The National Herald 101 · The National Herald A wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016...

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The National Herald A WEEklY gREEk-AMERiCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016 www.thenationalherald.com $1.50 c v O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 NEWS 101 anniversary st 1915-2016 VOL. 19, ISSUE 977 By Eleni Sakellis LONG ISLAND CITY – National Herald-Ethnikos Kyrix held an event on June 28 at its Long Is- land City headquarters in honor of all the women from its Gy- naika insert, which celebrated its 100th issue this month. The cover of the insert fea- tured the photographs of suc- cessful Greek and Greek-Ameri- can women who have appeared on previous Gynaika covers. Successful women from all fields including artists, authors, doctors, educators, lawyers, and government officials have graced the pages of Gynaika, celebrating them for the inspi- ration and pride they bring to the community. Among those at- tending the event were Nassau County DA Madeline Singas, NYS Assembly member Aravella Simotas, Yiota Stratis, Kathy Boulukos, Olga Alexakos, Vasi- liki Filiotis, Stella Kokolis, Irene Sarri, and Aphrodite Skeadas. The meeting began with an introduction by Herald’s Amalia Kesaris, who welcomed every- one warmly and thanked all those in attendance. Singas then spoke about what an honor it was for her to be included in Gynaika and the Herald in gen- eral since it is such an important institution in her family and in the Greek-American community especially. Appearing on the cover of Gynaika, she said was like being a celebrity or a model, she then corrected herself and said it was exactly like being a ATHENS – A leading business group in Greece is calling on the government to loosen banking restrictions introduced a year ago when the country faced the risk of exit from the euro. The National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce, Greece’s main small- and medium-sized business association, said the number of new businesses cre- ated so far this year has dropped 18 percent from the same period in 2015 and 30 percent from two years ago. Greece introduced capital controls for bank transactions a year ago Tuesday, amid financial turmoil triggered by bailout ne- gotiation delays. Country residents can still only withdraw a maximum of 420 euros (around $465) in cash per week, though electronic transactions are subject to fewer restrictions. The capital controls just after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, breaking yet another campaign promise, closed banks for several weeks, setting off long lines out- side ATMs and their doors when they reopened. Images of pensioners wilting in the heat trying to take out the then-limit of 60 euros ($60.45) a day went around the world in the middle of Greece’s tourism season, although foreign visitors were exempted. International transfers were also limited to 500 euros ($553.74) per month, a limit that’s still in place. Government officials had said they expected to lift the controls by the end of the year but have backed away from that after wary Greeks haven’t returned as much money to banks as was anticipated. Tsipras had also indicated a gradual lifting of the controls For subscription: 718.784.5255 [email protected] Greece’s Capital Controls Effects A Year Later 18 Percent Drop From 2015 in New Businesses Created TNH Staff Republican likely presiden- tial nominee Donald Trump’s sagging campaign is getting a boost from ethnic leaders, espe- cially the Greek- and Cypriot- American communities. The National Diversity Coali- tion for Trump — a group of leaders from several ethnic groups — is holding a closed- door meeting with the Republi- can National Committee (RNC) on July 1 and will include 35 ethnic leaders. “We’re meeting with the strategic initiatives team to dis- cuss how we can better repre- sent the community and get Donald Trump’s support on be- half of the entire communities,” Christos Marafatsos, Founder of Blue Sky Capital and Financier, who is overseeing the outreach to Greek- and Cypriot-Ameri- cans said according to the Bre- itbart news agency. “The RNC invited the NDC for Trump to meet with us,” an RNC official told Time earlier this month, confirming the meeting. Marafatsos said the National Diversity Coalition for Trump “was designed to help show sup- port (and) that Donald Trump supports these ethnic communi- ties and would be the right Pres- ident.” “We support Donald Trump and his solutions [to] strengthen communities, foster job cre- ation, support small businesses, and support faith and family principles with conservative ac- Greeks for Trump to Meet with RNC July 1 Marafatsos Overseeing Greek, Cypriot Outreach By Theodore Kalmoukos CRETE, GREECE – The Holy and Great Council (also called the Great Synod) officially con- cluded on June 26, as His All- Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed his joy over the attendance of the Local Autocephalous Churches (though Antioch, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Russia did not at- tend.) Those primates emphasized the Council’s historical signifi- cance and confidence in a new era of conciliarity, in which the Orthodox Church can express its positions on the contemporary issues facing humankind. Topics covered included the Church’s mission in the modern world, the Orthodox Diaspora, the Episcopal Assemblies’ oper- ational regulations, Autonomy, Fasting, Matrimony, and Ortho- dox relations with the rest of Christianity. In his June 26, Homily, Pa- triarch Bartholomew noted that we should understand the Church as “substantially Synod- ical,” and the whole life of the Church as “life in Synod,” adding that the Synodical Deci- sions of the Holy and Great Council should be introduced in the life of the local Orthodox Churches. He added that conciliarity is another word that characterizes the unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity of the Church, referring to its Eucharistic and eschatological identity and con- sciousness. “If, as has been fit- tingly said, the 21st century could and ought to prove to be, the ‘century of Orthodoxy,’ then the Holy and Great Council of our Most Holy Church, by the grace of God who is worshipped in Trinity and is Lord of All, has laid the foundation stone for the realization of this God-pleasing vision.” THE MESSAGE The Council issued a Mes- sage “To the Orthodox people and to all people of good will,” in which the discussions and the work of the Council was de- tailed: “To God, the Father of mercies and all comfort, we ad- dress a hymn of thanksgiving and praise for having enabled us to gather during the week of Pentecost (18-26 June 2016) on Crete, where the Apostle Paul and his disciple Titus preached the Gospel in the early years of the life of the Church. We give thanks to the Triune God who was well pleased that in one ac- cord we should bring to a con- clusion the work of the Holy and Great Council that was con- voked by His All Holiness Ecu- Great Council Ends with Meaningful Message Visitors follow the subtle uphill path that leads to the highest point of the Stavros Niarchos Park, the Lighthouse, a 9,700 square foot observatory with a glass shell and panoramic views of the sea and the city.Story and more photos on page 4. Gynaika’s 100th Edition Celebrated at the Herald TNH Staff WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama welcomed Haris Lalacos, Greece’s new Ambassador to the United States, to the White House on June 27. The president received the ambassador’s Letter of Cre- dence, formalizing the occasion. Amb. Lalacos conveyed to Obama the best wishes of both Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and for the pros- perity and well-being of the American people. He assured Obama that Greece and the Hellenes at large, greatly value the privi- leged relationship and strategic partnership with the United States and emphasized the role of the vibrant and enterprising Pres. Obama Greets Amb. Lalacos in DC The Sixth Capital Link-CSR Forum in Athens a Success The conference “Rising to the Challenge” on June 27 presented initiatives to stimulate entrepre- neurship and help companies meet the challenges facing Greece today. Greek-American business leaders presented their views and initiatives on putting Greece back on global investors’ agenda. John P. Calamos, Dean Dakolias, C. Dean Metropoulos, John Koudounis and Nikos Mouyiaris (on screen) – founder and CEO of Mana Products, who was honored – participated in the panel. Greek Fancy Foods Shine in New York The Greek presence was the most impressive and dynamic ever at the Fancy Food Show held this week at the Javits Center in New York. Among the companies at the show: Krinos, Kon- tos, Optima Foods, FAGE USA, ION, Greektopia, Loumidis Foods, and Anastasia Confections. TNH/ARiS PAPADOPOUlOS TNH Staff HAIFA, ISRAEL – In a region of Israel overlooking the Sea of Galilee, once the site of the An- cient Greco-Roman city Hippos, a sanctuary of the Ancient Greek god Pan may have been discov- ered by the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, Live Science reported. The new find, a monumental Roman gate, may help re- searchers better understand pre- vious discoveries of Hippos, Live Science noted, such as bronze mask of Pan discovered last year. Dr. Michael Eisenberg of the University said this is a starting point that will guide them to seek additional answers. "Now that the whole gate has been exposed, we not only have better information for dating the mask, but also a clue to its func- tion," Eisenberg said, Live Science reported, "are we looking at a gate that led to the sanctuary of the god Pan or one of the rustic gods?" Dr. Eisenberg believes the site was perhaps a compound for worshipping the half-man, half- goat diety, Live Science reported. "The mask, and now the gate in which it was embedded, are con- tinuing to fire our imaginations. The worship of Pan sometimes included ceremonies involving drinking, sacrifices and ecstatic rituals, including nudity and sex. This worship usually took place outside the city walls, in caves and other natural settings." New discoveries about Hippos would be historically significant beyond Pan. Excavations were made in the 19th and 20th cen- turies, and after those conducted in the 1950s, Israel used the site, Mt. Sussita, as a fortress to de- fend against foreign enemies, just as the Ancient Greeks had done. “As happens almost every year,” Eisenberg told the Jerusalem Post, “Hippos did not fail to yield some surprises,” he said. “The researchers were working on the hypothesis that the building formed part of the fortifications of the city, but as they dug deeper they found two square basalt towers with dimen- sions of approximately 6.3m. by 6.3m. and a portal of 3.7m. wide in between.” An article by Dr. Eisenberg and Arthur Segal, titled “The Spade Hits Sussita,” which was published in the November 2015 compendium Forty Groundbreak- ing Articles from Forty Years of Biblical Archaeology Review, ap- pears on the Zinman Institute’s website: http://hippos.haifa.ac.il. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew: 5-7), Jesus said: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Jesus is believed to have preached in Hippos, and some biblical scholars contend that is the city to which Jesus refers in that Sermon. New Find from Ancient City Hippos Continued on page 2 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 5 The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens Continued on page 2 WITH THIS ISSUE SNF/YiORgiS YEROlYMBOS TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Transcript of The National Herald 101 · The National Herald A wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016...

Page 1: The National Herald 101 · The National Herald A wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016 ... Sarri, and Aphrodite Skeadas. The meeting began with an introduction by Herald’s

The National HeraldA wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON

July 2-3, 2016

www.thenationalherald.com$1.50c v

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW

S 101anniversary

st

1915-2016

VOL. 19, ISSUE 977

By Eleni Sakellis

LONG ISLAND CITY – NationalHerald-Ethnikos Kyrix held anevent on June 28 at its Long Is-land City headquarters in honorof all the women from its Gy-naika insert, which celebratedits 100th issue this month.

The cover of the insert fea-tured the photographs of suc-cessful Greek and Greek-Ameri-can women who have appearedon previous Gynaika covers.Successful women from allfields including artists, authors,doctors, educators, lawyers, andgovernment officials have

graced the pages of Gynaika,celebrating them for the inspi-ration and pride they bring tothe community. Among those at-tending the event were NassauCounty DA Madeline Singas,NYS Assembly member AravellaSimotas, Yiota Stratis, KathyBoulukos, Olga Alexakos, Vasi-liki Filiotis, Stella Kokolis, IreneSarri, and Aphrodite Skeadas.

The meeting began with anintroduction by Herald’s AmaliaKesaris, who welcomed every-one warmly and thanked allthose in attendance. Singas thenspoke about what an honor itwas for her to be included inGynaika and the Herald in gen-eral since it is such an importantinstitution in her family and inthe Greek-American communityespecially. Appearing on thecover of Gynaika, she said waslike being a celebrity or a model,she then corrected herself andsaid it was exactly like being a

ATHENS – A leading businessgroup in Greece is calling on thegovernment to loosen bankingrestrictions introduced a yearago when the country faced therisk of exit from the euro.

The National Confederationof Hellenic Commerce, Greece’smain small- and medium-sizedbusiness association, said thenumber of new businesses cre-ated so far this year has dropped18 percent from the same periodin 2015 and 30 percent fromtwo years ago.

Greece introduced capitalcontrols for bank transactions ayear ago Tuesday, amid financialturmoil triggered by bailout ne-gotiation delays.

Country residents can stillonly withdraw a maximum of420 euros (around $465) in cashper week, though electronictransactions are subject to fewerrestrictions.

The capital controls just afterPrime Minister Alexis Tsipras,breaking yet another campaignpromise, closed banks for severalweeks, setting off long lines out-side ATMs and their doors whenthey reopened.

Images of pensioners wiltingin the heat trying to take out thethen-limit of 60 euros ($60.45)a day went around the world inthe middle of Greece’s tourismseason, although foreign visitorswere exempted.

International transfers werealso limited to 500 euros($553.74) per month, a limitthat’s still in place. Governmentofficials had said they expectedto lift the controls by the end ofthe year but have backed awayfrom that after wary Greekshaven’t returned as much moneyto banks as was anticipated.

