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TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Hundreds of peo-ple filled the Atrium of theOlympic Tower in Manhattaneager to view the inaugural ex-hibition of the renovated Onas-sis Cultural Center: “Gods andMortals at Olympus: AncientDion, City of Zeus” curated byDr. Dimitrios Pandermalis, Pres-ident of the Acropolis Museum,and comprised of the remark-able finds from his 45 years ofexcavations.

The first visitors after the rib-bon-cutting and reception onMarch 23 who enjoyed a multi-sensory experience of sculpturesglowing with a heavenly lightwhile they were immersed inthe sounds of nature recordedin Dion told those on the longline that it is well worth thewait, and the two-month longrun from March 24 throughJune 18 will be appreciatedboth for the many opportunitiesoffered to busy New Yorkers tovisit, and for those who willwish to see it more than once.

The enthusiasm cascadedfrom the dignitaries to theguests of many backgroundsand nations in attendance – An-thony Papademetriou, Presidentof the Onassis Foundation USA,who was introduced by Execu-

tive Director Amalia Cosmeta-tou, Greek Minister of CultureNikos Filis, Minister of CultureAristides Baltas, and ArchbishopDemetrios of America took turnsat the ribbon cutting ceremonyand the dinner that followedpraising the vision and work ofPandermalis, his colleagues, andthe Onassis foundation staff.

Cosmetatou declared “I amdeeply grateful to the excep-tional team who made this ex-hibition possible.”

At the dinner held in theRainbow Room, Papademetrioupresented an overview of theFoundation, which he said wasestablished 41 years ago withmission of supporting Culture,education, the environment,health, and social solidarity. Heemphasized that the intentionwas help release the creative[energy] in society.

“By taking cultural initia-tives, especially during the lastfew years, we ensure that thevalues which maintain social co-hesion will remain alive and abetter future will indeed be at-tained,” he said.

“Today’s event marks a newera in the era for the OnassisCultural Center in New York,”he continued, “which will have

Hundreds Fill the Olympic Tower for theAuspicious Exhibit’s Awe-Inspiring Debut

By Demetris Tsakas

NEW YORK – Greek-AmericanMariel Voutounou was prepar-ing to board her Delta airlinesreturn flight to New York at thetime of the terrorist attack onBrussels airport. Dr. MarielVoutounou suffered burns andslight injuries and was rushedto a Brussels hospital. The newsof her injury raised the alarmon both sides of the Atlantic andboth her colleagues and superi-ors at the Burke Medical Re-search Institute (BMRI) in WhitePlains, NY, where she has beenworking for the past years, aswell as her parents and familywho live in Cyprus. TNH wasunable to reach Voutounou’s im-mediate family for comment.

Cyprus’ Ministry of ForeignAffairs announced that Dr.Voutounou had traveled toNepal to visit her sister, but didnot offer information as to thecondition of her health. Dr. EricL. Shipp, Scientific and Finan-cial Officer) of the Burke Med-ical Research Institute (BMRI)told TNH that all they know isthat Voutounou has been in-jured, has been sent to a Brus-sels hospital, and that her in-juries are not life-threatening.

Dr. Shipp went on to praiseVoutounou’s rare character andnoted that she is a very promis-ing researcher.

“The entire staff, executives,and employees alike, are pray-ing for her speedy recovery and

Greek-Am.Hurt in theAttacks inBrussels Victim SufferedBurns AwaitingFlight Back to NY

By Constantine SirigosTNH Staff

NEW YORK – She performed inthe Greek folk dance group andwent to Greek school. Her momwas the president of the parishPhiloptochos chapter. Nia Varda-los has a wonderful imaginationbut she did not make up every-thing in My Big Fat Greek Wed-ding – she was there, an eye wit-ness. A fellow survivor.

When the original was re-leased in 2002 it seemed thatGreeks born in America laughedjust a bit more than those from

across the pond, but the moviealso had a strong human touchin addition to the comedic, re-flecting Vardalos’ deep love forher family and passion about herGreek roots.

As for the blockbuster movie’ssequel, which opens in New Yorkon March 25 – buckle up, Toulaand Ian and the Portokalos andMiller clans are back, and it’s go-ing to be another bumpy butfunny ride.

The first movie’s classic lineslike “O Nikos ehi ena katsiki –Niko has a goat” reflected theridiculousness that was foisted

upon us, but the immigrant ex-perience itself, whether we areGreek or Italian, Jewish of Russ-ian, there is something about itthat makes us funny,” she toldThe National Herald.

“We have a foot in bothworlds,” she explained further,but not all immigrants’ childrencreate blockbuster movies, soTNH persisted about what madeher so funny.

“My dad is more of a story-teller funny, and my mom ismore wry funny – she has a keeneye and she’ll just observe some-thing and say something,” she

said.“And I think Greek school

made us funny,” she said, notingthat her teacher’s “sideburns likebrizoles” – lamp chops – “madeus laugh.”WHICH ONE OF YOU IS

NICK?Among her three siblings are

two sisters, Maryanne the elderand Nancy the younger. “Sur-prise, surprise,” TNH inter-rupted: “You’re the middlechild!”

“Right!” she responded. “Nowdoes everything make sense?”

“And guess what my brother’s

name is?” – drum roll: “Nick!”The hilarious scenes in the

movie were not so delightfulwhen she experienced them as achild being raised by her motherDoreen, a bookkeeper and home-maker, and Constantine "Gus"Vardalos, a land developer.

“I remember opening a con-tainer of feta cheese at schooland the entire lunchroom recoil-ing in horror at the smell… I re-member just being confused thatthey would get a boloney sand-wich and I would get a Tupper-

Nia Vardalos Talks to TNH on My Big Fat Greek Wedding Pt 2

With the crowd looking on, the ribbon is cut for the “Gods and Mortals” exhibition in New York.Seen (L-R): Dr. Dimitrios Pandermalis, Greek Education Minister Nikos Filis, Culture MinisterAristides Baltas, Archbishop Demetrios, and Dr. Anthony Papademetriou.

Greece Opens Detention Cntrs. amid Lagging EU-Turkey Migrant DealA migrant boy walks through a puddle in a makeshift refugee camp at the northern Greekborder point of Idomeni, March 24. Conditions in Idomeni, where thousands have been strandedsince the border closed to refugees earlier this month, have steadily deteriorated, exacerbatedby days of rain that have turned the fields into muddy swamps (see related story on page 9).

By Penelope Karageorge

The benefit preview of MyBig Fat Greek Wedding 2 onMarch in Loew’s theater on West68th Street in Manhattanproved a love-in, a laugh-in anda boffo success.

An enthusiastic audience of1100 filmgoers broke into spon-taneous handclapping as Greekmusic opened the film and theywelcomed the original charac-ters into their hearts like oldfriends and family members.

The original Greek Wedding,a low-budget sleeper, producedfor a mere $5 million, was ablockbuster, grossing 368.7 mil-lion worldwide. Nia Vardalosearned an Oscar nomination forher screenplay, and Windex asa cure-all entered our conscious-ness. If the preview’s audience

Preview ofA Big FatSequel

TNH Staff

ASTORIA – As usual, the judgesof the Miss Greek IndependencePageant had very difficult deci-sions to make. The contestants,ranging from 16 to 23 year ofage were exceptional but as al-ways the audience at theStathakion Center was pleasedwith their choice, Maria Exar-chakis, as were the other 13young women who becamefriends, perhaps for a lifetime,during the process.

Petros Galatoulas, the presi-dent of the Federation of Hel-lenic Societies of Greater NewYork, which runs the Pageantand the Greek Parade, smiled ashe crowned the winner and ex-pressed congratulations to allthe contestants.

“They were all intelligent

and pretty,” he told The Na-tional Herald. “I am happy theyall participated…I was also im-pressed with their spirit. Withyoung women like that, onething is certain: Greece will con-tinue to exist here in America.”

Avgerini Catechis, Chair ofthe Culture Committee, said “It’sa beautiful group of girls, justlike the years before.

“What I loved this year wasthat there were so many peoplehere,” said Catechis, whose col-leagues once again had reasonto be proud of their efforts fromthe start of the process to theonstage questions read by StellaAronis in English and DespinaGalatoulas in Greek.

Last year’s winner, ClaudiaGiannakopoulos, presented herfarewell speech before convey-ing the crown to her successor,

who was attending the GreekParade since she was in astroller.

Maria Exarchakis remembersalways being impressed with thegirls in the pretty dresses on thefloat, Miss Greek Independenceand her entourage. “I alwaysthought they were such goodrepresentatives of Greek youth,”she said. “They show how moreinvolved we can be with ourheritage, and she is glad herfriend Peggy Kalimanis, whohad been a contestant, urgedher to do the same.

One of the byproducts of theexperience was the expansionof Exarchakis’ knowledge ofHellenism. “I have learned somuch history I never knew, a lotmore than I learned in Greek

Exarchakis: Miss Grk. Independence

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Republican pres-idential candidate DonaldTrump revealed the names ofhis top foreign policy advisorson March 21 and they includedattorney George Papadopoulos,a global energy expert based inLondon and raised in Chicago.

The team is chaired by Sen-ator Jeff Sessions of Alabamaand Trump said of Papadopou-los, “He’s an oil and energy con-sultant. Excellent guy.”

Papadopoulos directs an in-ternational energy center at theLondon Center of InternationalLaw Practice and holds degreesfrom University College London,DePaul University, and l’Univer-site Catholique de Louvain.

From 2011 to 2015 heworked as a Research Associateat the Hudson Institute, a re-spected conservative think tank.In 2008 he worked as an energyanalyst at the American HellenicInstitute (AHI) in Washington.

The Daily Beast slammedsome of the Trump team andnoted “the remaining Trump ad-visers, Page and Papadopoulos,are virtual unknowns in high-level circles of national securityand foreign policy.”

Papadopoulos writes on hisLinkedIn page: “I have been in-vited to participate in policy andoil and gas conferences in theUnited Arab Emirates, Israel,Qatar, the UK, Greece, Lebanon,Turkey, Cyprus, and Switzer-land. In Washington, DC, I havespoken at the Washington Timesforum on the geopolitics of theenergy trade from the easternMediterranean.”

Papadopulos was an adviserto Ben Carson’s presidentialcampaign. His biography onCarson’s website says Pa-padopoulos “designed the firstever project in Washington, D.C.think-tank history on U.S.,

Trump PlacesGreek EnergyExpert on For.Policy Team

NEW YORK – Dr. SpirosSpireas, Chairman and CEO ofSigmapharm Laboratories, wasselected to serve as a GrandMarshal in the Greek Indepen-dence Parade in New York Cityto be held on April 10, repre-senting the Greek-Americanbusiness community.

Spireas’ selection was an-nounced March 17 at theStathakion Center in Astoria,and was warmly supported.

The Parade will take place onManhattan’s 5th Avenue withNew Democracy leader KyriakosMitsotakis, Congressman JohnSarbanes (MD), and NationalGuardsman Alex Skarlatos, whowas heroic in thwarting a ter-rorist attack on a Paris-boundtrain last year, also to serve asgrand marshals.

Petros Galatoulas, presidentof the Federation of Hellenic So-cieties of Greater New York,stated that New York City MayorBill de Blasio has also been in-vited to participate as a grandmarshal, but had not yet de-cided whether he would accept.He also pointed out that the se-lection of the grand marshals isbased on the qualities of excel-lence, vision, leadership skills,generosity, and heroism, re-flected in the selected individu-als.

“There has been an increasein interest this year, not onlyfrom the Greek-American com-munity, but from Greece as well,because everyone wants to be apart of the greatest celebrationof Hellenism. The eventsplanned before and after the Pa-rade, as well as the conferenceregarding the refugee crisis, en-hance the attraction,” Gala-toulas said.

Referring to Dr. Spireas,Galatoulas noted that “he is notsimply a successful business-man, but also a leader of theCommunity.”

As TNH has reported, Dr.

Dr. Spireas tobe a GrandMarshal inNY Parade

AP PHOTO/DArkO VOJiNOViC

Onassis Center in NY Presents: Gods & Mortals at Olympus

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TNH/COSTAS BEJ

two aspects, its renovation…andnew leadership, led by AmaliaCosmetatou and Maria Seretifollowing in the able footstepsof Ambassador Loucas Tsilas.”

Speaking to the press, earlierin the week, he acknowledgedthe role of the Foundation’sBoard members who supportedthe renovation of the Center andits transformation into “a stateof the art, museum-qualityspace.”

Papademetriou, in turn, waspraised from the podium andamong the guests for his visionand leadership.

Papademetriou spotlightedanother new initiative, the Cen-ter’s annual Festival of Arts and

Ideas. He discussed the inau-gural theme “Narcissus Now:The Myth Reimagined,” and em-phasized that “the concept of in-dividualism was a challengeeven” in Ancient Greece, longbefore the advent of the selfie.

Expressing how pleased hewas with the first exhibitionsince the renovation, he saidthat the aim was “to the experi-ence and the feel of the place.You almost feel like you are inDion.”

He said visitors should notmiss the exceptional video byKonstantinos Arvanitakis, whichcombines fascinating scenes ofthe discovery, preparation, andinstallation of the excavation’sdiscoveries with breathtakingvistas of cloud swept Olympus

and the Dion environs. “You see them getting the

marble sculptures out of thesoil,” where they were coveredwith dirt, and then see thecleaning and installation processthat culminated in the wonder-ful artworks the guests enjoy to-day.

Pandermalis, who is Directorof Excavations at Dion onMount Olympus and Professorof Archaeology at the AristotleUniversity of Thessaloniki, toldTNH “this is a great day for Dionbecause it is making its first ap-pearance in New York…I believethat presenting the artifactalong with the physical environ-ment… it gives provides an im-portant dimension for the exhi-bition and its special objects.”

Pandermalis was verypleased to note that the workinvolved the residents of Dion,who participated in the excava-tions and celebrated the discov-eries with the archaeologists.

He is especially pleased topresent numerous objects thatwill fire the imaginations ofyoung people, including thosethat reveal something of theeveryday lives of the people wholived at Dion centuries ago.There are door keys, and tools,writing implements, and glassvessels.”

The exhibition, which dis-plays the findings from a singleexcavation of the area aroundthe Sanctuary of Zeus in thefoothills of Mount Olympus –mosaics, sculptures, jewelry, ce-ramics, coins, glass, and imple-ments dating from the tenthcentury BC to the fourth cen-tury, AD – offers a unique andmoving vista of ancient Greecethat reveals the interaction ofpeople, nature and the divineand illuminates the cultural mir-acle known as Ancient Greece.

Each guest will have fa-vorites, but the biggest impres-sions will be made by the ma-jestic statue of Zeus, named“Ipsistos Dias – Highest or Heav-enly Zeus – the King of the godswhose statue is the first encoun-tered by visitors, and the specu-

lar mosaic of the Epiphany ofDionysus rising from the seathat dominates – but only barely– the space it shares with a re-markable collection of four Stoicphilosophers.

A statue of Isis in the showillustrates how the gods of othernations began to be identifiedwith Greek elements with itssymbols of the goddess Demeterlike a stalk of wheat and ascepter.

The timing of the openingcombined with the horrificevents in Europe and the wan-ton destruction of humanity’sartistic heritage in the MiddleEast seemed to inspire the Arch-bishop, Papademetriou, Pander-malis and the two minsters totouch on philosophical and so-cial themes.

The archbishop remindedthat Plato described philosophyas "meditation on death” andwhile Christianity added theleaven of the resurrection of thesoul and body, the works ofmodern writers like EugeneO’Neil demonstrate than man’sinner conflicts continue – exter-nally his Long Day’s Journey

into Night like a headline fromBrussels.

Many of the objects were cre-ated as expressions or celebra-tions of the multiculturalismtriggered by Alexander theGreat. A statue of the goddessIsis – her name now a harrow-ing coincidence – in the showillustrates how the gods of othernations began to be endowedwith elements of Greek deitiesreminds that thinkers began tobelieve the gods of different na-tions just had different names.

The first part of the exhibi-tion’s theme opened promptedthe speakers to comment on therelationship between people to-day and their religion. Regard-ing, “Gods and Mortals,” Filisnoted “both sides need eachother” but he continued “Duringthese days of murderous terror-ism, the question that arises is,which God? The God who di-vides and proclaims war againstthe infidels, who attacks Democ-racy? Who blesses the crusadersand the jihadists? The necessarydialogue between civilizationsgoes through the dialogueamong religions.”

Baltas shined the spotlight onat least one current of humani-tarianism. Noting that in re-sponse to the waves of refugeestriggered by ISIS he said “thewhole population of Greece hasopened its hearts to therefugees.”

GREAT CARE, GREATRESULTS

Cosmetatou said that fromthe beginning the Centerreached out for the very best tal-ent Manhattan had to offer. Ex-hibition Designer Daniel Ker-shaw, Graphic Designer SophiaGeronimus and Lighting De-signer David Clinard staged“one of the most beautiful exhi-bitions we have ever presented,”she said.

Also featured are speciallycommissioned artworks, a videoby Maria Zervos and soundpieces Kostas Ioannides, whomCosmetatou said “has bridgedthe past and the present withsound,” recording the streamsand birds that called 2500 yearsand today.

There will be peripateticgallery talks with philosopherSimon Critchley, Family Sun-days at Onassis, a Secrets of thePast video game, and online re-sources.

ART AND HOPEPerhaps the power of the ex-

hibition lies in its whisperedhope that if the ideals of the an-cient Greeks can take a di-achronic journey vertically to usand unite us across time, per-haps with greater imagination

and care they can also movehorizontally to other cultures -cultures that seem to be aligninginto a futile clash of civilizations– and engender harmony acrossspace.

Thinkers like Carl Jungwould say that what moveacross time and space are ex-pressions of ideas and feelingscommon to all mankind, theshapes they take, the arche-types, molded by the experi-ences of individuals and nations.They find expression in art –and practices like dialogue,democracy and tolerance.

The Greek genius was intouch with that universality andwas able to put those ideas andfeelings into forms best suitedfor that journey, magnificentvessels that would carry themdown that river through timeinto our museums – and heartsand minds.

“Gods and Mortals at Olym-pus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus”reveals the power of archetypes,and suggests that we might stillbe able to build the shuttles be-tween cultures needed to pre-serve civilization and hope.

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – The EastMediterranean Business andCultural Alliance (EMBCA) re-cently offered an intriguing pre-sentation by geopolitics expertDr. Michael Vlahos titled “TheEmpires Strike Back: Can Amer-ica Avoid Major War in the Next18 Months?”

During his greetings EMBCAfounder Louis Katsos told theguests on the Ides of March “weare honored and happy to haveDr. Vlahos here tonight, andthen introduced EMBCA VP andco-founder Architect John Foti-ades.

Fotiades introduced Dr. Vla-hos after noting that given thetumultuous events of the pastyear, “One can’t help but feelthat we are moving towards aninflection point,” Dr. Vlahos, hesaid, would outline “what doesthis me for the UIS and the restof the world and where is it allgoing.”

Vlahos is an author and for-eign affairs and national secu-rity TV commentator and is aprofessor in the Strategy andPolicy Department at the USNaval War College and teachesin the Global Security Studiesprogram of Johns Hopkins.

“I am honored to be here andbring to you elements of the endof the world as we know it,” hiswry humor more unsettling thanentertaining.

“If you look around, every-where we see confrontation andconflict...and the prospect ofclashes between the great pow-ers, including a looming con-frontation with China which willhappen – I don’t know whenand how and what it will leadto but it is in the cards.”

He then noted there aremany issues with Russia “and alot of scare talk – much of itfrom American experts,” whoare focused on things likeweapons systems.

But he emphasized, “War isnot about the instruments ofwar, it’s about the people whoare fighting the war and are sac-rificing themselves and the rea-sons they are willing to sacrificethemselves.”

He spoke of the links be-tween the lower level conflicts,including terrorism, that wehave been used to in recentyears and the possibility ofhigher level great powerclashes, and then then shook theguests up more by pointing tothe lighted match looming overthe gasoline of clashing inter-

ests.“What kind of dynamic is

pushing humanity to conflict asthe solution,” he asked, then an-swered: “People are literallyfighting for their way of life.”

He hammered home the un-controllable power of the emo-tional and the irrational inworld affairs by noting thatstates, empires, unions “expressthe needs of people and theyalso express the failings of theruling elites, who may not beleading for very much longer.”

Those elites have beenguided for decades by a largervision of the world with a moreuniversal appeal than national-ism and religion “but that uni-versal appeal is no longer thedriving element of the world,”but neither are the wars we faceimperial wars. “They are warsof identity. War is today aboutpeople who are searching to sus-tain and preserve their way oflife,” he said.

“Look at the Empire of theWest led by the United States inthe war against the IslamicState. A tiny group kids hastaken on all of the majesty andpower and glory of the westernempire. How could that hap-pen,” he asked before exploringtheir nature after saying what

is important is not what thewars look like, but what are theybeing fought for.

“What weapons they are us-ing do not matter. The look inhis eyes – that’s what matters,”and he continued, “The stake iswho gets to decided who youare. Wars of identity are aboutdoing anything it takes to pre-serve one’s way of life.”

