Is World Peace Possible?

 

On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan began a military offensive that drove 120,000 Armenians out of Artsakh (Nogorno Karabagh) to the Republic of Armenia.   The Armenians have been trying to negotiate a peace with Azerbaijan from a very weak position since then and it appears they will cede even more lands.

A few weeks later on October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel killed people about 1200 people and taking 251 hostages.  Israel responded with a brutal war on Gaza killing at least 55,000 to date, destroying or damaging 90% of the housing units, and putting millions in a desperate situation with food and medical supplies being very scarce.

And just this past few weeks, Israel began bombing targets in Iran and, just this weekend, the US attacked the nuclear refining facilities in Iran.  Iran attacked back,  The buzz in the news and social media is that we are on the brink of World War III.  Are we?

All along, the war in Russia-Ukraine rolls on as does the civil war in the Sudan.  There are probably other wars I am unaware of simply because the numbers involved, like the plight of the Artsakh Armenians, are just too small to be covered in the world news.

It is 2025 and we seem further away from World Peace as we have ever been.  The march of science and technology has allowed us to kill, injure, and displace people with greater and greater efficiency.  All the conflicts mentioned were initiated by dictators or wannabe dictators, duly elected or otherwise.  These men, the leaders of countries or extensive organizations, are incapable of negotiating with other to get to a peaceful settlement.

This quest for and addiction to power over others is a very human trait.  It is apparent in any number of small groups from school classrooms, think bullies, to overbearing family members, those that make a social or philanthropic clubs their own, and dictatorial bosses in organizations of any size.  All religions call for some variation of the Golden Rule but the dictators and despots referred to here use the differences in these religions to stir the emotions of the people they rule and, aided by social media, they have gotten very good at this.

While contemplating all of this I came across a quotation from Marin Luther King that applies as well today as when he uttered it over fifty years ago.  It was posted in social media and is from Strength to Love (1963) ch. 7 per Oxford Reference:

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. 

All of this makes me think of my high school days when so many believed that we were entering the Age of Aquarius popularized by the musical Hair back in the 1960s.  Per Google AI:

The Age of Aquarius is a concept from astrology that signifies a shift in the Earth's alignment with the constellations, marking a period of significant change and transformation. It's associated with themes of innovation, humanitarianism, equality, technology, and collective consciousness.

As Martin Luther King noted, we have the innovation and technology going for us but are lacking in the humanitarianism, equality, and collective consciousness parts.  Will we ever overcome this barrier?

These thoughts why are so poor at creating a peaceful world had me thinking of the classic Bob Dylan anthem of the 1960s.  The answers all around us, Blowin’ in the Wind, and simultaneously always just out of our grasp.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?

 

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

 

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?

 

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

 

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?

 

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

The Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, wrote this poem which truly captures what is happening to too many people in this world in these days.

The war will end

The leaders will shake hands.

The old woman will

keep waiting for her martyred son.

 

The girl will wait for

her beloved husband.

And those children will wait

for their heroic father.

 

I don’t know
who sold our homeland.

But I saw who paid the price.

The people who pay the price are the vast majority of us who just want to live our lives in peace and safety.  The people who want nothing more than to nurture and feed their families with work that gives them pride and self-worth. 

These sages, King, Dylan, and Darwish, have basically outlined the reality that keeps us from world peace.  Is it a normative, elusive, notion to believe it could happen?  Others have envisioned a Shagri La or Utopia   It would be easy, today, to take the negative, defeatist, view of all this.  I will admit that I may be naïve, but I still have faith that we can.

Living Room Memories

 

When I grew up, we were probably middle or lower-middle class.  The first three homes we lived in were flats.  The fourth was a one-family home.  Each of these houses had only three communal or gathering rooms:  the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room.  Other than for meals, the living room was the central gathering place for family and guests.  It is where the television and phonograph were.  It was where we lived and interacted in most of our waking hours at home.

It wasn’t until we moved to Livonia, that we had a family room, a fourth gathering room.  Our married homes in Bloomfield Hills, MI, Wilton, Ct, and now Lake Forest, IL all have family rooms.  In each of these homes, the family room became the main gathering place for family life.  The living room was rarely used.  It was used basically used mainly when we had a house full of guests.

I have basically spent the last 13 days of knee replacement recuperation in our family room.  Even at night, I sleep in the old guy ortho recliner in the family room.  When I woke up this morning at around 6 am, I decided to go sit in our living room and do my daily writing.  It was, of course, a change of venue.  I also wanted to use the lovely room we rarely use.  It was a beautiful clear summer morning and sunshine made the room glow.