Tsipras had also indicated agradual lifting of the controls

For subscription:

[email protected]

Greece’sCapitalControlsEffects AYear Later 18 Percent DropFrom 2015 in NewBusinesses Created

TNH Staff

Republican likely presiden-tial nominee Donald Trump’ssagging campaign is getting aboost from ethnic leaders, espe-cially the Greek- and Cypriot-American communities.

The National Diversity Coali-tion for Trump — a group ofleaders from several ethnicgroups — is holding a closed-door meeting with the Republi-can National Committee (RNC)on July 1 and will include 35ethnic leaders.

“We’re meeting with thestrategic initiatives team to dis-cuss how we can better repre-sent the community and getDonald Trump’s support on be-half of the entire communities,”Christos Marafatsos, Founder ofBlue Sky Capital and Financier,who is overseeing the outreachto Greek- and Cypriot-Ameri-cans said according to the Bre-itbart news agency.

“The RNC invited the NDCfor Trump to meet with us,” anRNC official told Time earlierthis month, confirming themeeting.

Marafatsos said the NationalDiversity Coalition for Trump“was designed to help show sup-port (and) that Donald Trumpsupports these ethnic communi-ties and would be the right Pres-ident.”

“We support Donald Trumpand his solutions [to] strengthencommunities, foster job cre-ation, support small businesses,and support faith and familyprinciples with conservative ac-

Greeks forTrump to Meet withRNC July 1MarafatsosOverseeingGreek, CypriotOutreach

By Theodore Kalmoukos

CRETE, GREECE – The Holyand Great Council (also calledthe Great Synod) officially con-cluded on June 26, as His All-Holiness Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew expressed his joyover the attendance of the LocalAutocephalous Churches(though Antioch, Bulgaria,Georgia, and Russia did not at-tend.)

Those primates emphasizedthe Council’s historical signifi-cance and confidence in a newera of conciliarity, in which theOrthodox Church can express itspositions on the contemporaryissues facing humankind.

Topics covered included theChurch’s mission in the modernworld, the Orthodox Diaspora,the Episcopal Assemblies’ oper-ational regulations, Autonomy,Fasting, Matrimony, and Ortho-dox relations with the rest ofChristianity.

In his June 26, Homily, Pa-triarch Bartholomew noted thatwe should understand theChurch as “substantially Synod-ical,” and the whole life of theChurch as “life in Synod,”adding that the Synodical Deci-sions of the Holy and GreatCouncil should be introduced inthe life of the local OrthodoxChurches.

He added that conciliarity is

another word that characterizesthe unity, holiness, catholicityand apostolicity of the Church,referring to its Eucharistic andeschatological identity and con-sciousness. “If, as has been fit-tingly said, the 21st centurycould and ought to prove to be,the ‘century of Orthodoxy,’ thenthe Holy and Great Council ofour Most Holy Church, by thegrace of God who is worshippedin Trinity and is Lord of All, haslaid the foundation stone for therealization of this God-pleasingvision.”

THE MESSAGEThe Council issued a Mes-

sage “To the Orthodox peopleand to all people of good will,”

in which the discussions and thework of the Council was de-tailed: “To God, the Father ofmercies and all comfort, we ad-dress a hymn of thanksgivingand praise for having enabledus to gather during the week ofPentecost (18-26 June 2016) onCrete, where the Apostle Pauland his disciple Titus preachedthe Gospel in the early years ofthe life of the Church. We givethanks to the Triune God whowas well pleased that in one ac-cord we should bring to a con-clusion the work of the Holy andGreat Council that was con-voked by His All Holiness Ecu-

Great Council Ends with Meaningful Message

Visitors follow the subtle uphill path that leads to the highestpoint of the Stavros Niarchos Park, the Lighthouse, a 9,700

square foot observatory with a glass shell and panoramic viewsof the sea and the city.Story and more photos on page 4.

Gynaika’s 100th EditionCelebrated at the Herald

TNH Staff

WASHINGTON, DC – PresidentObama welcomed Haris Lalacos,Greece’s new Ambassador to theUnited States, to the White Houseon June 27.

The president received theambassador’s Letter of Cre-dence, formalizing the occasion.

Amb. Lalacos conveyed toObama the best wishes of bothGreek President ProkopisPavlopoulos and Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras, and for the pros-perity and well-being of theAmerican people.

He assured Obama thatGreece and the Hellenes atlarge, greatly value the privi-leged relationship and strategicpartnership with the UnitedStates and emphasized the roleof the vibrant and enterprising

Pres. ObamaGreets Amb.Lalacos in DC

The Sixth Capital Link-CSR Forum in Athens a Success The conference “Rising to the Challenge” on June 27 presented initiatives to stimulate entrepre-neurship and help companies meet the challenges facing Greece today. Greek-American businessleaders presented their views and initiatives on putting Greece back on global investors’ agenda.John P. Calamos, Dean Dakolias, C. Dean Metropoulos, John Koudounis and Nikos Mouyiaris(on screen) – founder and CEO of Mana Products, who was honored – participated in the panel.

Greek Fancy Foods Shine in New YorkThe Greek presence was the most impressive and dynamicever at the Fancy Food Show held this week at the Javits Centerin New York. Among the companies at the show: Krinos, Kon-tos, Optima Foods, FAGE USA, ION, Greektopia, LoumidisFoods, and Anastasia Confections.

TNH/AriS PAPADOPOUlOS

TNH Staff

HAIFA, ISRAEL – In a region ofIsrael overlooking the Sea ofGalilee, once the site of the An-cient Greco-Roman city Hippos,a sanctuary of the Ancient Greekgod Pan may have been discov-ered by the Zinman Institute ofArchaeology at the University ofHaifa, Live Science reported.

The new find, a monumentalRoman gate, may help re-searchers better understand pre-vious discoveries of Hippos, LiveScience noted, such as bronzemask of Pan discovered last year.

Dr. Michael Eisenberg of theUniversity said this is a startingpoint that will guide them to seekadditional answers.

"Now that the whole gate hasbeen exposed, we not only havebetter information for dating themask, but also a clue to its func-tion," Eisenberg said, Live Sciencereported, "are we looking at agate that led to the sanctuary of

the god Pan or one of the rusticgods?"

Dr. Eisenberg believes the sitewas perhaps a compound forworshipping the half-man, half-goat diety, Live Science reported."The mask, and now the gate inwhich it was embedded, are con-tinuing to fire our imaginations.The worship of Pan sometimesincluded ceremonies involvingdrinking, sacrifices and ecstaticrituals, including nudity and sex.This worship usually took placeoutside the city walls, in cavesand other natural settings."

New discoveries about Hipposwould be historically significantbeyond Pan. Excavations weremade in the 19th and 20th cen-turies, and after those conductedin the 1950s, Israel used the site,Mt. Sussita, as a fortress to de-fend against foreign enemies, justas the Ancient Greeks had done.

“As happens almost everyyear,” Eisenberg told theJerusalem Post, “Hippos did not

fail to yield some surprises,” hesaid. “The researchers wereworking on the hypothesis thatthe building formed part of thefortifications of the city, but asthey dug deeper they found twosquare basalt towers with dimen-sions of approximately 6.3m. by6.3m. and a portal of 3.7m. widein between.”

An article by Dr. Eisenbergand Arthur Segal, titled “TheSpade Hits Sussita,” which waspublished in the November 2015compendium Forty Groundbreak-ing Articles from Forty Years ofBiblical Archaeology Review, ap-pears on the Zinman Institute’swebsite: http://hippos.haifa.ac.il.

In the Sermon on the Mount(Matthew: 5-7), Jesus said: “Youare the light of the world. A cityset on a hill cannot be hidden.”Jesus is believed to havepreached in Hippos, and somebiblical scholars contend that isthe city to which Jesus refers inthat Sermon.

New Find from Ancient City Hippos

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 9

Continued on page 9Continued on page 5

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens

Continued on page 2

WITH THIS ISSUE

SNF/YiOrgiS YErOlYmBOS

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Page 2: The National Herald 101 · The National Herald A wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016 ... Sarri, and Aphrodite Skeadas. The meeting began with an introduction by Herald’s

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – The United StatesSupreme Court, often stronglydivided and in the aftermath ofthe February death of conserva-tive standard-bearer Justice An-tonin Scalia likely to be dead-locked (as in a recent case onimmigration), issued a unani-mous decision on June 27 re-garding the fate of former Vir-ginia Governor Bob McDonnell.In ruling that “an official action”means that a public official mustact or agree to act in a mannerthat involves a formal exerciseof governmental power, activi-ties such as arranging meetingsor attending events does not sat-isfy that requirement, Chief Jus-tice John Roberts wrote in theCourt’s unanimous opinion. Thecase is McDonnell vs. UnitedStates. Although the facts of the

McDonnell case are consider-ably different, attorneys for twohigh-ranking New York Stategovernment officials recentlyconvicted for corruption, formerAssembly Speaker Sheldon Sil-ver and former Senate MajorityLeader Dean Skelos, appearhopeful that the McDonnell de-cision may give rise for theirclients’ successful appeal.

Prosecutors differed, how-ever. They said the ruling wouldnot affect either man’s convic-tion, the Wall Street Journal re-ported.

In McDonnell’s case, he wasfound guilty of accepting over$175,000 in gifts and loans froma wealthy supporter who soughtpolitical favors, but that alone –absent any overt action orpromise of action from McDon-nell – does not amount to an of-ficial action, according to the

Court. The Silver and Skelos cases,

however, involved actual quid-pro-quo schemes, the Journalnoted.

In Silver’s case, the prosecu-tors presented evidence that heauthorized half a million dollarsin state medical funding in ex-change for patent referrals thatput millions of dollars in hisown pocket. As for Skelos, heand his son Adam were con-victed based on evidence thathe used his power to secure pro-jects and payments for his sonwith companies that did busi-ness with New York State.

“McDonnell makes prettyclear that mere recommenda-tions and referring [by a publicofficial] are not official acts,”said Vincent Bonventre, a pro-fessor at Albany Law School,told the Journal. But under Mc-

Donnell, he said, what Silverand Skelos were convicted ofstill could be considered officialacts.

Judge Kimba Wood, whopresided over the Skelos case,also said at the time that thefacts were different from that inMcDonnell, the Journal re-ported.

Also somewhat hopeful areattorneys for former IllinoisGovernor Rod Blagojevich, whowas sentenced in 2011 to 14years in prison for using his po-sition to attempt to sell a U.S.Senate seat vacated by BarackObama – upon being electedpresident of the United Statesin 2008 – for money. But thougha reversal of the conviction isunlikely, CNN reported, Blago-jevich’s attorneys are hoping fora lighter sentencing as a resultof the McDonnell decision.

U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision Helps McDonnell, but Will it Help Skelos?

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016

By Eleni Sakellis

NEW YORK— Dr. DemetreDaskalakis, Assistant Commis-sioner of the Bureau ofHIV/AIDS Prevention and Con-trol of the New York City De-partment of Health and MentalHygiene, is a warrior in the fightagainst HIV/AIDS and gra-ciously took the time out of hisbusy schedule to speak with TheNational Herald.

He was recently honored atthe 2016 Cielo Gala, the annualbenefit gala for the Latino Com-mission on AIDS, with the Es-peranza Award in recognition ofhis leadership and tireless effortsto expand HIV testing to high-risk communities in New YorkCity. Esperanza in Spanishmeans hope.

When asked if he alwayswanted to be a doctor,Daskalakis replied with an en-thusiastic yes. As a young child,he would use his Fisher-Pricedoctor’s kit to check the bloodpressure, heart, and lungs ofeveryone who came to visit. Hisdedication to medicine eventhen was profound, if anyone re-fused a check-up, he would tellthem to get their coat and leave.Daskalakis mentioned that hestill has the Fisher-Price kit, atestament to how well he tookcare of his toys and how seri-ously he wanted to be a doctor.

Daskalakis went on to discussthe incredible strides New YorkCity has made in the fightagainst HIV/AIDS, optimizingthe use of technology, medica-tion, and services to help endthe epidemic. With the use ofantiretroviral medication, mostHIV positive individuals on med-ication in New York City can re-duce the virus to undetectablelevels in their blood. AsDaskalakis noted, we are now in

a position to deal with HIV as achronic manageable conditionand not as the death sentence itonce was.

