Ocv ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ

By Christopher Tripoulas &Demetris TsakasTNH Staff Writers

BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. - Ayoung Greek American busi-nessman has been charged byNew Jersey police in the doublemurder of two men, which oc-curred late last week.

Bergen County ProsecutorJohn Molinelli announced onSaturday February 20 the arrestof Nicholas D. Kiriakakis, 25years of age, of Richmond Hills,New York. The arrest is forcharges related to the February17 homicides of Jonathan Bene-duce and Michael Mirasola -two acquaintances foundThursday in a bullet-riddenblack Ford Explorer SUV onOakdene Avenue in TeaneckN.J, authorities said.

Kiriakakis is part owner andmanager of popular Bayside,N.Y. restaurant/lounge PearlNightlife, Inc.

The charges have left theGreek American Communityshocked. One patron of Pearlwho wished to retainanonymity offered thiscomment: "whoever knew himand went to Pearl would neverexpect it from him. I am speech-less."

Bergen county police reportthat the two victims were shotand killed in their vehicle whileparked on Oakdene Avenue.The arrest was the result of aninvestigation conducted by theTeaneck Police Department, De-tective Bureau, the BergenCounty Prosecutor’s Office,Major Crimes Unit, and theBergen County Sheriff’s Depart-ment, Bureau of Criminal Inves-tigation.

Kiriakakis allegedly met thevictims in Queens before thethree drove to Teaneck, withKiriakakis in his own car andthe two victims in the Ford SUV.

The three might havetraveled to Teaneck to conductan illegal drug deal, BergenCounty Prosecutor JohnMolinelli said in a statement re-leased Saturday night.

Molinelli said the possibilityof a drug deal remains under in-vestigation.

Kiriakakis was interviewedat the 106th precinct of theNew York City PoliceDepartment by Bergen Countydetectives and subsequentlycharged with the murders. Theinvestigation is continuing atthis time. Molinelli declined tosay what specific evidence ledto the arrest.

The two victims were de-scribed as "good friends" andacquaintances of Kiriakakis, ac-cording to the prosecutor.

In a search of his home, carand business, police found two"simulated" handguns, a stungun, and "illegally obtained pre-scription drugs," theprosecutor's office statementsaid.

The National HeraldA wEEkly GrEEk AmEriCAN PuBliCATiON

February 27-March 5, 2010

www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 13, ISSUE 646 $1.50

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Bringing the newsto generations ofGreek Americans

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915

By Christopher TripoulasTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK - Troubleshootersfrom the EuropeanCommission, the EuropeanCentral Bank and the IMF de-scended on Greece Tuesday tocheck on its bid to tamerampant debt on the eve of ageneral strike against austeritymeasures.

Greece's high levels of debtand a collapse in confidence byfinancial markets over its abilityto finance itself have put gov-ernment bonds under pressure,weakened the euro and pushedthe Eurozone into crisis.

Meanwhile, the Greek Gov-ernment received no respite onMonday when the EuropeanCommission denied theexistence of a European Unionplan for 20-25 billion euros inaid for Greece. Germany'sfinance ministry also said it hadmade no decision on aid forAthens. Similarly, a Greekfinance ministry spokesmandismissed the report as "specu-lation."

The reactions camefollowing a report in theGerman weekly Der Spiegel onSaturday that Germany'sfinance ministry had sketchedout a plan in which countriesusing the euro currency wouldprovide aid worth 20-25 billion

U.S. Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias Visits N.Y. and Speaks to TNHIllinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (r.) is running for the U.S. Senate seat once occupied byBarack Obama. "Jobs, jobs, jobs" are the top issue, said the Democrat. Mr. Giannoulias, CyprusFederation of American Supreme President Panikos "Peter" Papanicolao (l.) and senior advisorto Mr. Giannoulias, Endy Zemenides, visited TNH on February 24th. TNH reporter Stavros Mar-marinos is in the foreground. More on page 3.

By AnthonyParaskevopoulos, Ed.D.Special to The National Herald

When some people receiveawards for their work, it comesas a surprise to those of us whoknow them because, even withhigh achievements, therealways seems be an element ofchance involved. Not so withothers. And most certainly notso with Dora Kontogiannis, whowas just selected by the NewJersey Principals andSupervisors Association(NJPSA) as the 2010 VisionaryPrincipal of the Year.

Those who know her, both inand outside the educationalrealm, know that this honor is afully deserved outcome of yearsof educational excellence. Eventhe fact that her honor isdoubled by the selection of hervice principal, Brian Cory, as the2010 Visionary Vice Principal ofthe Year - in what was the un-precedented selection of twoadministrators from the sameschool - is not completely unex-pected.

So, although the 2010award, as announced by JoAnnBartoletti, Executive Director ofthe NJPSA, was for outstandingleadership in her school anddistrict, it marks only the latestpoint in what is a continuum ofservice. And the two key termsare exactly that, continuum andservice.

Dr. Kontogiannis – she didgraduate work and received herdoctorate from Seton Hall – hasbeen an educator for 34 years

and has been with Tenafly HighSchool for 31 years, servingthere first as a math teacher,then as a supervisor, vice princi-pal and, for the past 12 years, asprincipal. It was under her lead-ership that Tenafly High Schoolwas nationally recognized as aBlue Ribbon School in 2005.

But her long service extendsbeyond the educational realmto her other community. Proudof her Greek heritage – her par-ents and siblings were fromCyprus and her late husband,Yiannis, from Chios, she is cur-rently a member of theCathedral of Saint John theTheologian Church in Tenaflyand in the past a member ofSaint Athanasios Church inParamus. She has beenvariously: Sunday School Direc-tor and teacher, GOYA advisor,Parish Council member andGreek School Principal – all

Dora Kontogiannis, Principal of Year

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

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TNH Staff Writers

NEW YORK - On February19th, 24 year-old Evan Lysacekwon gold for the U.S. in men’sfigure skating, breakingRussia’s hold over the gold since1992. The Naperville, Illinoisskater, who is of Greek, Italianand Czech heritage, shouted“Yes! Yes! Yes!” as the lastchords of his music played.

The Associated Press said ofhis Olympic competition: “Ev-erything he did was technicallyperfect. His jumps had the con-trol and dependability of a fineSwiss timepiece, and his spinswere so well-centered youcould see the tight little circle ofhis tracings clear across theice.” The last jump of the tall,steady skater clothed in a VeraWang design (with a silversnake poised around his neck)was a double axel.

Being the first on the ice forthe long competition, Mr.Lysacek had a gruelling waitthrough five more skaters’ rou-tines, before the announcementof his victory.

Though Mr. Lysacek’s artisticscore (82.8) was identical withthat of silver medalist YevgenyPlushenko, it was on the techni-cal score that the American tookthe gold. The New York Times’Archie Tse reported that in anew scoring system, jumps per-formed in the second halfreceive a 10% bonus. Mr.Lysacek took advantage, wroteMr. Tse, of this system, withthree jumping passes in the firsthalf and five in the second half.Mr. Plushenko, did theopposite; and despite the Rus-sian’s critique, afterwards, thatMr. Lysacek did not attempt aquadruple jump, Mr. Plusenko’slandings were at times sloppy.

“I’m on cloud nine,” Mr.Lysacek told fellow skaterMichelle Kwan, in an NBC inter-view after his Olympic victory.

“It hasn’t even begun to sink inyet,” he added. He told Ms.Kwan that the wise words of hisparents, before the event,helped him to prepare,mentally. They said that theywere proud of him already, re-assuring that the event didn’tmatter. “That was exactly whatI wanted to hear,” said the care-fully-spoken skater. A little ofthe pressure was off, he con-fessed, because his motherwasn’t at the stadium, butwatching a little ways off.

In the NBC interview, theathlete’s mother, TanyaLysacek, who is of Greek origin,said: “I could see the expressionon his face and feel theelectricity and just the joy inwhat he was doing.”

As for his coach, Frank Car-roll, who also coached silvermedalist Michelle Kwan, hesaid, according to the AP: “Thisis just frosting on the cake forme…It’s not something Icoveted after a while. It wassomething I thought maybewould never happen.”

Mr. Lysacek’s illustriouscareer in skating began whenhis grandmother bought him apair of skates when he waseight years old. Before long hewas performing in junior com-petitions. He made his interna-tional debut on the adult levelin 2004-2005. In 2005 he tookthe bronze in the World SkatingChampionship.

Going into the Olympics, Mr.Lysacek was the 2009 WorldChampion. He also has held the2007 and 2008 U.S. NationalChampionships and the2009/2010 Grand Prix FinalChampionship. He was fourthin the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Born in Chicago and raisedin nearby Naperville, Mr.Lysacek is a Greek OrthodoxChristian, who has referred to

Vancouver Fire on Ice:Skater Evan LysacekWins Gold for U.S.A.

EU, IMFOfficialsArrive in Greece for Review Germany DeniesBailout Reports;Greeks Dismiss“Speculation”

By Angelike ContisTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – The AmericanHellenic Educational Progres -sive Association (AHE PA) andthe Federation of Hellenic Soci-eties of Greater N.Y. are amongthe groups helping to get theword out on the upcoming U.S.Census, which is held every tenyears. The 2010 Censusincludes a list of 10 questions,to be mailed to households inMarch.

“It has great significance,”says Petro Galatoula, secretary

of the N.Y. Federation ofHellenic Societies, referring tothe census’ ethnic tally. Henotes “Hellenism acquires pow-er” when individuals write in“Greek” under the “Some OtherRace” category, instead ofsimply checking the box“White”. He discourages GreekAmericans from “hiding”,saying that it’s a way for politi-cians to not underestimateGreek’s numbers.

Are Greeks, Senegalese, Ger-mans or Japanese a “race”? TheU.S. Census doesn’t have an an-swer. “We have a policy of self-

identification,” says Igor Alves,a press officer at the U.S.Census in New York, regardingracial identity. He notes that thequestions are designed by con-gressional committees, and in-dividuals are encouraged toprovide as much or as littledetail as they like. Mr. Alvesnotes that the longer, more de-tailed American CommunitySurvey, which is createdthrough monthly samples, isthe more detailed form used bythe government to gather info

2010 Census is Counting on Greeks

Strike in Athens Against Austerity Began Peacefully But Included ClashesPolice clash with protesters in Athens on Wednesday Feb. 24, 2010. Police fired tear gas andclashed with demonstrators in central Athens as violence broke out after a large protest marchagainst government austerity measures intended to fix the country's debt crisis. See relatedstory on page 9.

AP PHOTO/THANASSiA STAvrAkiS

Farewell to Peter T. KouridesFriends and family gathered at Holy Trinity Cathedral in N.Y. tobid farewell to Peter (Prodromos) Kourides, who served as Gen-eral Counsel to the Archdiocese for close to six decades and wasa confidant of the late Archbishop Iakovos. He was born in Con-stantinople in 1910. Archbishop Demetrios presided. Seerelated article on page 8 and editorial on page 10.

Young RestaurateurKiriakakis Charged inN.J. Double Homicide

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 5

NEW YORK – With trafficcleared, people taking zip wirerides over down town, free con-certs and sold-out sportingevents, Vancouver is glitteringin all its Olympic glory. The Na-tional Herald caught up with afew Greek Vancouverites to findout what the atmosphere is likein the city.

TNH’s own commentator Dr.Andre Gerolymatos, a professorat Simon Fraser University, wasamong those who carried theOlympic flame. “It was a won-derful experience,” he said ofhis run of about 300 meters onthe Eastern edge of Vancouver.He was moved that the torchwas handed to him by a youngman who received “a perfectheart transplant,” who in turn

VancouverHellenes at2010 Games

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 6

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Continued on page 9

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010

n FEBRUARY 26 – MARCH 9 DALLAS, Texas – TheDecorazon Gallery isshowcasing an art exhibition bytwo painting legends fromGreece and Cyprus, Bill Ko-modore and Konstantinos Zan-nettos. It will feature Konstanti-nos Zannettos, Step by Step andBill Komodore’s, Arcadia-TheRecent Paintings. The openingreception will be held on Febru-ary 13 from 6:00 p.m.-9:30p.m. The Gallery is located at:417 N. Bishop Avenue, Dallas,Texas, United States, 75208.For further information call:(214) 946-1003 or e-mail:[email protected]. Bornin Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1981,many of Konstantinos Zannetos’paintings can be found inprivate collections in Cyprus,Greece, Poland, Austria, Franceand the USA. Zannetos’ paint-ings, much like the world of an-cient Greek mythology, employallegoric characters intheatrical scenes, creating aunique atmosphere that tran-scend time and place. His art-work can be characterized as acombination of mathematicsand poetry; a research of the re-lationship between movement,space, and time. Bill Komodorewas born in Athens, Greece in1932. He is represented in nu-merous public and private col-lections, including the WhitneyMuseum of American Art andThe National Gallery of Art,Washington, D.C.

n FEBRUARY 26 – MARCH 19 NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Churchof the Annunciation presents itsannual lenten lectures, titled“What Do the Church FathersSay About....” on Fridays duringLent after the salutationservices and a lenten dinner;February 26: Raising and Edu-cating Children, FatherAnthony Falsarella; March5:Straight Talk About Divorce,Father Charles Joannides;March 12: Life Apart from God,Father Robert Stephanopoulos.March 19: Anti-Christ: Fact orFiction, Father James G.Moskovites. Schedule for allFridays: 6:30 p.m. AkathistHymn; 8:00 p.m. LentenDinner; 8:30 p.m. Lenten Lec-ture. The Church of the Annun-ciation/Evangelismos is locatedat 302 West 91st Street; NewYork, New York. Forinformation call (212) 724-2070; E-mail: [email protected] visit the Web site at:www.evangelismos.org.

n FEBRUARY 27 NEW YORK, NY – Saturday,February 27 from 10 to 6 p.m. isthe final day The OnassisCultural Center in New York ishosting the exhibition: The Ori-gins of El Greco Icon Painting inVenetian Crete. The OnassisCultural Center will present anextraordinary group of 15thand 16th century paintings, in-cluding early works by ElGreco. Curated for the OnassisCultural Center by Dr.Anastasia Drandaki, Curator ofthe Byzantine Collection at theBenaki Museum, Athens, TheOrigins of El Greco will includeapproximately 46 exceptionalworks from public and privatecollections in Greece, Europe,the United States and Canada,many of which will be travelingfor the first time. The OnassisCultural Center is located at:645 Fifth Ave, Olympic Tower,New York, N.Y. For further in-formation, call: (212) 486-4448 or visit: www.onassisusa.org/onassis.shtml

DEERFIELD, Ill. – The HellenicAmerican Academy ispresenting a lecture on TheMacedonian Issue on February27 at 7:30 p.m. MiltiadesBolaris, a well-known historyconnoisseur, will speak on thehistory of the issue, examiningits genesis in the 19th centuryand developments to date. TheHellenic American Academy islocated at: 1085 Lake CookRoad, Deerfield, Ill. For moreinformation, call: (847)317-1063.

CLEARWATER, Fl. - The Societyof Epirotes of Florida invitesyou to the 21st Annual EpirosBenefit Dance on February 27 atthe Fort Harrison Hotel. Thedance will feature Bobby

Koulaxizis, Chris Natsis andClarinetist George Bezanis.Cocktails will begin at 6:30p.m. and the dinner at 7:30p.m. For more information andtickets, call: Vasili Soutis: (727)441-3353; Eleonora Miho -poulos: (727) 656-6643; orVula Patridis (727) 641-5617.The Fort Harrison Hotel islocated at: 210 S. Fort HarrisonAve. Clearwater.

n MARCH 3WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Soci-ety for the Preservation of theGreek Heritage Presents the lec-ture: The Glory that wasGreece; The Grandeur that wasRome: Is There a Difference? ByProfessor Athanasios Moulakisat 7:00 p.m. at the Embassy ofGreece. The Embassy of Greeceis located at: 2217Massachusetts Avenue N.W.,Washington DC 20008. Formore information pleasecontact: The Society for thePreservation of the Greek Her-itage, 5125 MacArthur Blvd.NW, Suite 50C, Washington,D.C. 20016. Tel: 202.363.4337E-mail: [email protected], http://www.spgh-world.org/events.htm

n MARCH 6CHICAGO, Ill. –The NationalHellenic Museum, The HellenicAmerican Women's Council,The Greek Women's UniversityClub and International WomenAssociates Chicago present:“Women Leaders: A Cross-Cul-tural Women’s Symposium,”from 9:30 am – 2:30 pm, atSaint Andrew Church. NBC5'sKim Vatis will be the moderatorfor informative paneldiscussions. Breakfast andlunch will be served. For infor-mation and to RSVP, call: (312)655-1234 or visit: www.nation-alhellenicmuseum.org. SaintAndrews Church, the S.J. Gre-gory Auditorium is located at:5649 N. Sheridan Road inChicago.

PORTLAND, Ore. - AHEPA willhonor excellence in the GreekAmerican community as its“National Regional Salute Ban-quet” series will make itssecond stop in Portland, Ore.On March 6 at 7:00 p.m. at thePortland Downtown MarriottWaterfront. Congressman EarlBlumenauer, AHEPA PericlesAward; U.S. Senator RonWyden, AHEPA MeritoriousPublic Service Award; Dr. HarryAnastasiou, AHEPA Academy ofAchievement Award in Educa-tion; Dr. George Stamatoy-annopoulos, AHEPA Academyof Achievement Award inMedicine; Dr. Thalia Pa-payannopoulou, Professor ofMedicine, AHEPA Academy ofAchievement Award inMedicine; Kostas Mallios,Academy of AchievementAward in Business; E. JohnRumpakis, Academy ofAchievement in Philanthropy;Steve Frangos, Journalist, TheNational Herald, AHEPA Acade-my of Achievement in Media.The Portland gala affair is thesecond of four AHEPA NationalRegional Salute Banquets to beheld in 2009 – 2010. A NationalRegional Salute Banquet is alsoplanned for Chicago on May 1,2010. Tickets for the Portlandevent are $75 per person.Please RSVP by February 26,2010 to Vana Amanatidis atvana.amanatides@comcast.

n NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events sectionis a complimentary service tothe Greek Americancommunity. All parishes, orga-nizations and institutions areencouraged to e-mail their in-formation regarding the event3-4 weeks ahead of time, andno later than Monday of theweek before the event, to [email protected]

GOINGS ON...

By Eleni KostopoulosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – Nik Chinboukas,a highly sought-after New York-based producer, has been thereand done that. Before openingSpin Recording Studios in LongIsland City this past year, Chin-boukas was a noted vocalist andguitarist alongside Gustavo J.Vitureira on bass and Alex Kyri-azis on drums in the New Yorkclub scene for 13 years beforeone of the trio’s demos finallycaught the attention ofChaos/Columbia Records. Theband, known as Collision,recorded and produced theirself-titled debut in their ownrecording studio and criticsdeemed the album aninnovative piece of art. In 1995,during the grunge scene, Colli-sion compromised their soundto release their album Coarsebefore breaking up and later re-forming as Kollizion for a shorttime. Chinboukas’ titles includeEngineer and Mixing Engineerof the soundtrack Walmartopia(2008), Percussion, Producer,Engineer, Mixing, Crowd Noiseon W.A.R.P.E.D. [Bonus Track]by Chris Caffery (2008), Guitar,Vocals (Background), Producer,

Engineer and Mixing on Wel-come to My Bad Behavior by ed-ibleRed (2007), among manyothers.

TNH: Tell us about yourself. NC: I am a freelance music

producer and engineer.TNH: Tell us how you got to

where you are today.NC: I started playing guitar

when I was 11 years old and Iknew music was what I wantedto do for the rest of my life. Iplayed in a band calledCollision which was signed toColumbia Records in 1991; Iwas the singer and guitarplayer. I got the chance to workwith one of my favorite produc-

ers and to tour the UnitedStates and Canada for a coupleof years. Today, I am able to useall of that knowledge and expe-rience when I am producing

TNH: What made you decideto pursue your career?

NC: I love music for the artof it.

TNH: Do you have any rolemodels?

NC: My role models includeall the artists who make a differ-ence in the way we look at theworld today. I am a fan of all thearts, past and present, as longas it says something to me.

TNH: What is your greatestachievement thus far? What doyou hope to achieve in the fu-ture?

NC: My biggest achievementis my perseverance and mythirst for knowledge and expe-rience. I stayed true to what Ilove. I have opened SpinRecording Studios in LongIsland City this past year andbeen busy ever since. Lookingforward to keep on doing what Ido.

