Orel Family

Aaron and Ezra, May 4, 2025, outside Crisler Center, Ann Arbor The moment it hit me was at the start of Aaron's Nursing School graduation at Johns Hopkins . The ceremony started promptly at 9am at the school's lacrosse field, with Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" being piped over the loudspeakers. The last graduation. After more than a quarter century of pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges and, finally, this post-graduate degree, this would be -- to the best of my knowledge -- the last one. Earlier this month, Ezra went through the graduation ceremony at The University of Michigan. While the two suites of ceremonies were vastly different, they both provided closure. One child struggled mightily during the COVID-19 pandemic and arguably because  of the pandemic, ultimately withdrawing entirely from two full semesters and nearly a third semester before finding a path back to completion of two majors. The other thrived in the isolat...

Who would combine the best rock show in ages, with a lesson plan? There is only one person I can think of: Little Steven. Last night, Stevie brought The Disciples of Soul Teacher Appreciation Tour to the Detroit Music Hall. Promising to "leave all politics aside," the show, according to Steve, "took a little trip down my influences, which also happens to be the history of Rock and Roll" The Disciples of Soul  total 15 musicians. Some go way back with Steve: Eddie Manion and Stan Harrison were not only part of the original Disciples of Soul, they were part of the great  Asbury Jukes  recordings and shows before that. Many of the other players weren't born until long after those records had been made. Before the show, there was a TeachRock workshop  on how teachers could use music to engage their students. Not being a teacher myself, I wasn't eligible. But Aaron was; he's primarily still a college student, but he has also been involved on the teac...

"We are going to be the last mass school shooting." So said students in Parkland, Florida, a couple weeks ago. Of course, nobody -- likely not even the students who said that -- believed it to be literal truth. All it would take is for one person, somewhere, to go off. Yesterday morning, we had the 4th shooting on a college campus  since Parkland. The first 3 didn't include any deaths, but 2 people died yesterday. According to news reports, a student killed his own parents, who were on campus to pick him up and take him home for spring break. In the current news cycle, an event like this seems sadly unremarkable. It can be dismissed as a "domestic dispute."   No students were killed in the making of this story. Move along. But this one was at Central Michigan University , where Aaron is studying. Yesterday morning, he was preparing to come home for spring break. He had an 11am class, after which he was going over to the music building to practice. He was ...

My father was a jazz aficionado. Big band jazz. He knew all the songs, all the players. Put on a track, he'd call it out within a bar or two, say who was playing on the track, and give details. While not being a player himself, he had spent hours upon hours upon hours listening to the music, studying it, breathing it, learning every detail. His favorite stories were of his time in the Army: the 19 times he saw Benny Goodman play, and of the one time at Fort Ord when he was the only person in a dining hall where Lester Young was practicing. When dad was 80, an old record would make him 20 again. That was the power of the best music. Today, my 17- year old son is becoming a player. Not yet breathing it, really, not yet really  studying it, but passionate enough. Big band jazz has long faded from being this country's pop music, it's still fairly standard for kids learning to play in high school combos. Aaron plays drums and double bass. His bass teacher recently had a reco...

September 19: Full house for homecoming. Today is recovery day. Yesterday the West Bloomfield High School Marching Band , including both kids, performed at The Michigan Competing Bands Association (MCBA) State Finals at Ford Field in Detroit . The band finished in 9th place in Flight I, with a score of 88.125. Two years ago, that might as well have been written in Greek, but today I can translate every word of it. August 22: At band camp. September 5: For the first half of the first game, the dress stayed casual. Two years ago, I would never have expected to become a band dad. Aaron's school didn't even have a marching band, just a loose-knit ensemble of a few kids in a quasi-rock band that played various school events. They did ok, we had no complaints. Aaron played guitar, but with the encouragement of the group's advisor, he also tried electric bass, and it stuck. He started private lessons. Then he decided to transfer to WBHS. WBHS didn't have an ense...

