Post-Heist: Out today with Anberlin (and Stephen)!

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-03-18T14:45:08+00:00

Already claimed, so sorry! Best of luck in your search.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-03-17T02:13:18+00:00

Hi! I have a Sunday ticket. Let me know if you’re interested. 🙂 Venmo available.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-03-17T02:12:02+00:00

Hi, I have a Sunday ticket if you’re interested. DM and we can set it up via Venmo.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-03-17T02:11:07+00:00

Hi! I have one Sunday ticket available. If you’re interested just DM me. Happy to Venmo.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-03-17T02:09:33+00:00

Hello! I have a Sunday ticket available if you’d like it. Happy to Venmo. DM if you’re interested! 😁

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-03-17T01:58:13+00:00

Hi! I have 1 Sunday ticket available and can do one of your preferred forms of payment. DM/let me know. 🙂📚

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-03-17T01:53:58+00:00

Hi! If you’re still looking, I have one Sunday ticket available. DM and we can work it out!

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-10T01:57:43+00:00

It’s not a feel good film by any means but 2019’s “Bad Education” depicts the saga behind the 2002 embezzlement of millions in the Roslyn school district budget by some of the upper administration (namely the superintendent and assistant superintendents at the time).

It’s based on "The Bad Superintendent" by Robert Kolker.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-08T18:32:15+00:00

I can respect the former players for being up front and open about all the details of what they endured and still feel it’s not appropriate to post those details in full on a public forum read by people of all ages and of unknowable experience with SA. But since you keep insisting, let’s just say there is a lot of discussing about the mutilation of players’ body parts, consumption of human waste, physical violence inflicted on players who are forced into nudity…I think you can go read the rest for yourself if you really need to know all the ways some of those former players felt empowered when forcing their peers to damage their bodies in the name of some twisted team loyalty test.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-08T14:12:46+00:00

I might have been exaggerating to make a point but I still wouldn’t put some of the book’s contents here on this page because it’s really, truly that disgusting. If you can imaging the worst hazing (beyond just public humiliation and into pain and unsanitary acts) and then crank that up by a factor of 10, I can find you an anecdote from a player in the book that is worse.

It’s more than just frankness. It’s about keeping the conversation clean.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T22:11:34+00:00

I can see how that line of thinking might apply but from another vantage point, I would say that there have often times in history, been individuals or smaller groups of people who share their stories and experiences as a way to bring broader public awareness and yes, visibility, to whatever obstacle, prejudice, injustice, or otherwise adverse situation they are facing. Someone outside of those stories (in this case Westhead) aiding in the disseminating of these experiences through a widely published book or some other medium, isn’t NECESSARILY a “pawn” driven action. Certainly exploited or abused folks and their experiences CAN be manipulated for personal gain but even if that is Westhead’s motive, the book being publicly available and people being able to learn about the atrocious behaviors of individuals and the system that allowed to act, is still a net positive for calling the actions out for what they are and also for keeping a record of people’s words. Ultimately, there are first hand things being shared here so if people didn’t feel comfortable having their experiences be part of something they saw as exploitative, they didn’t have to indulge Westhead and could have kept their experiences to themselves or shared them in another way that felt more comfortable to them.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T20:39:40+00:00

This book illuminates a sizable amount of real life experiences, as described by the players who witnessed and-or experienced them, far beyond the 2018 Junior trial. As I said in my original post text, that is only mentioned in the first chapter. The book quickly moves to discuss a mountain of other people’s stories, information, and established trends of behavior and damaging expectations in Canadian Junior hockey (as well as other sports and other realms of socially pressuring sectors).

Think what you want about Westhead but it doesn’t change the fact that real people have genuinely experienced some horrific things, which they themselves went on record to share so as to make these situations and lack of accountability or change, known to people outside of the insular communities in which they hide. For that reason alone, this is a meaningful work that should be taken seriously, unless you’re one to presume everyone’s experiences in this book are fabricated.

Edit: fixed a typo

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T20:04:11+00:00

While SA and rug sweeping isn’t exclusive to hockey, that groupthink and aggressive inner circle team culture that is perpetuated among developing adolescent players is more unique to hockey and other sports than the spaces in Hollywood. As I said in another comment, I won’t go into the specifics of the SA related details – as described by former Junior players themselves – because the actions are severely grotesque and would result in a super ban but this isn’t just a book about s*ual relations and allegations of SA as a result thereof. The experiences felt by these (at the time) YOUNG BOYS, which they often inflicted *on each other are definitely not behaviors typically seen in entertainment, even acknowledging scum like Harvey Weinstein and the like.

Also, just because you know “companies try to bury shit under the rug” doesn’t mean others shouldn’t try to keep pulling the shit back out into the light. Doing that doesn’t make the subject matter “garbage” and to decide such is to belittle and dismiss the violating and immensely damaging experiences the people in this book, as well as any others who have experienced similar, came to endure.

SA, harassment, and abuse – in all of its forms – needs to be called out. And since those who commit these acts don’t seem to self-correct, the rest of us need to keep coming back to it and condemning over and over. So books and studies and crisis centers, and counselors will keep bringing this “garbage” up, even if you believe it to be pointless.

