MEME: Beginning the 2022-23 Season

 

The Reva and David Logan
Center for the Performing Arts

The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the University of Chicago is practicing for our first concert.  We are delighted to be face-to-face again.  While we were face-to face for two thirds of last year, we were masked and there was an aura pandemic cautiousness over our gatherings.  We had planned to have three concerts as is our norm.  We only had two, though, in November and May.  The practices for March Persian Concert were suspended because of the omicron surge and the concert was postponed and combined with the Arab Concert in May. 

This year, things seem much more normal.  A few of us still wear masks, so it is kind of post-pandemic normal.  It is wonderful to attend practices and learn new songs, brush the dust off old arrangements, and renew friendships and make new ones. 

I have been a part of this orchestra since I began teaching at North Park full time in September of 2014.  This is the start of my 8^th year.  It is one of the best things I have ever done hobby or avocation wise.  I have played classical, popular, and folk Turkish, Persian, and Arab music.  I have learned to read music again.  The part that attracted me to the ensemble was to experience playing classical Turkish music with a large ensemble.  It has been that and so much more.

The Ensemble has grown during my time.  I want to say we were in the high twenties or low thirties

Jim, Furkan, and Erkan discussing
the nuances of the Mahur maqam

when I started.  We are now in the high thirties and probably in the low forties.  We have added a brass section in the past year.  Not only have we grown, but I feel the musicianship of the Ensembe has gotten better every year.  The Ensemble is comprised of University of Chicago students and, what we call community members, like myself.  Both the student and community members all seem to have improved in all aspects of musicianship.  On top of this, Our Director, Maestro Wanees Zarour, has improved upon his already impressive abilities to make interesting and intricate arrangements that challenges and engages the Ensemble.

Part of the norm of pre, during, and post pandemic is the ever-evolving membership of the ensemble.  Certainly, the student members come and go.  Undergraduates come from all over the world and are with us for two to four years depending on when they join the ensemble.  We have some the graduate students for longer if they are PhD students.  The community members have a bit more tenure.  But even community members come and go depending on what is going on with their careers, families, and interest.  For many the weekly trek to Hyde Park during rush hour can take folks from an hour to two hours to get to practice.   Covid, the commute time, changing priorities, our jobs that has community members moving from Chicago all contribute to community members leaving the ensemble.  As many as leave, we are fortunate that new players seem to find us and that is a very good thing.

Our newly minted kanun player
Dr. Lama Alghanem Kabir working on Garip

We practice and perform in the Reva and David Logan Center for the Performing Arts.  This center that opened in 2012 is an amazing place.  We practice in the 9^th Floor Practice room with an amazing view of the University of Chicago Campus.  We perform in the 474-seat concert hall that we usually sell out.  After a long drive to get there, the Logan Center is a wonderful oasis of a destination. 

Our first concert this year, the Turkish Concert, will be January 8.  This is late for us.  Usually, that concert is around Thanksgiving.  With more and more concerts on campus, securing our concert dates has become more and more challenging.  If the pandemic times taught us anything, it is to go with the flow.  And, we do just that. 

We go with the flow and the long drives to get to Logan, because we love the music.  We love playing in a large ensemble with membership that changes from concert to concert.  We love the mix of music.  We love the spirit of friendship and comradery that is a direct reflection of culture created in no small part by the leadership style of Maestro Wanees.

 

Clarifying a musical point
with Maestro Wanees

 

Me then practicing what was clarified...

A Graduation - Indian Summer Weekend

 

Jacob with his parents and
aunt and uncle

What a great weekend.  My favorite football team had a bye week.  Their next game, against Michigan State, is next weekend under the lights at Michigan Stadium.  This could make for a great next weekend as well.

What made this weekend so great?  Two things:  a nephews college graduation and amazing Indian Summer weather. 

On Saturday, my nephew Jacob graduated with a bachelor’s in supply chain management from Purdue Global.  As Purdue Global is an online university in the Purdue system, it was Jacob’s first time on the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, Indiana.  For the six of us that attended his graduation, it was all our first time on the Purdue campus. 

It was a great experience.  The weather was fantastic.  It was a clear, dry, beautiful fall day with temperatures in the 70s.  Being only 150 miles away, it was a day trip for us.  The campus was beautiful, the festivities were very well planned and orchestrated.  Everyone we met on campus was friendly and helpful.

Being online and military friendly by design, the graduates were all adult learners.  It was a celebration of dedication and commitment to self-improvement while working full-time with many also raising families.  Entire families made the trip from all over the US to celebrate their Purdue Global graduate’s achievement. 