Vlahos then raised the an-cient parallel of the conflict be-

tween Athens and the citizensof Melos it whom it sought topull into its alliance. But theMelians didn’t feel they weregaining ally, rather they fear en-slavement – and they chose todie to the last man.

He demonstrated that evenWestern countries are no longertrue believers, unfavorably com-paring “the passionate commit-ment and idealism at some reallevel” of the UN forces in the

Korean war with “the absolutecynicism and disbelief” in to-day’s “coalitions of the willing.”

But Vlahos kept shaking theground of the world view of theguests.

“Globalization has not failed,it has reached the end of theline…it is no longer able to ful-fill its promises and the eliteswho have benefited – almost en-tirely – from globalization arenow losing their authority andunderlying legitimacy to run thesystem.”

Vlahos was able to paint asharp and compelling picture ofthe social and cultural forcesconfronting the United States bytemporarily abstracting the eco-nomic elements, and during theQ&A crushed the notion pre-sented by one guest that anAmerican manufacturing come-back would resolve many issueswith one word: “automation,”and noted the prospect of a rel-atively jobless manufacturing re-covery.

Those elements form thebackground of the rise of anti-establishment parties in Europeand candidates like DonaldTrump in the United States, andmore than once Vlahos used theword “revolution” as both alikely and a welcome possibility.

EMBCA Lecture: Will United States Go to War in the Next 18 Months?

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L-R: John Fotiades, featured speaker Dr. Michael Vlahos, LouisKatsos at the EMBCA presentation: “The Empires Strike Back:Can America Avoid Major War in the Next 18 Months?”

Gods & Mortals at Olympus: Premiere of Onassis Center’s Exhibit in New YorkContinued from page 1

Counterclockwise fromtop: Angel literallymeans messengers, Dr.Dimitrios Pandermalisexplained, as he pointedto eagles used by Zeusfor that purpose;Onassis FoundationUSA President AnthonyPapadimitriouwelcomes guests todinner in the RainbowRoom; ExecutiveDirector AmaliaCosmetatou’s prioritywas expressing thanksto all; guests enjoyingthe reception were ableto view artist MariaZervos’ video (backwall).

PHOTOS: TNH/COSTAS BEJ

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016 3

By Aria Socratous

Dr. Theocharis Theocharidesis considered among the top 5%of authors most cited in phar-macological and immunologicaljournals. He received all his de-grees with Honors from YaleUniversity, he is a Professor ofPharmacology and InternalMedicine, and Director of Mol-ecular Immunopharmacologyand Drug Discovery at Tufts Uni-versity School of Medicine inBoston and also was awardedthe Dean’s Research Award, theWinternitz Price in Pathologyand the Oliver Smith Award“recognizing excellence, com-passion and service.”

Theocharides first showedthat mast cells, known for caus-ing allergic reactions, are criticalfor inflammation, due to theirability to secrete inflammatorymolecules selectively withoutdegranulation. In this way, theyare critical for inflammationnow considered essential in thepathogenesis of asthma, atopicdermatitis, autism, Alzheimer’sdisease, coronary artery disease,mastocytosis, and psoriasis.

As he contends, “half the di-agnosis is spending time with

the patient. In fourteen minutesthat is the average time of ex-amination the doctor has to takethe medical history, the test andto make the diagnosis. That’swhy we over rely on tests. Be-cause we have no time to askquestions. In fact, not only weneed to be talking to patientsbut talk also in their own lan-guage. We don’t have to puteverything under the same di-

agnosis, even autism. Medicinecomes across some terms andthen you look through thoseterms. In order to say that some-thing is autoimmune, you haveto have auto antibodies or youhave to have antinuclear anti-bodies.

In autism, you do not haveantibodies. Technically is not anautoimmune disease, but anauto inflammatory disease be-

cause basically immunity wouldbe in response to something thatcould be destructive, but is morelike a chronic condition. Inflam-mation is more an auto acutereaction. Imagine that you haveeczema in certain parts of yourbrain. We started studyingautism five years ago. Ι was ac-tually studying multiple sclero-sis that time which is an autoimmune disease and we werefirst to show that a certain cell,called a mast cell was presentin the brain. We found out that60% of the children had aller-gies or food intolerance.”

Dr. Theocharides made abreakthrough discovery basedon luteolin, a substance con-tained in chamomile, and kerneloil that helps reduce oxidationand inflammation of the brain.

As he maintains “It’s a di-etary supplement which is madein the US with all the require-ments of a drug. It’s indepen-dently tested by a lab in Cali-fornia. It already has a publicclinical trial. The FDA thoughdoes not have the authority toregulate it within the UnitedStates. The certificate is renew-able every two years. We haveto test the drug again every twoyears. It’s extremely importanthow we do a clinical trial. In theUnited States, a child on aver-age takes drugs, vitamins andsupplements. In order to do aclinical study we have to removeall of those and put a child on aplacebo for a period of time. Thefirst study was done in Greecebecause in Greece most of thechildren do not take any sup-plements. So, what we found,in a study that lasted from fourto six months, was that 60% ofthe children had statistically sig-nificant improvement in makingeye contact and in sociability.About 15-20% started speaking.We did not make a difference inirritability. Some of the 15% ofthe children in two weeks theybecame even more irritable butas it turns out, those childrenwho did better started speaking,they told us they became moreirritable because all of a suddenthey felt they wanted to interactwith other people very fast. Theirritability might not necessarilybe bad. It could be an indicationthat the whole body started toreact. But patients and families,especially families if they don’thave enough time to talk to meor somebody else they arefrightened and they stop it.

There is no question that certainchildren are reversible. I justdon’t know which children arethose children yet. If you askedme what to expect, I would havetold you that I believe in 6months 1/3 of the kids will getmuch better, 1/3 of the childrenwill slowly get better and willat least not forget what they arelearning and the last 1/3 of thechildren, I just do not know whythey are not getting better. Thesupplement that is given dependon the age and the medical his-tory of the child. Many timesparents ask me what theyshould be looking for. What Itell them is that the first thingthey will see is that the allergies

should be gone. This is how wemake it. The mistake that peo-ple do is to blame autism foreverything that happens to theirchild but this is not true. Chil-dren are extremely sensitive inmany ways.”

Theocharides has createdthree nonprofit organizationsfor autism: soccer4autism.org,brain-gate.org, and autismfree-brain.org . As he maintains,“there is very little money forreal research on autism. Thereis a lot of money for psycholog-ical approaches but not for realscientific research. Everybodyhas to be aware that the psy-chological result is a reflectionof something physical.”

Renowned Scientist Dr. Theocharis Theocharides’ on a Hope for Autism

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We inform interested parties that the availability of residences is limitedFor more information please call 239-498-9114 or visit www.StGeorgeOrthodoxVillage.com

THE GREEK V ILLAGE FOR SEN IORS IN F LOR IDA

Conceived by a Greek-American Cardiologist,Dr. Zannos G. Grekos, for his aging Mother and Father-in-law, when he realized that their spirit was starting to diminish as they became more and more dependent on their children and grandchildren.

Give your parents the love, care and affection they really need! They deserve to be happy and joyful, and live in a Greek environment with fellow Greeks

Comments for St George Orthodox Village

I have no words. It's like you reached into my soul and pulled out what I have beenwishing for my mother. She has dementia and has almost completely reverted back toonly Greek speaking and can barely communicate with any non-Greeks. She still lives athome with my dad and he is her primary caregiver, but he is nearing his breaking point.I would love to know more information about your community. Thank you and GodBless you.

Natalie H.

My mother lives in Fort Myersin a senior living facility. Weare in Florida half a year, butshe is lonely. This is of greatinterest to us. Thank you.

Irene C.

Ευχαριστούμε! I am a nurse with a long background in geriatrics,hospice care and assisted living. Most importantly, I am Greek Orthodox.I currently market assisted living for Westminster Communities ofFlorida. This is EXACTLY the prototype of faith-based community mySpiritual Father and I have longed for. Thank you for creating such anenvironment.

Δάφνη

Our Senior Community resembles an authentic Greek village with its OrthodoxChurch, a Park-like Town Square with its cafeneion, Taverna, small traditionalshops, beauty salon, cinema and certainly its restaurant with healthy and deliciousGreek food. Our Greek-speaking personnel together with such an environment makeour residents "feel right at home." They converse in their mother tongue and canreminisce and share between them their experiences, customs and traditions of Greece.As a result, their children have "peace of mind" and satisfaction since their parents enjoywhat they really deserve!

Greece, Cyprus and Israel rela-tions at a symposium entitled‘Power Shifts in the EasternMediterranean: The EmergingStrategic Relationship of Israel,Greece, and Cyprus.’”

The Washington Post notesthat “almost all his work ap-pears to have revolved aroundthe role of Greece, Cyprus andan Israeli natural gas discoveryin the Eastern Mediterranean…Indeed Papadopoulos has notleft much of a paper trail.

“His points in all of them boildown to this: Israel should usethe natural gas it has found inthe giant Leviathan field off-shore in the eastern Mediter-ranean to build bridges toGreece and Cyprus – and avoiddealing with Turkey at all costs,”the Post reports.

Elizabeth Rosenberg, an en-ergy expert at the Center for aNew American Security, told thePost that “his approach won’t

square well with an Americanaudience: he lacks a strong con-temporary background on do-mestic energy issues.” Sheadded that “he has argued forIsraeli gas moving to Europe. Ifthat eventually comes to pass itwill compete with U.S. gas toEurope.”

Papadopoulos also wrote inJanuary 2014 that, “Israel andGreece’s robust military rela-tions have redrawn the politicalmap of the region. The U.S.would be wise to shift its poli-cies, and resources, towards im-proving relations at all levelswith its stalwart allies in the re-gion, Israel, Greece, and Cyprus,to contain the newly emergentRussian fleet, and malignant ji-hadist forces operating aroundIsrael’s borders.”

There is at least one otherHellene at the top of the Trumpcampaign, George Gigicos, wholeads the advance team that or-ganizes Trump events and ap-pearances.

Dr. Theocharis Theocharides with actress and autism awarenessadvocate Jenny McCarthy.

Trump Taps Papadopoulos for Foreign PolicyContinued from page 1

Spireas founded his own phar-maceutical company in 2005, anemerging company with an in-creasing number of FDA ap-provals for the manufacture ofgeneric pharmaceutical prod-ucts.

He has served as Presidentof the Parish Council of St.George Greek Orthodox Church

in Trenton, NJ, and through hissupport and generosity, theFoundation has been laid for thefirst Greek school in New Jer-sey.

Dr. Spireas is President of theHellenic American InstituteFoundation and has receivedawards and recognition fromboth the Greek-American com-munity and the Greek OrthodoxChurch.

Spireas to be NYC GreekParade Grand Marshal

Dr. Spiros Spireas, Chairman and CEO of Sigmapharm Labora-tories, seen above with Metropolitan Evangelos of NJ, was se-lected as a Grand Marshal in New York’s Greek Parade.

Continued from page 1

George Papadopoulos is aglobal energy expert based inLondon.

COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016

The U.S. State Departmenthas advised Americans travelingabroad to be wary of Europe andpotential risks in the wake of theterrorist attacks in Brussels.

American officials said thatthe Islamic State was a contin-ued danger amid reports U.S. in-telligence believed there were anumber of undiscovered terror-ists plotting more deadly attacks.

“Terrorist groups continue toplan near-term attacks through-out Europe, targeting sportingevents, tourist sites, restaurants,and transportation,” said the of-ficial alert which is due to expireon June 20.

“U.S. citizens should exercisevigilance when in public placesor using mass transportation. Beaware of immediate surround-ings and avoid crowded places.Exercise particular caution dur-ing religious holidays and atlarge festivals or events,” the ad-visory added. It also said thatU.S. citizens should:

• Follow the instructions oflocal authorities, especially in anemergency

• Monitor media and localinformation sources and factorupdated information into per-sonal travel plans and activities

• Be prepared for additionalsecurity screening and unex-pected disruptions

• Stay in touch with yourfamily members and ensure theyknow how to reach you in theevent of an emergency

• Register in our Smart Trav-eler Enrollment Program (STEP)

“European governments con-tinue to guard against terroristattacks and conduct raids to dis-rupt plots. We work closely withour allies and will continue toshare information with our Eu-ropean partners that will helpidentify and counter terroristthreats,” the advisory said.

While there was no evidenceof a threat, Greece has upped itsterror alert status in the wake ofthe Brussels bombings.

GREECE ISSUES TERROR ALERT

More security was in place atAthens International Airport aswell as the port of Piraeus, a ma-jor cruise liner hub that now ishousing thousands of strandedrefugees, most from war-torn ar-eas such as Syria and Iraq.

Greek police sources toldKathimerini that terror alert lev-els were being raised while se-curity measures are being tight-ened at foreign targets in thecountry, such as embassies,diplomatic missions and inter-national companies, often tar-gets of the country's raft of ter-rorist groups.

In an interview with thenewspaper last month, the po-lice chief at the airport, MichalisSdoukos, revealed that after theParis attacks last November, anemergency plan had been acti-vated, while drills were con-ducted to prepare for bomb at-tacks at the airport’s mainterminal.

On March 22, after a meetingbetween police, security firmsand airline companies, it was de-cided that additional explosivesdetection teams will be acti-vated, along with EKAM, thecountry’s special anti-terroristunit, at the airport’s departuresterminal where there are no se-curity checks for passengers car-rying luggage and bags.

Policing will also be increasedin areas where large numbers ofpeople congregate, such as pop-ular archaeological sites inAthens and shopping malls, aswell as refugee camps andmakeshift areas of worship asthere is growing concern thatsome migrants could become

radicalized, the newspaper said.Extra security measures in-

troduced at metro and ISAPelectrical rail stations in re-sponse to a series of attacks byvandals last week, will be main-tained.

Greek officials said there wasnothing to link the Brussels

bombings with Greece althoughthey did confirm reports in theBritish media that an accompliceof Salah Abdeslam, who was ar-rested in Brussels for his part inthe Paris attacks last November,had been registered on thesoutheastern Aegean island ofLeros before he continued his

journey to Western Europe.Greece saw no connection

with the deadly terrorist attacksin Brussels, Citizens' ProtectionMinister Nikos Toskas said.

“There is no reason for con-cern in Greece. Our country isfor historical reasons not a tar-get, but we have to remain vigi-lant because we are a transitcountry for a large number ofpeople,” Tsokas said in an inter-view with Skai TV late March 22and said Greece was workingwith the EU.

Greek Prime Minister AlexisTsipras' coalition government ofhis Radical Left SYRIZA and thenationalist far-right IndependentGreeks (ANEL) are reportedlyworried that a refugee swap dealthe European Union struck withTurkey could raise tensionamong refugees and migrantswho are going to be returned.

ANEL leader and DefenseMinister Panos Kammenos lastyear threatened Greece wouldunleash jihadists on Europe un-less a better bailout deal wasstruck, with his remarks drawingcondemnation.

School and Sunday school andin Greece every summer whenwe visit religious and historicsites, but now I know the deepermeaning of everything,” whichshe looks forward to sharing.

Asked what it felt like whenthe three finalists were asked totake a step forward, she said “Ithought the three of us equally– and not just us, everyone – de-served it. Everyone was study-ing and preparing together.”

When the name of the firstrunner up was announced andshe realized she had won, thefirst thing that came to mindwas to wake up her yiayia andpappou in Greece. “The firstthing I texted to my mom was,“Call Pappou,” she told TNH.

Her mother Sophia, whosefamily is from Missolongi and isa fraud investigator for theBoard of Social Services wasoverflowing with pride. She toldTNH Maria devoted a lot of timeto preparations for the pageantin the midst of her regular stren-uous school and work schedule.She is studying for her graduatedegree in speech languagepathology at Columbia and herbrother George is studying to bea biomedical engineer.

She and her husband, Dim-itrios, who is a chemist with Col-gate Palmolive, take their chil-dren to Greece every year tolearn about their culture andlanguage, which are family pri-

orities. For 25 years, Dimitrios,with roots in Chania, has beenthe Greek dance teacher for theCretan Society of Piscataway, NJand Sophia has been GOYA ad-visor at the St. George Churchfor 20 years.

First runner-up Louiza Molo-hides is a rising junior at study-

ing environmental engineeringat the City College of New Yorkand her younger brother is ahigh school senior and is think-ing about a becoming a physi-cian or veterinarian. Their in-terests in the sciences reflecttheir parents’ work, as they ownan asbestos lab in Astoria.

Miss Greek Independence in2004 Maria Mandas, who hasroots in Rethymnon, Crete wasthe Emcee. “They are wonder-ful,” she said of the contestants.“One is more amazing than theother…and I’m very proud of allof them.”

Galatoulas is confident that

April 10 will be a fine day forthe Parade. “God is with theHellenes and with ArchbishopDemetrios’ blessings I am surewe will have the best paradeever. I invite everyone to cometo Fifth Avenue which we willturn into a sea of blue andwhite,” she said.

Maria Exarchakis is Crowned Miss Greek Independence 2016

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – The AmericanFarm School in Thessaloniki hasbeen a bright spot in U.S. rela-tions with Greece and a drivingforce in the latter’s economic andacademic development since itsestablishment more than 100years ago and on March 10 Con-sul General of Greece Amb.George Iliopoulos was pleased tohost a reception in its honor.

Founded to provide formalagricultural education as well astechnical and professional train-ing, the school has grownthrough the years to comprise apre-K program, primary and sec-ondary schools and Perrotis Col-lege, which offers degrees inFood Science and Technology, In-ternational Business, and in En-vironmental Systems Manage-ment.

Amb. Iliopoulos told TNH saidto the guests “I wish to thank youfor your dedication to an institu-tion that is worthwhile, that pro-vides an outlet for young people’sambition and the helps the eco-nomic recovery.”

“When you have an institutionthat does so well, that gives hopeto its students…with vision forthe future…, that turns studentsinto entrepreneurs,” Iliopouloslater said to TNH “it also helpsthe national economy and createsgrowth. When you have an insti-tution like that…the only thingyou can do is help it.”

Iliopoulos introduced AFSPresident Dr. Panos Kanellis, whothanked the former for hostingAFS and shared his thoughts onthe special institution.

“The AFS has been trainingfarmers since 1904, and if yougo to any village in Greece youwill see that the most successfulfarmers and entrepreneurs areAFS graduates… but AFS ischanging, along with agriculturetoday. As a science agriculture to-day needs the support of chem-istry, biology, engineering, andcomputer science,” and AFS iscommitted to being on the cut-ting edge.

He added “I keep using theword entrepreneur because thisis what we do…we train peopleto be successful… and the wordsustainable is very important…Yes, there is a trend of young peo-ple going back to the countryside,but we want them to be success-ful and to stay there…to start sus-tainable businesses and in recentyears we have done that withmany men and women.”

He spoke with great prideabout their primary school andits young students, “they eachhave their own vegetable farmsand greenhouses and on a dailybasis they visit farms” – whoseproceeds fund scholarships; allstudents receive some kind of fi-nancial aid.

Kanellis also told TNH aboutproposals for a project to reduceyouth unemployment in Greeceinvolving Rutgers University andthe Agricultural University ofAthens and sponsored by theStavros Niarchos Foundation(SNF). A team undertook a studylate last year and AFS presentedtheir proposals to SNF for the im-plementation of the program.

“We want to introduce youngmen and women to the agribusi-ness sector to teach them theproper agricultural techniquesbut also to introduce them tocommercial incubators so that wecan help them, to be successfulentrepreneurs.”

He is also preparing a pro-posal to the AFS Board to estab-lish a graduate school

A video highlighted the beau-tiful campus and fine facilitiesand spotlighted the “set of expe-riences” the students receive thatare rooted in AFS’s “learn by do-ing approach and are sustainedby personal interaction amongteachers and peers.”

Chairman of the Board RobertUek also addressed the guests,highlighting the well-being andgrowth of the school “thanks toa number of people in this room”including Kanellis and the mem-bers of the Board of Governors,and the high quality students.

AFS is currently in the openenrollment period for its popularGreek Summer program inGreece for young students 15-18that runs from late June to lateJuly

There will be time at the FarmSchool for learning about Greekagriculture but there is also “thewhole Greek kefi, the Greek spiritthat you get to experience,” TNHwas told.

Participants have describedthe 45-year program to TNH aslife-changing.

It’s an amazing experience,”an AFS representative told TNH,noting “it involves communityservice, a stay in a village with aGreek family, time touring Greeceincluding a visit to Athens andculminating with a climb of Mr.Olympus.

An AmericanFarm SchoolIn Greece is Bright Spot

After Brussels Attack, U.S. Warns of European Travel Dangers

Continued from page 1

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Nikos Mourko-giannis opens windows into thesoul of Arcadia through his thephotographs and New Yorkerscan view them through April 8at the exhibition titled “Arkadia,the Untold Tale.”

Hosted by the Greek Con-sulate on East 79 Street andsponsored by the Pan ArcadianFederation and its Geros touMorea and Eparhia Kynouriaschapters, the exhibition’s open-ing reception was held onMarch 17. Among the guestswho enjoyed them was Arch-bishop Demetrios.

Demetris Filios, past Federa-tion President, noted the photoswere previously on display atthe Greek Embassy in Washing-ton, DC and said they will beshown in Arkadia in the future.