TNH: Does Greek Orthodoxyplay a part in your life and what

you do? NC: My parents are first gen-

eration and Hellenic traditionwas and is very important to meand my family. I grew up in Ja-maica, Queens and attendedmany of the local church's activ-ities including Greek school. Iwas born in New York and I visitGreece every year.

TNH: As a Greek American,what is one key concern youhold regarding your community- here or abroad?

NC: One key concern for theGreek community here andabroad is our power to connect,unify, and have a voice. And ofcourse [to get] some realpatriots in the Greek govern-ment!

TNH: Any additional com-ments or future projects you’dlike to mention goes here:

NC: A documentary of mywork called "The Love ProjectJourney" is available throughwww.drumaddict.net. I bringmusicians of radically differentbackgrounds, including GeorgeXylouris of Crete (for the Hel-lenes!), and have them play to-gether along with interviews.Very inspirational! [Accordingto imdb.com, the 2009 filmwritten by Ya’eL “inspiresfriendships through music witha goal to move people and tomake music for music’s sake.The film’s goal is to capture themaking of the love project CDon film with musicians fromthroughout the world; notgenre-specific music but musicthat people can feel again. Itcombines professional collabo-rations world cinematic orches-trations: classical backgrounds,rock, opera, using top studiosfrom N.Y. to L.A. and lifers ofmusic - some very well knownand some that simply shouldbe.”]

TNH: Share with us somewords of wisdom.

NC: If you don't think itsright in your heart, don't do it!

Contact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected].

In the Spotlight: Nik Chinboukas

New York City-based Nik Chinboukas, a highly sought-afterproducer and former vocalist/guitarist for Collision, openedSpin Recording Studios in Long Island City this past year.

Divine Liturgy in Haiti Comforts VictimsMetropolitan Athenagoras of Mexico & Central America,assisted by Fr. Barnabas, offers an open-air liturgy, amid theearthquake ruins in Haiti, which also destroyed the local Or-thodox Church. The Metropolitan also distributed food aid.

Archdeacon Nathaniel Ordained to PriesthoodOn January 30, in an ancient rite -both solemn and joyful- atthe Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan,Archbishop Demetrios presided over the ordination ofArchdeacon Nathaniel Simeonides to the priesthood.

mETrOPOliS Of mExiCO TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Renowned Archaeologist to be Honored in N.Y.Michael Halkias speaks at a Greek parade planning meeting ofthe Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater N.Y. about thedinner in honor of renowned archaeologist George Papathana-sopoulos at Brooklyn’s Grand Prospect Hall on February 28.

Pontian Dancers Dazzle at "Komnini" SocietyThe Pontian Society "Komnini" held its second annual festival,a two-day affair at the Stathakion Cultural Center in Astoria,NY, highlighted by the dances of youngsters dressed in the tra-ditional costumes of the Black Sea region of Pontos.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ TNH/COSTAS BEJ

If you'd like to nominate anotable member of the GreekAmerican community for “Inthe Spotlight”, pleasecontact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected] your suggestions.

Vote on our website!You have the chance to ex-

press your opinion on ourwebsite on an importantquestion in the news. The re-sults will be published in ourprinted edition next weekalong with the question forthat week.

The question this week is:Do you believe the people ofGreece have already learnedimportant lessons from theircrises that will help thembuild a better future?o Yeso Noo Maybe

The results for last week’squestion: Germany has beentough on Greece as the eco-nomic crisis has developed.Do you believe this is:50% voted "Understandable"50% voted "Unjust"

Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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By Theodore KalmoukosTNH Staff Writer

BOSTON - Holy Cross GreekOrthodox School of Theologywill be the primary beneficiaryonce again of grants by Leader-ship 100, the endowment fundof the Greek Orthodox Archdio-cese of America. This year’sfunding priorities were an-nounced at Leadership 100’s re-cent 19th annual conference atCoronado, California whichconcluded on Sunday, February7.

More than 300 members andtheir guests attended a fullthree-day program at the con-ference whose theme was “TheTorchbearers of Our Faith andHellenic Heritage: The NewGeneration of Leaders”.

Leadership 100 demonstrat-ed its increased commitment tothe school of theology by an-nouncing the extension of itscholarship program for semi-narians through 2018. Thegrants will amount to an excessof $1 million per year for 10years for seminarians preparingto become priests in the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese of Amer-ica.

The organization’s news re-lease noted that in 2009 Lead-ership 100 distributed$1,694,860 in grants, with$1,300,000 going to HellenicCollege/Holy Cross School ofTheology, $388,260 to the Na-tional Ministries of the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese and$6,600 to the Retired Clergy inNeed fund.

During the past two years,over the course of its 25th An-niversary Campaign,Leadership 100 has increasedits membership by 100 for atotal membership of 836

people. Each member commitshimself to offer $10,000 a yearfor a total of $100,000. Fulfilledmemberships of $100,000 eachnow number more than half oftotal memberships. The invest-ment portfolio, which saw adownturn in 2008, is nowabove $62.2 million. Since theinception of Leadership 100,total grant distributions standat $28,549,636. Thecumulative total of all grantsover the history of the organiza-tion is expected to reach $30million in 2010, an average of$1.5 million a year.

Highlights of the conferencein Coronado, California, nearSan Diego, included addressesby George Argyros, formerUnited States Ambassador to

Spain and one of America’sforemost real estate investors,George Pelecanos, the award-winning author, film and televi-sion producer, and a video ap-pearance by GeorgeStephanopoulos, the new co-host of “Good MorningAmerica”. His parents, Rev. Dr.Robert and Presbytera NikiStephanopoulos accepted theaward on his behalf. Dr.Nicholas Yphantides, a motiva-tional speaker, DeborahSzekely, co-founder of the mod-ern-day health and fitnessmovement, and Harry C.Cordellos, a world class athletewho overcame childhood visualchallenges, also addressed theconference.

Endorsed by Archbishop

Demetrios of America, the Ex-ecutive Committee, as reportedby outgoing Chairman StephenG. Yeonas, made thescholarship program at HolyCross School of Theology thetop priority of the organization.Scholarships, which areexpected to exceed $l million ayear, would provide full tuitionfor seminarians in need of fi-nancial assistance whomaintain a high grade point av-erage and demonstrate exem-plary character. Leadership 100has provided more than $11million in scholarship aid toHoly Cross in the past decade.

The Board of Trusteeselected Constantine G. Caras ofWilmington, Delaware its newchairman; Charles H. Cotros of

Memphis, Tennessee as vice-chairman; and George S.Tsandikos of Greenwich, Con-necticut as treasurer.Kassandra L. Romas of ShortHills, New Jersey continues toserve as secretary. The Boardalso elected Tsandikos alongwith John A. Catsimatidis andPeter J. Pappas of New York tothe Executive Committee andcreated seven new members ofthe Board of Trustees: MariaAllwin of Connecticut, Drake G.Behrakis of Massachusetts,Eleni Bousis of Illinois, TarsiGeorgas of Florida, PatsyKouvas of Ohio, Mike A.Manatos of Maryland andAdam M. Tzagournis of Ohio.

The Archbishop IakovosLeadership 100 EndowmentFund Inc. is a separate endow-

ment fund corporation thatexists for the purpose of seedingand nurturing the ministries ofthe Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese that advance Or-thodoxy and Hellenism. Thecontributions to the Fundremain permanently restrictedand inviolate. Only assets in ex-cess of that amount are used forthe distribution of grants, in ac-cordance with the purpose ofthe Fund.

Today, Leadership 100 has837 members. Since 1984, thisfund has given out $28,549,636million in funding for Arch-diocesan programs and scholar-ships to the Holy Cross Schoolof Theology.

E-mail:[email protected].

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010 3

Leadership 100 Strengthens its Commitment to H.C. School of Theology

The 19th Annual Leadership 100 Conference was held at the Hotel del Coronado in California.

Stephen G. Yeonas (left) passes the torch of the Chairmanshipof Leadership 100 to Constantine G. Caras (right).

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NEW YORK - In the latest pollin the race for U.S. Senate inIllinois, Democratic candidateAlexi Giannoulias is ahead ofRepublican Congressman MarkKirk, with a 49-45% lead. “It’sgoing to be a very close race,”Mr. Giannoulias said in a no-nonsense voice. The highprofile race is for the Senateseat held by Barack Obamafrom 2005 to 2008.

“I’m full of pride and excite-ment about this race,” Mr. Gian-noulias said, promising: “This isgoing to be the most importantrace in the country.”

With a U.S. flag pin on hislapel, the tendency towards thefinancial angle on things of aformer banker and the leanphysique of a once-basketballplayer (he played for Greece’sPanionios team), Mr.Giannoulias spoke to The Na-tional Herald, while on a stop inNew York on February 24.

Alexi Giannoulias becamethe youngest Illinois State trea-surer when he assumed office in2006. The son of Greek immi-grants from Kalavrita andCrete, Mr. Giannoulias creditedhis parents for defining hischaracter. “I think that I am theDemocratic nominee for U.S.Senate at 33, the son of two im-migrants, says a lot about notjust my parents and their livesand the sacrifices they’vemade…but to the spirit of theGreek American population.”

“Jobs, jobs, jobs,” are the pri-ority in Illinois, the candidatesaid. As state treasurer, he saidhe fights to create and keepjobs. On the campaign trail, hemet countless people in direeconomic straits. “That’s whatmakes me want to work even

harder,” noted the candidate,adding: “That’s why I’mrunning for U.S. Senate.” In theSenate, he’d back policies like ajob creation tax credit, a payrolltax holiday and jobs in growthsectors.

Of the White House’s role inhis campaign, he said: “They’vebeen hugely supportive and willcontinue to do it.” Portrayinghimself as an outsider, Mr. Gi-annoulias criticized business-as-usual in the capital. “Wash-ington, D.C. is broken,” he said,noting: “It’s the same oldgames, the partisanship, thebickering, the fact that you havepeople there on such importantissues who are more concernedwith getting nothing done, toscore important political points,

killing important legislation,than doing what’s right for theirconstituents and the people ofthis country.”

He took a swing at his oppo-nent, Mr. Kirk, noting: “The lastthing we need is someone whofor the last 10 years has been apart of this problem…. I’m run-ning against a ten-year U.S.Congressman who has beensteeped in D.C. politics for adecade. And people want freshleadership and new ideas.”

In what he called a “poi-sonous” current politicalclimate, Mr. Giannoulias saidMr. Obama’s accomplishmentssuch as strengthening the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency,improving the U.S.’s interna-tional profile – and preventing

the country from falling into adepression – have all been ig-nored.

Mr. Giannoulias was perhapsmost impassioned when dis-cussing healthcare reform.“Every 12 minutes in this U.S.,someone dies because theydon’t have health carecoverage,” said the Democrat,pausing as if to clock anotherdeath. He added: “And yetthere are people in Washington,D.C. who want to do nothingabout this problem!” He saidthe current system isbankrupting the country as“17% of our GDP goes to payhealth care costs, every singleyear.” Of the current proposedlegislation he said: “Thesearen’t perfect bills, but they’ve

gone further than anyone has ina very long time.”

The need for clean energy,equal pay for women and re-vamped education are other is-sues Mr. Giannoulias backs. Hevowed to bring “a new level oftransparency and professional-ism” to the U.S. Senate that hesaid he brought to Illinois’ Trea-sury. GREEK AMERICAN SUPPORT

“I would not be here if itweren’t for the Greek communi-ty,” Illinois’ State Treasurer un-derscored.

The community has beenhelpful in his massivefundraising task, which may re-quire between $12 and 20 mil-lion. Key community financialsupporters “lifted me up ontheir shoulders,” Mr.Giannoulias said. “But it hasn’tbeen just writing checks andraising money. It’s kafeneia[cafes] in downstate Illinoisthat are putting your signs up.It’s a family in Chicago that’sgoing to do a parade with youand put your bumper sticker ontheir car…This is a communitythat has invested in this cam-paign, invested in what we’retrying to do.” He promised:“I’m going to work hard tomake everyone proud.”

Mr. Giannoulias contrastedhis fundraising ethics with thatof his opponent. “I’m proud tobe the first candidate in the his-tory of Illinois to run for theU.S. Senate not to take moneyfrom federal lobbies orcorporate PACs. So it makesfundraising a lot more difficult.But running against someonewho has taken millions fromspecial interests and insidersand has voted their way everysingle time, versus someonewho has taken contributionsfrom individuals and people

who believe in good govern-ment…is something that I’mvery, very proud of.”

“We need to have a seat atthe table”, he said, when itcomes to having senators whounderstand issues like Cyprusor the Ecumenical Patriarch’sfreedom. Mr. Giannoulias said,of Cyprus: “There is no reasonfor 40,000 Turkish troops to oc-cupy Cyprus.” Referring to thefinancial crisis in Greece, hesaid: “We are facing similar sit-uations in Illinois”, pointing tohis state’s unsustainable debt.Both require “some tough deci-sions.”

While the candidate saidthat he wished there was timefor basketball or traveling toGreece to see his grandmother,he’s committed to both his roleas State Treasurer and that ofcandidate. “We have a lot ofwork to do, and it’s important,”he explained, noting: “I’m hon-ored and humbled to be…hopefully, one of the next gen-eration of leaders and role mod-els for the ‘next’ generation ofGreeks.”

Mr. Giannoulias was alsoscheduled to meet with His Em-inence Archbishop of AmericaDemetrios and MetropolitanEvangelos and the Greek com-munity of New Jersey.

Panikos "Peter"Papanicolaou, Supreme Presi-dent of the Cyprus Federationof America, who accompaniedMr. Giannoulias on his visit toTNH, noted: "After winning theprimary elections, Mr. Giannou-lias wanted to come to NewYork to meet and to thank thepeople who had supported himin wining the mandate of theDemocrats." Endy Zemenides,Senior Advisor to the "Alexi forIllinois" campaign, also visitedTNH offices.

Illinois Candidate Alexi Giannoulias Running for Key U.S. Senate Seat

‘Washington D.C. is broken,’ Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias (D) told The NationalHerald, when he visited the newspaper’s offices on February 24. He’s running for the seatpreviously held by U.S. President Barack Obama.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO - Any considerationof Vasilios Kanellos’ life and ca-reer immediately entangles thereader into the broader issues ofEuroamerican notions of theAncient Greeks. Undeniably, anative-born Greek, Kanelloslearned a Euroamerican dance-style that quite self-consciouslyattempted to recreate dance asGreeks of the Classical era per-formed them. For his entire ca-reer, Vasilios Kanellos traveledacross Europe, North Americaand elsewhere performing, lec-turing and promoting thisrevived dance genre.

Far from a minor figure,Vasilios Kanellos performed andproduced all manner of what hereferred to as Greek dance festi-vals in the largest theatricalvenues found in New York,Chicago, London, Paris and else-where. The central problem,then, is how exactly to approachan individual such as Kanellos,in terms he and his contempo-raries would have understandas representing his/their beliefsand values?

The sustained efforts to re-discover and publicly performClassical Greek dance was avery conscious challenge towhat many believed was theartistic dead-end of ballet. Fol-lowing these new aestheticbeliefs of the late 1890s/early1900s, returning to Greek dancewas not only a fundamental stepto uniting the arts as understoodin the Classical era but also ameans to reintroduce basic hu-man emotions back into perfor-mance that these new critics ar-gued ballet, by definition, re-jected.

Whatever the reasons for thespontaneous development ofthis dance genre in the West, theModern Greeks had other rea-sons, political as well as psycho-logical, for whole-heartedlyjoining in with this broader rev-olution in Western art.

I should quickly note VasiliosKanellos was only one of awhole troupe of Greeks, Ameri-cans and Europeans who cametogether as proponents and per-formers of what was called atthe beginning of the lastcentury, simply, the GreekDance. This is a complex inter-national artistic movement wor-thy of its own extended study.Many of the older readers of The

National Herald will be more fa-miliar with this broad revivalistmovement through the name ofEva Palmer Sikelianos (1875-1952) and her sustained com-mitment in the staging of Classi-cal dramas in Modern Greece.

For those of you who maythink I am writing about an es-pecially obscure issue in GreekAmerican history, nothing couldbe further from the truth. Whereacademic thinking has failed toservice the Modern Greeks is interms of recognizing enduringnon-Greek beliefs andstereotypes of Greek culture andhistory. The Greek Dance, as firstadvocated by Isadora Duncanand others, is still taught all overthe world and is by all-reports amuch-celebrated form of dance(www.istd.org).

As a single case in point wewill examine first Vasilios Kanel-los’ initiation into the GreekDance and then look at one ofhis finest moments on the worldstage, his first season at theGreek Theatre in Berkeley Cali-fornia.

THE GREEK DANCE On the cusp of the late 1890s

to the very beginnings of the1900s popular public dancingbegan to take on new forms.Modern dance in all its formswas a direct challenge to longestablished social and art forms.As such ‘Modern dance’ sooncame to loosely include the re-vivalist’s efforts at recreatingClassical Greek Dance alongwith virtually all forms of socialdance. This bushel-basket defi-nition caused many Classicaldancers to spend a great deal oftime in interviews explainingthe difference between thedances they performed and saythe tango, shimmy or ball-roomdancing. It is interesting fromour perspective in history to seethat all these new forms ofdance, regardless of their intentor setting, were seen as funda-mentally lascivious.

Isadora Duncan is perhapsthe most commonly known ofthe earlier dance innovators.But unquestionably otherdancers such as Ruth St. Dennis,Ruby Ginner, as well as others inRussia and Hungary all pursuedthis new sense of freedom indance. The revival of AncientGreek dance percolatedthroughout these various newschools of movement to varyingdegrees.

We know of Kanellos’ contact

with Isadora Duncan from oneof his students, Lori Belilove,founder and director of theIsadora Duncan Dance Founda-tion (www.isadoraduncan.org).Belilove, in various interviews,recalls that Kanellos “metIsadora Duncan and the Duncanclan…when they came as a pil-grimage to Greece. Isadorataught him along with otheryoung Greek boys. He had a lockof Isadora’s hair in a frame withher picture (Dancer MagazineMarch 2008).”

Kanellos recalled he,“traveled with them through vil-lage after village, dancing intown squares while payinghomage to the Greek gods anddrawing inspiration amidst theruins of the Parthenon and otherancient sites. The Duncansabandoned their Western cloth-ing for Greek robes and sandalsand camped out in the hills ofAthens like pilgrims. ‘Return toyour Ancient Greek roots,’”

Isadora told Kanellos. And hedid. Adopting their mission, hebegan to study ancient rituals,read the Greek tragedies andplays, and embrace Isadora’sconcept of movement inspiredfrom figures of Greek sculpture,bas-reliefs, and vases.

The first published accountof Vasilios Kanellos performingin the United States I have man-aged to locate is for a Chicagohigh society gala in September1914. “Two young Greeks,Vasileios A. Kanellos and AthenaKanellos, who have been here amonth from Athens, were ac-companied by the Greek consul,

N. Salopoulos, to Mrs. Dean‘sreception to give an exhibitionof the ancient dances supposedto have been danced at the footof Mount Parnassus in 1800 B.C.(Chicago Tribune October 19,1914).” The associations withClassical Greece see constant al-lusion in the claim that VasiliosKanellos’ early life was spent as“a shepherd boy on Hellenichills (Chicago Tribune October27, 1914).” Yet this humbleshepherd boy’s movementthrough the highest circles ofNorth American society led himfar from the bee loud glades ofhis youth.

In 1920, Kanellos marriedCharlotte Markham, whom hehad first met in Neenah, Wis-consin several years beforeduring some cultural event (Ap-pleton Post-Crescent September22, 1920). Markham was a ruralsocialite of considerable note.Born in Manitowoc, Wisconsinon January 22, 1892, CharlotteMarkham was at the time of hermarriage a graduate whobecame an instructor at theChicago Art Institute. She alsohad taught at Downer College,Milwaukee, and was at one timethe director of the MilwaukeeArt Institute School of Art. Evenin 1920, Markham was ‘a cele-brated mural decorator.’ Manymay take issue with the fact thatI only offer here a discussion ofCharlotte Markham as a dancer,and not for her murals and wa-ter-color paintings. But we havemany events to review and littlespace left to tell our story.

