June 2017: Derev

     Picking grape leaves is a tradition.
     I grew up with this tradition. It has become something I have been doing for the past several years. My cousin Chris has been doing it for even longer. It is an old Armenian tradition that my grandparents generation brought with them from the yergir or “old country.” Armenians call the leaves derev, which just means, um… duh…. leaf. We also used the Turkish word yaprak which was no more clever than the Armenian and means leaf as well. But when Armenians and Turks say derev or yaprak in the singular, it really means grape leaves.
     We pick them and use them to make sarma, or what the Greeks call dolmades. The leaves are cleaned and blanched. If not used right away, they are either frozen or canned for later use. The stuffing of the stuffed grape leaves, is either a meat based but most often a rice based mix of spices, onions, pignolia nuts, and olvie oil. The mixture is rolled like small cigars in the grape leaves and neatly arranged in a slow cooker. There is art in the picking of the leaves, the making of the stuffing, the rolling of sarma, and even the cooking.
     I really only focus on the picking of the derev.
     Back in the day, the picking of the leaves was mostly women’s work and you used to see mostly older ladies picking leaves along the roadside from the vines that grew wild. They were dressed like they had never left the “old coutnry” even though they had been in the US for thirty years. They were Greek, Arab, Assyrian, and, of course from my perspective, Armenian.
     My mother’s mother, our beloved, enigmatic, and inimitable Grannie, used to do this. She took me, as far as I can recall, just once. I must have been 11 or 12 years old. I remember driving around in her sky blue Ford Falcon. We would drive until she saw some vines and leaves. I presume she had a method or idea where she was going. To me, it just seemed that we were kind of aimlessly in search of the derev. We stopped and picked some here and there. I do recall being that helpful in what as to me at that young age a relatively boring outing.  Obviously, that one trip had an impact on me.
     Even when Armenians of that generation were not hunting for derev, they would loudly exclaim “derev” and point whenever vines were spotted on a car ride. I would look and just a clump of trees and bushes along the roadside. I could not tell which were grape leaves from the density of the flora.
     My how times have changed.
     I riding my bike around the roads and bike paths near my home here in Chicago’s North Shore, I have learned to spot derev. They are everywhere. I think it should be the state vine of Illinois. I spot them when riding my bike and driving my car. I find myself channeling my Grannie’s generation by pointing and saying “derev.” There may be a genetic component to this behavior.
     This is the only remotely agrarian thing I do. My people were farmers two and three generations ago. They grew things and tended animals. They sowed and planted. They harvested and reaped. They tending livestock, lets say chickens and maybe sheep, and slaughtered them. I have never done any of that. To me, the food chain is basically grocery stores and restaurants. Killing and dressing a chicken? Catching and gutting fish? Sure, I know abot such, but only in concept.
     My dad would tell stories of his maternal grandmother, Almas, on the farm they had in Andover, MA. She would go into the yard, catch a chicken, put her foot over the neck, and slice its throat. My father in-law, who ran a grocery store in Waukegan for may year, told me how they would get crates of live chickens. As customers would select one, they would put the head of the chicken in the noose end of rope that was nailed to the table. They would then throw the chicken and break its neck. The would then de-feather, gut, and dress the bird for the customer. As I said, these are concepts to me. I cannot imagine doing any of it unless forced to by what I can only classify as apocolyptic changes in the world around me.
     But, I do pick derev.
     It has become a hobby and passion. It is nothing obsessive. In terms of both hobby and passion, it is minor. I pick a few hundred leaves every year which is the equivalent of two to five bottles of storebought leaves. My cousin Chris in Michigan is much more prolific picking several hundred leaves.
     Back in the days when I had a small aspiration of being a hippie, one of the draws was the concept of returning to the land; living a simpler life and all that. There was a strong message which for some turning into a yearning to grow our own food. Picking grape leaves is the closest I have come to any of that. This is the one, and again I emphasize, very minor thing I do in that regard.
     I did contemplate planting an apple orchard when living in Connecticut. But, it was nothing more than a contemplation. I did, on a whim, buy and plant a strawberry plant. But, since I did not fence it in to protect it from deer and rabbits, the little plant was eaten to the ground the first night I planted it. Sure, I thought of growing vegetables. But that truly required excavating a plot, building a fence, buying and replanting seedlings, fertizlizing, watering, and tending. I was exhausted just thinking about it and confirmed again that I was a much better contemplater than an implementor.

Aram's Black Walnut Tree

     My most successful planting occurred in 1981 when my son was born. I was cutting the lawn and found a black walnut seedling. Instead of mowing it down, I decided to replant it. It was only four inches high. I had no expectation that it would survive the summer let alone the first winter, but it did. It has survived until today when It is a majestic, towering, and nut bearing tree in the backyard of the house we moved from in 1989. I am quite proud of what I call Aram’s tree. I was sad to leave that tree when we moved.
     Not to leave Armené out of it, we decided to plant a tree in her first year. In her case, we bought a golden delicous apple tree. It was hardly a sapling as it was already six feet tall. That tree still thrives in the opposite end of the same backyard. I doubt the current owners of the house realize the significance of those trees. I drive by the old place now and then mostly to see the trees.
     Picking grape leaves appeals to me on a few levels. First and foremost, it involves no tending and preparation on my part. There is no excavating,

Armene's Golden Delicious Apple Tree

rototilling, nurturing of seedlings, fertilizing, insect spraying, or building and maintenane of chicken wire enclosures. As far as this agrarian habit, mother nature does all of the work. The stuff is abundant and grows like weeds around here. I imagine that is what most of my neighbors think they are: weeds.
     Secondly, I do it when I want. Of course, I have to do it in season, All I have to do is be observant and find where the leaves are and when they look ready for picking. As being observant is the first cousin of contemplation, I find this quite natural.
     Thus, I have found my little agrarian niche. For a few moments every year, I have kinda returned to the land, I have sorta become a hunter gatherer… well… at least a gatherer. It makes me feel marginal helpful in bringing home foodstock that did not come from the grocery store. And maybe most importantly, I was in another small way channelling that very special first generation of Armenians and keeping a bit of the “old country,” a place I barely know and certainly have never lived in.