I did read about our bombing of the three nuclear facilities yesterday on various news sites.  I read the polarized social media postings and comments.  They were most certainly polarized around whether one was pro or anti-Trump confounded with being pro and anti-Israel.  Our world suddenly became more serious and grimmer.  I will certainly have to post more about this in the next few days.

But this lovely morning, I shut the laptop and reflected on living rooms.  These reflections quickly gravitated to the living rooms in my grandparents’ homes in Detroit and Watertown; living rooms where I have so many fond memories growing up.  The furniture, carpet, wall paper, tables, lamps, and woodwork, the scenery, of those living rooms where merely the scenery.  It was the people, the family and the guests that gathered in those rooms along with what we all said, did, and shared.  It was also a time when my grandparents were more vibrant and active. 

I was thinking of my own living rooms and how this one was the most finely appointed of all of them and the least used.  I was sipping a double espresso in a demitasse from Armenia and enjoying the moment.  It was a most lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.

Tomorrow I will be returning to a more normal schedule and attending to things that need to be done.  Jokingly, I have returned to posts like this as a blog about nothing.  Well, this may seem like that to many.  It is nothing profound.  It won’t change anything in the world.  It may trigger a warm memory for a few others of their own grandparents’ living rooms.  For me, it is also small theme on the grand scale of things but this morning it took center stage.

We have two grandchildren coming to Camp Medzig and Dede, as they call us, in August.  I hope we can have some wonderful times that became fond memories for them.  Whether the backdrop is our living or family room doesn’t matter.

New Knees

Not my Knee

On June 9, 2025, I had my left knee replaced.  I had my right knee replaced on January 8^th.

I had been walking around on with knees with no cartilage for years.  Actually, as the cartilage thinned out and disappeared, walking became more labored and slower.  For the four or five years it became more of a hobble and stairs were always a challenge to ascend. 

It finally got to the point, aided by some gentle family persuasion, to get the right knee replaced.  It was knee that was the most painful.  I asked everyone I knew that had the surgery who their doctor was and if they would recommend going to them.  I asked other, non-orthopedic, physicians who they might recommend.   I took the two that got the most endorsements and scheduled appointments with them in the late Spring of 2024. 

One of the doctors could see me right away.  The other’s first opening was five weeks out.  I thought, “this second Doc seems more in demand.”  I went to see the first doctor.  I got there early and signed in and sat in the waiting room.  It had the feel of a Civil War hospital.  Of course, I am overexaggerating, but the waiting room was crowded and no one looked happy.  They looked grim.  My appointment was on-time.  He told me I needed both knees done and outlined his process and gave me time estimates, in weeks, for walking with a walker, then a cane, and when I would need neither.  He told me how many weeks it would be before I could drive.  He was confident… and a bit arrogant.  It was the kind of arrogance, or confidence one needs to do these kinds of surgeries.  He could, however, schedule me for the surgery within ten days.  I could have it done before I even saw the second doctor.  I didn’t schedule the surgery that day.

I wanted to see the second doctor.  So, I waited.

The second doctor was night and day different from my perspective.  His waiting room was not at all crowded.  The few people in it were waiting seemed quite normal… not grim.  The doctor was prompt.  He was soft spoken with a warm confidence.  He had already seen my x-rays and agreed with the first that I needed to have both knees replaced.  He also asked me to walk for him and noted, “I am surprised you can walk as well as you are given the condition of your knees.”  Then he proceeded to outline his process which, not surprisingly was similar to the first doc’s.  When he started to quote the times from walker and cane to fully ambulatory with no support as well as the time until I could drive (which is the resumption of my normal schedule), his were all less by days or weeks than the first doc’s.  Really?

So, based on all of the above, I chose Dr. Michael O’Rourke and never looked back.

By the time I chose the surgeon, I had to push the surgery to the end of the fall term.  With other circumstances, I finally settled for January 8, 2025 surgery date.  Throughout the Fall, I talked with anyone I knew or just met that had had knee replacements.  It was very helpful in one regard.  Everyone said it is critical to religiously do the physical therapy and ice the knee often.  In retrospect, they were absolutely correct.  I learned that if you did not do it, the recovery would talk longer, one might not gain the full range of bend in the knee (at least 120 degrees is the goal), or one might have a permanent bend in their knee. 

