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Martha Raddatz is a war correspondent, one of the biggest household names in front line reporting. Her newest book, The Hero Next Door tells the story of the service men, women and the caregivers who bring honor to the uniform. From celebrations to heartbreak, these are the stories that have stayed with Martha throughout her decade of brave work, shadowing families and soldiers both on and off the battlefield. We are also talking to a mother daughter team that run LALA Books in Lowell, MA. Join us for two great conversations! Find books mentioned on The Book Case: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/shop/story/book-case-podcast-reading-list-118433302 Books mentioned in this week's episode: The Hero Next Door by Martha Raddatz The Long Road Home by Martha Raddatz Eragon by Christopher Paolini Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Our first-ever podcast guest, John Taft, returns nearly 100 episodes later. John is a Vice Chair of Baird. He was previously the CEO of RBC's U.S. wealth management business through the Great Financial Crisis, overseeing nearly 7,000 employees and almost $300 billion in assets. He chaired SIFMA, the leading securities industry trade association, and testified before Congress during the post-crisis reforms.John has spent more than 40 years in finance, but he didn't start there. He set out to be a newspaper journalist. Then, on a reporting assignment in Lowell, Massachusetts, he watched community leaders use the tools of finance to rebuild a burnt-out industrial city — and realized he didn't just want to write about that work; he wanted to do it.John wrote Stewardship: Lessons Learned from the Lost Culture of Wall Street, followed by A Force for Good: How Enlightened Finance Can Restore Faith in Capitalism. Today he's helping oversee $560B in assets, writes the blog Finance for the Greater Good, and is one of three founding members of the Scholars of Finance Advisory Board.In this episode, John returns to discuss what he's seen happen to the industry — and where it needs to go next. He and Ross dig into the financialization of the economy, the "disease of grandiosity" infecting leaders across sectors, and why financial services have grown larger than necessary to serve the real economy. They get to the productive heart of finance — what John calls "helping real people in the real world solve real problems and achieve real goals" — and the speculative noise crowding it out, from prediction markets and zero-day options to leveraged inverse ETFs and much of the digital asset ecosystem. They also explore AI's coming impact on capital allocation, the widening gap between rich and poor, and why John believes the next ten years will demand more stewardship from finance, not less.Meet John John Taft is a Vice Chair of Baird and a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Earlier in his career, he was a managing director at Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood; president and CEO of Voyageur Asset Management; president and CEO of Dougherty Summit Securities; and a consultant at Deloitte & Touche. He currently serves on the boards of Riverfront Investment Group, Octavus Group, Baird Trust, and Sagard.John holds a B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale University, and a master's degree in public and private management from the Yale School of Organization and Management. He serves as Vice Chair of the Minneapolis Foundation, is an active member of the Itasca Project, and is an Executive in Residence at the Wake Forest University Center for the Study of Capitalism.He credits his family — including his great-grandfather, 27th U.S. President William Howard Taft — for instilling the core values that shape his definition of business success and his belief in the importance of treating every person with dignity.
Frank Demith will be the featured speaker at the Patriotic evening in Moravian Sons Distillery tasting room located inside The Old Theater in downtown Lowell, MI on June 6 starting at 4 p.m. There is a $5 cover charge. You can buy your tickets ahead of time at www.theoldtheater.com Frank Demith entered the army after graduating high school. He was awarded an appointment to the United States Military Academy and graduated with the class of 1983. He spent 26 years on active duty and retired in 2007 later serving additional 2.5 years on active duty. Episode sponsored by award-winning author Frank Demith, Moravian Sons Distillery, Modern History Press and Doc Chavent. He was the program manager for Army Interpreter/Translator program which recruited more than 1500 green card holders who were native speakers of Arabic, Dari, Pashto or Farsi. He is the recipient of the United Nations Icon of Change Award in recognition of work in support of immigrants while in the military and as part of the civilian workforce. He has received International Impact awards for both of his books Of Vital Interest and Defending the Eagle. Take a listen for a chance to win signed copy of Defending the Eagle. Copyright (c) 2026. Emma Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.
SUMiT joined DJ Pup Dawg to discuss his musical journey, explaining how his humble approach to the industry, letting the music do the talking, has paid off with big collaborations. He detailed the story behind tracking down the legendary Method Man for a feature with the help of his friend and producer, Terminology, who had recently released his 60th album. summit also laughed about a late-night recording session mishap in Lowell with Tyla Yaweh.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The podcast is making its fifth visit to Washington. UIAAA Connection #282 – Jeff Lowell, CAA, Director of Athletics, Activities and Title IX – Bellevue School District - is now available. Jeff grew up in a military family as the son of anaval pilot, living in several states and spending part of his elementary years in Norway, where baseball first captured his interest. He also serves as the chair of LTC 508. Throughout the podcast, he reflects on decades in athletic administration and speaks with admiration for many WSAAA legends, including his father-in-law, Tom Doyle. Jeff emphasizes the importance of understanding your personal “why” as an athletic director and allowing that purpose to guideleadership decisions. His advice encourages building a trusted network outside your district for perspective and ensuring school administrators recognize the value of state and national athletic director associations.https://open.spotify.com/show/2L2ERXOxQcuHl5GE1vjOiHThis podcast is also available on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Castbox, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher, and YouTube.
Emma Palova, Director of Operations at Moravian Sons Distillery in Lowell talks about their old world craft distillery and the unique locally-sources products that go into their fruit-based spirits.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Think you have a focus problem? You don't. But you may have an input problem. Lights. Notifications. Noise. Expectations. Pressure. Boardroom tension. Stadium chaos. Internal chatter you don't admit out loud. And the default solution? "Lock in harder." Mental performance expert, Dr. Lowell Wightman, joins J.R. on the Coming Up Clutch with J.R.™ show to challenge one of the biggest misconceptions in high performance: Distraction isn't always a discipline issue. It's often overstimulation. Dr. Wightman shares practical tools he uses with professional athletes, executives, and high-pressure teams to help them reset, recalibrate, and regain control of their environment (instead of being quietly diminished by it). If you've been feeling slightly "off"…or heavy. …or out of rhythm. Not burned out, just not sharp… This conversation may expose why. In this episode, you'll hear: Why awareness (not talent) is the true starting point of elite performance How your five senses quietly shape your focus, confidence, and execution The biggest misconception athletes and leaders have about motivation Why motivation isn't hype How to reset under pressure instead of getting overstimulated or distracted Why you have more environmental and psychological control than you think KEY QUOTES "If you're not aware of what's coming, it's hard to generate the skill of engaging your body and mind in a connection that's going to be able to deal with what's coming at you." Dr. Lowell Wightman "When you're clear on your desires…you get less and less distracted." - Dr. Lowell Wightman CONNECT WITH DR. WIGHTMAN IG: @360mindsetofficial X: @360mindset LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-lowell-wightman-19339915/ Website: 360mindset.com NEXT STEPS Listen to the full episode: https://jamesreid.com/wightman-cuc Want to bring your best home more consistently? Take the Invisible Four™ Assessment and uncover what's quietly blocking you: https://jamesreid.com/assessment Follow J.R. on Social (@jamesJRreid): Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin | X Visit J.R.'s website: https://jamesreid.com RATE & REVIEW this episode on Apple: https://jamesreid.com/review. We'd love it if you could drop a review or 5-star rating! Simply select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. SHARE this episode with someone who wants to be challenged, pushed, and positioned to come up clutch more often. SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss out on any new episodes and Special Guests! Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. LISTEN to previous episodes on Apple, Spotify, or whatever podcast platform you prefer!
For U.S. Biathlon, the 2025-26 season was one of confirmation, momentum and meaningful milestones. In a season-ending conversation on Heartbeat, High Performance Director Lowell Bailey reflected on a year that showed the program's growing competitive depth across the World Cup tour and at the Olympics in Antholz. While the team came away from the Games without a medal, Bailey pointed to a series of performances that underscored how far the program has come and where it is headed.Campbell Wright continued to establish himself among the world's elite, backing up his breakthrough World Championship medals from the previous season with a World Cup podium in the Nové Mesto mass start and an eighth-place finish in the Olympic pursuit. Bailey called Wright's season further confirmation that he is “here to stay,” with the next step being more consistent podium contention.The season's most satisfying moment, Bailey said, came in the mixed relay in Otepää, where the U.S. reached the podium — a powerful indicator of the team's rising depth. The men's relay also continued its steady climb, finishing the season ranked fifth in the world, while the women improved their Nations Cup standing from 19th to 13th. For Bailey, those team-based results show that U.S. Biathlon is no longer dependent on one or two athletes, but is building a roster capable of competing across events.A major storyline was the continued success of Project X, U.S. Biathlon's talent-transfer pathway for cross country skiers. The emergence of Luci Anderson and Margie Freed over the past few years is a testament to the unique possibilities of the program.The season also marked the close of two important careers, as Jake Brown and Paul Schommer stepped away from competition. Bailey praised Brown for his intensity, focus and all-in approach, saying his presence pushed teammates to be their best. Schommer, he said, served as a vital bridge between generations, bringing positivity and cohesion to every team environment.As U.S. Biathlon moves into a new Olympic quad, Bailey sees the program entering another phase of its long-term 2030 plan, with added coaching structure, stronger development support, and renewed focus on shooting, physiology, ski service and performance analytics.The milestones of this season, Bailey said, are signs that the work is paying off and that U.S. Biathlon is on track.To our loyal Heartbeat listeners, thanks for tuning in. And we'll be back again this fall with more.
Send us Fan MailDr. Lija Josepth (Pathologist, Lowell General Hospital) and Deedee O'Brient (Patient) are interviewed by co-host Alae Kawam. This episode explores the human side of pathology, patient connection, and the future of digital health. Guests share personal stories and visions for more accessible, compassionate healthcare.A forum to engage with the hosts and other listeners has been launched on the DPA website www.digitalpathologyassociation.org. DPA members may login to the DPA Collaborate hub (under the Resources tab) and join the Beyond The Scope community. All listeners are encouraged to use this forum to suggest future topics and guests, submit questions and corrections, and provide general feedback.
The queens visit The Lowells in a game of "Amy Robert Lowell"Support Breaking Form by reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts here.Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Notes:Watch a brief biographical video about Amy Lowell here. Poems we mention include these by Amy Lowell:"Sword Blades and Poppy Seed""Opal""The Letter""A Winter Ride" (which includes the line "Everything mortal has moments immortal"; the poem appeared in her first book, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass [Houghton Mifflin, 1912])."A Decade""September, 1918" (which we discuss at length)And these by Robert Lowell:"Night Sweat""Home After Three Months Away""The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket" which includes the line "The Lord survives the rainbow of his will.""Reading Myself"Watch a longer documentary about Robert Lowell here (~60 min).Here's the music video for Chappell Roan's "Casual"Here's an article about Amy and Robert Lowell that's worth reading. Here's a link to "Amy Lowell: Selected Poems" edited by Honor Moore; watch Moore discuss Lowell here (~60 min).Watch Naomi Shihab Nye read Amy Lowell's "The Garden by Moonlight."Watch Kids Magazine TV A bit about hyphenated use of words like "to-day" vs "today." In Old and in Middle English, the practice was to join the time with the preposition, using a hyphen "to-day," and "to-morrow," and "to-night," for instance. As the sense of their use as single notions developed, the two elements were brought together in written language (i.e., to night, to-night, and tonight). Nineteenth-century dictionaries opted for the hyphen in all three words. The OED shows hyphenated examples throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th. Latest examples are of to-day (1912), to-night (1908), and to-morrow (1927, with a possible further example as late as 1959). (Adapted from this article).