Sidenote: OK… I will admit that the last few paragraphs reek of a load of neo-hippie psychobabble. At least that is what I would say if I was reading this instead of writing it. Of course, I added this observation myself instead of having to hear Ara Topouzian make the observation.

      In doing this for several years, I have learned something unexpected as well. I have experienced a bit of what all farmers, gardeners, and gatherers learned. I have learned about the year to year variation of the crop. This learning appealed to the statistician and quality management part of my education and work experience.  I suppose that maybe some naturalist has written it all down, but I have learned a few things the old fashioned way. I have experienced them. It is a great ancillary benefit of my little hobby and passion.
     The womenfolk, either of my parents’ generation or about my age, would always say that the derev are best picked before Father’s Day or the first day of summer. They believed after that date, the leaves would be too tough and veiny. In making sarma, it is best to have the tenderest, most delicate, and largest leaves possible. Plus, after this date, there is the distinct possibility of bugs eating holes in the leaves making them unusable.
     What is the reality that I have learned? There is certainly some truth to the lore. But, I have also learned that there is always new growth right into August. I look for lighter color leaves that indicate new growth. It does become harder to find good leaves the deeper we are in the summer.
     While the first day of summer might be a decent rule of thumb, I have noticed a fair of year to year variation when the first harvesting of leaves is best. The readiness of the first crop is dependent on rain and temperature. As temperature and rainfall vary, so does the best date for picking leaves.
     Another thing I learned, and really no one had to tell me this, is this: no more matter how perfect the leaves look, if they are too high, amid blooms of poison ivy, or in a thicket that looks like tick heaven… leave them, pun intended, and move on. I am sure our first generation of derev pickers knew this because there are no stories of people breaking bones, dying, or getting seriously ill from picking grape leaves. Since they never articulated this advice, and many were fond of dishing out advice like pilaf, I am guessing they just assumed that none of their descendents would be that stupid.
     There was a lot of lore about that first generation of immigrants not sharing where they found their leaves. They did not want others to find their little nirvana of vines and leaves. “You can help me to pick da derev, but you don’ tell anyvone vere ve go.” Maybe because leaves are so abundant around here, no one really cares to protect their gathering grounds. There is no need. In fact, the opposite is true. A few Armenians have noticed that I do like to pick leaves. They will tell something like the best leaves ever are at some location or another. One auntie told the best leaves ever were behind a church in my town. I checked it out. Nothing, nada, zilch. This leads to the next learning I have experienced.
    Just because the leaves were unbelievable at a particular location one year is no guarentee that the leaves will be anywhere near as good the next year. In 2015, I saw a clump of derev on the way to church in early June. The leaves looked huge. I went back the next day and was amazed. I must have picked 75 perfectly tender leaves that were larger than my hand. The next year, I really looked forward to returning to that same location. There were still leaves growing but they were nothing special. In fact, I did not pick any from that spot. The spring of 2015 was very wet and cool. It made the leaves perfect in that location for that year. I have also noticed that places where leaves were good last year may still have vines this year, but the bugs found and ravaged them.
     I would say that every other time I am out someone will stop and comment or ask what I am doing. The police often will do this. I am guessing they are doing their duty in checking to see why this goofball is picking leaves on the side of a busy road. I tell them what I am up to and they understand. Then, they ask if I would call them when the sarma is made. Just this past week, another cyclist stopped and asked if I was Assyrian. He told me how he used to go out derev picking with his grandmother. Virtually everyone that has done this with their grandmother has fond memories of the experience.
     One lady, who lived across the street from a spot I was picking leaves, came running over when she saw me. Her gait and body language told me she was concerned bordering on the upset. Was I picking leaves from her special location? She asked what I was doing. I said picking grape leaves for stuffed grape leaves. She was immediately relieved. She thought I was picking the gooseberries which were growing around the grape leaves. I did not even notice them nor did I have any idea what to do with them if I picked them. We had a nice chat about our gathering hobbies.
     Hmmm… enough for now. Out to gather up some more leaves.

May Letter: China

     June 11: I am visiting professor in China. Even though I am not really a bucket list kind of guy, doing something like this would be in my top ten.