Secondly, and totally not all that helpful, is everyone had different answers for the amount of pain they were in, how long they took the narcotic pain meds, and the various times to walk with a cane, walk unassisted, drive, and resume normal activities.  One guy was convinced he had fully recovered faster than anyone else ever has.  A bit of exaggeration may be involved in this case.  Another was complaining that after 8 months he was not entirely glad that he had the surgery.  I do believe this fellow didn’t fully realize that he only replaced a knee and the rest of his body was still 75 years old.  The standard deviations on these were all pretty wide, so I had no idea what to expect.  This was the cause of increased apprehension as the surgery date approached. 

The surgery took place at the NorthShore Orthopaedic & Spine Institute which per their website:

… offers world-class options close by to help you feel like yourself again. Our experts treat a range of conditions in a variety of settings — from orthopaedic and spine immediate care centers to a dedicated hospital in Skokie designed for inpatient and outpatient procedures. We use innovative, minimally invasive techniques for joint replacement, complex spine surgeries, sports medicine and more, so you can get back to the activities you enjoy sooner.

From the moment we entered until we left the hospital, I was impressed by their business and medical processes and their attention to detail.  Everyone seemed very well trained.  There was a small army of people in the operating room.  They did a whopping 60 surgeries that day.

My experience?  The doctor was spot on.  I used the middle option of pain meds and weaned off of them after a week or so.  Progress came quicker than I expected and tracked with the doc’s estimates.  I only carried a cane around because it was winter and I didn’t want to have any issues if the surfaces became icy. 

As I recovered, I began to contemplate when to do my left knee.  The best time was after the spring term ended and I had a lull in music engagements which was early June.  There was much less apprehension approaching the surgery the second time around.  The doctor and his staff were clear that one should count on the second knee pain and recovery times being the same as the first.  I understood that.  In the end, this second knee replacement recovery was even faster and I have to give some of the credit has to go to the home physical therapist that pushed me to progress faster.

I remember the doctor telling me that there are several YouTubes of knee replacement surgeries.  He advised I only watch them after my surgery.  I took his advice and when I watched it, I was even more impressed by the intricacies of the surgery.  I was clear why that small army was needed in the OR.  They saw and shape bones.  The literally hammer in the replacement knee and manipulate the leg more vigorously than would have imagined.  This all serves as a reminder of how modern medicine has made serious complex surgeries so commonplace and low risk due to technology, excellent training, and a world class level of quality and process controls.  I am most appreciative of Dr. O’Rourke and his team and the NorthShore Orthopaedic & Spine Institute for excellent service, skills, and care.

I am glad to be done with knee replacements.  I am OK with, hopefully, never needing any other joints replaced.

A Most Fulfilling Part of My Career

 

The Chronicle of Higher Education

I have written often of my encore career as a full-time faculty member of North Park University.  Being a college professor is the fulfillment of a dream.   I have had this dream since grade school.  I am thankful circumstances and some wonderful folks like Leona Mirza and Wes Lindahl were instrumental in making it happen.

I have had another title at the University the past three years.  I have had the honor of being the President of the Faculty Senate, which is the governing body of the University in the areas of academic policies and procedures, transfer and degree requirements, and courses of instruction.  I have served on the Faculty Senate nine of the eleven years I have been at North Park.  I served a term as Vice-President and ran for President earlier but was not elected.

For a variety of reasons, serving on the Faculty Senate became increasingly unpleasant in the academic years of 2019-20 through 2021-22.  At the end of the 21-22 academic year, one of the years I was not on the Senate, people did not want to serve and were complaining that the Senate and Full Meetings had become toxic.

At the end of the 21-22 Academic year, I was elected as one of the two Senators from the School of Business and Nonprofit Management (SBNM).  It was also end of that very most tumultuous year of the three years I referred to above.  The faculty Senate ended the school year without having elections for the Senate Executive Committee as required by the bylaws.  It was rather concerning and the mood of the faculty, especially those serving on the Senate was to put it mildly:  grim.

This bothered me and bothered me enough that over the Summer of 2022 I began to contemplate running for Senate President.  There were a few reasons for this: 

1. First and foremost, I wanted to  provide a service to the North Park University... a place I truly love and value. 
   
   
2. I also wanted  see if the principles I teach, rooted in Total Quality Management, could work in a university setting to make the Senate a more congenial and effective.  I had a summer research student during COVID where our topic was How to Apply TQM in Higher Education and I believed I had a good handle on how to do it.
   
