesn’t really matter, I guess. So, there does not seem to be a personal or academic downside to a gap year--at least according to this research, these authors, and the American Gap Association. 3. The Design (and Expense) of a Worthwhile Gap Year How then do Mr. O’Shea and Ms. Hoe characterize an appropriate gap year experience? This is what they say: Gap years need to be properly designed so they can challenge students with new roles and perspectives that accelerate their growth as thinkers and citizens. Experiences that push students out of their comfort zones and allow them to explore new cultures and people from different backgrounds can create an impactful experience. They provide students an opportunity to reflect on a number of challenges and also allow for critical self-reflection that can root part of their identity in contributions to others. In an ideal gap year experience, students get to develop actual relationships with people who are different from them. And when that happens, students can begin to see the world from different perspectives and learn about the complexity of social challenges. (quoted from the article) Of course, that all sounds great. And if that can be done in the context of an internship near home or a volunteer slot in a nearby community, then I can get past one fear I have, which is that that gap years are just one more thing that benefit rich kids who can afford to fly off to some exotic locale or who can get a fascinating internship because of their parents’ connections.   Do you know, by the way, that there are companies that plan gap years for kids, including booking all of the travel? That can’t be cheap. Just like college admissions coaching, the notion of gap year experiences has spawned a whole industry. And that does worry me a bit. Perhaps the title of a New York Times article last May by Mike McPhate says it all: “Malia Obama’s ‘Gap Year’ Is Part of a Growing (and Expensive) Trend." His article notes that the price tag on an international gap year program could run as high as $35,000. But here are a couple of other ways to do it: [U]niversity administrators . . . note that gap-year plans come in a variety of forms, some of them at no cost. AmeriCorps’ City Year, for example, pays students stipends to teach. Another popular program, Global Citizen Year, provides financial support--more than $6 million since 2010--for students to pursue experiential learning. But those programs can be highly competitive. City Year, for example, says it selects only about one in four applicants. (quoted from the article) So, although these programs sound promising, it’s like trying to get into college all over again. I am not sure how that helps kids cope with burnout and stress. And, as we might have expected, colleges themselves are getting into the game, according to Mr. McPhate’s article: More universities have begun formal gap-year programs that take varying approaches to enrollment and the providing of aid, including Princeton, Tufts, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Elon University. At Princeton and North Carolina, for example, freshman-year enrollment is deferred and at least some financial help is provided, while Elon considers participants enrolled and charges its regular tuition. Another program offered by the New School in New York City also treats students as enrolled and offers up to a full year of academic credit. Florida State University is among the latest campuses to start offering scholarships to gap-year students. Late last year, the public institution said applicants could get up to $5,000, and sent an email to the entire incoming [freshman] class urging them to consider deferring their freshman year. (quoted from the article) Clearly, I am not understanding how a gap year turns into a year where tuition is charged and a full year of academic credit is given. That really makes it sound more like a study abroad program. And, in fact, there are already colleges (NYU is one) where freshmen can take their freshman year in another country--a real study abroad experience before you ever study at home. 4. So What? So, what is the purpose of a gap year and who should think about taking one? Well, I think that the vocal proponents of gap years think everyone should take one, given the positive results that the research seems to show. I am probably a bit more restrained in my enthusiasm, but I am willing to be persuaded. Parents, I am afraid that you are going to have to do some research of your own if you think your senior would benefit from a year of experiences--paid or unpaid, nearby or far away--before starting into his or her college career. Here are a few quotations from another New York Times article, written last year by Abigail Falik, who is the founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year (which we mentioned earlier) and who is, I am assuming, a bit partial to the notion of gap years.   What if college freshmen arrived on campus not burnt out from having been “excellent sheep” in high school, but instead refreshed, focused and prepared to take full advantage of the rich resources and opportunities colleges have to offer? The “gap year,” a common practice across Europe and Australia, has yet to take root in the United States. A primary barrier is the stigma we associate with the term--it conveys privilege and frivolity and is often viewed either as a luxury for a select few, or remediation for kids who didn’t get into the college of their choice. And yet, the research shows undeniable, positive impacts in terms of increased maturity, confidence and achievement. A recent Middlebury study showed that students who take a year off before arriving outperform their peers in their academic and extracurricular engagement on campus. . . . Given its known benefits, it’s time to rebrand the “gap year” as anything but a “gap.” When used intentionally, the year before college can be a bridge, a launch pad and a new rite of passage. It’s the students who find the courage to step off the treadmill--replacing textbooks with experience and achievement with exploration--who are best prepared for life after high school. And a growing number of colleges are taking notice. Bill Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s undergraduate admissions dean, wrote a manifesto about the need for students to take time off before college. Rick Shaw, Stanford’s undergraduate admissions dean, now speaks about the value of non-linear paths and the learning and growth that come from risk taking and failure, as opposed to perfect records. (quoted from the article) Well, if I had not been sure that the notion of a gap year was an issue in higher education when I started this episode, I am pretty sure now. Parents, start your research! Ask your questions or share your feedback by... Leaving a comment on the show notes for this episode at http://usacollegechat.org/episode115 Calling us at (516) 900-6922 to record a question on our USACollegeChat voicemail if you want us to answer your question live on our podcast Connect with us through... Subscribing to our podcast on Google Play Music, iTunes, Stitcher, or TuneIn Liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter Reviewing parent materials we have available at www.policystudies.org Inquiring about our consulting services if you need individualized help Reading Regina's blog, Parent Chat with Regina

Can liberty survive the digital age? In this episode, Princeton University professors Jennifer Rexford and Janet Vertesi discuss internet infrastructure and its effect on how people use the web as a vehicle for communication and information.   This episode is part of a series featuring panelists who will participate in the Princeton-Fung Global Forum: “Society 3.0+: Can Liberty Survive the Digital Age?” The conference, to be held March 20-21 in Berlin, is being organized by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Jennifer Rexford is the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering, professor of computer science and chair of the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University. Before joining Princeton in 2005, she worked for eight years at AT&T Labs—Research. Jennifer received her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1991 and her Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Michigan in 1996. She is co-author of the book "Web Protocols and Practice" (Addison-Wesley, May 2001). She served as the chair of ACM SIGCOMM from 2003 to 2007. Jennifer was the 2004 winner of ACM's Grace Murray Hopper Award for outstanding young computer professional. She is an ACM fellow (2008) and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013) and the National Academy of Engineering (2014). Janet Vertesi is a sociologist of science and technology at Princeton University, where she is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology. At Princeton, she teaches classes on the sociology of science and technology, technology in organizations and human-computer interaction. Vertesi has spent the past decade as an ethnographer of spacecraft missions at NASA, and is the author of "Seeing Like a Rover: How Robots, Teams and Images Craft Knowledge of Mars." In addition to her research on complex technical organizations, she nurtures a passion for public understanding about the intersection of technology and society, especially with respect to online privacy. Best known publicly for her “opt out” experiments that reveal underlying assumptions embedded in computing technologies, she is an advisory board member of the Data & Society Institute in New York City, has blogged extensively on the topic at Time.com and is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Information Technology Policy. 