For years, Merrimack Valley residents haven't been able to go to LeLacheur Field in Lowell and cheer on their beloved Spinners, as the team folded during the MLB's restructuring of the minor league system. That's all about to change, as the team's under new ownership and in a new league. What won't be changing is the family fun, food, and everything else that makes up the Lowell Spinners experience. Opening Day is May 29th, and this weekend, Nichole talks with Principal Owner/CBO Marc Deschenes and Chairman/CEO John Croteau to learn about what they have in store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Making up for last time (no regular episode of CPP in a few weeks … and still, sadly, no Biff) Joe and Jacques record this super long fun filled ADHD all over the map episode. We start with going deep into the CPP vault and playing a fan favorite Joe – Self Indulgent Theater (which really, it's not Joe being indulged ... but at Jacques demanding) … John Oliver doing the theme from Cheers. Start off talking the fun new Eddie Murphy doc (and the need for him to do a puppeteering special) … which led to talking Dolemite Is My Name bio-pic Murphy did … which led to us watching and talking Rudy Ray Moore (the real Dolemite's movie) The Human Tornado! Into the weekly, this is why Tony V is the greatest talk and how awesome the Kristin O'Brien Town and City Fest show was couple weeks ago, Like to say thanks to Jim Gaffigan for I'm sure he'd say yes had we asked, uses of his clip on “Spring”! Dominik Lay on the School Committee in Lowell has become Jacques “Public Enemy Number Dumb” and has set Jacques down path of getting more involved in local government … but also Jacques and Management did met Ed Markey this week! Chat Managements amazing humanitarian trip to Ukraine last week to … driving a donated car from London to Lviv Ukraine and working at a dog sanctuary in Lviv. Chat VAR questionable call in Westham Arsenal game being THE most consequential call in VAR Premier League history — giving Arsenal the title (over City) AND relegating the Hammers! Chat the great Siskel and Ebert long run of shows of movie reviews, Dare Devil Reborn season 2, Maul – Shadow Lord and YES … squeezes in some Resident Evil 9 gaming talk. … And … a parenting tip? Opening Song: Gomer by Beyond Id (on Spotify on album “The Stovin' Years) Ending Song: Gates Of Hell – Sebadoh Cover by Beyond Id (live on WMFO 1994)
Get the stories from today's show in THE STACK: https://justinbarclay.comJoin Justin in the MAHA revolution - http://HealthWithJustin.comProTech Heating and Cooling - http://ProTechGR.com New gear is here! Check out the latest in the Justin Store: https://justinbarclay.com/storeKirk Elliott PHD - FREE consultation on wealth conservation - http://GoldWithJustin.comTry Cue Streaming for just $2 / day and help support the good guys https://justinbarclay.com/cueUp to 80% OFF! Use promo code JUSTIN http://MyPillow.com/JustinPatriots are making the Switch! What if we could start voting with our dollars too? http://SwitchWithJustin.com
Get CRYPTID: The Creepy Card Battling Game https://cryptidcardgame.com/ Read our new wendigo horror novel https://eeriecast.com/lore Sign up for Eeriecast PLUS for bonus content and more https://eeriecast.com/plus SCARY STORIES TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 1:28 Beast - From - Aaron Seyers 16:31 I think I may have finally seen a feral person - From - Ivyman26. 28:04 Cryptid Sighting in Lowell, Oregon - From - Bruce_101 34:25 Glamping gone wrong - From - Princess_Teach Get our merch http://eeriecast.store/ Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/3YVN4twrD8 Follow the Unexplained Encounters podcast! https://pod.link/1152248491 Follow and review Tales from the Break Room on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! https://pod.link/1621075170 Follow us on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/show/3mNZyXkaJPLwUwcjkz6Pv2 Follow and Review us on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darkness-prevails-podcast-true-horror-stories/id1152248491 Submit Your Story Here: https://www.darkstories.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Msgr. Roger J. Landry St. Michael's Parish, Lowell, Massachusetts Funeral Mass of Valerie Tellier May 15, 2026 Eccl 3:1-8, Ps 27, Rom 8:14-23, Jn 11:17-45 To listen to the homily, please click below: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/5.15.26_Funeral_Homily_for_Valerie_Tellier_1.mp3 The following points were attempted in the homily: Believing in Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life. Believing in […] The post Funeral Homily for Valerie Tellier, St. Michael’s Parish, Lowell, MA, May 15, 2026 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.
Host | Matthew S Williams For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast ______________________Episode Notes From Apollo to Artemis: What Lowell Observatory Knows About Going Back to the Moon Fifty years is a long time to forget how to do something. That is, more or less, where NASA stood when Artemis 1 left the pad — and where it stands now, with Artemis 2 having put humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in half a century. The institutional memory had thinned. The people who built Apollo had moved on, retired, or passed away. The books, as Dr. Alex Polanski puts it in this episode, had to be dusted off. Polanski, a Percival Lowell postdoctoral fellow at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, joins host Matt to talk about what Artemis 2 actually proved, and why Lowell — an observatory better known for its exoplanet work and its founder's obsession with Mars — has always sat closer to crewed spaceflight than most people realize. The nine Apollo astronauts trained on the volcanic terrain of northern Arizona. They studied lunar maps made at Lowell. They walked the same ground tourists walk today, in the shadow of the Clark refractor. The conversation moves from the geology of the Moon's Highlands and Maria to the meteorite work of Dr. Nick Moskowitz, the mapping happening at the USGS office down the road, and the longer question behind all of it: is the Moon a stepping stone to Mars, or a detour? Polanski makes the case for the stepping stone — not out of caution, but because there are things we don't yet know we need to know, and a one-second light delay is a much more forgiving classroom than a twenty-minute one. And then there's what comes next. Radio telescopes in the craters of the far side, shielded from Earth's noise. Optical interferometers spread across lunar real estate, free of the atmospheric wobble that makes ground-based astronomy feel, in Polanski's words, like reading a note card at the bottom of a pool. For the first time, the possibility of actually seeing the surfaces of other stars. Percival Lowell saw canals on Mars that weren't there. He may have been looking at the veins in his own eye. A century later, his observatory is helping figure out how to look at the real thing.
With UFOs and UAPs dominating the headlines lately, we're heading deep into the hollows to explore what's been hovering over our own backyard. In this episode of Spooky Appalachia, James and Jared share five chilling, first-hand accounts of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sent in by you—the listeners.From massive triangular crafts stalking muscle cars on the backroads of Virginia to "missing time" encounters on the Kentucky border, these stories prove that the Appalachian skies are just as mysterious as the woods beneath them.In this episode, we cover:The Troutville Triangle (1974): A terrifying high-speed chase on Route 11 where a craft the size of a football field followed a 1963 Oldsmobile.Watoga State Park Mystery (2023): A dark, windowed craft spotted in one of West Virginia's most famous dark-sky locations.The Silver Being of the KY-VA Line: A hunter's account of multi-colored lights, hours of missing time, and a chilling message from a tall, featureless visitor.The Alabama River Stalker: Two separate encounters on a remote dirt road involving a craft that mimicked every turn of a truck before vanishing at "warp speed."The Lowell, NC Hoverer: A quiet night in North Carolina turned unforgettable by a mysterious object in the late 2000s.Whether you're a long-time believer or a skeptic, these authentic accounts from the heart of Appalachia will have you looking at the stars a little differently tonight.Have your own story? Send it to us: https://www.spookyappalachia.com/submitastory.php Stay Spooky. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Host | Matthew S Williams For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast ______________________Episode Notes From Apollo to Artemis: What Lowell Observatory Knows About Going Back to the Moon Fifty years is a long time to forget how to do something. That is, more or less, where NASA stood when Artemis 1 left the pad — and where it stands now, with Artemis 2 having put humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in half a century. The institutional memory had thinned. The people who built Apollo had moved on, retired, or passed away. The books, as Dr. Alex Polanski puts it in this episode, had to be dusted off. Polanski, a Percival Lowell postdoctoral fellow at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, joins host Matt to talk about what Artemis 2 actually proved, and why Lowell — an observatory better known for its exoplanet work and its founder's obsession with Mars — has always sat closer to crewed spaceflight than most people realize. The nine Apollo astronauts trained on the volcanic terrain of northern Arizona. They studied lunar maps made at Lowell. They walked the same ground tourists walk today, in the shadow of the Clark refractor. The conversation moves from the geology of the Moon's Highlands and Maria to the meteorite work of Dr. Nick Moskowitz, the mapping happening at the USGS office down the road, and the longer question behind all of it: is the Moon a stepping stone to Mars, or a detour? Polanski makes the case for the stepping stone — not out of caution, but because there are things we don't yet know we need to know, and a one-second light delay is a much more forgiving classroom than a twenty-minute one. And then there's what comes next. Radio telescopes in the craters of the far side, shielded from Earth's noise. Optical interferometers spread across lunar real estate, free of the atmospheric wobble that makes ground-based astronomy feel, in Polanski's words, like reading a note card at the bottom of a pool. For the first time, the possibility of actually seeing the surfaces of other stars. Percival Lowell saw canals on Mars that weren't there. He may have been looking at the veins in his own eye. A century later, his observatory is helping figure out how to look at the real thing.
Welcome to Courageous Leadership with Virginia Prodan #Podcast today - our guest is -Gary Benoit - editor-in-chief at JBS and The New American. Topic - A closer look at the John Birch Society and at the 14th Amendment - Birthright Citizenship. Gary Benoit is editor-in-chief of The New American, a publication affiliate of The John Birch Society, and the author of Vanguard of the Americanist Cause: A Close Look at The John Birch Society. He has been a member of the JBS since joining as a teenager in 1968, and has been a member of its staff since 1977. He became editor of The New American in 1986 and assumed his current position as editor-in-chief in 2021. Over the years, he has also served as director of the Birch Society's research department, editor of the JBS Bulletin, and publisher of The New American. He graduated magna cum laude in physics from the University of Lowell (now the University of Massachusetts Lowell) in 1976. On this channel, you'll find weekly episodes that inspire and equip you to: - Strengthen your #Christian #faith and live with bold #courage - Defend #freedom and #values in an increasingly hostile culture - Learn powerful lessons from history - Discover your #God-given purpose and calling - Lead with #conviction at home, in the church, and in society I am Virginia Prodan —#international #humanrights #attorney, #keynote #speaker, #author of #SavingMyAssassin, and survivor of socialist Romania. I know firsthand the price of freedom, the power of faith, and the courage it takes to stand for truth in the face of opposition. Whether you're searching for encouragement, answers to cultural challenges, or practical steps to live boldly in your faith, this channel will equip you to stand strong. Stay Connected with Virginia Prodan
Ahead of Mother's Day, we open the phone lines to hear what the holiday means to you. It can be a celebration, or more complicated. Or, just an excuse to get brunch. How do you make time to connect with the women in your life?Then, The Atlantic's Tom Nichols on the U.S. attempted oil blockade in Iran. And violinist and disability advocate Gaelynn Lea performs for Live Music Friday. NBC10 Boston's Sue O'Connell delivers the real news from the Met Gala, and discusses how Lowell residents are the first to put up a battle against data centers.