   
3. I believe a majority of the faculty had the same wish for the Senate and the Faculty as a whole to be more congenial and effective part of the university.

The provost, the chief academic officer at a university, was already ahead of me on this though he did not use the term Total Quality Management (TQM).  The tenets of TQM are: 

1. Customer Focus
   For a university, the customers are students, their parents, potential employers, and even the alumni base.
   
   
2. Strong Quality Leadership
   This is a shared mission between the administration and the faculty with clear and consistent goals and excellent communication on the state of the university from both a business and an education standpoint.
   
   
3. Decisions based on Facts, Data, and Analysis
   This is about having the right metrics when they are cost effective and practical.  It is also the realization that it is almost impossible to have numerical metrics that are reliable, cost effective, and consistent in every aspect on the academic side of a university.
   
   
4.  Employee Involvement
   Create a sense of shared mission and goals (shared governance in academic parlance) and a culture that is collegial (duh…) and congenial where everyone feels valued.
   
   
5. Continuous Process Improvement
   This is a mindset and practice that is essential to the transformation of any organization. 

There is one thing that we can say about the North Park faculty.  It has not changed, I believe, since the founding of the university.  Each and every one of us, has a great passion for teaching, counseling, and guiding our students.  It is why most of us are in this profession.  Our goal was to build off of that foundation and focusing faculty and senior leadership operating with greater communication, greater trust, a shared mission to improve, well, every aspect of North Park to create a TQMish culture.   

I believe a majority of the faculty had the same wish for the Senate to be a more congenial and effective part of the university. With the help and buy-in, to various degrees, by everyone.  I believe we have made great progress in this regard.  I cannot claim victory.  TQM is, for certain, a never-ending quest.  But I believe the groundwork is in place for this to continue, if we follow the playbook currently in place.

Serving as President of the Faculty Senate for the past three years has been one of the most satisfying experiences in my long work career.  I am proud of the job we did and the current climate at the university.   There is one benefit I did not anticipate and, perhaps, appreciate the most.  The mantle of leadership made me respond to any and all requests from faculty and act on them the best I could… even if I did not fully agree with them.  As a result, I learned to appreciate and to better understand every faculty member I have interacted with.  It has been a great time of personal growth for me which is also a never-ending quest.  

Whatever success we had was not mine and certainly not mine alone.  This was a shared effort that included:

• The Senate Executive Committee:  Evan Kuehn (who is now the Senate President), Kelly VanderBrug, Boaz Johnson, Karl Soderstrom, and Angelica Ahlman for their insights, ideas, and wisdom.
• My consigliere:  Jon Peterson who was Senate President for three terms.  I was his VP in one of those terms.
• Director of Provost Operations:  Monica Guarisco worked closely with the Executive Committee to keep us organized and informed.
• Faculty representatives to the Board:  Heather Duncan, Martha Mason, and Julia Davids
• All the faculty of North Park for putting their faith in me and the Executive Committee with added appreciation to those who served on the Faculty Senate the past three years.
• Board of Trustees:  Thank you for you dedication and commitment to North Park.  It was a pleasure being part of your meetings. 
• Lastly, I have to thank the President, Provost, and Board Chair who were all open to consult, communicate, clarify issues and policy, and meet whenever needed.
• Provost Michael Carr for meeting with me once a month to nurture collaboration, communication, and getting things done.
• President Mary Surridge for her leadership and dedicated partnership.
• Board Chair David Otfinoski for his love of North Park and steady and thoughtful guidance of the Board.

In summation, serving as Faculty Senate President at North Parking University has truly been, and I say this all my heart, a blessing for me.

The Proof Reading Conundrum: Revisited

AussieTranslations.com.au

 

 

I am the worst proofreader of my own writing.  It stems from a not very subconscious belief that, “How could I have possibly made any errors in writing this amazing piece.”  The subconscious part of this is probably the unsaid, “Syntax, spelling, and grammar errors are for mere mortals i.e. everyone but me.”

Well, the reality is grossly different.  I leave out words and phrases.  Spelling, syntax, and grammar can be challenging.  This is true is if the words flow like water or if I am struggling to produce comprehensible sentences.  This is true with all the assistance that Microsoft Word tries to provide for spelling and phrasing.  I leave out words and only type part of other words (and completely miss the squiggly red underline provided by Microsoft Word).  I type sentences that seem Nobel worthy.  But, when the same sentence is read a year later, after have proofread the piece like four times, it is as if that sentence was  written by someone who barely has ever had a coherent thought and barely knows English. 