“The pictures of Arkadia aredeliberately simple,” Mourko-giannis told TNH. I wanted topresent a feeling in a simple wayto a place of great importancein history and culture. I begantaking photos about eightmonths ago and my aim was tocapture moments of EasternArkadia from simple places tothe old mansions to contempo-rary spots that still partake ofthe ancient magic. “If you takethe footpaths you can still hearthe voices of the muses and thenereids,” he said, and adding

the testimony of historians henoted “Arkadia was consideredan idyllic place form ancienttimes and has inspired muchpastoral poetry. “

The photographer providesviewers with some word pic-tures too. He wrote for the ex-hibition’s program: “If you everset foot in Arkadia, here is some

good advice. Try to stay silent.Instead, take a walk long agravel path bordering the seaand listen. Listen to the olivetree chanting glories of the past.Listen to the swirl of the rollingtumbleweeds and their newsfrom high above. Listen to thefoam of the waves with its mes-merizing lullaby. Everything is

alive and has and untold tale totell…”

Mourkogiannis was born inAthens and since 1997 has livedin Turin, Italy, where he gradu-ated from the prestigious Euro-pean Institute of Design (EID)in visual communication but hasPeloponnesian roots through hisfather. His mother is from

Aegina.According to the exhibition

program “He has worked as afreelance creative advisor forsome of the most famous brandsin Italy and has collaborated…on making videos and shortmovies.

The event had a bittersweetflavor as the Arkadians took theopportunity to bid farewell toIliopoulos, whose four yeartenure in New York is drawingto a close, and his wife An-thousa.

The Consul General was pre-sented with a plaque by ChristosVournas, President of Geros touMorea which read, “In recogni-tion of his outstanding servicebeyond the call of duty to theGreek-American Community ofNew York.” “We wish every suc-cess where you are going. Wewill miss you,” Vournas said.

Nikolas Kontoleon, the Fed-eration’s Eastern District gover-nor, thanked Mourkogiannisand Iliopoulos, also declaring“you will be missed.”

After expressing thanks Il-iopoulos said “my wife and I fellin love with New York and thecommunity and we did our bestto serve it. We didn’t want theConsulate to only be a placepeople brought their problems,”he said, and noted how muchhe and his wife Anthousa en-joyed presenting enjoyable ex-hibitions and events.

Maria Exarchakis, Miss Greek Independence 2016 at the heart of a commemorative photo with pageant organizers and contes-tants, including: Christina Antoniou, Nafpaktos; Christina Bogdani, Athens; Dimitra Galatoulas, Aegean; Helen Koukoulas,Gavdos; Vasiliki Mavrakis, Archaia Olympia; Georgia Mavarogeorgis, Ikaria; Louiza Molohides, 1st Runner Up, Mylos; IrenePappas, 2nd Runner Up, Preveza; Georgia Paraskakis, Crete; Melina Rousos, Kalamata; Panagiota Stathopoulou, Kalavrita;Chrysoula Vlamis, Andros; Maria Eleni Zollo, Peloponessus.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Photographer Mourkogiannis Presents Arcadia thru His Lens

Left to right: Gloria Catsimalis, Christos Vournas, Nikos Mourkogiannis, Archbishop Demetrios,Amb. George Iliopoulos, Demetris Filios, xxxx and Nikolas Kontoleon.

are anxiously awaiting her dis-charge from the hospital andher return to New York”, hesaid.

For the past three years,Voutounou has been doing post-graduate studies and researchin the field of Neuroscience atCornell University. She speaksfour languages – English, Greek,

Spanish, and French.Voutounou studied Physics at

the University of Cyprus from2003 until 2005, at which timeshe was accepted to the Univer-sity of Leicester in the UnitedKingdom, from which she re-ceived her biology degree in2008. She began graduate stud-ies immediately at the same uni-versity, and in 2013 earned aPhD in Genetics.

Greek-American ResearcherInjured in Brussels AttacksContinued from page 1

Dr. Voutounou suffered burnsand slight injuries and wasrushed to a Brussels hospital.

Belgian Army soldiers patrol in front of the damaged ZaventemAirport terminal in Brussels on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

AP PHOTO

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – The guests wereenergized by the Greek andAmerican music of their youthand inspired by a tango perfor-mance, but they brought theirown kefi – fueled by their lovefor Greece – to the fundraisingdinner dance of the Athenians’Society in the Penthouse Suite ofthe Terrace on the Park on March20.

The net proceeds will benefitthe Brefokomio Athinon Munici-pal Foundling Home and the So-ciety’s president PanosAdamopoulos thanked the guestsfor their attendance and all whocontributed to the event’s suc-cess, including the officers andmembers of the Society and es-pecially Iota Bakoyianni, whosuggested hosting a dinner dancewith a nostalgia theme a yearago.

Among the guests of honorwere Consul General of GreeceAmb. George Iliopoulos and hiswife, Anthousa, High Commis-sioner of Cyprus in New YorkAmb. Vasilios Philippou and hiswife Anthea, Atlantic Bank andHACC President Nancy Pa-paioannou, and Christos Koutsisrepresenting Investors Bank,

along with representatives of nu-merous community organiza-tions.

The dance featured music ofthe 50s, 60s and 70s presentedby DJs of Bravo Sound and thedance demonstration of AngelikiDeisi and her partner remindedthat much of the music on ourgrandparent’s 78s featured thefox trot and tango music thatwas popular in Greece before therebetika revolution.

When past Greek ParadeChairman Dino Rallis returnedfrom the dance floor saying “thismusic shows our age” – his ex-cellent dancing did not give himaway, however – a member ofanother generation said “no, itreminds us all of our youth. Iheard these songs at home grow-ing up too.”

The old Greek favorites wereinterspersed with American popanthems like Twist and Shoutand Rock Around the Clock andthe dancers born in Greece wereas impressive as the American-borns.

Amb. Philippou told TNH “To-day’s event is yet another fine ini-tiative of the Society in behalf ofthe children of the Brefokomio.It shows that diaspora Greeks,who have been continuously

fighting for our national issues”have also mobilized on a philan-thropic basis during the crisis. Hehopes such initiatives, for whichhe praised Adamopoulos and theSociety, will continue whenGreece and Cyprus emerge fromthe crisis, noting that there arealways underprivileged among

us.When Amb. Iliopoulos, who

has fond memories of growingup in the Patissia section ofAthens, was told the Diasporadoes bit forget Athens during this

difficult period, he respondedthat “Athens is our mother. It isone of the most vibrant cities inthe world, notwithstanding thatis has had low points in its his-tory. We always have the hope

that it will fully revive and onceagain become a city that has verymuch to offer its residents.”

He too expressed his admira-tion for the Society, noting “Itdoes not only limit itself todances and other social eventsand helping its members butaims to help in a practical wayinstitutions like the Brefokomio.They are always vigilant aboutthe needs of Athens and howthey can help.”

George Kitsios, the Presidentof the Greek Children’s Fund andthe Greek American Homeown-ers Association of Astoria empha-sized the importance of what theSociety does in support of theBrefokomio. ”I hope what theydo become examples for otherorganizations so that they alsosupport the homeland,” headded.

The Society recently dis-patched its first shipment ofclothing for the needy of Athens.

They are preparing anothershipment of new and gently used,clean clothing. Donors can con-tact Board Member, Fani Pagoula-tou at 516-835-3500 for dona-tions and further information.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016 5

By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO- Anton Christoforidisis one of the most successful pro-fessional boxers of all time. Win-ner of multiple middleweightand light-heavyweight titles inEurope, North Africa, and theUnited States, Christoforidis haslong been recognized as the firstModern Greek to become aworld class boxing champion.Yet such acclaim did not comeeasily or without considerableand sustained effort.

Christoforidis was born onMay 6, 1917 in Mersin, a largeport city on the Mediterraneancoast of what is today southernTurkey. An interview withChristoforidis, a year before hisdeath, offers this recollection:“when I was one month old, theTurks killed seven of the twelvemembers in our family, includingmy father. All that was left wasmy mother, sister, brother, anephew and me. The rest of uswere exiled to Greece in 1921(European Stars and StripesSeptember 7, 1984).” Once inGreece the family eventually set-tled in Athens where Christo-foridis began picking cotton bythe age of six. Within two yearsof their arrival Christoforidis’mother was dead.

By the very early 1930s,Christoforidis while strugglingto live on the streets of Athenshe was even then learning tobox. Unable to make a living byboxing in Greece Christoforidis,around 1933, went to Paris andimmediately entered boxing cir-cles. Very quickly Christoforidiswas recognized as a very com-petent boxer who possessedgood basic skills. At the same

time it was also clear that theyoung Greek did not possess“heavy hands” which is boxingjargon for the ability to cleanlyand consistently knockout one’sopponents. Consequently,throughout his career Christo-foridis focused on his innateability to cannily size up the mo-ment and out-work his adver-sary in the ring.

From 1935 to 1939 Christo-foridis fought not just in Francebut also Holland, Belgium, Ger-many, Greece and North Africa.From 1935, until late 1939, theyoung Greek had 46 professionalfights in Europe. Various reportsallege that Christoforidis’ firstprofessional bout was againstTheodore Korenyi in Athens,Greece, which he won by a sec-ond round knockout. On No-vember 8, 1937, Christoforidiswon both the Greek Mid-dleweight and Greek LightHeavyweight titles from Costas

Vassis in Athens, Greece.Christoforidis defeated EBU (Eu-ropean) Middleweight Cham-pion Bep van Klaveren on No-vember 14, 1938 in a titlematch. Christoforidis later saidthat one of the spectators of thisbout was none other than AdolfHitler.

His first title defense, for theEuropean middleweight wasagainst France's Edouard Tenetin Paris. Anton was ahead onpoints going into the eleventhround, but broke his left handthat round and was forced to fin-ish the fight on the defensive.He lost via decision and so losthis European middleweightchampionship title. Yet it was his10-round contest with LouBrouillard, on April 5, 1939 thatbrought Christoforidis to the at-tention of American boxing pro-moters such as Ed Mead andother notables. Again, ratherthan a clean win by either boxer

Christoforidis won by decision.By early November 1939,Christoforidis was brought to theUnited States by American box-ing promoter Lou Burston.

As reported by syndicatedsports columnist Jack Cuddy:“Burston considers himselfmighty lucky because this Greekbattler shapes up as one of thefinest middleweight prospectsever to hit town. Veteran look-ers-over, like “Dumb Dan” Mor-gan, Lou Brix and Nat Rodgers(all notable boxing promoters)predict Anton will develop intothe greatest of all Greek fighters,whether born here or abroad(San Diego Union December 31,1939).” Press accounts of this pe-riod stressed that Christoforidiswas “rated among the best fight-ers in Europe…out of 100 fightshe’s said to have scored at leastforty-five knockouts” (Daily Non-pariel January 7, 1940).”

Christoforidis made hisUnited States debut on January5, 1940 in Madison Square Gar-den, defeating Willie Pavlovichby decision. After this success,for reasons not now known tohistory, Christoforidis settled inGeneva, Ohio. Anton next builtup a six fight winning streak,which was stopped when futureHall of Famer Jimmy Bivins. An-ton once said, "I won that fight;it was strictly a hometown deci-sion." Rather than a mere brag,in a rematch held on December2, 1940, Christoforidis returnedthe favor and walked off with a10-round decision, handingBivins the first defeat of hisAmerican career.

The Bivins win landedChristoforidis a shot at Melio Bet-tina for the vacant National Box-ing Association World Light

Heavyweight title. At this mo-ment, in American sport’s historyboxing titles were regional notnational. With that in mind,Christoforidis won the NBA LightHeavyweight title-crown on Jan-uary 13, 1941 in Cleveland, Ohioby defeating Bettina in a unani-mous decision of a fifteen-roundbout. It is with this success thatAnton Christoforidis became thefirst Greek to become a worldboxing champion. Just for thesake of a Greek-American histor-ical perspective, at this very samemoment, Jim Londos held vari-ous heavy weight boxing titlesas well.

American sports writers havenever been known for their in-nate sensitivity. So, Christo-foridis’ name became a long run-ning topic of discussion. In theend, the fans dubbed the youngGreek “Christo the Fisto” whilethe press grudgingly admittedthe young boxer’s good looksand so tended to call him the“Greek Sheik.”

But the world of Americanprofessional boxing was avolatile forum during this period.After knockout wins over ItaloColonello and Johnny Romero innontitle bouts, Christoforidis losthis NBA title to Gus Lesnevichby unanimous decision on May22, 1941. Although this eventwas not technically an NBA titlefight, Lesnevich was laterawarded the title by the NBA re-gardless on May 24, 1941. Neverstopping long in his careerChristoforidis next met and de-feated both Ceferino Garcia andGeorge Burnette. Then, on Jan-uary 12, 1942, Christoforidis suf-fered his first knockout loss atthe hands of rising contenderand future light heavyweight leg-

end Ezzard Charles in Cincinnati,Ohio. On February 2, 1943,Christoforidis won the “duration”heavyweight title from JimmyBivins and then promptly lost itto Lloyd Marshall on April 21stof that same year. Christoforidisfought his last bout on February18, 1947 against Anton Raadik.While accounts vary it seems safeto say that at his retirementChristoforidis’ record consistedof 53 wins (13 by knockout), 15losses and 8 draws. At his heightof his career it was not uncom-mon for 12,000 to 14,000 peopleto attend a Christoforidis bout.

A longtime resident of Ohio,upon his retirement Christo-foridis ran a bar-restaurant inGeneva, OH for a good numberof years. In 1961, Christoforidisand his wife were divorced andin 1968 he sold his interests inGeneva and moved to Florida toretire. In 1971, he took an ex-tended trip back to Greece forthe first time for a scheduled 45days. However, he liked it somuch, the 45 days turned into15 years. As one might expectChristoforidis was a hero inGreece. On October 31, 1985,Christoforidis died suddenly ofan apparent heart attack inAthens, Greece. Holder of at leastfive different European, NorthAfrican and American profes-sional boxing titles AntonChristoforidis is the first Greekto become an undisputed profes-sional box champion.

The logical question here iswhy do we not hear more of thischampion and the other Greekslike his contemporary Londos,who all were literally at the pin-nacle of American sports?

hellenenow1@yahoo.com

Anton Christoforidis: Largely Unheralded but Undisputed Boxing ChampionALL HISTORY

Anton Christoforidis, the first Greek to become a world boxing champion

Nostalgia and Philanthropy: the Athenian’s Society at Terrace on the Park

Left to right: Dimitra Mihalakopoulou, Tasos Mouzakis, Fani Pagoulatou, Mary Mouzakis, ChristinaSkiada, Amb. Vasilios Philippou and his wife Anthea, Sylvia Adamopoulos, Amb. George Iliopoulosand his wife Anthousa, Nancy Papaioannou, Panos Adamopoulos, and George Kitsios.

There are 2 different kinds of Orthodoxy and 2 different kinds of Catholics

True Orthodoxy is the first Orthodoxy, that is, perfect teaching of Jesus Christ. God’s Orthodoxyis the perfect education for all His children. That proves the perfect knowledge and life. True Or-thodoxy is the perfect faith of Jesus. In the perfect faith of Jesus there is no sin, and also there isperfect obedience to the Father always, which is what He wants. The perfect faith of Jesus is theonly true Orthodoxy for every true believer to follow.

The perfect teaching of Jesus educates us to live in holiness and perfection like He does always.You can only receive this education personally without error from the Gospel of Christ with thehelp of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. “Without me you can do nothing,” John 15:5

The second orthodoxy is the false orthodoxy created by the knowledge of man. That is the “socalled orthodoxy” of the people. In the faith of the devil, there is sin and disobedience. Saint Peter,an Apostle of Christ, said, “For it is written, be Holy for I am Holy.” This is a command from theLord for all of us to be holy. God wants us to be holy, the Gospel teaches us to be holy, and theCreed of the Apostles states we must be holy. Jesus is the only head of the Church for He is Holyand every member of His body, the believers, must be holy. Sin can never be connected with Jesus.So if we are the body of Christ, we must be holy in order to be connected with the head, Jesus.

So are you really holy? The devil and his servants don’t want you to be holy while telling youthat you cannot be holy and perfect. But Jesus says in Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect just as your Fatherin heaven is Perfect.”The devil’s servants give you a subtly twisted version of the truth and justifyexcuses for sinning. Then you are not holy, remain in sin, and therefore belong to the body of thedevil. The devil’s will is fulfilled because he wants you to continue in sin, while being his discipleswithout even knowing it. Sin is demonic knowledge that forms the orthodoxy of the devil.

Continuing in sin is against the will of God, and that’s why Jesus told us to truly repent. True re-pentance is to replace the knowledge of your mind from the sinful knowledge to the perfect andsinless knowledge of God. It also means changing your life from sinfulness to holiness. Every be-liever must do this. For that reason, Jesus gave us His perfect teaching which helps us to take sinout of our minds and lives. The Lord then called His teaching, the Gospel of the Kingdom of Godaccording to Mark 1:15. The Gospel of Christ is the perfect wisdom of God and the perfect educa-tion for every mind and soul anywhere.

So if you want to be a True Orthodox or Catholic, you must accept Jesus as your personal Lordand Savior and come totally to Him. Ask Him to forgive you and to help you. Start reading HisGospel and Jesus will help you understand the correct meaning of His teaching. Ask Jesus to sendyou the Holy Spirit for He says “The Holy Spirit will teach you all the Truth,” John 16:13. The HolySpirit is above any preacher and any clergymen. Start to read the Bible every day and the Lordwill save you and help you to become a true follower.

Men of God, Niko and Joseph with Evangelize the World Christian Ministry. Find us on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/Evangelize-the-World-Christian-Ministries-174802482550461/?fref=ts

Orthodox Christian Sermon by the Orthodoxy of Jesus Christ

Nikos Papadelis8075 Broadview Rd, Broadview Heights, Ohio 44147 • (440) 759 - 6494

“I serve the highest authority that governs the mind perfectly without any foolishness or evil”.

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OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016

DEATH NOTICES

n ABAZIS, KYRIAKOULAREDONDO BEACH, CA (fromthe Daily Breeze, published onMar. 9) – Our beloved wife,mother, grandmother Kyriakoula(Kay) Abazis joined her son inheaven on March 5, 2016 in SanPedro, CA. Kyriakoula was bornon Sept. 2,1951 in Kardamyla,Chios-Greece to Michael andEvangelia Kountouroudas. Shewas the fourth of five children.She is survived by her husbandJohn, her children Michael & Er-ica Abazis, Maria & Tony Franksand her six grandchildren, sib-lings, nieces & nephews. Shewas raised in Greece and movedto the U.S. in 1968. She lived inCA for 44 years. She dedicatedher life to raising her family. Shewas a remarkable woman. Shewarmed our hearts with hersmile. She constantly just gaveof herself. She spent her timeenjoying all of her grandchil-dren. Her love and kindnesstouched the lives of everyonearound her. You will be foreverin our hearts. Services will beheld on March 10, 2016 at 7:00-9:00pm and March 11, 2016 at10:00am at St. Katherine'sGreek Orthodox Church, 722Knob Hill, Redondo Beach, CA90277. The burial to follow atGreen Hills Memorial Park. Inlieu of flowers donations maybe made to a family in need orthe charity of your choice . Signguestbook at dailybreeze.com.

n ANASTAS, MARYCANTON, OH (from the Repos-itory, published on Mar. 6) –Mary Hadjian Anastas 1936-2016, age 80, of Canton, passedaway March 3, 2016 with Godby her side, surrounded by fam-ily and holding the hands of hersons. Mary was born on Feb. 27,1936 to Haralambos and Har-icklia Hadjian. She was pre-ceded in death by her parents,husband, Sam Anastas, brother,John Hadjian, Godmother,Peggy Hadjian, brother-in-law,Basil Anastas and sister–in-law,Ourania Kontaxis. Survived byher sons, Sam and Larry Anastasof North Canton; sister, AnnHadjian Economos of Canton;brother, Tom Hadjian of Canton;sister, Sophia Hadjian of Canton;sister-in-law, Mary Hadjian ofCanton; sister-in-law, CindyHadjian of Thousand Oaks,Calif.; sister-in-law, Angie Anas-tas of Canton; sister andbrother–in-law, Sofia and RoulisBafaloukos of Athens, Greece;brother–in-law, Maiki Kontaxisof Athens, Greece, and godson,George Vafopoulos of Athens,Greece. Also survived by manynieces and nephews who lovedher very much. Mary was a 1954graduate of Canton Timken Vo-cational High School, a 1958graduate of Ohio University, andshe received her MBA from In-diana University in 1960. Edu-cation was very importantthroughout her life. She was aCanton City Schools teacher for35 years, teaching typing, short-hand, and business subjects atTimken and McKinley HighSchools, retiring in 1995. Marywas a lifelong member of HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Churchwhere she was very active in theGrecian Festival, Koraes LadiesSociety, Past President of theHoly Trinity Seniors, Past Mem-ber of the Church Choir, andPast Chairman of the Fine ArtsCommittee. Through her loveand devotion to her Greek Or-thodox faith and Holy Trinitychurch, Mary was honored withher sister Ann as Women of theYear in 2012. Mom was alsovery proud of her Greek Her-itage. Mom's pride and joy wereher two sons, Sam and Larry,owners of Anastasiades Exclu-sive Chocolates. After her retire-ment, she enjoyed helping themin the family business. These lastfew years we were able to laughquite often about nice memo-ries. Our lives are more definedby the lives we touch and howthose lives touch others. Callinghours for family and friends willbe on Monday from 5-8 p.m. atHoly Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch (4705 Fairhaven Av-enue, N.W. Canton) A Trisagionservice will be at 7 p.m. Funeralservices will be Tuesday at 11a.m. with calling hours at 10a.m. Rev. Dr. Daniel Rogich offi-ciating. Interment will be in For-est Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flow-ers, memorial donations can bemade to Holy Trinity Greek Or-thodox Church. A MemorialScholarship will be created inMary's name to benefit HolyTrinity students. A heartfelt.Thank you to Fr. Dan and theentire Holy Trinity Family andall our friends for your love andprayers. The family would alsolike to thank Dr. Norch and Dr.Makay and the entire staff on 5Main at Mercy Medical Centerfor their compassionate care.Also a thank you to Altercare atNobles Pond, Advantage HomeHealth, and Mercy Hospice. Apersonal thank you to Georgene

and Katherine, and two specialsisters, Susan and Bebe. Youknow Mary loved you. Mom, to-day cancer did not win, youwon. May God Bless Your Souland May Your Memory Be Eter-nal.