I was not sure what to expect but I was blown away.  The ceremony was held in the auditorium of the Elliot Hall of Music which seat 6,000 and it was packed.  The Chancellor of Purdue Online, Dr. Frank Dooley, was an awesome and engaging emcee with a most down to earth demeanor.  The commencement speaker was a retired Navy officer and Purdue Global Alum, Kelvin Gumbs, who delivered an inspirational speech emphasizing the pride all the graduates should take in their achievement as adult learners.  Both Kelvin and Chancellor did a great job making the graduates feel part of the larger Purdue family.

Per the Purdue Global website, the number of students enrolled is approximately 32,500. In the 2021-22 academic year, they graduated 10,400 students.  This is not a small enterprise.

I was quite impressed with it all and very proud of my nephew for finishing his undergraduate degree his way. 

Afterwards, we took photos around the Purdue Campus, had a wonderful celebration dinner, and headed home.  It was a great day trip.

On Sunday, the weather was a carbon copy of Saturday.  We experienced the

Lake Michigan from
the bluff

Indian summer at home.  Being a few hours north of Purdue, the colors here were even more vibrant.  I spent the morning doing schoolwork and getting ready for what was to be a busy Monday of teaching, advising, and a Faculty Senate Meeting.  I was motivated to get things done because we planning to use our new Chicago Botanic Gardens membership in the afternoon to enjoy glories of fall.  The world class Botanic Gardens are a few miles from our house and a great place to spend a few hours or a full day.  We were not alone.  The place was packed with like-minded folks enjoying the exceptional weather and incredible views. 

Later in the evening, I had the chance to drive around town with the top down
and ended the day by gazing out on Lake Michigan at Lake Forest beach.  It was a pretty nice weekend all in all.

I had my camera in hand both days and happy to share some a few of the photos from the day.

 

 

Jacob with John Purdue

Here are some photos from the Botanical Gardens
 

 

 

Michigan 41 - Penn State 17

 

Blake Corum - WolverineWire

Today my favorite football team, the 5^th ranked Michigan Wolverines, faced the 10^th ranked Nittany Lions of Penn State.  Both teams were undefeated and with identical 6-0 records.  Michigan, playing at home, was favored by 7 points.

It is the 7^th game of the 2022 season.  Not only have I not attended a single home game, but I have not even watched a full game on TV.  Every week, I have had a conflict.  This circumstance would have made me insane when I was more of, well, an insane fan.  Now, I am more philosophical and OK about it.  The more rational mindset might certainly be due to the normal aging process.  It might also be due to having the humbling experience of enduring the less than elite performance of my favorite team from 2008 – 2020.  We won the Big Ten Championship in 2021 after a 17 drought. 

Today, while I was not able to make it to Ann Arbor, I was able to watch the game on TV.  I was excited to be able to watch an entire game.  The Athletic Department called from a Maize out meaning that everyone should be dressed in maize-colored tops to give the stadium a very yellowish look.  While I was in my own family room, I donned my maize Michigan pull-over.

I thought it would be a close and hard-fought game between two undefeated, ranked, teams and that could go either way.  Penn State came into the game ranked as the 5^th defense against the rush.   Michigan has relied heavily on the run and was ranked as the 19^th best rushing offense in the country.  This would also be a test of Michigan’s defense as Penn State would be the best offense we have faced so far this year. 

Well, Michigan ran all over Penn State.  Michigan racked up 418 rushing yards.  Donovan Edwards had 173 yards and Blake Corum had 166.  In the third quarter, on two successive offense plays, both Edwards and Corum scored touchdowns on runs over 60 yards.  The offensive line was blowing open some huge holes.  I texted my cousin David that even I could have run through those holes for positive yardage. 

The game started with Michigan taking the opening kick-off and driving into the red zone.  Penn State stopped us and we were forced to kick a field goal.  The Michigan defense quickly established their dominance and held Penn State to a three and out.  Michigan drove to the red zone again but ended up settling for another field goal.  The first quarter ended with Michigan leading 6-0. 

In the second quarter, Michigan scored a TD to take a 13-0 lead.  On the next drive for Penn State, QB Sean Clifford but a run for 62 to the Michigan 4 yard line.  A few plays later they punched it in for a touchdown.  On the next drive, a tipped pass was intercepted by Penn State and run 42 yards for a touchdown.  Penn State lead for the first time 14-13.  Michigan kicked another field goal at the end of the second quarter to go into the locker room with a 16-14 halftime lead.

Penn State took the kick-off in the second half and drove into the red zone and came away with a field goal to take the lead again 17-16.  This would be their last lead.  Michigan scored the next 25 points and shut down Penn State and looked very dominant.