China’s growing economic and political influence has raised concerns among some in the United States that China’s regained status as a major power represents a strategic threat to U.S. leadership in Asia and beyond. In The China Challenge:  Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power, Thomas Christensen seeks to counter this zero-sum narrative by offering a new paradigm in which the real challenge for the United States lies in dissuading China from regional aggression while encouraging the country to contribute to the international order. Thomas Christensen discussed his book at a National Committee event on November 10 in New York City.  Thomas J. Christensen is William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War and Director of the China and the World Program at Princeton University. At Princeton he is also faculty director of the Masters of Public Policy Program and the Truman Scholars Program.   From 2006-2008 he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs with responsibility for relations with China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. His research and teaching focus on China’s foreign relations, the international relations of East Asia, and international security.  His most recent book, The China Challenge:  Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power (W.W. Norton, 2015), was an editors’ choice at the New York Times Book Review and selected as “Book of the Week” on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS.  Before arriving at Princeton in 2003, Professor Christensen taught at Cornell University and MIT.  The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is the leading nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages understanding of China and the United States among citizens of both countries.

is a former professional lacrosse player who played professional box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and professional field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL). Hubbard starred as a member of the Princeton Tigers Men's lacrosse team from 1995 through 1998, where he earned Ivy League Player of the Year, Ivy League Rookie of the Year, three All-American recognitions from the USILA, four Ivy League championships, and three national championships. Jesse holds Princeton lacrosse scoring records for both career and single-season goals. At Princeton, the Tigers experienced and were the undefeated league champions won the 1996, 1997 and 1998 NCAA Division 1 Men's Lacrosse Championships, becoming the first team to three-peat since 1988–90 and the first to be recognized to have done so without an NCAA scandal since Johns Hopkins from 1978–80.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Psalm 139. The main subject of the sermon is how human life should be understood to be sacred. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - This Sunday, this morning is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. The word sanctity means sacredness. It means that human life, we believe is set apart, is unique and sacred and special by God. We, having been created in the image of God, we are in his likeness, and therefore we are precious to Him. Human life is sacred. This is the world view that the Bible presents to us. This is biblical truth, that we are in the image of God, and that means accountability and blessing. So we celebrate human life today. And I must tell you that life at its heart, for me at least, and probably for you too, is unpredictable. I'm never quite sure what's going to happen on any given day. I have a good idea. I thought probably I would come to church today, I thought probably I would preach today and some other things, but the sermon that I expected to preach to you, I'm not going to preach. I'm going to preach a different Sanctity of Human Life sermon, one that some of you have heard before, changed a little bit. The sermon that’s in your outline is a good sermon, maybe I’ll preach it in the future, but not today. Okay? I put all that work into it. But the Lord said, “No, a different one.” And so I said, “Yes, Lord.”, and so we’re doing something else today. I. Another Year We have gone through another year. And in that year, abortion has remained the law of the land. That means, if statistics hold true, probably somewhere between 1.3 and 1.6 million babies were killed, legally, in our country this past year. Legally killed in our country. Is that acceptable to you? It’s not acceptable to me. And so that’s the bad news, abortion is still, as many politicians remind us, the law of the land, that is true. What that means is that the initiative must rest with us. Do you see that? If we do nothing, it will continue to be the law of the land, and millions of babies will continue to be killed, legally, in our country. And so the initiative must rest with us. So another year has passed, but it’s not all been darkness, we know that in this past year, in 2003, we saw the Partial Birth Abortion Act passed on November 5, 2003. George Bush signed into law this Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003, making illegal that hideous practice of killing babies that are almost born. That anyone would not see the wisdom to that is shocking to me, but immediately, a federal judge overturned it or put an injunction against it, and the ACLU and many other lawyers are determined to fight this unjust law, so they believe, and bring back some sanity in their way of thinking to abortion. They are concerned about the so called slippery slope, that once you give up a little bit, its gonna go all the way, and there will be no freedom for abortion in our country. Oh may it happen. May it happen. I want that slippery slope. You know why? Because there is no difference between life outside the womb and life inside the womb in God’s eyes. And there is no philosophical barrier you can hold up, as we’ll talk about later in this message, it just doesn’t hold up. And they know it. And so its even got to the point where some ethicists are willing to say, “We acknowledge its human life, but it should be legal to kill anyway for the following reasons.” Isn’t that shocking? At Princeton...ethicists are saying those kinds of things? But that's where we’re at. "There is no difference between life outside the womb and life inside the womb in God’s eyes" And we’re in a kind of a legal schizophrenia now, as you know. The Scott Peterson murder trial where he can be held possibly for the murder of his pre-born child. This is schizophrenic, you understand that? How it could be legal in California to abort the baby, but if there’s no indication whatsoever that the mother doesn’t want the child, its assumed that she does want the child, and so therefore he can be held for the murder of a pre-born child. This is unbelievable to me. I don't understand how you can have the one and not the other, I don't. It is schizophrenic and more and more people are seeing it this way. Polls are showing that more and more people, young people entering college students and others are not seeing the logic of abortion, they don’t see it, they don’t understand it. And so that whole base is eroding and that is good news, is it not? But our work isn’t finished yet. Because abortion is still the law of the land. The church is still, in 1 Timothy 3:15, the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. And so what we have to do is we have to refute satanic lies that the devil is telling and has told. The devil is telling lies, and we must get out there and refute them. II. Satan’s Web of Lies Now, I preached this sermon a year ago, and I’d like to ask, as you think about this sermon, have you told the truth to anybody this past year on these issues? That’ all. Basically, you have an opportunity here from the word of God, again, a refutation of six lies that the devil has been telling. But what I want you to do is ask yourself, have you spoken these truths to anybody who needs to hear them? See, we must take the initiative. It’s up to us to change things. If things remain the same, if we do nothing, if we remain comfortable and think its too difficult to challenge