n CONTAXIS, JOANNEMILFORD, CT (from the NewHaven Register, published onMar. 6) – Joanne G. Contaxis,beloved wife of the late WilliamContaxis, Sr., of Milford, passedaway on Tuesday, March 1,2016. She was born in Lamia,Greece on August 6, 1926 to thelate George and Maria Theos.Joanne is survived by her lovingfamily, children, Andreanne(Scott) Johnson, Dean(Theresa) Contaxis and Ronald(Terese) Contaxis; grandchil-dren, Christopher (Jennifer),Nicole, Katrina, Alexi andMichael Contaxis and Kristineand Katherine Johnson; niecesand nephews, Mary (Douglas)Kozak, John (Peggy) Theos andLinda Theos, and their families.Joanne was predeceased by herbeloved brothers, Demetrius(Mary), and Aristotle (Nellie)Theos; nephew, George Theos;and niece, JoAnn Hollowood.The family would like to expresstheir gratitude to the staff at Mil-ford Health and RehabilitationCenter for their care and com-passion of their cherished Momand Yiayia. A funeral service willbe held at St. Barbara Greek Or-thodox Church, 480 RacebrookRd., Orange, CT on Monday,March 7, 2016 at 11:00 a.m.Friends and family may call onMonday, March 7, 2016 from 9a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Cody-White Funeral Home, 107 BroadSt, Milford, CT. Contributions inmemory of Joanne may be madeto JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Re-search Foundation), 28 KennedyBlvd, Suite 180, East Brunswick,NJ 08816.

n KARAMBINAKIS, GEORGIOS

DANIELSON, CT (from the Nor-wich Register, published on Mar.5) – Georgios S. Karambinakis1954 - 2016 Danielson - Geor-gios S Karambinakis, 62, ofDanielson, died Thursday atUMass Memorial Medical Centerin Worcester, MA. He was bornin Crete, Greece on February 4,1954, son of Spyridon and Pene-lope (Lakatzis) Karambinakis.Georgios worked with SeabirdEnterprises for many years. Hewas a member of Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church inDanielson and enjoyed vacation-ing in Greece with his family.Besides his parents he is sur-vived by his brother JohnKarambinakis and wife Pagonaof Pomfret; nephew SpyridonKarambinakis; niece PenelopeKarambinakis; uncle GeorgeLakatzis and wife Gloria; auntAthanasia Karidis and husbandDimitrios and family. He is alsosurvived by numerous family inGreece. A funeral service will beheld on Monday, March 7, 2016at 11:30 A.M. at Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church, Daniel-son. Burial will be in WestfieldCemetery. A calling hour will beheld at the church on Monday,March 7th from 10:30-11:30A.M. In lieu of flowers donationsmay be made to Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church, 80 Wa-ter Street, Danielson, CT 06239.

n KOUCOUTHAKIS, MARYSOUTH BEND, IN (from theSouth Bend Tribune, publishedon Mar. 17) – SOUTH BEND -Mary Ann Koucouthakis, 85, ofSouth Bend, IN, passed away inthe early morning of Monday,March 14, 2016, holding thehands of her three sons and sur-rounded by family at St. JosephMedical Center. She was bornon February 11, 1931, in Am-bridge, PA, to the late Em-manuel and Ethel Geanous, im-migrants from Chania, Crete.On October 13, 1953, she wasmarried by God to GusKoucouthakis in Erie, PA. Theyenjoyed 42 years of Holy Matri-mony until his passing on Janu-ary 12, 1996. MaryKoucouthakis was a devotedwife, mother, Yiayia, and sister.Mary was the third of nine chil-dren. She was preceded in deathby her sisters, Paraskeve, Faye,Julie; and her brothers, Byron,Gus, John, Angelo. Mary is sur-vived by her sister, Helen; herthree children, George of Hous-ton, TX, Manuel of Granger, IN,and Gus Jr. of South Bend, IN;eight grandchildren, Jessica,Ryne, Steven, Krystal, Lauren,Kyle, Anastasia, and Demetrios;and one great-grandchild, Avery.She is also survived by her bestfriend of 55 years, Joan Prathaf-takis. Mary considered Joanmore than a friend, she was partof the family. During the Depres-sion, Mary moved with her fam-ily back to Greece for a fewyears. When they returned, theysettled in Virginia and ended upin Erie, PA. Mary was very de-voted to God at an early age.Her father helped build the As-sumption Greek OrthodoxChurch in Erie, PA, where Maryserved for many years prior tomarriage. After marriage, thefamily moved to South Bend,IN, where Mary devoted her

spiritual life to God through herinvolvement with Saint An-drew's Greek Orthodox Church.She loved making phosphora(holy bread that was used incommunion); she also madekolyva. She was a SundaySchool teacher for many years,held many offices in The GoodSamaritans, as well as TheDaughters of Penelope and thePhiloptochos. She worked at theGrecian Festival where youcould always find her cookingloukoumades. Mary was a veryhard worker. While in highschool she started working atWoolworth as a window dresser.Her work was so respected thatshe was sent to other stores tohelp prepare for their GrandOpenings. When the familymoved to South Bend, IN, Marywas the sexton at Saint An-drew's Greek Orthodox Church.While working at St. Andrew's,she opened Gussy's Shoe Repairwith her loving husband, GusKoucouthakis. After 25 yearsand the retirement of her hus-band, she started working withher son at Apollo Printing. Marywas always a quick learner. Shereadily adapted to new tech-nologies. She worked at Apolloas the CFO and head accoun-tant. Mary developed manyclose relationships at ApolloPrinting with everyone from theemployees to the clientele. Shehad such charisma and a capac-ity for inspiring joy that thosewho knew her couldn't help butlove her. She had many veryclose friends. She was consid-ered a second mother or grand-mother (Yiayia) to many. Hergreatest devotion after God wasto her family. Mary always sup-ported her family with love andaffection, an eternal love thatcannot be diminished by deathand will continue throughoutthe ages. Mary did whateverwas necessary to help her chil-dren avoid having the difficultlife she had. Mary helped herchildren with school and evenwent back to school herself tolearn enough math to tutor herkids. She supported her childrenthroughout life, and when thegrandchildren came, she dedi-cated much of her time to them.Although Mary will be missed,her influence will endure as herfamily continues on in the lightof her image.A visitation will be held atWelsheimer Funeral Home,17033 Cleveland Road in SouthBend, from 3:00 to 7:00 today,March 17, with the TrisagionService to be performed by Fa-ther George of the St. Andrew'sGreek Orthodox Church at 4:00PM. A funeral service will beheld at St. Andrew Greek Or-thodox Church at 11:00 AM onFriday, March 18, followingwhich, Mary will be laid to restat Southlawn Cemetery in SouthBend. The family will also behosting a Lenten fish dinner atthe St. Andrew's Church follow-ing the funeral service. In lieuof flowers, please send all do-nations to St. Andrew's GreekOrthodox Church in SouthBend, IN. Family and friendsmay leave e-mail condolencesat www.welsheimer.com.

n MANOLAKOS, MIKEGRAND RAPIDS, MI (from theGrand Rapids Press, publishedon Mar. 6) – Mike Manolakos,at the age of 98 passed away onThursday March 3, 2016. MyDad told me "when I'm gone,don't cry for me - be happy. I'velived a good life." And that hedid. My Dad came to Americafrom Greece at the age of 17 viathe Normandy. He arrived inNew York in 1933. He then wentto Minnesota where he workedin his uncle's soda fountain andcandy shop until the war began.After serving in the Army duringWWII, he was discharged andreturned home. It was duringthis time that he met his futurewife, Dimitra Apostle. Theywere married 50 plus years.With Gods help he built a goodlife for his family and himself.Together they owned and oper-ated the Elite Cafe for 40 years.He was a member of the HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Churchand the American Legion CarlA Johnson Post #2. My dadloved to fish, garden, feed hisbirds and sports of all kind. Healso enjoyed finding a good bar-gain. Most importantly my Dadwas a man of honor and in-tegrity. He was a man with agenerous spirit. His message toall was "work hard, be honest".Preceding in death his wife Dim-itra. He leaves behind hisdaughter, Stella and her hus-band Larry; grandchildren,Kristina (Bruce) Couturier,Teddy M. (Jenny) Bachakes;great grandchildren, Tyler, Abi-gale, Zackary, Griffin, and sev-eral nieces, nephews and trea-sured friends. I love you Dad. Iwill truly miss you. Xo. FuneralServices will be held at HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Churchon Tuesday March 8, 2016 at11a.m. The family will greetfriends on Monday from 2-4 and6-8pm at the Metcalf & JonkhoffFuneral Homewith a Trisagionat 7:30pm. Memorial contribu-tions are suggested to Holy Trin-ity Greek Orthodox Church.

n MICHAELSON, KATHERENDAYTON, OH (from the DaytonDaily News, published on Mar.6) – Katheren "Katina" Age 93.Born in Agrinion, Greece andimmigrated to Dayton with hus-band and daughters in 1957.Preceded in death by husbandof 57 years Thomas, two broth-ers and two sisters in Greece.Survived by daughters DenaMichaelson, Mary (Bill) Lee,grandchildren Tom Lee, Katie(Chad) Townsend, great grand-children Megan and Jessica Lee,Anabelle and Will Townsend,sister Evgenia Baou of Athens,Greece, and numerous niecesand nephews. Retired from BlueBird Baking Company. A womanof deep faith, she was a memberof the Annunciation Greek Or-thodox Church. A hard workerall her life, she excelled at bak-ing bread and Greek pastriesand distributing to family andfriends. She loved to walk andfor years could be seen on thetrack of Oakwood HS and neigh-boring streets. She was a special"Yiayia" and will be greatlymissed. Visitation will be heldfrom 4:00-7:00 on Monday,March 7th at Routsong FuneralHome, 2100 E. Stroop Rd, Ket-tering, OH with Trisagionprayers at 5:00. A funeral ser-vice will be held at 10:00am onTuesday, March 8th at Annunci-ation Greek Orthodox Church,500 Belmonte Park N., Dayton,OH 45405. Burial in WoodlandCemetery. In lieu of flowers do-nations can be made to theChurch or to a charity of yourchoice . Condolences and otherremembrances may be sent tothe family atwww.routsong.com.

n MORAITIS, NICHOLASSTRONGSVILLE, OH (from theCleveland Plain Dealer, pub-lished on Feb. 29) – Childhoodfriend and beloved husband ofHelen (nee Thomas); devotedson of Constantine and Anasta-sia Moraitis of Ikaria, Greece(both deceased); dear brotherof Helen Vianos (Nicholas) andMarino (Jackie); uncle of Kostas(Kelly), Nico, John (Diana), andDino; great-uncle of Eleni andNiko; stepfather of MariePugliese; step-grandfather ofDaniel Pridemore. Nick was arestaurateur, businessman, andgood friend of many. Skiing, ten-nis, traveling, and wine makingwere his pastimes. He was theowner of Coventry Inn Steak-house in Columbus, top fran-chise salesman and president ofArthur Treacher's Fish & Chipsin the late '70s. U.S. Army vet-eran. We appreciated the fre-quent visits of his friends whobrightened his last days. Manythanks also to the dedicated staffat Hospice Services of South-west General. All funeral ser-vices Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at11AM at St. Paul Greek Ortho-dox Church, 4548 Wallings Rd.,North Royalton, OH. VisitationMonday 4-8 pm at Yurch Fu-neral Home, 5618 BroadviewRd., Parma, OH. Trisagion Ser-vice Monday 7PM. In lieu offlowers, donations may be madeto St. Paul Church or to HospiceServices of Southwest General,1865 Drake Rd., Strongsville,OH.

n MULLEN, ATHINACARLSBAD, CA (from the LosAngeles Times, published onMar. 6) – January 17, 1922.Athina Mullen was born inAthens, Greece. After the warbroke out she was unable to at-tend college but stayed inAthens with her mother, Eleni,and two sisters Francesca andVirginia. Athina had an incredi-ble talent in accounting and eas-ily found work with the GreekNational Bank. In 1951 she metGeorge Mullen who was sta-tioned in Athens as a CIA agent.After a short courtship they mar-ried and moved to Los Angeles.Despite not speaking much Eng-lish, Athina excelled at Para-mount Studios in Hollywood asan Accounts Payable Supervisorfor 25 years until she andGeorge retired in 1985. Hergreatest joy was to invite herniece, Zoya from Athens,Greece, to live with them andattend college. Athina andGeorge treated Zoya like theirdaughter since they didn't havechildren of their own. They con-tinued their loving relationshipwith Zoya especially after Zoyamarried and moved to SanDiego. They saw each other of-ten, visiting one another in SanDiego or Studio City. AfterGeorge's death in 2009, Athinamoved to San Diego to live withZoya and her husband Richarduntil she passed away of naturalcauses on February 23, 2016.She is survived by her niecesZoya, her husband Richard,niece Mary and nephew Dimitris(Caterina) and grandniece Vir-ginia. Private services were heldin Bridgewater, MA where shewas buried beside her husbandGeorge of 52 years.

n NISIOTIS, MARIOSMACUNGIE, PA (from the Morn-ing Call, published on Feb. 28)– Marios G. Nisiotis, 81, of Ma-cungie, passed away Feb. 26 atLehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury

Twp. Born in Filia, Mytilene,Greece, he was a son of the lateGeorge and Anna (Katsoulerou)Georgiadis. He was predeceasedby his wife of 48 years, Antigoniin 2014. He was a self-employedrestaurant owner of the AppleDumpling, Boyertown, and alsoworked as a plumber, baker, andshoe maker after arriving in theUnited States in 1969. He was amember of St. Nicholas GreekOrthodox Cathedral, in Bethle-hem, PA. He enjoyed spendingtime with his family and grand-children. Survivors: son Georgeand wife Lori of Macungie;daughter Eva Vardaxis and hus-band Alex of Barto; a brotherKostas in Greece; and grandchil-dren Alexa, Gabriana, Ourania,Angelos, Marios, and Ignatios.He was predeceased by a sisterAphroditi and brother Miltiadis.Services: viewing on Wednes-day, Mar. 2 from 6-8 p.m. atNicos C. Elias Funeral Home,1227 W. Hamilton St., Allen-town. Funeral service at 11:00a.m. Thursday at St. NicholasGreek Orthodox Cathedral,1607 W. Union Blvd., Bethlehemwith another viewing from 10-11 a.m. Interment at CalvaryCemetery, Emmaus. Contribu-tions: Holy ProtectionMonastery, 1 St. Joseph's Way,White Haven, PA 18661.

n NYKTAS, PETERTOLEDO, OH (from the ToledoBlade, published on Mar. 15) –Peter Nyktas, 87, of Walbridge,Ohio, passed away surroundedby his loving family on March12, 2016, at ProMedica ToledoHospital. He was born in Samos,Greece on January 27, 1929 toWilliam and Virginia (Servidi-adis) Nyktas. Peter was a U.S.Army Veteran and owned P &W Painting. He was the ownerof Pete's Hot Dog in Oregon for6 years. Peter loved traveling toGreece, boating, gardening inhis yard, and going to Don'sDonuts. He held a special placein his heart for his dog, Kai. Pe-ter was a member of Holy Trin-ity Greek Orthodox Cathedral.Peter is survived by his lovingwife of 56 years, Helen; chil-dren, Virginia (Ed) Branstutter,Bessie (Bob) Majchszak,William Nyktas and Mary(David) Champion; grandchil-dren, Nicole and Olivia Bair,Michael Bartram, Nicholas,Jeanie and PJ Branstutter. Hewas preceded in death by hisparents. Friends may visit at theEggleston Meinert & Pavley Fu-neral Home, Oregon Chapel,440 S. Coy Rd., on Wednesday,March 16, 2016, from 2:00 p.m.until 9:00 p.m. with Trisagionservices at 5:00 p.m. Funeralservices will take place at HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral, 740 Superior St., Toledoon Thursday at 11:00 a.m.where the family will begingreeting friends at 10:00 a.m.Interment will take place atLake Township Cemetery. Thosewishing an expression in Peter'smemory are asked to considerHoly Trinity Greek OrthodoxCathedral or a military organi-zation of donor's choice.

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Notice of formation of (Double Bee Creations),a domestic LLC. Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on (01/07/2016). Office location:Nassau County. SSNY is designated as agentupon whom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC,(1323 Powell Ave., Merrick, NY 11566). Pur-pose: Any lawful purpose.

275092/19918

Notice of Formation of Layton Avenue LLC.Name amended to: 5 Hampton Bays, LLC. Arts. ofOrg. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on03/23/15. Office location: Kings County. SSNYdesignated as agent of LLC upon whom processagainst it may be served. SSNY shall mail processto: 92 Luquer St., Brooklyn, NY 11231. Purpose:any lawful activities.

275087/18059

Notice of Formation of ARIEL RE ADVISORSLLC (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organizationfiled with SSNY on 12/22/2015. Office lo-cation: Nassau County. SSNY is designatedfor service of process and shall mail to: TheLLC., 86 Harborview West, lawrence, NY11559. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275093/19922

Notice of formation of Special Needs HousingConsultants, LLC, a domestic LLC. Articles ofOrganization filed with the Secretary of Stateof New York (SSNY) on 2/8/2016. Office loca-tion: Nassau County. SSNY is designated asagent upon whom process against the LLC maybe served. SSNY shall mail process to: TheLLC, 1015 W Park Ave., Long Beach, N.Y.11561. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

275083/19909

SO/NYC Creative LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/SSNY 3/10/16. Office in Kings Co. SSNYdesignated for service of process and shallmail to Reg. Agent: Thomas Law Firm PLLC,175 Varick St, NY, NY 10014. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

275080/18796

Vandanny Multi-Service, a domestic LLC filedwith the SSNY on 10/15/15. Office: BronxCounty. SSNY designated as agent of the LLCupon whom process against it may be served.SSNY shall mail copy of process to DonaldHunter at 3819 Boston Road, Bronx, NY10466. Purpose: General Purpose.

275071/19905

PANIC 3 LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNYon 02/08/2016. Office loc: Kings County.SSNY has been designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: Arcadia FortressManagement LP, 355 93rd St., Brooklyn, NY11209. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

275063/16818

Notice of formation of L Spa Boutique LLC.(DOM. LLC). Article of Organizations filedwith the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 02/22/2016. Office located inNassau County. SSNY designated agent uponwhom process may be served against LLC to:18 Julian Place, Island Park, NY 11558.Principal business address: 1595 TaylorAvenue, Westbury, NY 11590. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

275069/19902

Notice of formation of CULTIVATE COMMU-NICATIONS, LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with theSect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/22/16.Office in Kings County. SSNY has been des-ignated as agent of the LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNY shallmail process to the LLC, 9A Webster PlBrooklyn, NY 11215. Purpose: Any lawfulpurpose.