When asked what more couldbe done in the fight againstHIV/AIDS, he observed that 36hours ago he would have saidaffordable housing for low in-come people living with HIV, butthe city and state just announceda plan to make housing availablefor those HIV positive people inneed. Daskalakis praised MayorBill de Blasio and Governor An-drew Cuomo and all those work-ing together at the city and statelevel for their efforts, noting thatthe plan was a testament to howmuch the city and state can dowhen efforts are coordinated to-ward a common goal. He addedthat laws still need to catch upwith the technology and medi-cine in the treatment and pre-vention of HIV. For example, theneed for parental consent candelay testing and treatment foryoung people under age 18.Though many people in NewYork City know their HIV status,due to the availability of testing,we need to test more, the doctorsaid. The stigma attached to anHIV positive diagnosis is nolonger relevant and the diagno-sis is, the doctor said, a goodthing, allowing the patient to be-gin treatment as soon as possibleand helping to prevent furtherspread of the disease. Daskalakisobserved that the doom andgloom is over for those who testpositive because the medical ad-vancements have transformedthe disease into a manageablechronic condition. Prevention is,of course, still key in putting anend to the epidemic.

Daskalakis also spoke abouthis Greek heritage and how itinforms his work and life. A firstgeneration Greek-American, hisparents both from Evrytania, hisfather from Megalo Chorio andhis mother from Karpenisi, in-stilled a relentless work ethic asthey worked hard to ensure abetter life for their son, who nowworks long hours to fight HIV,and make the world a betterplace.

Gratitude is also an impor-tant part of the heritage instilledby his parents. Because NewYork City is on the forefront inthe fight against HIV, Daskalakishas had the opportunity to workwith colleagues in Greece aswell. He tries to visit Greeceevery couple of years on vaca-tion, for at least 10-14 days, andnoted that he is overdue for atrip. His work keeps him busy,but as he said, “I have an epi-demic to end.”

Former NY Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.TNH ArCHivES

Dr. Daskalakis: True Warriorin the Battle against HIV/AIDS

menical Patriarch. Bartholomewby the common will of theirBeatitudes the Primates of thelocal Orthodox AutocephalousChurches.

“Faithfully following the ex-ample of the Apostles and ourgod-bearing Fathers we haveonce again studied the Gospelof freedom "for which Christ hasset us free" (Gal. 5: 1). Thefoundation of our theologicaldiscussions was the certaintythat the Church does not livefor herself. She transmits thewitness of the Gospel of graceand truth and offers to thewhole world the gifts of God:love, peace, justice, reconcilia-tion, the power of the Cross andof the Resurrection and the ex-pectation of eternal life.

The Council’s Message alsoaddressed several key points:

A united Orthodox Church,whose catholicity is expressedin the Council.

“The Orthodox Auto-cephalous Churches do not con-stitute a federation of Churches,but the One Holy Catholic andApostolic Church. Each localChurch as she offers the holyEucharist is the local presenceand manifestation of the OneHoly Catholic and Apostolic

Church. Regarding the Orthodox Di-

aspora, Episcopal Assemblieswill continue “until such timeas canonical rigor can be imple-mented. These assemblies arecomposed of the canonical bish-ops appointed by each Auto-cephalous Church… and thisguarantees respect for the Or-thodox principle of conciliarity.

A proposal was made to con-vene such a Council every sevenor ten years.

There must be focus on “there-evangelization of God's peo-ple in modern, secularized soci-eties and the evangelization ofthose who have still not cometo know Christ remain an un-ceasing obligation for theChurch.”

The Church attaches “great

importance to dialogue, primar-ily with non-Orthodox Chris-tians. In this way the remainderof the Christian world comes toknow more precisely the au-thenticity of the Orthodox Tra-dition, the value of patristicteaching and the liturgical lifeand faith of the Orthodox. Thedialogues conducted by the Or-thodox Church never imply acompromise in matters offaith…

“Sober interreligious dia-logue helps significantly to pro-mote mutual trust, peace andreconciliation. The oil of reli-gious experience must be usedto heal wounds and not to rekin-dle the fire of military conflicts.”

The Church condemned, un-equivocally, “the extension ofmilitary violence, persecutions,the expulsion, and murder ofmembers of religious minorities,forced conversions, the traffick-ing of refugees, the abductions,torture and abhorrent execu-tions. She denounces the de-struction of churches, religioussymbols and cultural monu-ments. Very particularly, she ex-presses her deep concern aboutthe situation of Christians andof all the persecuted minoritiesin the Middle East,” and calledon the governments in those re-gion to protect the indigenous

Orthodox and other Christiansand all the populations whohave an inalienable right to re-main in their countries as citi-zens with equal rights.”

Moreover, the Council “ap-peals to all parties involved tomake systematic efforts withoutdelay to bring to an end the mil-itary conflicts in the Middle Eastand wherever armed hostilitiespersist and to enable all thosedisplaced to return to theirhomes.”

Proclaiming that secularismseeks the autonomy of manfrom Christ, the Council empha-sized the “saving significance ofChrist, the God-man, and of HisBody, as the place and mode oflife in freedom.”

The Church “regards the in-dissoluble loving relationship of

man and woman as "a greatmystery... of Christ and theChurch, and calls the familywhich springs from this andwhich constitutes the only guar-antee for the upbringing of chil-dren a ‘little church.’”

SCIENCE AND ECOLOGYThe Church does not wish to

delve into every scientific issueand state a position on it, butrather “thanks God, who givesto scientists the gift of uncover-ing unknown dimensions of Di-vine creation. The modern de-velopment of the naturalsciences and of technology isbringing radical changes to our

life. It brings significant benefits,such as the facilitation of every-day life, the treatment of seriousdiseases, easier communicationsand space exploration, and soon. In spite of this, however,there are many negative conse-quences such as the manipula-tion of freedom, the gradual lossof precious traditions, the de-struction of the natural environ-ment and the questioning ofmoral values. Scientific knowl-edge, however swiftly it may beadvancing, does not motivateman's will, nor does it give an-swers to serious moral and ex-istential issues and to the searchfor the meaning of life and ofthe world. These matters de-mand a spiritual approach,which the Orthodox Church at-tempts to provide through

bioethics founded on Christianethics and Patristic teaching.”

The Council also noted thepresent-day ecological crisis, at-tributing it to spiritual andmoral causes, such as “greed,avarice, and egoism, which leadto the thoughtless use of naturalresources, the filling of the at-mosphere with damaging pollu-tants, and to climate change.”POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

The progress of humankindis defined beyond economic de-velopment, and certainly shouldnot be at the expense of spiritualvalues, the Council proclaimed,and also noted that the Ortho-

dox Church does not get in-volved in politics, but above all,“emphasizes that the Orthodoxideal in respect of man tran-scends the horizon of establishedhuman rights and that greatestof all is love, as Christ revealedand as all the faithful who followhim have experienced.

The Church also insists that“a fundamental human right isthe protection of religious free-dom…without any form of di-rect or indirect interference bythe state.”

The Church invites theyounger generations to “jointhemselves consciously with theChurch of Him who is Truth andLife. To come, offering to the ec-clesial body their vitality, theiranxieties, their concerns andtheir expectations. Young peopleare not only the future, but alsothe dynamic and creative pre-sent of the Church, both on a lo-cal and on a world-wide level.”

The Council concluded itsmessage with a prayer from 1Peter 5.10-11: “Let us pray that‘the God of all grace, who hascalled us to his eternal glory inChrist, will, after we have suf-fered a little, Himself restore,establish, and strengthen andsettle us. To him be glory anddominion for ever and ever.’Amen.”

Great Council Concludes with Meaningful Message

tion,” he added.Marafatsos said he is the

Trump panel advisor to theGreek-American communityand that he will handle all of itsissues related to the campaignand US policy for an ethnicgroup of nearly three millionvoters.

HASHTAG MOVEMENTAccording to Marafatsos, of-

ficials from the Trump campaignwill be communicating with thecoalition, Breitbart said.

He added: “Each of us are in-dividuals that are well repre-sented, we’re well-known andcan really make a difference ifwe get a President that will besupportive in understandingeach community’s need.

“I think he’s one of the first

(Presidential candidates) thathas actually done somethinglike this — being open to an ini-tiative and coalition of eachcommunity telling him whatthey’re going through, whatthey want and also letting themcome together and show they’resupport.

Other ethnic groups repre-sented in the coalition include:African Americans, Latinos,Muslims, Asian-Americans, andKoreans but Marafatsos said hethinks Greeks and Cypriot willcome out big for Trump who’staking a pasting in the pollsfrom the imminent Democratnominee, Hillary Clinton.

“It’s going to be good andthere’s a lot of Greeks out there… and especially within Ameri-can politics, there hasn’t been arepresentative like this,” he said,

lauding Trump, who has pulledin some of his provocativestances after securing enoughdelegates to get the nominationnext month despite defectionsfrom mainstream Republicanssuch as former President GeorgeBush and George W. Bush andnoted former GOP commentatorGeorge Will, who’s now backingHillary.

Marafatsos said he’s planningon launching the hashtag#Greeks4Trump, which will fea-ture a series of Greek fundrais-ers.

“They’re ecstatic about it,”Marafatsos added, in referenceto several people who have al-ready expressed interest in thecoalition. Trump has becomemore moderate in his tone afterhis acerbic style has backlashedagainst him for many.

Continued from page 1

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ABOVE: Ecumenical OrthodoxPatriarch Bartholomew chantsduring the Divine Liturgywhich was celebrated at theChurch of Saints Peter andPaul at Chania, Crete. LEFT:Orthodox Bishops attend theclosing session of the Holyand Great Council at Kolym-vari town.

PHOTOS: HOlY AND grEAT COUNCil viA AP

TNH/ElENi SAkElliS

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COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016 3

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COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016

By Aris Papadopoulos

ATHENS – The four-day eventsthat took place under the sym-bolic title “Metamorphosis” ofthe Stavros Niarchos FoundationCultural Center (SNFCC) andwhich gave citizens the oppor-tunity to become familiar withthis monumental project and toembrace it before being handedover to the State, have come toa close.

With his moving speech, SNFco-President Andreas Dracopou-los concluded the event bythanking the thousands of peoplewho passed through there andenjoyed the events. In fact, hecalled upon them to not worrywhen the Center is handed overto the State, because they them-selves will be its guardians andguarantors and that the Founda-tion will be by their side.

From June 23 to 26, SNFCCwas transformed into a livingspace of ideas, exploration andinteraction through an innova-tive program of cultural, athleticand educational actions for allage groups.

In tandem, visitors were giventhe opportunity for the first timeto enter the new facilities of theGreek National Opera (GNO)and the National Library ofGreece (NLG), as well as to enjoythe Stavros Niarchos Park in itsfull capacity.

DRACOPOULOS’ CLOSINGADDRESS

“I would like to share a coupleof words with you on behalf ofeveryone at the Stavros NiarchosFoundation,” Dracopoulos said.First, I would like to express afew thanks, to offer an overviewof what occurred these four daysand to discuss the next steps.First of all, a big thanks to all ofyou. More than 115,000 people

have come these past four days.You came and conquered thespace. By doing so, at the sametime, we have won our own bet.Our bet was that you would pos-sess it before we even hand itover. And so for that, congratu-lations and thank you.

“This project truly looks gor-geous, amazing, and it has noth-ing to envy from anywherearound the world. This is not co-incidental. It has been a verytough job and has been possibledue to tremendous cooperation.And if I forget anyone, I apolo-gize in advance. Because thereare so many who put their soulinto achieving this result, which,when sitting here, makes youwonder if it's true, if it’s possible.And elsewhere, you think, this ishow it was supposed to be andthis is how it can be.

“Thank you, firstly, to my un-cle Stavros Niarchos, withoutwhom we would not be here to-day.

“We thank Renzo Piano andall his colleagues for whom Ihave repeatedly said that apartfrom being a brilliant architect,he is amazing man and friend ofGreece. A thank you to the mak-ers of this project, Salini Im-pregilo and TERNA, which havereally done a great job, FNG,Deborah Nevins and [Helli] Pan-galou, who are responsible forthis amazing park.

“And I think that those of youwho have come here have un-derstood this park. When westarted ten years ago, we calledthis project the 'triple project.'And everyone said to us: Butthere is the Library, the OperaHouse, what is the other? Andwe would say the Park. The Parkis just as important as the otherprojects. And we thank all thosewho have worked anonymously

on the SNFCC, and of courseIoannis Prokopoulos, Nelly An-driopoulou, and Dimitris Protop-saltou. In addition, everyonefrom our Foundation has giventheir all. Besides the other dona-tions we have made simultane-ously, the last ten years we haveall lived it, we have felt it, andwe have put our heart and soulinto the project, and especiallyTheodore Maravelias and Asim-ina Koutroumpousi.