minds and hearts on this issue, if we’re going to pay a price relationally with relatives or friends, acquaintances, co-workers, then nothing will change, and it will continue. We must agitate. We must be willing to pay the price. We must refute Satan’s web of lies. Jesus said in John 8:44 of the devil. “When the devil lies, he speaks his native tongue...,”. Isn’t that wonderful? “For he is a liar and the father of lies.” Now, Father of lies means that he begets, he gives birth to lies. He speaks lies, its what he does. And so therefore, these lies, we can trace back to their satanic origin. And therefore, he tells I think three great lies to society which we must refute. First is that the pre-born is not truly a human person. Secondly, that the child is a burden and not a blessing. Third, abortion is beneficial to the life of the mother. He also is telling two lies to the church. Number one, abortion is so entrenched as the law of the land that nothing you can do will make any difference whatsoever. Secondly, he tells this lie, simply changing the law to make abortion illegal will completely solve this problem. Thirdly, He tells lies to individuals, to guilty sinners, specifically in this matter. Your sin is so great that nothing can take it away. There can be no forgiveness for you in the area of abortion. Let’s start to dispel each of these lies with truth, shall we? The word of God refutes each of these six lives. III. Dispelling the Lies With Pure Truth Satan’s Lie #1 Let's look at the first, namely that the preborn is not truly a human person. Now, I could speak from the language and findings of biology, and it would be right for a Christian to do so, because we believe that God created everything. And so, there is ample biological evidence of the uniqueness and personhood of the child from the moment of conception. I know that there are some dehumanizing terms used of the pre-born such as fetus or even worse, product of conception. They are put in place...these words...to separate us somewhat from the personhood, that we’re dealing with a genuine human being in the womb. But let me ask you a question. Any mother who is excited, looking forward to the birth of their baby, when they feel the fetus...the product of conception kick their womb inside, do they say, “Oh, my fetus just kicked me. Oh, come and feel.” They say to the husband, “Come and feel the fetus as it moves around, the product of conception. Oh, listen, can you listen to it’s heart beat?” No, no one talks like that, do they? They say my baby, don’t they? It's just the way it is. It's a baby. And that's the way we think. You have to be trained out to think a different way. And the training is available. It's out there. We’re being trained to call it a fetus, so I could speak of the genetic uniqueness of the child from conception. Its it’s own person from the moment of conception. I could speak about the development, which is getting easier and easier to see with the 4D ultrasound that GE came up with. Have you seen on the internet? You can look and see some of the... A rendition of what you’ll see through the GE 4D thing. What it is, you can actually see a real time moving like motion picture of your baby. Isn’t that exciting? And more and more clinics are using these. Pro-life, pregnancy support type clinics are using this very expensive equipment to show women who are wrestling with the issue of what’ going on in their lives, to see their babies. And this is amazing, something like more than 60% of those women who come in, determined to get abortions decide not to after seeing that evidence. That’s those that are convinced they’re going to get an abortion. How about those that aren’t sure or even those that are excited about the baby? There’s no doubt in their mind, this is a baby, and they can watch it, they can see. So we could speak at the biological level, but you know me, I would rather speak scripturally. Does the Bible give us any indication that the pre-born is a human person? And the answer is overwhelmingly yes! From Psalm 39, we have great evidence. Turn in your Bible is Psalm 139 and take a look with me, and you will see some of this incredible evidence. Now the context of the specific statements we’re gonna look at this morning, of Psalm 139, the overall message is of an omniscient, omnipresent God in intimate, personal relationship with David. And omniscient, omnipresent God in intimate, personal relationship with David. You could sum it up into this little phrase, “You and me, O God, you and me”. Now, as I read over the first few verses of Psalm 139, see if you can hear that you and the me. You and me. "O Lord, You have searched me, and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord, you hem me in behind, and before you have laid your hand upon me, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from Your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you were there. If I make my bed in the depths, you were there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn and settle on the far side of the sea, even there, your hand will will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you, the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you,” "Does the Bible give us any indication that the pre-born is a human person? And the answer is overwhelmingly yes!" I’ll stop there. Do you see the you and me dynamic there in those first 12 verses? Very much the intense relationship between a sovereign, powerful, omniscient God, omnipresent. No matter where you go, there is God. And David says, I can’t get away from you. Not that he would want to, but it’s an incredible thing to be so thoroughly known and loved by God. He feels hemmed in, as it were, behind and before by God’s omniscience and omnipresence. Even David’s secret actions in the dark are fully open and they bear before God, who sees all things. Now, that’s the context, look at verses 13 through 16, and we get to some relevant verses to the issue. We see, in verses 13 through 16, that this intense relationship began while God was knitting David together in his mother’s womb. Even at that point, David was being formed to have a relationship with God. Look at verse 13 and the following. “For you created my in most being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Studies show that newborn infants can recognize their mother’s voice. Now, how is that? Well, because they’ve been hearing it for months and months. And so they recognize Mom’s voice and in like manner, David’s relationship with God began inside the womb. Thats where it started. David didn't fully know that, eventually, he would come to know it, but knowledge was being built up piece by piece, beginning inside the womb, not beginning when he was born, but beginning even before he was born. The pieces of his relationship with God were being put into place even at that point. Now, look at Verse 13, it says, “You created my in most being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Now, I appreciate Dr. Walker being with us to help us with translation. And this morning, those of you that heard him, heard him talk about kidneys and livers and other things like that, and we’re gonna see that right in this verse. In Psalm 139, verse 13, the King James Version gives us this. “For thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.” Now, reins is related to renal, like kidney, and that’s where it is. It’s...definitely, the translation would come out of the word kidneys, its the same thing we see in the sacrificial passages, for example, in Exodus 29:13, it says, “Take all the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver and both kidneys with the fat on them and burn them on the altar.” Okay, so it means physical kidneys there, no doubt about it. But here, it has a more metaphorical sense, like we would use the word heart. We use the word heart to mean if somebody has heart catheterization or some kind of heart trouble, it means that they're having problems with the muscle that pumps the blood through their body. But when we say how my heart yearns within me, we’re talking about the immaterial nature of us, which relates to God