July 3, 2014 One of the few vacations we take is a trip to Michigania Family camp . This is a one week camp on Lake Walloon in Northern Michigan. For us, this has meant celebrating July 4th at camp. Sometimes the camp celebration is on July 3rd or July 5th due to details of the camp schedule. This post is a retrospective of some pictures from July 4th celebrations at camp. July 4, 1999 1999 Our first year camping as a family, and July 4th was our first full day of camp. It was very hot, and Aaron -- then 2 years old -- was already a ball of sweat when I took this photo of him trying on my sunglasses. In the background is the old dining hall. July 4, 2002 2002 Elianna was 14 months old. The heat broke just in time for the parade. July 4, 2006 2006 Elianna, now age 5, at Ceramics, Arts and Crafts, working on a project. July 4, 2008 2008 July 4th was the last day of camp in 2008. This is Elianna at the closing ceremony, overlooking the lake. July 4, 20...

I remember the first high school football game I attended. It was 1967. I was 5. My grandfather insisted to my parents, "you gotta see my boy play." My grandfather -- the kids called him Doc Keller but we called him "Boppy" -- was the team doctor at Rippowam High School in Stamford, Connecticut. He was a general practitioner and ENT man who made old-fashioned home visits and had an office in his house. His office wall was adorned with dozens of game balls and trophies, signed by players of many victorious contests. I never quite understood how the team doctor ended up with all those game balls, but there they were. High School Football, Michigan-style. Boppy was my mother's father, but he had a sports bond with my father. They were both originally from Boston, just 17 years apart. Boppy was old enough to remember the Red Sox winning World Series, and he'd tell stories of how the kids who couldn't afford to go to the games would gather in Kenmore Sq...

My first visiting day: 1973. The nest is empty again: The kids are off at camp. As it was last year , Elianna is off to Camp Ramah in Canada , and Aaron is off to Ramah Outdoor Adventure in Colorado. The house is quiet. The food goes more slowly. The days seem longer... and yet they go by too quickly. Arriving at her 2nd home: Camp Ramah. I was a Ramah camper too, at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires . For me, Ramah was a transformative experience. " From  what to  what?," I might ask in a less cheerful moment; but there are still things from that first summer that I keep with me. A feeling of warmth and belonging that I'd never quite had before. The sound of birkhat hamazon -- the grace after meals -- being sung by 600 kids in unison at the first camp meal, giving me the impression of massive bells ringing. Getting ready for shabbat on Friday afternoon, when we'd wear all white. The singing at the Friday evening services, where I could sing and not feel self-...

We bought a house with a swimming pool. I don't think I'd do it again, but what's done is done, and the pool has water, and ducks like to swim in water, and every spring before we open the pool ducks come and try to swim in it. This sometimes prompts a most curious scene as Lori or Aaron try to chase them away... though they always come back, at least until the water warms up. In some years ducks have started nests in spots near the pool. One time was a duck war, all the eggs were smashed, and a male duck with a very broken neck ended up in the pool. Another time, a duck abandoned its last egg. The children tried to hatch it , but nothing ever happened. June 19: 9 ducklings, unable to make it over a bubble in the cover. On June 19th, our history changed. Lori suspected we had another duck with a nest, and its nearby male partner, but on this chilly morning we found out. Ducks in the pool! Or, since we had covered the pool the previous night, it was ducks on  the pool...

For the ninth consecutive year, Aaron and I rode in the annual Tour de Cure  ride to help support the American Diabetes Association (ADA).  It was the 5th ride for Elianna and Lori. First things first:  We are still accepting donations through the end of June.  The link is:   http://main.diabetes.org/goto/teamorel We may have a date conflict next year, so this ride may be our last for a while. So I am posting some pictures of our rides over these past 9 years... Aaron during the first ride, in 2005 At a rest stop in 2006. Elianna was still using the bike in 2012. On the ride, in 2007 2008: Prepared to leave 2009: The first full family ride, and the last at Island Lake. 2010: Aaron and Elianna at Brighton High School before the ride Lori and Elianna during the 2011 ride. Before the start of the 2012 Tour de Cure 2013: At a rest stop. Aaron says he wants to go 62 miles next year. 2013: After the ride. We've gone from 7 mile rides to 15 to 25, ...