Clearly Charlotte Markhamwas already a devotee of theGreek Dance as she immediatelybecame Kanellos’ on-stagedance partner, soon assuming

the stage name of ‘Tanagra.’Like many other Greek Dancersof this era Charlotte/Tanagraactively sought to deepen herartistic performances with ex-tensive studies into the historyof dance. We can hear this injust two quick quotes that aresquarely aimed at her Moderndancer colleagues. ”Mrs.Kanellos says the Great Russianmodernists are reallyplagiarizing the work of earlyByzantine masters. They havehit upon, in a measure, the spiritof the period, which she claimswas more splendid than the Re-naissance, although it precededthe later period (Kingston DailyFreeman December 4, 1923).”But as with Duncan and otherswithin the New Greek Dance“[T]he objective in Mrs.Kanellos’ art was to unite spiri-tually Athens and America. Shebelieved that if there were moretraditional Greek art inAmerican theatre there wouldbe an uplift to a greater spiritualdemocracy instead of an eco-nomic one (Sheboygan JournalJuly 28, 1937).”

As we shall see, art and socialclass were clearly a part of thismodernist movement inclassical dance.

THE FIRST GREEK THEATRE FESTIVAL

One physical location ofAmerica Society’s ongoing ex-pression of its notions of GreekIdeals is the William RandolphHearst Greek Theatre. Ownedand operated by the Universityof California (Berkeley), thistheatre is an 8,500-seat am-phitheater known commonly asthe Greek Theatre. Thistheatre’s construction was fi-nanced by William Randolph

Hearst (1863-1951), afterwhom it was named. The designof the theater is based directlyon the ancient Greek theater ofEpidaurus. The Theatre was of-ficially opened on September24, 1903 with a student produc-tion of The Birds byAristophanes. In 1982, this the-ater was listed on the U.S. Na-tional Register of HistoricPlaces.

In 1924, the Kanellos coupleperformed and produced theirfirst artistic festival at the GreekTheatre. Aside from anyaesthetic considerations, the ex-press purpose of theirproductions was “[T]o establisha $10,000 permanentscholarship for the students ofGreek descent (Oakland TribuneMay 14, 1924).” What followedwas not simply a single perfor-mance but a series of dance-the-atrical productions that were tospan the next six months.Clearly in an effort to build mo-mentum for the Greek Theatreperformances the Kanelloscouple danced at various areatheatres and other venues. Inearly May, the “religious pagandances, revived by Vassos andTanagra Kanellos, Atheniandancers, will be included in theHellenic Festival to be given atthe Plaza Theatre Thursdayevening, May 22…The festival issuch as was celebrated in the oldHellenic days, and dedicated tothe arts of music, dance, drama(Oakland Tribune May 18,1924)”

On May 19, 1924 we see thefirst of many Oakland Tribunefront page stories on the perfor-mances of Tanagra and VassosKanellos announcing the up-coming performance of“Galatea.” As this succession ofperformances built one on tothe other we learn that the up-coming Greek Theatre “festivalwill be the first event of its kindstaged on the Berkley campus…Kanellos and wife…have pre-sented Greek festivals in NewYork, Chicago, London andParis…Isaac Von Grove, con-ductor of the Chicago GrandOpera Company is coming toBerkeley especially to takecharge of the symphony orches-tra, which will play at thefestival (Oakland Tribune July2, 1924).”

The response to their firstGreek Theatre performance wassuch that they had a second onSeptember 13 (which featured‘more than 100 dancers’) andthen a third on August 23. It wasobvious that the “Kanellosgroup has won hosts of admirersin California during the pastyear who are giving them en-thusiastic support (Oakland Tri-bune August 23, 1924).”

Kanellos, in all these festivalsof ‘tableaus and dances” wasvery careful to involve local am-ateur dancers as well as profes-sional artists. So while we hearthat noted personalities and pro-fessional performers such as“Zelma McDonough, formerly ofthe Metropolitan ballet in NewYork, Mlle. Vainere, Mlle. Cyn-thiara, Ida Sinclair, AliceOrdway, Helen Brown, MonaMcPhee, Forrest Garnett, KostaAsteria and Don Roberto and Ba-haris, the Greek wrestler (Oak-land Tribune August 13, 1924)”appeared in this series of perfor-mances, so too did large collec-tives of amateur female dancersnumbering at least 40 per pro-duction from socially prominentarea families. Access to this rari-fied stratum of Northern Califor-nian Society was assured giventhat Charlotte/Tanagra Kanelloswas the niece of formerCalifornia governor HenryMarkham (1840-1923).

Vasilios and Charlotte/Tana-gra Kanellos were to continue tohave many grand seasons of ac-claimed performances, aroundthe globe, long after their tri-umphs at the Greek Theatre inBerkeley.

There is no doubt that GreekDance performances were andremain a sensation around theworld. Revived Classical GreekTheater, with dance as a key ele-ment in this recreated drama,resulted in audiences that oftennumbered 50,000 in thetheaters of Greece. In the 1890to 1920 era, these productionsin Greek lands were most fre-quently financed by Americans,Russians and other Europeans,with the performers againinitially being foreigners withan ever growing presence ofGreeks.

The authenticity of thesedances, given that they areclearly reinventions, is not thekey feature we should be con-sidering. Rather, how do theseunabashed recreations inspireand continue to ignite withinartists, across the globe, a visionof the Ancient Greeks. A visionof movement and drama theypassionately believe the entireworld needs to experience oncemore.

E-mail:[email protected]


about ethnicity and language.In any case, the U.S. Census,

which is held every decade (anddates back to 1790), is amassive endeavor designed totally the population in order todesign social programs and des-ignate the number of congres-sional seats and electoral votesnation-wide. The AssociatedPress recently reported that theheadcount costs $15 billion,with a whopping $133 millionspent on advertising this timearound.

In late 2009, says AHEPA ex-ecutive director BasilMossaides, the U.S. Census sentthe organization informationkits to distribute to its chapters.The kits were in English, he not-ed, perhaps because there arevery few Greek Americancitizens “who cannot communi-cate in English.” It’s the firsttime that AHEPA has beenasked to help. AHEPA also par-ticipates in regular U.S. Censusconference calls.

“Every good Americancitizen knows what they have todo,” Mr. Mossaides said of thecensus.

Federation of Hellenic Soci-eties of Greater New York’s

communication with the U.S.Census is fairly recent too. Mr.Galatoula says they’ve beentalking for the past 4-5 years. Atlast year’s annualIndependence Day parade inManhattan, which is organized

by the federation, the U.S. Cen-sus distributed bags with mate-rials, had a float and donated$5,000. It will take part in thisyear’s parade too. Mr. Galatoulaanticipates that the U.S. Censusmay ask the Federation to help

it hire Greek speakers for tem-porary census jobs in a fewweeks.

ABOUT THE CENSUSThe 2010 U.S. Census,

which will be mailed to mostU.S. households, consists of ten

questions. It’s intended to bethe shortest and speediest ever.It asks about the number of peo-ple in each dwelling, the owner-ship/rental situation of theunit, plus the names, Latinobackground, race, sex and ageof each inhabitant.

The census tallies info aboutall inhabitants of the U.S. Itdoesn’t ask about their legal sta-tus. The U.S. Census vows thatthe information is strictly confi-dential and will not be sharedwith any other governmentagencies.

In the case that a censusform is not received on time(deadline: April 1), the U.S.Census will send out employeesto conduct the survey in personthrough July. They may also callif information is incomplete.

The ethnic/race questionsfor each household member arecontained in questions 8 and 9.Question 8 asks if individualsare of “Hispanic, Latino orSpanish Origin?” Question 9asks: “What is Person 1’s Race?”The options (more than one boxcan be checked) are: White –Black, African Am. or Negro –American Indian or AlaskaNative (with a space for tribe) –Asian Indian – Japanese- NativeHawaiian – Chinese - Korean –Guamanian or Chamorro- Fil-ipino- Vietnamese – Samoan –Other Asian (with space for de-tails) – Other Pacific Islander(with space for details) – SomeOther Race (print race).

If a group such as Greekswish to assert their ethnic originunder “race”, the U.S. Census’Alves notes that it should be acoordinated community effort.“So that half don’t do one thing,and half the other,” he explains.

Though Greek is not one ofthe six languages in which theCensus will be offered, the U.S.Census has distributedmaterials in dozens oflanguages, including Greek, tocommunity organizations.

However, there is an error onthe U.S. Census official sitehttp://2010.census.gov. Underthe option “select a language”,the visitor can select “ελληνι-κός/Greek”, where it shouldhave read “ελληνικά/Greek”.

The Census 2010 results willbe delivered to PresidentBarack Obama on December31, 2010, and made available tothe public as of March 2011.

2010 Census is Counting on Greeks to Participate in Next TallyContinued from page 1

U.S. Census representatives Onias Pacheto and Cristina Marquez distribute information aboutthe 2010 Census to residents of Corona, NY. Greek organisations have been asked to help out.

The Story of Vasilios Kanellos: Modern Dancer to the Ancient Gods

The William Randolph Hearst Greek Theater, which opened in1903 with “The Birds,” is owned and operated by U.C. Berkeley.

www.GreekKitchennyc.com

D O N ’ T M I S S

Our annual

Easter SpecialAPRIL 3, 2010

Members of the community who wish to send an Easter greeting

are welcome to place an ad.To advertise or to obtain rates:

tel: (718) 784-5255 ext. 101, e-mail: [email protected]

ALL HISTORY

Vasilios Kanellos poses withhis wife, Charlottte Markham.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

By Angelike Contis TNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK - When architectTheoharis David was juststarting out, he built two struc-tures in Famagusta, Cyprus.The first was the shockingly-minimalist Agias Trias Church,the other was the Aspelia Hotel.The church – commissioned byArchbishop (and later,President) Makarios – was usedfor one year. The hotel was inoperation for three years.

Turkey invaded Famagustaon August 14, 1974 – stoppingnot only architecture, but life inthe city (which literally means“buried in sand”) in its tracks.Some 60,000 people fled. At anevent held by the nonprofitCYPRECO at the StathakionCenter of Astoria, N.Y. onFebruary 19, Mr. Davidexplained that he’s visited Fam-agusta one time since the inva-sion – and it was painful to seehis work frozen in time.

The well-attended event,which drew 300 people, was areminder to the public – in avery important time when ne-gotiations are underway on thefate of the divided island – thatFamagusta still exists. And it isstill – especially in the case of itslargely fenced off, centralVarosha district a “GhostTown”.

The guest speakers lookedback and also forward in timeas they considered the fate of acity that had been lined with or-ange groves, its beaches full ofsunbathers before the invasion.CYPRECO of America, Inc. Pres-ident Elena Maroulleti, who or-ganised the event, rememberedfleeing her city of Famagusta in1974, seeing “people with miss-ing limbs, wandering like lostsouls.” The journalist/TV pro-ducer noted that it was hermemories and nightmares thatfuel her decades of work withCYPRECO (founded in 1979).David noted that he sharednightmares of his own occupiedtown of Morphou as he called

for the planning to begin on anew Famagusta that wouldblend its past and its livingcoastline in the manner of citieslike Barcelona or Rio deJaneiro.

Cyprus’ new Consul Generalto New York, Koula Sophianourevealed that she too was fromFamagusta. She emphasized thewords “deserted, abandoned,looted” in talking of the once-radiant, now frozen-in-timecoastal town. Ms. Sophianouemphasized the need for UnitedNations resolution 550 tofinally be enforced, which callsfor an end to Famagusta’sabsurd situation. She noted that“snakes, rats and other preda-tors” now inhabit the city. “Fam-agusta is the first step,” she in-dicated, to a solution to theCyprus Problem. “It isimportant that we do notforget,” echoed Vangelis Kyri-

akopoulos, Greek Consul inNew York. “At this very momentnegotiations are at a turningpoint.”

Poet Polys Kyriacou gave anextra dimension to the evening,reciting poems, in Greek, dedi-cated to Famagusta, which ex-pressed a sense of the longing,betrayal and violence of Fama-gusta and her once-inhabitants.Famagusta Mayor AlexisGalanos issued both a video an-nouncement and a letter to theCYPRECO public. He urged theaudience to be more engaged inthe issue, noting: “The questionof Famagusta is a test ofTurkey’s good will – otherwise,there will be a partition and adangerous situation in the heartof Europe.”

“We have promises to keep,”said Philip Christopher,President of the InternationalCoordinating Committee

Justice for Cyprus. Like many ofthe speakers, he noted that 36years is too long for a solution.“With all the court cases,human rights acts, the truth ofthe matter is that we still haveto work hard. We are notmoving forward enough.”

Also in attendance wasWashington, D.C.-basedattorney Athan T. Tsimpedes,who is currently undertaking acourt case in the U.S. againstTurkey, on behalf of three indi-viduals. One of the linchpins ofhis case is that Turkey usedU.S.-made weapons in its inva-sion, which were not intendedto be used in such anaggression. He asked the audi-ence to consider how propertiesseized in the invasion havesince been used to generateprofit. “There is somethinggoing on in Northern Cyprusand it is illegal. Each of you

should be involved.” The evening ended with a

screening of the film “Hidden inthe Sand” and discussion withBrooklyn-based filmmakerVasia Markides. The documen-tary is a mosaic of points-of-view of mostly Greek Cypriotsdisplaced by the invasion (in-cluding Ms. Markides’ own par-ents), as well as some TurkishCypriots. In is made up ofcountless small vignettes. Inone, two white-haired cousinsargue over whether “Greek” or“Cypriot” better describes them.In another, the director’sbrother is reduced to laughingat the absurdity of the TurkishCypriot flag on a mountainfacing Nicosia (that flashes be-hind his head in the night). Instill another scene, Greek Cypri-ots on the street delve into animpromptu, alcohol-drivenmedley of song.

The filmmaker discussed thedifficulties she had filming Fam-agusta – and especially its ghosttown, which Turkey does not al-low to be photographed. In apromising sign of the times, Ms.Markides noted that it was

Turkish Cypriot friends, who of-ten drove her around during thefilming, who spoke on herbehalf during awkward encoun-ters with authorities in theNorth. Perhaps the toughestmoment for the new filmmakerwas when she was alone, cross-ing the checkpoint back into thesouth of the divided island, andshe was interrogated. She at-tributes it to an act of divine in-tervention that the inspectorsonly looked at the start and theend of her cassette, which wasinnocent enough; in the centerof the tape, however, were im-ages of the Ghost Town.

The documentary – whichwas laudable in its blend ofopinions and perspectives, butalso its personal touch – also in-cluded abundant archivalfootage of Famagusta in its hey-day. “I lost my youth there. Idon’t care about properties,”says one of countless voices inits soundtrack. At the same timethe film includes Youtubefootage of a Turkish military pa-rade, where an eerie voice callsthe 1974 invasion “a peace-keeping mission.”

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010 5

Remembering Cyprus’ Famagusta: A Special Event and a Documentary

Cyprus Consul General to New York Koula Sophianou (r.), who hails from the occupied town ofFamagusta, addresses a public of 300 at the Stathakion Center in Astoria, NY. CYPRECOfounder/president Elena Maroulleti (l.) organized the event, aiming to draw attention to theissue of occupied Famagusta, or Ammochostos. The town was known for its oranges and sands.

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Film ‘Hidden in the Sand’ by Vassia Markides, includesforbidden images of Famagusta’s once-desirable beaches,which have been surrounded by barbed wire since 1974.

"HiDDEN iN THE SAND" film

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – A strong trendwithin the Greek and CypriotAmerican community that istransforming its organizationsinto powerful vehicles for net-working, support and mutual as-sistance continued on Thursdayevening, February 17th at the an-nual Job Fair hosted by theCyprus- U.S. Chamber of Com-merce in co-operation with theAmerican Hellenic Institute(AHI), the Hellenic Organizationof University Graduates of Amer-ica (HOUGA), and the CypriotYouth Committee of America(CYCA).

The job fair took place in theHoly Trinity Cathedral CenterBallroom in Manhattan and wasorganized by the Chamber’sBoard of Directors and coordi-nated through its ExecutiveDrector Despina Axiotakis andnew President Dennis C. Droush-iotes. The successful eventbrought together businessesready to hire new employees,and both active job seekers andpeople contemplating changingemployers or careers.

Koula Sophianides, Cyprus’Consul General in New York wasimpressed with the turnout andcongratulated the organizers.Droushioits was extremely grate-ful to the prominent companieswhich supported the event andsent their representatives.

The participants appreciatedthe presentations on effective re-sume writing and interviewinggiven by Maggie Stavrianides,Director, Business Relationship,Global Rewards and Payroll forthe Johnson and Johnson Com-pany, and by Ms. Polly Brown, ofPolly Brown Associates.

George Gardner, a recentgraduate of Clark Universitywith a B.A. in economics, foundMs. Stavrianides’ talk “insightfuland empowering.” He was mostimpressed by the advice urging

“job seekers to research prospec-tive companies, not just to makea good impression at theinterview, but to be sure it’s theright job for them.”

For Monica Hong, the Stavri-anides’ most valuable tip was“don’t look at the news reports.The unemployment statistics areskewed. She told us this can stillbe our time to shine.” Anotherparticipant noted that “statisticsare about the general case, butwe are individuals and even withhigh unemployment, someone isstill looking for a person likeyou.” Ms. Hong added thatStavriades “told us to use thetime when we are unemployedto reflect on our past successesand to learn from our errors, andsee what we can improve upon.She told us to think about whatwe would really like to do, tolearn more about ourselves, forpersonal growth and that this is anew chapter in our life.”

Demetios Dragoumanos,building manager, commentingon the fact that the Cyprus – U.S.Chamber of Commerce carefullydesigned the job fair to provide

an intimate setting for potentialemployers and employees tocome together, “appreciated theopportunity to speak at length,”to a representative of a big com-pany like Prudential, who wasfriendly and took the time to talkto me.” He also said the formalpresentations were valuable.

Vasilios Danas of Prudentialwas pleased with the event fromthe employers’ perspective be-cause it gave him a chance “ tolook for good quality candidatesinterested in a career in the fi-nancial sector.” He was alsopleased to attend as a Hellenebecause such events “help us topromote our self-awareness as acommunity and offer mutual as-sistance. It was good to be able tooffer mentoring and advice toGreek and Cypriot Americans.”

Beth Robison, HR generalistat Marathon Bank, said that theevent gave her bank the opportu-nity to reach out to the Greekcommunity, which “we like tosupport in all ways. We are in ahiring mode, looking for entry-level and experienced tellers, aswell as senior executives.” she

noted that, “As a smallcommunity bank, we have notbeen hurt by the economy asmuch as the big banks.”

Participating organizastionsincluded ARC Technologies,ARCH Insurance Group, Comod-romos Associates, Equis Trading,the FBI, Gristedes Foods, GreteResearch Services, HurwitzStrategic Staffing, Johnson &Johnson, Kyriakos Svekas, CPA,Lyons Mortgage Services, ManaProducts, Marathon Bank, PollyBrown Associates, Prudential In-surance, Radian Guaranty, theRetele Company and ThorntonTomaseti.

The Cyprus – U.S. Chamber ofCommerce incorporated in 1998.Its purpose is to help potential in-vestors open doors and offeradvice on foreign investmentprojects and introductions toCypriot partners, exclusive brief-ings by private and governmentofficials and much more. TheChamber is also a forum formembers to share ideas, knowl-edge, and expand their businesshorizons. Visit their Web site atwww.cyprususchamber.com.

these while teaching and work-ing in the public schools!

The terms continuum andservice are also evidenced in thephilosophy that has shaped herlife and career. Knowingherself well (in the manner ofSocrates and more recently, thecontemporary philosophy ofKen Robinson) Kontogiannisenjoys helping others developtheir own self awareness andpotential. The way she accom-plishes this is not by executivefiat, but by adopting a servant-leadership role. That is to say,she sees herself as one who is amodel for and a collaboratorwith her staff, students, andschool community. She is anauthority; not an authoritarian.

At the same time, she seesthat her job as educationalleader is to take the commonsense of purpose that she shareswith those around her or, as shesays, to “honor and respect thehistory of the school and com-munity” and develop a visionthat lifts that commonality to adifferent level.

She created a plan for the fu-ture of Tenafly High School thatshe calls 2020 Vision: A Lookinto the Future of Tenafly. Animportant program that has itsgenesis in her 2020 plan is whatshe calls CSI. The acronymsstand for Content, Skills and In-ternships. CSI has been put inpractice currently on a trialbasis and is staffed by two spe-cially trained teachers. It is aprogram with a studentlearning center at its heart thatuses a variety of resources - in-cluding community based ones- internship career seminarsand flexible schedules. A database is under construction tocompile world-wideinternships. These provide stu-

dents with tools to both meetthe demands of their highschool program and tointegrate these with their life ascitizens of their community.