and which thinks and feels and decides. And there’s a molding together of those. We are spirits in bodies, are we not? And that gets knit together in the mother’s womb, it gets woven together. The immaterial and the material, just getting formed by God, only he can do that. And so we have this word, the kidneys, used in this way, Psalm 7, verse 9, “O righteous God who searches minds and hearts.” When was the last time you had your kidney searched? But that’s what it says, "God searches your kidneys.” What does it mean? He searches your heart, your immaterial nature, your mind, your heart, your thoughts, your passions, your aspirations. He searches them, he knows them completely. Psalm 16:7, I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel. In the night, also my kidneys instruct me. I think you ought to listen to your kidneys, I really believe that when at night your kidneys are instructing you, I think you should listen to them. But I think what it means is that immaterial nature of you is speaking to you, and it’s speaking wisdom to you through the Word of God. Best of all, I think in Job 19:25 and following, I love this, “I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end, He will take his stand on the Earth.” That’s Jesus Christ, Jobs’ redeemer is Christ. Who else could it be? And in the end, Christ is gonna take His stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God resurrection. I myself will see him with my own eyes. I am not another. How my heart yearns within me, there are those kidneys again, my heart, my kidneys are yearning for that day, when I can see Jesus take His stand on the Earth. My heart is yearning for the day when I will be in my resurrection body. Oh, I look forward to that. Well, that’s what God was knitting together inside David’s mother’s womb. His heart was being... His kidneys, knit together, physically and spiritually, just put together as only God can do. But what is more? The Hebrew word is not actually “create”, but “qanah”. Which usually means to acquire by purchase, to possess or to come into ownership of. In short, God came to own or possess David’s kidneys, his in most being inside the womb. He said, “This is mine because I made it”. It’s mine because I made it. And just because you have the technology to seize it from me does not make it right. It is mine, you possess my in most being. You created it and it is mine. And so we see this intense personal activity, verse 14-16. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my inner most body.” Now, don’t let the poetic language put you off, there’s a highly technical thing going on here. Now we can speak of technical things in poetic language, it doesn’t take away the truth of the matter itself. God made David and did it skillfully inside his mother’s womb. Now, if we’re gonna go into the hidden places of the earth and all that kind of thing, that’s poetry, and we all acknowledge that. But he’s saying what happened inside his mother’s womb. David was skillfully woven together. I’m gonna use a little more poetic imagery. Like The skillfully woven sash of the high priest was woven together. That’s the same verb. And so it’s the art of a weaver. That’s what God did to David inside the womb. And why did God do all this? So that someday, David would come to know Him and believe in Him. Some day he would come to trust in God. That’s the whole reason. Oh Lord you and me, you and me, God, You have searched me and You know me. I want to know you too. God knew us before we knew him, and so it was that we might come into a relationship, and so even inside the womb, David’s getting prepared for that, isn’t he? God is shaping him. And so it says, even out of the womb, when he’s nursing at his mother’s breast, it says in Psalm 22:9, “You brought me out of the womb, you made me trust in You, even when I was nursing.” How did David trust in God while he was nursing? Well, the phrase in God or in you isn’t in the original, but it’s well in the context in Psalm 22. In other words, he learned how to trust at his mother’s breast at some point it got transferred to God and he trusted God the way he used to trust his mother. Do you see that? And so the whole relationship was getting prepared from inside the mother’s womb, and we have no right to stop that, clearly. Who are we to interfere with that process? We have no rights. There’s also evidence in Luke 1, look over there if you would with me, Luke 1:41 and following. Of the six lies, I’m spending the most on this one, if we can nail this one down, namely that the pre-born is a human person. Do you see that everything else fits into place? Even some of the toughest ethical issues don’t become tough anymore, when you start to realize this is a human person we’re dealing with. Look at Luke 41, it says, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit. In a loud voice, she exclaimed, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear. But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Leaped for joy. Isn’t that wonderful? There are two great evidences here of the personhood of the pre-born, the first is that filled with the Spirit, Elizabeth calls Mary, the mother of her Lord. Now, Jesus is, I would measure just a few weeks after having been conceived, I mean, just a few weeks, she is into her pregnancy, she’s already a mother, and not just the mother of anybody, she’s the mother of Elizabeth’s Lord. That’s evidence number one. And then there’s John the Baptist, who just seemed to leap for joy, any time Jesus was around, the Holy Spirit would come on him and he would just be filled with the Spirit, there was just like a prophetic magnetic attraction there, there’s Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was just filled with the spirit from his mother’s womb even. And so when Mary’s voice enters Elizabeth’s ears, John the Baptist leaps for joy. I don’t know any product of conception that’s going to rejoice, but I do know people rejoice. People rejoice. John the Baptist was a person, and he’s inside his mother’s womb. And so the Bible speaks very clearly an unmistakable refutation of The Devil’s foundational lie that it’s telling to society, namely, the pre-born is not a person, he most certainly is, the second lie, the child is a burden and not a blessing, I think the general goal here is for a... Satan’s goal is to cause us to hate children as much as he does. I think that’s what’s going on here, but just take it a step back and look at it, you know why because he just hates the image of God. Satan’s Lie #2 He just does, he hates God and he hates anything in his image, Sanctity of Human Life, he hates it. And so He wants us to join him in that attitude and that rebellion, and part of that is to resent children, to look on them as essentially a burden to cause the parents to despise the child, to despise its personhood, calling it an it and not a baby. To despise the effect the child will have on their life financially in lifestyle, in career, in plans, in comforts, who knows, but to despise the child, that’s the goal. And so, abortion gives us the evil sense of ownership over children as though they are ours to assess and debate over, such as Planned Parenthood’s motto, “Every child’s a wanted child.” Who are you to want or not want the child? Think about it now, suppose I came up to one of you and said, I don’t want you. That’ an odd idea, isn’t it, when you stop and think about it? If I were to just come up to any church member or a visitor, that’d be a bad way for a pastor to try to build a church, “I want you to know I don’t want you.” Well, I don’t have a right to want or not want the person in an absolute sense. It’s not my place. God wanted the person, you see. And so what ends up happening is a creeping despising of children that comes in, and we’ve got to speak biblical truth on this, nowadays, even children think of... Even Christians think of children essentially negatively, how much money they cost to raise, how much of an interference they are on your plans, your careers, your pleasures. Planned Parenthood told us that if every child was a wanted child, child abuse would go down, actually