     The university I am teaching at is the Anhui University of Finance and Economics (AUFE). AUFE is in the province of Anhui and in the city Bengbu. There are 28,000 students in this university. North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management (SBNM), where I am on the faculty, has an on-going relationship AUFE’s departments of Industrial Economics and International Trade.  I am here with Professor Pam Schilling. We are the fourth and fifth professors from SBNM to teach summer courses at AUFE.
     My term here is a short month: May 15 – June 15. I am teaching two courses. One is an undergraduate course, Marketing Channels and Supply Chains, and the other is a graduate course, Quantitative Methods. There are 47 students in the undergraduate class and 25 in the graduate class.
     What amazed me first and foremost about China? It was much greener than I had expected even in the middle of heavily populated cities. Second, I had heard that the air quality in many cities was so bad, people wore surgical masks while outdoors. While I saw some folks with masks, I did not find the air quality so bad. I recall it being worse in Mexico City when I used to routinely travel there.
     My fascination with China goes back to my junior year of high school. I was in a social studies class called Current Affairs. One of the topics we studied was Red China as it was known back in those days. I was amazed to learn that the population of China was 1 billion people. The global population at that time, 1970, was 4 billion. I recall thinking, “wow, one in four people in world is Chines and I know nothing about the country and culture.”
     Well the Current Affairs class was a good place to begin the learning journey. As it was a class called Current Affairs, we studied the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and how Mao Zedong (though he was Mao Tse Tung back in those days) forged a new country out of what had been multiple spheres of European and American interest. The called it foreign control and imperialism. The country, through rather harsh means, eliminated opium usage and imposed a strict one child policy.
     Of course, I read Mao’s Little Book. I was a little disappointed. I expected some kind of amazing revelation. It just was not there.
     On the plane coming over here, I read a Wall Street Journal article on the legacy of Mao. He was made out to be a despot responsible for the death of thousands. His darkest period was during the Cultural Revolution which began Mao was 73 years old in 1966 and lasted until 1976 when Mao died. The article portrayed Mao as an old man trying to cling to power. He thought the Party had was influenced by too many bourgeois members and he wanted to get basic to what he believed were the basic tenets of his form of communism. The result was brutal and chaotic. It took the country backwards, even though President Richard Nixon visited, in 1972, and normalized relations between the two countries.
     The only place you see Mao’s photo these days is on the currency. He is on every denomination. There is also his large portrait on the Gate to the Forbidden City (The Tian-an-men) facing Tiananmen Square. No one would refer much to Mao. If I try to bring him up in conversation, and believe me I was more curious than anything, people would just say he was our First Leader or the Father of our country. The few students would simply say, “I can’t talk about that.” Needless to say, I would drop the subject and any further inquiry.
     In my modest study of China in high school and college, I learned enough to sense a pattern. Throughout the 2200 years of Chinese history, there were long periods of great prosperity and short periods of foreign occupation or chaos. Mao ended the most recent period of foreign occupation with the creation of the People’s Republic in 1949. The chaos, however, was not over. Mao forged a country with an iron fist. The communal system resulted in mass starvation during a period called The Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s. It ended with the Cultural Revolution and Mao’s death.
     When I was in high school and college, it appeared to me that Mao threw off the shackles of foreign occupation and influence. I speculated that, if the right moves were made, China was on the brink of a new era of stability and prosperity. It seems looking back that my prognostication was correct. But here, the First Leader is not given that credit. Most believe here that the country we know today started in 1981. The architect of the transformation was Deng Xiaopeng. While he did not hold any official office such as President or General Secretary, he was considered the Paramount Leader. From 1978 to 1989, he led the country through the market-economy reforms that created the economic powerhouse that is today’s China.
     I have not heard his name mentioned nor have I seen a photo of him.
     On one of tours, the tour guide was very knowledgeable. She would refer to Mao as “Our first leader.” She did not say much else. I gave her my little soliloquy about Chinese history being long periods. She was relatively unimpressed. I suggested that we were in the front end of an era of great prosperity. She might have been mildly impressed. Then, I floated this idea out there. I wondered if a century from now, historians might refer to this government as a dynasty. She looked at me like I had three heads and said “This is not a dynasty.” Of course it isn’t a blood line dynasty but it sure a party one.
     So much for the history that no one really wants to or can talk about. I will have to read up more on this when I get home.
     How much planning is appropriate in Free Market System?: While in China, Professor Schilling and I discussed the China miracle and whether their approach to the market-economy was better than ours. Professor Schilling was definitely on the side of the freer markets which are basically the underlying philosophy that American business and business schools are based on. I took a slightly different perspective. I look at a continuum of the free – planned spectrum and wonder what the optimum point on that spectrum may be at any given time and set of economic conditions.
     I asked that question in the pit of the Great Recession. Should the US attempt to define what we wanted to be in the next five or ten years? If other countries, like China which is poised to become the world’s largest economy, are beating us by planning their free-market economy more than we are, maybe we should consider about taking a step or two in that direction? I realized I was basically suggesting that we set and implement a Five Year Plan which to me was synonymous for failure in the old Soviet system.
     These were not epic debates with Professor Schilling but rather discussions over breakfast or while walking to and from AUFE. She is more steadfast in her view and that makes sense given that she has an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. My perspective came into focus after two weekends of tourism in which I took China’s affordable and very efficient trains to Xian and Beijing. The train to Xian was an old fashioned train that rumbled along probably at an average of 50 mph. It took 14 hours and that trip will be the subject of another letter. It was efficient at what it did. The train to Beijing on the other hand are modern high speed trains that cruise ever so smoothly at 185 mph. That trip was 3.5 hours. I was really impressed.
     Then I was kind of depressed. We have been hearing about high speed or bullet trains in Japan, France, and now in China for over 30 years. Our passenger rail system is a joke be comparison even