Gee whiz!  How does this happen?

Clearly, I am not careful when I proofread.  I am in a hurry to post the bloggy bit.  And, to reiterate, I proofread with the mindset that is impossible I could have made any errors of any kind.  I truly hold fast to this belief despite my dismal track record in this regard.

I wrote about this before.  Back in January of 2018, I wrote a piece, The Proofreading Conundrum, in which I covered some of the same ground.  In the passing seven years, four months, and eight days, my proofreading is still atrocious.  I have tried to make it less atrocious but clearly have failed.

This time around I figured I would get the opinion of others, so I Googled, “proofreading one’s own writing.”  Not surprisingly, there were websites and YouTubes expounding on this subject.  California Coast University had an informative website.  Their recommendations are as follows:

Mignon Fogarty, of quickanddirtytips.com suggests the following:

Read your work backward, starting with the last sentence and working your way in reverse order to the beginning. Supposedly this works better than reading through from the beginning because your brain knows what you meant to write, so you tend to skip over errors when you're reading forwards.

Read your work out loud, this forces you to read each word individually and increases the odds that you'll find a typo. This works quite well for me, and most of the typos that make it into my transcripts seem to be things you wouldn't catch by reading aloud, such as misplaced commas.

Always proofread a printed version of your work. I don't know why, but if I try to proofread on a computer monitor I always miss more errors than if I print out a copy and go over it on paper.

Give yourself some time. If possible, let your work sit for a while before you proofread it… if you are able to clear your mind and approach the writing from a fresh perspective, then your brain is more able to focus on the actual words, rather than seeing the words you think you wrote.

Here are some additional suggestions:

• Do your proofreading when you’re rested and not in a hurry to do something else.
• Work on your proofreading in an environment free from distractions or use noise-canceling headphones.
• When you’re proofing from a hard copy of your writing, use a seven-inch ruler in a dark color to guide you through your writing word by word and sentence by sentence.
• Use a red pen when you correct mistakes on a hard copy. Otherwise, when you go to your computer file to fix the mistakes, you might not catch them all — a red pen is your “red flag” for errors.
• Read syllables, not words, to catch mistakes within longer words with many syllables.
• Avoid rushing. If you feel yourself drifting off task, take a break to re-center yourself.
• Use Read Aloud (Alt+Ctrl+Space) in Word. The electronic voice will read your work to you, which can give you a fresh perspective allowing you to catch small (but important) mistakes you might otherwise have overlooked.
• In addition to Spelling and Grammar check on your computer, use other spelling and grammar tools available (many for free) online but always follow-up with your own proofreading. This gives you a double-check of sorts. 

Well, thank you Mignon Fogarty, but that sounds tedious.  I would rather win a large lottery prize and hire a full-time person to do all my proofreading.  As good as this sounds, it requires a low probability miracle to occur.  Thus, it is not a viable option. 

But, hey, this 2025 and AI is all the rage. If  AI can generate videos of Putin and Trump performing in a rock band, it oughta be able to proofread my drivel.  So, I copied the first six paragraphs and asked ChatGPT to proofread it.  First, ChatGPT responded with, “Your writing has a humorous, self-aware tone that's engaging and relatable. I've cleaned up grammar, punctuation, and syntax issues while preserving your voice and style. Here's the proofread version.”  Then, it provided the following:

 

     I am the worst proofreader of my own writing. It stems from a not-so-subconscious belief that, “How could I have possibly made any errors in writing this amazing piece?” The subconscious part of this is probably the unsaid, “Syntax, spelling, and grammar errors are for mere mortals—i.e., everyone but me.”

     Well, the reality is grossly different. I leave out words and phrases. Spelling, syntax, and grammar can be challenging. This is true whether the words flow like water or I’m struggling to produce comprehensible sentences. This remains true even with all the assistance Microsoft Word tries to provide for spelling and phrasing. I leave out words and only type parts of others (and completely miss the squiggly red underline provided by Microsoft Word). I type sentences that seem Nobel-worthy—but when the same sentence is read a year later, after I’ve proofread the piece like four times, it’s as if it were written by someone who barely has ever had a coherent thought and barely knows English.

      Gee whiz! How does this happen?