CSI Tenafly is built on thesame principle of inclusion thatalways informs Kontogiannis’leadership and which says thatchildren learn through a conflu-ence of forces – formal and en-vironmental. It sees that the

task of the imaginative and for-ward-thinking schoolcurriculum is to educate thewhole child, academically, so-cially - even beyond the class-room. Within an educationalclimate that has gone throughmuch retrenchment andfocuses only on the basics in or-der to meet testing and scoringstandards, CSI Tenafly standsout for the way it enhances andexpands the learning experi-ence.

It is clear that what we see inDr. Kontogiannis’ work and lifeis the building of a legacy. Wesee it in the honoring of hervice-principal and the fact thather daughter, Kerry, a graduateof Tenafly Public Schools,teaches in Millburn, NewJersey. Indeed Kontogiannis’example of long-term serviceand her vision for educationthat will carry her school intothe 21st century makes her aneducational gold standard!

Anthony Paraskevopoulos,Ed.D. is a curriculum design-er/teacher.

Dora Kontogiannis isNamed Principal of Year Continued from page 1

Kontogiannis enjoyshelping others developtheir own self-awarenessand potential... byadopting a servant-leadership role.

Networking at Cyprus - U.S. Chamber’s Job Fair

L. to r. Peter Kakoyiannis, Aristos Constantine, Cypriot Consul General Koula Sophianou, DennisDroushiotis (Chamber President), Maggie Stavrianides, Despina Axiotakis and Kyriakos Skevas.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

took the torch from a fundraiserwho helped make thetransplant possible.

Oree Giannacopolous, anoutreach coordinator at SimonFraser University, was amongthe 100-strong group thatturned up to cheer on Dr.Gerolymatos. “It was invigorat-ing,” she said. Other Greek torchbearers included George Kallasand Nick Panos. In a last-minutearrangement, Vancouver’s Hel-lenic Community arranged forabout 15 members to carry thetorch too.

Dr. Gerolymatos estimatedthe region’s Greek communityconsists of some 15,000 people,who are geographicallyscattered. (Vancouver’s popula-tion is 2.1 million.) The commu-nity is centered around the St.George Cathedral in Vancouver,as well as churches includingthose in Burnaby, a city east ofVancouver, and the Sts. Con-stantine and Helen Greek Ortho-dox Community of Surrey andFraser Valley to the west. Justthe same, he said, thecommunity is very active andVancouver’s annual Greek Dayevent draws half a millionpeople.

When the torch passedBroadway, a particularlyHellenic strip of Vancouver,Greek flags were in abundancealongside Canadian ones.

A VOLUNTEER’SPERSPECTIVE

Though tickets to olympichockey games can range in thethousands of (Canadian)dollars, volunteer KaterinaIliakis is in the heart of theaction for free, as a volunteer.The business support associate isworking long hours, andenjoying it.

Ms. Iliakis said she has appre-ciated “meeting all the people,fellow volunteers who havecome from far and close by, andof course the atmosphere thatthese Games have brought toour city.” She added – in anemail during a break – “It is soalive, everyone is wearing ourCanadian colors, everyone is su-per friendly and in such highspirits. I’m loving it!”

She’s an event series host atthe UBC Thunderbird Arena,where women’s, and somemen’s, hockey events are held.The volunteer’s duties rangefrom access control andushering, to pacing crowds andproviding tickets. She explained:“We are the friendly face for thespectators.”

As a Greek who “loves every-thing the Olympics stand for”,she was drawn to volunteerfrom the start. She wrote: “OnceI heard that Vancouver got thebid, I knew I was going to be a

part of this.” The sporty,turquoise uniforms are a niceperk. “Go Canada Go!” she ex-claimed via email.

Though the balmy weatherthe city is now experiencing hascaused problems with skiing,Ms. Giannacopoulos pointed toa city full of spontaneous patrio-tism, from sudden bursts of thenational anthem “O Canada” onthe streets, to flash mobs (Inter-net-planned mass assemblies of

people) of dancers. She added:“There is a big resurgence inpeople wearing Greek flags.”

Officials have successfullyconvinced everyone to favorpublic transportation, like thenew Canada Line rapid transitsystem, over cars. Vancouverresident Ms. Giannacopoulossaid she made it to a CulturalOlympiad ballet event in “recordtime” in a taxi. Millions ofvisitors are also taking

advantage of free outdoors LiveCity concerts too.

Dr. Gerolymatos pointed tothe city’s very visible securitymeasures, including closedroads and lots of police. Henoted that although everyonecriticized Athens for paying $1billion to secure its 2004Olympics, the security tab hasbeen just as high for Vancouver’ssmaller winter games. Therehave been several lapses in secu-

rity, he noted, including an ob-sessed man who was able to ap-proach U.S. Vice President JoeBiden using a “ridiculous fakeid.”

GREECE PRESENCESUBDUED

Dr. Gerolymatos and otherVancouver Greeks met with thedelegation of seven athletesfrom Greece, in an event orga-nized by the Greek consul. How-ever, he regrets that there wasnot a Greek House nor a CulturalOlympiad performance. Dr.Gerolymatos observed thatthough Greece is “the mother ofthe Olympics,” Lichtensteinprobably had a bigger presence.

The events won’t end withthe closing ceremony onFebruary 28. The Hellenic Com-munity has organised a March 1event for the Greek athlete. OnMarch 10, the Greek ParalympicCommittee has invited the Hel-lenic Community of Vancouverto welcome Greece’s para-lympians at the Whistler venue.

By Angelike Contis TNH Staff Writer E-mail:[email protected]


By Theodore KalmoukosTNH Staff Writer

BOSTON - ProtopresbyterThomas Synodinos was theclosest, most dedicated andmost trusted associate of thelate Archbishop of Athens andAll Greece Christodoulos, whodied just two years ago on Jan-uary 28, 2008. Fr. Synodinos, amarried priest with two grown-up daughters, was ArchbishopChristodoulos’ Chancellorwhen he served as Metropolitanof the city of Volos, and he re-mained in that capacity whenChristodouloas became Arch-bishop of Athens and all Greecein 1998.

Fr. Synodinos recentlyvisited the U.S. as a participantin a prayer breakfast at theWhite House. He also visitedNew York City where he metwith his compatriots from theisland of Amorgos, Greece.

In an interview with The Na-tional Herald, Fr. Synodinosspoke about the prelate whomade an impact not only on themodern history of the Church ofGreece and the Greek state, buton Hellenism as a whole, insideand outside Greece’s borders.

Fr. Synodinos told TNH that,“Archbishop Christodoulos wasa valuable treasure of Greece,”and he added, “Christodoulos’absence from Greece is stronglyfelt today.” Fr. Synodinos addedthat “Christodoulos’ smile, goodheart, dynamism, clear voiceand his presence are terriblymissing from Greece today.”

When the late ArchbishopChristodoulos came to the U.S.in 2007, specifically to MiamiFlorida Jackson Memorial Hos-pital hoping for a livertransplant, Fr. Synodinos ac-companied him and tried toassist him in any way possible.Asked what they discussedwhen he was alone with theArchbishop, Fr. Synodinos said,“Many nights, the Archbishopwas not sleeping, especiallyduring the post-operationperiod, when he knew that hewas on his way out of this life. Iwas getting up every two hourschecking on him to see if he was

o.k., if he needed anything. Onenight he did not have the TV onas he usually did, since heclosely followed Greek affairs,but he was rather veryimmersed in deep thought. Iasked him, ‘Your Beatitude whyare you not sleeping?’ He said ‘Iam praying to God to give melife, but He doesn’t listen tome.’” Fr. Synodinos said, “Thosewere concussive words becausethey revealed his great thirst forlife, and at the same time hisstrong faith that the extensionof his life depended only onGod. I said to him ‘you are notasking this from God becauseyou simply want to live more,’and the Archbishop said, ‘I stillhave a lot of work to do.’” Fr.Synodinos said, “I changed thesubject because, as you under-stand, the atmosphere becamevery heavy.”

Fr. Synodinos mentioned an-other painful moment. After aliver was found for a transplantoperation, when Dr. AndreasTzakis opened up the Archbish-

op, he discovered that thecancer had spread everywhereand it was clear that atransplant was now impossible.Fr. Synodinos said, “I was notpresent when the doctor toldhim the bad news.Christodoulos was in the inten-sive care unit and we were wait-ing outside with ArchbishopDemetrios of America,Metropolitan Demetrios ofVresthena, and Fr. Anthimos. Iwas thinking about how to tellhim the news, because I did notknow that the doctor hadalready told him that he did nothave a chance for a transplant.When I entered the room helooked at me with that perma-nent smile of his on his face,and he said, ‘We were notlucky.’ I told him do not worry,we lost a battle but not the war.God and medical science willhelp with other means. He said,“just God.”

Fr. Synodinos metArchbishop Christodoulos somethirty years ago when he was an

administrator in Athens for ashipping company.Christodoulos was then theMetropolitan of Volos, andalong with the then-Archiman-drites Kallinikos, who later be-came Metropolitan of Piraeus,and Ambrosios, who becameMetropolitan of Aegion, hewanted to travel to Italy. “I ac-commodated them with ticketsand I even accompanied themto Italy. I was a layman at thattime. I revealed toChristodoulos the inner wish ofmy soul to become a priest. Heencouraged me to do so andsince then we became likebrothers. When I got ordained,we moved from Athens toVolos, and then when hebecame Archbishop we movedback to Athens.”

Fr. Thomas Synodinos andFr. Epifanios Arvanitis were pre-sent when ArchbishopChristodoulos expired. Fr. Syn-odinos said, “It was a very peace-ful moment for the Archbishop,he was preparing himself for along time. Christodoulos haddeep faith in God.” He also saidthat, “Christodoulos loved ourcountry Greece very much. I re-member shortly before hisdeath, the then-Prime Ministerof Greece, Costas Karamanlis,was on an official visit to Turkey.Throughout the afternoon theArchbishop couldn’t wait towatch the news. He told me tocall Rousopulos (the then-spokesman of the Greek govern-ment) and ask him how thingswent. I called Rousopoulos, andwhen I told the Archbishop thateverything went well he then re-laxed and I remember that healso ate two eggs.” Fr. Synodinossaid, “Imagine a man in pain,battling cancer, knowing that hisend was near, and he cared somuch about the Prime Minister’strip to Turkey.”

Fr. Synodinos said that,“Archbishop Christodoulosworried about the GreekNation, and many times he hadbeen misunderstood. He hadforgiven everyone, even thosewho had wounded him verydeeply.”

Archbishop Christodoulos

wanted to visit the Greek Amer-ican Community in the U.S. buthe was reportedly blocked atleast three times by ArchbishopDemetrios and PatriarchBartholomew.

Fr. Synodinos said,“Christodoulos wanted verymuch to visit America to see theGreek Americans, because heloved them very much. Hecared very much about the per-petuation of the Greeklanguage and Orthodoxy. I re-member that ArchbishopChristodoulas said many timesto Mr. Antonis Diamataris, thepublisher of The NationalHerald, that he should supportand promote even the smallestGreek American societies andassociations.”

Fr. Synodinos was askedabout the illness, and whetheror not regular checkups andother preventive measures weretaken. He said, “Yes, he had

checkups, but the doctors neverfound anything. He had suchstrength and dynamism that no-body ever thought that he wasill. He had never told us that hedid not feel well.”

Fr. Synodinos now serves asthe dean of the Cathedralchurch of Athens. ArchbishopIeronymos asked him tocontinue to serve as chancellorbut he declined. He said, “I hadto go in order to make his workeasier,” and he added, “Arch-bishop Ieoronymos has treatedme very well thus far.”

While in Washington, Fr.Synodinos visited theDumbarton Oaks center forByzantine studies and in NewYork he paid a visit toArchbishop Demetrios, as wellas to his compatriots from theisland of Amorgos.


Greeks in Vancouver Revel in the Olympic Spirit’s Arrival

Dr. Andre Gerolymatos carries the Olympic torch in Vancouver

Former Chancellor: Christodoulos’ Absence from Greece is Strongly Felt

Protopresbyter Thomas Synodinos and Ms. Cudrum Buehl, Di-rector of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in Washington,D.C., are seen in the Library's Byzantine Art section.

Corinna (latesixth centuryB.C.)Just imagine this story

the old wives tell.How two sacred mountains inBoeotiaresolved to sing in contest

for a laurel wreath.The second singer ended thus:“The

Cretan guardians hid away an infant god

in the deepest reaches of a cliff-side cave,

safe from his maunderingfather’s wrath.”

So sung, the gods placed secret ballot stones

in a golden urn, and the greater share,

as it turned out, was castin favor of the second.

But then, in a rush of unchecked anger,

the defeated mountain wrenched a boulder

from its slopes and, in an avalanche of groans,

hurled it down upon the villagers below.

Translated by Sherod Santosin “The Greek Poets” editedby Constantine, Hadas,Keeley and Van Dyck.

GREEK POETRY

his cross as being “his mostprized possession”. He gushed,in a recent article in LA Maga-zine.com about the Greekcuisine of his mother andgrandmother: “I’m Greek, so Ilove Greek food.” After graduat-ing from high school, the skatermoved to Los Angeles in 2003.He has taken acting classes atthe Performing Arts School ofBeverly Hills and reportedlypractices power yoga tomaintain his physical condition.

Speaking to Boston stationWEBN in September, Mr.Lysacek was prophetic about hisupcoming Vancouver perfor-mance. He said he was focusingon training enough so that agreat Olympic performancewould naturally follow. “I’mhoping I’ll be able to relax andlet that Olympic performancehappen – as opposed to forcingit to happen.”

VancouverFire on Ice

Evan Lysacek performs his gold-winning free program duringthe men's figure skating competition at the Vancouver Games.

Protopresbyter Thomas Synodinos, Froso Beis, andMetropolitan Museum of New York curator Helen C. Evans.

Molinelli said detectives hadnot found the murder weapon.

Bail was set at $3 million,with no ten percent option. Inaddition to two counts ofmurder, Kiriakakis was chargedwith "possession of a weaponfor an unlawful purpose," in theTeaneck case.

He is also facing weaponsand drug charges in New Yorkand is being held in the QueensDetention Center, awaiting ex-tradition to New Jersey, theprosecutor said.

The investigation hasrevealed that NicholasKiriakakis met with the victimsin Queens, New York, and thethree drove from there to Tea-neck, New Jersey in separatevehicles. Kiriakakis was drivinghis vehicle, with the two victimsdriving in the 2007 FordExplorer they were ultimatelyshot in. The purpose of thethree traveling to this area is be-lieved to be related to an illegalnarcotic transaction, howeverthat aspect of the killingremains under investigation.

Molinelli states that the de-fendant is presumed innocentuntil proven guilty beyond areasonable doubt and wouldlike to thank the members ofthe Teaneck Police Departmentand the New York City PoliceDepartment for their assistanceand cooperation.

RestaurateurCharged inN.J. DoubleHomicide

Nicholas D. Kiriakakis

Continued from page 1



AP PHOTO/mArk BAkEr

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Volunteer Katerina Iliakis.JETT lONCAr

NEW YORK - My first singing“performance” goes back to mysecond grade class at P.S. 2(Δευτερο Δημοτικο) on theAegean island of Chios. Ourteacher, Mr. Variadakis - a kind,patient and timid man, playedthe violin, which he oftenbrought to class to accompanyus in singing the lyrics of somesimple poems from our secondgrade reading book. Iremember him asking me,along with another classmate,to stand in front of the class andlead in the singing, whiledancing some moves to the beatof the music, as well. Further-more, since there was no presetmelody associated with theseschool book poems, we had tocreate one and perform it on thespot. Recalling this childhoodexperience,

I now realize, in retrospect,what a visionary educator mysecond grade teacher was. In avery basic way, he used a formof art, in this case music, tomake reading and learning apleasant and motivating experi-ence for all of us in the class.

Even more importantly,however, he gave us an activerole in the creative process, byhaving us perform and composeat the same time. The inevitableresult was that we were alleager to engage in this processof reading comprehension, un-derstanding the meaning,memorizing and even interpret-ing, through our singing, oursecond grade school poems.Half a century later, I can stillvividly recall those moments inthe classroom, with gratitudeand appreciation, particularlyso, as a long time member of theGreek American community.

As far as I am concerned, thelesson taught to us by oursecond grade teacher, has, onceagain, reaffirmed and strength-ened my opinion about the im-portance of “participation”(συμμετοχη), in the creativeprocess, as a motivating catalystto actively engage the new gen-eration of Greek Americans inan effort to preserve ourHellenic cultural heritage fromgeneration to generation. It hasbeen frequently said that theideal, strongest, most durableand substantive “democracy” isthe one which inspires and en-

courages itscitizens to activelypartake in the po-litical process - theone that gives citi-zens the“certainty” (notmerely the“sense”) of owner-ship in the system,and thus, both thedesire and theneed, to not onlyhonor it, but toalso work for itspreservation at allcosts. I consent,that this is exactlythe kind of relationship weshould strive to developbetween the new generation ofGreek Americans and our Hel-lenic cultural heritage in orderto succeed in its preservation,maintenance and dissemina-tion.

The operative word in mycontention is, συμμετοχη=par-ticipation, in what I would liketo define as, “Συμμετοχικός Πο-λιτισμός=Participatory Culture”,a rather straightforward, com-

mon sense idea: We shouldwork towards the goal ofhaving cultural activities gener-ated BY our youth not merelyFOR it, by finding ways toinvolve and encourage our sec-ond and third generation GreekAmericans to not only attendcultural events, but also to initi-ate, create, organize and evenparticipate in the performanceof such events.

Let us, however, ponder a bitand take a critical look onwhether and how we encourageand support such participationby our youth, so as toaccomplish what we all agree isa desirable and rather self evi-dent goal. What substantivecultural opportunities are avail-able to our youth beyond theirgraduation from ourcommunity Greek schools,where they are naturallyengaged in some basic studiesof Greek language, culture andhistory? What are their culturalactivities as young adults, uni-versity students and postcollege young professionals andyoung parents?

Is there any kind ofcontinuity beyond their fewGreek school years, to reinforce

and solidify theirHellenic identityand consciousness?Unfortunately, theexisting situation israther discourag-ing.

The expressionand reinforcementof the Hellenicidentity of ouryoung people is forthe most part leftto events such as“beauty contests”,late night“clubbing excur-sions”, often in so

called “Greek Nights”, (in myhumble opinion the ultimatesub-culture of “faked” Greekmusic, where deafeningloudness competes withmonotonous beats, non-existent melodies and meaning-less cheap lyrics), and quiteoften to modern pop music starimports from Greece,performing at high pricedcasinos and night clubs. We dohave of course our conventionalsocial, community and religious

events, which, despite their use-fulness as “get-together” socialgatherings, are for the mostpart void of any noticeableyouth participation whilehaving for the most part limitedcultural value.

Am I saying that there are nobright spots in this wholescene? Of course Lnot. Unfortu-nately, however, these “brightspots” are not only rare and few,but also, they are mainlydepend on the commitment ofjust a few motivated individualsand artists, whether actors, mu-sicians or dancers, and on thesensitivity of some supportiveand concerned sponsors, morespecifically in our tri-state area,organizations such as, theAlexander S. Onassis Foun -dation, the Greek Cultural Cen-ter, the Hellenic Cultural Centerof the Archdiocese and very fewothers that are “bright” excep-tions to the rule.

Yet, the participation of ouryouth is not adequately large.Hence the idea arises of a Par-ticipatory Culture.

If young and talented GreekAmericans are encouraged andgiven the resources to get in-volved in the creation and per-

formance of truly culturalevents, in a serious and consis-tent way, there is no doubt thatin time, they will become thebeacon-like role models and thecatalysts for an ever-increasingand sustained youth involve-ment. I strongly believe in thepotential of such an idea.

I have already personally ex-perienced it through severalmusical events I have been in-volved with, for the past fewyears, working with youngGreek Americans from elemen-tary school through college.

