BHS70s

Update: summary of site features

2008-11-02T17:33:00.003Z

Hope you've had a chance to look at the front page of bhs70s.com. There we've outlined the upcoming changes you'll be seeing on the site come January 1, 2009. We think there are some good ones in there.

What about you? Do you have any suggestions? Any keen ideas you've seen elsewhere that you wish was on BHS70s? We'd love to hear them!

Look here for more notes on the update of BHS70s in the coming days and weeks.

Our Condolences to Sarmad and Family

2007-10-03T13:52:00.001Z

My sincerest condolences to Sarmad and family on the recent death of his father. You may contact him by emailing him through bhs70s, info07@bhs70s.com.

Here is an article about his dad, who was an extraordinary musician.

Sept 30, 2007
Solhi Al-Wadi, doyen of Syrian classical music, dies at 75

Solhi al-Wadi, the doyen of classical music in Syria, died early Sunday at al-Shami Hospital in Damascus, Syria's official News Agency reported. He was 75.
Solhi Al-Wadi was born in Damascus in 1935 the son of an Iraqi father and a Syrian mother.
After an early childhood spent in Damascus, he was sent to a boarding school in Alexandria then after graduation continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
On his return to Syria, al-Wadi established the Arab Institute of Music in 1961, becoming its director in 1962, a post he held until 2001.
Manal Ghabash, administrative director of the institute, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "We have lost an amazing artist, who had given music a lot ... It was really a big loss."
He had been bed-ridden the past five years after suffering a severe stroke on stage, she said.
Al-Wadi's list of accomplishments included his establishment of the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, which performed its first opera in 1995 and which performs annual concerts in Damascus and has recently performed successful concerts in Lebanon and the United States.
He was appointed Dean of the Higher Institute of Music in 1990. He single-handedly supervised the nurturing of a whole generation of talented young musicians, including Ghazwan Zirkli, Riad Sukkar, Arfan Hanbali, his own daughter Hamsa Al-Wadi, and many other talented artists.
His combined role as an educator, director, conductor, and first- class mass-media communicator did not prevent him from continuously composing original music and re-orchestrating major traditional and folklore music suitable for presentation by a philharmonic orchestra.
Incidental music for films brought Al-Wadi fame all around the Arab world, but the finest examples of his music can be found in his compositions for chamber music.
His presentation of Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" in 1995 is considered a major event in Syria's cultural history.
Al-Wadi was awarded the Syrian Order of Merit of the First Class for his services to the cultural and musical life of Syria.
He is survived by a British wife Cynthia, his son Sarmad and daughters Hamsa and Diala. He was to be buried Sunday afternoon in Damascus.

A Life Lived Fully in 21 Years

2007-08-03T11:58:00.000Z

I did not have the pleasure of knowing Aram myself so cannot say much except that I wish I had. In emails Payam glowed in love and admiration for his son. Here is an article about the kind of young man that Aram was and the love he brought to the world. May his light shine as a beacon for us all. -- Debi

Payam Adlparvar holds a computer that shows a photo of his son Aram, who was a summer student at URI, on the screen. -- The Providence Journal, photo by Glenn Osmundson
1:00 AM EDT on Saturday, July 14, 2007 By Alex Kuffner, Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Payam Adlparvar believed God watched over his son.

Aram Adlparvar liked to travel, and in his time abroad, he’d seen his share of trouble. There was the time he was shot in South Africa. There was the stabbing in the same country. And then there was the incident when a man with a machete attacked him in Swaziland.

But Aram always survived, injured maybe, but never seriously.

“He went through all these things, but he got out of them OK,” Payam said. “I had this feeling in my heart that he would always be all right.”

So when the police called Payam on Tuesday night at the home he shares with his wife in California, he wasn’t just shocked — he was full of disbelief.