      Clearly, I am not careful when I proofread. I’m in a hurry to post the bloggy bit. And, to reiterate, I proofread with the mindset that it is impossible I could have made any errors of any kind. I truly hold fast to this belief despite my dismal track record in this regard.

      I wrote about this before. Back in January of 2018, I wrote a piece titled The Proofreading Conundrum, in which I covered some of the same ground. In the seven years, four months, and eight days since then, my proofreading is still atrocious. I have tried to make it less atrocious but have clearly failed.

      This time around, I figured I would get the opinion of others, so I Googled “proofreading one’s own writing.” Not surprisingly, there were websites and YouTube videos expounding on this subject. California Coast University had an informative website. Their recommendations are as follows: 

 

     The big 'duh' here is that ChatGPT does proofread.  It only took me three years to realize this.  ChatGPT did catch and correct the errors.  Good for AI and good for me.  It even ended with this, “Let me know if you’d like help polishing the next section as well!”  How very thoughtful and I am only using the free version.  

It is a brave new world.

 

Kariné Poghosyan enchants Chicago with a soulful tribute to Khachaturian

On May 4, Kariné Poghosyan performed an intimate concert at the PianoForte recital space in downtown Chicago. Co-sponsored by the Chicago AGBU and PianoForte Chicago, the lovely performance consisted of piano works and ballet transcriptions by Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. This marked Poghosyan’s fourth performance at PianoForte since 2016.

Her program included Khachaturian’s piano compositions Poem, Valse Caprice, Tauz, Toccata and Sonata. She also performed piano arrangements of ballet pieces including Valse Caprice, Adagio from Spartacus, Romance from the Masquerade Suite, and Oror from Gayaneh. Poghosyan played everything beautifully and with great passion, her vibrant and enthusiastic body language reflecting the intensity she is known for. 

The audience was a wonderful mix of Armenians and non-Armenians. Members of the Chicago Armenian community had roots throughout the U.S., Armenia, Turkey, Lebanon and other Armenian centers in the Middle East. We gathered both out of love for music and devotion to Poghosyan herself. The concert space at PianoForte made it feel like a private concert—an intimate chamber music soirée. Everyone there was a fan of Poghosyan and responded enthusiastically to her masterful interpretation of Khachaturian’s work. She was deeply soulful when the music required it and vigorous in the bold, energetic passages that Khachaturian is known for. 

In these modern times, artists like Poghosyan need to cultivate and nurture their fan base, and Poghosyan excels in this regard. It is her very nature to appreciate and befriend those who support and enjoy her music. She makes time to talk with everyone at intimate gatherings like the concert at PianoForte. 

We were fortunate to have Poghosyan join a small group of us for dinner after the concert. It was wonderful to learn more about this remarkable artist and her dedication to her craft. Her practice schedule, which averages two to four hours every day of the week, is rigid and demanding. This is the way it has to be for any virtuoso. Dedication and commitment to practice are nonnegotiable to keep one’s skills sharp. This was the second concert of hers we attended, and she did not use sheet music at either, having memorized all her pieces.

At dinner, when someone in our party asked who her favorite composer is, she gave a diplomatic and practical response: “My favorite composer is the one whose piece I am preparing and practicing for my next performance. It has to be that way in order to play the piece with the skill and care that the composer intended.” This is not a pat answer—it is the very nature of this gifted artist.

In January 2021, Poghosyan launched a monthly concert series on Patreon for a global audience. During the pandemic, she performed 100 consecutive free weekly virtual concerts, gathering a loyal worldwide following, as well as press coverage from Pianist Magazine, Katie Couric’s newsletter The Wake-up Call, NY1’s Stephanie Simon and ABC’s Rick Rowe. 

In 2024, with sponsorship from Seta Nazarian in memory of her mother Artemis Nazarian, the pianist expanded the series to include an intimate in-person audience. Her 2025 series, titled “12 Notes” is her most epic yet. Each program goes up the chromatic scale, starting with C Major/Minor key works in January, and concluding with B Major/Minor key works in December.

Per Patreon, “Hundreds of thousands of creators use Patreon to share videos, podcasts, writing, art, music, recipes and more with their most passionate fans.” Fans subscribe to support artists and receive exclusive curated content. In Poghosyan’s case, the highlight of the subscription is her monthly one-hour concert. She rents a beautiful space and engages a professional video crew and director to provide a high-quality production. She also posts almost daily updates and short videos of her practicing. We truly enjoy this Patreon experience.