I have felt no greater gratifi-cation than what I have experi-enced having young people per-form with us in some of ourconcerts, by narrating, reciting,playing an instrument andsinging the poetry of our greatpoets, our traditional songsfrom the Aegean, our Greekmainland and Asia Minor, aswell as the time-transcendingsongs of our greatestcomposers, from Vamvakarisand Tsitsanis to Theodorakis,Xarhakos and Hadjidakis, toour best current composers,those who still carry the torch ofour truly Hellenic musical cul-ture. It is a totally feasible ideaas long as we believe in it andunderstand its value andcatalytic importance, as one“pebble” of contribution to ourcommon aim and struggle topreserve, maintain and dissemi-nate our Hellenic cultural her-itage in the Diaspora. Surely, Iam quite aware that in the limit-ed space we have in this columnwe will not exhaustively discussnor resolve this very importantmatter. Let the above thoughtssimply be a means ofmotivating further discussionand some “food for thought”.Allow me then to conclude withthe “fitting” words of one of ourgreatest poets, Nikos Gatsos, setto music by Stavros Xarhakos:

« Μια χουφτα ειναι ο ανθρω-πος απο στυφο προζυμι. Γεν-νιεται σαν Αρχαγγελοςπεθαινει σαν αγριμι.

Του μενει μονο στη ζωη ΜιαΓλωσσα Μια Πατριδα. Η πρωτητου παρηγορια και η στερνητου ελπιδα».

Freely translated: “Man isbut a handful of stale yeast.Born like an Archangel dyinglike a little forest animal. All hehas in his life is One Languageand One Homeland. His firstconsolation and his very lasthope”

** On March 20 and 21, Iwill be presenting a concertalong with a dozen young tal-ented Greek Americans. Mygoal is to make it a motivatingcultural experience for otheryoung people in ourcommunity.

I encourage you to come andexperience the idea presentedin this column brought to apractical reality. For more infor-mation, visitwww.gmaninakis.com.

Grigoris Maninakis is a Pro-fessor of Engineering Tech-nology at SUNY Farmingdale.He has been active in Greekmusic since the early 70s asa founding member andsinger/soloist of the GreekPopular Chorus of N.Y. estab-lished by Mikis Theodorakis.He has organized qualityGreek music concerts all overthe U.S. and occasionally inGreece. His column will ap-pear twice a month in The Na-tional Herald. For commentsand suggestions email orvisit: [email protected],www.gmaninakis.com

FEATURETHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010 7

GREEK MUSIC ...PLUS

Disseminating Our Hellenic Heritage

The Archdiocesan Metropolitan Youth Choir, led by Maria Koleva, which gathered at LincolnCenter in Oct. 2009 to perform in honor of Patriarch Bartholomew's visit and to celebrateArchbishop Demetrios' 10th anniversary as Archbishop, is a fine example of youth programs.


NEW YORK - What role did theminorities of Western Thracetake in World War Two and inthe Greek Civil War? Not an ac-tive one. This was theconclusion that Greek scholarsDimitris Papadimitriou and Ar-gyris Mamarelis were surprisedby – and explore -in their newbook coming out this summer.

They explained, in a presen-tation organized by ColumbiaUniversity’s Hellenic StudiesProgram on February 19, thatpassivity was the action ofchoice for Western Thrace’s mi-norities both during the Bulgar-ian Occupation of the region1941-44 and the Civil War thatfollowed. The minorities inquestion were 100,000 people,consisting of: the Bulgarian-speaking, Muslim Pomaks ofthe Rodopi Mountainhighlands; the tobacco-growing, Turkish-speakingMuslims of the lowlands; and,the largely Muslim Roma(gypsy) people.

“Thrace in the 1930sprovided the perfect context forthe minority to get involved inthe surrounding conflict,” saidMr. Papadimitriou, a Reader inEuropean Politics at the Univer-sity of Manchester. Yet, WesternThrace’s minorities did not, un-like the Slavic and Albanian mi-norities in other parts ofnorthern Greece.

From 1941-1944, whilemuch of Greece was under Ger-man Occupation, WesternThrace was under Bulgariancontrol. But, if – according tothe scholars- the level of collab-oration with the Bulgarian oc-cupiers was high in WesternThrace, the Muslim minoritiesand especially the Bulgarian-speaking Muslim Pomaks didnot collaborate. They were notseduced by a Pan-Slavic unity,with its Orthodox ideals. In fact,the Pomaks suffered Bulgarianviolence (as investigated in aCarnegie Foundation fact-finding mission) and the onlyfamine in the region. Both they,and the Turkish-speakers of thelowlands, fled; 10% of WesternThrace’s population left (as didmany Greeks who didn’t collab-orate).

One important factor in the

minorities’ lack of involvementwas Turkey’s wartime neutrality.Turkey only expressed interestin the Muslims in the region in1948/49, noted the researchers.Just the same, the clash betweenKemalist modernizers and theOttoman/Islamic majority wasplayed out in Western Thrace, asin Turkey. Several Islamicscholars fled to Thrace, tooppose Kemalism from afar.

During the Greek Civil Wartoo, said Mr. Papadimitriou andMr. Mamarelis, the minoritiesdidn’t back the communistDemocratic Army or the Greekgovernment forces. It was not“their war”, noted Mr.Mamerelis, a Civil War expertwho holds a PhD from the Lon-don School of Economics; thenumber of minority deserters inWestern Thrace was so largethat the Greek state stoppedconscripting them.

In the eyes of the GreekCommunist Party (KKE), notedMr. Papadimitriou, the Muslimswere “too difficult to penetrate,too unreliable.” The minorityreadily formed militias toprotect its villages, but wouldnot fight for communism.“There was not a single case of aMuslim being a member of theKKE,” noted Mr. Mamerelis, ofWestern Thrace. Many Pomaksmoved to towns like Xanthi andKomotini. Other minorities leftfor Turkey.

The Columbia talk raised is-sues of national/regional

identity. One thing was clear -that there wasn’t one “Muslimminority” in 1940s WesternThrace, but instead a complexgroup of populations that weredivided by poor infrastructure,no intermarriage and culturaldifferences. A lack of interac-tion- noted Mr. Papadimitriou –made it hard “to develop asingle identity or leadership.”

In addition to archival re-search in Greece, Turkey, Bul-garia, the U.S. and the U.K., theresearchers interviewed about100 people in Greece andTurkey.

Among those they spoke towas a 100-plus-year-old Romawoman and Mihri Belli, a manborn in Turkey who unsuccess-fully tried to raise an “Ottomanbattalion” for the Greek com-munists in the region. The re-search on a loaded topic wasnot easy.

On the one hand, therelevant material is controlledby the Greek Foreign Ministry.On the other hand, said Mr. Pa-padimitriou: “Researching inThrace is a bit dodgy. People areafraid to express themselves.”

The study was undertakenwith a major British Arts andHumanities Research Council(AHRC) grant. It has shed light,say the researchers, to a big dif-ference between the relation-ships – in the past and the pre-sent- of both the Greek andTurkish states with theminorities of Western Thrace.Mr. Papadimitriou closed byasking: “At what point does thiscommunity become an enemyfor the Greek State? If not anenemy then [in the 1940s],what made them an enemy inthe 1950s?”

"The Last Ottomans", whichwill be published in English byRoutledge, is slated to be re-leased in the summer of 2010.


Isolated Minorities of1940s Western ThraceDid Not Heed War Cries

by GRIGORISMANINAKIS

Special to The National Herald

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK - With beautifulyoung brides in the audience,smiling models in weddingdresses on the runway and tem-peratures above freezing thewhole weekend, there was abreath of spring in the air at theBridal Art showcase at the Gar-den City Hotel in Garden CityNew York.

Kim Morrone, the hotel’s di-rector of marketing, told TheNational Herald that Sunday’sevent aimed to simulate the am-bience of an actual wedding ex-perience at the hotel and is ashowcase of what one of NewYork’s leading wedding venueshas to offer families planningweddings in the nears future.“Unlike typical shows with im-personal vendors’ booths andbrochures, the guests will feellike they attended a weddingreception,” at the landmarkhotel built in 1874.

Catering Manager StellaHarral, who is of Greek descent,is able to pay special attentionto the details which guaranteethe success of Greek affairs.Many of the guests were brides-to-be and their mothers, likeCatherine Dounis and her

mother Margaret Dounis,whose family has its roots inThebes, Greece.

The reception was set in thelegendary hotel's Grand Ball-room, as decorated by Karyn

Michael Events, a firm whichdesigns weddings and specialevents in the New Yorkmetropolitan area. Theballroom was also the site of thebridal fashion show presented

by Bridal Reflections, one ofNew York's premiere bridal sa-lons, which “caters toworldwide clientele seeking thefinest American andinternational designers.”

According to RoseLynnMicari, General Manager ofBridal Reflections, the show“unveiled the best of the up-coming trends like glamorousball gowns. From lace andshimmer to classic simplicity,the gowns, like the modernwomen of New York, will standout and impress."

Bridal Reflections’ ChristinaDeMarco told The NationalHerald that Greek woman areamong the most discerningbrides-to-be. They want theirwedding “to be unique from thevenue to the table settings tothe high fashion gowns. Theywant to do what nobody elsehas done – for their wedding tobe an event. DeMarco alsonoted that at Greek weddings,bridesmaids do not play secondfiddle to the brides – attentionand expense are also lavishedon their appearances as theycelebrate the special day oftheir friends and relatives inglamour and style.” She ex-plained that many of this year’sdesigns feature “bright but ele-

gant, vibrant colors.”Another highlight of the

show was the Award-winningcuisine of Belgian Master ChefSteven De Bruyn. He told TNHthat for Greek weddings he in-corporates Greek specialtiesinto the Mediterranean portionof the menu. He added thatGreek families do not insist thatGreek food dominate the menu,but appreciate offerings frommany cuisines.

Last but not least, especiallywhere Greek weddings are con-cerned, is the music anddancing. International Sounds,a company owned by GreekAmerican George Andrews, pro-vided the entertainment for thereception with a vibrant bandand vocalists who set all thebrides to be and their friendsand family dancing in yetanother taste of the special day.

Scholars Dimitris Papadimitriou (l.) and Argyris Mamarelisspeak on February 18 at Columbia University on their newbook on the passive role of minorities in Western Thrace in thewars of the 1940s. The book will be out this summer in English.

Brides and Garden City Hotel Shine at Bridal Art Showcase

TNH/ANGElikE CONTiS

Belgian Master Chef Steven De Bruyn, dressed in white atcenter, with Garden City Hotel catering manager, GreekAmerican Stella Harral to his right on Sunday, February 21.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

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NEW YORK – “Though we willmiss you papi, we were happyto have you this many years,”said Dr. Ione Kourides at a fu-neral service held for her father,attorney and Archon MegasNomophylax Peter(Prodromos) T. Kourides onMonday, February 22, at theArchdiocesan Cathedral of theHoly Trinity in Manhattan.More than a hundred familymembers, friends and clergymembers attended theceremony presided by his Emi-nence Archbishop Demetrios ofAmerica.

Mr. Kourides was born inConstantinople in 1910 anddied on Tuesday, February 16 inForest Hills. He outlived hisbeloved wife by 36 years and heis survived by his two childrenand seven grandchildren.

Mr. Kourides, who lived anabounding life of 99 years,served as the Legal Counsel ofthe Archdiocese for close to fourdecades and was a very closeconfidant of the late ArchbishopIakovos. According to his

daughter and son, AttorneyNicholas Kourides, Mr. Kouridesgraduated Columbia Universityin 1931 and Columbia LawSchool in 1933 on a scholarshipfrom AHEPA before practicing

law for more than 60 years.“Ten years ago, I though dad

was eternal, vibrant, sharp, fullof energy,” said Mr. NicholasKourides. “Helping members ofthe Greek American

community, wasn’t his work; itwas his passion. Dad left mewith at least three fundamentalprincipals to live by: It’s not theriches you attain, but therichness of the experience; Lifeis a journey - not just thevictories and defeats along theway; There’s a whole world out-side of the United States.”

Both of his children empha-sized Mr. Kourides’ tireless de-votion to his work, his passionfor the church, his modesty, hiszeal for world news and histhirst for knowledge. Also pre-siding over the ceremony wereHis Eminence MetropolitanMethodios, who traveled fromBoston, and Bishop Andonios ofPhasiane, among others.

The Rev. Dr. Frank Marangosof the Cathedral delivered amessage from Ecumenical Patri-arch Bartholomew who ex-pressed his paternal sympathyfor the departed.

His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios also praised Mr.Kourides for his “independentmind.”

Mr. Nicholas Kourides saidone particular poem by Cavafyreminds him of his father and

his way of looking at life:“…Keep Ithaka always in

your mind. Arriving there iswhat you are destined for.

But do not hurry the journeyat all. Better if it lasts for years,so you are old by the time youreach the island, wealthy withall you have gained on the way,not expecting Ithaka to makeyou rich./ Ithaka gave you themarvelous journey. Without heryou would not have set out. Shehas nothing left to give younow./And if you find her poor,Ithaka won’t have fooled you.Wise as you will have become,so full of experience, you willhave understood by then whatthese Ithakas mean.”

Mr. Kourides served underthree Archbishops since 1935.First under Athenagoras wholater became Ecumenical Patri-arch, then Archbishop Michael

and finally Iakovos for 37 yearsuntil the day Iakovos retired in1996.

Mr. Kourides, along with Mr.Chris Demetriades, the then-di-rector of the Department of Fi-nance of the Archdiocese, ac-companied Archbishop Iakovoson most of his trips abroad. Hepresided over the Archdiocese’sbiennial Clergy-Laity congres -ses and was instrumental in thedrafting and passing of thecharters of the Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese of America. Healso contributed to the forma -tion of the Uniform Parish Reg-ulations, which regulate the re-lations between the parishesand the Archdiocese, the priestswith the bishops and the clergyand laity.

Contact Eleni at [email protected].

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By Richard EspinozaThe Kansas City Star

KANSAS CITY - Helen “Eleni”Gregory, 67, of Overland Parkdied December 19, 2009 of lungcancer. A proud Greek: Gregorywas born and grew up in the Ar-mourdale area of Kansas City,Kansas but she was Greekthrough and through. Herlicense plate read ELENI, aGreek version of her name, andshe set up her yard like a Greekgarden with a pool, statues andcarefully arranged flowerpots.

“There were flowers every-where. It was very tropical inthe backyard,” said herdaughter, Christine Gregory.

“In the summer, we’d playGreek music in the backyardand we’d lie out, and it was likewe were in Greece, notOverland Park.”

Helen Gregory, a lifelongmember of St. Dionysios GreekOrthodox Church, was an im-portant part of the church’s an-nual Greek Festival and wasknown for her dolmades andspanakopita.

“She did baking months inadvance,” said friend and em-ployer Marilyn Taylor. “She wasa wonderful cook, and sheloved being Greek.”

NATURAL DECORATORFriends and family often

asked Gregory to help themdecorate their homes becauseof her natural eye for style.

“She’d come over to myhouse and she’d movesomething and it would lookbetter than where it used to be,”said friend Kathryn Cooper.“But if you moved anything ather house, she’d know andshe’d put it back.” Gregory wasusually in the middle of redeco-rating some part of her home.She would work on a room untilit looked perfect, then return toit much later and create a wholenew look.

She loved to shop — sales-people at Nordstrom and Hallsknew her by name — but shealso made her own home decoritems, including paintedwooden Santas and exquisiteneedlepoint designs.

For Christmas, her favoriteholiday, she set up several trees,each with its own theme. Onewas a Santa Claus tree. Anotherwas full of fairy ornaments. Afan of leopard print, she evenhad a leopard tree hung withgold, brown and copper orna-ments.

She was in charge of windowdisplays at M. Taylor, a Prairie

Village gift shop. “She just had areal knack for colors andproduct, and she kept our storelooking beautiful,” said Taylor,the store owner.

FULL OF CHARMPeople noticed when

Gregory walked into a room.She had a smile for everyone.

“She was always joking. Shewas the life of the party,” saidSally Hurtado, who was a friendof Gregory since both were 5years old.

Gregory was sentimental, of-

ten crying with her daughterduring “The Young and theRestless” and “The Bold and theBeautiful.” But the women al-ways would turn to each otherin mid-cry and burst out laugh-ing. Little stood in the way ofher good moods, and she evenjoked with the nurses as shefought cancer.

Gregory, a prankster wholiked to tease people, drew lotsof laughs playing Paula Abdul ather church’s “Greek Idol/ Danc-ing With the Greeks” show. “Shelaughed all the time,” ChristineGregory said. “People of all ageswould swarm to my mom.”

Survivors include: Her hus-band, a son, a daughter, abrother, and several nieces andnephews.

HER LEGACYGregory prayed and kept

faith that she would get betteras she fought cancer for nearly10 months. She loved stayinghome while her children, Chris-tine and Michael, were growingup and called her husband,Gregg, her best friend. She saidshe was fighting to live forthem, and she wanted to beable to speak publicly about theimportance of annual checkups.

“She would do anything foranybody,” her daughter said.

Community Bids Farewell to Distinguised Churchman Peter (Prodromos) Kourides

Pallbearers carry the casket of the late Peter (Prodromos) T.Kourides up the steps of his beloved Holy Trinity Cathedral.

A Tribute to ‘Eleni’: Helen Gregory ‘Loved Being Greek’

Helen “Eleni” Gregory.

By Jeannie NussBoston Globe Correspondent

BOSTON - Michael A.V. Wardspent his early childhoodpicking mangoes in Kampala,Uganda, where his Greek fatherbuilt roads as a civil engineer.Following the Greek Orthodoxtradition, Dr. Ward was notgiven a name until he was bap-tized at age 5. Until then, Dr.Ward was known asArchimedes, a nod to the Greekmathematician and physicist.

“It was just the perfect namefor Michael,’’ said his wife,Elaine (Panagopoulos) of Lex-ington. Dr. Ward thought so, too.The name stuck among hisfriends in Uganda and Greece.

Dr. Ward, a trilingualinventor who dedicated his lifeto the higher efficiency, lean-burn engine, died after a strokeFeb. 1 at his Arlington office. Hewas 66.

As a youth, Dr. Ward was askilled mango picker who hadan uncanny talent for climbingto the top of trees and pluckingthe tastiest fruit. In Dr. Ward’scase, mango picking was so tiedto playing hooky that when hisolder brother, Nicholas Vlachos,later returned to Uganda,friends could not believe thatArchimedes was in college.

He was moved by the plightof the people in Uganda andlater wrote that he longed to “al-leviate their pain.’’

“That’s what motivated himto do all his work,’’ his wife said.

When his father died in theearly 1950s, then 9-year-old Dr.Ward, his mother, and brothertraded the Ugandan capital forpostwar Athens, where hismother’s family lived. A yearlater, Dr. Ward was working asan elevator boy at a hotel inAthens. The “cute kid with curlyhair’’ and perfect Englishcharmed many a foreigner, in-cluding Colonel Charles Wardand his wife, Mildred.

Michael’s mother agreed tolet the Wards take youngMichael out of Greece to get abetter education. Soon after, theboy was studying at schools inConnecticut and Kent, UnitedKingdom. Michael ArchimedesVlachos eventually adopted theWard surname.

Dr. Ward moved to NewBrunswick, N.J., to live with hisbrother in a basementapartment. The brothers had nomoney, but got alongswimmingly, until Dr. Ward’sbrother died after a motorcycleaccident.

He earned his bachelor’s de-gree and dabbled in Russian atRutgers University, in addition tohis trifecta of English, Greek,and Swahili. He also earned amaster’s degree from the Univer-sity of Iowa, and a doctorate inapplied physics from HarvardUniversity in 1976.

It was around the time thatDr. Ward set off to Harvard thathe met his bride-to-be in hiscousin’s law office in Athens.“Each family kept trying tomarry us off,’’ his wife said.

When Elaine later moved toCambridge, she called Dr. Ward.“He asked me one day if I couldcome home and have myparents cook him a Greek meal,’’she said. “I was very naïve.’’ Herparents were enamored ofMichael. “I could come along ornot,’’ she said.

She came along, and one dayDr. Ward showed up in a Jaguar.Elaine cooed about the car.“Then I looked at him and I said,‘What kind is it?’ I don’t know ifhe ever forgave me for that one,’’she said with a chuckle. “You’resupposed to recognize a Jaguar.’’

During the oil crisis in 1973,Dr. Ward became interested inlean-burn combustion - a way tocut emissions and make enginesmore efficient by increasing theamount of air that mixes withfuel as it enters the cylinders of acar. Four years later, Dr. Wardfounded Combustion Electro-magnetics Inc. and became anauthority on combustion, andhis work garnered national at-tention.