to China’s regular old slow trains. There have been occasional discussions about testing a bullet train system between a couple of cities but nothing has ever come of it. Nothing. Thirty years later, we have a decrepit and inefficient old train system. In half of that time, China has really cool and affordable high speed trains between all of its major cities. Bengbu is not a major city but it has a high speed train station for travel to Beijing and Shanghai for certain. There is a plan to provide high speed service to Xian. And us?
     This point was hammered home on a walking tour I took in Beijing. It was with a company called Urban Adventure which is based in Australia. The COO of the company was visiting their Beijing office and was on the tour with us. During lunch, the topic of trains came up and he lamented that they would be a great addition in Australia especially between Sydney and Melbourne. They have been discussing such a route since the 1980s but like the US, nothing has happened.
     I did Google “bullet trains in the US.” Actually, I Yahooed it since Google is not allowed in China. There seems to be two classes of articles in 2015 and 2016. One basically asks “Why is there No High Speed Rail Network in the US” and the other is reporting on being close to starting on projects in California. Of course, there are articles on Amtrak’s Acela which is considered higher speed (medium speed if you will) and not the high speed or bullet trains found in Japan, China, and Europe.

     It seems we are creeping towards a pilot in California. There is $68 B project on tap to link Los Angeles and San Francisco with a 200 mph train. It is scheduled to be completed in 2029.  2029? That seems like a long time.
     Apparently, the automobile, aviation, and highway construction lobbies want to protect their turf. The Republicans with the Cato Institute and the Koch Brothers behind them seem to think that privatization is the only way to do this which makes the prospects of this happening in any meaningful and impactful way… slim.
     Chinas biggest cities also have amazing subway systems and commuter rail. The US has the same in the a few cities but only Washington DC’s has the modern look and feel of China’s.
     The difference? Some central planning. The government decided that the have 1.4 B people. They have to figure out some way to provide good, safe, fast, and reasonably priced transportation to move people around the country and to and from work. They looked at the US (I am guessing) and decided that if they relied solely or mostly on autos, the roads would be ridiculously congested. As a result, even in Beijing, the traffic seems to flow.
     Keeping things tidy: China is a pretty green place. Even in the biggest cities there are parks with beautiful flower and landscaping. There is an army of folks tending to these parks and, at least in Bengbu, basically sweeping the sidewalks. I have seen more street cleaning vehicles then I might see in the US in five years (oddly they all have speakers playing “It’s a small world after all” for some reason). By plan, they have invested in civic beauty and order. Sounds OK to me. Things look pretty nice.
     I remember in the 1960s when the Southfield Expressway was built in Detroit. It was a beauty when it opened. The undulating north-south expressway went under the main east-west roads from 9 Mile Road in the north to I-94 in the south. The banks of the expressway were beautiful grass that was kept well maintained. When the city and state slid into economic troubles the maintenance of the road followed a similar trajectory. It was disappointing to say the least and more so indicative of the erosion of civic pride that I thought existed in my childhood.
     I like the free market system. But, I think there has to be a bit more planning in the US. When it comes to competing with a country like China, it seems one of us is playing checkers and the other chess.

Some of our undergraduates at AUFE

Some of our undergraduates at AUFE

The East Gate of Anhui University of Finance and Economics

June 2014: The Mess in Iraq

After 9-11 when the US was on the brink of attacking Iraq, part of the so called Axis of Evil that included Iran and North Korea (and I am still not sure how North Korea got into this mix), I was worried.  What was I worried about?  I was not worried about toppling Saddam Hussein.  The Iraqi armed forces were no match for the US.  We were simply better trained and certainly much better equipped.  They could not match us on land, sea, or air.  Given our resolve, it was a fait accompli.  

My worry was what would happen after we toppled Saddam and this worry was two fold.  First, I guess that the Iraqi army would never engage the US army in the open battlefield.  I thought they would melt into the background and after our forces “took over” the country, the real war, a guerilla war would start.  I was, sadly, spot on.  The Iraqi forces did not engage the US.  The takeover was easy.  I, like many others, felt ominous when President Bush gave his famous “Mission Accomplished” speech.  In reality, the harder part of the mission was just beginning.  Shortly after, the insurgent or guerrilla war began.  

Secondly, I wondered what kind of government we would install.  The plan was to create the kind of democracy in Iraq that would be the envy and model for the rest of Arab world.  Yeah… that didn’t quite happen either.  We grossly underestimated the divisions between Shiites and Sunnis as well as the between Arabs and Kurds.  We grossly underestimated the wishes and influence of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in Iraq.  We grossly overestimated the presence of Al Qaeda in Iraq but went about create a fertile ground for their entry and growth in the country.  Lastly, we grossly overestimated our ability to manage the country after the regime change.  I will not even address the gross lack of intelligence regarding the Weapons of Mass Destruction.  

This is not hindsight on my part.  I was concerned about these very issues and expressed them to family and friends when we were rattling our sabers and preparing to go in.  It was not something I wanted to be right about.  I would much rather be writing a piece on how wrong I was in these regards.

As a result, around 4,500 US soldiers were killed and a greater number injured.  We were good at counting our numbers.  I was a bit amazed and a tad upset that we did not give the Iraqi deaths and casualties the same air time.  We kept claiming that our mission there was to help the Iraqi people.  Given that we barely talked about the 100,000 to 200,000 that were killed (the number is not clear).  This just gave me the impression that we did not really care about the Iraqi people as much as we were claiming to care.  