275053/19895

Notice of formation of SERGEY EYLANBEKOVSCULPTURE LLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles ofOrganization filed with the Secretary ofState of New York, SSNY on 02/29/2016.Office located in Nassau County. SSNY hasbeen designated for service of process. SSNYshall mail copy of any process served againstthe LLC to: Sergey Eylanbekov, 35 GeorgiaDrive, Syosset, NY 11791. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

275052/19894

Notice of formation of ELLE FIN PRODUCTIONS,LLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organizationfiled with the Secretary of State of New York,SSNY on 03/17/2015. Office located inKings County. SSNY has been designated forservice of process. SSNY shall mail copy of anyprocess served against the LLC to: Elizabeth Ar-rasmith, 361 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231.Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275051/19893

Picnic Joint LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/ SSNY11/12/15. Office in Kings Co. SSNYdesignated for service of process and shall mailto: P.O. BOX 4019 New York, NY 10163.Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275047/18796

Notice of formation of Bennett’s Deli &Sandwich Co, LLC Articles of Organizationfiled with the Secretary of State of New YorkSSNY on [2/5/2016]. Office location inBRONX COUNTY. SSNY has been designatedas agent for service of process. SSNY shall mailcopy of any process served against the LLC to1791 Grand Concourse #7b, Bronx, NY10453. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

275040/19886

Notice of formation of CYPRESS SUNSHINE RE-ALTY LLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organiza-tion filed with the Secretary of State of NewYork, SSNY on 02/04/2016. Office locatedin Kings County. SSNY has been designatedfor service of process. SSNY shall mail copy ofany process served against the LLC to: c/oLLC, 5308 13th Ave., #428, Brooklyn, NY11219. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275039/19885

SETTE NYC, LLC. App for Auth filed w/SSNY 2/2/16. Formed in CA 1/4/16. Officein NY Co. SSNY designated for service ofprocess and shall mail to: 1410 Jefferson St,San Francisco, CA 94123. Auth Officer:SSCA, 1500 11th St, Sacramento, CA95814. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275038/18796

Notice of formation TAN PUPPY HOLD-INGS, LLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organiza-tion filed with the Secretary of State ofNew York, SSNY on 03/31/2015. Officelocated in Nassau County. SSNY has beendesignated for service of process. SSNY shallmail copy of any process served against theLLC to: Arpana Agneshwar, 120 Bethpage Rd.,Suite 304, Hicksville, NY 11801. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

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APOSTOLOPOULOSApostle Family - Gregory, Nicholas, Andrew - Funeral Directors of RIVERDALE FUNERAL HOME Inc.5044 BroadwayNew York, NY 10034(212) 942-4000Toll Free 1-888-GAPOSTLECONSTANTINIDESFUNERAL PARLOR Co.(718) 745-1010Services in all localities - Low cost shipping to Greece

ANTONOPOULOS FUNERAL HOME, INC.Konstantinos Antonopoulos - Funeral Director38-08 Ditmars Blvd.,Astoria, New York 11105(718) 728-8500Not affiliated with any other funeral home.

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(718) 784-5255, ExT. 106, E-mAil:

classifieds@thenationalherald.com

By Eleni Sakellis

Shrimp are a versatile ingre-dient, packed with protein andnutrients. Whether enjoyed sim-ply with cocktail sauce as an ap-petizer or served with rice as amain course, shrimp are a quick-cooking weeknight meal option.A classic recipe, shrimp pilaf isubiquitous this time of year, es-pecially for those fasting forGreat Lent. Shellfish are allowedon most days during the fastand shrimp are often the mostaffordable and readily availablein local markets. Choose wildAmerican shrimp, large orjumbo size for this recipe.Peeled, deveined shrimp can bepurchased for a shortcut.Recipes for rice and shrimp arecommon in various culturalcuisines around the world. Theword pilaf comes into the Eng-lish language through the Greekpilafi which is derived from theTurkish pilav, which is derivedfrom the Persian polow, theHindi pulao, going back to aSanskrit recipe for a rice andmeat dish mentioned in ancienttexts from India. Some specula-tion suggests that Alexander theGreat tasted a pilaf dish inSamarkand, in what is nowUzbekistan, and his soldiersbrought the recipe back toMacedonia. Adding different

spices can easily change the fla-vor profile of the dish. For anAsian twist, add fresh gratedginger. For a spicier version, addred pepper flakes to the sauceto taste, or stir in a pinch of saf-fron to the white rice as it boils.

Springtime Shrimp andAsparagus with Rice2 pounds shrimp, peeled anddeveined, tails left on, ifpreferred

1 large onion, chopped2-3 garlic cloves, sliced2-3 fresh tomatoes, chopped 2 bunches fresh asparagus,chopped into 2 inch longpieces1 bay leaf4 tablespoons extra virgin oliveoil1/2 cup dry white wineSalt and freshly ground pepperCooked rice

In a large saucepan overmedium high heat, cook theonion in the olive oil untiltranslucent. Trim the ends of theasparagus and add the choppedasparagus pieces to thesaucepan, reserving the aspara-gus tips to add at the end sincethey cook quickly. Add the gar-lic, tomatoes, the bay leaf, salt,and pepper to taste and con-tinue cooking over medium heatuntil the asparagus pieces areslightly tender and the tomatoeshave cooked down a bit. Stir inthe white wine and the shrimp.

Cover the saucepan, reducethe heat, and simmer for about15 minutes until the shrimp arecooked through and the alcoholhas cooked off.

Stir in the asparagus tips andcover the saucepan to allow theasparagus tips to cook for 3 to5 minutes, just until they changeto a bright green color, or to de-

sired tenderness. Serve warmover cooked rice, bulgur, orpasta.

To cook the rice, bring 3 and1/2 cups of water to a boil in asaucepan, add 1 and 1/2 cupswhite rice, and 1 teaspoon ofsalt, stir. Reduce heat to a sim-mer and allow the rice to absorbthe water. To cook brown rice,bring 4 cups of water to a boil.Stir in 1 and 1/2 cups brownrice and 1 teaspoon of salt. Re-duce heat to medium and sim-mer until the brown rice absorbsthe water.

Scrumptious Shrimp andAsparagus with Rice Pilaf

GREEK GASTRONOMYOUR EVERYDAY GREEK

By Dr. Dimitra Kamarinou

The most well-known Greekfood word is souvlaki. Tο σου-βλάκι is a word of neuter gram-matical gender. Nouns, which inEnglish are neuter, i.e. those re-ferring to non-living things with-out sex, are in Greek of the mas-culine, feminine or neutergrammatical gender, which isnot identical with sex. How canwe figure out whether a Greekword is of neuter gender?Words ending in –ι or –ο areconsidered of neuter grammati-cal gender and take the articleτο in front of them. This is thevocabulary you will need if youwant to order street food froma truck vendor in Astoria(TABLE #1).

English words that refer tofavorite international disheshave been kept in Greek astransliterated words of neutergender: το σάντουιτς (=sand-wich), το χάμπουργκερ (=ham-burger).

Now you can order your sou-vlaki. You will be probably askedif you want chicken or pork sou-vlaki. The word or in Greek is ή(ΕΕ). It is written exactly as thefeminine article η, the only dif-

ference being that it is accentedwith the tonos (΄). Keep in mindthat the word με (ME) meanswith, the word και (KE) meansand, and the word χωρίς(hoREES) means without. Youmay need to remember themeaning of these words: πατά-τες =potatoes, ντομάτα/ντομά-τες =tomato/tomatoes, μίαφέτα ψωμί = a slice of bread,δύο φέτες ψωμί =two breadslices.

When you order you willneed to indicate the number ofsouvlakia you want. In this les-son we will only use the singular

number, one. A (=the Englishindefinite article) or one for theneuter gender nouns is ένα: ένασουβλάκι, ένα λουκάνικο, ένασάντουιτς, ένα χάμπουργκερ.

EXAMPLESΘέλω ένα σάντουιτς με σου-

βλάκι και τζατζίκι χωρίς κρεμ-μύδι. (= I want a sandwich withsouvlaki and tzatziki withoutonions).

Θέλεις ένα σάντουιτς με μπι-φτέκι; (=Do you want a sand-wich with burger?)

Θέλεις κρεμμύδι, ντομάτακαι πατάτες στο σάντουιτς;

(=Do you want onion, tomatoand potatoes in your sand-wich?)

Θέλω ένα σουβλάκι κοτό-πουλο και ψωμί. (= I want achicken souvlaki and bread.)

Θέλεις σουβλάκι κοτόπουλοή σουβλάκι χοιρινό; (=Do youwant a chicken or a pork sou-vlaki?)

Θέλω ένα χάμπουργκερ μεμπιφτέκι κοτόπουλο και ντο-μάτα. (=I want a hamburgerwith chicken burger andtomato.)

EXERCISES1. Choose words from the

list and order for you and yourfriend a souvlaki sandwich anda hamburger.

2. Translate in English: Θέλω ένα σουβλάκι κοτό-

πουλο με ψωμί. Θέλω ένα σά-ντουιτς με χοιρινό σουβλάκι,ντομάτα και κρεμμύδι. Θέλω σά-ντουιτς σουβλάκι χωρίς κρεμ-μύδι. Θέλω χάμπουργκερ μεμπιφτέκι κοτόπουλο και ντο-μάτα. Θέλω ένα σουβλάκι χοι-ρινό και ένα σουβλάκι κοτό-πουλο με δύο φέτες ψωμί. Θέλωένα σάντουιτς με λουκάνικο καιπατάτες.

3. Try to say in Greek: Do youwant a chicken or a pork sou-vlaki? I want a sausage withoutonion. I want a sandwich withsouvlaki and tzatziki. Do youwant a hamburger? Do youwant tomatoes and potatoes inyour sandwich? I don’t want achicken souvlaki. Maria do youwant a souvlaki with potatoes?I want a hamburger withchicken burger and tomatoes.

PRONUNCIATION KEYi (idiom), ee (needle), e (en-

ergy), o (organism), oo (boot),y (yes), h (helium), th (theory),d (the). The capitalized syllablesare accented.

Dimitra Kamarinou, PhD, hasstudied philology and archaeol-ogy at the University of Ioanni-na,Würzburg and Bochum inGermany. She has beenhonored with the Academy ofAthens Award in Archaeologyand Homeric Philology.

Ordering Your Souvlaki in Greek, With/Without Tzatziki

By Phylis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

My daughter and I had to goto New York City the other day.

Now, I didn’t really want togo but the thought of her goingalone in her new Land Roverworried me. I remembered theharrowing ride when my daugh-ters treated me to the Dalarasconcert, recalling the horren-dous traffic of cabbies whizzingpast and near miss collisions; allthis while my two daughterschatted happily while I froze atthe scene flashing past my carwindow. People traffic was nobetter. Crowds clumped sothickly along the sidewalks onlya tractor would have gotten usthrough. We had been late get-ting to that concert after fight-ing off beggars and a group ofdancing street kids.

My question while on theG.W Bridge was, could the BigApple ever be a safe, comfort-able, spacious place again? As akid on 49th Street, going acrossthe street was no big deal. I’dretrieve my ball if it landed inthe street. I got across, leisurely,in a few seconds, without look-

ing right and left. Now, I’d haveto squeeze through tightlyparked cars that’ll skin myknees, edge my way out, waitfor oncoming traffic and outgo-ing traffic, wait for a lull andrun for my life to get across.And, my ball would be a pan-cake. So, sure! The Big Applecould be a safe, comfortable,spacious place again – whenMadison Square Garden fea-tures Bull Fighting with drunkenmatadors.

Once there, Sophia parked ina garage and we took a taxi toAstoria. A sign told us, “DRIVERKNOWS LITTLE ENGLISH. So,with hand motions and a fewdescriptive words indicatingwhere we wanted to go, he nod-ded and took off with such astart I believe we were airborne.Going through traffic he openedthe window and shouted ob-scenities (in English) to a drivertrying to change into our lanewithout a signal. I, distinctly,heard him swear under hisbreath as our cab, going 200 m.pr. hr. attempted to cross left.He said, ‘Look at that SOB.Where he go, f’’r Allah’s sake!” Itold him, “I see you’re learning

English.” He turned his head,looking like a regular from aline-up, and said, “You learnplenty in this business. Youworry?” I shook my heads vig-orously. “No, no! You’re doingok” I told him he’d be great asa NASCAR Driver. He grinned,pleased. Having crossed the Tri-boro Bridge, he slowed to 160miles per hour, then, to a com-fortable 78, where he exited,nearly missing, (I hope) threedisabled pedestrians who began

crossing the street at the greenbut got delayed.

“Look them! Light is Greenfor me-e-e,” he pounded hischest. “If I kill them I get blame.What a country!” I was temptedto change the word on the signto, ‘DRIVER KNOWS LITTLEDRIVING.

Since we intended crossingthe street ourselves when we ex-ited the cab, Sophia decided tobe cautious. She told me inGreek, ‘I’m going to leave him a

bigger tip than planned. It’scalled ‘playing it safe!” I told herin Greek, “It’s called, ‘survival!”She left him a tip, generousenough to send some back tohis poverty-stricken family inTaboukistan. And, we wavedback at him as if biddingfarewell to a fond relative, hop-ing he lets us cross the streetalive. I thought twice about toss-ing him as kiss. He might thinkwe liked him – and wait for us.I presumed he got chosen, from

among his 28 brothers, to cometo America. Probably, it was thefamiliar, ‘heads or tails’ – tossinga camel up in the air and watch-ing how it lands. In Titan, weshopped for all the Greek prod-ucts we wanted; stuff thatwould have to last us untilEaster fixins. Lifting our eightbags, we left Titan and lookedfor a taxi to take us back.

If left to me, I’d opt for walk-ing across the Triboro. So whatif it took us three days! We’d gethome without an ulcer, highblood pressure or dry mouth,the only risk was gettingstabbed and robbed. But, atleast, we’d get home. My pulsedidn’t calm normally until I sawmy house and my cat, Lillie, inthe window waiting, anxiously,for me. Cats have a special sen-sory. I sensed how a fleeingrefugee felt crossing the borderto civilization. Sophia, a veryhardy, fearless soul, was, al-ready making plans for anotherharrowing trip soon. Only, un-beknownst to her, I plan to bevery ill on that day – even if Iwas told Dalaras, himself iswaiting for us in Astoria withhis bouzouki.

GREEK AMERICAN STORIES

Surviving the Big Apple

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016 7

By Eleni Sakellis

Wings of Wax by Apollo Pa-pafrangou is a fascinating com-ing of age novel featuring aGreek-American protagoniststruggling with relationshipsand ethnic identity.

The fractured relationshipbetween the 24-year-old AngeloKoutouvalis and his father,Tasso, is central to this story.The ambivalence many childrenof immigrants feel about theirheritage and their ancestralhomeland is depictedpoignantly as Angelo attemptsto reconnect with his roots andwith his father who returned toGreece after divorcing Angelo’smother, Despina. The love andpride for our cultural heritageis often tinged with sadness andregret for the disconnection anddislocation we feel, neither com-pletely at home in one cultureor the other, but celebrating thebest of both worlds.

Angelo, the sensitive artist ingraduate school to become anillustrator, struggles to trans-form himself into a mythic ver-sion of his father, whom he

imagines is a master at pickingup women. Unfortunately forAngelo, like most people strug-gling out there in the datingworld, he makes the mistake oftrying too hard and then tryingto be someone he is not on thedubious dating advice his friendgives him over drinks at a bar.Some cringeworthy momentsensue and readers will truly root

for this eminently relatablecharacter, but the journey isfraught.

Angelo suffers from medicalissues that add a level of im-pending doom to his struggle tofind love. He also doesn’t driveand lives at home with hismother and his Yiayia Maria. Yi-ayia, of course, steps in to helpout as only Yiayia can, offeringsome moments of comic reliefin spite of her own medical is-sues.

At times, it seems Angelo canonly find solace in his artworkas he sketches the women whocatch his fancy, yet remain outof his reach. The image of thekamaki develops into a charac-ter based on his father for a pos-sible graphic novel. Greek-Americans will undoubtedlyenjoy the snippets of Greek(spelled phonetically) and rec-ognize the realistic details as An-gelo reconnects with the churchand volunteers to help out atthe festival while his mother be-gins dating a xeno she met on-line. The novel winds its way in-evitably to Greece, allowingAngelo to first conquer his fear

of flying, and then, later on dur-ing their tour of Peloponnesosto confront his father over un-resolved feelings of abandon-ment. Angelo’s journey bringshim face to face with the pastwhich allows him to move on toa brighter future.

The story starts off slowly,but truly takes flight in the chap-ters set in Greece. This emotion-ally charged story of love, fam-ily, and forgiveness is anoverwhelmingly hopeful one.Apollo Papafrangou has createda charming novel of emotionalsincerity with memorable char-acters and touches of humorand pathos to make readers ea-ger for his next novel. The filmversion at least, if not thegraphic novel mentioned in thebook, must certainly be in theworks.

A graduate of the Mills Col-lege Creative Writing MFA pro-gram, Papafrangou is the authorof the short story collection Con-crete Candy, published when hewas just fifteen years old, andthe novel The Fence, publishedin 2012. Wings of Wax is avail-able online now.

LITERARY REVIEW

Cultural Identity & Mystery of Kamaki in Wings of Wax

GREEK WORD PRONUNCIATION MEANINGΤο σουβλάκι TO souVLAki souvlakiΤο τζατζίκι TO tzaTZIki yoghurt sauceΤο κρεμμύδι TO kreMEEdi onionΤο μπιφτέκι TO bifTEki burgerΤο κοτόπουλο TO koTOpoolo chickenΤο χοιρινό TO hiriNO porkΤο λουκάνικο TO looKAniko sausageΤο σάντουιτς TO SAntooits sandwichΤο χάμπουργκερ TO HAmboorger hamburgerΤο ψωμί TO psoMEE bread

FOOD VOCABULARY OF NEUTER GENDER.SINGULAR

This week, Anastasia Kostaki,the first Greek to play in theWomen’s National BasketballAssociation (WNBA) was born,on March 26, 1978, in Athens.Kostaki played for the WNBA’sHouston Comets in 2006, butstarted playing basketball fromage nine.

Besides, the Comets, Kostakihas played for various otherteams outside of Greece, but isbest known as a member ofPanathinaikos and Asteras Exar-chion.

With Asteras, Kostaki led theleague in assists and free throwsin the 2001-02 season and wasthird in scoring and sixth insteals. The following season,she was named to the All-Starteam.

Now 37, Kostaki continues toplay professionally, and is cur-rently a point guard on the Pro-teas Voulas team, which is a tier-1 team.

Her professional role modelis Nick Gallis, a New Jersey-bornof Greek descent who wasdrafted by the Boston Celtics in1979, but an injury kept himfrom playing. The Celtics re-

placed him with Gerald Hender-son (who helped them win titlesin 1981 and 1984), and Gallis

went to Greece and is widely re-garded as Greece’s greatestplayer of all time.

This Week in Greek History:

Anastasia Kostaki, First Greek in WNBA

TNH Staff

LOS ANGELES, CA – JOHANNAVOUTOUNOU, a Cypriot-Amer-ican and former regional corre-spondent for The National Her-ald, is heading to Greece thissummer to help the REFUGEES.

Her interest began more thana year ago, when Voutounoufirst typed in the words “howcan I help the refugees?” in anInternet search. “I typed thosewords several times and al-though I was met with a list ofpotential ways to help - I didnothing,” she writes.

“When I surveyed friendsand family about this, they ad-mitted to wanting to do some-thing but their desire to helpwas stunted by the logistics.Where do I send the money? Dothe refugees actually benefitfrom my donation? I just don'thave the time to research whichnonprofit I trust? Will my dona-tion make a real impact? Thesequestions were roadblocks for alot of people, including myself.”

Voutounou’s answer camefrom her 7-year-old daughter.The two were eating dinner oneevening and Voutounou said: “Iwish I could just go over thereto help,” to which her daughterreplied: “go!” Her little girl’s“simple, confident solution wasso full of unburdened hope it

instantly inspired me. Five min-utes later I began to plan ourtrip to Greece, one of the mostpopular landing points forrefugees fleeing from Syria,”

Voutounou described. “It was not an easy task and

I was met with a lot of logisticsand roadblocks, but the differ-ence was I was inspired and sur-prisingly once I set the wheelsinto motion things began to fallinto place. A few phone callsand emails and I was able toplan flights and accommoda-tion.

“After contacting local volun-teers they informed us of therefugees top needs. I also waspleasantly surprised that mostairlines would allow us to bring

extra humanitarian baggage fullof these donations!

“This July my family and Iwill travel from Los Angeles,California to Greece with suit-cases full of humanitarian aide.We will spend five days distrib-uting this aide directly torefugees that will be landing ontheir shores. Their first stop ona long journey in search of anew home and security for theirfamilies.

“Help us fill these bags andget them to Greece!” Voutounouimplores, on her gofundme.compage.

“We will be working directlywith local volunteers from anamazing organization calledCarry the Future that has beendistributing baby supplies to

families, including baby carriersto help families carry their chil-dren on a journey that can oftenlast years.”

TARPON SPRINGS, FL –Mayor-elect CHRIS ALA-HOUZOS welcomed U.S. Con-gressman GUS BILIRAKIS, a fel-low American of Kalymniandescent as the two Grand Mar-shals ushered in the 195th cele-bration of Greek Independenceon on Sunday, along Dode-canese Boulevard in Tarpon’shistoric Sponge Docks district.The Parade begins on PinellasAvenue from Lemon Street andthen turns onto DodecaneseBoulevard. The Parade was anopportunity for Alahouzos to ex-tend the celebration of his land-

slide victory five days earlier,when he won the election thathas now designated him as Tar-pon’s first Greek-born Mayor. Hecame to the United States as ayoung boy and lived in TarponSprings most of his life – havingmanaged a Fortune 500 com-pany for several decades, butalso having been involved inTarpon politics for years, as acommissioner and as vicemayor.

Bilirakis has been in Floridapolitics since 1999, havingserved eight years in the FloridaState Legislature, and represent-ing Tarpon Springs in the U.S.House since first winning a seatin 2008, vacated by his father,longstanding CongressmanMIKE BILIRAKIS.