“For two decades, whileothers chased flashier technolo-gies, such as cars that ran onsolar power or electric batteries,Ward stuck to the researchequivalent of plain vanilla: Hewanted to make existing car en-gines cleaner and more fuel-effi-cient,’’ according to a 2000article in the Globe.

The Economist magazinecalled the lean-burn engine theHoly Grail for car engineers inJuly 1986. But his work on thelean-burn engine was not aneasy task. In his line of work, themore diluted (or leaner) thefuel, the more difficult it can beto ignite. Still, colleagues and hiswife described Dr. Ward as a bril-liant researcher who never quit.“He was as demanding ofhimself as he was of everybodyelse around him,’’ his wife said.

Friends and colleagues de-scribed Dr. Ward as a veryprecise inventor who could view

a problem and model it mathe-matically. “He was just very, verymethodical and analytical andjust kept working and inventingtill the last minute,’’ said friendand colleague Dr. Fred Kern ofLexington.

In 2004, he was in the midstof negotiations with an autoparts conglomerate when he suf-fered a stroke that forced him torelearn to speak. “If you showedhim a cup, he knew what it was,but he didn’t know the word,’’his wife said.

Four years later, in a licensenegotiation with another auto-motive parts supplier, hesuffered another stroke. Justmonths later, he took an interestin the two-stroke engine andjoked that God had given himtwo strokes so he could see thesolution of the two-strokeengine. “Two Strokes Reveal thePerfect Two-Stroke Engine,’’ hewrote in a recent self-portrait.

Dr. Ward’s passion for allthings ignition sparked aptnames for the two family cats: apitch black puss was calledDiesel, and weighing in at halfhis size was Leaner (short forlearner-burn).

There was no respite for thedriven Dr. Ward, who wouldwake up at 2 in the morningafter a nap and work in his officein his Lexington home. But Dr.Ward was not alone: Leanerwould sneak out of her basketand curl up at his feet or insidehis brown leather briefcase.

Dr. Ward and his wifebrought the cats to the Arlingtonoffice every day, his wife said.“You learn a lot about businesspeople when your cats meetthem,’’ said his wife.

His heart was in the 5,000-square-foot facility, among acoil-winding machine andengine dynamometer, his wifesaid. “I used to get so angry athim because people would say:‘Where do you live?’ He wouldsay Arlington,’’ said his wife.

A patent on the two-strokeengine came in the mail the dayhe died. “Combustion was reallyhis life,’’ said friend andcolleague Bob Lefevre ofKingston, N.H.

Services have been held, andDr. Ward has been buried inNewton Cemetery.

Greek American Michael Ward, Inventor, Passes at 66

Michael Ward spent 20 years building his engine. TheEconomist magazine called the lean-burn engine the Holy Grailfor car engineers in July 1986.

euros.Under acute pressure from

its 15 Eurozone partners, theSocialist Greek government haspledged to slash its deficit thisyear, agreeing to painful publicspending cuts that sparkedlabor unions’ call for Wednes-day's general strike.

IMF chief economist OlivierBlanchard told the AFP on Tues-day that European countrieslike Greece face an "extremelypainful" period of budget tight-ening that could last up to 20years and will require "sacri-fices."

The EU has pledged supportfor Greece but has also orderedstrict monitoring for its deficit-

cutting program, sending thethree-party team on the first ofa string of visits to make sureAthens is on the right track."It isa purely technical visit, to ex-amine progress on the Greekplan and provide any help nec-essary," said a ministry official,who requested anonymity.

The official said the teammay meet with FinanceMinister George Papaconstanti-nou at the end of the visit,which wraps up on Thursday.Tuesday's finance talks kickedoff with Georges Zanias, thehead of a finance ministry ex-perts' council, with furthermeetings scheduled Wednesdayand Thursday with the GreekCentral Bank and laborministry, the ministry said.

Athens has ruled outresorting to a loan from theWashingon-based IMF and hassaid it needs "support" ratherthan a "bailout" from the Euro-pean Union.

"There is no such planbecause Greece has not request-ed a single euro in financialaid," European Commissionspokesman Amadeu Altafaj tolda news conference in Brussels.

In Berlin, a finance ministryspokesman told a news confer-ence Germany had not made adecision on aid for Greece butexpected the debt-riddencountry to be able to refinancein April.

Greece's central bank gover-nor George Provopoulos mean-while said the country was pre-

pared to take extra fiscal stepsto make sure it meets its deficit-cutting targets, though he saidfinancial markets were over-re-acting to the country's financialwoes.

"Even if some risksmaterialize - like (poor) growth- the government is prepared totake immediate corrective ac-tion," George Provopoulos, alsoa member of the European Cen-tral Bank's Governing Council,told Bloomberg in an interview.

"The government has said al-ready on several occasions thatit will take any additional mea-sures required in order toachieve its goal," Provopouloswas quoted as saying."The crisiscould be an opportunity to im-plement the needed reformsand not just talk about them,given that the opportunity costof not implementing themwould be huge," Provopoulosalso said, according to a writtentext of a speech during a bookpresentation.

In another Der Spiegelreport, Greek Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreou told Ger-many he was not seeking aid,and criticised the Commissionfor failing to ensure memberstates adhered to the EU's Sta-bility and Growth Pact thatlimits budget deficits.

"The union could in the pasthave more rigorously policedwhether the stability pact wasbeing observed - with us too," hesaid. "In the future we should al-low the European statisticsoffice direct access to individualmember states' data."

"We suggested that, but notall countries wanted to have somuch transparency,"Papandreou said.

The European Commissionalso said on Monday thatGreece had missed a deadlineto give the Eurostat data office afull account of complexfinancial operations it allegedlyused to hide holes in its budgetand gain entry to the eurozone.Greece's finance minister hassaid the schemes were legal at

the time.BOND OFFER

Financial markets havegiven Athens a hammering thisyear over worries it will not beable to refinance debt comingdue this year, and the fallouthas seen other highly-indebtedEU states suffer, along with theeuro itself.

A good reception last weekfor a syndicated 5 billion euro,15-year Spanish bond fuelledspeculation that Greece maylaunch a planned 10-year syndi-cated bond as soon as thisweek.

In his comments toBloomberg on the way financialmarkets were reacting,Provopoulos was quoted as say-ing: "They take advantage ofthe weak links to make profits."

"It's clear that there is acertain degree of overshooting.Given the high degree of uncer-tainty in the markets, oneshould not expect that the situa-tion will normalize overnight."

Provopoulos noted that thelarge debt and deficit were onlypartly due to the recession andmainly a result of chronicmacroeconomic imbalances.

"The balance of payments

deficit is not sustainable," hesaid. "A policy mix which willbring back the macroeconomicand microeconomic imbalanceand improve the economy'scompetitiveness andproductivity is needed torestore its sustainability."

Greece's deficit swelled to12.7 percent of gross domesticproduct in 2009, way above theEurozone cap of 3 percent, andAthens needs to sell some 53billion euros of debt this year,including at least 20 billioneuros in April and May.

In another report, Germany'sHandelsblatt business daily onMonday said German FinanceMinister Wolfgang Schaeublefavours using bilateral aid tohelp Greece in the event thatAthens defaults on its debt com-mitments.

Finance Minister George Pa-paconstantinou told Reuterslate on Wednesday Greecewould decide on the next bondissuance soon but confirmed nodetails.

This article combines reportsfrom Reuters and AFP.E-mail:[email protected]

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece'stwo largest air carriers, Aegeanand recently privatized OlympicAir, agreed to team up to form astronger player better able tocompete with foreign airlines.

The merger will form onedominant carrier in thedomestic market and easepricing competition betweenthe two airlines. Olympicground handling and OlympicEngineering will become 100percent subsidiaries of the newcompany which, will be listedon the Athens stock exchange.

"The relative size of our com-petitors within the EuropeanUnion necessitates the joiningof the two main Greek airlinesto achieve increased autonomyin serving our country'stourism, increase route optionsfor consumers and ensure thelongterm viability of the twoairlines," Aegean's ChairmanTheodore Vassilakis said. Thetwo carriers announced theywere in talks on a possible coop-eration in a bourse filing onFebruary 11.

Together, they operate afleet of 64 aircraft and employ5,850 workers. Aegean hasbeen accepted into and is in theprocess of joining Star Allianceby June this year.

Aegean flies 24 domestic

and 26 international routes.Olympic serves 41 domesticroutes and 15 destinationsabroad.

Under the deal, the new car-rier will carry the name ofOlympic Air and its logo ofOlympic rings after a transitionperiod during which Aegean'sname and logos will also beused in parallel. Olympic wasfounded in 1957 by the late

shipping tycoon AristotleOnassis who sold it to the gov-ernment in 1974. Under statemanagement the airlinebecame debt-laden and loss-making.

Last year the governmentsold it to buyout firm Marfin In-vestment Group (MIG), endingyears of wrangling with the Eu-ropean Union over illegal stateaid.

The merger agreement willneed the blessing of the EUCommission. Until then, the ex-act process and timetable of themerger will be articulated, thetwo carriers said.

"The prevailing conditions inthe Greek economy as well as inthe aviation sector dictate thecombination of forces in orderto maintain competitive cus-tomer prices, protect levels of

employment and increase ourcompetitiveness at a Europeanlevel," said Olympic Air's Chair-man Andreas Vgenopoulos.

Under the deal, theVassilakis Group which is themain shareholder of Aegeanand MIG, Olympic's sole share-holder, will have equal share-holdings in the new airline.FROM RIVALS TO PARTNERS

Aegean had offered to buyOlympic in March last year withan offer of 170 million euros,which included 90 million forits flight activities and 20million for its aircraft mainte-nance base.

Aegean's offer had toppedMIG's but the government saidat the time it opted for the in-vestment group because itfeared the deal would hit a hur-dle on EU competition grounds.

Analysts said the Aegean-Olympic deal is expected to getthe green light by competitionauthorities. Similar mergershave been allowed in the past inother EU countries, includingAlitalia teaming up with AirOneand Lufthansa acquiring Austri-an.

"Aegean Airlines' marketcapitalization stands at 285 mil-lion euros and MIG hadacquired Olympic for 177.2 mil-lion. The new group may drop

some destinations in favor ofthe competition in order to sur-pass any obstacles by the com-petition committee," said AlphaFinance analyst Antonis Di-apoulis.

As part of its binding offer inMarch, 2009 Aegean hadpledged to reduce capacity inthe domestic market in favor ofother carriers and to keep do-mestic rates flat until the end of2010.

"The trend internationally isfor airlines to seek operatingcost savings," said analystCostantinos Vergos at CyclosSecurities. "The deal will endthe intense competition onticket pricing between the twoin the domestic market."

Aegean's shares ended 0.5percent higher at 4.01 euros,erasing earlier losses but under-performing the broader Greekmarket's ATG 1.54 percent ad-vance.

Aegean, with a modern fleetof Airbus jets, is a profitable car-rier flying domestic and inter-national routes. It earned 0.38euros a share in 2008 on salesof 612 million euros and paid a0.25 euro per share dividend.

Writing by George Geor-giopoulos; Editing by JonLoades-Carter.

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010 9

Greek Carriers Aegean and Olympic Air Choose Merging over Rivalry

Greece's two largest carriers, Aegean and recently-privatized Olympic Air, agreed on Monday toteam up, forming a stronger player to take on foreign competition. The merger will create onedominant carrier in the domestic market and ease pricing competition between the two airlines.

EurOkiNiSSi

Andy Dabilis’ camera captures the texture of life in today’s Greece, in all its colorful variations.

HIDDEN GREECE

Young love

Before the weather got chilly and rainy in Athens, this couple found their own spot in the middleof the busiest place in the city, Syntagma, oblivious to all the passers-by.

TNH/ANDy DABiliS

By Niki Kitsantonis The New York Times

ATHENS - Police fired tear gasand clashed withdemonstrators in centralAthens on Wednesday asviolence broke out after a largeprotest march against govern-ment austerity measures in-tended to fix the country's debtcrisis.

Riot police confronted scoresof violent protesters who hurledrocks, red paint and plastic bot-tles near parliament, insporadic clashes that causedlittle initial damage.

Police detained at least twoprotesters.

Earlier, more than 30,000people took part in a peacefulmarch, as unions held a generalstrike which grounded flights,shut schools and crippled publicservices in a show of strengthagainst the government.

The 24-hour walkout comesas Greece is consideringtougher austerity measures, in-cluding possible deeper salarycuts and extensive reforms ofthe civil service and pensionssystem, to pull the debt-riddencountry out of financial crisis.

Officials from the EuropeanUnion and International Mone-tary Fund are in Athens for aninspection of Greek public fi-

nances, ahead of a March 16deadline from the EU to showsigns of fiscal improvement orface the imposition ofadditional austerity measures.

The government is under in-tense pressure to plug a budgetdeficit estimated at 12.7percent of GDP and to avert theEurozone’s first national de-fault.

Even as protesters marchedthrough the city center holdingbanners reading “tax the rich”and “hands off our pensionfunds,” government officialsand representatives of the Euro-pean Commission, theEuropean Central Bank and theInternational Monetary Fundwere reported to be discussingthe imposition of additionalmeasures to reduce state spend-ing and increase revenue. Thenew measures, which the gov-ernment has not yet confirmed,would come on top of the wagefreezes, bonus cuts, tax crack-downs and pension reforms an-nounced over the past month.

The measures, which are tobe announced next week,include an increase in the 19percent value-added tax, higherfuel prices and the possible abo-lition of one of the twoadditional months of pay re-ceived by public-sector workersand by employees at many pri-

vate firms.“What else are they going to

cut, the air that we breathe?”said Kiki Oikonomou, a 47-year-old administrative

employee at a state school fordisabled children. “This is like ajail sentence. Where’s thehope?” she said.

According to Paraskevi An-

droni, 26, an unemployed engi-neer whose short-term contractwith the privatized state carrierOlympic Air expired recently,the abolition of the extra monthof pay would bring misery toworkers and businesses alike.

“People rely on thisadditional wage to pay for basicneeds. If it gets cut, people willstop spending and even moresmall businesses will close,” shesaid. As for her ownemployment prospects, she said“I try to be optimistic but I’mworried about the future.”

Another engineer milling inthe crowd before Wednesday’smarch said he believed manymore protests would follow. “Ifpeople see the minority living agood life and their wages plum-meting, they’re going to take tothe streets,” said HaralambosDramantis, a 60-year-old em-ployee with the state powerboard. “We haven’t seen the biguprising yet but it will come,”he said, adding that strikeaction by farmers, taxcollectors, customs officials andothers in recent weeks was “justthe beginning.”

Addressing a sea ofprotesters from a lectern be-decked with a banner reading,“People and their needs abovethe markets,” the head of themain labor union encouraged

public resistance to the govern-ment’s austerity measures. “Werefuse to pay the price for acrisis that we didn’t create,”said Yiannis Panagopoulos.

He added that Greece hasbecome “a Ping-Pong ball in agame being played by globalspeculators,” a reference to thefinancial markets.

The strike came a day afterthe international credit ratingsagency Fitch downgradedGreece’s four largest banks onfears that Greece’s efforts tobring down its deficit throughausterity measures wouldreduce demand for loans andcurb bank profits.

As a media blackout byprotesting journalists keptGreeks in the dark about theprogress of government talkswith visiting European Unionand I.M.F. inspectors, politicalcommentators said theyexpected no surprises. “It isclear,” said Giorgos Lakopoulosof Ta Nea, a center-left daily,that European Union officials“do not believe the austeritymeasures heralded to date areadequate to reduce the deficitby four percentage points thisyear.”

“They want more,” he said.

With additional reportingfrom the Associated Press

EU and IMF Troubleshooters Arrive in Greece But No Aid is in Sight

General Strike Against Austerity in Greece Leads to Clashes With Police


A general view of a demonstration during a 24-hournationwide strike in Athens, Greece, on Wednesday Feb. 24,2010, to protest against government austerity measuresintended to fix the country's debt crisis.

Troubleshooters from the European Commission, EuropeanCentral Bank and IMF descended on Greece Tuesday, Feb. 23,to check on its bid to tame rampant debt.

EurOkiNiSSi

AP PHOTO

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010

Give Patriarchal RequestsTheir Due Consideration

To the Editor:Patriarch Bartholomew has

made an admittedly chal lengingrequest, one with enormous andfar-reaching implications on ourChurch in America and the Ecu-menical Patriarchate.

The request deserves ourmost careful scrutiny - by clergyand laity alike - possibly evenconsideration at theforthcoming Clergy-LaityCongress in Atlanta.

What the request does not

need however, is a rush to judg-ment by your editorial staff.

Such characterizations as a"terrible idea," "unacceptableand offensive" are totally inap-propriate on the basis of a quickreading of the request. So is theimplication that the Patriarchwill attempt in the future to ac-quire additional U.S. Churchproperties and control the fi-nances of the Metropolises.

To claim, that "our peopleworked hard to buy these prop-erties" is a non-sequitur. Ortho-dox Christians do not buy"properties" when theycontribute funds to the Church.

Their contributions help build"Houses of the Lord."

We are all too familiar withthe precarious conditions underwhich the Patriarchatecontinues to exist in Con-stantinople.

Our Patriarch has asked forour help and we owe him thecourtesy of considering his re-quest objectively and withoutprejudice or bias.

Dennis MenosChevy Chase, MD

Waiting for the barbariansThere was an eerie feeling in Greece on Wednesday as the

general strike which paralyzed the country was about to unfold.Government employees, the source of most of the woes of thecountry, mostly stayed home. Thousands, however, took to thestreets to protest against the austerity measures that thegovernment has been forced to implement, as demanded by theEuropean Union and the markets.

Journalists, however were also on strike. As a result peopleoutside of Greece know more about the events that occurred inGreece that day, than the country’s citizens did. One can onlywonder whether that promotes the interests of the people of thecountry, or of the strikers themselves.

Just two days before the strike, a group of young menrepresenting the European Union and the International MonetaryFund arrived in Athens to watch over the steps the authorities havetaken to reduce the deficit. That same day, a credit agency down-graded the ratings of most of the country’s big banks, including theNational Bank of Greece, it’s largest. It’s not a good sign...

What the striking public and some private employees hope toachieve is not clear. They can hardly believe that they will force thegovernment to abandon its plans for austerity. They cannotconvince the international markets about the resiliency of theGreek economy by striking. They can hardly expect to send thebean counters of Europe and the IMF packing.

Then what is the point, you might ask? Why compound theproblems the country is already facing by decreasing productivity?Why not, instead, make a public pledge to intensify their efforts, towork harder, or at least to declare that they now welcome changesthat will increase productivity and direct investment in Greece, tosend a strong message to the leaders and people of the EuropeanUnion and the world?

The answer is likely that they simply aren’t used to this kind ofthinking, that they are reacting the only way they know how. It isobvious that they are hoping that with a strike they would be ableto restrain the hand of the government, scaring its leaders intotaking less stringent measures. Or perhaps they know that at thispoint, there is nothing they can do that will alter the course thecountry is set on, but they are too scared to stay home and watchthe drama unfold. It is human nature to want to take some kind ofaction, to overcome the feeling of powerlessness, and it is under-standable that they want to express their anger about thecorruption and mismanagement that brought them to this bleakpoint. In a democracy, protests are not only a means to forcechange, they are also safety valves in times of stress.

Still, and not withstanding the blue sky lighting up Athens, thepeople of the country seem to realize that a financial tsunami is fastapproaching.

What would the great poet Constantine Cavafy say to the peoplewaiting at the gates of their city to welcome the barbarians whowould occupy it, as he wrote in his poem “Barbarians”. In thepoem, the people were disappointed when the barbarians failed toshow up. The people of Athens and the rest of Greece seem to knowthat their “barbarians”, the consequences of the economic crises,will indeed come, and that the barbarians’ passing through theirworld will change the Greek way of life for years to come.

Lets be countedOne of the long-unresolved questions of our community is how

many of us there are. Are we 1.5 million, as some of us believe are wemore, or are we about one million, as the U.S. Census people have usdown for?

The truth of the matter is that there is no certain way of knowing.First of all, one needs to define who is a Greek American. Second,there is no subcategory of Greek American to check when one fillsout the questionnaire. Third, unfortunately, many of us do not fill outthe questionnaire at all. Given all of the above, it is a miracle theCensus office has counted us as so many.