the numbers have absolutely skyrocketed because these mentalities come in essentially despising children. We have to speak biblical truth on this matter. Every child is a blessing from God, every child’s a blessing from God. And someone once said, too many children, that’s like too many flowers, think about that. There’s just too many flowers in the world. Psalm 127:3-5, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. Children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a quiver. So are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies of the gate,” Children are a blessing. I can’t imagine my life without my kids, look at the cover of the book’s in_____. Just take a minute, look. Have you seen it? I’m not going to embarrass the father and mother of this child by saying who it is, but somebody who’s near and dear to me, this is not my child, I did not do that, but I was tempted. My kids can look kind of cute, but that’s little Isaac right there with the beast of some sort in his mouth, I don’t know what it is. Is it a rabbit? I haven’t looked at...is it a rabbit? Here it is. What a blessing. What an incredible blessing? Any parents whose kids are fully grown, can you imagine your life without your kids, all those experiences, all the things you went through, your memory, the hard times too, all of it, its life. Children are essential blessings from God. Now we have to speak another word of truth, and that is that children are hard to raise, they do come into the world as sinners and it’s hard to train them, it’s not easy. And so God gave provision, a father and a mother married to each other in covenant relationship, surrounded by godly people, a church. All of that is needed but primarily father, mother together, married foundation for the child’s growth, right? If you have a child born in a different situation like that, you will have incredible difficulties, but God is gracious, he is gracious and he is able to overcome those difficulties, just like for a widow and for orphans, he’s able to make up the difference. He is gracious, and we need to speak that word of hope into very hopeless situations, say God is able and God’s people are able, we better be able. We better be willing to step up and speak the truth, the children are a blessing. "He is gracious, and we need to speak that word of hope into very hopeless situations, say God is able and God’s people are able, we better be able. We better be willing to step up and speak the truth, the children are a blessing." Satan’s Lie #3 The third lie is that abortion is beneficial to the life of the mother. Now, a greatly concealed factor are the incredible risks to a woman of abortion. They don’t want you to know, as a matter of fact, so much that they don’t want you to know that they’re starting to be legal rumblings about consent, informed consent concerning abortions. Many times people, women are not told the full medical story the way they are for another kind of surgery like LASIK or some other things where you’re told all the things that might happen, you’re not told in the matter of abortion, and there are some lawyers, pro-life lawyers that are starting to look at that and say, “Is there informed consent here?”. But there are serious dangers, physical, psychological, emotional and definitely spiritual to abortion. Psychologically, Isaiah 49:15 says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb, even these may forget, but I will not you,” Just built into a woman is a yearning for her children, she just loves them, and there’s a connection there. You have to repress that and squelch it and it comes at a cost, it damages, psychologically. Comes with the cost of a seared conscience. Really, I think 1st Timothy 4:2. Now, I know that sometimes, sadly, some therapeutic abortions have to be done to spare the life of the mother, but we know in those cases the baby would have died too, and it’s just part of the problem of this sin cursed world that we have difficulties like that. But we have to speak the truth. Abortion is not a benefit to the life of the mother; it is greatly damaging and greatly dangerous. There’s an increased risk of breast cancer that’s been linked, it’s been proven, they want to refute it, they want to deny it, but its there, and there is certainly a spiritual risk because people are turning away from God, and they don’t feel that they can come back to God and believe in him and trust in him because of what they’ve done. We’ll get to that in a moment, because you can, they can. We need to speak the truth of the church as well. Satan’s Lie #4 Satan’s fourth lie is that abortion is too entrenched to overthrow. So let’s just give up. Let’s just give up. Its too tough. We’re not making any progress. Well, that's false. We are making progress. Lets just give up, you know why? The devil wants you to believe that because he knows very well better than you do, the power of your offensive weaponry and the strength of your defensive shielding. He knows it better than you do. He knows offensively that our weapons are not the weapons of this world. They have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we’re ready to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. That is the power of the Word of God, it’s powerful and strong. It is able to pull down satanic bad ideas, bad thoughts, he knows that, he knows. He also knows that your defensive shielding is more powerful than anything he can throw at it. Ephesians chapter 6 says, “Put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground, and after you’ve done everything to stand, you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one,” and the devil knows it very well. So what is he gonna do? Well, first of all, he’s going to get you to not trust in the power of your offensive and defensive weaponry and stay at home, just stay at home, be defeated, be deflated, be weak, be supine, lay on the couch and lament that there’s nothing you can do. Just like the spies, when they came back and spoke of the promised land, and it was a good land, but 10 of them spread a bad report saying, “Oh, the cities with walls up to the sky, and we appeared like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” [Number 13:31-33] And God raised up Joshua and Caleb to say, “Oh, with God’s strength and power. We can do it. We can take the promised land.” A year ago, I talked to about two witnesses from church history, and I think were very encouraging William Wilberforce and William Lloyd Garrison on the issue of slavery, Wilberforce for 40 years fought the slave trade and slavery in England, 40 years. The gentle firm consistent patience of a marathoner, that’s what we need here. He labored for 20 years to stop the British slave trade, and then for 20 more years to get rid of slavery altogether. An enemy of Wilberforce said this, “It is necessary to watch him”, you gotta be careful about this guy because, “he is blessed with a very sufficient quantity of that enthusiastic spirit, which so far yielding that it actually grows more vigorous with blows”.The harder you hit him, the more he comes at you, he just doesn’t go away, but he’s so friendly. He’s so positive, he’s so optimistic, I don’t know what we’re gonna do about this guy, he just won’t go away.” And he was a little too, he was like a little guy, a little lightweight guy, but he became...becomes like a monster when speaking the truth, and they couldn't get rid of him, he’s like a big block of cork and you push him down and he pops right back up. He just doesnt give up. Just don’t.....we don’t give up. And then there’s William Lloyd Garrison, fearless fiery preacher of righteousness through journalism. I don’t really know if he was born again, I hope so, but I do know this, his cause was just...as he fought against slavery in America for decades, fiery zeal as a journalist and this is what he wrote, he said, “I need...I need to be all on fire for I am surrounded by mountains of ice. I need to be all on fire for I’m surrounded by mountains of ice.” You gotta deal. You can't just be winsome and positive, like a big piece of cork, but you have to have a fiery zeal, a willingness to