It was a complete win on both sides of the ball.  As the announcers said, and I paraphrase, this win was reminiscent of the tough defense and reliance on the superb running game win over Ohio State last year.  Both the offensive and defensive lines played well.  It was an excellent game on both sides of the ball.

We have a bye week and face our in-state rivals, Michigan State, in two weeks at home.  I am planning to attend that game.

Go Blue.

Sunflowers and Tomato Soup

 

nyt.com

Where do my bloggy topics come from? 

Sometimes, like today, they are just handed to me on a silver platter, or in this case a Facebook post for a New York Times article.

The article?  “Climate Protesters Throw Soup Over van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’”

What?  Van Gogh? Where? Soup?  Sunflowers? Why?

Wasn’t there another art incident at the Vatican Museum a few weeks ago?  What’s going on?

Two young people approached Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery in London.  They threw tomato soup onto the painting and then glued themselves to the wall. Here is a video from Twitter of the incident.  The two were immediately arrested and charged with criminal damage.

The perpetrators were wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts which is an organization that per Wikipedia, “is an environmental activist group in the UK using civil resistance with the aim of ensuring the UK Government commits to halting new fossil fuel licensing and production.”  It was founded in February of this year.  This is their ninth public protest event since their founding and their third in a row in an art museum.  I tried to access their website: juststoppoil.org.  At first, there was a message that the bandwidth was exceeded which meant a large number of people were trying to access their website.  If awareness is part of their objective, dousing Sunflowers with tomato soup was certainly working.

A bit later I did get to their website.  It is very professional and very engaging.  They seem well organized, and I am guessing well-funded (wonder what conspiracy theory I might be able to conjure up in this regard).  They have Zoom calls every Tuesday and Sunday evenings, which I will probably never join.  While I might agree with their goal of raising awareness fossil fuels contribution to climate change, I do not agree that we can stop immediately.  Nothing so complicated and so integrated into society is so simple, so black and white, to solve.  Any transition would take years of effort including a transition to electric cars and perhaps a serious revival of nuclear power generation. 

But this is the nature of activism.  The playbook seems to be to be big and bold, make demands well beyond what is considered possible, and then claim victory if and when reasonable actions are taken.

Why art?  Why Van Gogh?  Well, why not.  Their stunt made headlines today.  They have not seriously damaged any works of art.  The Van Gogh painting had a protective glaze over it.  The Just Stop Oil people said they knew that and knew the tomato soup would not damage the painting.  Their civil disobedience worked.  It drove me and many others to their website.  Raising awareness to drive action seems to be the plan.  It is certainly working on the awareness front. 

I would love to see Stop Oil Now take their protests to Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries.  Why just Oil?  Take similar tactics to Russia to protest their heinous war against Ukraine.  No, such activism will stay in Europe and perhaps the US where there is the criminal consequences are less severe.

Yes, there was an attack at the Vatican Museum on October 5^th.  A crazed American man threw two Roman busts to the ground.  Apparently, his rage was due to his not being able to get an audience with the Pope.  It was not related to the other climate protests.

I don’t think we have seen the end of these kinds of protests.  I am sure art museums around the world are beefing up security and working on plans to make art works less accessible to such protests.

 

A similar protest in July 2022 at the Royal Academy
Da Vinci's The Last Supper mirror.co.uk

 

The Glory of Fall – The Rainy Edition

 

I am writing about the Glory of Falls again making it two posts in a row.

The day after I posted The Glory of Fall – Revisited, I kept thinking about the last paragraph:

I did not take photos of anything in the rain.  The rain muted all the colors.  Instead, I was quite productive this afternoon and evening.  I would stop short, however, of calling the rest of the day glorious.

After writing that last line, I kept wondering why I was not appreciating the rainy side of fall.  Maybe it is simply the fact that the rain takes away from the golden sunshine so amazingly illuminates the colors.  But really, if I truly claim to like the seasons and the changing weather, shouldn’t I also embrace and appreciate all the parts?  Shouldn’t I?

The next morning, I drove to school.  It was nearing dawn and it was raining.  It was the kind of rain where it was a light drizzle for fifteen minutes and then would pour furiously for five or six minutes.  I was thinking about what I had written.  I expressed the truth as I saw, and it bothered me a bit at the same time.  I arrived at school, went to my office, checked my emails, and had an espresso with my friend and colleague Professor Farrugia.  At 7:40, I walked to class it was pouring again.  It was a short walk, maybe a hundred yards or two and I had my head down.  Halfway to class, the pouring transitioned to drizzle so light, it seemed like the rain had stopped.  I was still walking with my head down.  The walkway was blacktopped and wet.  There were yellow leaves, maybe elm and birch, randomly scattered, strewn, about.  I realized that it was beautiful.  I had to take a photo. 