When the U.S. Census - which is taken every 10 years - arrives inyour mail in March, take a good look at it, and do some soulsearching. Who are you, really? Where are your roots? Howimportant to you is asserting your ethnic identity (or “race” in theU.S. Census’ more awkward lingo). Who among us, who grew up ex-posed to Greek culture in the house, feels just plain old “White” inAmerica?

Now of course, there are more reasons to get the correct numberof how many we are than just counting the members of ourcommunity. Actually a lot is at stake.

Consider the many Greek programs, organizations or issues thatyou’ve invested time, effort and money in over the years. Or thosethat you’ve admired from afar. Those community institutions thatenrich our cultural lives, our education, and which satisfy our uniquesocial needs, will be strengthened by your standing up and beingcounted. Why shouldn’t people of Greek origin who are in need betaken into account? Maybe you don’t need anyone’s help, butsomeone else in the community relies on our strength in numbers.Believe it or not, the ten-question census is not just a bit of tediousbureaucracy, but an important chance to be an active citizen, a signalto politicians and leaders in the U.S. of our untapped power.

It is very important therefore to fill out the questionnaire from thecensus bureau. Let’s be counted.

Peter Kourides, in memorial He is usually praised as the capable attorney who served the

church well for six decades without getting paid a penny. And thatis indeed a remarkable contribution. But he was more, much more,than that. Peter Kourides was humble, kind, private, and wise man,an advocate of moderation, of conciliation, a calming voice -especially in times of great turbulence in the community - a closefriend and advisor to three Archbishops, but especially, to Iakovos,a friend and confidante for more than three decades.

There he would be, always on the sidelines, except when he hada role to play, an argument to make, as at the clergy-laityassemblies, where he would be up front, in the firing line, arguingmethodically and with great knowledge about policies that Iakovoswas supporting, or fending off attacks from angry attendees.

Poker-faced, always impeccably-dressed, Peter Kourides gavemeaning and importance to anything he would touch.

In his long and unpretentious life, he did honor to his church,his community, his country and his family.

May his memory be eternal.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

LOGOS

SANTA FE, N.M. - O’Canada.Poor Canada. That’s right, youdon’t “Own the Podium” afterall. Actually, if any country canrightly make such a claim, it isGreece, the “cradle” of theOlympic movement. Yet,except for the fact that “TeamGreece,” by tradition, marchedfirst in the Opening Ceremonyin Vancouver, even NBC veteranhost and sportscaster, BobCostas, a Greek American,probably doesn’t rememberthat Greece is competing inthese Olympic Winter Games!Indeed, since 1936, when it firstcompeted in the Winter Games,Greece has never won amedal—any medal. And sad asit may be, it is not a medal con-tender in Vancouver. Withseven athletes competing, fourmen and three women, youdon’t hear the Greeks complain-ing, as do many Canadians, thatthey don’t “own the podium!”

Let’s face it, the Canadian“Own the Podium” program ini-tiative, while perhaps well-in-tended, has been misdirectedfrom the start. (Yes, believe itor not, it is an official Canadianprogram; see: www.ownthep-odium2010.com). And, yes, itis so “un-Canadian,” which isone of the reasons thatsponsors, including the federalgovernment, thought that iswas needed. How canCanadian athletes compete suc-cessfully in the Olympic Gamesif they are too polite, reserved,and considerate of others? Towin medals, they needed to be“pumped up” and encouragedto be at least as aggressive andattitudinally-focused as theiropponents was the line of think-ing. No more stereotypingCanadians as the “nice guy” inthe competition.

Now, about half-way into theWinter Games, many Canadianathletes, along with their sup-porters and sponsors, seem tohave taken the “Own the Podi-um” mantra so much to heartthat they now feel obliged toapologize for not winning amedal—a kind of tapping intotheir inner Canadian! Paradox-ically, such behavior may be anunintended by-product of thewell-intended program. Andinstead of focusing on

advancing theOlympic “spirit,”we observe athleteshiding from themedia in apparentshame and hearterms, albeit some-what in jest, like“Black Sunday”after the USA upsetCanada in ice hock-ey (even thoughthe tournament isnot yet over).

In my book,“Prisoners of OurThoughts”, I intro-duce a principlecalled “dereflec-tion,” that is, the ability that weall have to shift our focus of at-tention (especially to thingsthat are positive and that reallymatter). Let’s apply thisprinciple to the Winter Gamesin Vancouver.

First, let’s all thank Canadafor being such a gracious host ofthe 2010 Winter Olympics. Ifyou’ve watched any of theevents, including the OpeningCeremony, the experience thusfar has been both memorableand meaningful.

As a country with so manyoutstanding athletes, it also hasonly demonstrated that it hasstepped up to the plate—andpodium—with dignity andhonor against all kinds of com-petitors, including little Greece.Who can forget the historicalperformance and inspiring storyof Canada’s moguls skier,Alexandre Bilodeau, who is nowa household name across the na-tion as the first gold medalist ontheir homeland. And eventhough he is not “Greek,” theheadline of one of Vancouver’sdailies named him “Alexandrethe Great,” a clear reference towhere the Olympic podiumreally belongs. For the first timeever, Canadians got to hear “OCanada” played in Olympic tri-umph on home territory.

And most recently, two otherCanadian athletes, Tessa Virtueand Scott Moir, also madehistory by dominating and win-ning the gold medal in ice danc-ing, the first time that a non-Eu-ropean team won this eventsince the Winter OlympicGames were started. And even

though they obvi-ously stood at thehighest levelduring the awardsceremony, in trueOlympic fashion, itwas also clear thatTessa and Scottdidn’t “own” thepodium but“shared” it honor-ably and withgrace along withtheir silver andbronze rivals.

Indeed, therehas been plenty ofevidence that the“spirit” of the

Olympic Games is alive andwell in Vancouver. Mostnotable to me is the way thatmany athletes deal with theirperformance, be it great or not-so-great, as well as how theytreat their fellow competitors.Take the snowboarding compe-tition as a case in point. BothTeam USA’s Shaun White, goldmedalist in the men’s group,and Australian gold medalist,Torah Bright, in the women’sgroup, demonstrated extraordi-nary gifts in the way that theyapproached their craft and howthey related to their colleaguesduring the competition. Alwaysin good spirits anddemonstrating camaraderie,they were quick to show respectboth for their sport and, win or“lose,” for each other.

Much the same thing can besaid for athletes in the skiingcompetition. For instance, theirmedal accomplishmentsnotwithstanding, Team USA’sLindsey Vonn (and her uniquerelationship with Germany’sMaria Riesch), Julia Mancuso,and Bode Miller have demon-strated the very best of theOlympic spirit before, during,and after the competition. Andwho can forget either ApoloOhno, whose countless run-inswith the South Koreans havemade him a “poster child” forunkind abuse, or figure skaterEvan Lysacek, whose Greek tiesare a special source of pride?None of these amazing athleteswould ever pretend to “own thepodium,” no matter how greattheir performance may be onany given day.

Such is the Olympic spirit. Afew months ago in this very col-umn I wrote about the originalmeaning of the Olympics (TNH,11/7-13/2009) in anticipationof the XXI Olympic WinterGames in Vancouver. I under-scored that to the ancientGreeks, the ultimate goal was tobe the best in all aspects of life,including sport and athletics. Itwas therefore considered one ofthe greatest honors to win a vic-tory in the Olympic Games; im-portantly, athletes competed forhonor, not for material goods.

The Greek Olympic Gameswere held every four years from776 BC to 393 AD. It wasn’tuntil the late 19th century A.D.that the so-called “modern”Olympic movement began,which brought back the idealsof Olympism and gave us whatis now one of the most univer-sally recognized events andsymbols of peace in the world.As we watch the 2010 WinterOlympic Games continue to un-fold in Vancouver, let us not for-get the following fundamentalprinciples in the Olympic Char-ter:

“Olympism is a philosophyof life, exalting and combiningin a balanced whole thequalities of body, will, andmind. Blending Sport with cul-ture and education, Olympismseeks to create a way of lifebased on the joy found in effort,the educational value of goodexample, and respect for uni-versal fundamental ethicalprinciples.”

Against this backdrop, andrecognizing that no one “ownsthe podium,” not even Greeceor the Greeks, let the “spirit” ofthe Olympic Games continue!

Dr. Pattakos, author of Prison-ers of Our Thoughts, is cur-rently working on a new bookon how to live a meaningfullife inspired by Greek culture(see: www.theopaway.com).His column is publishedweekly in The National Her-ald. Readers may contact himwith questions, comments,and/or suggestions for topicsat: [email protected] or visit hisweb site: www.prisonerso-fourthoughts.com.

No One ‘Owns the Podium’ in the True Olympic Spirit

COMMENTARY


NEW YORK - I'll confess thatwhen I’m away from the city fortoo long, I begin to miss it.Upon my return trips from mysporadic visits to Greece, I’lloften look outside the airplanewindow at landing and see thehumid skies of New York andthink, 'home, sweet home.' Thesides of apartment buildingsadorned with graffiti, thick,cloudy smoke that fills the skiesand random scattered wastehave become almost staplecharacteristics of many areas ofthe five boroughs - familiar andcomfortable scars on what in aparallel universe, could havebeen a flawless surface. Butthose scars are slowly becomingmore than just ugly sights - theyare beginning to transform intodeep wounds that contribute toa gradual demise of our globalenvironment.

A recent CathedralFellowship lecture hosted byHoly Trinity Cathedral in Man-hattan brought to light the reli-gious and spiritual duties Or-thodox Christians have as

citizens of the world in an eco-logical context - why, as faithfulpersons, we should care aboutthe environment's status andhow we can incorporate, in abalanced way, daily lifestylechanges that would essentiallybenefit the greater good. I com-mend religious leaders in thecommunity for pushing for suchchange, for applying a perspec-tive with ancient roots to mod-

ern, real life issues. Morelectures of this nature wouldperhaps inject the public with adifferent understanding aboutwhat it means to be one withthe land we too frequentlyabuse to our advantage.

At the same time, we have toacknowledge thatunfortunately, even among themost moral of souls that walk

the planet, society as a whole isnot educated enough on issuesconcerning the environment tounderstand how their actionsdirectly affect it. In the past, Iblamed my laziness when Iwould discreetly throw a Styro-foam coffee cup out the passen-ger side of a car window andjustified it with a thought that agarbage truck would drive bylater on in the day to clean upmy mess. When I went to a col-lege paved with acres of grass,home to a foggy yet picturesquepond and trees tall enough toreach the sky, my perspectivechanged; if a piece of paper fellfrom my pocket, I’d be sure topick it up and dispose of it prop-erly. Back in my urbanBrooklyn neighborhood,dreams of a greener world seemhazier.

I encourage the Church topromote more of their “Green”thinking to our school-agedchildren, but even more so tothe parents who raise them andoffer a model for behavior inyears to come. Churches, tooshould practice what isadamantly preached bychucking the convenient yet

non-biodegradable eating uten-sils, tablecloths and drinkingcups that are so often utilizedduring special functions and re-ceptions. (This is not a cheapendeavor, especially duringtough economic times, but aworthwhile one). Our privateschools should certainlyconsider ridding their kitchensof Styrofoam plates and shouldencourage recycling at the sameage a kid learns his or herABC’s.

We can reverse ozone deple-tion if we do our part to protectit as if we are protecting thebodies we have been blessedwith. As a country (as wishfulthis may seem) we need to takea good look at how the oil com-panies and other toxicindustries impact the air webreathe (as well as depletewhat’s in the pockets in ourjeans). After sorting out otherdifficulties, perhaps Athenscould take a clue as well.

It’s hard to smell the roseswhen the roses can no longerbloom.

Contact Eleni at [email protected].

Captain Planet is a Fallen Hero, Who Will Save Us Now?

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by Dr. ALEXPATTAKOS


TO OUR READERS

The National Herald welcomes letters from its readers intended forpublication. They should include the writer’s name, address, andtelephone number and be addressed to: The Editor, The NationalHerald, 37-10 30th Street, long island City, Ny 11101. letters canalso be faxed to (718) 472-0510 or e-mailed [email protected]. we reserve the right to editletters for publication and regret that we are unable to acknowledgeor return those left unpublished. CHrySANTHi liriSTiS / SPECiAl TO THE NATiONAl HErAlD

“...society as a whole isnot educated enough onissues concerning theenvironment tounderstand how theiractions directly affect it...”

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010 11

SCHAEFFERSTOWN, PENN. -When it comes to comedy, polit-ical satirists sometimes need totake a step back and let politi-cians just be themselves,because the politicians oftencome up with the funniest ma-terial without even trying. TakeSarah Palin, for instance,during her keynote speech atthe Tea Party Convention inTennessee. In the brief questionand answer session that fol-lowed, when Palin was asked toidentify the most important is-sues facing our country, sheconspicuously looked into thepalm of her hand for answers.

Virtually everyoneconcluded that Palin must havehad some key buzzwordswritten on her palm and thatshe glanced down to make surethat she wouldn’t forget to men-tion them. That in itself isneither shocking nor even un-usual, considering that fordecades politicians – Democratsand Republicans alike – havebeen delivering entire speechesby reading the words from ateleprompter discretely embed-ded inside their podium. Whatturned the matter into an eventof endless fodder for herpolitical opponents and the latenight comedy circuit was thatthis happened to Sarah Palin,specifically. Already portrayedas a bumbling simpleton,nothing could have reinforcedthat profile any better thanPalin having to look at cheatnotes in order to identify thenation’s most pressing issues.Actually, the information onPalin’s hand served more as areminder than an answer to aspecific question. No matter,the damage had been done: apicture, after all, is worth athousand words. By contrast, ifa public figure reputed to haveextensive knowledge ofcomplex issues – perhaps Bill

Clinton or Dick Ch-eney – were toglance at his ownhand, or at anotepad, during aninterview, it proba-bly would not beconsidered such abig deal.

The informationon Palin’s handmay be interpretedas cheat notes be-cause she is whoshe is, but thatworks both ways.If Palin were toread a biographyabout renowned socialistEugene Debs, for instance, noone would suspect that a personwith such solid conservativecredentials would possibly beusing the book as a blueprintabout how to govern. If Presi-dent Obama were reading sucha book, however, his critics – al-ready insistent that he is benton forcing socialism upon us –would be outraged. Conversely,when a Democrat (Harry Reid)says that Obama, as a light-skinned black man without a“Negro dialect” is electable, hegets a pass, but a Republican(Trent Lott) would be brandeda racist.

When President Nixon, astaunch anticommunist, visitedChina, he was praised for hisdiplomacy. Had a Democraticpresident made that trip, hewould have been labeled aCommunist sympathizer. Thenagain, Nixon became synony-mous with secret recordingsand obsessive executivecontrol, although PresidentFranklin Roosevelt’s methodsmade Nixon’s almost pale bycomparison.

Turning to bleeps, gruff Re-publicans, like Nixon and Ch-eney, are synonymous with ex-pletives. But who would ever

imagine thatc h a r m i n gDemocrats likeClinton andObama have alsouttered a litany ofprofanities? As forblunders, the deckis almost entirelystacked against Re-publicans. WhenGeorge W. Bushtalked about“putting food onyour families” (in-stead of “food onthe table for yourfamilies”), he was

called stupid. But when Obamasaid that he had been to 57states, he simply made amistake. When Bushpronounces the word nuclear as“noo-ku-lar,” he is ridiculed, butpeople forget that the cerebralnuclear physicist turned presi-dent, Jimmy Carter,pronounces it the same way,too. And when Obama’s devo-tees become giddy that he wentto Harvard (“just like Kennedy!”they swoon) they forget thatBush graduated from Harvardas well, and earned his under-graduate degree from Yale.

As for law and order both athome and abroad, Republicansare usually credited with beingtough; Democrats are renderedspineless. But even the iconicPresident Reagan pulled ourMarines out of the Middle Eastin the eighties, whereasObama’s hawkish approach todealing with al-Qaeda goeslargely unnoticed. RudyGiuliani gets almost all of thecredit – and rightfully so – forhis efforts to bring down crimein New York City when he wasmayor. But people forget Presi-dent Clinton’s efforts in that re-spect on the national level,which resulted in crime havingplummeted from coast to coast.

Regrettably, party-basedstereotypes about cheat notes,bleeps, and blunders are a dom-inant theme that shapes themodern media. Generally,Democrats are perceived asweak-kneed know-it-alls, cow-ering before their enemiesabroad, and arrogantly contentto allow government to controlall aspects of domestic life. Re-publicans, in turn, areportrayed as trigger-happyyokels; their response to anycrisis is to take out their gunsand shoot – their criticsquipping that they can’t evenspell the word “shoot.”

All of these political predis-positions, quite often misplacedand unfounded, obstruct accu-racy in reporting. Rather thanpresenting the facts in an even-handed manner, contemporarymedia charlatans, oftendisguised as objectivejournalists, shape newscoverage based on these mis-perceptions, in order to perpet-uate their own agendas. Itwould be refreshing indeed forAmericans of all political stripesto realize that the vast majorityof Democrats are not radicalleftists, and the vast majority ofRepublicans are not dumb.Maybe, then, Democrats will betaken to task when they readcues from their palms, too, or atleast Sarah Palin will beforgiven for having done so.

Constantinos E. Scaros is apublished author and expert inAmerican presidential history,with a background in AncientGreek history. He has taughthistory, political science, andlaw at New York University,and served as an AcademicDean at two other colleges inNew York. He welcomes com-ments at his blog atscaros.blogspot.com

Cheat Notes, Bleeps and Blunders in American Politics

The Persianscouldn’t do it, northe Turks, Franks,Venetians, Nazis oranybody else whothought they coulddefeat Greece andrule the countryforever, even ifthey successfullyinvaded and stayedfor anywhere froma few years to 400or so. But now theGreeks have foundan enemy theycan’t defeat. In thewords of the Amer-ican cartoon character Pogo: Itis us. After saving Western civi-lization against invading hordes2,500 years ago, Greece nowthreatens to topple it, in Europeat least - if only economically.Its 300 billion euros ($412billion deficit) has threatenedthe survival of the country,Prime Minister George Papan-dreou said, and a default onloans could also bring down the16 countries of the Eurozonewhich, like Greece, use theeuro.

It didn’t help that the gov-ernment, for decadesapparently, lied to the EuropeanUnion about the real state of itsfinances and used dubiousswaps with the barely-ethicalNew York investment bankGoldman, Sachs to hide thetruth, a state of affairs that ledthe New York Times to declare:“There are lies, there aredamned lies. And there areGreek statistics.” That shouldbe enough to make Greeks hidetheir heads in shame at whatthey have all let their countrybecome. It happened becauseeveryone knew the governmentwas corrupt but didn’t care aslong as they could benefit, fromnepotism to life-long no-heavylifting no-work jobs as civil ser-vants, to offering and acceptingbribes, to cheating on taxes sothat only the middle-class wasleft to carry the weight.

To save Greece – he said –Papandreou’s austeritymeasures include freezing orcutting workers pay, raising tax-es, and holding the line on pen-sions and lifting the retirementage. The EU wants deeper cutsand will monitor the booksevery month to prevent moremythical Greek figures from be-ing sent to Brussels. You’d thinkthat would have Greeks, notori-

ous for striking at the drop of ahat, rioting in the streets, butthey’re rolling over and takingit. A February 10 protest fizzledand others seem likely to do so.A survey showed 66% arewilling to go along with the life-changing cuts, maybe becausethey think everyone else willcarry the burden and they cankeep cheating. The EU said itwould not bail out Greece, butnow Germany is reportedly be-hind a scheme to provideGreece with from 20-25 billioneuros ($27.2-34 billion,) withthe other 26 other EU countries– some in almost in as badshape as Greece – to share thecost, based on how muchmoney they have in theEuropean Central Bank. Bail-outs are prohibited under thetreaty which formed the EU, buttreaties and constitutions areadvisory for politicians andbinding on the people who pay.The aid would be loans andguarantees, and Germanywould kick in four billion euros,or $5.4-6.8 billion, cheapenough since they still oweGreece reparations from WorldWar II and refuse to pay.

Greece’s deficit is 12.7%which means the countryspends more than it raises intaxes. The government this yearmust bring in or cut the equi va -lent in spending of about 53 bil-lion euros, or $72 billion,sucking the blood out of the

middle-class of acountry of 11 mil-lion. What’s beengoing on is puretheatre of the ab-surd, so in thatspirit, here’s someideas for Greece tocover the debt. Youcan’t be moreridiculous than re-ality in Greecenow.

