Friday, July 4, 2025

Thinking of Two Departed Boy Scout Friends: Gary and Glenn






Gary and Glenn
Favorite photos of them from FB


One of the most important parts of my grade school years was my kindergarten through 7th grade time at Robert Burns Elementary School in Detroit.  Closely intertwined with those wonderful school, teachers, and classmates was my time in the Cub Scout Pack 223 and Boy Scouts 223 which were also based out of Burns School.

One of my Boy Scout friends was Gary Bull (12/5/51-5/3/16).  I had not seen Gary nor heard from Gary since 1967 or 68.  This happened with many of the people I knew from Burns and Boy Scouts.  I opted to go to Cass Technical High School downtown, whereas almost everyone else that was still in the neighborhood went to Cooley High School.  We simply lost touch as we all gradually moved out of Detroit in those turbulent times in the city.  

 Gary and I lived in the same neighborhood.  His house was a short block away. He was a year and a half older than me.  The age difference means nothing once your grow uo but in grade school and junior high it was a bigger deal.  Gary was a grade ahead of.  We only knew each from Boy Scouts. He was a very cool and was like a big brother to me and just about everyone else in the our troop.  He loved the scouts and scouting.  He was a good friend.

Beyond being a friend and fellow scout there is one of the thing that Gary did for me that I will be forever grateful.  I stopped playing the violin in the 7th grade.  There were a few reasons for this (probably a future blog topic).  I was not entirely happy about it but I did it nonetheless.  Gary and I were hanging out one day and somehow, we got to talking about me dropping out of violin.  At that time, Gary was taking guitar lessons, was really into rock and roll, and even performed at a few Boy Scout gatherings with a couple of other scouts.  He suggested I take up the guitar which is something I had never considered.  He was very convincing and inspiring.  So, I took him up on it.  We went to the music shop on Grand River and Strathmoor where they had a selection of new and used guitars.  I bought a very basic no-name steel string acoustic for like $5.  It was surprisingly playable for the paltry price.  Gary then became my guitar teacher.  He taught me like ten or twelve chords and had me strumming some three and four chord popular songs like Gloria, Louie Louie, and House of the Rising Sun.

My guitar career was nothing special and short-lived, but he revived my interest in music performance.  A year or so later, I tuned my guitar like an oud, loved it, and never looked back.  Next thing I know, I had an oud and shortly thereafter, I was playing gigs.  I developed a lifelong dedication to the oud and am still out playing sixty-five years later.  Gary played a key role in a most valued part life.  After reconnecting, my interest in the guitar naturally was revived and I have taken a few lessons and am trying to master the fingerboard.  Whenever I pick up my guitar, I think of Gary, and play House of the Rising Sun.

Thanks to the best part about Facebook, Gary and I reconnected in June 2013.  We messaged each other and caught up.  I did have a chance to thank him for his pivotal role in my musical journey.  He had some health issues which progressively got worse leading to his passing. 

For some reason, Gary popped into my head on June 17th.  I thought I would go on Facebook and look at his page, look at some old photos, and reflect on my old Boy Scout friend.  Before I had a chance to type Gary’s name in the search box, I saw a post on Glenn Baugh's site.  It sadly stated: “This is Glenn's family. Our hearts are hurting deeply over the loss of our dad, papa, husband and brother. No more pain or suffering. We will see you later!  My heart became heavy. 

Glenn (8/15/53-6/14/25) was another friend from Burns and Boy Scouts.  I knew Glenn from either Kindergarten or first grade.  We were in classes together at Burns and Cadillac Jr. High.  We also took violin lessons together.  Glenn was a wonderful fellow.  I recall him as a quiet but very kind and friendly fellow.  I remember him as a good student.  His schoolwork and everything he did was meticulous to my less organized self.  I remember admiring this in my friend, and aspired to his level of presentation.  I never really got there until college.   