His son, a 21-year-old student taking summer courses at the University of Rhode Island, had been killed. Earlier that night, Aram was driving alone back to his residence in Kingston from URI’s Providence campus. At 7:10 p.m., his Subaru station wagon crashed into a tree about 15 feet off Slocum Road in Exeter. He died instantly.

The state police said that Aram was traveling at a high speed at the time. The speed limit on that part of Slocum Road is 25 mph. Aram was not wearing a seat belt, they said.

Aram was the second-eldest child of Payam Adlparvar, a biomechanical engineer, and his wife, Cindy, a fifth-grade teacher. Aram grew up in California, and after spending a year traveling around the world, he enrolled at the University of Hawaii. He was majoring in literature and had just finished his junior year.

His parents arrived in Rhode Island on Thursday. They are strict Baha’is and, following the rules of their faith, they cannot bury Aram far from the place of his death. He will be buried today in Swan Point Cemetery, in Providence.

They washed his body last night and wrapped it in a silk shroud in preparation for his burial.

Yesterday, in a hotel lobby in Providence, Payam and family members talked about Aram’s life. They described him as a selfless person who lived up to his name, which in Persian means “serene.”

“I like to think that he was such a good soul that God needed him,” said Payam, who is of Iranian descent.

Aram decided to take a year off to travel after graduating from El Toro High School, in Lake Forest, Calif. His first stop was Swaziland, a tiny country surrounded by South Africa. He chose to go there in part because he was born in Zimbabwe, another country in Sub-Saharan Africa, where his parents, both American citizens, had been students for several years.

He started teaching in a small village school, loving it so much that he stayed for eight months. It was during that time that he got into all those scrapes.

Once, he and a friend strayed into a slum in Johannesburg, South Africa, where some men with guns stopped their car. Aram and his friend were being carjacked. After handing over the keys, it looked like they’d be fine, but then a rival gang came upon them. The gangs started shooting at each other.

Aram and his friend got caught in the crossfire. His friend was struck in the ankle. Aram was hit in the chest, but the bullet must have ricocheted off something. It was a shallow wound, and Aram was able to dig out the small-caliber bullet.

Back in Swaziland, he was waiting in a friend’s car one day when a man wielding a machete approached. He told him to get out. Aram shifted into drive, but as the car lurched forward, the man swung the machete striking Aram’s arm and the side of the car.

“He felt bad because it wasn’t his car,” Payam said.

On another occasion, two men tried to mug him, but Aram had no money in his wallet. He told the men that if they needed money for food, they could instead come to a Baha’i study circle that night to get something to eat. One man showed up. The other came to the next meeting. Both became regular participants.

“These guys were robbing him, and he invites them to a study circle,” Payam said, shaking his head and smiling.

During the rest of his travels, Aram stopped in Europe, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific.

He decided to come to Rhode Island because he was dating a woman who is a student at URI. They had met last year while she was taking classes at the University of Hawaii. He signed up for two literature courses at URI and was returning to Hawaii at the end of the summer. He wanted to become a literature professor.

On Monday, for no particular reason, Aram had a conversation with his mother about death. She told him that when she died, she wanted him and the other members of their family to celebrate her life. She said she didn’t want everyone to be sad.

He told her that he wanted the same.

But, said Payam, his wife asked Aram to promise that he wouldn’t die anytime soon. He made the promise.

The next night, the police called with the tragic news.

“This,” said Payam, “is the first time my son was disobedient.”

“I like to think that he was such a good soul that God needed him.”

Payam Adlparvar

Ya Scandar! addition

2007-05-20T18:27:00.000Z

Earlier this month we received a sweet memory of Scandar from Naseem Quraishi. We've now added that to the Ya Scandar! page. Anyone else with memories they'd like to add?

Or how about another picture of Scandar, or inside Scand's? Any of those out there?