After 9-11, when it was certain that we would be invading Afghanistan and then Iraq, there was a brilliant article in either the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.  It was long and it talked about the experiences and history of other Western Countries, namely England and perhaps France, in Iraq.  While they were able to achieve initial military victories and advances, they were equally ineffective in bringing any significant change to the region in their attempts to either westernize or civilize them.  As I recall, there was a great quote from, I believe, T. E. Lawrence that said something along the lines of over time the sands of Arabia will swallow you.  The article confirmed my feelings that we would win the war and lose the peace.

The article was very good.  I am almost certain it was in the WSJ because it I recall thinking this was not the conservative hawkish viewpoint I would have expected from the WSJ.  I did not save the article.  I remember sharing it with my cousin David who also found it quite interesting.  Of course, I have tried to find this article numerous times in the past few days.  I searched in Google as well as on the NYT and WSJ websites.  I searched all variants and combinations of Iraq, Afghanistan, War, Preparing for War, Lessons from History, T. E. Lawrence, sands of Arabia or Araby, and the years 2001 and 2002.  There was nothing to be found.  I would have like to have re-read this article as I collect my thoughts for this June letter.  

After we ousted Saddam, we set to create a new government.  This was to be the government that would lead Iraq from dictatorship to the model democracy that has so eluded the Arab Islam World.  We organized elections in which Nouri Al-Maliki was elected as Prime Minister.  Did he have any chance of creating a stable inclusive government?  Could any leader have led Iraq to the model democracy we were looking to create?  Is it that the various factions of Shia, Sunni, Kurds, and more will never get along?  Saddam Hussein held it together but as tough and often vicious dictator.  Was the US doomed to fail?  Was al Maliki doomed to be ineffective?  I believe the answer to all of these questions was and is a resounding… yes.

Now a new leader and new movement has emerged.  The leader is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the organization/ movement/army is called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).  ISIS is fundamentalist and brutal.  They have suddenly and quickly taken a large swath of Iraq beginning in the oil rich regions and are headed toward Baghdad.  Abu Bakr was originally part of the insurgency after the US toppled Saddam.  He was captured and spent several years in custody where, apparently, his radicalism and resolve was hardened by association with seasoned Al Qaeda prisoners.  Upon his release from prison he honed his skills and rose in the ranks of ISIS.  He became the leader of ISIS in 2010 when his predecessor was killed by US and Iraqi troops.  The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and the war in Syria provided an opportunity for Abu Bakr and ISIS to grow in numbers and become a deadly revolutionary force killing everyone who not only stands in their way but also those who might be a bystander.  ISIS has been called too extreme by Al Qaeda and ISIS claims Al Qaeda is ineffective.  ISIS claims that they are the true successors of Bin Laden.  In their current march across Iraq, they are emphasizing this with extreme brutality.  

The closest thing to a profile on Abu Bakr is a June 15, 2014 Aljazeera artice:  The fierce ambition of ISIL's Baghdadi.  Note that ISIL stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.  Here is an excerpt:

Not since Osama bin Laden has a leader been held in such reverence among Sunni fighters, scored such stunning and shocking victories, and threatened so much of the established order.

But unlike Bin Laden, whose vast wealth aided his elevation to the "sheikh", Baghdadi has literally fought his way from ordinary beginnings in northern Iraq to lead what is perhaps the Middle East’s most feared irregular armed force.

So emboldened by his success on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq, Baghdadi has challenged the very leadership of al-Qaeda, denouncing them publicly as deviating from the cause and stating he is the true heir to Bin Laden's legacy.

But his methods are extreme and his actions repugnant to many - captured enemy fighters are shot or decapitated and their deaths recorded for the internet.

Other armed groups in Syria are attacked as ISIL expands territory and influence, and a strict interpretation of Islam is implemented in the regions under its control - internet videos abound of thieves having their hands severed and adulterers, smokers and those who fail to attend prayer being publicly whipped.

There is a school of thought that we precipitated the current mess in the region.  If we had not invaded Iraq neither Iraq nor Syria would be in the dire straits they are now experiencing.  This may be true.  In our attempt to bring regime change, democracy, and stability to the Iraq, we may have fueled Al Qaeda which spawned ISIS which is now a juggernaut to create a Caliphate.  It is also possible it may have happened anyway maybe not as soon. Nothing galvinizes jihadi radicalism like an invasion from a “Christian” or non-Islamic army.  In one of his first speeches after 9-11, George W. even called the coming military invasion a Crusade.  There was a pretty passionate response in the Muslim world to the use of that term.  

I am oversimplifying things.  I have no choice.  I am not a scholar or state department employee whose job it is to study every nuance of what has gotten us to this point in Iraq.  My view is rather, what we call a 30,000 foot flyby.  It seemed fairly obvious before we invaded Iraq and more obvious in hindsight, that creating the post-Saddam Iraq was the real challenge.  The consensus now is that we failed at this part.  Those that are not big fans of Bush and Cheney blame Bush and Cheney for all this.  Others that are not particularly fans of Obama blame Obama.  There is plenty of blame to go around.  I believe Bush and Cheney got us into a war that had very little probability of succeeding.  I believe that Obama withdrew our troops prematurely (if there was never going to be a right time, then he probably did the right thing). The blame game is definitely partisan.  Tom Toles, the cartoonist for The Washington Post, captured this perfectly in his June 24, 2014 cartoon.  Both parties have united by saying, almost in unison:  “I told you so.”