Born in Armenia’s capital, Poghosyan began her musical education at the Romanos Melikyan State Music College and the Komitas Yerevan State Conservatory. In 1998, she relocated to the United States to pursue her Bachelor of Music degree at California State University, Northridge. She then advanced to the Manhattan School of Music, completing both her Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in a record two years.

Poghosyan made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall at the age of 23 and has since performed in prestigious venues such as Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall and Zankel Hall. She has collaborated with orchestras including the New West Symphony and the Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her repertoire often highlights Armenian composers, particularly Khachaturian, and she is known for her interpretations that blend technical mastery with emotional depth. 

In February 2023, Poghosyan released her third album Folk Themes on Parma Recordings, to wonderful reviews. TakeEffectReviews wrote, “A body of work that’s passionate and exploratory, Folk Themes illustrates much tenderness and vibrancy via Poghosyan’s riveting playing,” and LucidCulture called it “a colorful, expressive, minutely jeweled new album.”

In the heart of Chicago’s South Loop, PianoForte Chicago stands as a sanctuary for piano enthusiasts, where the resonance of finely tuned instruments meets the warmth of a passionate community. Founded by Thomas Zoells in 2005—who transitioned from a banking career to pursue his love for pianos—PianoForte began as a showcase for exquisite Fazioli pianos. Over time, it blossomed into a boutique offering a curated selection of instruments from esteemed manufacturers. 

In summary, Kariné Poghosyan is an Armenian, an American and a world treasure. She will bring this same concert to New York’s Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, June 10. If she is performing in your area, I encourage you to attend and experience the virtuosity and artistry of this gracious artist. To learn more, visit Poghosyan’s website and social media.

===

Originally published in The Armenian Weekly.

 

The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble: Better than Ever

 

On Saturday May 24, 2025, the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble (MEME) of the University of Chicago performed the last concert, Overflow, of our 28^th season.  It was a beautiful concert performed by a talented and diverse group of musicians.

MEME began in 1996 with only several musicians.  For this recent concert, we had 45 musicians and a choir of 28 making for a total 73 musicians and singers on stage.  The ensemble has truly grown in size.  When I began, I want to say the total number in the 20s, maybe 30. 

As far as I can recall, first being in the audience and then as a member of the ensemble, MEME did three concerts a year, one for each quarter of the University of Chicago academic year.  The Fall concert was an all Turkish, the Winter concert was Persian, and the Spring was Arab. 

I joined MEME in 2014 fulfilling a long-held desire, dream, to play in a classical Turkish orchestra.   I had gone to a few of their concerts which were in the larger rooms in the classic old buildings that define the University of Chicago on the perimeter the quadrangle.  I hesitated to join for two reasons.  First, I had not read music for fifty years and was a bit concerned about my ability to do so.  Secondly, I was still in a corporate job, and I was pretty sure I would not be able to attend many of the practices. 

The great recession solved the second problem.  I was out of work and had to retrench and decide what to do with my remaining working years.  I could have joined MEME as early as 2009, but economic concerns and trying to make a go of a consulting business I had started consumed my time.  By 2010, I was supplementing my income with adjunct teaching of mathematics and statistics.  Teaching grew to the point where I was teaching five sections of introductory statistics at three different colleges.  When that turned into a full time faculty position at North Park University in the Fall of 2014, I finally had the time to join MEME.  North Park was essentially on the way from my home to Hyde Park. Since joining the faculty at North Park, I have always blocked out Thursday evenings for MEME.   

I joined MEME and played in the Turkish concert in the Fall of 2014.  I was familiar with half of the concert material and that was very helpful as I worked to renew and hone my ability to read music.  I passed on the Persian and Arab concerts that 2014-15 season simply because I was not familiar enough with the music.  In the Fall of 2015, I felt more comfortable reading music and decided to play in the Persian and Arab concerts that academic year.  I have not missed a concert since.

We practice in the rehearsal space on the 9^th floor of the beautiful and modern Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts which opened in 2013.   We practice every Thursday in the quad for each concert held at the end of the quad.  We usually have a dress rehearsal the Friday after our last Thursday practice to fine tune the pieces.  The concerts take place on the Saturday or Sunday after the dress rehearsal. 

Each concert was in the Performance Hall of the Logan Center.  The Performance Hall holds 400 and was always standing room only.  A few times we had an overflow space with a video feed.  The Persian concert became so popular that we did two back-to-back performances for three or four years in a row. 