Leila (Sawaya) Obeid

2007-05-19T18:20:00.000Z

Frances (Hudson) Nehme-Pearson has been scanning her little heart out. She recently has been going through hundreds of old slides from her family's BHS days, buying a scanner specifically to preserve and share them. It's been a real joy to see them and soon we'll be adding them to a new photo album in the Scrapbook.

Among the pictures sent in, Frances sent a beautiful picture of Leila Sawaya (now Obeid) and wondered how Leila was now. Sarmad replied that she is rather famous in Lebanon as a beauty consultant. I did a little googling and found a reference to her book, Mamlakat Al Jamal. So, for fun, and especially for Frances, here's a couple of images she might enjoy found from this link (where the images can be viewed larger).

Congratulations and best success to Leila!

Pictures from Joe Assad

2007-05-11T06:23:00.000Z

I was going through my old emails trying to sort them into some sort of logical order when I came across an email Joe sent me back in November 2006. He attached some beautiful pictures of Brummana that I thought I would share with you.

Anyone know who the pretty violinist is?

The view from Scands?

Do you really need a caption for this?

Now the second largest football pitch at BHS!

The famous, luxurious, 7 star Hotel Kanaan... and shop!

Having trouble with this? How about the entrance to the drive to the Primary School. Beirut in the background

View down to the Sick Bay and Rizkallah House, Dbayeh in the background

View up to the Library Block, MTB and the Science Block

The bottom of the drive to the Primary School
Anyone remember Yousef, the gardener, he must be over 80, with a guard

Yousef again. If you have any T-Shirts to spare he will gladly take them.

La Gargote, where Jean, the same head waiter from the 70's still works, and the same scratched vinyl record of Charles Aznavour from the 70's is played

The road leading to Roumieh part of Anwar Aswad's Ferrari wanabe can be seen at bottom left

The football pitch and Rizkallah House before it was refurbished

Little House, still being used for boarders

Somebody's house in Roumieh

Spectacular view of Beirut

A sample of Joe's artistic photography

Help Joe... who this is?

Driving Through Brummana

2007-05-08T09:56:00.000Z

On Sunday Linda drove me through Brummana with my head stuck through the sun roof to take a video of the drive. This was in response to many people's request following an earlier posting of a similar drive which was done at night. (See the post by Debi in the bhs70s blog).

My apologies for the hazy distant shots, Lebanon is still suffering from the dust and sand blown over from Egypt and the Sahara Desert.

Your comments are welcome.

A. Herbert Dobbing

2007-05-01T16:10:00.000Z

Doing a little Google casual searching for Brummana High School this morning I came across a couple links about 1948-1957 BHS headmaster Herbert Dobbing (1893-1970).

Joyce Spinks, daughter of Dobbing, wrote a brief recollection of her father and her family's experiences in Lebanon in a December 16, 2006 article A Local Quaker in Lebanon, for The Stream (a publication of the village of Ayton in England).

Ayton village is home to an old, but closed, Quaker school, Ayton School where Dobbing was a teacher 1921-1945 before taking the position at BHS. At an Ayton Old Scholars' site, there is a more in depth article on Dobbing's life, titled A Testimony to the Grace of God in the Life of A. Herbert Dobbing.

In addition, I looked in my copy of Quaker Service in the Middle East with a History of Brummana High School 1876-1975 by H. J. Turtle and found this interesting tidbit on page 100, "Incidentally, the Dobbings were the first Principals to go out to the Lebanon by air."

Dobbing also published a book titled, Cause for Concern: a Quaker's View of the Palestine Problem (1970).

Spring arrives in Lebanon!!!

2007-04-23T16:17:00.000Z

Lebanon is a beautiful country in so many ways. The four seasons are quite distinct in their character and their appeal. And the interaction of humans with nature is palpable, e.g. no sooner one is sick of winter, the rain and snow, the darkness and coldness of the days, the birds start to chirp more keenly, the buds on plants start growing signalling the arrival of Spring. The weather starts to get warmer, and snow on the mountains starts to melt. And then when you're sick of Summer, you start longing for Autumn then Winter, and the rain and snow.