What is bothersome on one level is that we have very smart people in the State Department and the Military.  How could they not know the risks?  The only logical thing I can think of is that there was a lot of money to be made in if there were a war.  What are the numbers?

·         The U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will cost taxpayers $4 trillion to $6 trillion, taking into account the medical care of wounded veterans and expensive repairs to a force depleted by more than a decade of fighting, according to a new study by a Harvard researcher.

the United States has spent almost $2 trillion already for the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those costs, she said, are only a fraction of the ultimate price tag. The biggest ongoing expense will be providing medical care and disability benefits to veterans of the two conflicts. ~ www.washingtonpost.com 3/28/13.  

·         Ten contractors received 52 percent of the funds, according to an analysis by the Financial Times that was published Tuesday.

The No. 1 recipient?

Houston-based energy-focused engineering and construction firm KBR, Inc. (NYSE:KBR), which was spun off from its parent, oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), in 2007.

The company was given $39.5 billion in Iraq-related contracts over the past decade, with many of the deals given without any bidding from competing firms, such as a $568-million contract renewal in 2010 to provide housing, meals, water and bathroom services to soldiers, a deal that led to a Justice Department lawsuit over alleged kickbacks, as reported by Bloomberg. ~ rsn 3;20/13

ISIS has made gains in Iraq and in Syria.  At first, it looked like they were going to roll across Iraq and then perhaps Syria.  Since their initial gains their progression has been slowed.  Their opposition in country was caught flatfooted at first but have since organized aided by US Military advisors, Russian jets, and the Shiites in Iraq literally fighting for their lives.

ISIS believes that the Shiites are apostates and must die in order to forge a pure form of Islam. ~ NYT 6-25-14

This is extreme hatred within the same faith.  It exists in the same country and leaves no wonder why our mission to create that model democracy was doomed to fail.  It seems unlikely there is strong public support for another large military invasion of Iraq. Those that profited from our most recent invasion are probably in favor. 

Perhaps the Russians will step in and try to take control and bring some stability to the region.  They are already committing aircraft.  Perhaps they have forgotten the lesson they learned thirty years ago in Afghanistan

On June 29, ISIS took a bold step and made the following declaration:

BEIRUT, June 29 (Reuters) - An offshoot of al Qaeda which has captured territory in Iraq and Syria has declared itself an Islamic "caliphate" and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance, a statement posted on Islamist websites and Twitter said on Sunday.

The move poses a direct challenge to the central leadership of al Qaeda, which has already disowned it, and to conservative Gulf Arab rulers.

The group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and also known as ISIS, has renamed itself "Islamic State" and proclaimed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as "Caliph" - the head of the state, the statement said.

"He is the imam and khalifah (Caliph) for the Muslims everywhere," the group's spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in the statement, which was translated into several languages and read out in an Arabic audio speech.

"Accordingly, the "Iraq and Sham" (Levant) in the name of the Islamic State is henceforth removed from all official deliberations and communications, and the official name is the Islamic State from the date of this declaration," he said.

I will close with the following.  My friend and Middle East scholar Professor Elyse Semerdjian posted the following on Facebook.  It was a tweet posted by Khaled Diab, a Belgian-Egyptian journalist and writer.  "ISIS have no idea what restoring the Caliphate actually means. In Baghdad, it'd involve booze, odes to wine, science... and a gay court poet."  The Caliphate referred to is the Abbasid Caliphate which ruled a the majority of the Moslem world from 750 - 1258.  Baghdad was the capital city of the Abbasid Caliphate.  The gay court poet was “Al-Hasan ibn Hani’ al-Hakami ad-Dimashqi (757-815), known under the name of Abu Nuwas was a contemporary of Caliph Harun ar-Rashid, the renound Caliph of the Arabian Nights tales.” ~ Gay Poet at the Court of Harun Al Rashid.

June 2013: Annual Health and Fitness Letter

This is the tenth year of writing this monthly letter.  I have written several health and fitness letters.  I have not written one in two years.  It is about time to do so again.  The last few Health and Fitness letters have been more aspiration than accomplishment.  The truth is that I was going in the wrong direction and simply have not been motivated (could have easily used the word ashamed) to write one.
     I am again headed in the right direction and, thus, am motivated to write another Health and Fitness Letter.
     Obesity:  This week it was announced by the American Medical Association that obesity is a disease.  From the June 20 Los Angeles Times:

The American Medical Assn. voted Tuesday to declare obesity a disease, a move that effectively defines 78 million American adults and 12 million children as having a medical condition requiring treatment.
     The nation's leading physicians’ organization took the vote after debating whether the action would do more to help affected patients get useful treatment or would further stigmatize a condition with many causes and few easy fixes.