Wanees Zarour has been the Director of MEME for my entire tenure with the ensemble.  When I first joined MEME, Wanees, a CPA, was an accountant and MEME was a hobby or avocation.  In the next few years, Wanees felt a strong call to dedicate himself full-time to music.  He did exactly that.  He went and got a Master’s degree from DePaul in jazz composition and has dedicated himself to this calling.  He continues to direct MEME. He also directs the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, has his own fusion jazz ensemble, East Loop, teaches at the Simon Shaheen’s reknown Arab Music Retreat, and has a full performance schedule in and around Chicago.  Here is his biography from the University of Chicago website.

Trained in both Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions, violinist and buzuq virtuoso Wanees Zarour specializes in Maqam music and is well versed in genres from jazz to Eastern European folk. The composer, educator, and performer of Middle Eastern music teaches Middle Eastern Rhythms, Maqam Theory, and other subjects and holds master classes, residencies and lectures at Universities and educational institutions around the United States. 

Off campus, Wanees Zarour leads and composes for several groups including the Wanees Zarour Ensemble and East Loop, and co-directs the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra with guitarist Fareed Haque. He has been featured in major festivals in the United States, Europe and the Middle East and has recorded with several renowned artists. Zarour recently released his newest album, “Quarter to Midnight" featuring some of his compositional works, anchored around the maqam system and highlighting several Western and South American influences, as well as releases with East Loop, blending Maqam and Black-American music traditions.

Zarour joined the performance program in 2010 and directs the Middle East Music Ensemble, a 45 piece orchestra dedicated to the study and performance of Middle Eastern music.

Wanees has truly grown and developed MEME.  It was good before I joined.  I admired the musicianship and presentations of the concerts I attended.  I was more impressed when I joined and saw the work that goes into preparing for each concert.  I was impressed with virtuosity of the key performers and singers.  I was more impressed with the dedication that each and everyone in the orchestra had for MEME.  Wanees has continually built on these strengths to improve MEME each and every year he has directed the ensemble.

Given the amount of time we practice, MEME has became always been a tight community, really a family, of musicians.  I would say Wanees has even taken that to another level with his engaging and congenial leadership style that is so welcoming and team building.  The passion for and the love of the music is another reason we are so close.  Our shared love for the music is above and beyond the ethnic, political, and religious differences that have caused wars and massacres in the Middle East.  This makes MEME very special.  This unique aspect of MEME has attracted to more and more students and community participants to the ensemble and contributed to our growth.

While the ensemble has grown, so has the musical acumen of our members.  It takes less and less time to master each of the pieces offered in our concerts.  Good musicians want to be part of MEME.  This wonderful phenomenon is another result of the leadership of Wanees.  It has gotten to the point we only have to practice the simpler pieces once or twice.  For the more challenging pieces, our first reads are noticeably better than when I started with the ensemble.

I have seen musicians improve over the years from being in MEME.  I am certainly example of this.  I have seen tentative players, beginners, improve with each and every concert inspired by their more accomplished and talented colleagues.  This continual improvement in musicianship of the members has made us a much tighter and more agile ensemble.

The ensemble, which has grown to be a full-sized orchestra and chorus, has improved for three other reasons.  First, due to his degree in jazz composition, Wanees’s arrangements have gotten more interesting.  Combined with the increased size of the orchestra and current level of musicianship, we produce a lusher and fuller sound with the mixed complexities of both the maqam and rhythmic style of the Middle East along with the Western tradition of the interplay of melodic voices.  Secondly, the bigger and better chorus really adds a full and rich timbre to the vocal pieces which make are easily 80-90% of each of our concerts.  Lastly, we moved from the tradition of having a Turkish, Persian, and then Arab concerts.  Our concerts now are a mix of all three with the goal of welcoming more ethnicities into the repertoire.  In our most recent concert, we had a first Assyrian folk song.  We are looking to include Kurdish, Armenian, and others music genres in coming concerts.  This has also encouraged the best Middle Eastern players and singers to be part of every concert. 

The future looks very bright for MEME.

 

===

Note:  I have only mentioned our Director, Wanees Zarour, in this piece.  I could have mentioned several others but did not, lest I leave out anyone that deserves mention.  Look for more articles highlighting individual musicians in the coming months leading up to our 30^th Anniversary Season in the 2027-28 academic year.

 

===

Here are some photos of Wanees from this years practices.