The most beautiful aspect of Spring however is the sprouting of flowers and new leaves on awakening plants. Here’s what is happening on our balcony:

The plant above is a Cactus species which I have yet to identify. I took a few small offshoots from my mothers collection when we visited Damascus last summer. It was mixed with other cacti in one pot. I repotted it in March and this is the first time it has produced flowers. The small yellow flowers have been sprouting furiously since March. The plant will eventually propogate to fill the pot. The red "pods" are actually fruits. I have yet to work up the courage to taste one! You can see Timmy the cat looking around curiously.

This is a type of "Peanut Cactus". Another from the mix I took from my mothers collection last year, also repotted in March. Still young, and too early in the Spring to produce flowers, however, if you look closely you can see small red flower buds sprouting on the top centre one. These will also eventully grow to fill the pot.

This is a species of Aloe. I took a couple of small offshoots a couple of years ago from my mothers collection and planted them in a small pot. Within a year it had propogated to fill the pot and I repotted it into this container last year. It is now a little overcowded. It flowers freely two or three times a year regardless of season and temperature. A very hardy species that doesn't mind extreme temperatures, rain, sleet, hail, or snow. It is exposed to all those elements. A beautiful species of plant that has medicinal qualities. Eastern civilizations have used the liquid from the leaves of this plant to heal wounds. It is also known to be used in anti-aging creams, soaps and shampoos.

This is an "annual" flowering plant that in theory should only last one year, but we have had it for 3 years and it still flowers prefusely with no special care and attention. I will trim it this autumn to see if it will bush out at the centre. At the moment it is a little sparse in the middle, but as can be seen, it is flourishing on the sides.

This is a species of "Ball Cactus". It is another of the ones I took from my mothers collection 2 summers ago. Last summer one of those grew an ugly stalk from its side, and I wasn't sure what would come out of it. You can just about see some stalks growing on all of them now. Last summer, one day in May, we woke up and this is what the stalk turned out to be:

I repotted them in March this year into a bigger pot, and now I'm expecting many more such flowers in May. For the observent of you, you will notice there were 6, and now they are 5. I took one back to my mother because the mother plant they came from mysteriously disappeared. She was so amazed when she saw the pictures of this flower she wanted one back.

The only sad thing about these flowers is that when they bloom they only last one day. The next day this one wilted and died!

This is a birthday present I got from Ibrahim Qamar and his wife Randa. I have no idea what it is yet, but it grows prefusely all the year round and produces small clusters of yellow flowers. It is hardy but not as hardy as the Aloe's, although it is probably an Aloe. Hail and rain will dent the delicate fleshy leaves, but there is no reason to shelter it during the winter since the rain and hail also get rid of the weak and dead leaves. It also flowers about 3 times a year.

This is a "Bunny Ear Cactus" also taken from my mothers collection in Damascus. It also propogates profusely and grows quite big. There are new shoots on it now which are growing on top of the old shoots. It is also susceptible to rain and hail, but like the plant above it, the rain and hail get rid of the old weak shoots.

This is a "Crown of Thorns" plant also taken from my mothers collection. It grows freely in a pot, or as you can see, can be trained into a crown. I used an old wire coat hanger to train it to grow in the shape of a crown. Legend has it that Jesus Christ was made to wear this plant on his head when he was crusified. The thorns on it are quite long and hard.

This plant is still quite young, it is also still a bit early in the Spring to see the light green leaves that are budding on it. The beautiful red flowers that gow on its tip before the leaves grow are quite breathtaking though.

This plant is quite spectacular. It is another species of Aloe taken as a shoot from my mothers collection 2 years ago and has grown extremely well. This is the first time it has budded, the flowers have not yet matured, but when it does it promises to be breathtaking. My mother tells me that the mother plant has never flowered, so this one seems to like it here in Lebanon.