     78 Million American adults are one-third of the population.  In 1960, only 12% of American adults were obese.  While the adult numbers are eye opening, the fact that 17% of children are obese is simply astonishing.  In 1970, only 5% of US children were considered obese.  The increase in obesity in this country has been exponential over the past fifty years.  This problem has become epidemic.  Not surprisingly, the increase in childhood obesity is a significant contributor to the increase in adult obesity.
     The Los Angeles Times was right about one thing.  There are indeed few easy fixes. Food abuse is like tobacco, drug or alcohol abuse in one way.  All are difficult habits to change.  Food is unique in another way.  With tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, reform means stopping the substance abuse.  It means never drinking, smoking, or using drugs again.  No matter what, we still have to eat.
      I am not so sure I agree with the other Los Angeles Times claim that obesity has many causes.  I believe the exponential growth is fueled by one major factor:  Processed Foods.  The food companies employ an army of marketing professionals and food scientists.  The role of the food scientists is to create really tasty foods at very economical prices.  These foods get their taste from heavy doses of sugar, fat, or salt.  In general they are unhealthy.   Not only are they unhealthy and contribute to a variety of obesity ailments, they are addictive because of the havoc they play with our blood sugar levels.  The highs make us feel good, the immediate lows make us want to each more to get the good feelings back.  The job of the marketing folks is to entice us to consume more and more of these products each year.  Like lab rats, we have done just that.  I am as much of a lab rat as anyone.
     OK.  So what?  We are fat.  What is the big deal?
     The big deal is our health.  Being obese contributes to a variety of conditions that includes: 

• Stoke 
• Heart disease
• Cancer
• Asthma
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Acid Reflux
• Sleep Apnea  
• Infertility
• Back issues
• Knee and hip joint deterioration

 Often times these conditions will require surgery as in hip and knee replacement.  Others such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease necessitate prescription medications that must be taken for the rest of the patients' lives.  Consider the following:

• A Wake Forest University study has shown every pound we lose, we relieve four pounds of joint stress on our knees.
• Weight is a huge contributor to high blood pressure.  Eating the right diet, exercising, and being at one’s target weight could eliminate the condition and the need for lifelong medication.
• For people with Type 2 Diabetes, a 5% weight loss can improve insulin action, decrease fasting blood glucose concentrations, and reduce the need for diabetes medications.

The worst kind of fat is what is known as visceral fat.  All obese people have this kind of fat.

Visceral fat, on the other hand, lies out of reach, deep within the abdominal cavity, where it pads the spaces between our abdominal organs.   Visceral fat has been linked to metabolic disturbances and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In women, it is also associated with breast cancer and the need for gallbladder surgery.

The good news is that visceral fat yields fairly easily to exercise and diet, with benefits ranging from lower blood pressure to more favorable cholesterol levels. Subcutaneous fat located at the waist — the pinchable stuff — can be frustratingly difficult to budge, but in normal-weight people, it’s generally not considered as much of a health threat as visceral fat is.

~ Harvard Family Health Guide

Let’s see how the insurance companies will react now that the AMA has classified obesity as a disease.   They should be encouraging all obese people to seek treatment.  Losing weight is much less expensive than treating diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease later on.  

4-1-13

6-21-13

Weight Management:  This has been a problem for me my entire life.  Given the statistics quoted above, I am not alone in this.  I have lost and gained it back several times.  Earlier this year, I was most definitely on the high end of weight roller coaster. 

Beginning April 1 of this year, I have been on a medically supervised meal replacement diet.  I eat two bars and drink five shakes a day.  Sometimes I eat three bars and drink four shakes a day.  Lately, I have been putting some blueberries or strawberries in the shakes.  This is an 800-900 calorie high protein plan.  The goal is to achieve a reasonable body fat percentage and then learn and reinforce the habits to maintain that weight and body fat level.
     Clearly, in the photos above, I do not get the basics of weight loss marketing.  I am supposed to look dour in the before photo and ecstatic in the after.  Oh well...

While this diet has not been the most social diet (think weddings and dinner parties), it is very effective.  I am down 64 pounds as of this writing an equal amount to go to achieve my objective.  I have not been hungry either.  There are days when I have to force down the last shake of the day.  While I have not been hungry, I do crave certain bad foods.  For some reason, pizza tops the list by far. 

When I began, I was definitely obese based on my percent body fat and the threshold for obesity given my age.  I was delighted a few weeks ago when I went from obese to merely overweight.  I am looking forward to a day in the next month or two when I leave behind the overweight class and enter the normal range.  I do not think I have been a normal weight for the past thirty years. 

I am doing this for a variety of reasons.  Certainly health is one of them.  I am also doing this in honor of turning sixty on the very day I am posting this piece.  I am doing this for me to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible.  It is not about living as long as possible but as fully functional as I can be for as long as possible.  It is about not being in a home or wheelchair for as long as possible.

A few weeks ago, two of my musicians buddies were talking about me.  One said "have you seen Gavoor lately, he has lost a lot of weight."  The other fellow said, "yes, it is pretty amazing."  The first then said, "he'll gain it all back."  I was not privy to this conversation.  it was reported to me NOT by the one who said “he’ll gain it back.”  I imagine I could write a whole separate bloggy bit about the dynamics at play here…

“He’ll gain it back.”  My friend did not really go out on a ledge here.  This is my track record.  This is my biggest fear.  I am most worried about gaining it all back.  I know that the real hard work will begin when I get to my weight loss target.  I am purposely not calling my target weight loss my goal.  When I do that I naturally ease up when I get to that point  My goal this time is to get to my target body fat percentage and weight and then to maintain it for the remainder of my life.

Failed diets are very common.  Again, I am not alone here.  I know many people, including myself, who have lost weight and backslid right back to where they were... or worse.  I will say this.  There is no worse feeling than doing that.  It makes motivating oneself for the next weight loss all the more difficult.  It is a horrible cycle to repeat.  I never want to repeat this again.

 People like me simply love food.  I am very good at not only eating but overeating.  With gusto.  It is, of course, not a desired trait.  I did not need the AMA to tell me that obesity is a disease.  If alcoholism is a disease which I believe it is, then my bad relationship with food is also one.  I have believed this to be true simply because of my own struggles over the years.  The losing takes a lot of fortitude and willpower.  After losing, maintenance takes just as much fortitude and will power.  The habits developed and honed over a lifetime are very hard to change.