“I mentioned earlier how im-portant it is to have the rightpartnerships, without hiddenagendas, with a common goal:for the project to turn out theway it has and I want to thankeveryone with which we have co-operated. And not only for theconstruction, but for the NationalLibrary and the Opera House andthe representatives of many gov-ernments. Because, believe it ornot, we have had five or six dif-ferent governments since westarted, and all their representa-tives, despite the setbacks, allwho got involved in the project,have shown impeccable cooper-ation because I think they real-ized that there was a commongoal – none other than for thisproject to be delivered to you. Itmay be a dream, but it has be-come a reality.

“A short overview of what hasoccurred these four days. OnThursday, we began with the 6KSNF run ‘Running into the Fu-ture’. And as I stated last year,this is not a random title. Be-cause by running into the futurewe will keep running. And manytimes it is not necessary to arrivesomewhere, but to keep tryingto improve the today for us andthe tomorrow for our children.

“A big thank you to the NGORegeneration & Progress, whichtruly lives up to its name, to ourdoctor and friend Takis Koulou-varis, and to his colleagues forthe wonderful programs duringthese days of athletics, education

and entertainment programs forchildren and adults.

“For their help with the SNFRun, we also thank the HellenicPolice, the Hellenic OlympicCommittee, and SpecialOlympics Hellas. And let us saythat next year, we as a Founda-tion will be organizing this runagain on June 23, which isOlympic Day. I also thank Dr.Takis Koulouvaris and all thedoctors, who with a unique vi-sion continue to contribute med-ical services to all the remoteGreek islands and the SportPaths program which they areorganizing this summer.

“I will mention some names,because they are people whohave given their all. First of all,from our Foundation, MilyPaschali, AsiminaKoutroumpousi, Niki Xenou,Alexia Vasilikou, KonstantinosDemenagas, Gabriella Triantafyl-lis, Ioanna Kiosse, George Micha-lakopoulos, Thanassis Politis,Lina Giotaki, Titika Emmanouil,Giannis Solomakos, Nikos Patar-gias, Valia Gialia, Elenia Saloutsi.Furthermore, the individualsfrom the Visitors Center for allthe guided tours and the 45 vol-unteers.

We would also like to thankall the people who came to helpwith all the programs, such asGarry Kasparov, Tomar Miltonand his associates in the magicprograms, Robert Storr and hiscolleagues, Limor Tomer, LaurieAnderson, my new favorite OmarSouleyman, for those of you whowere here on Saturday andheard him, Marina Lambraki-Plaka for the collaboration withthe National Gallery on thePanayiotis Tetsis Exhibition,Eleftheria Arvanitaki and all theartists who helped fill this spacewith such enthusiasm these days.

“Everyone is asking about thenext steps. These will be as fol-lows: These next weeks we willbe receiving the project from the

Consortium. We believe that thetransfer to us will be completeby the beginning of August andthen the procedure of transferalfrom us to the Greek State willbegin. Some are afraid of theGreek State. Do not be afraid ofit. For one and only reason. Gov-ernments will come, and govern-ments will go. This project ishere for tens and hundreds ofyears. You are the power.

More than 115,000 of youhave visited, without the state-run television channels havingsaid a single word about this pro-ject. Do not mind. Since youhave shown the dedicationwhich you have shown, the re-spect to embrace it, you shouldcome, many things will happen,we will also be by your side asmuch as possible to helpthroughout this project’s entirelife. But we need your help. Donot allow anyone to disappointyou. But let’s also not place theblame on others. This power,which is evident all these days,can work wonders. You are thepower.

“This project can once againbe an amazing project which willbeat for you. Do not abandon it.As I said, we will be near. Wewill try to keep this space openas much as we can during theprocedure of receipt and deliv-ery. When we receive it, we willopen as many sections as possi-ble and we will start the guidedtours of the Library and OperaHouse once again. And if thereare some complaints, pleaseknow that we do so for yoursafety, the safety of the projectbecause this is how we operate,to do it right.

“As I said, there were 115,000visitors and in addition, with theFoundation’s grant, the member-ship subscriptions are more than25,000 and we have receivedmore, about 42,000 have appliedto receive the SNFCC member-ship card. And this demonstrates

the power of the project. Butplease make an effort on yourpart as well, don’t become mem-bers for a day. This must go on.

“You have shown what can bedone here. Let our beliefs, withyour help, become the reason wecan get along as a society, pastthe politics, let’s rediscover themeaning of Greek education andGreek culture and let’s reawakenthe “philotimo” which hasworked wonders for Greece. Andyou can do it again, and we cando it again, but you have to be-lieve it and do your utmost tomake this project succeed.

We thank you all once again.We will be near you for our chil-dren, for Greece.”

CLOSING EVENTSThe last day of the events,

June 26, included guided toursof the Stavros Niarchos Park andthe facilities of the Greek Na-tional Opera and the National Li-brary of Greece, creative work-shops for children and families,athletic activities for children, theStreet Studio City outdoorsrecording studio, dance perfor-mance by the David DorfmanDance group, a discussion on thepublication of the CollectedWorks of Aristotle in modernGreek at the National Library ofGreece, and a silkscreen work-shop. It was concluded with con-cert performances by The SecretTrio, Amir ElSaffar & Two RiversEnsemble, Apollo Retsos andlastly, Eleftheria Arvanitaki.

All the events were free ad-mission and took place with theexclusive support of SNF.

The SNFCC is the largest sin-gle gift of SNF, and it includesthe construction and completeoutfitting of new facilities for theNational Library of Greece andthe Greek National Opera as wellas the creation of the 210,000square meter Stavros NiarchosPark, and can accommodate upto 32,000 visitors at any giventime.

TNH Staff

ATHENS – The visitors of theStavros Niarchos FoundationCultural Center (SNFCC) be-came acquainted with multifac-eted artist Laurie Andersonthrough questions she wasasked by the acclaimed Greeklyricist Lina Nikolakopoulou onJune 25 before presenting herexperiential performance, de-signed especially for the Meta-morphosis program.

Metropolitan Museum of Art(MMA) GM of Concerts & Lec-tures Limor Tomer expressedher satisfaction that SNF en-trusted her to be the Perfor-mance Curator of the Metamor-phosis events, while

emphasizing the awe she feltwhen facing the Acropolis fromthe SNFCC. She then presentedAnderson, and Nikolakopoulou,and the two-hour session beganwith the question of how An-derson found herself at Meta-morphosis. The artist remem-bered that she had met withNikolakopoulou at the 2004Olympics, when she was a mem-ber of the artistic team withDimitris Papaioannou.

Anderson then relayed astory about when dozens ofbirds flew by as they worked onthe lighting. Her story refers toan older time when there wasno earth for birds to tread. Itwas just the birds and the sea.“The birds were flying around

and the sound was deafening.One of these was the lark. Oneday its father died and there wasan issue with what they woulddo with his body because therewas no land. Thus the lark cameup with the solution. It decidedto bury his father in the back ofits head. And this was howmemory was born. Because be-fore this no one rememberedanything. They just flew aroundin huge circles.”

She then referred to the Oc-cupy movements, and to someof presidential candidate BernieSanders’ ideas. “I feel, however,that they are propelled by verypositive thoughts and a lot ofenergy. I am therefore verygrateful when something falls

apart. So your narrative is dis-rupted so you can figure outwhat it is about.”

Anderson presented an expe-riential performance whose de-parture point is the opposite ofcertainty: perennial questioning.The human agent’s capacity totranscend a given identity, tolearn what one is ignorant of,to become what one isn’t as yet,to see the unseen, in order tocreate a personality which isable to comprehend oneself andothers.

“Let’s not forget,” she empha-sized, “that the reason for ourpresence in the world is to bevery, very happy. Happiness,deep joy is the purpose ofmankind.”

TNH Staff

ATHENS – During the open-ing weekend (June 23-26) ofthe Stavros Niarchos FoundationCultural Center (SNFCC), whichincludes the Greek NationalOpera (GNO), the National Li-brary of Greece (NLG), and theStavros Niarchos Park (SNP),there was widespread praiseabout the project.

Maria Anthi told TNH: “Whatcan I say? It’s like a dream. Ilive in Kalamaki and come hereby foot. What can I say, thereare no words!”

Her friend from New York,Morfi Ghika agreed with hercompletely.

In addition, Maria Svolakiand Margarita Strati told TNHthat not only is it a wonderfulcreation, but that they did notexpect it to be so magnificent.“May the people who made thisbe well,” they emphasized.

Panagiotis Stratis said theproject is great, but he wouldhave liked for there to havebeen a small chapel in memoryof Stavros Niarchos and, accord-ing to him, this is somethingwith which Archbishop Ierony-mos agrees.

The media was impressed aswell, as members of the pressfrom both Greece and abroadwere given a tour on June 24.

The four-day event with freeadmission, under the symbolictitle “Metamorphosis: TheSNFCC world” becomes theproperty of the Athenians beforebeing handed over to the Stateby the end of the year.

For those four days, SNFCCtransformed into a living spaceof ideas, exploration, and inter-action through an innovativeprogram of cultural, athletic andeducational actions for all agegroups. At the entrance to thecomplex of the Cultural Center,the visitor first comes into con-tact with one of the center’smain elements, SNP, which isplanted with 1,450 trees,280,000 shrubs and ground cov-ering plants.

From the park and throughpathways with a gentle upwardslope, the visitor goes up towardthe artificial hill, beneath whichthe facilities of the GNO andNLG are situated. The ascent to-wards the buildings is along a

channel filled with water. Thechannel is supplied with waterfrom the sea which is continu-ously filtered without losing itssaltiness.

Reaching the level of thebuildings, the visitor first en-counters the center of the entirecomplex, which is the Agora.This exterior space is defined bythe glazed buildings. This is theentrance to the NLG and GNO,which lie adjacent to SNP.

To the right of the Agora, thevisitor enters the Library build-ing, while on the left is theOpera house and the two build-ings are linked by the receptionarea of the Agora. In the recep-tion area, the Spyros Louis Cupis already on display. The entirebuilding complex impresseswith a feeling of transparencywhich offers the advantage ofnatural lighting.

The Library building, thewalls of which are entirely linedwith bookshelves, has the ca-pacity for about two millionbooks. But that which distin-guishes it, despite its design, isthat it is easily accessible, free,and with state-of-the-art re-quirements and services as iscommon for contemporary li-braries.

The Opera House is com-prised of approximately 900rooms. The dominant featuresare the Opera’s main stage,which has a capacity for 1,400people, and the alternativestage, which can accommodateall kinds of public events for upto 450 people. In the main per-formance hall, that which dom-inates is the stage, one of thelargest in the world, even largerthan the stage of the New York’sMetropolitan Opera.

In this main performancehall, there is an individual dis-play for every seat, which pro-jects everything related to theshow. Also, there is a special sys-tem that amplifies sound andprovides special seating forthose with disabilities. In addi-tion, configured on the eighthfloor of the building is the Light-house, a multipurpose eventsspace with unique views acrossAthens. Over the Lighthouse isthe energy roof, an engineeringand construction wonder cov-ered by photovoltaic panels thatproduce electricity.

Over 115,000 Visitors at the SNFCC’s Opening

The SNFCC in Athens presented Metamorphosis, 4 days and nights of cultural events. SNF Co-president Andreas Dracopoulosaddressed the audience in attendance who enjoyed performances, discussions, and art installations at the SNFCC.

SNFCC Impresses duringits Opening Weekend

A High-Level Artistic Conversation

The Greek National Opera whose main performance hall is dominated by one of the largest stages in the world, even largerthan the stage at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. On the right, a group of visitors marvels at the design of the SNFCC.

Children playing at Stavros Niarchos Park which is plantedwith 1,450 trees, 280,000 shrubs, and ground-covering plants.

SNF/YiOrgiS YErOlYmBOS

SNF/YiOrgiS YErOlYmBOS

SNF/gEOrgE DimiTrAkOPOUlOS SNF/YiOrgiS YErOlYmBOS

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COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016 5

TNH Staff

CARMEL, IN – As more peopleare reaching retirement age yearafter year, concerns about SocialSecurity (SS) benefits are on therise. Understanding SS retire-ment benefits and rules can helpindividuals and their familiesavoid unnecessary issues in thefuture. The benefits receivedfrom SS are a percentage of theincome an individual earnedwhile working and paying intothe system. The percentage ishigher for lower wage earners(usually around 60%) than it isfor higher wage earners (about25%), but there are instanceswhen an individual has workedabroad or in a job not coveredby SS, workers for state and lo-cal governments, for example,

who may appear to be lowerwage earners though they mayreceive foreign social security

benefits in addition to U.S. ben-efits.

To avoid paying out a higherpercentage in benefits than nec-essary to those individuals, Con-gress passed the Windfall Elim-ination Provision (WEP). Insuch cases, the individual receiv-ing foreign social security bene-fits could find their SS benefitsreduced by as much as half. Thedecrease in benefits could makeit difficult for retired people tomake ends meet as prices foreven the most basic necessitiescontinue to increase whilewages have stayed about thesame for the last twenty years.

