When is alumni weekend? I may find it interesting to visit again.

Marie: I don't see a Janice with a name like that, but the 1993 staff directory does show a Janet & Larry Chapman with an address in southern Oregon.

Yep - that's it - Janet Chapman. Someone I know who was associated with the Apple Schools was wondering about Janet Chapman and Bonnie Bishop, and kind of thought that the thing about Bonnie Woods was funny. (She was considered to be a bit of a nut-job - guess she still is.)

I always thought Delphi looked like a great school - I wanted to go there, but boarding wasn't in my parents budget. We used a lot of their ciriculum at Apple, and if I were to homeschool my kids, I would find out how to buy theirs.

Rory, did Delphi, Oregon make you write papers, especially ones where you proved a point by weighing evidence, using logic, and citing others using footnotes? Were you able to criticize the required reading, for example?

Hubbard's Study Tech teaches passive reading, where the most dynamic action is to use a dictionary, rather than rock-the-boat writing.

Don,

While I was at Delphi, I took what they called "The Logic Course" which was a picture-book based on something by LRH called "The Data Series." It involved evaluating information based on "plus-points" and "out-points." It makes a certain amount of sense, although one should also evaluate the assumptions on which some of the points-points/out-points are based (correct source/wrong source).

You could certainly apply this to Scientology and come up with a negative evaluation - that's exactly what I did, and got blank stares when I shared these evaluations with others, or they used the plus-point "Correct Source" to trump any out-points I saw.

If I'm not making any sense, please let me know, and I'll try to explain better.


(Message edited by mikedewolf on December 15, 2004)

I took that course - and enjoyed it immensely.

Bonnie Bishop and Bruce Bishop are alive, and well, and presently are in Southern California, and I've met with both of them. They look terrific, as do all of the other Apple School "Executives".

Each has gone on to live a full and happy life, I'm happy to say.

Also, Bonnie has spoken about possibly having an Apple School re-union, just for fun. Wouldn't that be a kick?

Tory/Magoo~~

Good for you for pointing out the holes in their own argument, Mike.

I'm glad you had a good high school experience, Marie42. My close friends in public high school in the late 1960's also didn't take drugs or get pregnant, and kids of all types got along.

Good teachers can teach no matter what materials they are required to use. When CoS falls, if Oregon Delphi is a viable institution and can get alumni grants, it may re-organize itself as a non-Scientology school. As CoS membership shrinks, the CoS public members will produce fewer and fewer Scientologist-teenagers anyway, so Oregon Delphi will have to recruit more non-Scientologist and college-bound students or shrivel up.

Tori,

It's been 11 years since the last Apple School reuion, so it's time again. I hope Bonnie pulls one together (she was in Spain during the last one), and I hope to meet you & Marie in person there.

"Rory, did Delphi, Oregon make you write papers, especially ones where you proved a point by weighing evidence, using logic, and citing others using footnotes? Were you able to criticize the required reading, for example?"

Well, I didn't graduate from Delphi, so I didn't finish the whole program.

I know one time I had to do a research paper where I had to use quotes, use footnotes, write a bibliography, etc. That was on Form 6 Entry.

As far as argumentative papers, I don't remember having to do any, but I only got about two thirds of the way through Form 6. I do remember, though, one girl on Form 8 writing a paper arguing why marijuana should be legalized.

Mike, I remember learning about outpoints and pluspoints in a checksheet called the Thinking Book! It's been almost ten years! Oh yeah, I do remember a step on the checksheet where I had to read some article and look for outpoints.

Mike, when were you at Delphi? Did you go to the one in Oregon? Is Mike your real name? Did I know you while I was there?

I know on Form 6 and Form 7, there are Logic checksheets, but I never did them. I assume they'd use LRH logic.

(Message edited by RLSteve on December 15, 2004)

By the way, Alumni Weekend is usally in October.

RLSteve:

I was once a student at Delphi, where my dorm room window looked out over Sheridan, Oregon. If you were there almost 10 years ago, then we were not there at the same time.