tell the truth. His most famous declaration on abolition was this, “I am an earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch and I will be heard.” Can we say that? Can we do that? Can we not play games? Can we not retreat a single inch? Can we make ourselves heard? I just wanna encourage you, our weapons are strong and they’re effective. Let’s not be intimidated. Let’s take the field. Now, on simply changing the laws, you know, that’s not going to be enough. Satan’s Lie #5 Lie number five is, abortion will be defeated if we merely changed the laws. Well, that’s not gonna be good enough. When I started in the abortion fight back in 1980, it was ‘88 or ‘89, Operation Rescue was really involved at that point, and what they did was they would blockade clinics, they would physically chain themselves so that you couldn’t get in, and their enemies mocked them by calling them operation reschedule, because they hadn’t convinced anybody of anything, they just made it physically impossible, that’s human nature, when you wanna do something and you’re not persuaded but just blocked, you’re gonna try even harder to do it. There has to be a persuasion going on, there has to be... There has to be, there has to be reasoning with people’s hearts, and I gotta win hearts and minds on this, it’s not enough to just blockade, I don’t believe in it. Also we have to realize there are reasons that women get abortions, there are reasons, economic reasons, they might feel themselves to be too poor to raise another child, there are family reasons, bad family situation, abusive husband and unsupportive parents, or maybe a young teen girl gets herself into difficulties, spiritual reasons, no convictions whatsoever in the matter, selfishness or ignorance, there are philosophical reasons, dislike of or children are seen to be an interruptional lifestyle, etcetera. The church must respond to these reasons, the church must transform the situation, the church must speak peace and hope and not just with words into the situation. Satan’s Lie #6 And lie number six, your sin is too great for God to forgive. I think we’re all guilty in this matter, to a greater less degree, you could be guilty of sins of omission, or you may be guilty of sins of commission, but either way, we need to repent. And either way, we need God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. And the great, glorious, good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that that grace, that mercy, that forgiveness is abundantly available through Jesus Christ, I mean, abundantly available. There is no sin you can commit, that God’s grace cannot cover through the blood of Christ. Here is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. 1st Timothy 1:50, its trustworthy. And so the devil wants to lie you and tell you there's no grace and no forgiveness, but there is. The spirit of abortion says to the abortionist doctor, there is so much blood on your hands that God can never accept you, your soul is lost forever. The spirit of abortion says to pregnant women, whether... Or a pregnant woman with a child conceived out of wedlock, you’re pregnant through sin and God has abandoned you, there can be no forgiveness for you, there’s no hope, you might as will abort that baby. The spirit of abortion says to the woman who’s already had an abortion, you’ve killed your own baby, and now God will reject you forever, there can be no mercy and no grace for you. That is a lie, that is a lie. The spirit of abortion says to the man who abdicated his responsibility to care for the child he fathered, you’re a poor excuse for a man, and there can be no forgiven for you. It says to the pastor who’s neglected personal involvement and the abortion issue because of fear or desire for a quiet, simple, comfortable life,God will not forgive you, you’re a hypocrite and a coward. Says to the politician who’s hardened his heart and seared conscience by advocating a woman’s right to choose in order to get an elected to an office that he coveted, you can’t be forgiven. There’s no mercy for you. It says to a Supreme Court Justice who votes a certain way on certain cases, violating their own conscience, there can be no forgiveness for you, you’re responsible for millions and millions of deaths, and there can be no forgiveness for you. This is all the devil’s lie. We must come to the cross of Jesus Christ with repentance, with broken-hearted submission and with glad acceptance of his mercy and his grace and his forgiveness, he is tender-hearted and compassionate to the broken-hearted sinner. "We must come to the cross of Jesus Christ with repentance, with broken-hearted submission and with glad acceptance of his mercy and his grace and his forgiveness, he is tender-hearted and compassionate to the broken-hearted sinner." VI. Application Now, what application can we take from this? Well very simply, first of all, believe the Bible, the pre-born are truly persons. I was reading in World Magazine recently, an acronym that stuck with me partially, and I forgot to bring it with me this morning, so I’m gonna do my best at giving you the acronym, and if the world has a different one, all the better, and you can have even more truth. But it’s talking about the person who are the unbeliever and uses the acronym, I think it was sled, S-L-E-D, talking about how there is no difference between the infant in the pre-born philosophically, S size, are you more of a person because you’re bigger and less of a person cause you’re little? L Location, are you more of a person on a mountain top than you are in a cave? Is personhood dependent on your location. E experience, is personhood dependent on your life experiences? The more you experience, the more of a person you’ll be. How about D dependence, is personhood diminished if you’re dependent on a heart lung machine? And if you answer, “No” its not dependent on any of those things, then how can you refute the personhood of the pre-born? On what grounds? Science, location, experience dependence, doesn’t work. Take that to them. Talk to them. Be courageous and communicate. Ask questions. If you see a bumper sticker that says something like this, “Don’t like abortion, then don’t have one”. Ask this question, can I do that with genocide? Don’t believe in genocide, then don’t do it. Or rape, don’t believe in rape, then don’t do it. But leave us alone we who want to rape or want to commit genocide. It doesn’t make any sense. Please refute these things with truth. When politicians say silly things like, “We need to keep abortion safe, legal, funded and rare”. Say, “Wait a minute, please, I’m confused. Just a moment, please. Okay. If the pre-born is a person, then why should abortions be legal, and if the pre-born is not a person, then why should they be rare? Talk to me, politician, tell me why?” That’s just politician speak. It doesn’t mean anything. Refute it with truth. Thirdly, persevere in prayer and action to abolish abortion, let’s be all in fire like William Lloyd Garrison. Let’s not go away. Let’s look and see what we can do better in the year 2004, let’s find out more about what pregnancy support services there are. There’s an insert in your bulletin what they need financially for volunteer hours. There were a few pro-life things that happened in our church this year, I’d like to see more this year. Number four, radiate hope. Shine as a beacon of hope and grace and faith for the desperate. They need the word of hope. Christian, give it to them. Speak hope into their situation. And then finally come to Christ if you’re listening to me today and you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior don’t leave this room without trusting in him and if you’re already a Christian but you’ve committed some sin in this area or any other area come to Christ again for forgiveness and healing and cleansing and he will take your sins and the scripture says in Micah, throw them into the depths of the sea, covered by a sea of his grace through the blood of Christ. "Shine as a beacon of hope and grace and faith for the desperate. They need the word of hope. Christian, give it to them. Speak hope into their situation."