Call for 70s Pictures

2007-04-11T13:29:00.000Z

In just a few weeks, it will be time for another BHS70s update. As part of the May/June update, we'd like to add the 22nd photo album to the scrapbook.

If you have BHS pictures from the seventies that you've been meaning to scan and send in, now would be a great time to share them!

Email blog07@bhs70s.com

A Swiss in Lebanon

2007-04-03T03:09:00.000Z

Remember this cover of the July/August issue of Aramaco World Magazine in 1975? Even if you don't remember the cover, very likely you remember the article inside "A Swiss in Lebanon" by Jackie Drucker. Aramco magazine has their back issues online and you can read the online article about BHS in its 70s heyday all over again.

Sadly though, the photographs are not online. I have a copy of the magazine and if any one wants to see the photos, I can scan and email them upon request. They are some great photos, really capturing well BHS in the days we remember so fondly.

(I have to insert a thanks to my mom here who saw the old magazine in an antique store all the way over in East Texas, bought it and sent it to me.)

Who remembers when the photographer, Khalil Abou El Nasr, came to BHS in preparation for this article? Was author Jack Drucker with him? What do you recall of that day? It would be a huge longshot, but I wonder if the other photographs of that shoot survive anywhere and could be obtained?

Aramco World Magazine -- in print and online -- is an absolute treasure trove. It's amazing that it is a free publication. Here are a few other articles about Brummana available to read online at their site:

Waldemeir's Watercolors, Jan/Feb 1976. Again, no images, even though I distinctly remember them online at one point. I'll ask Mom to be on the lookout for this issue as well.
A Lifelong Journey, Jul/Aug 1993. About English woman and author Freya Stark, who spent a lifetime of adventures and explorations in the Middle East in the early to mid part of last century. In 1927, as a young woman, she had her first introduction to a lifetime of travel in Brummana, where she spent her ver first stay abroad, spending the winter there. (She even had an unrequited crush on one of the BHS teachers.)
The Bonfils Story, Nov/Dec 1983. A brief mention of the village of Brummana in this article about the photographer family of Beirut, the Bonfils.

Addedum: I just finished looking for information on the photographer, Khalil Abou El Nasr, and found a memorial to him after his death in Beirut after a long illness in Aramco World, Mar/Apr 1977 issue. I wonder if his wife Awatif, or one of his four children, kept his photos and negatives?

What? No Wiki?

2007-03-28T14:59:00.000Z

"No page with that title exists."

That's the message you get if you search Wikipedia for Brummana High School. How is it possible that the world's largest online user-contributed encyclopedia has no entry for BHS?

As you may know, Wikipedia is a wiki site, meaning that its content is wholly created, maintained, and edited by users. Yeah, regular every day people like you and me are the authors of that site. And that's its beauty. As a collaborative effort, it also has group review. If information is incorrect or misleading, it can — and is — corrected by others. Wikipedia is so dedicated to this idea that you don't even have to have a log in to make a correction. (Of course, some other person can come behind and correct you. But, again, that's its beauty, keeping everyone honest.)

A missing BHS article in Wikipedia is an even bigger missed opportunity because I've noticed that site is given extra weight in search engines like Google and others. Frequently, the results I get on all kinds of searches will list a link to a Wikipedia article near the top, if not the very first entry.

Sure, it would be easy enough to grab the history of the school from the OSA site and plug it on Wikipedia. But I think that's against their rules of plagiarism.

So, I'm looking for volunteers to help with the creation, editing, and continuing monitoring of an article for BHS. Who's up for being a part of this project? Any other suggestions related to this idea?

NOTES:
These are three articles I've found in Wikipedia related to BHS:
1. Teddy Bear Alliance (see also #2)
2. Dom Joly (a possible BHS alumnus of the seventies)
3. And oddly, a French -- but not English -- article for Theophilus Waldmeier. (Here's an automated and rough translation of that page to English by Google.)