I was changing my view.

Later that afternoon, the sky was still cloudy but clearing.  Everything was still wet, glisteningly wet.  I was in the board room on the third floor of our classroom and student center, the Johnson Center.  There was a tree on the green below.  It too had a rainy beauty about it.  I captured that image as well.

In less than twenty-four hours, I was appreciating the glories of a rainy autumn day.

It is all perspective, questioning the perspective, considering an alternative or two, and maybe adjusting how we see things. 

I am not talking big, huge, life changing axiomatic beliefs but little things maybe we have taken for granted or perhaps never thought about.  Our lives and our perspectives evolve like the seasons.  That is glory of life.

I noticed a lot more people, friends on Facebook, were posting photos of their favorite fall trees and sites.  They were all impressive.  I couldn’t help but wonder if my random tree posts and bloggy bits on the glory of fall just maybe caused this surge of photos.  Maybe, I was one of those whatyacallits, you know, an influencer. 

Now that’s funny.  There is also something glorious about humor.

The Glory of Fall – Revisited

I wrote a piece fourteen years ago, November 2007: The Glory of Fall.  It truly covers my love of the most special season and some of the memories of the glorious falls of the past.  When I looked up that post to review what I wrote, I was surprised that there were no photos of trees or landscapes with vibrant colors.  When I wrote that piece back then, I was not, as yet, using photos in every post.   But, dang, how could I write about the Glory of Fall and not have any photos of changing leaves?

I took a few photos today that could have been posted with that piece. 

I had some errands to run all in our town.  In between errands, I took a little drive to Lake Michigan to enjoy the fall views.  I saw two beautiful trees, one in orange and the other red.  I stopped to take photos of both.  It was a perfect diversion on a perfect fall morning.

A perfect fall morning indeed.  There is something about perfect weather in the Midwest.  Perfection may last a day or two or maybe only an hour or two. 

My next stop was to get a car wash.  On the way there, the radio informed me that in the early afternoon clouds would roll in and then it would rain the rest of today and tomorrow.  Well, there was no reason to get a car wash.  As I headed home, I thought about the old adage about weather:  If you don’t like the weather in [wherever you are], just wait a few minutes.  I think this might have originated with Mark Twain and he used New England for wherever he was at the time. 

There is another saying that I recently saw a few times on social media:

 

 

This change in weather, made my morning drive all the more memorable.  When I think of fall, it is moments just like in photos I captured, clear skies, golden sunshine illuminating the colors for everything, and the crisp cool fall scented air.  Fall is also about change.  It is a transitional season from summer to winter, from the bounty of harvest to the barren dormant landscape.  So, the transition of beautiful golden sunshine to a dank fall rain is consistent with the season and consistent with the place.

The moments I call glorious are all the more glorious because the moments are fleeting, they are not the norm.  That is the value of living in places where the seasons changes and the weather can change during the day.  I see the value of living someplace where the weather is always nice, but would I get complacent about it?  I would certainly miss the fall.  I am certain I would miss the winters as well.

I did not take photos of anything in the rain.  The rain muted all the colors.  Instead, I was quite productive this afternoon and evening.  I would stop short, however, of calling the rest of the day glorious.

 

 

Riding the Rails

 

There is something about taking the train.  It is part romantic and nostalgic.  I imagine that riding the rails takes us back to the years when trains freed us to travel overland between cities comfortably and efficiently.  There is the rumble, the vibration, of the rails.  It is calming and relaxing to the point where dozing off is very easy to do, almost irresistible.  You can gaze out the windows at the countryside or city scapes passing by.  You can visit with family or, if traveling alone, meet new people.  Of course, one can get lost reading a book or listening to music.  With trains having Wifi these days, we can open our laptops or pads and work or use our phones. 

It is not just me, Agatha Christie, whose most famous book takes place on a train, said:  

Trains are wonderful.... To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches, and rivers, in fact, to see life.

A few weeks ago, I drove to Detroit for a musical engagement.  My daughter and family from California were visiting my mother and the rest of our Detroit family.  It was the first time any of them met her son Sasoun.  The plan was for them to drive to Chicago and visit with all of us here.  So, I was going to leave my car for them and venture back home by plane.  The problem was that the airfare was a bit pricey, so I investigated Amtrak.  They were much more reasonable, so I bought a ticket. 

“The simplicity of a train's success strategy is admirable: Move forward and reach your destination!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan.

This was the first time I was taking a train, other than commuter trains, since the earlier this century when I took a train from Manhattan to DC.  That was probably twenty years ago now that I think of it.  