This 125th episode of CS is titled A Second Awakening.I usually leave this announcement for the end but will insert it here at the beginning.Donations to keep the CS host site up are welcome and needed. You can do so at sanctorum.us. Just look for the “Donate” link.We ended our last episode with the dour spiritual condition of both the United States and Europe at the end of the 18th C.I mentioned Dr. J Edwin Orr a couple of episodes back. He was the 20th C's foremost expert on Revival and Spiritual renewal. While he could speak with eloquence on literally dozens of Revivals, one of his favorite subjects was what's come to be known as the Second Great Awakening.Before it began, there were many who worried if God did not intervene, Christianity might die out of Europe and the US.Following Independence from England, many American intellectuals fell in love with France. But France was throwing off religious faith as fast as it could. The French Revolution made a mockery of the Church and Christianity.  A well-known prostitute in Paris was crowned Goddess of Reason IN the Cathedral of Notre Dame. A majority of churches in France closed and the famous skeptic Voltaire claimed Christianity would be consigned to the dustbin of history in only 30 years. Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands were taken over by Rationalism. England was afflicted by a sophisticated Skepticism led by the philosopher David Hume. His attacks on faith are still used on campuses today.French radicals contributed millions of francs to propagandize and seduce American students. In Christian colleges like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, students welcomed the new French ideas, not because they promised justice, but because of they welcomed immorality. It was a time of great moral decline. Of a population of 5 million--300,000 were alcoholics.  They buried 15,000 of them annually.To give you an idea of just how prolific drinking was, President Washington had to call out troops to put down an armed revolt over alcohol in what's come to be known as the Whiskey Rebellion. There was a plague of lawlessness with bank robberies a daily occurrence. Out-of-wedlock births and STDs sky-rocketed. Public profanity soared, cheating was epidemic. The turn toward immorality was so dramatic Congress appointed a special commission to investigate what had happened and how to correct it. The Commission discovered that in Kentucky, there'd been only one court of law held in five years. They simply could not administer justice on the frontier. It became so bad, a group of vigilantes formed and fought a pitched battle with the outlaws è and LOST!A poll taken at Harvard found most students were atheists. At Princeton, a far more evangelical college; there were only two believers in the entire student body. All but five were members of the Filthy Speech Movement. Christians were so unpopular they had to meet in secret. Students burned down buildings and forced college presidents to resign.  A mob of students attacked a Presbyterian church, breaking windows and burning the pulpit Bible. Students often entered churches during Communion to interrupt the service by spitting on the floor.The largest and fastest-growing denomination had been Methodists. But they were now losing thousands each year. The second-largest were the Baptists. They described this time as their “most wintry season.” Presbyterians met in Philadelphia to express their dismay at the immorality of the nation. Lutherans and Episcopalians were so far gone they held talks to consider merging.Samuel Provost, Bishop of NY had not confirmed anyone as a new member in so long, he quit and looked for other work. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshal wrote to Bishop Madison of Virginia that the Church in the US was too far gone to ever recover. Charles Lee, a popular hero of the Revolutionary War loudly advocated pulling down all the churches claiming they were obstacles to progress.The church historian Dr. Kenneth Scott Latourette summed it up by saying it looked as though Christianity was about to be ushered out of the affairs of man. But it wasn't. On the contrary, a mighty outpouring of God's Spirit was about to come.In 1784, Pastor John Erskin of Edinburgh, Scotland published a plea for prayer by all Christians in Scotland.  He sent a copy to Jonathan Edwards in America.  Edwards replied in what became a book titled A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth.Erskin published both his book and Edwards' reply as one-volume and sent it to Dr. John Rylands, a Baptist leader in Britain. Rylands read it, was profoundly moved, and pondered what to do with it.He gave it to two men of prayer who determined to spread it among church leaders. They convinced dozens of Baptist churches to set aside the first Monday of each month to pray for a spiritual awakening. Other denominations found out about what the Baptists were doing and joined. Congregationalists, Evangelicals in the Churches of England and Scotland, and the Methodists all held monthly prayer meetings devoted to praying for revival. Within seven years Britain was covered with a network of prayer.Then in 1791, the first evidence of an answer to their prayers began in the churches at Yorkshire. Mockers went to the monthly prayer meetings intending to disrupt them but went home converted. Some of these meetings were quiet prayer, others noisy.Then in the city of Leeds, the Methodist Church there saw a thousand unbelievers brought to faith in just a few months. Soon all the churches were experiencing the same. What they saw was the renewal of believers and the conversion of the lost. And this winning of so many to Christ stunned both Baptists and Congregationalists. They didn't believe in instantaneous conversion. They assumed it took three months of challenge, another three months of instruction to prove someone had been converted. That an alcoholic could attend a church meeting and go away converted and dramatically changed was hard to believe à Until they saw it happening in their own services.  