As stated above, I have an addiction to over consumption that is every bit as nasty to overcome as quitting for an alcoholic or a heavy cigarette smoker.  It may actually be more difficult to overcome food addiction or abuse.   The smoker has to stop smoking and the alcoholic has to stop drinking alcohol.  But, the food abuser still has to eat to sustain life.

So, I have been thinking about maintenance the whole time I have been losing weight.  I have come to one conclusion.  Each of the other three times I have lost a lot of weight, I have had the goal of losing a certain amount of weight.  I would do that.  I would achieve the goal and then ease up.  Easing up, at least for me is bad, because it signals the beginning of a regression, regaining, or backsliding depending on what you want to call it. 

I have thus decided to change the terminology I use.  Instead of having a weight loss goal, I now have a weight loss target.   I am calling this weight loss period the Preparation Phase.  Preparation for what?  Preparation for the Maintenance Phase which begins when I get to my target weight.  That is the real start of what I am trying to do.  The goal is to maintain my target weight.  This goal is perpetual. 

This is a different way of thinking.  As I can never achieve this goal, there can be no letting up.  It is the relentless pursuit of an ideal.  It is the relentless pursuit of perfection like the tagline for Lexus automobiles.  Health and wellness must be a relentless pursuit and commitment for me.  There may be a point where adopted lifestyle becomes the norm... but I will not allow myself to believe I have achieved a goal.  The funny thing here is that I work in the field of continuous improvement.

I have to be successful because I never ever want to have to do this again.

Exercise:  Exercise is another key to a healthy lifestyle.  Diet alone is not enough.  We have to exercise because our work is not what work used to be.  We are sedentary.  I am sedentary.  I spend most of my day in a chair or lecturing.  I suppose if I were working in the fields in some kind of agrarian ideal, I would not have to exercise.

My exercise of choice is bicycling.  Three out of the last four years I managed, even at an elevated weight, to log 2,000 outdoor miles.  This year, because of the very late spring and work, I am off to a slow start.  I will be lucky to break 1,500 miles this year.

I have a small fleet of five bicycles.  Mostly I ride a used Schwinn Paramount that I bought a few years ago.  I like it more and go faster on it than my custom made Italian Mondonico for which I paid five times as much! My red Schwinn has a hodge-podge of older Shimano components on it whereas I have a full Campagnolo Veloce kit on my Mondonico. 

My Schwinn Paramount

Per my bariatric physician, bicycling is not enough.   He has me doing weight lifting as well.  I have been doing that for about two weeks and look forward to keeping it up.  Weight lifting for muscle maintenance and growth for older folks, and, egads, I fit this demographic, is more and more important.  It is critically important in rapid weight loss, like what I have been doing. 

I have read and am reading again a very good book, Younger Next Year by Crowley and Lodge.  The sub-title is A Guide to Living like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond.  It is geared toward men, very well written, and informative.  The authors point out that aerobic exercise is necessary for heart and lung health.  It builds endurance in the muscles.  The authors point out that muscles have both strength (fast twitch) and endurance cells (slow twitch).  So, strength training is needed to maintain the strength cells.  Strength and balance training is even better.  We forget or simply have never realized how complicated the very act of walking or taking stairs can be from musculoskeletal perspective.  The physics and chemistry of such simple acts is astounding.   Balance and strength will deteriorate with age… we may see it in ourselves and we certainly see it in others.  Weight training and aerobic exercise improves our general overall performance.  Even those of us with osteoarthritis, can benefit from weight training.  Keeping ones muscles sound and fit for strength and endurance helps do the work of joints and prolongs their lives. 

Given the minimal amount of cartilage left in my knees, I am counting on weight loss and strength training to stave off the knee replacement for as long as possible.

Turning 60:  We make a huge deal of birthdays that end in zero.  Why not?  They are milestones that should be noted and celebrated.  On the other hand, it is just another day in another year.  Our aging is gradual for the most part.

I read that 60 is the new 40 or 50, maybe a delusional 30.  That may be.  I remember my grandparents at 50 seemed ancient.  They looked and acted old.  Hair color and fashion has done wonders for this perception.

I do not know what 60 means these days.  Is it the new 40 or the old 70.  I do not care.  That is just rationalization for something.  I know that I do not plan to color my hair… or what little is left of it.  I will shave my head before doing that and I am not likely to shave my head even though my hair cuts are getting shorter. 

I know I will try to live with as much physical and intellectual vim and vigor I can muster.  I know I am committed to maintain the body and mind to be able to do just this.

Perceptions and priorities change with age, hopefully for the better. I will close with two copy pastes from Facebook:

First is a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, “We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving.”  If we truly desire to age gracefully, it is more than just physical health and fitness.  Loving people close to us more will help us age gracefully mentally and spiritually.

Secondly, a ten step guide that can basically be summed up with the word “chill.”

10 to Zen

From the Facebook page Buddha Heart

1.  Let go of comparing.
2.  Let go of competing.
3.  Let go of judgments.
4. Let go of anger.
5. Let go of regrets.
6. Let go of worrying.
7. Let go of blame.
8. Let go of guilt.
9. Let go of fear.
10. Have a proper belly laugh at least once a day (especially if it’s about your inability to let go of any or all of the above).