Mike de Wolf is a screen name, borrowed from the L. Ron Hubbard novel "Typewriter in the Sky." This pre-scientology story follows the strange adventure of Mike de Wolf, who by some sort "Twilight Zone" type cosmic event, finds himself trapped inside a pulp fiction pirate novel his friend Horrace Hacket is writing. That's his picture in my avatar.

I find the plight of Mike de Wolf in this story ironically similar to that of poor Scientologists struggling from the trap created in the imagination of LRH, who for Schientologists is the real operator of the Typewriter in the Sky.

The last time I was at Delphi was a few years ago, while I was visiting Portland on a business trip. I met a nice young man while I was there who gave me a tour. I was amazed at all the new construction that had gone up as well as the way their curruculum (the Form) system had evolved.

I have to admit that Delphi has come up with some interesting original ideas on how to educate children at different developmental stages, something that LRH did not have in mind then he wrote study tech. I'd like to see some good comparative test results on their methods.

I'm aware that Apple School clashed more than once with the Church because they did not treat a class of 5 year-olds the same Standard way Org course rooms treat adults. I wonder how Delphi weathered that brand of insanity.

I went to Delphi from 1995-1999. I wasn't a Scientologist when I started there. I don't really know why I wanted to be there so much when I didn't really like Scientology. But graduating from Delphi was my dream!

Anyway, I got expelled in March of 1996 for writing up in my O/W's that I was considering suicide. That's when I decided to try Scientology. I thought that perhaps it could help me because I was going through an unstable period in my life.

So, I did Personal Values & Integrity and Overcoming Ups & Downs in Life courses. I wasn't really that blown away by PV&I, but I was totally blown away by the PTS data in OU&DiL. I had a lot of really weird people around me in my life, and it helped me to understand why I was so screwed up.

Anyway, I was really interested in achieving the state of Clear and going up the Bridge. I had some introductory auditing, which was INCREDIBLY BORING, and the only reason I put up with it was because I thought, "Well, this is supposed to help me, all the grownups say it will." I was only fourteen years old.

Anyway, I started moving up the Bridge, and Delphi accepted me back. I completed Grade 0 before I returned. I really didn't have the EP, I was still shy to talk with people, but I can't remember what my stupid cognition was at the time which was the reason why I was done with Grade 0.

Anyway, from January to summer of 1997 was when I worked my hardest and finished Form 6 Entry. I really felt like a changed person from Scientology, and other people who hadn't seen me in ten months commented that I seemed different.

I think when I first started in Scientology in 1996 until summer of 1997 was the best period of time in my life. That was when I was most productive, working hard on Student Hat, moving up the Bridge, I was also being productive in my own life, I was writing a book, I joined Delphi's choir, I was finishing Form 6 Entry, and life was like a high school prom 24/7!

Then, when the next school year started, I just got WORSE. I stopped being industrious, I never had any energy, and I was always depressed, and I was alwasy falsely attesting to having completed my reading targets. I just got stuck in this mental trap.

Basically, the two school years at Delphi from 1997-1999, were a waste of time for me where I really didn't get much done. I fell SERIOUSLY behind. And you know, you can't graduate from Delphi until you've graduated Form 8, and I was only about two-thirds of the way through Form 6.

The ethics officer talked with me and said that a Delphi education obviously wasn't something that was really important to me, and since I was almost eighteen, I should just move on with my life.

But, my life really hasn't been as great as it was during my first year and a half in Scientology. At the time, I had faith in something! It was that faith that kept me happy and optimistic. And now, I just don't have that anymore. It's been really depressing.

Steve:

Thanks for sharing.

Based on your time frame, you probably know the guy who gave me the tour a few years ago. I don't recall his name, but he was set to graduate and attend a Boston area college that fall.

I don't know what your life was like before Delphi, but I do beleive that a structured environemnt (such as found in many boarding schools) can be beneficial for some kids with problems. I also credit Delphi for consistantly rejecting the idea some Scientologists hold that Scientology is the only subject worth studying.

I hope you're able (as I hope I was able) to take the positive lessons from the Delphi/Scientology school experience and drop the garbage. You can even use the data from "The Thinking Course" to help you do that.