The Celtics season is over. The pharmaceutical company that produces Mifepristone asking the Supreme Court to lift a lower court's ruling prohibiting health providers from dispensing the abortion pill by mail. Walking with purpose in Lowell today. Stay in "The Loop" with #iHeartRadio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Local author Chris Boucher joined WBUR's All Things Considered to talk about Harry "Bucky" Lew, the first Black professional basketball player.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills suspends campaign, standoff continues over the Strait of Hormuz, and Boston Fleet playoff begins in Lowell. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
WBZ NewsRadio's Drew Moholland has more in an interview with Chris Porter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happens to conservatism in a world full of technological and societal change? In this episode, we discuss four pessimistic American thinkers: James Russel Lowell, E.L. Godkin, Henry Adams, and Brooks Adams. While hurt by their pessimism for the American future, they still have deeply relevant thoughts on progress, the media, and economic conditions. We also discuss our run-ins with Stoicism and a self-professed Epicurean.Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!
The Fat One kicks off the final week of April with a recap of his weekend which included Friday at Fatty's, nattering about Gayle and King, several gas reports, a lime report, sportsball, quiz programs and Matlock and a trip to the Lowell's. Happy National Prime Rib Day.
O que fazer quando você sente que precisa de um reavivamento, que sua ligação com Deus perdeu em qualidade, que já não está mais tão perto dEle quanto estava antes?Esta mensagem foi apresentada ao Pequeno Grupo das Madrugadas com Deus em Lowell, MA, EUA, em 24 de setembro de 2025.Neste episódio você vai saber também que quando busca mais da presença de Deus, está declarando para o universo, diante dos anjos bons e maus, que pertence a Ele. E, para isso, precisamos pedir constantemente por um reavivamento.Abaixo está um resumo desta mensagem preparado por Sancy K. Krefta, lider do Pequeno Grupo em Lowell, MA:Em 1 João 5:11-12, aprendemos que: 1. A vida eterna é um presente gratuito de Deus – “Aquele que tem o Filho tem a vida; aquele que não tem o Filho de Deus não tem a vida.” 2. A vida eterna começa agora – Jesus é a própria vida eterna, e quando vivemos com Ele, já começamos a desfrutá-la. 3. Ter o Filho é ter vida – E como recebemos o Filho? Estudando e meditando na Sua Palavra, que revela nossos pecados e nos conduz ao arrependimento.Deus não pode ouvir a oração de um pecador que não confessa (exemplo, Isaías 59:1 e 2). Mas quando nos submetemos, reconhecendo nossa condição e aceitando o sacrifício de Cristo, Ele perdoa e nos dá vida nova. Foi por mim e por você que Jesus morreu, e somente n'Ele encontramos força: “Tudo posso naquele que me fortalece.”Precisamos cultivar o hábito diário de buscar a Deus em oração e estudo da Bíblia. É na prática da Palavra que encontramos vitória contra a tentação. Quanto mais nos aproximamos de Deus, mais reconhecemos nossa necessidade d'Ele, como Pedro ao dizer: “Senhor, não somente os pés…” e Jesus respondendo: “Se eu não te lavar, não terás parte comigo.”Assim, somos chamados a viver em submissão, confissão e adoração, buscando sempre Jesus, a verdadeira vida eterna.
Lynnfield School Committee cracks down on bullying, a federal jury finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster guilty of monopoly, and trash fees increase in Lowell. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZ NewsRadio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bob Colling Jr. & Dallas Gridley have made it to the fourth monthly PPV of 2008, Lockdown from April 13, 2008 at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts. TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle defends against Samoa Joe in the main event! Plus, Team Tomko takes on Team Cage in Lethal Lockdown, the X-Division battles in the X-Scape Match to determine who will leave as the X-Division Champion, six tag teams fight in Cuffed In The Cage and the TNA Knockouts brawl to determine the #1 Contender in the Queen Of The Cage Match! Also, Booker T & Sharmell are in action against Robert Roode & Payton Banks, BG James and Kip James finally face off one on one and Gail Kim & ODB face KO Champion Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed inside the six sides of steel! You don't want to miss this epic, all cage PPV event with us! More TNA Cross The Line Podcast: tnacrosstheline.com Follow us on Twitter @CrossTheLineTNA Follow us on Facebook @TNACrossTheLinePod Follow us on Instagram @CrossTheLineTNA Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Shop at our Pro Wrestling Tees Store
After a marathon round 21 hours of negotiations, the U.S. and Iran failed to reach a deal. High prices at the pump continue to impact drivers across the U.S. And for the right price, you could own a piece of Lowell history. Stay in "The Loop" with WBZNewsRadio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Laura Veirs crafts musical portraits shaped by daily life, family, and the broader dynamics she encounters through international touring, the record business, and motherhood. Her 15th studio album, Temple Songs, arrives August 14 and features the single “Flying Into Darkness,” which she describes as joyous, “but also dark.” Veirs' musical path has been marked by constant evolution: while studying at Carleton College, she formed the all-female group Rair Kx, and her 1999 self-titled debut leaned heavily into punk. By the time she recorded The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae (2001)—one of her personal favorites of her catalogue—she was exploring bluegrass and country influences, later incorporating more melancholic, blues-inflected tones while maintaining her folk roots, as heard in tracks like “Tom Skookum Road.” In her next album, Carbon Glacier (2004), she introduced more electronic textures, notably on the percussive opener “The Cloud Room.” Year of Meteors (2005) leaned into a rock-infused folk sound, while Saltbreakers (2007) pushed toward a rawer, more experimental edge, with its track “Drink Deep” appearing in the soundtrack to the film Hello I Must Be Going (2012), starring Melanie Lynskey. Her 2010 album July Flame—named after a peach she encountered at a farmers' market—features one of multiple collaborations with Jim James of My Morning Jacket. She followed this with Tumble Bee (2011), a children's folk album, and Warp & Weft (2013), recorded during her pregnancy. Over the next couple of years, Laura collaborated with artists like Sufjan Stevens —contributing backing vocals to “Should Have Known Better” on his album Carrie & Lowell (2015) —and Neko Case, with whom she formed the supergroup (and released their eponymous album), case/lang/veirs (2016), alongside k.d. lang. Her later work reflects both personal and cultural shifts: The Lookout (2018) channels anxiety surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election, while subsequent albums—including My Echo (2020), released at the onset of the pandemic, Found Light (2022), and Phone Orphans (2023)—demonstrate her fluid, impactful genre-blending talent and ability. Within the music world, she has also hosted the podcast Midnight Lightning, which features interviews with musicians who communicate their approach towards balancing parenthood and artistry, with guests including legendary bassist Carol Kaye and Rosanna Arquette. In our conversation, we discussed her move to the Pacific Northwest in the early 2000s, her evolving musical influences, maintaining a self-care routine, balancing life as an artist and parent, and her upcoming tour across Europe and North America.Opening Credits: Pierce Murphy - The Shadow Of The Bluff I CC BY 4.0; The Top One Percent - Cavalier I CC BY 4.0. Closing Credits: Podington Bear - Surface Tension I CC BY-NC 3.0.
Case Update: Jill Kloppenburg Recently, in episode 118 of Missing Persons, we explored the case of 47 year old Jill Kloppenburg who vanished under mysterious circumstances from Lowell, MA in January, 2022. Sadly, her remains have been found and someone has been charged in relation to her death. Listen to this quick update episode to find out what happened, and who police believe is responsible. We are happy to announce that starting two weeks from now, Missing Persons will be back with all new cases, so be sure to tune in. To listen to every episode of Missing Persons early, and ad-free, and get other benefits, simply visit our channel page on Apple Podcasts to get started with an AbJack Insider subscription. Follow us on social media; https://linktr.ee/missingpersonspodcast ©2026 AbJack Entertainemt- All rights reserved. This content is the sole property of AbJack Entertainment. Any unauthorized use, re-selling, re-purposing, or re-distribution, is strictly prohibited, and will be subject to legal action.
WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Lowell Crabb is the Founder and Principal of Drive Wealth Advisors, an independent wealth advisory firm specializing in serving business owners, corporate executives, and high net worth individuals. Lowell is based out of Utah, and is a graduate of BYU. I hope you enjoy learning from Lowell Crabb today. In this episode we discuss the following: While private wealth management operates in the financial world, it's also deeply psychological, which worked out well for Lowell given his undergraduate degree. I especially appreciated Lowell's insight about the two ingredients required for trust: ethics and competence. When he lost an early client, it wasn't because the client questioned Lowell's integrity or intentions. The hesitation came from uncertainty about Lowell's experience and ability. Just being a good person wasn't enough—we also have to demonstrate that we can deliver results. I also enjoyed Lowell's emphasis on playing the long game, not only in business but in life.