Video of Broummana

2007-03-25T14:27:00.000Z

Last December, the blogger BloggingBeirut posted a 6 minute video of a night drive through Broummana, starting at Beit Mery and ending in Mar Chaaya. I would have preferred a daytime drive -- so I could see more -- but, still, how cool is that? I'm sitting here in West Texas, riding along the main drag in Broummana!

Sadly the school gates aren't featured too distinctly. At that moment (around the video's 2:40 mark) his attention was diverted by a car pulling out in front of him, coming up from the little road where Cheyene's used to be. Immediately before he avoids that fender-bender, you can clearly see Kanaan's (any of the gang there? ha) and immediately after you can see King's Amusement Center.

Here's the link to that video: Cruising through Brummana after dark

What else do you find of interest on the video? At what mark is Cheers? I've never been, but I've seen its interior plenty in the reunion pictures :)

(View the video and then come back and leave us your comments)

Update to BHS70s

2007-03-25T07:01:00.000Z

Woohoo! We've now got an update for March/April on BHS70s.

All the Reunion 2006 pictures are online for your enjoyment and recalling the good times that were had last year. We figure it's a good way also to help get you ready and in the mood for 2007.
We're ready to start collecting the Who's Who of Reunion 2007 attendees, so fill out the quick form to let us know your plans and if we can help in any way.
The Then & Now alumni profiles have been updated. Look to see who's joined us recently and drop them a welcoming hello with our fowarding system.
And, of course, our newest feature is our blog here. Blogging is a quick way to share news about BHS, reunions, Broummana, friends found, and all kinds of tidbits we hope you'll find interesting and blog-worthy.

We have some new ideas for some upcoming pages to add to the website over the next few months. We'll be blogging more about that here so you can know what's happening behind the scenes at BHS70s. Check back here.

P.S.

I'm here writing this during the wee hours. I have the TV on in the background to keep me company. It's a Time-Life infomercial for 70s music. Perfect! As Al Green sings, Let's stay together....

Introduction to the BHS70s Blog

2007-03-20T19:59:00.000Z

Hello World!

I'm a programmer, and can't help but begin a new project with the classic "Hello World" statement. The new project is this, the BHS70s blog.

What's all this about blogging? A blog is a journal-like web page. Blogs can be the sole -- or soul -- outpouring of one individual's passions. Or a blog can be the effort of any number of contributors who rally around an idea. We are the latter. Our rallying idea is anything about Brummana High School and our 70s alumni is blog-worthy.

Blogs list most recent entries first. As you go down the page, you are going back to older posts, which may or may not be relevant any longer (perhaps even with broken links, or outdated information) . "The Now" is really at the heart of blogging, and one of its most valuable appeals.

A blog can be updated many times a day, or only as inspiration strikes. So you might see us post several times a week, or maybe none during busy holiday times. We'll explain later how you can "subscribe" to any blog so you know the minute it has been updated, without the disappointment of some old blog echo.

Another hugely important feature of blogs is the ability to post your comments, which we hope you'll do to contribute to our community. It also nourishes haggard blog posters with much-craved feedback, encouraging us to blog on to new heights.

Lastly, here's a list of labels we'll be using, which will give you a pretty good idea of what we hope for this blog. If you see something here or elsewhere that inspires an idea for a blog post, by all means send us an email to the address above.

around bhs: pictures & news items about the school now (events, staff, etc.)
around broummana: links, pictures, news items related to Broummana
bhs70s stuff: news about the site, calls for submissions, calls for pictures, the usual nagging
geeky bits: tidbits of information about the geeky portion of life that might be of interest
good old days: stories of experiences and memories of BHS.
know your alumni: interviews, kudos, congrats to a specific alumnus
reuniting reunions: upcoming or past reunions big or small, reminders, dates
In addition, each post includes post by (author's name).

There you have it. Blogging in a nutshell. And welcome to the bhs70s blog :)