Glenn used to participate in Cub Scout baseball and then some of the epic games we playing as young teenagers on the Cooley athletic fields.  If I recall, Glenn was a lefty, the only one in our pick-up games, and he could really belt the ball.  He lived right across the street on Coyle from Cooley High’s athletic fields.  Glenn was part of the football game I wrote about in A Veteran’s Day Memory.  He played quarterback a bit in that game and I remember affectionately calling him Sammy Baugh because of some great passes he threw that day.   It was a glorious day in an innocent time just before everything changed for decades in Detroit.

As with Gary, Facebook allowed me to reconnect with Glenn, coincidentally, in June of 2013.  We exchanged birthday greetings, commented on each other’s posts, and we caught up in texts.  In 2020, he sent a message asking me if I remembered him and asked that I not forget him.  I understood he was saying bye and was probably just diagnosed with something chronic.  I wrote him back immediately but he never responded to the texts I sent him that day or the birthday greetings in ensuing years. 

I remember Glenn telling me about his summer trips to the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan’s upper peninsula.  Glenn’s heritage was Finnish and Finns settled in the Keweenaw Peninsula primarily due to economic opportunities offered by the copper mining boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  I was fascinated by this place because of Glenn's stories and enthusiasm.  Because of this, I always wanted to visit Keweenaw, which is something I should still do.

In Scouts, I remember Glenn and his father, Harold, basically funding the Troop 223 by getting us to collect old newspapers and recycling them for a few cents per pound.  The Baughs initiated these paper drives.  Eventually, all the boys in the troop participated.  Truth be told, Glenn and his father collected more than the rest of the troop combined maybe even by a factor of two or three.  The troop bought a trailer to use for caring our camping gear, but the greater use of the trailer, by a long shot, was to take loads and loads of paper to the recycling center.  I admired Glenn and his dad for their hard work and quiet determination.

Reading what friends and family posted about Glenn and Gary was most heartwarming.  Everything I loved about these two fellows as kids and teens became traits for which they were loved and admired for in the adult and family lives. 

When I finally got to Gary’s Facebook page, I was amazed by the number of posts from his family and friends since he passed.  They all missed him for the same kinds of easy going inspiration, mentoring, and friendship he provided to me way back in the 1960s.

I am sorry for the passing of my two schoolmates and fellow scouts.  I am ever so blessed and appreciative that we were able to reconnect and get to know each other again before they passed.  

 Rest well Gary and Glenn.

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Chidem Inch: Folding paper and fanning coals, a fond farewell to print

 

Originally published in The Armenian Weekly.

On June 25, 2025, it was announced that the Armenian-language Hairenik Weekly and the English-language The Armenian Weekly would publish their final print editions that week and transition to exclusively online platforms moving forward.

From my perspective, it was not a matter of ‘if,’ but more a matter of “when.”

Newspapers across the country and the world have struggled with the growth, and now dominance, of online media. The Armenian Weekly is no exception. The same content is offered online for free, whereas the print edition cost about $130 per year. Many folks I know read the Weekly online, avoided the subscription costs and accessed the articles as soon as they were posted—rather than waiting five to 10 days for the print edition to arrive in their mailbox.

It was clear, anecdotally, that print subscriptions were in decline and online readership was on the rise. We knew that we needed to support the Weekly financially. So, we never gave up our print subscription. To help sustain it, we also gifted subscriptions to family members who had stopped subscribing to the Weekly. We supported the occasional Hairenik fundraisers and sponsored pages for the AYF Olympic Special Edition and a few of the special magazine issues of the Weekly. It was nothing exorbitant, but we felt we were doing our part.

There is also something nostalgic about the tactile feel of an actual newspaper. Seeing the Weekly in the mailbox always made me happy. We would flip through paper the day it arrived and often reread the same articles we had seen online. 