ACROSS1 Prime5 Small fresh water fish9 In the lead14 Writer Bombeck15 Visionary16 Aristocratic17 Ride horseback18 Fury19 "He throws _ ____ curveball" (2 words)20 Greek soccer tm. (init.)21 Solitary22 Compass point23 Intensely25 City of Tigers and Lions, but not Bears29 Regret30 Hi!31 Air Resources Bd. (abbrev.)32 Plant shoot35 Snaky fish36 Japanese-American Actor Jack37 A Cartrwright38 Father and son presidents40 Finland denizen41 Eurasian Nat'l. University (abbrev.)42 Experts43 Out-of-date44 Tool45 Not any46 Underwater vessel, for short47 Casting metals49 Tenor legend Caruso52 Gray sea eagle53 Eye infection54 Fall behind56 Track59 Wall support60 Enjoy61 Fourth Greek letter62 Tactless63 Bode64 People from Switzerland65 Declare66 Time to eat fast food?

DOWN1 Second Greek letter2 Goofed3 "_____ on the Water" rockanthem4 Make lace5 _____ Demas, originalSandy in Grease6 Nelson's best friend on IDeam of Jeannie7 Exhort8 Adhere

9 Newsman Ernie10 Odyssey author11 Evidence Based Educ.(abbrev.)12 Chicken _ __ king - 2 words13 Fox hole21 Made thread22 Elite naval force24 Love god25 Carpe __26 Fertile desert area27 Clothes pressers28 Cut of beef30 Come to an end32 Bundle33 Home34 Car manufacturer38 Oak nut39 Refuse40 Teo of Indy 50042 A Papandreou43 Unpolluted46 Jimmy the Greek48 Bird homes49 Musical composition50 Climate51 Made of oak53 Flanked by R and W55 Chap56 Disks57 Carve58 "The Greatest"59 Mrs. in Spain (abbrev.)60 Reaction to a funny IM (abbrev.)

G M A C C H U B B I G O T

L A M A H E R E E T H A N

A G I N I N G A S E I S M

D I S A C R E R P M

C H A C H I B E E S W A X

L N I N A P A A B E

P H A S E O B A K D A N

L E R O H A N E Y P E S O

A L E D A D O L A D E N

K E N E N D S A A A

A N A S T O S A N D R E A

L R I A N D Y A D O

R A T I O E M I R A R A B

C I N D I P E L E M E M O

A G L E T A N E W A D S E

Solution to last week’s puzzle

THE HERALD SQUARETNH's Crossword Challenge

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

32 33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40

41 42 43

44 45 46

47 48 49 50 51

52 53 54 55

56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63

64 65 66

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

QUESTION OF THE WEEKDo you think there will be a contested Republican Conven-

tion?Please email your response to

scaros@thenationalherald.com We may publish some re-sponses as Letters to the Editor in a future issue.

Mayor-Elect Chris Alahouzos (L) and Congressman Gus Bilirakisserved as Grand Marshals in Tarpon Springs Greek Indepen-dence Parade on March 20.

HELLENIC HAPPENINGS FROM COAST TO COAST

n THRU MAR. 29MANHATTAN – Chelsea’s AgoraGallery, 530 W. 25th St. in Man-hattan, will feature the originalwork of Crete-born artist AnnitaFaitaki in From Here to Therethrough Tuesday, Mar. 29.Faitaki, a sculptor, “gives form tothe energy” of the earth. Faitaki’sorganic abstract sculptures arespheres, bodies, and discs thatcontain faces or face-like amor-phisms. They are universally rec-ognizable, but not standard.Faitaki pushes existing forms tosurreal limits to explore the du-alism of one's psyche: the goodand the evil in each person. Herwork deals with our need to liveour lives finding harmony withinthis duality. As people forge theirown paths, they seek completionand plentitude, and Faitaki'ssculptures explore these ele-ments in powerful, passionate,and symbolic archetypal forms.Faitaki was born on the island ofCrete and has since lived andworked in both Athens and NewYork City. Her background givesher the perfect perspective to ex-plore not only the duality of thepsyche, but of past and present,memory and modernity. Herworks are created from passionsof the past, attitudes of the pre-sent, and the fears and hopes forthe future. They are universal inthis, and timeless. Gallery Hoursare Tuesday through Saturday11AM-6PM. More information isavailable at agora-gallery.com.

n THRU SEPT. 10TARPON SPRINGS, FL – TarponSprings’ annual Night in the Is-lands tradition continues on thehistoric Sponge Docks once amonth from 6-11PM on the City’shistoric Sponge Docks, along Do-decanese Boulevard. Food,drinks, and the street is closedoff for live dancing: 6-11PM onSaturdays April 2, May 14, June11, July 9, August 6. And Sep-tember 10. Sponsoring restau-rants include Costa’s Hellas,Mama’s and Mykonos.

n APRIL 3BOSTON, MA – Join us for the22nd Annual Greek Indepen-dence Day Parade of Boston!Sunday, Apr. 3 at 1PM, fromBoylston Street (near Lord &Taylor) to Charles Street (cornerExeter). The Parade will end atBoston Common, where therewill be a celebration of Greekmusic, Greek traditional dances,and Greek food. The Grand Mar-shals will be His Eminence Met-ropolitan Methodios of Bostonand Honorable Mayor of BostonMartin Walsh. The Parade is pre-sented by the Federation of Hel-lenic-American Societies of NewEngland with the support of theMayor’s Office of Special Eventsand Tourism. The weekend cele-brations begin on Friday, Apr. 1at the Massachusetts State

House, and Saturday, Apr. 2 witha Gala at the Newtown Marriott.The Federation, founded in1982, is the premier umbrella or-ganization of over forty Hellenic-American associations, repre-senting over thousands ofindividuals in the community. Itsmission is to preserve and pro-mote the Hellenic culture andheritage, and to support the Hel-lenic-American communitythrough cultural programming,education and counseling, aswell as supporting philanthropicactivities throughout the Helleniccommunity. For more informa-tion about the parade, contactthe Federation at fhasne.com.

n APRIL 9MANHATTAN – It's that time ofyear again: Philo4Thought ispreparing for its annual SpringConference, hosted at ColumbiaUniversity on April 9th in collab-oration with the following orga-nizations: Women In Science atColumbia; National Hellenic Stu-dents Association of North Amer-ica; Hellenic Medical Society ofNew York; Federation of HellenicSocieties of Greater NY; HellenicAmerican Chamber of Commercefor Young Professionals; NewYork Omega Designs (NYC); andMG Designs (Athens), with ad-ditional advisory support of theArchdiocese, HABA, AGAPW, Pos-itively Profession-elle, and manyother wonderful organizationswithin the Greek community inthe US, Canada/UK, and Greece.For more info visitphilo4thought.org.

MANHATTAN – Join the Greek-American Writers Association incelebrating Greek IndependenceDay on Saturday, Apr. 9, whichis the eve of the Greek Indepen-dence Day Parade, to take placealong Fifth Avenue the followingday. Apostolos Pappas, PhD, willoffer a tribute to 100 years ofKirk Douglas, the actor andHomer's Odysseus. Brilliant jazzpianist and philhellene Jill Mc-Manus will perform. AwesomeGreek-American poets will pre-sent their odes to Greece. Cor-nelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia St.in Manhattan. 6-8 p.m. $9 ad-mission buys a glass or wine orsoft drink.

n APRIL 10MANHATTAN – The Federationof Hellenic Societies of GreaterNew York is proud to present the2016 Greek Parade, celebratingthe 195th anniversary of HellenicIndependence, on Sunday, Apr.10 on Fifth Avenue between 64thand 79th Streets in Manhattan.Pre-parade events include: TheGrand Marshal Gala is held onthe Saturday before the paradein one of the great Manhattan Ho-tels. At the Gala the Federationhonors the Grand Marshals of theparade and the Grand benefac-

tors. The Pre-Parade Gala is heldthe Saturday a week before theParade. The Bowling Green Flagraising ceremony is held the Fri-day before the Parade at theBowling Green Park in LowerManhattan. The Dance Exhibitionis held the Saturday before theParade. All dance groups are wel-come. As the Parade nears, moreinfo will become available, socontinue to check in for addi-tional details. For info regardingthe Parade and Parade-relatedevents, please contact hellenicso-cieties.org. Phone: 1-718-204-6500.

n APRIL 14MANHATTAN – The EasternMediterranean Business CultureAlliance (EMBCA) is happy topresent the “Blues of the EasternMediterranean” on Thursday,Apr. 14 at 8:30PM at the St. Pe-ter’s Church at 619 Lexington Av-enue in Manhattan. The "Blues"are universal in nature. The mostbroadly known and referred tostyle is the American genrewhich stems from the African-American folk tradition. TheBlues of the Eastern Mediter-ranean are the Rembetika. Rem-betika is the name given to astyle of music which emergedout of Greece and the EastMediterranean region. Join usfor this first event of its kind,which will bring together thesetwo forms of the blues, from dif-ferent continents and cultures,that share a commonality of pur-pose. Kindly respond as early aspossible. Due to popular de-mand, the seating is limited! ToRSVP and for more informationabout the event, including a listof scheduled performers, pleasevisit embca.com.

n APRIL 17PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Fed-eration of Hellenic-American So-cieties of Philadelphia and theGreater Delaware Valley, whichis an umbrella organization ofover 45 Hellenic-American asso-ciations representing over thou-sands of individuals in the Greekcommunity, will host the GreekIndependence Parade on Sunday,Apr.17 along the BenjaminFranklin Parkway at 2PM inPhiladelphia. For more info, con-tact Federation President StathisKaradonis (856) 308-2877, Pa-rade Chair Nick Spiliotis (267)907-5707, or George Horiates at(8567) 986-8972.

n NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events sectionis a complimentary service to thecommunity. All parishes, organi-zations and institutions are en-couraged to e-mail their infor-mation regarding the event 3-4weeks ahead of time, and nolater than Monday of the weekbefore the event, to english.edi-tion@thenationalherald.com

GOINGS ON...

FEATURE8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016

ATHENS — Greece detainedhundreds of refugees and mi-grants on its islands March 21,as officials in Athens and the Eu-ropean Union conceded a much-heralded agreement to sendthousands of asylum-seekersback to Turkey is facing delays.

Migrants who arrived afterthe deal took effect March 20were being led to previouslyopen refugee camps on the is-lands of Lesbos and Chios andheld in detention, authorities onthe islands said.

EU countries are trying toavoid a repeat of the mass mi-gration in 2015, when morethan a million people enteredthe bloc. Most were fleeing civilwar in Syria and other conflicts,traveling first to Turkey andthen to the nearby Greek islandsin dinghies and small boats. Ef-forts to limit migration have runinto multiple legal and practicalobstacles.

Under the deal, Greek au-thorities will detain and returnnewly arrived refugees toTurkey. The EU will settle morerefugees directly from Turkeyand speed up financial aid toAnkara. The two sides, however,are still working out how mi-grants will be sent back.

"We are conscious of the dif-ficulties," EU Commissionspokesman Margaritis Schinassaid in Brussels. "And we areworking 24-7 to make sure thateverything that needs to be inplace for this agreement to beimplemented soon is happen-ing."

Commission officials saidsupport staff needed to imple-ment the deal — including hun-dreds of translators and migra-tion officers — would not startarriving until next week. Re-turns, they said, cannot start un-til Greece changes its law to rec-ognize Turkey as a "safecountry" for asylum applica-

tions.The human rights group

Amnesty International sharplycriticized the plan.

"Turkey does not offer ade-quate protection to anyone,"Iverna McGowan, the head ofAmnesty's EU office, told TheAssociated Press, accusingTurkey of routinely forcing Syr-ians back across the border.

Migrants, meanwhile, contin-ued to reach Greek islands inlarge numbers, as smugglers ap-peared to be opting for moreovernight crossings and increas-ingly dangerous routes.

Four people died March 20while trying to reach Greece,two men off the island of Lesbos

and two girls off the tiny isletof Ro, the coast guard said.More than 1,600 people madethe crossing to Greece on Sun-day, and 262 were rescued infive incidents after vessels sankor were in distress.

"We face an uphill effort. Im-plementation of this agreementwill not be an easy issue," GreekPrime Minister Alexis Tsiprassaid.

He met in Athens with EUMigration Commissioner Dim-itris Avramopoulos and urgedhim to increase pressure onTurkey to crack down on smug-glers.

Migrants and refugees havebeen stranded in Greece since

Austria and Balkan countriesstarted border closures in recentweeks. The number strandedreached 50,000 on March 21,with some 12,000 still campedout on Greece's closed borderwith FYROM.

On the Greek mainland,army personnel expandedrefugee shelters at sites in thecentral and northern parts of thecountry — mostly at formerarmy bases — so migrants whotraveled to the Greek islands be-fore the agreement came intoeffect could be resettled.

"We are creating between500 and 1,000 additional shel-ter places every day ... and thetotal right now is 36,000," Mi-gration Minister Ioannis Mouza-las said.

On March 21, monitors fromTurkey's interior Ministry ar-rived on Lesbos, Chios, andthree other islands to help su-pervise the agreement and were

to stay for at least one week.It'staking longer than expected butEuropean Union officials aredue to arrive in Greece nextweek to help implement arefugee-migrant swap negoti-ated with Turkey.

The EU is sending 2,500workers from a number of coun-tries and they are set to beginarriving on March 28, someeight days after the agreementwith Ankara went into effect inwhich Turkey said it would takeback any illegal immigrants whoget to Greece.

The EU’s border agency,Frontex, asked countries to pro-vide 1,500 police officers and50 return and readmission ex-perts to support Greece in re-turning migrants to Turkey,Kathimerini said. Frontex cur-rently has 734 personnel inGreece.

“It is important to stress thatFrontex can only return peopleonce the Greek authorities havethoroughly analyzed each indi-vidual case and issued a finalreturn decision,” said FrontexExecutive Director Fabrice Leg-geri.

“The return of those who donot have the right to interna-tional protection will proceed infull compliance with EU and in-ternational law," he said.

The UN Refugee Agency(UNHCR) said it cut back itshelp and will no longer transferrefugees and migrants who ar-rive on Lesbos to the Moriacamp.

“The Greek state lacks thenecessary capacity to assesslarge numbers of asylum claimsand needs to be reinforced,”said UNHCR spokesman BorisCheshirkov, who said supportfrom the EU is needed.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016 9

Greece Opens Detention Cntrs. amid Lagging EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

Concessions made by Turkeyand Cyprus over a EuropeanUnion migrant swap deal pre-vented hopes for unifying the is-land from being scuttled, diplo-mats and analysts said.

Cypriot President NicosAnastasiades said he would vetothe deal that required unani-mous consent among the EU’s28 leaders because Turkey –which wants to join the bloc –still refuses to recognize Cyprusand bars its ships and planes.

The migrant deal intended tohalt illegal migration flows toEurope will also give Turkey sixbillion euros and visa-less travelin the EU for its citizens.

In return, Turkey agrees totake back illegal immigrantswho reach the EU, primarilythrough Greece, while the EUwill take in an equal numberfrom Turkey.

“We really dodged a bulleton this one,” James Ker-Lindsayof the London School of Eco-

nomics, who has advised U.N.negotiators seeking a settlementon Cyprus told the Reuters newsagency. “It could have got very,very nasty if Turkey had decidedto dig its heels in.”

Turkish Premier AhmetDavutoglu – who serves underPresident Recep Tayyip Erdoganand has only relatively symbolicpowers - accepted the deal andtold a news conference he was“optimistic” about relations withthe EU.

Anastasiades voiced “full sat-isfaction” and said he wouldsupport Turkey’s EU accessiontalks if it meets his conditions.

Turkish Cypriot leaderMustafa Akinci tweeted: “TheEU-Turkey deal reached as a re-sult of the compromise cultureis a positive outcome which isalso helpful for the Cyprus ne-gotiations.”

EU Council President DonaldTusk, who said refugees and mi-grants aren’t welcome in Eu-

rope, wanted to avoid a back-lash against Anastasiades inMay 22 Parliamentary electionsthat could have jeopardized histalks with Akinci, the newsagency said.

EU BACKS CYPRUS“This may be the last gener-

ation of politicians in Cypruswho still want a settlement,” asenior EU official told Reutersof Anastasiades’ affinity withAkinci, whose election as a mod-erate spurred hopes of a break-through. “To wreck Anastasi-ades is to derail the settlementprocess,” the source said, whichthe EU realized as it tried towork out the deal with Turkeywhich came into the meetingwith its game face on.

Turkey, backed by Merkel,sprang its offer to take back mi-grants - in return for, amongother things, five new accessionchapters - on EU leaders at aspecial summit two weeks ear-lier. Anastasiades came under

heavy pressure to agree, thenews agency added.

“Five (EU) leaders in a roomshouting at him to give groundwasn’t going to work and couldderail the peace process,” an EUofficial said of efforts to con-vince Anastasiades.

Diplomats involved in the ne-gotiations said Turkey appearedto believe it had sufficient lever-age over the EU on migrationto overcome the Cypriot blockon accession chapters. In theend, however, EU negotiatorsclosed ranks to avoid a Cypriotveto.

Stéphane Dujarric, UN Sec-retary General`s spokesman,has declared that the negotiat-ing process in Cyprus is contin-uing well. He made the state-ment during a press briefing inresponse to a question aboutwhether the recent agreementbetween Turkey and the EU willbe reflected positively on thepeace process in Cyprus.

“You know, obviously wehave to take a look at what theagreement says,” Dujarric said.

A migrant swap deal the Eu-ropean Union struck withTurkey has led to the openingof a door for Ankara’s EU ambi-tions but Cypriot officials saidtheir position is still protected.

Turkey will get six billion eu-ros, visa-free travel for its citi-zens and a faster-track for itsambition to enter the bloc al-though it still bars ships andplanes from Cyprus, an EUmember, and won’t recognizethe country.

Speaking a day after the EUand Turkey clinched a deal aimedto halt illegal migrant flows toEurope, House Speaker YiannakisOmirou stressed the agreementdid not satisfy Turkey’s requestthat five chapters blocked byCyprus were opened, the CyprusMail reported.

“The point that there will bepreparations for the opening of

chapters but on the basis of theexisting framework, and notingthat actions by the EuropeanCommission for opening chap-ters is not binding on memberstates, safeguards the interestsof the Republic of Cyprus,”Omirou said.

The same applies to Turkishhopes for visa-free travel for itsnationals to Europe as they willhave to recognize Cyprus pass-ports without visas, he addedalthough it wasn’t clear if thatwas part of the deal.

AKEL’s General Secretary An-dros Kyprianou said, “We knowmore pressure will be exerted.We expect within 2016, morepressure will be put on our partto satisfy Turkey’s demands,” hesaid and urged Anastasiades toremain strong in Cyprus’ posi-tion.

DIKO leader Nicolas Pa-padopoulos said the deal was a“national failure” and rewardedTurkey.

Cyprus Unity Hopes Survive European Union-Turkey Deal on Refugees

ATHENS – With all eyes on thecountry’s continued refugee andmigrant invasion, attention hasbeen distracted from its long-running economic crisis as talkswith international lenders havestalled over undone reforms, es-pecially demanded pension cuts.

Finance Minister EuclidTsakalotos said Greek envoysand those from the Quartet ofthe European Union-Interna-tional Monetary Fund-EuropeanCentral Bank-European StabilityMechanism (EU-IMF-ECB-ESM)hope to reach a deal sometimein April.

The negotiations broke offfor the Easter not celebrated bythe Orthodox Church and won’tresume until April 2 but there’sbeen virtually no progress formonths as Prime Minister andRadical Left SYRIZA leaderAlexis Tsipras is frantically try-ing to find a way to avoid morepension cuts and the breakingof yet another campaignpromise.

Greece signed a third bailoutdeal that is potentially worth upto 86 billion euros ($96 billion)last summer. In return, Greecehas to cut costs further and pushthrough wide-ranging economicreforms.

A deal on what Greece hasto do next will trigger discus-sions on how to ease Greece’sdebt burden.

Tsakalotos said a preliminarydeal can be reached by April 13,and a solution by April 22, whenhe next meets with his peersfrom the 19-country Eurozonebut previous similarly optimisticpredictions have all failed.

Meanwhile, Greece and theQuartet decided to put off fornow a discussion regarding anumber of civil service reformsthat have to be carried out aspart of the bailout, sources havetold Kathimerini.

The key issues relating to thepublic sector that have to be dis-cussed including firing of civilservants and hirings for the2016-18 period and salaries.

While the lenders want theworkforce reduced, Tsipras –breaking another promise – hasbeen hiring hordes of SYRIZAbackers, including those unqual-ified to be his “Special Aides” atsalaries up to 2,000 euros amonth ($2233) a month whileconsidering cutting basic pen-sions to as low as 300 ($335)before taxes.

Under the terms of Greece’slatest financial assistance pack-age, the government has todraw up by June 2016 a newwage structure in the civil ser-vice, ending exemptions fromthe across-the-board scheme forsome small groups of favoredbureaucrats. The new scheme isto be implemented from thestart of 2017.

The visiting officials have dis-cussed the issue with AlternateAdministrative Reform MinisterChristoforos Vernardakis but itwas decided there would be nofurther negotiations for now be-cause the government is over-whelmed on a number of frontsand can’t cope.

Tsipras has asked for permis-sion to hire 20,000 more peoplethis year and additional num-bers over the next two years de-spite the country essentially be-ing broke. The Quartet wants tolimit hirings to 10,000 this year.When he was out of powerTsipras criticized previous ad-ministrations for patronage hir-ings.