The Social Security Adminis-tration (SSA) reduces the retire-ment benefits of many peoplewho receive Greek and otherforeign social security pensions

by means of the WEP, many peo-ple who have divided theirworking careers between twocountries are not allowed to re-ceive the full amount of pen-sions that they have earned. Inmany cases, the law office ofJonathan Bruce, LLC, and FrostBrown Todd, LLC believe thisreduction is unlawful, and areengaged in litigation to put anend to it. Organizations includ-ing the National Education As-sociation are also lobbying toput an end to the WEP which asnoted on their website, “causeshard-working people to lose asignificant portion of the bene-fits they earned themselves.”

Bruce and Todd seek to helppeople whose SS benefits havebeen reduced because of theWEP. They charge no consulta-

tion fees, and do not charge fortheir services until they win acase. When they do win a case,their legal fees are authorizedby the court from past due ben-efits owed by the U.S. govern-ment. No client is ever sent abill for legal services, and no re-tainer for legal services is everrequired. Bruce reported, “AU.S.-Greece social securityagreement was signed at Athenson June 22, 1993, and was en-tered into force on September1, 1994. Paragraph (2)(a) of Ar-ticle 3 of this international socialsecurity agreement states: ‘Aperson who is or has been sub-ject to the laws of one Contract-ing State and who resideswithin the territory of the otherContracting State shall, togetherwith his dependents, receive

equal treatment with nationalsof the other Contracting Statein the application of its laws.’Greece applies no law like theWEP to Americans living inGreece, and the application ofthe WEP to Greek immigrants isa violation of the internationalagreement and the WEPstatute.”

Bruce also noted that a Greekimmigrant named ChristosGeorgiou was one of the first tochallenge the WEP.

In addition to Greek pension-ers in the United States or inGreece, the law firms of Bruce,and Frost Brown Todd are par-ticularly interested in contactingpeople with social security pen-sions from France, Germany, Ire-land, Spain, Japan, Korea, andother countries.

Attorneys Assist Greeks who Have Reduced Social Security Benefits

celebrity in her family becausethe Herald is such a vital insti-tution, a bridge to the past andfuture, and a source of pride forthe community. Singas said sheis proud to be Greek-Americanand a woman and that herproud Greek father got the doc-tor and lawyer he wanted forson-in-laws from his daughtersthemselves instead, demonstrat-ing how much women canachieve given the opportunityand education.

Anna Megaris, Principal ofthe Greek Orthodox Metropoli-tan Cathedral of St. John theTheologian Greek School, spokeabout the importance of main-taining the Greek language andculture especially for theyounger generation. She noted

that the children laugh whenshe tells then that learning theGreek language is making themsmarter, but it is true. Learningall the rules and intricacies ofthe language is indeed makingthe children smarter. Megariscongratulated Publisher-EditorAntonis Diamataris and the staffon Gynaika for highlighting theachievements of women and forpromoting Hellenism.

Simotas spoke about howproud and happy she was to at-tend the event, observing thatthe Herald’s offices were her first

stop in 2010 when she first ranfor public office. Simotas readsthe paper every day to keep upwith the events and issues vitalto the community, a habit shepicked up from her father.

Diamataris mentioned his re-cent return from Greece wherehe visited the Stavros NiarchosFoundation Cultural Center(SNFCC) in Athens, urgingeveryone to visit as a point ofpride for all in the Greek com-munity. He went on to thank Ke-saris for her efforts in organizingthe event, and Herald writers

Demetris Tsakas, and TheodoreKalmoukos, the latter who isbased in Boston. Diamataris saidthat although Gynaika is 8 ½years old and the National Her-ald is celebrating its 101st year,“the journey of a thousand milesbegins with one step,” paraphras-ing the Chinese saying. He wenton to say that it is important tocelebrate the achievements ofwomen who are successful in avariety of fields because the roleof women is vital for the futureof the community, not for rea-sons of egoism, but as an exam-

ple to follow and to acknowledgeand honor them for their workand accomplishments. In societyat large, many strides have beenmade by women in the last ten

years, especially by women inpublic office, including Singasand Simotas, and perhaps wemay even see a woman presidentin a few months. Gynaika re-

mains as a record of the achieve-ments of the successful womenof our community and will re-main in the Herald archives toinspire future generations.

National Herald’s Gynaika Celebrates Women with its Hundredth Issue

As her profile reads onPrinceton University’s website,postdoctoral research fellow AnnaTsiftsoglou received a PhD in Lawfrom the University of Athens,summa cum laude in 2014, witha doctoral thesis in comparativepublic law & policy. She studiedLaw at the Aristotle University ofThessaloniki (LLB, 2005) and theUniversity of California, Berkeley(LLM, 2006). She has practicedlaw in Greece since 2008. She hasreceived honors or grants fromthe Hellenic Ministry ofEducation, the EuropeanCommission, the EUI in Florence,the Academy of Finland, as wellas the Universities of Californiaand New York. She recently spokewith The National Herald.

ΤΝΗ: You are currentlyworking on the impact of theongoing financial crisis on na-tional democracies, in the casesof Greece and Cyprus. Why didyou decide to work on thatspecifically?

ΑΤ: The idea behind thisbook project came out of my

personal experience as aGreek/American citizen actuallyliving in a crisis-hit state, expe-riencing first-hand whatever thecountry had to go through.However, my motivation behindthis project is deeper. I find that

both cases -particularly theGreek one- are rather alarmingand possibly applicable to thestudy of any crisis-hit state. Thatis, due to their legal, politicaland of course historical signifi-cance. I also decided to work onthis project given the rather lim-ited literature –particularly inEnglish- on the topic.

ΤΝΗ: Please tell us aboutyour recent publication, PublicSecurity and Privacy.

AT: This book is the culmi-nation of several years of legalresearch, my PhD research, onissues related to privacy and sur-veillance in the post-9/11 era.The book provides its readers acomparative overview of the de-velopments on the subject in adiversity of countries and legalorders, in Europe and theUnited States.

It purports to relate legal topolitical developments, to seekanswers behind complex regu-latory and judicial choices andpolicies in the new ‘surveillancestate.’ Writing this book wasvery challenging, given the fact

that I also had to spend sometime abroad as a researcher, soas to familiarize myself to otherlegal cultures and environ-ments.

ΤΝΗ: Have you thoughtabout going back to Greece andhelping with your expertise orwould you prefer to pursue anacademic career in the UnitedStates?

AT: Of course! Greece is al-ways on my mind, both as myhomeland and as a researchsubject. I would love to go backat some point and contributewith my expertise. Pursuing anacademic career has alwaysbeen a dream for me, also sinceI come myself from an academicfamily, though, in a different dis-cipline (my family are all scien-tists).

Pursuing an academic careerin the States is a different story,since it is a very competitiveplace, and top law schools usu-ally recruit faculty that comefrom the US legal system. Nev-ertheless, I am currently opento and exploring different op-

portunities both in the UnitedStates and Europe. Though, Ishould confess I feel more atease in American academic in-stitutions.

ΤΝΗ: What is your opinionabout the escalating politicaland economic turmoil inGreece?

AT: I think Greece now facesa very critical moment, after al-most six years of recession andbailouts. Besides its huge sover-eign debt crisis, Greece also hasto face an unprecedentedrefugee crisis. However, I findthat it is lacking both the re-sources and the political will tomanage it properly and effi-ciently.

More importantly, both crisesdemand significant EU backingand common approaches toreach a solution. It is very sadthat -particularly in the refugeecrisis- the EU itself has shownits teeth and its lack of crisismanagement to deal collectivelywith this European –not merelyGreek- issue, as it should have.National rather than EU inter-

ests seem to have become moreprominent during this crisis.

ΤΝΗ: Do you think that thecrisis has affected the Greek ed-ucation as well?

AT: The financial crisis hascertainly affected Greek highereducation too. Greek universi-ties are seriously underfinanced,with virtually no resources toattract top faculty and re-searchers.

It is very discomforting tothink that Greece has some ofthe best researchers in theworld, across disciplines, work-ing in some of the top universi-ties and research institutes out-side the country. In my view,Greece should form a new edu-cation strategy for the 21st cen-tury, by abolishing, first of all,its global monopoly of publicuniversities with the next con-stitutional revision. It should es-tablish Centers of Excellence,private or otherwise, to attracttop researchers across theworld, and promote the inter-nationalization of higher educa-tion studies.

Princeton University’s Dr. Anna Tsiftsoglou Discusses Public Policy and National Security

SAkkOUlAS PUBliCATiONS

Public Policy and Security, byDr. Anna Tsiftsoglou.

Lawyer Jonathan Bruce. COUrTESY OF JONATHAN BrUCE

Continued from page 1

Top left: Doctors and sisters Panagiota Andreopoulos and Eleni Andreopoulos attended theevent at the National Herald on June 28. They are pictured here with Demetris Matthaios ofLowell, MA. Left bottom: Florence Koulouris District Manager of Queens Community Board 1,NYS Assembly member Aravella Simotas on right, Demetris and Yiota Stratis, Vasiliki Filiotis,Irene Sarri, Aphrodite Skeadas, Nikolaos and Maria Zolotas were among those attending theevent at the National Herald on June 28. Top right: Nassau County DA Madeline Singasaddresses the guests at the event in honor of the 100th issue of Gynaika at the National Herald.Middle right: Veta Diamataris Papadopoulos- National Herald Executive Vice President /Adver-tising, Antonis Diamataris- National Herald Editor/Publisher, and Aravella Simotas- NYS As-semblymember speaking about the paper at the event in honor of the 100th issue of Gynaika. Bottom right: Kathy Boulukos, Evangeline Douris, Aphrodite Skeadas, Yiota Stratis and TheodoreKalmoukos at the National Herald on June 28 celebrating the 100th issue of Gynaika.

TNH/FOTiS PAPAgErmANOS)

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Page 6: The National Herald 101 · The National Herald A wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016 ... Sarri, and Aphrodite Skeadas. The meeting began with an introduction by Herald’s

n KLISARES, DONPEORIA, IL (from the PeoriaJournal-Star, published on Jun.15) – Don Klisares of Peoriapassed away Sunday morning,June 12, 2016, at his home. Hewas 83 years of age. Don wasborn in Des Moines, Iowa, onJuly 30, 1932, the son of Peteand Lorna Klisares. Don gradu-ated from Des Moines TechnicalHigh School and Simpson Col-lege in Indianola, Iowa. He alsoearned a Master's Degree in La-bor and Industrial Managementfrom the University of Iowa. Hemarried Marilyn Hull on August29, 1954, in Oskaloosa, Iowa.She passed away in 1963. Hethen married MarianneSchikowski on October 8, 1966,in Decatur, IL. Don and Mari-anne devoted their lives to rais-ing their five children. He waspreceded in death by his par-ents, Pete and Lorna Klisares;two brothers, Jack and Bob Klis-ares; a sister, Donna ColleenMunzenmaier; a grandson,Austin Klisares; and a daughter-in-law, Paula Klisares. He is sur-vived by his wife, Marianne; onebrother, Pete (and Bev) ofColumbus, OH; four sons,Steven of Dunlap, Illinois, David(and Kathy) of San Juan Capis-trano, California, Tim (andMichelle) of Aurora, Illinois, andGraham (and Chris) of Pinetop,Arizona. He is also survived byone daughter, Kathryn Spitzna-gle (and Scott) of Edwards, Illi-nois. Don also had fourteengrandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. Don joinedCaterpillar just after he gradu-ated from the University of Iowaand worked there for thirty sixyears, retiring in 1992. Heworked at Mossville, East Peo-ria, Decatur and York, and hadseveral assignments in GeneralOffices. Most of his time wasspent in the area of employeerelations, but he also was a su-perintendent in materials de-partment for four years and re-tired as a Division Managerfrom Corporate InformationServices. Don was training man-ager at the Decatur plant for tenyears. He taught as a part-timeinstructor in Bradley University'sevening program for severalyears in the school of business.He was one of the foundingboard members which gavebirth to Richland CommunityCollege in Decatur. He waselected to the Community Col-lege Board twice and also servedon the Lutheran School Boardwhile in Decatur. One of Don'shobbies was genealogy. He andMarianne enjoyed traveling toexplore their family history andmade several trips to Greeceand Ireland in search of his fam-ily's roots. He also enjoyed hunt-ing and fishing. He spent manyhours with his brothers, sons,grandchildren and friends in thewoods or on the water. Don wasa Christian. He belonged to sev-eral different churches. He wasbaptized in the Greek OrthodoxChurch, but worshiped most ofhis adult life as a Methodist orLutheran. He had been a mem-ber of the First FederatedChurch of Peoria for the pastfew years. He will be crematedand part of his ashes will beburied in the Columbarium atthe First Federated Church. Therest of his ashes will be buriedwith his family at HighlandMemorial Gardens in DesMoines, Iowa. His memorial ser-vice will be at the First Feder-ated Church of Peoria at 12noon Thursday, June 16. Visita-tion will be from 10 a.m. to 12noon on Thursday at the church.Memorial contributions may bemade to the First FederatedChurch, 3601 N. Sheridan Road,Peoria, IL; or "Klisares FamilyEndowment Fund" at SimpsonCollege in Indianola, Iowa.