Full Text of Readings The Resurrection of the LordThe Mass of Easter Day Lectionary: 42 The Saint of the day is Saint Vincent Ferrer Saint Vincent Ferrer's Story The polarization in the Church today is a mild breeze compared with the tornado that ripped the Church apart during the lifetime of this saint. If any saint is a patron of reconciliation, Saint Vincent Ferrer is. Despite parental opposition, he entered the Dominican Order in his native Spain at 19. After brilliant studies, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Peter de Luna—who would figure tragically in his life. Of a very ardent nature, Saint Vincent Ferrer practiced the austerities of his Order with great energy. He was chosen prior of the Dominican house in Valencia shortly after his ordination. The Western schism divided Christianity first between two, then three, popes. Clement VII lived at Avignon in France, Urban VI in Rome. Vincent was convinced the election of Urban was invalid, though Catherine of Siena was just as devoted a supporter of the Roman pope. In the service of Cardinal de Luna, Vincent worked to persuade Spaniards to follow Clement. When Clement died, Cardinal de Luna was elected at Avignon and became Benedict XIII. Saint Vincent Ferrer worked for him as apostolic penitentiary and Master of the Sacred Palace. But the new pope did not resign as all candidates in the conclave had sworn to do. He remained stubborn, despite being deserted by the French king and nearly all of the cardinals. Vincent became disillusioned and very ill, but finally took up the work of simply “going through the world preaching Christ,” though he felt that any renewal in the Church depended on healing the schism. An eloquent and fiery preacher, he spent the last 20 years of his life spreading the Good News in Spain, France, Switzerland, the Low Countries and Lombardy, stressing the need of repentance and the fear of coming judgment. He became known as the “Angel of the Judgment.” Saint Vincent Ferrer tried unsuccessfully, in 1408 and 1415, to persuade his former friend to resign. He finally concluded that Benedict was not the true pope. Though very ill, he mounted the pulpit before an assembly over which Benedict himself was presiding, and thundered his denunciation of the man who had ordained him a priest. Benedict fled for his life, abandoned by those who had formerly supported him. Strangely, Vincent had no part in the Council of Constance, which ended the schism. Reflection The split in the Church at the time of Vincent Ferrer should have been fatal—36 long years of having two “heads.” We cannot imagine what condition the Church today would be in if, for that length of time, half the world had followed a succession of popes in Rome, and half an equally “official” number of popes in say, Rio de Janeiro. It is an ongoing miracle that the Church has not long since been shipwrecked on the rocks of pride and ignorance, greed and ambition. Contrary to Lowell's words, “Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne,” we believe that “truth is mighty, and it shall prevail”—but it sometimes takes a long time.Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
The story of Soleil Ho starts with their grandparents. In this episode, meet and get to know the food writer and COYOTE Media Collective member who's been on my radar since they replaced longtime Chronicle food writer and mysterious human Michael Bauer. In Part 1, we dive into Soleil's family story. It begins two generations back, when their grandparents came to the US from Vietnam in the Seventies. They were refugees from the US war in their homeland. On Soleil's mom side, the grandparents brought Soleil's mom and seven other children from Vũng Tàu to Freeport, Illinois. They had first ended up in a refugee camp in Arkansas. It wasn't easy finding a new home for such a large family, but an older refugee from Nazi Germany who lived in Freeport took them in. Soleil's mom was around 10 years old when she got to Freeport. Soleil's dad's family comes from Central Vietnam. After the Viet Cong took over, they put his dad (Soleil's paternal grandfather) in a re-education camp, where he remained for around 10 years. After that, he was released and was able to flee his homeland for the US to join his family (also a large one). They also ended up in Illinois, where Soleil's parents eventually met. The story of how their parents met goes something like this: The Illinois Vietnamese scene was relatively small, and folks mostly knew one another. By Soleil's description, their maternal grandfather was "the guy," meaning he threw parties and made connections. So their parents' families just hung together, sometimes at big parties like at Lunar New Year, and there was always a lot of food. It was a shotgun wedding, with Soleil present in fetal form. They have a younger sister and their parents are now divorced. Soleil was born in 1987 in Illinois. Their mom had moved to Chicago to go to school there. Their earliest memories take place in Chicago, in fact. With two young parents working a lot to support their family, Soleil and their sister spent a lot of time with their maternal grandparents. They remember learning to make sandwiches in their grandparents' kitchen. Another early memory that I find fascinating and a little funny is of Michael Jordan individually wrapped hot dogs. It was Chicagoland in the Nineties, so it makes perfect sense that Bulls merch was everywhere. And that extended to food, remarkably. There's one memory from preschool involving contraband Gummy Bears. Fun stuff. As Soleil got a little older, they developed a love of vampires. In art classes, when asked to draw hand turkeys or Santas, Soleil would do so, but they would add fangs and bloody teeth. Fast-forwarding a bit, Soleil says that around the time they went off to college, they realized that the family had moved around 20 times. They moved to New York City when Soleil was eight. Their mom worked in fashion and lived on the east side of Manhattan. From there, they moved to Brooklyn. When I express awe at living in NYC in the Nineties, Soleil is quick to point out that this was Giuliani's New York. Policies of that administration transformed much of the city, especially Manhattan. We'll just leave it at that. It was around this time that Soleil started to develop a "taste in food," as they say. Their mom was now a single mom, working a lot, and like many families, they had the drawer full of take-out menus. Through this, Soleil learned about various Chinese cuisines, Indian food, and dishes from many other cultures, all represented right there in the kitchen. After Brooklyn came a short stint in Long Island before returning to Brooklyn, where Soleil went to high school. They compare that school to Lowell here, where you have to test to get in and "all the smart kids" go. With a quick, feeble calculation in my head, I ask whether Soleil starting high school around 9/11. They confirm and share their story of that day—suffice to say that they saw the whole thing happen in real time. I ask whether they're scarred from 9/11. Soleil says that, yes they are, but mostly existentially. Then they pivot to talking about how it brought about an end to illusion about the world, which is a net good thing. But seeing 9/11 in the greater context of conflict around the world really opened their eyes. (Our second guest that day, Honey, seen in the first photo with Soleil above, took issue with a canine passer-by, which I've left in the recording because duh.) September 11 led to Soleil's becoming an activist anti-war person, starting in 2003 with Iraq. Rather than being scarred by 9/11, it allowed them to put their own life into context. As a Vietnamese person with a French first name, they started questioning things like: Why was it so easy for the US to go to war after 9/11, first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq? When it came time for college, Soleil says that they wanted to "get as far the fuck away from New York as" they could, which for them meant Iowa and Grinnell College. They chose the school to be closer to their grandparents, who still lived in nearby Illinois, and because Grinnell essentially billed itself as a place for folks to figure it out, so to speak. By the time Soleil graduated college four years later, the sub-prime crash had happened and the subsequent recession had begun. They worked on a farm, which was hard but helped them better understand food systems. And then they moved to Minneapolis and began working in a restaurant, where we wrap up Part 1. Check back Thursday for Part 2 and the rest of Soleil Ho's story, including how they helped found COYOTE Media Collective. We recorded this episode at Strawberry Creek Park in Berkeley in March 2026. Photography by Jeff Hunt
In this episode, Lara Adler breaks down a lot of good information regarding water quality and why this matters, particularly for the region you live in. You'll learn:- How prevalent environmental chemicals are in today's world but particularly in our water- Who the governing body is for water quality- Why certain chemicals added to our water can be beneficial but also affect our health- The particular chemicals to think about in our water- Why where you live matters- Differences in water filter methodsAbout our guest:Lara Adler is an Environmental Health Educator and Consultant with over 14 years of experience helping health professionals and health-focused organizations understand the impact of environmental chemicals on chronic health conditions. Her work bridges emerging research with practical, evidence-based strategies to minimize toxic exposures and strengthen resilience against environmental challenges.After more than a decade of teaching courses on environmental health to thousands of practitioners in over 35 countries, Lara now focuses her work on consulting and public education, supporting mission-driven organizations, health brands, and educators in addressing environmental health topics with accuracy, nuance, and a grounded, balanced tone. Lara is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health (MPH) at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.Lara's links:Website: https://www.laraadler.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/environmentaltoxinsnerd/Substack: https://talkingtoxins.substack.com/Stephanie's links:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drstephpeacockInstgram: https://www.instagram.com/drstephpeacock/Website: https://stephaniepeacock.com/ Subscribe to my newsletter: https://stephanies-newsletter-c410d1.beehiiv.com/subscribe
The crew listen back to the best Hill Notes of the day. Hill Notes come at Wiggy for being a know-it-all, the survey that said Lowell is the top city in mass and more!
Scheim gives his lead for the morning. A new survey has found that Lowell is the best place to live in the state of Massachusetts. The crew ask him why that is.
Doug Lowell spent nearly 40 years in the world of advertising, from co-owning an ad agency to teaching the subject at Portland State University. But it was only in retirement that he was able to achieve his dream job of opening his own bookstore. As a third-generation Portlander, the business also allows him to play a part in the revitalization of Portland’s downtown, which he recalls once being the envy of other cities. Lowell began welcoming customers to the store, Kid Hermes the Trickster, about a month ago. Oregon ArtsWatch recently profiled Lowell and his new venture. The 830-square-foot space in downtown Portland is packed with roughly 1,700 books that come mostly from Lowell’s personal library. In addition to literary classics from Jane Austen and Franz Kafka, visitors might find rare first editions and signed copies of titles spanning photography, science fiction or even a 16-volume collection of the Oxford English Dictionary. There’s also a gallery inside the store where Lowell hosts art exhibitions featuring local and international artists. Lowell joins us to share his vision and hopes for Kid Hermes the Trickster.
Mea Culpa welcomes back, the groundbreaking, congressional reporter, Hugo Lowell. Lowell reports on Washington Politics for the Guardian. And has broken a number of high-profile stories about the January 6th committee's investigation, including several scoops pertaining to Mark Meadows, the “war room” at the Willard Hotel and insider facts such as; Trump ordering his advisors NOT to comply with January 6 committee subpoenas. Lowell regularly appears as a political analyst on MSNBC. And is often a guest on Morning Joe, The Beat with Ari Melber, Velshi and All In with Chris Hayes. His reporting has been cited in the Washington Post, Bloomberg and the New York Times. Michael and Hugo dig deep into the DOJ, Judge Cannon, Tish James and what's coming for the Mango Mussolini.
During his testimony last week Bill Clinton threw Gov. J.B. Pritzker under a double-decker bus, as he brought him up in his answer to a question about Jeffery Epstein. Then, we get an update on a case in Lowell that could be dismissed thanks to the Middlesex DA cover-up. Visit the Howie Carr Radio Network website to access columns, podcasts, and other exclusive content.