The train left Ann Arbor at 10:26 on a fall Sunday morning.  My daughter dropped me off around 10 and there was already 30-40 people waiting.  There was an announcement that due to the train only having one conductor we had to queue up and board the train through one door.  Clearly Amtrak was struggling for workers like many other companies.  Shortly, there were 30-40 people behind me in the line.  A fellow behind me said, “I take this train all of the time and I never seen so many people on the platform.”  The man in front of me explained, “I was booked on the later train but got a call from Amtrak yesterday saying they were cancelling that train and booked me on this.”  So, we were dealing with a labor shortage and a fully booked, potentially standing room only, train.

A. A. Milne quipped, “Nowhere can I think so happily as in a train.”

I was worried about nothing.  The train boarding was surprisingly quick, and I easily found a seat.  Being a train from Ann Arbor to Chicago, there were a lot of students from Chicago visiting friends in Ann Arbor and a lot of young Michigan alums back in Ann Arbor for the football game.  I ended up sitting next to a junior from the University of Chicago who was visiting her freshman sister at Michigan.  She was from New Jersey and remarkably, as she was not Armenian, was taking a class in Armenian Art… because “it sounded interesting.”  I went through and answered my emails, I read, I slept, and I just enjoyed the ride, the views, and the ambiance.    

I might have been the oldest person on the train.  This thought amused me for some reason.  I didn’t feel like the oldest person on the train, but I am sure I looked it.  Perhaps not as much as the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, but I was thinking happily on the train.

I shall have to do this again.

Chidem Inch: The Olympics

 

Wow… September came and went and I have posted nothing, nada, zilch on this blog. 

This happens every September.  Since 2017, I have blogged the least in September compared to every other month.  This September is the least of all of those.

But in all of these Septembers, including this one, I may have actually written quite a bit, perhaps even more.

Writing?  Where?  How?

Every Labor Day, the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) has its Annual Olympic Games.  I am part of a reporting and photography team the covers these events for the Armenian Weekly newspaper.  All of us, the core team, are alums of the AYF.  In recent years, we have added a few current members as well.

What do I write about? 

First, a little background:  The AYF was founded in 1933 in order to provide the Armenian young people in this great melting pot of a nation an organization and medium to maintain their Armenian heritage in terms of education and political activism both of which were complimented with athletics and social events.  The first Olympic Games were held in Brockton, MA in 1934 with a few races held in a grass field.  The Olympics became an annual event and quickly grew to become the primary athletic and social event for the organization by a long shot.  It takes place every Labor Day Weekend with athletic competitions on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and amazing dances each of those nights.   Profits Olympics Weekend basically supports the entire budget for the AYF.  Over the years, golf, tennis, swimming, softball, 3-on-3 basketball, have joined the track and field events which are the core of the competition. 

We have been calling our competition the Olympics for so long, we were doing it before the International Olympic Committee copyrighted it.  We are one of the few organizations grandfathered in to use the word Olympics.  We are also one of the longest, if not the longest, continuously held athletic events in the US.  We are quite proud of our Olympics.

From when I was in the AYF, Tom Vartabedian, a journalist by profession, did all the reporting for the AYF Olympics.  Not only did he write all the articles, he took all the photos.  Angel Perethian would sometimes write a who’s who social piece titled “Angel Over the Olympics.”  Tom had a 12-page Olympic Supplement in the 1977 Armenian Weekly.  He grew it to 16-pages in subsequent years.  He was amazing in so many ways. When Tom decided to retire, he started bring myself and a few others to take over for him.  By 2013, I was kind of organizing the writers and photographers for the Armenian Weekly supplement.  Tom was diagnosed with an untreatable medical condition in 2015 and passed away in 2016.  All of us who took over for him, miss his energy, eternally optimistic view, and inspiration he has provided to us.  I penned this piece when he passed away as part of several articles memorializing the wonderful man:  Tom Vartabedian and AYF Olympics: One Spirit.

So, what did I write in September? 

I wrote an article each day at the AYF Olympics.  This is my innovation to AYF Olympic reporting for the Armenian Weekly.

 

• Tebi Worcester
• Thursday at the 2022 AYF Olympics
• Friday at the 2022 AYF Olympics
• Saturday at the 2022 AYF Olympics
• Sunday at the 2022 AYF Olympics

 

For the 16-page supplement, I reported on Golf, Tennis, and what I have always referred to as my Not An Angel Over the Olympics.

 

• New Jersey and Providence dominate 2022 AYF tennis tournament
• AYF Golf: A Record Setting Day
• A Homecoming for the Ages

 

So, I wrote eight pieces this month.

Let’s see how October unfolds.