When I think of the print editions of the Weekly, three stories come to mind. First, as a child, I fondly recall my grandfather, Levon Merian, sitting on the sofa or a glider on the front porch reading the Hairenik, which was a daily paper back then. I remember him slowly reading the words in a faint whisper. Admittedly, there is nothing profound in this memory—but seeing the paper in his hands, written in the script Mesrob Mashdots created, had me admiring my grandfather. It made me reflect on how he escaped the Turkish army work detail to make his way to Detroit—and it made me a bit prouder of our heritage. Were he reading the Hairenik on an iPhone…well, you get the picture.

The second memory is when we relocated from Detroit to Wilton, Connecticut in 1990. With all the tasks and details involved in making such a move, we had to inform the Hairenik Association of our address change. I was excited when the first Weekly was delivered—not forwarded—to our new address. The paper seemed thicker. I wondered if perhaps it was a special issue. 

It was not. There were two papers—one inside of the other. Maybe I was getting the first two issues of the Weekly to our new address, I thought.

No, they had the same issue. One was labeled with our name and address, and the second was to a Garo Lehmejian, who also lived in Wilton. This all happened standing by the mailbox, mind you.  My first thought was, “God, the Weekly and the U.S. Postal Service” wants me to get to know this fellow, Garo.”

I looked up his number in an old-fashioned phone book and called him. We were about the same age—he was a New York Hyortik and I was a Detroit Tandourjian. We knew many of the same people, but not each other. Garo invited us over that evening, and we have been friends ever since. A print edition miracle, for sure.

Lastly, once upon a time, my friend Tom Zakarian and I were discussing the intricacies and best practices of cooking kebab. We debated charcoal versus propane grills and the merits of this marination or that. We talked about the ritual of men standing around, offering opinions on whether this skewer should or shouldn’t be turned just yet. Then, we stumbled upon an insight that I am only now sharing with the world: our grandparents’ kebab tasted better because of one overlooked, obvious fact. They stoked the coals to the perfect temperature by using a newspaper folded in a most special way and fanned using an equally unique backhanded technique.   

But they did not use any old newspaper. The Boston Globe, the Detroit Free Press, the Chicago Tribune or the New York Times were all inferior for this part of the process. The paper had to be the Hairenik, in Armenian—nothing else would do. 

What is the food science behind this? There is none. It simply is. In our memories, it made the kebab taste better. What will we do now for good kebab without the print edition of the Hairenik?

It is most natural to lament when something we love changes or is taken from us. We didn’t like it when Uncle Ben’s became Ben’s. We were used to Uncle Ben’s—it was a staple in many Armenian households. It didn’t matter that it was the same product in the box with a different name and logo and that the pilaf tasted exactly the same. People also mourned the demise of an iconic department store in the center of town. For Detroit Armenians, it was the downtown JL Hudson department store—where they used to shop for clothes, furniture and other household goods. We had fond memories of that store, especially the magical place it was transformed into at Christmas time. 

Yet, no one stops to think that they hadn’t been to that store in a decade or so. It closed because it was just oh-so-convenient to shop in suburban malls where we all had moved to. 

With these kinds of changes comes an initial shock of losing something that was part of our lives. That shock quickly turns into nostalgia, which may well include mumbling about how much simpler and slower-paced life was back then. A generation later, even the nostalgia is gone. Product and service providers need to adapt to economic drivers and consumer whims to survive. If they don’t, they go bankrupt and cease to exist altogether. The sense of loss will eventually pass, especially if the replacement product or service offers more benefits.

I can imagine a Weekly website that offers not only the core content we’re used to, but much more. We already enjoy free access to news that is more real-time than a weekly newspaper could ever deliver. If we miss an article from last year or a few years ago? You can search and read them with relative ease.

Moving forward, I can see a toggle button on many—if not, all—articles, allowing us the option to read the piece in Armenian or English. While the print paper was limited to 12-16 pages, a web-based offering could provide much more content. We could have more commentary, photos, art, literature and poetry, as well as more articles by members of various organizations—especially our young people in the AYF and AYF Juniors. I can envision a subscription for premium content, which might include things like more in-depth articles, videos, podcasts and more. 