It revolutionized their understanding of conversion, changing it forever.The revival strengthened Evangelicals in the Church of England like William Wilberforce who went on to lead the abolition movement in England.The revival moved into Scotland. It swept Wales. By 1796 it had covered Norway.One of the products of real revival is the new ministries it gives rise to. A pastor named Thomas Charles was moved by the story of Mary Jones, a serving girl who'd saved up her pennies to by a Bible. The nearest store was thirty miles away, so on her day off, she walked there, to find they were sold out. She returned home in tears. Pastor Charles was so moved he went to London and asked the publishers to print more Bibles. They refused saying the revival was a fad, a temporary emotionalism that would quickly pass and no one would want any Bibles then. So Charles formed the British and Foreign Bible Society, the first of all the Bible societies that would end up printing millions of Bibles that went all over the world.The Second Great Awakening resulted in a massive missionary outreach as well as major social reforms. It led to the abolition of slavery, thousands of schools, and a host of organizations to help the poor and needy.In the US and Canada, the first glimmers of revival began in 1792. It started in Boston where all but a couple of the churches had gone off into the error of Unitarianism. In Lenox, Mass. not a single young person had been received into the Church in 16 years. So a couple of churches agreed to hold special prayer for revival. They prayed for two years, then in 1794, a few pastors sent out a letter to every congregation in the US calling for a concert of prayer.  They'd heard about what was happening in England and determined to do the same.The Presbyterians adopted it in mass. Congregationalists, Baptists, and Moravians all took it up. Soon Christians across the nation were praying the first Monday of every month for spiritual awakening. Their prayers were desperate as they realized the urgency of the need. The momentum built over the next four years until 1798 when the Second Great Awakening began in earnest in the US.One church in NYC began with 80 members. They prayed for revival and three years later had grown to 720. This was typical for most churches during the revival.In the Eastern States, there was little to no emotional extravagance. But in the Western states of Kentucky and Ohio things were different. Remember the horrible conditions that existed on the Western frontier. People were brought under such conviction of sin they were often in an agony that once confessed and repented of, was replaced by unbound joy in salvation.  Many would go from unrestrained weeping to dancing and celebration.James McCready was the pastor of three small churches in Kentucky. McCready's chief claim to fame was that he was so ugly he attracted attention. His voice was coarse and his style of preaching was far from elegant.  In 1799 he said the ministry was “Weeping and mourning with the people of God.” But a year later, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit began in Kentucky.The churches of the frontier were small buildings inadequate to house all those who wanted to attend, so ministers like McCready rode to outdoor campsites where thousands gathered to hear the Word of God and take Communion.At these camp meetings, as many as 20,000 would show up and stay for 3-4 days as one preacher after another preached.The revival swept Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. Dr. George Baxter, a Presbyterian minister from Philadelphia heard about what was happening and went to investigate. He said Kentucky was the most moral place he'd ever seen in his life. He heard not a word of profanity the entire time he was there. He said a sense of religious awe hovered over the entire countryside.There was a great movement for the further evangelization of the Western frontier. Those who were converted traveled back East to attend college and get their degree in theology so they could return and continue the revival. So, revival broke out in those godless colleges of the East we talked about earlier. The Westerners returned home and started dozens of colleges in what today we call the Midwest. ¾'s of all Midwest colleges were the result of the Second Great Awakening.The Revival swept the South and was as evident among the slaves as among the white population.The War of 1812 interrupted the revival, but historians mostly agree that the Second Great Awakening marked the US as a thoroughly Christian nation.As the Awakening began to lose steam, Charles Finney came on the scene with his revival efforts. Beginning in New York State in 1824, he conducted effective meetings in several Eastern cities. The greatest took place in Rochester, New York, in the fall and winter of 1830–31, when he reported a thousand conversions in a city of 10,000. The revival affected nearby towns as well, with over 1,500 making professions of faith. At the same time, there were about 100,000 conversions in other parts of the country from New England to the Southwest.In 1835, Finney became president of Oberlin College in Ohio, where he continued to be an influential revivalist through personal campaigns and the wide distribution of his book Lectures on Revival. It was from the Oberlin school that the Holiness and Pentecostal churches emerged. Not only did Finney's work make a great impact on America, he also made two trips to Europe, where he experienced extensive success.Finney is credited with introducing something called the anxious bench in his meetings. This was a place for people who wanted to express a desire for conversion to sit and await someone leading them to faith by walking them through an understanding of the Gospel then praying with them. The modern-day altar call practiced in many Evangelical churches and meetings is the descendant of Finney's anxious seat.Fast-forward 50 years from the Second Great Awakening and it seemed the tide had gone out again. By the 1850s the country was thriving, largely because of the benefits brought by the Awakening. The Mid-West was being developed, the economy was booming. People made 18% interest on their investments. But as is so often the case, economic prosperity turned into a neglect of the Spirit. The pursuit of pleasure replaced the pursuit of God. The nation was politically divided over the issue of slavery.  It wasn't just States that were divided. Churches and denominations split over it.Into this national argument that ended up tearing the country in two was added a dose of religious turmoil.A veteran and farmer named William Miller rediscovered the doctrine of the 2nd Coming. For generations most of the Church considered Bible prophesy a closed book. Miller began teaching on the Return of Christ. But he made the mistake many have and said Christ would return in 1844. About a million people followed his views.  When it didn't happen, they were bitterly disillusioned because they'd sold their homes, businesses, and farms. Skeptics piled on the fanaticism of the Millerites and fired up a new round of mocking faith.  Then, in 1857, things began to change. What that change was, we'll take a look at it next time.