1 Timothy 4:8 NIV “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” *Transcription Below* Brian Smith, author of The Christian Athlete: Glorifying God in Sports, is a staff member with Athletes in Action and a cross-country coach at Lowell High School. A former collegiate runner at Wake Forest University, he earned a BA in Communications and Journalism before completing his MA in Theology and Sports Studies at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Brian lives in Lowell, MI with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @BrianSmithAIA. Ed Uszynski is an author, speaker, and sports minister with over three decades' experience discipling college and professional athletes. With a heart for reconciliation and justice, he also works as a racial literacy consultant and marriage conference speaker, blending Biblical wisdom with practical living in the midst of complex cultural realities. He has two theological degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He and his wife Amy have four children and live in Xenia, Ohio. The Christian Athlete Website Thank You to Our Sponsor: Sam Leman Eureka Questions and Topics We Cover: What is one of kids' greatest game day complaints? Is it true that young athletic success is a predictor of adult athletic success? What are a few tips for instilling a heart of gratitude in our young athlete, rather than entitlement? Related Savvy Sauce Episode: 230 Intentional Parenting in All The Stages with Dr. Rob Rienow Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“ Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“ Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” *Transcription* Music: (0:00 – 0:11) Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:51) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here. The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today, over 55 years later, at Sam Leman Chevrolet Eureka. Owned and operated by the Bertschi family, Sam Leman and Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over Central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at lemangm.com. Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski are my guests for today. They are co-authors of this recent amazing book entitled, A Way Game, A Christian Parents Guide to Navigating Youth Sports. And from the very beginning, I was captivated, even with one of the endorsements from Matt Martens, who's the president and CEO of Awana, and he summed it up this way, A Way Game provides a much needed perspective shift on one of the most sacred idols in our culture, youth sports. So, Brian and Ed are all for youth sports, and yet you're going to hear there's a different way to approach it than what we've been trained in culture. And they're going to share some wonderful and very practical insights. I can't wait to share this with you. Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ed and Brian. Ed Uszynski & Brian Smith: (1:51 - 1:54) Thanks for having us, Laura. Yeah, good to be here, Laura. Laura Dugger: (1:54 - 2:04) So, excited about this chat. And will the two of you just start us off by sharing your family's stage of life and your involvement in sports? Brian Smith: (2:05 - 3:29) Yeah, there could be a lot on the back end of that question. I'll start with sports, then get into family. I've been involved in sports my entire life, played every sport imaginable growing up, got cut from just about every single sport my freshman year of high school, ended up running track and cross country because it was the only sports that you could not get cut from at my high school. And I ended up being pretty good at it by the time I was a senior, won some state championships, ended up getting a scholarship to run at Wake Forest University. So, I did that for four years right out of college. I coached a little bit collegiately. Soon after that, I joined staff with a sports ministry called Athletes in Action that Ed and I have a combined 50 years with Athletes in Action. And really, that's been my life ever since. I've been ministering to college and pro athletes, discipling them, helping them figure out what does that actually look like to integrate faith in sport. Even today, I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I coach high school cross country while I'm still on staff with Athletes in Action. I have a middle school Bible study that I run on Wednesday mornings. Been married to my wife, who I actually met in high school. She was a distance runner too, and she ran at Wisconsin. So, we've been married for 20 years. We have three kids, a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary schooler who are all involved in sport at some level, some way, shape, or form. Laura Dugger: (3:30 - 3:34) Wow, that's incredible. Thank you, Brian. And Ed, what about you? Ed Uszynski: (3:34 - 5:04) Well, my story is very parallel to Brian's, just different sports and some different numbers. Just tack on 15 years. Yeah, I was a basketball player. Grew up on the west side of Cleveland with a high school football coach. My dad was, but I was a basketball player. I played at high levels all the way through my 20s, got to play overseas. I mean, this was a long time ago, but I got everything I could out of that sport. And as soon as I graduated from college, though, I started to work with that Athletes in Action ministry that Brian mentioned. So, I've been working with college and professional athletes for 34 years now. And same, coached at different levels, have four kids. Amy and I have been married for 26 years. We have four kids, three are in college, and one's in ninth grade, who has a game this afternoon, actually. So, we've just been going to games and have been involved in going to sports stuff for the last 20 years with our kids. And really what happened with Brian, and I is that we looked up a decade ago and realized this youth sports thing was a fast train that was moving in directions that we weren't used to ourselves, even though we've been around sports our whole life. It's like, there's something different happening now. And then thinking about it as Christians, like, how do we do this well as Christ followers? We don't want to separate from it. We don't want to just go for the ride. How do we do this as Christian people? And that's what got us talking about it and eventually led to this book. Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:23) Well, the book was easy to read and incredible. And I'd like to start there where you begin, even where you go back before going forward. So, when you're looking back, what are the factors at play that changed youth sports over time? Ed Uszynski: (5:26 - 6:17) Well, I'll say this and then Brian, maybe you jump in and throw a couple of them out there. I mean, youth sports is a $40 billion industry today, which is wild to think about. It's four times how much money gets spent on the NFL, which is just staggering. I can't even hardly believe that that's true, but it is. And it's really just in the last 20 years that that's happened. I mean, 50 years ago, you couldn't have had the youth sport industrial complex, as we refer to it. You couldn't have had it. There were a bunch of things that had to happen culturally, as is true with any new movement or any paradigm shift that happens in culture. You've got to have certain things be true all at the same time that make it possible. So, Brian, what were a couple of those? Again, I'll throw it over to you. There's six of them that we talk about in the book. And I think it's really fascinating because I'm a history guy. Brian Smith: (6:18 - 8:40) Yeah. And we can obviously double click on any of these, Laura, that you want to, but we talk about how the college admissions process became an avenue where youth sports parents saw, man, if we can get our kids involved in some extracurriculars and kind of tag on high level athlete to their resume, it actually helps with the college admissions process. And so even the idea of college scholarships became an opportunity for youth sports parents to get their kids involved. And then, yeah, maybe sports can actually get them into college. We talk about the economic shifts that happen, the rise of safetyism and helicopter parenting. ESPN was a massive one in 1979. This thing called ESPN starts, and we get 24-7 coverage of sports, which they started exploring even early on. What does it look like to give coverage to something like Little League World Series and saw that it didn't really matter how young the sport was, it's going to draw a national audience. And so, we've almost been discipled by ESPN really over the last 50 years with this consistent coverage. We talk about the rise of the sports complex. This one to me is like the most fascinating out of all of them. In 1997, Disney decided to try to get more people to come to their parks. They built a sports complex, just a massive sports complex. The idea was, are the older kids getting sick of the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Disney princesses? So, let's build a sports complex and maybe it'll be something else that will draw this older crowd too. And what happened was, I mean, a lot of people started coming to it, but kind of the stake in the ground game changer was when 9-11 hit. In the months and years after that, they saw a lot less people go to their parks, but population actually doubled going to the sports complex, which is wild to think that people were afraid to go to theme parks for a vacation, but they were willing to travel across state lines to play sports at the Disney complex. So other cities and municipalities took notice of that. Today, there's over 30,000 sports complexes like Disney's, which again, this is all adding to the system of the youth sports industrial complex. Did I miss any, Ed? Ed Uszynski: (8:41 - 10:47) Well, no, and that's good. And the reason why we even put all that on the table, again, everybody kind of intuitively knows if you're involved, you know, something's not right. But I think it's important to say this is not normal what's happening. It's a new normal that's been manufactured by a bunch of cultural trends, by a bunch of entrepreneurs that are doing what entrepreneurs do, and they're taking advantage of the moment, and they are generating lots of money around it. So, it should be encouraging. If it's not normal, that means actually there's a counter way of going about this. There really can be reformation. But when all this money gets involved, the two biggest consequences that come out of that is our kids start getting treated like commodities, which they are, and we could talk the whole time even just about what that means. But maybe even more importantly, or what comes out of that is that beyond their physical development, most coaches and clubs are not paying any attention to their emotional development, their psychological development, their spiritual development, all the different aspects of what it means to be human that, frankly, used to be paid quite a bit more attention to in youth leagues when I was growing up. I'm 58 now, so I was playing in the 70s and the 80s. And it used to be expected, at least at some level, even among non-Christian people, that you would take those aspects of a kid's life seriously. And now those just aren't prioritized. And so, what do we do about that? Again, that's kind of our whole point is, well, as Christian people, we're really supposed to be our kid's first discipler anyways. And part of that role and part of taking on that identity is that we would be asking, what is God trying to do in the wholeness of their life, the entirety of their life, even in the context of sports? So again, I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but that's why we're trying to poke into that to say, oh, we could actually make change. We may not change the whole system. In fact, we won't. Most of us won't be expected to do that, but we can make significant change in our corner of the bleachers and what happens with our kids. Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:05) That's good. And just like you said, to double-click on a few places, first of all, real quick, the 30,000 number, I remember that shocking me in the book, but I'm forgetting now, is that worldwide, the amount of sports complexes or is that just in America? Brian Smith: (11:05 - 11:06) That's domestically in the US. Laura Dugger: (11:07 - 11:52) Yeah. That is staggering. And then one other piece, all of this history was new to me as you brought it all together, but it was also fascinated. This is from page 32. I'll just read your quote. The American youth sports ball began rolling when a British movement fusing spiritual development with physical activity made its way across the Atlantic Ocean at the turn of the last century. And Ed, that's kind of what you were touching on, that they were mixing, I'm sure, spiritual, psychological discipleship, physical. Can you elaborate more on what was happening and where it originated? Because we've come very far from our origins. Ed Uszynski: (11:53 - 13:18) Yeah. And there's been a bunch of really great books written about this topic called muscular Christianity. This idea, like you just said, Laura, of wedding physical activity through sports with our spiritual development and expecting and anticipating that somebody that was taking care of their body and that was engaging in sport activity, that was the closest thing to godliness. That opened up the door for you to also be developing spiritually. And there was an expectation that both of those are going on at the same time. A bunch of criticism about that movement, but it was taken seriously. The YMCA is actually a huge byproduct of the muscular Christianity movement. The Young Men's Christian Association created space for sports and for athletic activity to take place under the banner of you're also going to grow spiritually as you're doing this. So again, that was a hundred years ago. And that's not really what AAU stands for today. The different clubs and leagues that we get involved in just don't talk that way anymore. Of course, culture just in general has shifted away from sort of a Judeo-Christian ethic guiding a North Star for us. Even if we're not Christian people, that used to be more of a North Star. That's gone now. And so, it really is not expected in sports anymore. Brian Smith: (13:18 - 13:55) And what we're saying is we cannot expect organizations to own that process for our kids. We can't outsource the discipleship of our kids to the youth sports industrial complex or the YMCA or the AAU. It really does start with us as Christian parents to be the primary discipler of our kids. And there is a way to take what's happening on the field or the court or the pool and turn it into really amazing discipleship opportunities. But it means, and Ed is starting to tease this out, it means we need to change our perspective as parents when we sit in the bleachers or on the sidelines of what we're looking for and even the conversations we have with our kids on the back end. 