Davison-Fulton Woolsey-WiltonFuneral Home is honored to ser-vice the Klisares family and con-dolences may be shared throughWoolsey-Wilton.com.

n LAINIS, JOHNPOUGHKEEPSIE, NY (from thePoughkeepsie Journal, pub-lished on Jun. 19) – Poughkeep-sie - John P. Lainis, 92 of Pough-keepsie, NY passed away onMonday, June 13, 2016 athome. John was born on May20, 1924 in Tritea Parnassidos,Greece to the late Peter Lainisand Astero Tsakiris. He marriedConstantina Gioulos on Novem-ber 6, 1963 in Zografou, Athens,Greece who survives at home.A local resident since 1951,John was a chef at Vassar Col-lege until his retirement in1986. He was a member ofKimisiss Greek OrthodoxChurch and enjoyed readingand gardening. In addition tohis wife, John is survived by hisdaughters Esther Lainis and son-in-law Anastasios Patmanidisand Maria Lainis, both ofTenafly, NJ., three sisters, Eleft-heria Sites, Themi Koutsoumi-chou and Effie Karambetsos allof Athens, Greece, sister-in-lawBoula Alexandris and husbandNicholas and brother-in-lawThemois Gioulos and wife Dinaalso from Athens, Greece as wellas several nieces and nephews.John is predeceased by hisbrother Constantinos Lainis andsister Kaliope Kastriotis. Callinghours will be held on Sunday,June 19, 2016 from 5pm to 8pmat the Timothy P. Doyle FuneralHome, 371 Hooker Avenue,Poughkeepsie, NY 12603. Fu-neral services will be on Mon-day, June 20, 2016 at 10am atthe Kimisiss Greek OrthodoxChurch, 140 South Grand Av-enue, Poughkeepsie, NY. Burialwill follow at PoughkeepsieRural Cemetery. Arrangementsare under the direction of Tim-othy P. Doyle Funeral Home,Inc. To send condolences online,please visit our website atwww.doylefuneralhome.com .

n LIAZIS, VICKIMOUNT JOY, PA (from theLebanon Daily News, publishedon Jun. 2) – Vicki Liazis, 82,passed away Thursday, May 26,2016 at her home in Mount Joy.Born April 3, 1934, in Neoho-rion Nafpaktias, Greece, she wasthe daughter of the late Nickand Eleni N. (Anagnostos) Pa-terekas. She was the wife of 51years to the late Costas N. Liazis,who died September 14, 2005.Vicki immigrated to America in1966 with her husband. Shewas a seamstress working invarious clothing manufacturersand later retiring from Danskin,York with more than 13 yearsof service. She was a memberof Holy Trinity Greek OrthodoxCathedral, Camp Hill, PA andSyllogos Neohorton. She is sur-vived by one son, Nick Liazis ofMount Joy; two daughters, He-len Liazis of Glen Rock, and ZoeCooper of Mount Joy; one sister,Anastasia Tsourapas of Athens,Greece; two brothers, Ted Pallasof Cleveland, Ohio, andDemetrious Paterekas of Cres-sona; 12 grandchildren; andfour great-grandchildren.Vickiwas preceded in death by onegrandson and one great-grand-son. The funeral service will be11 a.m. Friday, June 3, 2016 atHoly Trinity Greek OrthodoxCathedral, Camp Hill. Her pas-tor, the Rev. Fr. Michael Var-varelis, will officiate. Burial willimmediately follow in East Har-risburg Cemetery, Harrisburg,PA. The visitation will be 10-11a.m. Friday at the church.In lieu of flowers, the familysuggests memorial contributionsmay be made to the Crohn's &Colitis Foundation of America,733 Third Ave., Suite 510, NewYork, NY 10017; the Holy Trin-ity Greek Orthodox Cathedral,1000 Yverdon Dr., Camp Hill,PA 17011; or to AnnunciationGreek Orthodox Church, 2500Pine Grove Road, York, PA17404. The Hetrick-Bitner Fu-

neral Home has been entrustedwith the arrangements. To shareonline condolences, please visitwww.HetrickBitner.com or seeus on Facebook.

n MANDIKOS, SOPHIARALEIGH, NC (from the News& Observer, published on Jun.19) – Sophia Mandikos, 96,passed away on Friday, June 17,2016. She was born in Pentalo-fos, Greece, and lived there untilimmigrating to the UnitedStates with her family and set-tling in Manchester, N.H. Aftergetting married, she lived inLowell, MA, where her childrenwere born. She moved toRaleigh when her husband's em-ployer opened an office at RTP.She lived independently wellinto her 90s, and took dailywalks around her neighbor-hood. Sophia had a servant'sheart. She was a volunteer atRex Hospital for over 20 years,and received the "Unsung HeroAward" from the City of Raleighin 2009 for her service at Rex.She received a Certificate of Ap-preciation from Gov. Jim Huntin 1993 for her volunteer ef-forts. She was active in theLeague of Women Voters andworked at her local polling placeon election days. Sophia exem-plified the true Orthodox Chris-tian way of life and attendedchurch regularly. She was amember of the Ladies Philopto-chos Society and the Daughtersof Penelope. She participated inmaking pastries for the GreekFestival and church bake sales,where she was famous for herdelicious "finikia". In 2005 shewas honored with the ArchangelMichael Award from the GreekOrthodox Metropolis of Atlantafor her deep faith, commitment,dedication, and service to thechurch. Sophia always greetedpeople with a smile and wasamong the first to welcomenewcomers to the area. She wasgenerous and nurturing and aloyal friend. She enjoyed invit-ing people into her home toshare a meal and would sendthem away with a "care pack-age" for later. She would visitthe sick and shut-ins and wouldalways help those in need.Sophia worked in the familyshoe business with her fatherand brothers in Manchester,N.H. She kept her brother Alec'sshoe store in Nashua, N.H. run-ning while he served in WorldWar II. She retired from the shoedepartment of J C Penney atNorth Hills. She enjoyed traveland accompanied her husbandto work-related conventions inthe U.S. and abroad. Duringpleasure trips, she visited manystates across the U.S., includingHawaii, and several foreigncountries. She was predeceasedby her beloved husband,George, and her siblings Emor-fia, Amalia, Charlie and Alec.She loved her family and leavesbehind to continue her legacyher daughter, Joyce Mandikosof Raleigh, her son and daugh-ter-in-law, John and AdinaMandikos of Greensboro, hergrandson, Nick Mandikos andhis wife, Margaret, of Raleigh,her grandson, Alex Mandikos ofGreensboro, and several nieces,nephews, cousins, and godchil-dren in the United States,Greece, and Australia. Visitationwill be held on Tuesday, June21, 2016 from 6pm-8pm, withthe Trisagion Prayer at 6:30pm.The funeral will be Wednesday,June 22, 2016 at 11am. Bothservices will be at Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church, 5000Lead Mine Rd., Raleigh, N.C.27612. Burial to follow atRaleigh Memorial Park. Thefamily wishes to thank GinaStavredes and her staff for theirloving and compassionate careof Sophia for the past few years.Anyone wishing to make amemorial contribution is askedto consider Holy Trinity's Build-ing Fund, The Ladies Philopto-chos Society, Transitions LifeCare (formerly Hospice), 250Hospice Circle, Raleigh, N. C.27607, or Elsie's Place Family

Care Home, c/o 1944 WiltonCir., Raleigh, N.C. 27615.

n NIKITAS, MEROPINEWPORT NEWS, VA (from theDaily Press, published on Jun.12) – Meropi (Popi) Nikitas, 83passed away peacefully in hersleep on Friday, June 10, 2016.Popi was born in the village ofSt. George, Greece, February 2,1933. In 1967, she moved to theUnited States where she settledwith her family in NewportNews. She was best remem-bered for her work as a seam-stress for over 30 years at Main'sDress Shop, Leggett's and Prof-fitt's department stores. She wasdedicated to her family andchurch and was loved by allwho knew her. Popi was pre-ceded in death by her husband,Dimitrios J. Nikitas. She is sur-vived by her loving daughter,Eva N. Turner and husbandNeal, Smithfield, VA; son, JohnNikitas, wife Kim, Forest Hill,MD; grandsons, Dalton andHeath Nikitas. Extended familyincludes Anna and Terra Mc-Daniel and Thomasina Broad-way whose care and compassionwill never be forgotten. A Trisa-gion Prayer service will be heldat 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June13 at Saint Constantine and He-len Greek Orthodox Church, 60Traverse Road, Newport News.Family will receive friends until8 p.m. at the church. Funeralservices will be held at 11:00a.m. on Tuesday morning at thechurch and will be officiated byFather George Chioros. Burialwill follow in Peninsula Memo-rial Park. Memorials may be of-fered to Saints Constantine andHelen Greek Orthodox Churchor a favorite charity . PeninsulaFuneral Home is in charge ofarrangements.

n STERGIOU, PETROSLOWELL, MA (from the LowellSun, published on Jun. 1) – Pet-ros Stergiou was born on Janu-ary 7, 1927 in Penteli, Attica toChristos and Stamatia Stergiou.After performing his militaryservice, he married EvangeliaBletsis in 1959.Petros and Evan-gelia have two children, Christosand Anastasia. After living inPenteli for 10 years, the familyimmigrated to Lowell on Aug.18, 1969. He is a member ofSaint George Greek OrthodoxChurch in Lowell where heserved in various capacities in-cluding president over manyyears. Exemplifying consistencyof character and seeking thebest in people, his greatest ac-complishment is earning the re-spect and love of those aroundhim. Petros is survived by hisyounger brother, Thomas inGreece; his son, Christos and hiswife, Ana Maria; his daughter,Anastasia and her husband,Christos, and his six grandchil-dren, Evangelia 30 and her hus-band Stephen 32, Petros 27, Ka-terina 24, Nikoletta 22,Spyrydon 22, Evagelia 20, twogreat grand-daughters, Ana andZoë; and many nieces, nephews,and cousins. His Funeral Servicewill be held on Friday at 11 amat St. George's Greek OrthodoxChurch, 44 Princeton Blvd.,Lowell. Interment in WestlawnII Cemetery, Lowell. In lieu offlowers, the family requests do-nations to St. George's GreekOrthodox Church, 44 PrincetonBlvd., Lowell. Funeral DirectorPaul A. Hardy Jr.

n THOMAS, CLEANTHELOWELL, MA (from the LowellSun, published on Jun. 25) –LOWELL -- Mrs. Cleanthe (Voyi-ages) Thomas, 103, passedaway peacefully at her homewith her family by her side.Cleanthe was born March 13,1913 in Eptahori, Greece, adaughter of the late Haralam-bos and Angelike (Katsoukis)Voyiages. Wife to the lateNicholas Thomas. Cleanthe im-migrated to the United Stateswith her family in 1954, settlingin the Acre section of Lowell.She was educated through theLowell schools. And then went

on to work in the shoe industryas a stitcher. Cleanthe was amember of the Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church of Low-ell and the Ladies PhiloptochosSociety. She is survived by herdaughter, Nancy Newell whomshe lived with, two sons,Michael Thomas and his wife,Marie, George Thomas and hiswife, Demetra; her grandchil-dren, Kelly Bryan and her hus-band, Richard, Maria Gangi andher husband, Gary, Cathy Nakisand her husband, Mike, EllyThomas, Lily Mimilidou and herhusband, Simos; eight great-grandchildren, Richard, Kaitlyn,

Sean, Nicole, Carl, Irene,George, Nikki; and many niecesand nephews. She was the god-mother to Bessie and Ted Baz-danas. Cleanthe was pre-de-ceased by her brothers, Michael,Socrates, Nicholas, Thomas,Costa, and Theodore Voyiages.Relatives and friends will be re-ceived at the M.R. Laurin Fu-neral Home, 295 Pawtucket St.,Lowell on Sunday, June 26thfrom 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Herfuneral will take place on Mon-day at 11:00 am at the FuneralHome to be followed by a ser-vice at the Holy Trinity GreekOrthodox Church in Lowell at12:00 Noon. Interment will fol-low in Westlawn Cemetery. Inlieu of flowers, memorial dona-tions may be made in her mem-ory to the Holy Trinity Church,62 Lewis St., Lowell, MA01854. Funeral arrangementsunder the direction of directors,Louis M. Fazio III, M. RichardLaurin, and Scott Laurin. Forcondolences or directions,please go to www.laurinfuner-alhome.com.

OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016

DEATH NOTICES

This is a service to the community.

Announcements of deaths may be telephoned to the Classified Department of The National Herald at

(718) 784-5255, monday through Friday,

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST or e-mailed to:

[email protected]

Days and dates of funerals,memorials, and other events di-rectly correspond to the originalpublication date, which appearsat the beginning of each notice.

PHILADELPNIA, PA – BerthaRorres (born Panagiotitsa Pap-atheodorou) of Broomall, PAdied peacefully in her sleep onJune 8. She was 101 years old.

She was born in Vrondamas,Lakonia, Greece on January 28,1915. Her father died where shewas only seven years old and itbecame necessary for her toforego high school in order tohelp her mother care for herthree younger siblings: brotherTheodoros (who eventually em-igrated to Argentina) and sistersLygeri and Christina.

Panagiotitsa came toPhiladelphia in 1937 as a youngbride. She and her husband,Harry (Argyrios) P. Rorres andtheir three children initiallylived in Philadelphia’s ‘GreekTown’ and subsequently movedto West Philadelphia and thento Havertown, PA. In 1968 hersister Christina and husbandJohn Vasiliou also emigrated toPhiladelphia with their children,

Demos and Diana (now Pouli-menos); the extended Vasiliouand Poulimenos Families con-tinue to flourish in the Philadel-phia area.

Mrs. Rorres was a stay-at-home mother for her three chil-dren while they were young; af-ter they were grown she helpedher husband manage severalrestaurants that he owned.

She was a member of St.George Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral in Philadelphia for nearly80 years and active in Philopto-chos for many years. In 1995(at age 80) she traveled to theHoly Land on a tour led by then-presiding priest at St. GeorgeCathedral, Fr. James Katerlis; ahighlight of the trip for Mrs.Rorres was a visit to St. Cather-ine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai.She also traveled many times tovisit family and friends inGreece and Argentina.

Mrs. Rorres loved learningand was an avid reader (both

Greek and English). She readthe National Herald faithfullyfor 79 years!

She also enjoyed gardeningand cultivated wonderful veg-etable and flower gardens in thebackyards of her homes wellinto her 80s.

Mrs. Rorres was the belovedmother of Dr. Chris Rorres,Emeritus Professor of Mathe-

matics at Drexel University,(wife, Billie) and Rena RorresBaker of Ventnor City, NJ (hus-band, Jack).

She enjoyed spending timeat the New Jersey shore withher daughter and son-in-lawand her granddaughters,Stephanie Baker and KristieBaker Gardener, and theirspouses. Her eldest son, PeterRorres, an astronautical engi-neer, died in a tragic accidentin 1967.

Funeral services for Mrs. Ror-res took place on Monday, June13 at St. George Greek Ortho-dox Cathedral. His EminenceMetropolitan Evangelos of NewJersey officiated at the servicealong with the Very ReverendArchimandrite AmbroseBitziadis-Bowers, presidingpriest at St. George Cathedral,and the Rev. Fr. GeorgiosKouzelis, presiding priest atSaint Demetrios Greek Ortho-dox Church, Upper Darby.

Bertha Rorres, 101; Read the National Herald for 79 Years

rOrrES FAmilY

Notice of formation GYPSY DAHLIA PRODUCTIONS, LLC. (DOM. LLC). Articlesof Organization filed with the Secretary ofState of New York, SSNY on 05/18/2016. Of-fice located in King County. SSNY has beendesignated for service of process. SSNY shallmail copy of any process served against theLLC to: c/o United States Corporation Agents,Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn,NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275286/20046

Notice of Formation of Leaf and Bough Designs, LLC. Arts of Org. filed withSect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on6/27/2016. Office in Nassau County.SSNY has been designated as agent of theLLC upon whom process against it may beserved, SSNY shall mail process to: 35Carlton Ave, Apt 3, Port Washington NY11050. Purpose: any lawful activity.

275285/20044

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275272/20039

Notice of Formation of STONEBOTS LLC. Arti-cles of Organization filed with the Secretaryof State of New York (SSNY) on 11/06/2015.Office location: Nassau County. SSNY is desig-nated agent upon whom process may beserved against LLC to: Spiegel & Utrera, 1Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10038.Principal business address: 95 Hopper St.Westbury, NY 11590. Purpose: Any lawful act.

275271/19762

Notice of formation 681 BAY LLC. (DOM.LLC). Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, SSNY on06/07/2016. Office located in Kings County.SSNY has been designated for service ofprocess. SSNY shall mail copy of any processto: 2383 McDonald Avenue, Brooklyn, NewYork 11223. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275259/20030

Notice of formation GIRE HOLDINGSLLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organizationfiled with the Secretary of State of NewYork, SSNY on 02/18/2016. Office located inNassau County. SSNY has been designatedfor service of process. SSNY shall mail copy ofany process served against him or her:Anand Parikh, 530 RXR Plaza, 5th Floor - WestTower, Uniondale, NY 11556. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

275258/20029

Notice of formation KACHLINE ENTERPRISES, LLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles ofOrganization filed with the Secretary ofState of New York, SSNY on 05/19/2016. Of-fice located in Kings County. SSNY has beendesignated for service of process. SSNY shallmail copy of any process served against theLLC to: KACHLINE ENTERPRISES, LLC, 1144DeKalb Avenue, Apt. 3B, Brooklyn, NY 11221.Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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275243/20019

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275242/10834

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275234/20016

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275235/20017

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275221/20010

Notice of formation OTFF, LLC. (DOM.LLC). Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, SSNY on04/12/2016. Office located in NassauCounty. SSNY has been designated forservice of process. SSNY shall mail copy ofany process served against the LLC to: AngelWong, 37 Fairway Drive, Manhasset, NY11030. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275222/20011

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275216/20001

Notice of formation 269 INVESTORSCLUB LLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organiza-tion filed with the Secretary of State ofNew York, SSNY on 05/10/2016. Officelocated in Kings County. SSNY has been designated for service of process. SSNY shallmail copy of any process served against theLLC to: Bentley Shang Zhao, 4918 3rd Avenue,Brooklyn, NY 11220. Purpose: Any lawfulactivity.

275210/19997

Notice of formation KINGS POINTE LLC.(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,SSNY on 03/15/2016. Office located in KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated forservice of process. SSNY shall mail copy ofany process served against the LLC to: KINGSPOINTE LLC, 1457 W 5th Street, GroundFloor, Brooklyn, NY 11204. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

275208/19996

Notice of formation VALUE VENTUREPROPERTIES LLC (DOM. LLC). Articles ofOrganization filed with the Secretary ofState of New York, SSNY on 04/26/2016. Of-fice located in Nassau County. SSNY hasbeen designated for service of process. SSNYshall mail copy of any process served againstthe LLC to: Gary Cohen, 75 Lotus Oval North,Valley Stream, NY 11561 . Purpose: Anylawful activity.

275203/19994

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Page 7: The National Herald 101 · The National Herald A wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016 ... Sarri, and Aphrodite Skeadas. The meeting began with an introduction by Herald’s

By Dr. Dimitra Kamarinou

Σεπτέμβριος is September and Οκτώβριος is October. The Greekwords of the months are similar to the English ones, because theyboth derive from Latin.

Note that all months are considered of masculine grammaticalgender; they take the article ο and all end in –ος.

Month is μήν in ancient and μήνας in modern Greek. The wordoccurs in English as a compound of the composite word menopause= meno+pause> μήνας+παύση. Παύση means pause, and is an-other English word that comes from ancient Greek.

Greek word Pronunciation TranslationΟ μήνας O MEEnas the monthΟ Ιανουάριος O ianooArios JanuaryΟ Φεβρουάριος O fevrooArios FebruaryΟ Μάρτιος O MArtios MarchΟ Απρίλιος O aPREElios AprilΟ Μάιος O MAios MayΟ Ιούνιος O iOOnios JuneΟ Ιούλιος O iOOlios JulyΟ Αύγουστος O Avghoostos AugustΟ Σεπτέμβριος O sePTEmvrios SeptemberΟ Οκτώβριος O oCTOvrios OctoberΟ Νοέμβριος O noEmvrios NovemberΟ Δεκέμβριος O deKEmvrios DecemberΠότε POte whenΕίναι EEne is, are Τα γενέθλια TA gheNEthlia birthdayΣου SOO yourΜου MOO myΣτις STEES on

Tα γενέθλια, birthday, is a noun used only in the plural number.Μου means my and σου means your. Τα γενέθλιά μου is my birth-day. Πότε είναι τα γενέθλιά σου; (=When is your birthday?) Στιςmeans on. The answer would be then: τα γενέθλιά μου είναι στις…How do we express a date in Greek? Unlike English in Greek wefirst give the number of the date and then the month. 08.10 is Oc-tober 8th, 10.03 is March 10th , 09.04 is April 9th. They arewritten: οκτώ Οκτωβρίου, δέκα Μαρτίου, πέντε Απριλίου. Greeknouns have cases that indicate the relationship of the noun to theother words of the sentence. One of them is the genitive. EachGreek noun can be divided into two parts: a stem, which showsthe dictionary meaning of the word and an ending, which showsthe noun’s number and case. The genitive case among other usesindicates the time when an event occurred, occurs or will occur.Βy changing the ending of the word, the case changes. The genitivecase of the months is formed by removing the ending –ος of eachmonth to get the stem, Ιανουάρι-, and adding the ending –ου, Ια-νουαρίου. The genitive case article for masculine gender nouns isτου. Ο Ιανουάρι-ος / του Ιανουαρί-ου, ο Φεβρουάρι-ος / του Φε-βρουαρί-ου, ο Μάρτι-ος / του Μαρτί-ου. Note also that in genitiveof the months the tonos, the accent, always goes on the ί beforethe ending.

A complete answer about your birthdate would be: τα γενέθλιάμου είναι στις πέντε Δεκεμβρίου.

EXERCISE1. Write the dates inGreek words.05.12= πέντε Δεκεμβρίου12.03=13.02=08.06=

2. Write the dates in numbers in Greek.Είκοσι πέντε Μαρτίου= 25.03Είκοσι οκτώ Οκτωβρίου=Δεκαεπτά Νοεμβρίου=Δεκαπέντε Αυγούστου=Είκοσι πέντε Δεκεμβρίου=

3. Answer the questions on the birthday dates. Νote that σου isyours and μου is my. Try not to forget the word στις (=on) in frontof the date and to express the months in genitive case. Πότε είναι τα γενέθλιά σου;Τα γενέθλιά μου είναι στις πέντε Δεκεμβρίου.

Πότε είναι τα γενέθλια της μαμάς σου;Τα γενέθλια της μαμάς μου είναι …..Πότε είναι τα γενέθλια του μπαμπά σου;Τα γενέθλια …………… είναι ……..Πότε είναι τα γενέθλια της αδελφής σου;Τα γενέθλια …………… είναι ……..Πότε είναι τα γενέθλια του αδελφού σου;Τα γενέθλια …………… είναι ……..

PRONUNCIATION KEYi (i-diom), ee (n-ee-dle), e (e-nergy), o (o-rganism), oo (b-oo-

t), y (y-es), h (h-elium), th (th-eory), d (th-e), gh (w-olf). The cap-italized syllables are accented.

Dimitra Kamarinou, PhD, has studied philology and archaeology atthe University of Ioannina,Würzburg and Bochum in Germany. Shehas been honored with the Academy of Athens Award inArchaeology and Homeric Philology.

Surprise Your Friends: SayYour Birthdate in Greek

OUR EVERYDAY GREEKGreek Gastronomy

By Eleni Sakellis

Packed with vitamins andminerals, spinach is one of thehealthiest foods. On its own,one serving of spinach has amere 23 calories but is a goodsource of vitamins A, C, and K,and magnesium, manganese,calcium, iron and folate. A typi-cal ingredient in Greek cuisine,spinach is the star of many fa-vorites including spanakopita(spinach pie) and spanakorizo(spinach rice). In the past, freshspinach was a bit troublesometo deal with due to its gritty na-ture, requiring a great deal ofwashing, but today, freshspinach is widely available inpre-washed packages. It is, how-ever, still a good idea to giveeven pre-washed spinach a rinsebefore using. Pat dry with papertowels, or a kitchen towel, oruse a salad spinner to removeexcess water before using in thefollowing spinach salad recipes.