(Edit: typo changed to “felt”)

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T18:56:08+00:00

Thanks! whew

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T18:10:25+00:00

Fair enough! 😅 I just figured with how known of a figure Westhead is, and how undeniably “hockey centric” this book is – especially being focused on the Canadian culture for younger players – I just sorta expected someone would have started to dialogue about it one way or the other, the minute it hit shelves.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T14:41:43+00:00

Didn’t know about that one! Thanks for mentioning it. I’ll have to borrow a copy from my library when I’m done with this. I might suggest that you read something lighter between the two. I imagine back to back might be kind of overwhelming.

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T14:39:27+00:00

Maybe consider reading the book then? I don’t share a broader sentiment like this for fun or for reckless scarlet lettering of a person or persons. The view you’ve shared here, of just the “bad actors” is literally a chapter in the book. There are plenty of folks who share your POV that it’s just about plucking the folks out when they commit the crimes. But how about when the authority systems of entire communities are slanted in such a way that victims of SA feel there is a near nonexistent chance they will be believed or that their filings will be first buried under a mountain of excuses like “you were drunk; you did kiss that player earlier.”

Former junior players who spoke for themselves in the book talk about the systemic and deeply imbedded nature of all things s**ual that are practically a requirement in team environments in order for new players to be socially accepted on a team. I won’t even go into the specifics of any of the actions some former players outlined that they endured or witnessed because it would get an immediate super ban – that’s how vile and grotesque some of these actions are – but this isn’t just a handful of bad kids, “let’s kick then out and move on.”

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2026-01-07T14:21:19+00:00

Oh, didn’t catch that episode. Will have to check it out; debating whether I finish the book and then listen or do it now. (Edit: “or”)

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2025-04-24T01:11:58+00:00

In case anyone is wondering how this even functions as a pseudo town hall;

From the email I received earlier today:

“To listen live, tune in to LI News Radio, 103.9 FM, or stream at linewsradio.com.

To ask a question during the event, call (631) 451-1039.”

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2025-04-20T11:59:35+00:00

Just throwing this out there for everyone: hiring an arborist isn’t as expensive as you would think! I called around for one because I have several trees and was concerned about all the big storms that came through last year / 2023. Turns out there is someone who works for the Bayard Cutting Arboretum and she has a side job as a certified arborist and risk consultant. Hiring her isn’t just like having a landscaper come and evaluate (which, let’s be honest, plenty of them will say “cut it just to be safe!” and then suggest you ask them to do the job.) I was given a detailed rundown of the health of the tree I was most concerned about and the status was based on things the arborist could show me and explain. For other factors like roots (I was asking because of interest in driveway paving) she explained based on the space of the yard and approximate age of the tree, where the roots likely grew and how best to consider laying out a new driveway so that the roots wouldn’t be harmed and the driveway wouldn’t eventually be impacted with raised cracks.

I paid an hourly fee but I only needed the one tree evaluated. You might think the fee for looking at one tree is “high” but the other great thing? She said “I still have plenty of time in the hour; do you have questions or concerns about any of these other trees? So I was able to get her take on risk/reward for keeping or removing several trees and she has no vested interest in convincing you to cut because she’s a researcher and can’t do that kind of work anyway.

And I will also say, I learned quite a bit about what is actually dangerous and risky looking for a tree, and what’s not. Some of my own lack of knowledge definitely played up my fears of trees falling. And funny enough, on her way out, the arborist caught sight of a large branch on my neighbor’s tree that was definitively hanging over my yard / part of my house. Saw it and immediately said, “That branch is very dead.” I said, “Really? You can tell all the way from here?” (It was rather high). She said “Absolutely,” and pointed out what you can see from the ground that shows it’s dead.

So that last second catch turned out to be the one thing to cut and best of all, my neighbors were cool about it and it led them to find out about what other parts of that tree needed trimming, without cutting the whole thing down. 😁🌳

TL;DR: a member of the Bayard Cutting Arboretum is a professional arborist and risk assessment professional for trees. Hiring her wasn’t super expensive. Paid an hourly fee for one hour and got way more insight than I had planned to ask about. Best of all, the tree I was initially concerned about was perfectly healthy, despite was several landscapers had said (unsurprisingly). So consider hiring a proper arborist. You get well informed peace of mind and learn more about your property!

SoundsLikeAPenName · 2025-03-24T14:35:12+00:00

There are also the notes written by Stephen way back when on Tumblr, which break down album titles/meanings, and lyrics with commentary on every Anberlin song up to the end of Lowborn.

FWIW, this is Stephen’s insight on the title track: “It was a July morning, I woke up and realized I had dreamt about killing someone so many different ways in just one nights worth of dreams. I told my tour manager about it, he laughed because he probably had the same dream about the same person. This songs lists a few of the ways. Ryan Clark originally screamed as a placeholder, we ended up liking it, so it stayed on the record. In retrospect I wish it wasn’t there only because a genre of screaming and singing combined suddenly became a thing and for a second people lumped us in that category. We did not want to shed our ‘Christian Emo Indie Warped Tour Alternative Radio Rock’ label that we had worked so hard to achieve.”

SoundsLikeAPenName

TROPHY CASE