SCHAEUBLE SOUNDS ALARM

German Finance MinisterWolfgang Schaeuble alterna-tives must be found if Greececannot deliver on pension re-forms as Athens aims to com-

plete a first review with its in-ternational lenders in April,Reuters reported.

“If, for reasons that we knowabout, there is not much roomfor maneuver in pension re-forms, then the three institu-tions must ... together with theGreek government work onfinding something else to do in-stead,” Schaeuble told reporters.

“The debate about debt sus-tainability is unfortunately a de-bate about something that is noturgent,” Schaeuble said, addingboosting competitiveness andimplementing structural reformswere more pressing.

STOURNARAS PRAISESAUSTERITY

Bank of Greece GovernorYannis Stournaras said Greece’seconomic crisis was caused byoverspending and needed theausterity demanded by interna-tional lenders.

Stournaras, who came out ofa think tank to serve as FinanceMinister under a coalition ledby then-Premier and formerNew Democracy Conservativeleader Antonis Samaras at thetime negotiated some of the re-forms insisted upon by theQuartet.

The severe economic crisis in

Greece was not caused by thememorandums, but by “unjus-tifiable fiscal policy,” he said ata political event, Naftemporiki,a business daily, reported.

Stournaras said that claimsthe memoranda with the Quar-tet worsened Greece’s crisiswere “completely false and cov-ers up reality.”

He added: “The crisis inGreece has a name: a major riskover the Greek state’s default atthe end of the 2000 decade,due, primary, to the unjustifiedexpansionist fiscal policy thatrocketed the budget deficit toincredible heights, through a

major increase in state spend-ing, and without the accompa-nying increase in state revenues.All that followed, including thememorandums, were efforts toavert default. These efforts, ofcourse, had unpleasant reper-cussions; repercussions of a de-fault, however, would be incal-culable,” he said.

As Finance Minister hebacked austerity measures theIMF said had done more dam-age to the economy than it ex-pected when demanding them.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

Reforms are Delayed, and Greece Attempts to Avoid More Pension Cuts

Migrant children stand in front of tents in the makeshift refugeecamp at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece,Wednesday, March 23, 2016. RIGHT: Maysa Elmohamed holdsher 7 day old baby Basel al Sbeihi, as they rest in the makeshiftrefugee camp at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni,Greece.

"Greece Will Never Die" is More than a SongThere can be no better sign of a brighter future forGreece than the smiling faces of its children at GreekIndependence celebrations across the country. Aboveleft, students are beautifully bedecked in traditional cos-tumes. Above: youthful marchers turn the street into ariver of blue and white. Left: The reverence for the Greekflag displayed by Greek youth is more that heartwarming– it shows that love of country endures among childrenfacing their first great national crisis.

PHOTOS: EurOkiNiSSi

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016

Thanks to TNH for itsU.S. Political Coverage

To the Editor:Every four years two of my

passions blend together inMarch, baseball and politics.Spring training begins in Floridaand Arizona, where the weather

is balmy and hope springs eter-nal even for fans of the mostmediocre of teams. On the po-litical front, the month is filledwith Super Tuesdays wherepoliticians battle each other forthe opportunity to become theleader of the free world.

This year, however, althoughmy baseball spirit is soaringonce more, by political soul isweary. Maybe it’s a matter of fa-tigue rather than mediocrity.Unlike the past, when Februarywas when we first got to knowthem and began the process ofdistinguishing the wannabeesand the Huckabees, by the timeMarch arrived, we already hadour fill with debates that beganearly and which the networkshave infused with the spirit ofgame show.

Some of my friends like thefact that the presidential de-bates are now beginning early.They say more people have be-come interested in the processof sorting out the contendersfrom the pretenders and thefool’s gold from the real McCoy.

But to me, especially on the

GOP side, it’s more like the Hat-fields and the McCoys. The goodthing for Greek-Americans is thelively and thought- and laugh-provoking TNH columns and ed-itorials. I don’t always agree, but

they are entertaining – and isn’tthat what politics is now allabout?

Paul MatarangosNew York, NY

Terrorism’s ConsequencesFollowing the March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels, in the

heart of the European Union, there should be no further doubtthat the terrorists are at war with the West.

It is clear that as far as the terrorists are concerned, thereare no barriers. They strike, and they will continue to strike,wherever they are, whenever they can, with the aim of causingthe greatest number of deaths and gaining the most publicity.

They are driven by hatred, and a thirst for revenge for whatthey believe they have suffered because of their ethnicity andreligion.

They live in a different era: the Middle Ages. They fight withmedieval methods.

This situation is unprecedented in history.Historically, wars were carried out only between states, or

between groups of states. Until recently. Everything changedsince the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in NewYork City on September 11, 2001. Since then, we have enteredan era where one or more small or large groups of people wagewar against one or more states.

The official start of this kind of war was the emergence ofal-Qaeda and the horrific 9/11 attacks.

Al-Qaeda certainly paid a heavy price when we counterat-tacked. Our military found and killed even its leader, Osamabin Laden. But that did not discourage other ambitious terrorists.The opposite happened. The armies of ISIS then appeared, andthey extended the war against the West. ISIS launched 11 ter-rorist attacks in Europe, the most notorious until March 22being the Paris massacre late last year, which left 130 dead. Be-fore that, they targeted the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo,which resulted in the deaths of 12 people.

And now in Belgium, of course, where the death toll is highand could rise higher.

It is certain that the impact of the terrorist acts in Brusselswill be great.

It will affect European lifestyle. For example, controls at air-ports will be tightened, something similar to what happened inthe United States after 9/11.

It will affect public attitudes toward refugees. It is fearedterrorists are hiding among them, so they will become evenless welcome.

Also, the consequences in political life will be important:public opinion will shift further to the right in many countries,including Germany and the United States.

It can even be said that what happened in Belgium was“manna from heaven” for the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Time Heals (All) WoundsHalf a century ago, relations between the United States and

the Soviet Union reached the brink because of Cuba, on whoseterritory the Soviets had installed missiles with nuclear war-heads.

It was an existential threat to the United States becauseCuba is only 90 miles from Florida.

President John F. Kennedy made it clear to Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev that he was not going to allow the missilesto stay in Cuba, and ordered the Navy to seal off the islandfrom the outside world.

The world endured 13 terrifying days – as described byRobert F. Kennedy himself in his book Thirteen Days: A Memoirof the Cuban Missile Crisis – before Khrushchev agreed to with-draw the missiles. But the damage had been done. American-Cuban relations became hostile.

Thousands of Cubans settled in Miami and elsewhere andwaged a merciless war against the terrible regime of Fidel Cas-tro.

But what was impossible to imagine even half a century agonow has become reality. Air Force One landed in Havana forthe first visit of an American president in 88 years.

Not every Cuban-American is happy with this development.It would be much easier to accept it if the Castro family wereno longer in power. President Obama must have felt the sameway. It seems, however, that for some reason, the idea of anopening to Cuba at this time has taken root.

Say what you will, but as the saying goes, time heals allwounds. When the generations who lived a calamity depart,the younger ones – no matter how much of the pain and thestories of their parents they endure within them – will addressthe issue differently. They look forward, into the future.

Consider us Greeks and the Asia Minor Catastrophe. No mat-ter how much it hurts, and it remains a deep wound in thebody of the nation, few today would support a rupture in Greek-Turkish relations because of it.

Or take a look at the Cyprus talks. As the mass graves of themissing are being discovered, the president of Cyprus is seenconversing and smiling with the Turkish Cypriot leader and theTurkish prime minister, the country that sent in its army intoCyprus in 1974 and today still occupies a very large part of theisland.

Time, therefore, creates its own logic and dynamic. It createsnew situations and attitudes. A perspective from which ourview of life changes.

The passage of time thus made it possible for an Americanpresident to visit Cuba.

And we owe gratitude to Kennedy and Khrushchev, who byprobably listening to the voice of history, did not start a devas-tating nuclear war.

It would have been futile.

March 25th: What’s in a Date?Many would be surprised to learn that as much as they strive

for accuracy in detail, many historians consider an event’s dateto be among the least significant factors.

Take March 25, 1821, for instance. That is the date mostcommonly associated with Greek independence from the Ot-toman Empire. Yet the battles started weeks before, and thesparks of independence festered for decades before they cameto fruition. Actual independence was not completed until adecade later, when Greece stood as its own nation – and eventhen, subject to a monarch handpicked by the Great Powers.

Some criticize Greek-Americans in various cities for holdingparades on dates other than March 25. Actually, that richlysymbolizes that it is not the date that is as important as theessence of the celebration: Greece’s glorious liberty.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

Good evening, boys and girls,here’s a bedtime story that con-tains some scary, graphic themes,so you may want to sleep withthe light on tonight. It’s called:Orangeylocks and the ThreePresidents.

Once upon a time, there wasa man with orange hair whowanted to run for President ofthe United States. His name wasOrangeylocks.

He had a lot of good and no-ble ideas, such as to: 1) keepAmericans safe from very badpeople who want to come here,blow up our buildings, and chopoff our heads; 2) protect our na-tion’s borders so that only thosewhom we allow to come in cancome in, and keep the illegaltrespassers out – the same con-cept as having a lock on yourfront door; 3) prevent greedyU.S. corporations from movingtheir factories overseas, wherethey pay employees slave wages(i.e., about 50 cents an hour) soas to cut down on labor coststhat might make a microscopicdent in their precious billions,but which result in millions ofAmerican workers being unem-ployed in the process; 4) elimi-nate big money donations frompolitical campaigns, so that can-didates could actually serve thepeople once taking office, not thewhims of their sugar daddy Su-perPACs; 5) raise taxes on thevery, very rich (billionaires), soas to ease the economic burdenon the rest of us; 6) create an at-mosphere that exposes politicallycorrect lies – such as, accusingsomeone of racism for criticizingBarack Obama and sexism forspeaking out against Hillary Clin-ton, even though that same per-son demeaned white males AlGore, John Kerry, and Harry Reidwith just as much intensity; and7) create better, fairer trade dealsthat would cause the U.S. econ-omy to grow at levels so robustthat this generation could actu-ally do better than the previousone – the way it used to be in allof our nation’s history, except fornow.

With such great ideas, onewould think that Orangeylockswould have an easy time becom-ing president. Not so. In fact,from the moment he announcedhis candidacy last June, Or-angeylocks has been vilified somuch and by so many, that itmakes the ordeal suffered byGeorge. W. Bush and BarackObama seem like a cakewalk bycomparison.

Orangeylocks has been calleda racist, a misogynist, anti-Mex-ican, anti-immigrant, anti-Mus-lim, and a fascist who incites vi-olence. Granted, thoseaccusations have not arisen com-pletely out of thin air. Even whenfiltering out the spin by whichthese accusations are shame-lessly presented by the media, by

his casual oppo-nents – the Democ-rats and the left –and by Orangey-locks’ most danger-ous opponent, theRepublican estab-lishment, there arestatements thathave actually comeout of his mouththat would causeany reasonable per-son at least to seekc l a r i f i c a t i o n .Among them: 1)Orangeylocks hascalled for a tempo-rary ban on all Muslims enteringthe United States “until the au-thorities can figure out what thehell is going on” regarding theadmission of Syrian refugees,meaning, whether they come inpeace or if there are terrorists in-terspersed among them; 2) “tak-ing out the family members” ofterrorists who were presumablyin the know about the terroristactivities in question and there-fore accessories to the crimes;and 3) saying how he would like

to “punch in the face” a rowdyand violent protester, and howhis audience should “knock thehell out of” anyone they seeabout to throw a tomato or en-gage in any other type of crimi-nal assault.

Media spin or no media spin,Orangeylocks’ own words gothim into trouble. If only he hadthought of a better way to saythings – then maybe he couldone day be considered a greatpresident.

In search of some words ofwisdom, Orangeylocks took awalk and came upon a house, inwhich three former presidentslived: Papa President – FranklinD. Roosevelt; Mama President –Harry S. Truman; and Baby Pres-ident – Bill Clinton.

“Come on in,” the three Pres-idents said to Orangeylocks, “andhave some porridge.”

Orangeylocks thanked them,sat down, and explained that he’srunning for president but seemsto be hated by so many people,and so he asked the three Presi-dents for their advice on how tobe as beloved a president as theyall were.

“Here’s what I did,” said Papa

President. “Whenthe Japanese at-tacked us at PearlHarbor, I roundedup well over a hun-dred thousandJapanese-Ameri-cans and lockedthem up internmentcamps until we, uh,could figure outwhat the hell wasgoing on.”

“You mean theywere Japanese sol-diers?” asked Or-angeylocks. “Oh,no,” Papa President

said. “Most of them were Amer-ican citizens – they just hap-pened to be of Japanese descent.Including some who would be-come Hollywood stars, like StarTrek’s George Takei, and BarneyMiller’s Jack Soo.”

“But you are one of America’smost beloved presidents,” Or-angeylocks pointed out. “Ohyes,” boasted Papa President, ashe took a drag of the cigaretteheld firmly in his long cigaretteholder: “most people rank me

just below Washington and Lin-coln!”

Somewhat confused, Or-angeylocks turned to Mama Pres-ident, who oversaw the end ofWorld War II. “Did you ever ‘takeout’ any innocent civilians onpurpose, just to end a militarydanger?” he asked. “Oh, forsure,” Mama President said. “Butnot too many, only about200,000 – about half of them inHiroshima and the rest in Na-gasaki.”

“But how did you kill so manyof them?” Orangeylocks asked.“Oh, we dropped nuclearweapons on them – atomicbombs,” Mama President replied.“Nuclear weapons? Really?”

Orangeylocks was astonished.“Oh, yes, we’re the only nationever to use them in time of war.Had to do it. How else could wehave ended World War II? A lotmore would have died if we had-n’t done it, you know. I had noth-ing against those civilians per-sonally,” Mama President said.“I’m sure they were very nicepeople.”

“Wasn’t that considered geno-cide?” a puzzled Orangeylocksinquired. “Not at all,” Mama

President reassured, “it wasdeemed ‘courageous.’”

Turning finally to Baby Presi-dent, Orangeylocks asked: “doyou have any advice for me?How I can tone down my lan-guage?” Baby President lookedup and said: “Well, maybe I’mnot the right person to ask, be-cause when I was president, aprominent New York Times re-porter named William Safire hadthe audacity to write a columncalling my wife a liar – and so Ibasically said, if I weren’t presi-dent, I’d have punched him rightin the nose!”

“Well, didn’t you get in trou-ble for that?” Orangeylocksasked. “Oh, not at all,” BabyPresident chuckled and then bithis lower lip to feign concern:“but I did get in trouble for some-thing else – becoming only thesecond president ever to be im-peached, for perjuring myself un-der oath. You see, I was accusedof sexual harassment while Gov-ernor of Arkansas – that’s acrime, you know – and duringthe proceedings, it became clearthat while president, I was cheat-

ing on my wife with my 21-year-old intern, so I lied about it, un-der oath. It didn’t matter muchthough, people still love me.”

“So let me get this straight,”Orangeylocks said. “I get in trou-ble for calling for a ban on Mus-lims, but you actually put thou-sands of American citizens ininternment camps. I get blastedfor saying we should ‘take out’terrorists’ family members, butyou blew hundreds of thousandsof innocent civilians into obliv-ion. And I get in trouble for call-ing for self-defense to violence,but you dreamed of punching aprominent writer in the nose be-cause you didn’t like his words. Idon’t get it.”

“Hahaha!” The three Presi-dents chuckled in unison. “That’swhat you get for trying to speakout against the establishment.What do you think, the peoplerun this country or something?Hahahahahaaaa!”

Constantinos E. Scaros' latestbook, Grumpy Old Party (aboutthe 2016 presidential election),is available for purchase onamazon.com and in bookstoresnationwide.

Orangeylocks and the Three Presidents: a Bedtime Story

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The National Herald welcomesletters from its readers in-tended for publication. Theyshould include the writer’sname, address, and telephonenumber and be addressed to:The Editor, The National Her-ald, 37-10 30th Street, longisland City, Ny 11101. letterscan also be faxed to (718) 472-0510 or e-mailed toscaros@thenationalherald.com.we reserve the right to editletters for publication and re-gret that we are unable to ac-knowledge or return those leftunpublished. GEOrGE SArAFOGlOu / SPECiAl TO THE NATiONAl HErAlD

Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris

Separate But Equal

There is a well-known adage that com-mon sense is not, in fact, so common.

This saying is appropriate to describe theoutrageous association between Greece’s in-ternational debt and the tens of thousandsof refugees trapped on Greek territory.

Some officials in Athens, as well as somereputable observers, have suggested thatthe outbreak of the refugee crisis is a strongbargaining chip for Greece to achieve debtrestructuring.

Such a solution was even proposed by aEuropean prime minister.

Not only does that notion suggest igno-rance or intentional denigration of the basicparameters of these two colossal problems,but it also blatantly conflicts with commonsense and vital Greek interests.

It is widely known that Greece’s unbear-able debt is an issue for all governments

and international organizations involved.Restructuring is an economically, politically,and ethically prospect considered reason-able by all, which is imposed on the condi-tion that Greece will manage to put its fiscalaffairs in order and adopt the necessary re-forms.

It is a Herculean task, a socially inflictingand difficult project which, unfortunately,until now has been placed in the hands ofleaders who either cannot or will not carryit out with the required thoroughness, ex-peditiousness, and consistency. As a result,the country has remained mired in a ubiq-uitous crisis for years.

Accordingly, Greece will achieve debt re-structuring if and when it manages to getits house in order.

For Greece to be able to survive in thefuture, reform and fiscal consolidation areimperative ends in themselves. Restructur-ing is the logical consequence.

On the other hand, the notion of Greece

ending up a “parking lot” for tens of thou-sands of refugees in exchange for economictrade-offs is inconceivable.

Negotiating or bargaining is unthinkablewhen the demographic and cultural in-tegrity of a country are at stake.

A simple perusal of Greek history is evi-dence enough.

Of course, it is obvious that Greece needsgenerous help and European support toweather the refugee storm, which has beenexacerbated by both the government’s in-eptitude and Europe’s intrinsic weaknesses.

Nevertheless, it goes without saying thatthe handling of the temporary residency ofthe refugees already on Greek soil and thefurther protection of its border cannot andshould not be connected to its best restruc-turing (or worse yet become the means tobargain), if Greece doesn’t want to weakenits position on both of these issues yet again.

For Greece, these are two crucial claims,but which are by no means intertwined.

by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

L-R: Orangeylocks, Papa President, Mama President, and Baby President.

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016 11

On Feb. 17, 2015, weeks af-ter taking power on the back ofanti-austerity pledges that werebroken before the seats werewarm in Parliament and Maxi-mos Mansion, the Radical LeftSYRIZA’s Alternative Ministerfor Citizens’ Protection YiannisPanousis visited the Amygdalezadetention facility after the sui-cide of a Pakistani national andstated: “I am here to express myembarrassment. We are donewith detention centers.”

Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprasat least kept one promise: toclose the detention centers hesaid were being used as humanwarehouses for illegal immi-grants, and also for refugeesfleeing war and seeking asylumin Greece, which up to thatpoint was being granted at therate of about one in every10,000, a national embarrass-ment.

By November, Panousis wasout of Tsipras’ favor and out ofhis ministerial position afterSYRIZA bamboozled voters asecond time and won snap elec-tions again in September, andas Panousis was claiming he hadreceived death threats fromSYRIZA types who wanted himto go easy on terrorists, favesfor the Looney Leftists.

Tsipras, who essentially saidthe roundup of migrants andrefugees by the former rulers ofthe Capitalist New Democracyunder then-Premier AntonisSamaras was criminal, now hascome full circle, authorizing theopening of new detention cen-ters.

That’s because Greece - aswas the European Union - wasblackmailed into a migrant-refugee swap by Turkey, whichwill leave Greece home to asmany as 50,000 and with thou-sands more pouring in begin-ning the day the agreementwent into effect in which theywere supposed to be returned

to Turkey.The United Na-

tions’ refugee arm,UNHCR, and amany human rightsgroups had com-plained the NewDemocracy deten-tion centers werepretty much prisonsto keep the migrantsand refugees lockedup in terrible condi-tions until theycould be deported.

Tsipras now willhave to find a eu-phemism for deten-tion center the same way he in-sisted on calling Greece’sDraconian rulers and lenders,the then-Troika of the EuropeanUnion-International MonetaryFund-European Central Bank(EU-IMF-ECB) the “Institutions.”

That was just silly windowdressing to cover up nothingand as the European StabilityMechanism jumped onto thelending bandwagon and thecreditors then became the Quar-tet.

Tsipras and SYRIZA are allabout hiding their failures andtrying to spin them into some-thing palatable the majority ofgullible voters can swallow andusually they do because, as H.L.Mencken correctly pointed outabout Americans, and de factoall voters, “No one ever wentbroken underestimating the in-telligence of the … public.” For-getting history, etc. etc. RIGHT IN THE KISSER

Under the deal, Turkey willget six billion euros, the fastlane into EU entry and visa-lesstravel for its citizens. Greece willget a continued invasion of mi-grants and refugees who didn’tget the memo they’re not wel-come and are running awayfrom ISIS and war and aren’tabout to be deterred by papercontracts signed in Brussels.