What is the downside? Well, for me, it is simple: I will feel the loss of the print version, which has been part of the décor of the family rooms in our home for decades. There is also the aforementioned loss of holding the paper, folding it and hearing it crinkle. I will miss the print edition, even though I’ve already been spending more time in recent years on the Weekly website than actually reading the print version.

How will I cope? When I do miss the print edition, I will grab my phone or laptop, sit on the sofa, go to the Weekly website, select an article and then read it out loud in a quiet whisper.

As for getting the kebab grill to the right temperature without the Hairenik or Weekly to fan the coals? Heck, I switched to propane in the 1980s. It was just so much more convenient.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Old TV Shows

Top 10 'Law & Order' Episodes (From The First 20 Seasons)
An Iconic TV Franchise

 

This month, my interest in Law & Orders was not as strong as the first go around.  My interest shifted to TV Westerns from the 1950s and early 1960s.   I have watched the Lone Ranger, Bat Masterson, Tombstone Territory, and Tales of Wells Fargo.  I really liked The Lone Ranger.  It was a show I loved as a kid, and it was familiar and warming to watch it again as an adult.  All of these shows were half-hour Western dramas with the same formula.  A dastardly crime was committed, and then the protagonist solved the crime within the half-hour.  True to the 1950s ethos, the good guys always won.

In recovering from knee surgeries back in January and now in June.  It took a few weeks to get back to get back to my normal mental self.  This was due to the anesthesia to wearing off and then weaning myself off the pain meds.  The first time around, I had two Jack Reacher books staged to read in my recovery.  The first took a full week to read simply because of my less than normal concentration.  I read the second book in two days. 

I also watched TV as well.  In January, I watched a lot of Law and Order reruns.  They held my interest, and I always liked that series.  The "Law & Order" franchise is one of the most influential and long-running television franchises in the history of American TV. Created by Dick Wolf, it first premiered in 1990 and has since expanded into six interconnected series that explore one crime in each episode.  The first half of each episode is about and crime and how law enforcement investigates and find the perpetrators.  In the second half, the show shifts to the legal system trying the perpetrators for the crime.  It is a wonderfully crafted format that has lasted 35 years and still in production.  I watched re-runs which are almost always on a handful of re-run cable networks.

The Lone Ranger was a former Texas Ranger.  We never knew the Lone Ranger’s name as he preferred to roam and do his good deeds anonymously.  His desire to remain anonymous was so strong, he wore a mask further protect his anonymity.  The Lone Ranger was assisted and his loyal Native American companion Tonto. Together, they roamed the American West fighting injustice, helping settlers, and defending the innocent.  They found crimes and injustice that needed righting in every episode.  Once they righted the wrong, the did not stick around to get thanks or bask in the glory of their good deed.  Instead the humbly rode off in search of their next adventure.

The Lone Ranger TV series ran from 1949-1957.  There were 221 shows in the series.  Clayton Moore and John Hart played the Lone Ranger.  Jay Silverheels was Tonto.


There is a Detroit connection to the Lone Ranger that I sort of knew about but never knew what it was.  In preparing for this post, I learned that the TV series was the natural extension of the widely popular Lone Ranger radio show.  The Lone Ranger, as well as the Green Hornet, were created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker who were based in Detroit.  The Lone Ranger debuted on WXYZ, a large Detroit radio station, on January 30, 1933.  It aired in only in Detroit before going national. 

I owe a debt to the Law and Order franchise and the Lone Ranger for entertaining me through my recovery.  While, they were not prescribed by any medical experts, they were sure helpful in the healing process from knee replacements.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

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.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

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 8th.

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.


Wednesday, June 4, 2025

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.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

The Proof Reading Conundrum: Revisited

 

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.