• Let McDon-ald’s build aGolden Arch overthe Acropolis.Price: $1 billion.

Lest you scoff, a play in towncalled Mana Ellada shows twocorrupt politicians (is that re-dundant?) selling off the Acrop-olis to businessmen to turn itinto a casino. The buyers turnout to be priests, parodying ascandal involving monks andgovernment officials whoworked out a deal to enricheach other with a land swap.The co-author nailed it bysaying Greeks were in favor ofhigher taxes – as long as otherpeople paid them

• Lease the 227 Greekislands to Turkey, which thencan’t invade them, or thehighest bidder. Celebrities,politicians, professionalathletes, bankers and the richcan use them for privateenclaves and be just likeOnassis, exclude the unwashedmasses they don’t like to rubshoulders with, and they wouldbe willing to pay whatever ittakes since they have the moneyand use loopholes to keep evad-ing taxes and putting theirmoney in Swiss banks. Price: $1billion annually for the hotspots such as Mykonos,Santorini, Zakynthos, Corfu,Andros, Skiathos, Skopelos, Hy-dra, Spetses, Rhodes, Crete andLesbos. Even with varyingprices you could probably get$30 billion annually and keepthe poor and the workers wherethey belong

• Since prostitution is legal,but barely regulated, requireprostitutes to give out receiptsfor their services and tax them.You can start with the 300Members of Parliament who doto citizens what street walkersdo to customers, but don’t kissthem first. There are about1,000 legal prostitutes, but asmany as 20,000 who aren’t reg-istered, mainly human

trafficking victims and refugeesfrom Albania, Africa, andeastern Europe, which Greeksdon’t consider as human beings,so they could be forced to get li-censes as pets. Annual intake:At least $1 billion, with a slidingscale for more degrading acts,such as kissing a politician onthe lips

• Tow cars parked on side-walks and enforce driving laws,such as wearing seatbelts andhelmets for motorcycle drivers.There’s about four million regis-tered cars, many on thesidewalks every day, so thatought to bring in another $1 bil-lion or so.

If that doesn’t work, letChina, which has the money,nationalize government busi-nesses and run them. Thatwould wake up workersbecause when China says headswill roll it’s not a figure ofspeech. Or just sell the countryto McDonald’s and let them callit McGreece.

Mr. Dabilis was the New Eng-land editor for United Press In-ternational in Boston, and astaff writer and assistantmetropolitan editor at theBoston Globe for 17 years be-fore relocating to Greece. Hiscolumn is published weekly inthe National Herald. Readersinterested in contacting himcan send e-mails to [email protected].

Golden Arches over Acropolis?How Greece Can Pay its Debts

LETTER FROM ATHENS

by ANDYDABILIS


WASHINGTON, D.C. - TheGreeks usually manage to causeoutsize crises. With a GDPequivalent only to about 4% ofthe euro zone, Greece by itselfthreatens the very basis of Eu-rope. The Greek crisis hasforced the leaders of France andGermany to ponder whatexactly they expect Europe tobe. Is the European Union aprecursor to a United States ofEurope or is it a club for goodtime Charlies? Greece, theyreason, got itself into this messand why should Sarkozy andMerkel risk voter reaction bybailing the bums out? Greece,they argue, should sort out itsown house. Yet the plain fact isthis simple: if the Greek Gov-ernment goes belly-up almostall economists and bankers be-lieve they will take down therest of the Eurozone with them.

Why would an economywith only four percent of theGDP of the Eurozone have sucha catastrophic effect? The an-swer is simple: the Greeks arenot the only ones in trouble,only the most notorious and themost brazen. It is the fact thatsuccessive Greek Governmentslied and cheated their waythrough the last three decadesof EU membership that has an-gered its EU partners, andrightly so.

The so-called PIIGS(Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece,Spain) all have debt loads ex-ceeding one hundred percent ofGDP. The Greeks are actuallybetter off than a number ofother Europeans. Greek banks,chafing under the tight controlof the Greek Central Bank nevergot into the derivatives market;the Germans, French, Italiansand British did. No Greek banksneeded to be rescued by nation-alization as in the UK, Belgium,Germany, and elsewhere. In2010 Greek banks will see theirprofits decline, but as a logicalresult of the recession, not be-cause of catastrophic losses as inother countries. Officially,Greece has 9.5%unemployment, and Spain has21%. Additionally, Greece’shousing market never reallyburst, owing largely to the factthat Greece has an 85% homeownership rate; the highestamong advanced economies,and its speculative residentialreal estate market is largely con-fined to second-homes. TheSpanish economy, on the otherhand, is trying to dig out from amind-boggling collapsed realestate bubble. So how didGreece get here?

Indeed, adding to themystery, Greece’s deficit is notreally 12.7% of GDP. The newlyelected Government includedsome items that shouldn't havebeen included in deficit calcula-tions for two reasons: todiscredit the outgoing Govern-ment even further and to maxi-mize their "achievement" of low-ering the deficit to 8.7% of GDPin 2010 and to below 3% in2013. In fact, if we try to factorin the ingenuity of Greece’s tax-

evading citizensand a blackmarket that somefear is almost 30%of the total econo-my, then Greece’sdebt ratio may beless than 10%!Hallelujah!

So the countrywill not gobankrupt. Al-though theliability side ofthe Government'sbalance sheetlooks bad, the as-set side, which islargely invisible to bondholdersand credit rating agencies, isstellar and will be used, if re-quired, to balance the booksand lower the country's debt.Years of Government interven-tion have left the public sectorwith vast assets, not only realestate but also corporate, whichthey can sell off, further retreat-ing from economic activity – avirtue in itself.

But Greece’s crisis is devas-tatingly real. Only, it is afinancial sector crisis and not aneconomic crisis. And since Ger-many and France cannot letGreece go under lest thebankers thereafter savage theeven more dangerouslyexposed PIIGS, and the UK, thewhole euro experiment willprobably not implode on our ac-count. We should worry, howev-er, that Sarkozy and Merkelhave gotten in so deep lying totheir publics that they may beafraid to tell them the truth.

It would be a pity, however,if the Greek Government got afree pass. Greece’s currentcrisis lays bare her society’s fun-damental political, financial,and yes, cultural problems.These are problems of endemiccorruption and a lazy politicalculture ushered in by the ex-pansion of the Greek state inthe 1980s. It is ironic, orperhaps fitting, that the respon-sibility now rests with GeorgePapandreou to begin rightingthe ship of state since the rot be-gan with the first Andreas Pa-pandreou Government in 1982,which initiated sweeping na-tionalizations, expanded thecivil service and introducedlarge-scale corruption. He mustuse the crisis to make reforms inthe way Greece is governed andchallenge the national malaise.First and foremost, Papandreoumust lead an anti-corruptionCrusade. Greece is not the onlycountry in the Eurozone thatsuffers from high levels of cor-ruption and nepotism (e.g.,Italy). But a well-publicizedcampaign to fight corruption,hopefully coordinated with theNew Democracy leadership,would please investors and re-store Greece as one of the goodcountries in Europe with whichdo business.

The principal element infighting corruption, restoringconfidence and reducing thedeficit can be found in bettertax collection. Papandreou

should reducemarginal rates, im-pose the “livingstandards test” andcollect taxes with avengeance. To helpcollection, theGreek Governmentcould offer a one-year tax amnesty al-lowing scofflaws topay their taxes with-out penalty andthen impose brutalpenalties on thosewho failed to pay af-ter the grace period.

As an essentialelement in fighting corruption,Papandreou must drastically re-duce the size the bureaucracy.In 1980 Greek debt totaledeuros 1.06 billion and the GreekGovernment employed 400,000civil servants. In 2007, Greeknational debt reached 234.8 bil-lion Euros (probably under-counted) and the Governmentemployed 1,050,000 souls; atenth of the population! Thesheer volume of underpaid andunderemployed civil servants isa basic cause of the small scalebut all pervasive corruptionthat undermines confidenceand inhibits new business. He

need not fire the surplusworkers, simply tell them tostay home or give them jobsthat do not inhibit economic ac-tivity such as picking upgarbage and cleaning out theforests. He could even requirethem to do military service asreservists, but he must get themout of the way!

Removing the obstacles of alarge and corrupt bureaucracywould make it easier for en-trepreneurs to start newbusiness in Greece. Such mea-sures, combined with the sale ofGovernment property wouldnot only generate income butwould attract large-scaleforeign investment.

Papandreou should also seekco-operation with New Democ-racy to reform the pension sys-tem. The easiest and leastpainful method would be astaged but significant increasein retirement ages.

Not all of Greece’s problemsare of its own making. France

and Germany were co-conspira-tors in Greek Government de-ception. Perhaps the most glar-ing example came in 2000when then Prime MinisterSimitis applied for entry to theEurozone. France and Germanyhad serious doubts aboutGreece’s qualifications. Butthen, Simitis agreed theHellenic Air Force would pur-chase 120 Franco-German man-ufactured “Typhoon” Eurofight-ers and suddenly Paris andBerlin realized that Greece wasin fact qualified! European self-righteousness needs to be takendown a peg or two.

This event also illustrates an-other problem beyond Greekcontrol. No one doubts thatTurkey represents a militarythreat to Greece and to Cyprusthat drives a Greek defensebudgets higher, as a percentageof GDP, than any otherindustrial country. The EUcould solve this problemovernight if it guaranteed thefrontiers of two EU members,Greece and Cyprus, and sta-tioned a few hundred token Eu-ropean troops along the EvrosRiver, in the Aegean Islands andalong the Cyprus Green Line.This could easily take a full per-centage point or more off thedebt to GDP ratio almostovernight.

In short, Greece haspotential. Papandreou has anopportunity to make himself asfamous as his illustrious grand-father and overcome theburden of his father’s economicmismanagement. The price ofsuch greatness could be paid atthe polls, but more likely it willbe paid in the short term on thestreets, where Greeks like to gowhen they strike. But perhapsfor the first time, even the pop-ulist PASOK party and the para-lyzed New Democracy knowthat neither of them will holdpower for longer than a fewmonths if the root problems arenot addressed; problems biggerthan any party. If Papandreoufinds the will, he will makeprogress, and Greece could be-come an engine of growth andprosperity.

The Hon. Ambassador Therosis president of the U.S.-QatarBusiness Council. He servedin the U.S. Foreign Service for36 years, mostly in the MiddleEast, and was American Am-bassador to Qatar from 1995to 1998. He also directed theState Department’s Counter-Terrorism Office, and holdsnumerous U.S. Governmentdecorations.

Let’s Not Get Hysterical - Greek Problems Can be Fixed

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by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS


by AMB. PATRICK N.THEROS


Why would an economywith only four percent ofthe GDP of the Eurozonehave such a catastrophiceffect?Views of the Acropolis are the quintessential images of Greece.

Will she have to sell association with its icon to the highest bidder?

EurOkiNiSSi

By Gary ScharrerHouston Chronicle

AUSTIN, Texas - About twice amonth Tom Suehs finds the per-fect place to get away from thepressures facing anyone whoruns the state's largest agencywith 54,000 employees underhis watch and millions ofTexans who depend on vital ser-vices including Medicaid, foodstamps and health insurance forlow-income children.

Suehs, the Texas Health andHuman Services chief, headsout to the Holy Archangels

Greek Orthodox monastery inthe Texas Hill Country, wherehe cooks for the monks, repairsbroken toilets and generallyvolunteers wherever they needhelp. “I'm out here as ‘Tom thevolunteer,'?” Suehs, 58, said re-cently while choppingvegetables for a Sunday meal.

“It's relaxing. Nobody's outhere to bother me. Nobody's ask-ing questions — ‘What do youthink about this? Can you makethis decision?' It's tranquil. It'sreinvigorating, and I like cook-ing,” the commissioner saidwhile preparing paella, a meal of

rice, vegetables and seafood.“There's no pressures, no stress.”

The monastery is in the hillsnear Kendalia, about 45 milesnorth of downtown San Antonio.The main church (Katholikon) isa basilica-style building, with theinterior featuring traditionalhand-painted iconography,woodcarvings and a large chan-delier with candles that is lit andswung during church feasts.

Construction of themonastery is ongoing, with resi-dences and an infirmary inprogress. Asked when the con-struction projects will be

finished, and the monks laugh-ingly give a perpetualprojection of “two years.”

In his day job, Suehsoversees an agency with a $30billion-a-year budget and about1,000 health and humanservices offices across Texas.

The eight monks who maketheir home in the monasteryinitially were not aware theirvolunteer friend occupied suchan influential job in state gov-ernment. “It was a shock forus,” said Father Joseph. “I justsaw him as a brother in Christ.That's all he is. That's how weknew him.”

NO TV, NO INTERNETRank and status don't mean

much for anyone entering thequiet grounds of the monastery,where there is no television orInternet access. “You don'tbring your day job. You don'tbring your position or degrees.All of that falls away at thegate,” said Father Joseph, whoentered the monastery 12 yearsago after a career in the restau-rant business in South Africa.“People come here, and every-body is equal. It's an honor tohave somebody like (Suehs) be-cause you have to humble your-self to be able to do that.” Forsomeone like Suehs to performroutine chores, including roadrepair and crushing grapes forwinemaking “means there'ssomething sweet about you,”Father Joseph said. “You cometo a place where your pull hasno pull here.”

About twice a year, Suehspulls volunteer duty at the HolyMonastery of St. Paraskevi inWashington, Texas.

Suehs grew up as a RomanCatholic in Castroville. His par-ents instilled in him the value ofpublic service. Both weremayors of the town.

The Roman Catholic and Or-thodox Church split overchurch doctrine in 1054. Suehsdecided to make the transitionto Greek Orthodoxy after hismarriage 24 years ago.

“You marry a Greek, youmarry everybody,” he said.

His dinner menus for themonks and a dozen or so

Sunday evening visitors ofteninclude gumbo and chickenfried tuna.

“He makes good Southerndishes. Everything he makes isdelicious,” Father Michael said.

FORGET THE RAT RACEThrough Suehs, the monks

found a supplier of Californiagrapes they use for makingwine. Their first attempt a fewyears ago turned into winehardly worth drinking. Themonks hope to eventually get alicense to sell their wine. Theirown modest vineyard remains awork in progress.

Suehs' world as commissioner

revolves around paperwork, con-tracts and evaluations. Part ofthe job requires him to create avision for health and human ser-vices for Texans and to make acase for legislative support.

“You don't have time in theday-to-day (routine). When Icome out here, I'm relaxed.There's no rat race,” he said ofthe ideas that strike him whileat the monastery. “I'm more fo-cused when I get back.I can'timagine doing the commission-er's job at the pace seven days aweek, and it's pretty much aseven days a week job,” Suehssaid. “Here, there's a respite.”

By Fernanda Santos The New York Times

Stavros Pando will tell youthat the ideal spot to plant a figtree in New York City is in thecorner of a walled-off backyardwhere the walls serve as buffersfrom the cold winter winds. Buthe lives in Astoria, Queens, andfinding such a spot there can bechallenging. Though the neigh-borhood has plenty ofbackyards, few are walled andmany have been paved to makeroom for parking, a prized com-modity.

Mr. Pando has a garage be-hind his house on 27th Streetand a fig tree about seven feettall on a tiny patch of dirt outfront, thoroughly exposed tothe elements.

An uncle planted it there be-fore Mr. Pando left the north-western mountains of Greece in1993 to join him in New York.Mr. Pando says the tree does notlike winter. So every year, afterthe last of its leaves have fallenbut before the ground hasfrozen, Mr. Pando, his wife andhis son wrap it in blankets andplastic bags.

“In winter, tree sleep,” Mr.Pando, 72, said in broken En-glish, closing his eyes as if to re-inforce his point.

As long as there have beenimmigrants from Greece andItaly in Astoria, there have beenfig trees — they dot virtually ev-ery block from Ditmars Boule-vard to 36th Avenue, betweenthe East River and SteinwayStreet, in the neighborhood’ssouthern European quadrangle.The trees are native to theMediterranean region, where

winters are decidedly milderthan in New York, but the figtrees of Astoria, like true NewYorkers, have proved resilient.

The immigrants planted figtree roots they had smuggledfrom the places they leftbehind, and then cared for thetrees as if they were part of thefamily, carefully wrapping themin the winter to protect themfrom the cold.

From November until maybeApril, the trees look like hastilymade packages of plastic andduct tape, and while they wereonce a common sight, they are arare find these days: peoplehave grown too old, too busy ortoo tired to carry on the tradi-tion.

“If it became too cold, Icould cover right away, butright now, why waste time?”asked Pietro Paolo, 70, a nativeof Campobasso, Italy, whostopped covering the fig tree hehas had for 20 years after it sur-vived a winter uncovered threeyears ago.

From a scientific per spec -tive, covering a fig tree in thewinter has more to do with pro-tecting it from changes in tem-perature, which can be moreharmful than the cold itself,said Todd Forrest, vice pre si -dent for horticulture and livingcollections at the New YorkBotanical Garden. Rainwatercan seep into a tree’s roots andcells, and if the water freezes, itcan rupture the tree’s vascularconnections and potentially killit, he said.

“It’s sort of like a pipe thatbursts if the water inside turnsinto ice,” Mr. Forrest said.

There are two ways to

protect a fig tree from winterweather. One is to bury the treebranches, a strenuous days-long process that requiresslowly bending the trunk. Theother is to wrap it and perhapsplace a garbage can on top ofthe tree for extra protection. Itis the more popular and easier

method, but can still be time-consuming.

Benedetto Randozzo, an im-migrant from Sicily who haslived in Astoria for more than30 years, ties his tree’s branchestogether with rope, squeezingits wide crown.

He wraps the tree in old

blankets (burlap sacks are an-other option) and then covers itin plastic to keep out moistureand prevent mold. He mightalso throw some soil or mulcharound the base of the tree toprotect its roots.

Next door to Mr. Randozzo,four fig trees stand uncovered.

They yield, Mr. Randozzo said,as much fruit in the summer ashis tree, which he has had for26 years.

Casting a disdainful look atthe neighboring trees, he said inItalian, “My tree is Sicilian. It’snot used to the cold.”

The environment forAstoria’s fig trees is not terriblytaxing. Recent New Yorkwinters have tended to be onthe mild side, and the city is aheat island of sorts, surroundedby water and coated in asphaltand concrete, said Marvin P.Pritts, chairman of the horticul-ture department at Cornell Uni-versity.

The trees “might be able tosurvive a typical winter in ourclimate, but they would likelydie in severe weather,” Mr.Pritts said.

Mr. Pando, who was ahistory teacher in Greece and isa retired groundskeeper for theNew York City HousingAuthority, said his uncle, PaulEconom, planted the fig treeoutside his house and taughthim how to wrap it. “My unclesay, ‘Cover tree for winter, covertree for snow, snow dangerous,’” Mr. Pando said.

Last year, Mr. Pando’s wife,Qirjaqica Pando, 72, returnedfrom Greece with a fig tree roothidden in her suitcase. Sheplanted it in a pot that, for now,she keeps inside the house.

Mr. Pando said that comeApril, he will uncover his figtree and plant the growing rootclose by. Then, in November,before winter settles in, Mr.Pando, his wife and his son willwrap both of them in blanketsand plastic bags.

FEATURE12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 27-MARCH 5, 2010

Winter Coats No Longer the Fashion for New York’s Hardy Fig Trees

Greek and Italian immigrants have planted beloved fig trees from the old country all overAstoria, NY, from Ditmars Boulevard to 36th Avenue, between the East River and SteinwayStreet, and beyond. Special care has helped the trees survive in the non-Mediterranean climate.

State Official Finds Peace at Central Texas Monastery

The candles lit by visitors represent their prayers and the questfor peace that drew them to the Holy Archangels Monastery.

There is ongoing construction at the monastery-residences and aninfirmary is in progress, but what has been built is impressive.

Strolling in AthensTourist walk among daisiesand a part of the ancientbuilding of Hadrian's Librarynear Monastiraki square, inAthens, Greece, on Sunday,Feb. 21, 2010. Hadrian's Library was builtby Roman Emperor Hadrianin AD 132 on the north sideof the Acropolis of Athens,immediately north of theRoman Agora. Although the building hasbeen called the "Library" ofHadrian since the early 19thcentury, it is important torealize that it was muchmore than that. The Library of Hadrianprovided the people ofAthens with a new, multi-purpose, public square andcultural center thatcontained a garden, works ofart, a library, and lecturehalls.

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Ocv ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ

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Transcript of Ocv ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