The program,under which ille-gal immigrants en-tering Greece andthe EU as of March20 were supposedto be returned toTurkey – with theEU then agreeingto take in an equalnumber of Syrianrefugees fromTurkey seekingasylum in the EU– began to unravelalmost as soon asit was signed.

Turkish Presi-dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan,who can smell weakness like theferret he is, the next day sentships off Greek islands to lookfor energy. And as Turkishfighter jets had violated Greekair space some 155 times in themonth leading up to the signingof the deal in Brussels whereTsipras, head of the countrymost affected, sat glumly on hishands.

The deal did nothing to helpthe more than 10,000 refugeesin the northern Greek town ofIdomeni who sat in disbelief inmud and squalor and disease –

worse than the detention cen-ters Tsipras closed as “inhu-mane” - but did almost nothingto help them.

Somebody buy this guy a fid-dle so he can learn to play itwhile Greece burns instead ofstrumming his lips and sound-ing like Ralph Kramden going“Hummana Hummana.” Tsiprasand his Syrizans couldn’t run ahot dog stand outside YankeeStadium so running a countryis pretty much out of their minorleague.

Not only was Tsipras sold abill of goods (keep him awayfrom the Home Shopping Net-work or Greece will find itselfwith a million abdomenizersand bottles of snake oil) but he’sbeen abandoned by humanrights groups.

The UNCHR walked awayfast, distancing itself from a dealso rotten it smells worse thanthe memorandum Tsiprassigned with the Quartet.

“Under the new provisions,these so-called hotspots havenow become detention centers,”said the UNHCR's Melissa Flem-ing, announcing suspension ofits help on Greek islands over-run by refugees.

In March of 2015, the Coun-cil of Europe Commissioner forHuman Rights Nils Muizniekscomplained about the practiceof detaining migrants “for de-portation purposes” even incases when they shouldn’t be re-turned, especially to war-torncountries.

Or to countries like Turkeywhich Greece has declared hassuch an abysmal human rightsrecord they won’t be safe there,and most will just jump on thenext overcrowded rubberdinghy and come back to findit’s not only the detention cen-ters that are an embarrassment,but Greece’s Prime Minister.

adabilis@thenationalherald.com

The latest shameful act byGreece’s “Education” MinisterNikos Filis to bar MetropolitanNicholas of Mesogaia from ad-dressing students who invitedhim to their school is represen-tative of the current state of af-fairs threatening Hellenism. Themost disturbing thing about thisaction was not the governmentjockeying for position againstthe Church of Greece, or eventhe obtuseness and obstinate na-ture of the current administra-tion’s ideological ankylosis, butrather, the audacity of a semi-educated political party testtube cadre like Mr. Filis to barsomeone as erudite as Metro-politan Nicholas from address-ing students. A quick review ofboth men’s bios says it all.

Metropolitan NicholasChatzinikolaou studied Physicsat the University of Thessa-loniki, Astrophysics at Harvard,and Engineering at Massachu-setts Institute of Technology. Heearned his doctoral degree inBiomedical Technology at acombined program offered byMIT and Harvard. He also holdsgraduate degrees in TheologicalStudies and Theology from theHoly Cross Greek OrthodoxSchool of Theology in Brookline,Mass., as well as another doc-torate in bioethics from the Uni-versity of Thessaloniki.

Prior to entering into thepriesthood, he worked as a re-searcher at the New EnglandDeaconess Hospital’s cardiovas-cular lab, Massachusetts Gen-eral Hospital’s anesthesiologydepartment, and Boston Chil-dren’s Hospital’s ICU. He servedas a consultant in space medicaltechnology for NASA and ArthurD. Little. He taught at Harvardand MIT, as well as the Schoolof Medicine at the University ofCrete and the University ofAthens.

He became an Athonitemonk and was elected Metro-politan of Mesogaia andLavreotiki in 2004, where he of-fers a remarkable ministry. Hewas among the first prelates topublicly address the memoran-dum and display solidarity tothe suffering Greek people fol-

lowing the austerityonslaught.

Nikos Filis is ahigh school gradu-ate. There is noreadily availablepublic record of hispossessing any col-lege degrees. Heworked as a journal-ist and served as ed-itor of the rulingSYRIZA party’snewspaper Avgi. Heis a member ofSYRIZA’s centralcommittee.

This is the latest in a slipperyslope of surreal happenings thatsignal a cultural decline for Hel-lenism. However, as trouble-some and downright stupid asthese behaviors might be, it isnot just Hellenes in Greece thatare confronted and confoundedby the irrational. Lest that wewho are not sinless cast the firststone, let us turn our attentionto our own problems here in theGreek-American Community.

While the Greeks of Greecehave Mr. Filis and the other ig-nominious ideologues of theself-styled left (who left behindanything remotely resemblingthe traditional left long ago)leading the onslaught againstHellenic Paideia, the Greekschools of America have theirown crosses to bear. In manyinstances, the people crucifyingthem are the very persons ap-pointed/elected to serve them.Priests and parish councils haveshut down several parochial dayschools in recent years, leavingtheir founders likely turningover in their hallowed graves.None of the entities closingdown these schools and rentingtheir suddenly available spacefor huge profits ever botheredto retool, recalibrate and re-open, too preoccupied perhapswith maintaining their socialmedia profiles, other hobbies,or whatever other nouveauxriche fancies they have under-taken with their newfoundwealth.

Worse yet, these decisionshave not openly drawn the ireof the Archdiocese. There were

no transfers ofpriests, appoint-ments of specialad-hoc committeesto supervise thereestablishment ofthese schools, norat the very leastredistribution ofsome of the size-able profits fromschool buildingrentals towardsexisting Greekschools fightingthe good fight.Hellenic Federa-

tions and other collective bodiesalso remained eerily silent onthe matter. Even teachers’ orga-nizations sidestepped the issue,preferring instead to quarrelwith each other over petty issuesand bruised egos like a bunchof schoolchildren.

If faith, paideia, and cultureare not the central pillars of the

Greek-American Community’scollective body, what is? Sou-vlaki, tzatziki, and louk-oumades? That’s not to say culi-nary tradition and other aspectsof folklore aren’t important, butthey serve a greater purpose.Those circular Greek dances rec-ognized worldwide speak of acollectivistic body of persons.Fasting regulations are not someindividualistic rubric meant toearn brownie points with ahigher power that relishes see-ing people give up things, but acommon contest, in which thepeople happily participate to-gether to as a “modality of free-dom from individualism,” ac-cording tophilosopher/theologian ChristosYannaras, “where the peoplesubordinate their food intake tothe common ecclesiastical mode

being shared, whereby survivalneeds are transformed into free-dom.”

What are the organizationsof the Greek-American Commu-nity doing to advance the Hel-lenic modality that is so crucialfor our survival in the Diaspora(or Greece for that matter, inthe wake of the colossal demo-graphic changes taking place)?

The annual Greek Paraderepresents one of the largest an-nual mass events of Hellenismin America – perhaps secondonly to Holy Week. Looking atits organizational structure, canit really be said to serve the un-derlying principles of Hel-lenism/Romanity when Greekschools are often left to marchlast, struggling for some sem-blance of publicity and recogni-tion amidst a mishmosh of com-pletely unrelated organizations,floats, and paraders dressedevery which way? Certainlythere is room for everyone, but,to use an analogy from Greekcuisine, even moussaka orpastitsio have a subordinationof layers, not just a chance mixof ingredients.

And while it’s true that thelottery system used to deter-mine the marching order at theGreek Parade is part of the Hel-lenic tradition, it was used inthe democratic appointment ofofficials, so it would be wonder-ful to see the Greek-AmericanFederations start choosing theirboards that way as well, sinceparade organizers are so fondof this system.

It is worth asking ourselveswhat testimony to the collectiveprinciples that constitute ourcultural otherness and guaran-tee our cultural survival do theGreek Parades offer – and takingorganizers to task when theseare absent.

Speaking of parades, thegreatest shot to Mr. Filis’ tyran-nical inferiority complexwould’ve been an invitation toMetropolitan Nicholas to comeand speak to the Greek studentsof America.

Follow me on Twitter@CTripoulas

The Deeper Meanings of Hellenism’s Manifestations

GUEST EDITORIALS

The National Herald welcomes manuscripts representing a variety ofviews for publication. They should include the writer’s name, address,and telephone number, and be addressed to the Editor, The NationalHerald, 37-10 30th St., long island City, Ny 11101. They may alsobe e-mailed to scaros@thenationalherald.com. we reserve the rightto edit any manuscripts that we publish, and we do not return orotherwise acknowledge unpublished ones. Due to considerations ofspace we enforce a strict 850-word upper limit.

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Refugee Deal: Another Fine Mess Tsipras Got Greece In

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

By Dr. Daniel Goure

The Middle East is afire, Rus-sia is on the march and France,the United Kingdom, the UnitedStates and dozens of other coun-tries are at war with the IslamicState of Iraq and Syria. TheEastern Mediterranean is at thecenter of a titanic geo-politicaland strategic struggle asrefugees flood to Europe fromthe Near East and North Africa.United States air units are de-ployed to Turkey and Russianforces to Syria. Turkey, Egypt,Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Statesand Israel are building up mili-tary defenses due to increasingchances of conflict in the region.The United States and the NorthAtlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) need a stronger pres-ence in the Mediterranean tomonitor activities, and to pre-vent attacks on members andpartners.

The increasing conflict in theEastern Mediterranean calls fora stronger U.S. Sixth Fleet, butChief of Naval Operations, Ad-miral John Richardson, hasstated there is no plan to bolsterscarce U.S. naval resources inthe region. This means the al-liance must adapt by developinga new approach to its southernflank, increasing its presence,developing a European Mar-itime Security Strategy, andbuilding ally and partner rela-tions and regional security ar-

chitectures. To deter aggressionin the region, NATO also needsto boost the military power ofits existing members. Greece isone example of a member na-tion that could increase its in-volvement, and therebystrengthen NATO’s capabilities.

Greece has a long historywith the West, and serves as akey geopolitical point for NATO.The country forms the alliance’ssouthern tip, and its large east-ern border is exposed to volatileconflicts that unfold in NorthAfrica, the Middle East, and thePersian Gulf.

According to Admiral JamesStavridis, former Supreme Al-lied Commander at NATO, andcurrent Dean, The FletcherSchool of Law and Diplomacy,Tufts University, has shared,“Greece occupies a remarkablegeopolitical position as a solidsoutheastern anchor to theNATO Alliance.

The bases on Crete are par-ticularly critical when lookingat the instability in the Levant.NATO should work with Greece,the United States, and other al-lies to strengthen the bases and

increase their utility to NATOand the European Union.”[i]Greece is a trusted and capableally that is one of five alliancemembers that meets the alliancegoal of spending two percent ofgross domestic product on de-fense, consistently surpassingthe minimum as far back as1988.

The Hellenic Republic regu-larly participates in military ex-ercises with allies and partners,and hosts U.S. forces and mul-tiple NATO facilities. Greece’scontributions allow for alliancecohesion, and the security of theMediterranean and Europe byhelping with reconnaissancemissions, logistics, maintenance,and air refueling support. Ad-miral Mark Ferguson, Comman-der, Allied Joint Force Com-mand Naples, and Commander,U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa,has confirmed that Navy Sup-port Activity Souda Bay locatedon the Greek island of Crete isa strategic logistics and mainte-nance point that supports bothallied and U.S. ships and aircraftconducting operations in theMediterranean Sea.

American forces rely on thestrategic location and supportcapabilities of Souda Bay to sus-tain U.S. forward presence andrespond to crises in the EasternMediterranean.[ii] Souda Bay isone of the few locations capableof hosting a permanently basedaircraft carrier in the Eastern

Mediterranean along with de-stroyers and amphibious shipsthat would allow for quickerand cost effective responses inthe Middle East, North Africa,and the Persian Gulf.

In addition, NATO MaritimeInterdiction Operations TrainingCenter at Souda Bay serves as a“One Stop Shop” in the area byeducating maritime law enforce-ment.

The NATO Missile Firing In-stallation is located nearby, serv-ing as the only place in Europewhere missiles can be test fired,and is capable of hosting Marinebattalions when forces areneeded in the region. The NATOFleet Operational Readiness Ac-curacy Check Site ensures ves-sels are working properly so al-liance members can shareaccurate information. Athens,Washington, and NATO shouldidentify more synergies to worktogether and protect peace andcommerce in the MediterraneanSea.

Daniel Goure, PhD, is a vicepresident at the Lexington Insti-tute, a public policy think tank.

Souda Bay: NATO’s EasternMediterranean Military Gem

by ChristopherTRIPOULAS

Special to The National Herald

Members of the U.S. Navy at the pier at Souda Bay in Crete.

It is worth asking what testimony to the collective principles of our cultural otherness that guarantee ourcultural survival do the parades offer.

Alexis Tsipras

FEATURE12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2016

ware of moussaka.”And like many Greek immi-

grants’ children, resentment be-gan to creep into her conscious-ness. “I resented being othered,and not having to go to Greekschool when they could go tovolleyball practice… I wouldrebel against going to Greekschool and the dance group.”

“And now, I am so gratefulfor it. It also made me funny, andyes, I do send my daughter toGreek school.”

She told her father shewanted to do musical theaterand be an actress. “Good. Fine.You can be a teacher and teachacting,” he said.

Asked if she was drawn at allto teaching, Vardalos said “I wasdrawn to theater at such an earlyage” but Vardalis said she can’treally explain why.

“I was always the class clown.My mom would say to me fromanother room ‘Nia, you don’thave th be the loudest person atthe party.”

“I saw The Sound of Musicwhen our parents took us to thelocal dinner theater and I wasmesmerized and from five, six,seven years old I would say, overand over, ‘I’m going to be an ac-tor.’”

PAYING YOUR DUES PAYS OFF

She doesn’t tell many people– no one’s career begins with aNobel prize – but she began witha local TV show called Let’s Go!

“It was a low-rent version ofThe Electric Company when Iwas 11 and 12, and then theharsh reality hit us – we were letgo when puberty set in.”

When she realized “cute” hasa short shelf life in the entertain-ment business, Vardalos workedhard to develop her acting talent.She did high school theater andamong the things she learnedwas how to survive toughcrowds.

“We went to a local old agehome and they were just notamused. They had stone-facedexpressions. It was the first timeI experienced dying on stage.”

She never did standup com-edy, but she values her time do-ing sketch comedy at the SecondCity – the source of so much Sat-urday Night Live talent.

She was in her early twentiesand that’s when she started writ-ing, and her creative principlesare founded on her Second Cityimprovisation experiences.

“I responded to the storytellers. They were insightful andreally had something to say. LikeChris Rock. After SNL he wentout on the road and formed hisopinions and that’s why we lovehim so much,” she said.

“I don’t outline or card out astory. I write through improvisa-tion and play all the charactersout loud” she said with slight em-barrassment. “I listen to thevoices, try to have conflict andhave everyone make sense.Everyone must have a valid point

of view – that’s why there are novillains in my screenplays.”

The best comedians are intune with their societies.

“I got my citizenship in theUnited States so I can vote and Itry to keep my eyes and earsopen on social issues. My sisterMarianne has her doctorate insociology…it was a common dis-cussion at family dinners –what’s going on in the world.”

She majored in theater, Eng-lish, and stagecraft. She loves thefact that Ryerson University inToronto made them learn tomake scenery. “You don’t knowwhat can happen. Backstage, on-stage, you should know” how todo all the practical things. “

I responded to that work ethicbecause that’s how I was raised.I’m the child of immigrant par-ents and you work hard.”

She got into Second City inCanada that way. “I had audi-tioned three times but didn’t gethired. I took a job in the officebecause they told me I could take

classes for free if I worked there.”She watched every night and

a month after she started awoman got sick and they couldnot find her understudy.

“I walked backstage and said‘I know your show’ and they putme on.”

old that reminded of theGreek-American experiencewhere at church festivals, doc-tors, lawyers, teachers make sou-vlaki and loukoumades, shereplied “I love that, that beautifulsense of community we grew upwith, I search for it in every facedof my life. I love to be sur-rounded by loving people whowork hard and don’t put on airs.”“And if they do” TNH asked. “Iwrite about them.”

When the conversationturned to the presidential cam-paign she said, “It’s a goodsource of comedy isn’t it? All ofit. What a circus!”

The topic of the Greek crisiselicited a sigh, however, butVardalos does not have a heart

for criticizing the homeland. “I’mcompletely on the side of Greeceat all times. I blame Merkel. I be-lieve she wanted to make an ex-ample of Tsipras and it’s not fair,but I believe the Greek spirit willprevail.”

She visits every summer andisland hopping is her favoritething to do. “Every single Islandis a unique experience. That’swhat I love about it.”

Her daughter Ilaria is almost11, and TNH asked how funnyshe is. “This kid is so naturallyfunny. She came this way.

“You have to be humble withkids because they see things andthey tease you and it really is afunny experience for me and Ianand me” – her husband IanGomez.

Asked for some stories, Varda-los explained that she con-sciously protects her daughter’sprivacy. She also does not wantto reveal more than what shepresents in her book, InstantMom, because she donates all its

proceeds to the cause of gettingkids adopted.

When she told Gomez, whois an actor – he played the roleof Ian's best man Mike in the firstmovie – she wanted him to be inthe sequel, he was very busy inother acting projects but he said“you know I would really like toplay a cop.”

Vardalos was flummoxed atfirst, but then she thought “peo-ple’s careers change.”

PUSH THE ENVELOPEShe will be in a TV series next

year for EPIX with Nick Nolteand Sela Ward, but she is alsodeveloping an Off Broadwayplay that will open in 2017. Thetitle can’t be revealed yet but shesaid “It’s a very dramatic pieceabout grief and mourning…Ididn’t write it, but I got to playa completely different role of asavvy political consultant.”

Vardalos explained, “It’s veryimportant to stretch and growand try things that terrify meand keep trying things that are

outside my comfort zones.”That’s why she does things likeappear in Law and Order SVU.

The award-winning comedi-enne is drawn to dramatic roles,but she noted it’s difficult to findgood roles for women. “That’swhy I write very strong roles forstrong roles for strong actresseslike LanIe Kazan and AndreaMartin. If Sandra Bullock is hav-ing a hard time finding roles,imagine what It’s like for therest of us.”

Some other universes face alaughter deficit because in thoseshe is a paleontologist. “I likedinosaurs and rocks, and thestudy of old worlds. On a Britishtalk show I got to hold a rockfrom Mars,” she said excitedly.“I also love anything aboutspace. I’m fascinated by the finalfrontier. I might have gone thatway – and she might still do thatin her literary and acting livesthis universe. “If a role likeGravity came my way I wouldgrab it.”

As My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Opens, Nia Vardalos Speaks with TNHContinued from page 1

Clockwise from top: Aunt Voula, played by Andrea Martin, flashes her “this is serious” look; A touching scene where youngParis (Eleni Kampouris) absorbs advice and love from Yiayia (Bess Meisler); a tense moment for the fun-loving family; Maria(Lainie Kazan) and Gus Portokalos (Michael Constantine) in stiff upper lip mode. Paris’ new friend Bennett (Alex Wolf) comesbearing an ethnic gift; The Portokalos clan on the march is a fearsome sight.

A sympathetic aunt Voula presents Toula with what she needs to jumpstart her sex life – a flaming red teddy. Right: Toula and hubby Ian (John Corbett).

is a barometer, Greek Wedding2 looks like another Big Fat win-ner.

Vardalos herself, in a simpleblack dress, greeted the audi-ence, thanking them in Greekand English. “Who has broughttheir non-Greek friends?” theactress asked. “Whether you’reGreek, Polish, or from Peru, I’mso happy that you recognizeyour own families in this film. Ilove you.” Costar John Corbettwelcomed the audience as didNicholas Katsoris.

The President of the Louk-oumi Make A Difference Foun-dation, Katsoris orchestrated thebenefit showing for his organi-zation with the help of Vardalos.

“We started out with one the-atre,” said Katsoris, “and the re-sponse was so overwhelmingthat we added a second theatre.We sold out in a day and a half,and Nia graciously agreed to goto both theatres and introducethe film.”

Katsoris also worked withPhiloptochos society groupsacross the country to arrangescreenings for My Big Fat GreekWedding 2. “Nia has given a giftto the community,” he says. “I’venever seen such an outpouringacross the country. It’s like we’reone big Greek family and she’sour cousin Nia. She’s very sin-cere. She’s very giving. She nar-rated one of my Loukoumibooks, and we did a book tourtogether. She’s terrifically hum-

ble and real, and I thinkthat comes through in herfilms. My Big Fat GreekWedding 2 has brought theGreek community togetherlike nothing I’ve ever seen.”

The crowd leaving thetheatre looked happy.George T. Constantin, pres-ident and CEO of HeritageRealty Services, com-mented, “It was fabulous.Great. It hit all the rightpoints. It was a fun movieto watch.” Susan Maksom-ski, an occupational thera-pist and proud Greek/IrishAmerican said: “It waseven funnier than the firstmovie. It was wonderful tosee all the same charactersagain.”

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Looks to Continue First Film’s SuccessContinued from page 1