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Brian Smith: (15:32 - 16:54) We keep saying, we keep talking about the importance of the car ride home that it's tempting for us and not us broadly in the U.S., tempting for us, Ed and I, as people who have done this for 50 plus years and who should know better, it's tempting for us as discipled by an ESPN over analyzing everything culture and want to talk about sports to get in the car ride home with our kids and all we want to talk about is how game went, what they did right, what they did wrong, what they could fix next time. Maybe instead of passing to Tim, they should take the shot next time because they're wide open. They just hit three in a row. So, and what our kids need from us in those moments is less coaching, less criticizing, less critiquing, and they just need us to connect with them. The stats on kids quitting youth sports is crazy right now. Its 70 percent are quitting before the age of 13, in large part because it's not fun, and a lot of kids are attaching this idea of it not being fun to the car ride home with their parents who, let's say this too, most of us are well-intentioned parents. We're not trying to screw our kids up. We want what's best for our kids, but the data and the research and the lived experience continues to tell us what our kids need from us is just to take a deep breath, connect with them, less coaching. Ed keeps saying less coaching, more slurpees. Laura Dugger: (16:55 - 17:07) I like that. And that ties in. Is it called the peak-end principle that you discovered why kids are resisting that critique on the way home? Brian Smith: (17:07 - 18:17) Yeah, absolutely. The peak-end rule in psychology is known as this: we, just as humans in general, not just kids, we largely remember things in our lives based on the peak moment of that event, but also how the event ends. And so, the peak moment in sport can be anything from something that goes really well, like they scored a goal or made a basket or something that did not go well, just like a massive event that took place that they're going to remember. But then it's also married to how that event ends. So, if you think for kids, how does every youth sport experience end? It ends with the car ride home. So, if they're experiencing the car ride home as I did not live up to mom and dad's standards, or there's fear getting into the car because they don't know what their parents are going to say, how are they remembering the totality of their youth sport experience? It is, I didn't, I didn't measure up. I wasn't enough. It felt like sports was a place that I needed to perform for my parents or my coach. And I always feel a little bit short. We want to help parents see like there's a different path forward that can be more joyful for you, but hopefully more joyful for your kid as well. Ed Uszynski: (18:17 - 21:37) Well, and, and I'll just, let me keep going with that, Brian. I thought you really articulated all that so well. I can just imagine a parent maybe thinking, was there never a time to correct? Is there never a time to give input? And we would say, well, of course there, there is, they need far less of it from us than we think they need when it comes to their sport. And again, we can talk about that. They need far less of that from us. They need us to be their parents, not to be their coaches. Even if we are their coach, they need us to be more their parents. But there is a time to do it. We're just saying the car ride home is the worst time to do it. And that's usually the time that most of us, you know, we've got two hours of stuff to download with them. And that's just, it's not a good time. But the other thing that Brian and I keep talking about is how about, what if we had some different metrics that we were even trying to measure? So, most of the time our metrics have to do with their performance. Like what, what are we grading them on? Again, depending on what the sport is, there's these different things that we're looking for to say, how you did today is based on whether you did this or you didn't do that and whatnot. And we're saying as parents, and again, starting with us, we needed some other metrics that were actually more concerned about what was going on in their soul. So again, I'm sure we'll talk more about this, but the virtues, how did love show up in the way they competed today? Where that usually is tied to them noticing somebody else. Do I, am I even asking them any questions about that? Are they experiencing peace in the midst of all this chaos and anxiety that shows up at every game? How do we teach them to experience peace? How do they become other-centered instead of just self-centered all the time in a culture, a sport culture that's teaching them to always be the center of attention and try to be? So, we just have needed to exchange some of what we had on that performance list, like tamper that down a little bit and maybe expand the list of categories that we're looking for that actually will matter when they're 25. And we keep saying this, our goal is that they'd come home for Thanksgiving when they're 25. And so, we need to stay relationally connected to them and how we act on the car ride home day after day after day after day, year after year is doing something to our relationship. But we also are recognizing that it's really not going to matter whether Trey finishes with his left hand at the game today when he's 25, it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter probably a year from now, but how he goes through the handshake line after the game and the way he addresses other people, and whether or not he's learning to submit to authority, whether or not he's learning to embrace other people's humanity. Yes, even in the context of sports, that's really going to matter when he's 25. It's going to matter when he's married. Those are the things that will matter. And we say that as people who are older and have been involved in ministry and have worked with college athletes and see what happens in their lives even after they're finished, and they have no idea who they are anymore. And this thing that's dominated their life has not actually prepared them well to do life. And that's a problem that we say, let's start changing that when they're six and not hope they're figuring it out when they're 22. Laura Dugger: (21:38 - 22:11) I love that because that's such a theme throughout those virtues that you talked about, but discipleship and sports are a tool or a way that we can disciple our kids. I also love that you give various questions throughout the book and even quick phrases. So to close that conversation on the car ride home, if we say, okay, that's what I've been coaching the whole way home, what is a question we could ask our child afterwards and a statement we could say and leave it at that and do it a better way? Brian Smith: (22:12 - 23:56) The question I have consistently asked my kids after learning that I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time, I tweet my question to they get in the car and I say, is there anything that happened today from the game that you want to talk about? And it's frustrating to me because 99% of the time they say, no, can we listen to the radio? And we listen to the radio, or they play a on my phone, but I'm respecting their desire that they're done with what just happened and they're ready to move on to the next thing, even though I really want to talk about what just happened. And then the statement that I want to make sure that I'm consistently saying that they're hearing is I love you and I'm proud of you. So, game didn't go well. Yeah, you did play well today. That's okay. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. Game went well today. Awesome. Great job. Hey, I love you and I'm proud of you. So I want that to be the consistent theme that they're hearing for me, which is hopefully going to help them better understand the gospel later in life, that as they get older and older, hopefully they'll begin to realize it seemed like the way that my mom and dad interacted with me when I was performing in sport, but their love was not attached to my performance. That seems really similar to what I'm learning more and more that Jesus does for me, that I'm trying to do all these things that are good. But from what I'm understanding about the gospel, it seems like Jesus loves me in spite of what I do. He loves me just because He's connected to me, that God loves me because I'm a son or daughter, not because I'm performing as a son or a daughter. So, in a very real way, I really am hoping that I'm giving a good teaser for my kids now for when they fully experience the gospel as they go through the life. Ed Uszynski: (23:56 - 24:47) Another really good connecting question. I love how you said all that, Brian, is if they don't want to talk about the game, is it okay, did you have fun today? And they can only go in one of two directions. No. Well, tell me about that. Why not? And it opens up the door to talk about, well, because I didn't get to play or because something bad happened. And again, tell me more about that. Tell me more about that. Or they say, yes, great. What happened that was fun? And it creates a very different conversation in the car. And it opens up, again, relational possibilities that go way beyond, why do you keep passing it when you should be shooting it? Wow. And just all the different ways that that comes out of us, depending on sport, depending on their age. But those are great questions. Go ahead, Brian. Brian Smith: (24:47 - 25:41) I just asked my son this morning. He's a freshman. His wrestling season is almost done. And I just asked, like, what has been most fun for you in wrestling this year? And his first thing was, I feel like I'm learning a lot. And that's really fun for me, which he's on a really good team. He's had a lot of success. He's made a lot of good friends. But even that gave me a window into his characters. My son enjoys and I knew this is true about him. But my son enjoys learning, which means he enjoys the process of getting better and better and better, which can happen in school, it can happen doing stuff in the yard, it can it can also happen in sport. But for me to remember moving forward, yeah, he he's probably going to have a different metric for what's fun in sport than I often do for him. Yeah, like I wanted to learn. I want him to win though, too. He's happy with learning right now. So, I need to be happy with that for him. Ed Uszynski: (25:41 - 26:34) If I can say this, too, again, I don't want to be vulnerable on your behalf. But then knowing this, he's lost a lot this year to really good kids. Yeah. And so much of the learning has been in the context of losing. So, you as a dad, actually, you could be crushing him because of those losses and what he needs to do to fix that and what he needs to do so that that doesn't happen again. And it's like he's already committed to learning. How do you just how do you celebrate the loss? Like he took the risk to try something new in this movie. He tried to survive an extra period. That's a process when and it's we just need to get better at that. Like you genuinely can celebrate that. That's not just a that's not like a participation trophy. It's acknowledging now, do you're taking you're taking the right steps that are actually making you a winner, even if you don't have more points at the end of the game right now. Laura Dugger: (26:34 - 26:54) Yeah. Yeah. And that long term win that you're talking about, even with character and you've talked about fun and asking them about fun. Is it true that that's the main reason kids are dropping out of sports at such a rapid rate before age 13 is that it's just not fun anymore? Ed Uszynski: (26:55 - 28:58) Yeah. Yeah. And why is it not fun? And again, this is where Brian and I are always getting in each other's business. And we know that this conversation gets in all of our business as adults. But why is it not fun? It's not fun because of the coaches and it's not fun because of the parents. We are creating stress. We are creating again collectively because we're all in different places on the on the spectrum on this in terms of what we're actually doing when we show up at games. But if you even just go to any soccer game and you be quiet and just listen to what's happening and everybody's shouting and screaming things and there's contradictory messages being sent and there's angst at every turn and there's an incredible celebration because this eight year old was able to get the ball to go across the line for another goal. And what that's doing inside the kids is it is creating a not fun atmosphere. Let's just say it like that. That's a not fun atmosphere when you're eight, when you're 10, when you're trying to figure out how to make your body work. You're trying to learn the game that you're unfamiliar with and you're trying to do what this coach is telling you to do. And you're also trying to do what all the parents are telling you what to do. And if it's a team sport, you're trying to interact and play with other kids who are all in that same state of disarray, which is very stressful and frustrating. And we're just adding to it. So instead of removing it, instead of playing a role that says, we're going to keep diffusing that stress. And again, I'll speak for myself. Too often, I have been the one that's actually adding to it. And so, kids are just like, why would I do this? Why would I want to get in that car again with you? It's not fun. This is a game. And so, there's a million other things that I can do with my time where I don't have everybody yelling at me and I don't have to listen to you correct me for two hours. Laura Dugger: (29:00 - 29:21) Well, and one other thing that surprised me, maybe why kids are dropping out, you share on page 47, a quote that research reveals a strange correlation. The more we spend, the less our kids actually enjoy their sport. So, did you have any more insight into that? Brian Smith: (29:21 - 30:50) Yeah, this was a real study that was done at Utah State. Researchers found that the more money parents are spending, again, let's say well-intentioned parents, the more we're spending in sports, the less our kids are enjoying. And the more they have dug into it, they're finding, and intuitively it makes sense. If you buy your kid a $600 baseball bat, what's the expectation that they're supposed to do with this really expensive bat? When they swing, they better hit the ball, and they better get on base. If we're going to buy you this expensive of a bat, you can't just have process goals with it. You better swing and hit it. And that's causing stress for kids. If you travel across state lines and you go to Disney to play at their sports complex, you're not there for vacation. You're there to perform. So even if parents are saying we're trying to have fun, kids know when you're traveling and you're getting all this good equipment and you're on the elite team and you're receiving the best of the best stuff, they know it comes with some sort of an expectation. College athletes can barely handle that type of pressure and expectations, but we've placed this professional on youth sports from fifth five-year-olds to 15-year-olds, and it's just crushing them. It's crushing them. Again, college athletes and professional athletes can barely handle it. They need mental health coaches for sports, but we're expecting that our five-year-olds can handle it, and they can't. Ed Uszynski: (30:51 - 31:19) And they may not even be able to articulate it. So that's the other thing. They may not be able to identify what's actually going on inside and put it into words. So again, that's why we're trying to sound the alarm for ourselves and for others who are listening, because we can do it different. Again, just to even keep spinning it back in an encouraging direction, we can do this different. We can change this this week in our corner of the bleachers. We can start over again. Laura Dugger: (31:21 - 31:48) Absolutely and make a difference. And before we talk about even more of the pros with sports, I think it's also necessary to reflect and maybe even grieve a few things. So, what would you say are some things families are missing out on when they choose youth sports to overfill their calendar, that that's all that they make time for? What do you think they're missing out on? Brian Smith: (31:51 - 33:16) Yeah, I think a couple that come to mind are family dinners are a big one. That's big for us in the Smith house, is just having the ability after a long day to sit at the dinner table together, to eat food together, and to process the day and be with one another. But when my kids' practice goes late, it means we're either eating almost towards bedtime or we're eating in different shifts. And