Were you able to finish your high school and productively move forward in your life?

You know, I don't know if being at Delphi was the best thing for me. It may have left some scars. I don't know.

The thing is, I was very lonely at Delphi, I really didn't connect closely with anybody there. Not only that, it was stressful because their expectations were SO HIGH and you always had to work very hard and industriously! I used to have to read on average TWO BOOKS A WEEK! And I got into this habit of falsely attesting to having read books, because I'd have to read a certain amount of books a week! (Well, I wasn't the only one who falsely attested to reading books, that's for sure).

And I always felt bad about this. I introverted, thinking, "Is it because I'm going past misunderstood words?" And I'd always try a Method 3, but it just NEVER worked. I even confessed this to Qual, I'd get crammed on this, and this would just take so much time that I had to say, "Yes, I feel that this works," in order to move on.

And every now and then, I'd go down to Ethics and I'd write up my O/W's. And every time I'd do the Conditions Formula, I'd eventually just slump back into my old bad habits.

I was very lonely and depressed at Delphi, and I really wanted to graduate from there. I didn't really connect with any of the other students there, and I always felt so bad about myself that all the other students seemed to be doing fine in their studies and I wasn't. For two years, my life was like this.

Well, anyway, what I ended up doing, my aunt and I went down to LA, and we found a Scientology school called Advanced Education Academy, and the lady who ran it, Diane Keys, gave tests for students to receive their high school diploma. So, I passed her test and I received my high school diploma, but I finished up the rest of the school year at Delphi.

So, anyway, after Delphi, I ended up moving down to LA to live at the Manor Hotel and get services at ASHO. Life was good down there for awhile.

Anyway, then my declared SP grandmother (who I was disconnected from) started doing her squirrel OT VIII. When I found out about this, I reported it to OSA. Next thing you know, my aunt and I are having to pay for a sec check down at ASHO!! And this of course, costs thousands of dollars!

So then, anyway, later, I'm pulled off of my course and down into Ethics. The MAA tells me that I either have to disconnect from my mother or get her to disconnect from my grandmother.

So, because I'm down in LA, and my aunt is paying for me to live at the Manor so I can do my services, but since I can't go back home because I'm taking acting classes, I end up having to disconnect from my mother so I can get back on my services.

I stayed disconnected from my mother for a year and a half! I'm still mad at the Church over that.

Anyway, I ended up moving back to Seattle after living in LA for a year because the Manor wasn't letting me live there anymore because they were concerned that I was a suicide risk because Delphi had, four years ago, expelled me for writing up in my O/W's my suicidal thoughts. They said that once I finished my PTS/SP course, then maybe I could stay there again. But, the Manor wouldn't even give my aunt a refund on the money that she had paid for me to live there because, "Once Rory finishes his PTS/SP course, he'll be able to stay here again!"

Anyway, then around September of 2000, Tory Bezazian called me up and talked to me. She planted some more seeds of doubt in my mind.

Finally, in early December of 2000, one night, I just got really depressed. I just felt like I had totally fucked my life up, I was disconnected from my mother, none of my relatives were supportive of me being in Scientology, I hadn't graduated from Delphi, I had dropped out of community college, I was lonely, didn't have any friends, etc. So, I made a suicide attempt by overdosing on aspirin.

After that, I was told be the EO at the Seattle Org that I couldn't be on services anymore until I showed that I was a stable person.

Long story short, I ended up reconnecting with my mother after my aunt got declared PTS Type A by ASHO because she refused to disconnect from all her relatives who wouldn't disconnect from my grandmother.

My aunt recently got her PTS declare cancelled, and now she's back on her services.

As for me, I feel like I'm having trouble moving forward in life. I'm still living at home with my family, haven't learned to be financially self-sufficient yet, but I'm trying to sell real estate. The truth is, I just feel like I'm messed up and I'm so unconfident, maybe it really is my reactive mind, I don't know. My aunt is trying to convince me that auditing can help me.

I am so sorry they put you through all that, RLSteve.

The church often does not treat its members well. There is absolutely NO excuse for it.

None.