so that's something that we grieve. I think for me, when my schedule is full, I'm tempted to adopt the mindset that what's happening on the wrestling mat or on the track matters more than it actually does. And it robs me of the ability to just take a deep breath and smile and enjoy watching my kids play sports. That without an intervention or a pregame devotional in the car for myself, I risk sitting in the stands or being on the sidelines, being stressed out and putting pressure on myself and pressure on my kids and gossiping about why the coach didn't put this kid into the people next to me, instead of just enjoying the gift that is sports and watching my kid try and succeed and try and fail. That is a gift available to me as a dad to watch my kid do that. But the busyness often robs me of that perspective. Ed Uszynski: (33:17 - 36:06) Well, and the busyness robs, again, if you're married, that busyness eventually wears away at your relationship. And it's not just sports. I mean, busyness, we can fill our schedule, overfill our schedules with any number of things. We can overfill our schedules with church stuff to a point where it becomes detrimental to our relationship. If we don't set boundaries so that we're making sure we're doing what we need to do to be face-to-face and to be going to areas beneath the surface with each other in our relationship and being able to do that with our kids as well, eventually there's negative consequences to that. It may not happen right away, but I've definitely experienced that. We've experienced that in our home where it's easy to maybe chase one kid around for a while, but what happens when you add three into the mix and you haven't really done a time budget or paid attention to the fact that when we sign up for all these things, you get a month into it and you realize, oh, we have to be in different places at the same time. So, we're not even watching stuff together anymore. We're just running. I can endure anything for a season, but what youth sports wants now in every sport from the youngest ages is that it becomes a year-round commitment. So, you're not even signing up to play a season anymore. You're signing up for a year in most cases because after the games, then they're going to have training. They're going to have this other thing going on. And so again, can we say, well, we'll play the actual season, but then we're not going to do the additional training over these next three months. Again, we want to give parents' permission that you can say no to that. Well, we paid for it. Well, it's okay. If you want your kid to be on that team and you like this club or whatever, then you pay the money and you just say, we're going to sit those three months out and we're going to use those three months actually to have people over our house for dinner. Again, whatever's on the list, Laura, that you said about being more holistic and not letting sport operate like an idol in our life where it's taken on, it's washed out everything else in our life. We can get back in control of that by just saying no a little bit. You can go to church on Sunday. Even if there's tournament games going on on Sunday, you can go to the coach early and say, hey, we just, in our family, we just don't want to be available before 12. Are you okay with that? And most of the time coaches will be. The kid might have to sit extra maybe for not being, whatever. Okay. That's not going to be the end of the world that they had to sit out an extra game or had to sit out a half because they weren't available on Sunday morning. It might actually make a huge difference that they weren't at church for two and a half years in the most formative time of their life. Laura Dugger: (36:07 - 37:36) And a lot of times the way of wisdom includes reflection, getting alone with the Lord and asking, have we overstuffed our schedule this conversation today? Let's talk specifically with youth sports. Is that trumping everything else? Because what if we're putting it in a place it was never intended to be as an idol where we sacrifice hospitality or discipleship or community or even just a more biblical way of life? I think we have to bring wisdom into the conversation for what you've mentioned. Whether it's worth it, if they're even enjoying it, how much we're spending on it, and do we have the budget to allocate our finances that way and evaluating the time just to see and make sure that it's rightly ordered. Did you know you could receive a free email with monthly encouragement, practical tips, and plenty of questions to ask to take your conversation a level deeper, whether that's in parenting or on date nights? Make sure you access all of this at thesavvysauce.com by clicking the button that says join our email list so that you can follow the prompts and begin receiving these emails at the beginning of each month. Enjoy! But if we flip that to if youth sports are rightly ordered, then what are some things that we can celebrate or reasons that you would want families to give this a try? Brian Smith: (37:37 - 40:09) The massive positive that we keep coming back to is we have a front row seat to see our kids go through every possible emotion in sport, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And then if we have the right perspective, we are armed with awesome opportunities and awesome information that we're seeing. We get to see what our kids are really good at. We get to see their character gaps. And then we get to be the ones who, again, who are their primary response, primary disciplers. It really goes back to like, are we trusting youth sports for too little in our kids' lives? Like many of us are trusting that our investment is going to get them a spot on a team, or maybe they get an opportunity in high school, maybe in college. And what we're saying is, yeah, that maybe. And that's not a bad end goal. But if that's everything that you're investing into youth sports, it's not enough. Like what you have available to you every single day is to ask your kid if they showed somebody else's dignity on the field. You don't know if your kid's going to hit a home run today. That may not be available to them their entire life. What's available to them every single day is to ask a question to their teammate, to see somebody and show dignity to them. And that's really, it's like, it's almost the opportunity of a lifetime for us as parents who, when our kids get home from school, we really don't know what happened most of the day. We asked them how it went and we get the one-word answer. In sports, we don't have to guess. We get to see everything that happens. And again, if we are actually trusting youth sports for discipleship investment, that's a good ROI. That's a good return on our investment. But we need a consistent intervention almost daily to say, no, this is why they're in sports. Yes, I want to see them get better. I want to see them have fun, but Holy Spirit, would you help me see things today that I normally don't see? Holy Spirit, would you put them in circumstances and relationships today and in the season that's going to help them look more and more like Jesus by the time the season's done? Holy Spirit, would you convict me in the moment when I am being a little too mouthy and saying things that I shouldn't? Would you help me to repent? And God, in those moments where I'm actually doing wrong on behalf of my kid, would you help me to humble myself and apologize to them? And God, would you repair our relationship that way? So again, all of these options are available just because our kid's shooting a ball or they're on the field with somebody else tackling other people. We're trusting youth sports for too little. Ed Uszynski: (40:10 - 41:10) That's all big boy and big girl stuff. It just is. I don't normally naturally do any of that. I have to be coached into that. I have to be discipled myself. I have to work through my own issues, my own baggage, my own fears about the future, my own idolatrous holding onto this imagined future that I have for my kid, irrespective of what God may or may not want. I've got my own resentment. I've got my own regrets from the past. I wish things had gone differently for me, so I'm going to make sure they go different for you when it comes to sports. And it's hard to look in the mirror and admit that I have anger issues. I mean, youth sports create a great opportunity for me to get up all my pent-up frustration from the day. We've given ourselves permission to do that, in most cases, to just yell and yell at refs and gripe about coaches and yell at kids. Brian Smith: (41:10 - 41:31) Because that's what we do at the TV, right? When our favorite team is playing, we've conditioned ourselves to say, awful call, that was terrible. Then we get on social media and we complain about it. We are discipling ourselves to this is how it's normative to respond within the context of sports. Then we carry all that baggage to our six-year-old soccer game. Laura Dugger: (41:33 - 42:02) Well, I love how you keep pointing it back toward character and discipleship. You clearly state throughout the book, sports don't develop character, people do. But could you maybe elaborate on that a little bit more and share more now that we've listed pros and cons, you still list a completely different way that we can meaningfully participate while also pushing back? Brian Smith: (42:04 - 43:49) I'll start with the first part, and then you can answer the second. We use the handshake line as a great example of why character needs to be taught to our kids. If you just watch a normal handshake line left without coaching, the kids are going through it, especially the ones who lose with their head down, they have limp hands, there's no eye contact, and they're mumbling good game, good game. Sometimes they don't even say it, they'll say GG stands for good game. They don't just learn character by going through the handshake line. If anything, that's going through it like that without any sort of intervention or coaching, that's malforming their character. That's teaching them when things don't go well, that it's okay for them not to be a big boy or a big girl and look somebody in the eye and congratulate them. What needs to happen? An adult needs to step in and say, hey, as we go through the handshake line, whether you win or lose, here's how we do it with class. We shake somebody's hand, we look them in the eye, and we say good game. Even if in those moments we don't actually mean it, we still show them dignity and honor. And then when we're done going through the handshake line, guess what we're going to do? We're going to run down the refs who are trying to get in their car and get out of here, and we're going to give them a high five and say, thank you so much for reffing today. That stuff needs to be taught. Our kids don't just come out of the womb knowing how to do that. We have to teach them how to do it. Sometimes good coaches will do that, but the more and more we get sucked up into the sports industrial complex, we're getting well-intentioned coaches, but we're getting coaches who care more about the big W, the win, than the character formation stuff that happens. Ed Uszynski: (43:49 - 45:27) They need to keep hearing it over and over again. I have a ninth grade Bible study in my house the other day with athletes and a whole bunch of my son's basketball team. Exactly what Brian just said, I actually was like, wow, I've got them here. There was a big blow up at a game the other day, and we wound up talking about it. I said, I'm going to take this opportunity actually to say what Brian just said. When you go through a handshake line, this is how you go through it. I watched what happened in the game a couple days later. Basically, they did the exact opposite of what I told them to do, and they lost. It was just what Brian said. They went through limp handed. They didn't look anybody in the face, and they weren't even saying anything. I just chuckled to myself, and you know how this is as a parent. They may or may not do it. Of course, those aren't my kids. I have more stewardship over my child, who actually, he is doing what I've asked him to do because I've re-emphasized it across time now. It's not a failure because they didn't do what I said. Again, the pouty side of me wants to be like, forget it. I'm just not even going to try anymore. It's like, no, they're kids. That was the first time they've heard that. They're going to do what their patterns have, the muscle memory that's been created by their patterns, just like we do as adults. The next time I have a chance to bring that up again, I'm not going to shame them. I'm just going to go over it again with them. Here's how we do it. It's super hard to do this, guys, when you just want to be violent with people or you want to cry. You got to pull yourself together. That's what big men do. That's what big women do in life. They pull themselves together in those moments and do the right thing. Brian Smith: (45:28 - 46:01) You don't know whether the fifth time you say it is going to stick or the 50th time. Your responsibility as the Christ-following parent is to do it the sixth time and the seventh time and the seventh time and trust that God is going to take those moments and do what he does. We're ultimately not responsible for our kids' behavior. We're responsible for pointing them in the right direction, and then hopefully, yeah, the Holy Spirit steps in and transforms and changes and convicts in those moments, but it might take some time. Ed Uszynski: (46:02 - 47:47) Tom Bilyeu So that's how you push back, Laura. You were asking that. How do we push back without being just completely involved in it or going for the same ride that everybody else is going for? There's just little moments like that scattered throughout. Literally, every day that my kids are involved in youth sports, the car ride over, what happens on the way home, how we talk about it, what happens during the game and what we wind up talking about out of that, the side conversations that happen that just get brought up apart from games of how we interact with people and so-and-so looks like they're struggling. What do you know about that? That's how we push back, that in our corner of the bleachers, oh, how we interact with other parents. We haven't even talked about that yet, that I can take an interest in more than just my own kid in the bleachers and spend way more energy actually in cheering for other kids and just trying to give them confidence and spend way less time trying to direct that at my own child who knows that I'm there. In fact, my side kid has said he doesn't want to hear my voice during the game. It distracts him. He's like, I'd much rather that you cheer for other people. It's like, okay. Having questions ready for other parents during timeouts and as you sit there for hours together, what do you talk about? Well, I could be the one that actually initiates substantive conversations over time with them and asks them about what's going on in different parts of their life. And in having done that, people want to talk. They want a safe place actually to share what's going on in their So let me be the sports minister. Let me take on that identity and actually care about other people. Laura Dugger: (47:49 - 49:47) I love that. Even that practical idea of just coming to each game, maybe with a different question, ready to open up those conversations. And I'll share a quick story as well. Our two oldest daughters recently just gave cheerleading a try at a local Christian school that allows homeschool kids to participate. And this is an overt way that somebody chooses the different way. So, it's the coach of the basketball team. His name is Cole. And at the end of every game, we saw him consistently throughout this season when it was a home game, whether their team won or lost, he would ask them, okay, shut off the scoreboard. It's all blank. He gathers both teams. As soon as the game is over teams, cheerleaders, the stands stay filled with all the parents. And he says, this is not our identity. The world and Satan, our enemy, who's very real. He wants us to put our identity here, but it's not here. You made us better tonight by the way that you played and you were able to shine Jesus. And we're going to go a step further and we're going to do what we call attaways. So, he's like, all right, boys, you open it up. And his team is trained. They say to the other team, Hey, number 23, what's your name? I loved how you pushed me so much harder tonight and says, my name's Ben. And so, their Attaway is, Hey, Ben. And everybody goes, Hey, Ben. Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben Attaway. And everybody just erupts in clapping. And the other team is always blown away and they are just grinning, whether they just lost. So, the boys go through that for a while and then they open it up to the other team and they start sharing Attaways. And then they open it up to the crowd and the parents are able to say, I see the way you modeled Jesus by being selfless with the ball or whatever it is. So, Cole said that his college coach did that many years ago and he's passed that on. And I love that's one way to redeem the game. Ed Uszynski: (49:47 - 51:39) Wow. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. That's amazing. And, you know, I, so Brian and I talk about this too. And I coached at a Christian school. So, we, we think that it's really important if you're going to play sports and you're going to be a Christian coach that you actually take the game seriously. And that we actually are here to compete and we are here to try to win. There's nothing wrong with that. And we're going to pursue excellence when we show up with our bodies, and we train for this sport and we're going to try to win. Cause I think sometimes we end up kind of going all or nothing, especially within our Christian circles. We're uncomfortable with that. And it's like, yes, do that. And on the backside of that to do what that coach did is amazing. It's that, that is, that is exactly what we're saying. We're also going to try to form our souls in the midst of this. We're going to try to win on the scoreboard. Okay. The game's over, we lost, we won, whatever. There's more going on here than just that. And can we access that together? And again, that's so rare. Probably everybody listening has never even heard of anything like what you just said. It would be amazing if a bunch of people did, but that's what we're saying. Let's do more of that. Let's find ways to have more of those conversations in our sphere of influence. Maybe we're not the coach, but we can do that in our car. We can do that when we're at dinners with the other, with other players and other team, you know, we, we can do that. We can take that kind of initiative. If we have those categories in our mind, instead of just being frustrated that my kid didn't get to play as much tonight. And I'm that bugs me. It's like, okay, it can bug you. And now I gotta, I gotta be a big boy and get more out of this than just being frustrated that he or she didn't get to play as much. It's hard. Laura Dugger: (51:40 - 52:11) Absolutely. Well, and like you guys are doing having Bible studies outside of the, the team that you can instill values in that way and share scripture that they're memorizing to go out there with excellence for the Lord. So, I love all of that. And I've got just a few quick questions, just kind of for perspective. I want to draw out something from the book. Is it true that young athletic success predicts adult athletic success? Brian Smith: (52:13 - 53:51) It is not true. This is, this is not a hot take. This is researched back more and more research they're doing on this. And they're finding that there's not a direct correlation between a young elite athlete and them continuing that up into the right trajectory and being an elite athlete later in life in large part, because when puberty hits, like everything is a game changer. So, this is, I found this fascinating and this is probably going to be new to you too. This just came out today. At the time we're doing this podcast, the winter Olympics is going on in Norway. It's just like, they're killing it. Nor Norway's youth sports system. This is wild. They give participation trophies for all the kids. They don't keep score until 13 years old. They don't do any national travel competitions, no posting youth sports results online. So, there's no online presence of youth sport results. And their country motto is joy of sport for all. And they're, they're killing it right now in the Olympics. So, like, that's not to say, like you got to follow their model and then you're going to win all these gold medals, but it is, there is something to just let the kids have fun. And the longer they play sport, because it's fun, the better opportunity you're actually going to have to see them blossom and develop some of these God-given gifts that they might have. Don't expect it to come out before they're 13. Even if it does, there's no guarantee that it's going to continue on until they're 23. Just let them have fun. Ed Uszynski: (53:52 - 55:55) Brian, we, Brian and I got to speak at a church the other day about this topic. And there was a couple that came up afterwards and they asked the question of what, so when do you think we should let our kids play organized sports or structured sports? And so again, Brian and I are careful. Like I, there's no, there's no one size fits all answer to that. We would suggest as late as possible, wait as long as possible. Because once you start doing structured sport where there's a coach and you have to be at practices and the games are structured and there's reps, it just cuts away all the possibility they have to just play and just to go up to the YMCA and just play for three hours at whatever it is that they like to do. And they said, well, it's encouraging to hear that they said, because we, we actually are way more into just developing their bodies physically. And so, we do dance with them, and we do rock climbing and they were kind of outdoorsy people, and they just started listing off all these things they do because we want them to become strong in their bodies, and learn to love activity like that. And I just thought, again, that's, that probably would cause a lot of people to freak out to hear that, that they have eight, nine-year-olds that aren't on teams yet. They're just, they're training their bodies to appreciate physicality and to become coordinated and to, you know, to get better at movement. And it's like, what sport is that not going to be super helpful in five years from now, even when they're 12, 13 years old. And now they really do want to play one sport, and they do want to be on a team. They're going to be way ahead of the kids actually that just sat on benches or stood in the outfield, you know, day after day after day at practices. Again, that's maybe hard to hear, but maybe there's some adjustments that need to be made again; to give ourselves permission to say, we don't have to get on that train right now. You don't have to, your kid's not going to be behind. They actually could be ahead. If you do the kinds of things we just talked about. Laura Dugger: (55:56 - 56:11) I love that. And even that example with what it looks like played out with Norway and also, do you have any other quick tips just for instilling and cultivating a heart of gratitude and youth sports rather than entitlement? Brian Smith: (56:13 - 57:33) I'm a high school cross country and track coach, and I have kids on my team who want to get faster at running, but instead of running, they want to lift weights and they want to do plier metrics. So, there's, yes, there's a spot for that. But the way you get better at running is to run. You got to run more miles and more miles. And I think gratitude is similar. That gratitude, part of it is a, it's a feeling, but it's also a muscle that we can flex even if we don't feel it. And so, I would encourage parents who are trying to instill gratitude into their kids to give them practical things like, hey, after practice, just go shake your coach's hand or give them a fist bump and tell them, thanks for practice today, coach. That that's a disciplined way to practice gratitude that will hopefully build the muscle where they're, they're using it later in life. After a game, I taught my kids this when they were young and they still do it today. Go shake a ref's hand. I mentioned this earlier, just a really, really practical way to show thankfulness and gratitude to somebody who really doesn't get a whole lot of gratitude pointed at them during a game or after a game. If anything, they have people chasing them through the parking lot for other reasons. I want my kids to be chasing them down to give them a fist bump or a high five. And so, gratitude is something that we can just practice practically. And hopefully the discipline practice will lead to a delight and actually doing it. Ed Uszynski: (57:34 - 59:39) And how do we cultivate an inner posture? Cause I tend to be a cup half empty type person. I'm a, I'm a whiner by nature and a continuous improvement. There's always something wrong. And I'm, it's easy for me to find those things just as a person. I'm not even saying that as a dad or a coach or anything. And it's been super helpful to me in the last decade, even to just like, I can choose to shift that. There, there is, there's a list of things that are broke, but there is always a list of things that are good. There's always something good here to be found. And even as I've tried to like, again, tip the scales more in that direction, I can keep pushing that out of my kids. So, so this, you know, my ninth-grade son tends to just like, he doesn't like a whole bunch of what's going on in basketball right now. So, I keep asking him if he's having fun. He says, no, like, why not? Or like, who did, why did you not have fun today? So, it's just the same thing every day. I'm like, okay, who did you enjoy even being with today? Nobody. And I'm like, dude, I don't believe that actually. I just, I don't believe that. There was somebody that you had some moment with today that you enjoyed, or you wouldn't want to keep going back up there because, and he does. So, give me a name. Okay. Lenny. What happened with Lenny that was fun? And I make him name it. Like I'm, I'm, I'm trying to coach him through it. And sure enough, he does have some sentences of what was fun today. And it's like, good, let's, let's at least hold onto that in the midst of all the other stuff that's not right. Let's choose to see the thing that was good and that you enjoyed and that we could be thankful for. Not everybody got to have that today. Again, I have to have my, I have to be the parent. I have to be the discipler. I have to be in, you know, in charge of my own soul that wants to be negative all the time and say, nope, we're going to, we're going to choose gratitude today because the Bible tells us to do that. There's something about that posture that opens the door for the gospel to be expressed through us. So, let's practice. Laura Dugger: (59:40 - 59:50) Well said, and there's so much we could continue learning from both of you. Where can we go after this chat to learn more from each one of you? Brian Smith: (59:52 - 1:00:14) Yeah, we do a lot of our writing online at thechristianathlete.com. And so, if you go there, you can see articles that are specifically written for parents, for coaches, for athletes, all around this idea of what does it look like to integrate faith and sport together? So, the
Hey HBs! We're here with part 2 of A RARE FIND by Joanna Lowell! It's the middle of the treasure hunt! Some wild things are gonna happen, slick flesh is gonna slick flesh together, and paranormal activity is NOT gonna deliver. Good thing Charles Peach always does! Lady Loves: Sabrina: Genuine connections IRL. Plus, the 'tism tray and the most beautiful powerpoint on oranges Mel's ever seen. Mel: Anarchist Calisthenics! Break tiny rules that make no difference so that you retrain your brain to remember that, ultimately, YOU'RE in charge, YOU decide what's right, not some government or external entity going against your morals. Jaywalk on an empty road, refuse to give your ID to someone without the legal authority to request it, make a u-turn in an empty parking lot because when things get sticky "we can't afford to have atrophied judgement." Want more of us? Check out our PATREON! This week we're doing a Friend Catch Up bonus episode that was SO NEEDED! We're also hosting a Watch Party (virtual live event) on Friday February 20th at 8pm ET. Don't miss it! Credits: Theme Music: Brittany Pfantz Art: Author Kate Prior Want to tell us a story, ask about advertising, or anything else? Email: heavingbosomspodcast at gmail Follow our socials: Instagram @heavingbosoms Tiktok @heaving_bosoms Facebook group: the Heaving Bosoms Geriatric Friendship Cult The above contains affiliate links, which means that when purchasing through them, the podcast gets a small percentage without costing you a penny more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Hey HBs! We're here with the sapphic, enby historical romp we didn't know we needed: A RARE FIND by Joanna Lowell! We've got an autistic archaeologist fighting the scientific patriarchy and her childhood nemesis who's home to cause trouble for the first time in years! Hijinks, adventures, and "hungry sparks" ensue. Bonus Content: Appliancepocalypse, slow burn confusion, cutting ties can be #efficiencyin2026, saying GO F*CK YOURSELF, surprise paranormality, the shortfalls of vaginal archaeology, and so much more! Want to support the show? Rate and review us on your favorite podcast app! It super helps the algorithm connect us to new listeners. Want more of us? Check out our PATREON! This week we're doing a Friend Catch Up bonus episode that was SO NEEDED! We're also hosting a Watch Party (virtual live event) on Friday February 20th at 8pm ET. Don't miss it! Credits: Theme Music: Brittany Pfantz Art: Author Kate Prior Want to tell us a story, ask about advertising, or anything else? Email: heavingbosomspodcast at gmail Follow our socials: Instagram @heavingbosoms Tiktok @heaving_bosoms Facebook group: the Heaving Bosoms Geriatric Friendship Cult The above contains affiliate links, which means that when purchasing through them, the podcast gets a small percentage without costing you a penny more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Matthew Shindell discusses the Scientific Revolution, nineteenth-century theories about Martian canals by Schiaparelli and Lowell, and H.G. Wells using Mars to satirize British imperialism.
Our guest today on Mea Culpa is the groundbreaking, congressional reporter for the Guardian, Hugo Lowell. Lowell has broken a number of high-profile stories about the January 6th committee's investigation. Join Michael and Hugo for an in-depth conversation about the January 6th hearings.
President Trump makes no secret about having a long list of perceived enemies. And for the people he targets, there's one lawyer many of them call: Abbe Lowell. The longtime Washington defense attorney built a career representing both Republicans and Democrats. But last year, Lowell left a partner position at a big firm to start his own office dedicated to helping those "unlawfully and inappropriately targeted" by the Trump administration. Kara and Lowell talk about his work representing clients like New York Attorney General Letita James, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and independent journalist Don Lemon; the strategy behind Trump's lawfare; and the ways Abbe is positioning his new practice to anticipate the Trump administration's next moves. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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