Spinach Salad

• 1-2 packages fresh, pre-washed baby spinach

• 2-3 medium tomatoes, sliced• 2-3 small-medium

cucumbers, sliced• 1 medium red onion, sliced• 1 red bell pepper, cut into

strips• 1 green bell pepper, cut into

strips• 18-20 olives of your choice• 1 cup toasted almonds• 1 cup crumbled feta• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano• Salt and freshly ground

pepper to taste

In a salad bowl, whisk to-

gether the olive oil, vinegar andoregano. Add the spinach, toma-toes, cucumbers, onion, pepper,olives, and almonds. Seasonwith salt and pepper to tasteand toss to combine. Top withthe crumbled feta and serve im-mediately.

Simple Spinach Saladwith Walnuts

• 1 package fresh, pre-washedspinach

• 1 lemon • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil• 1 Granny Smith apple, thinly

sliced• 1/3 cup walnuts, lightly

toasted• Salt and freshly ground

pepper to taste

Toast the walnuts in a drypan over medium heat, stirringfor about two minutes untiltheir fragrance is released, care-ful not to burn them. In a mix-ing bowl, whisk together thejuice of half the lemon and theolive oil. Add the spinach, appleslices, walnuts, salt and pepperto taste and toss to coat withlemon and olive oil. Add addi-tional lemon juice to taste, ifpreferred. Serve immediately.

Warm Spinach Salad

• 3 tablespoons extra virginolive oil

• 4 slices bacon, chopped• 1 package fresh, pre-washed

spinach• 1 medium red onion, sliced• 3 tablespoons red wine

vinegar• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard• Salt and freshly ground

pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a skilletand add the chopped bacon,cook until crisp. Remove thecooked bacon and place on pa-per towels to drain the excessfat. Use 2-3 tablespoons of thefat rendered from the bacon tomake the salad dressing, byadding it to a salad bowl, alongwith the red wine vinegar, drymustard, salt and pepper totaste and whisk together tocombine.

Add the spinach, slicedonion, and cooked bacon. Tosswith the salad dressing andserve immediately. If preferred,add slices of hardboiled egg tothe salad for added protein andenjoy.

Three Flavorful Spinach Salads to Enjoy this Summer

By Phylis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

“It was the best of times; itwas the worst of times,” CharlesDickens wrote. I wonder if hemeant Christmas shopping at amall. Because that’s what Vasili,Bill to you, and I were doingthat particular Saturday.

The first hurdle was findinga parking spot. We cruised forabout fifteen minutes when Isaid, “Bill, dear, I don’t mind ifwe park farther away. We stillcan walk, you know.” Bill, grunt-ing, said, “Someone will comeout of the stores soon. We’ll fol-low them.” Just then, a womanbalancing fifty packages cameout heading for her car. Bill wasclose behind as she opened theback and piled in her packages.Then, shut it and went back intothe store. Bill said, (bleep!) An-other shopper loaded with bun-dles started for his car. Bill, likea stalking panther, followed,stopping short when we nearlyran over him. He got in his car.

We waited. He started his car asBill backed up enough to givehim room when another carzoomed into the space. (Bleep,bleep, bleep) shouted Bill outthe car window, turning an uglymaroon color. “Bill, it doesn’tmatter! Let’s park at the endwhere there’s plenty parking!Besides! My feet are numb.” Fi-nally, he drove to the outerreaches of the parking lot wherewe noticed people spoke a for-eign language. How far did wego?

Anyway, we started to walkwhen – Oh, God! - We caughtup with the guy who snatchedour parking space still sitting inhis car. Bill went over to him.“Hey! You! You got some nervewith what you did!” The guylooked at Bill. ‘What’re youtalkin’ about?’ “You know whatI’m talking about!” I tried to rea-son with him. “It isn’t important,Bill. Let’s go in!” But Bill con-tinued. “People get killed doingwhat you did, you know.” Theguy laughed. “Take it easy, fella!

I don’t know what you’re talkin’about.” But, Bill’s ego had beentrampled on and now this guyis trifling the whole incident.

Riled, Bill placed himself be-fore the parking thief as he gotout of his vehicle, telling him,“I’ve got a Black Belt, I want youto know.” Bill? Black belt? Theonly black belt I knew of was

what was holding up his pants.“Bill! We’ve got a lot of shoppingto do,” I pleaded. “Let’s go!” Theguy, laughing, stood up; helooked about seven feet tall tous and had a neck like he hadswallowed a neck brace. Bill,blinking, decided to tone itdown. “Tell ya’what! Let’s forgetit this time being that it’s Christ-

mas. But, the next time...” hesaid, shaking a finger at him, “itwon’t be pretty.”

Placing his car keys in hispocket, the guy grinned andsaid, “Yeah! O.K. Merry Christ-mas, fella’. You too, ma’am.”With wide strides he melted intothe mall. Looking pleased withhimself, he said, “See? Yougotta’ stand your ground withbullies. Otherwise, they’ll walkall over you.” Inside, mobs ofpeople rushed around, squeal-ing children stood on line to seeSanta while the air roared withear slitting renditions of ‘JingleBell Rock’. Our next hurdle waslocating a clerk when we foundsomething for our grandson,Nicko. Looking around, Bill sawa clerk behind the counter onhis cell phone. He approached.“Look! We need help. Howmuch is that video game and isit suitable for kids. Get off thephone, please and wait on us!”

The well-dressed man lookedat us but continued on his cellphone. “If you don’t get off the

phone I’ll call the manager,”warned Bill. This time he got offthe phone and asked what wewished to see. We showed him.“Age appropriate? Sir! Every-thing is age appropriate. Thingsare for sale – the manufacturerdoesn’t give a ...good...a hoot...how old the kid is. Now! Do youwant it?” Bill was appalled athis attitude. “Y’ wanna knowsomething? I don’t want it. Notbecause of the item but becauseof your attitude.” We headed to-wards the exit with me makingwide strides to catch up. Wefound our car wedged betweentwo parked cars. We couldhardly open the door. Bewil-dered, Bill said, driving home,“You know? In Greece, the realChristmas is next week – LittleChristmas in January. Makesbetter sense, don’t you think?Besides! Everything is on saleby then. There’s parking andsales people, too.” I smiledknowing that tomorrow I’ll haveto go to the mall and do all theshopping – alone.

GREEK AMERICAN STORIES

Christmas Hurdles

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016 7

By Eleni Sakellis

For most people,fighting the effects ofaging might includeeating right, exercis-ing, and slathering onthe sunscreen. Themost important factorin how well a personages might just be howwe think about grow-ing older. After hear-ing for years howyoung he looks, doctorand author Chryssan-thos Chryssanthou putpen to paper and re-cently published Howto Keep Young: A Pre-scription to AchieveAgeless Aging. Theprescription does in-volve eating right, ex-ercising, no smoking,and moderate alcoholconsumption, but italso involves thinkingabout ourselves andaging in more positive ways.Chryssanthou said, “How toKeep Young is unique becausein addition to the important roleof exercise in maintainingyouth, it emphasizes the pivotalfactor of self-perception, mind-set, and certain behavioral ac-tivities.” The author noted that,“The gloomy perception of oldage is a misconception and peo-ple can be active, productive, vi-brant and happy in their goldenyears.” At age 90, Chryssanthouundoubtedly practices what hepreaches, having in the last tenyears published three books in-

cluding a poetry collection,Cries and Whispers, publishedin 2006, a short story collection,The Secret Message of theRooster, published in 2007, andhis latest self-help book. How toKeep Young: A Prescription toAchieve Ageless Aging by ChrysChryssanthou is available onlinein hardcover, paperback, and e-book editions.

For more traditional summerreading, the kind to enjoy onthe beach, the Fantastic GreekSummer Reads: The Greece inMe Box Set includes three e-books to download online start-

ing on June 24. The set includesGreek Expectations by EkaterinaBotziou, Chasing Athens byMaria Tejada, and Girl GoneGreek by Rebecca A. Hall.

Greek Expectations: The LastMoussaka Standing by EkaterinaBotziou is part memoir, part rant,part survival guide. This witty,cautionary tale of Greek love andlife is based on Botziou’s experi-ence growing up in a semi-Greekhousehold, defying her father'swishes for her as a child to learnhow to play the bouzouki, andrefusing that third helping ofmoussaka. Years later, Botziou

married a Greek-Cypriot and began writ-ing a blog Ekaterina’sGreek Expectationswhich inspired thebook. She also wrote aretelling of Greekmyths— Theseus & theMother-in-Law andOther Myths & Leg-ends, and Seraphina—a short story in verse.An actress as well as anauthor, she has ap-peared on the bigscreen and does voice-over work. Botziou alsostudied law at Univer-sity College London,and established aworldwide networkinggroup, The GreekWives Club, for womenwith Greek connectionsto share their humor-ous stories online.

Chasing Athens byMarissa Tejada was in-spired by the author’s

own experience as an Americanexpatriate living in Greece. Aftera bad breakup, American expatAva Martin finds herself inAthens on a journey of self-dis-covery and life-changing expe-rience.

Girl Gone Greek by RebeccaA. Hall follows Rachel as shemoves to Greece to escape froma boring life of social conformity.The quirky characters she meetsand the economic crisis help herrealize that home is not neces-sarily the country where youwere born, and of course, shefalls in love along the way.

LITERARY REVIEW

Self-Help and Beach Reads for Your Summer Reading List

wikimEDiA COmmONS

Page 8: The National Herald 101 · The National Herald A wEEklY grEEk-AmEriCAN PUBliCATiON July 2-3, 2016 ... Sarri, and Aphrodite Skeadas. The meeting began with an introduction by Herald’s

This week in history, on June30, 1938, Apostolos Nikolaidiswas born in Thessaloniki.

It was evident from an earlyage that Nikolaidis was destinedto be a singer.

Even as he followed his fa-ther’s footsteps in the construc-tion business, he would oftensing on the job. He was a par-ticular admirer of the legendaryStelios Kazantzidis.

Shortly thereafter, it was offto Athens, a hit single with Co-lumbia Records, and then themove to North America.

Beginning in Canada andthen on to Chicago and NewYork City, Nikolaidis embarkedon a rebeitika revival. In fact,he so popularized that genre,that Nikolaidis paved the wayfor other rebeitika singers of theera.

But in the 1980s, he begannot to appreciate that reputationany longer, feeling as if hewould not be accepted for any-thing but rebeitika. As he soughtto explore other genres, how-ever, Nikolaidis never quite re-ceived that level of acclaim.

In 1999, he planned to re-course his rebeitika path in thenew millennium with a new al-bum and redevotion to his re-beitika songs in Athens night-clubs. He died unexpectedly,though, from cancer, in April 22,1999.

Among Nikolaidis’ most ac-claimed albums are: O GialinosKosmos (1969); Otan Kapnizi OLoulas (1973); O Arhagelos(1975); Ithela Namouna Pasas(1976); Ston Adi Antamosane(1977); and Ta 12 Evagelia T'A-postoli (1979).

This Week in Greek History:

Rebetika Singer Nikolaidis is Born

TNH Staff

CHARLOTTE, NC – CHRISTINAHANOS, a 17-year-old senior atCLARKSTOWN HIGH SCHOOLSOUTH in West Nyack, NY, re-cently represented her parish,STS. CONSTANTINE AND HE-LEN GREEK ORTHODOXCHURCH IN West Nyack in theannual ST. JOHN CHRYSOS-TOM FESTIVAL held on June 11in Charlotte. The competitionrequires participants to selectfrom several topics and writeand present four-to-five-minutesermon about their faith. Hanoswon the National Competition,her second time doing so (shealso won in 2014).

Hanos plans to attend RENS-SELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTI-TUTE in the Fall in a seven-yearmedical program with ALBANYMEDICAL COLLEGE.

SOPHIA KING, the Chair ofthe Parish Level Competition atSts. Constantine and Helen, toldTNH that “the competition forChristina began at the ParishLevel on April 3, as a Senior Di-vision participant. Christinagave her sermon in front of thecommunity and advanced torepresent our parish at the nextlevel, the District Level, whichwas held at Holy Trinity Cathe-dral in Manhattan on April 16.

“She competed there againstrepresentatives from all five bor-oughs, Westchester County andRockland County. She placedfirst at that level and then rep-resented the region at the Me-

tropolis/Direct ArchdiocesanDistrict Level, which was heldat St. Barbara’s in Orange Con-necticut on May 14.

“She competed there againstrepresentatives from the LongIsland, Connecticut and Wash-ington, DC, districts. She placedfirst at that level which led herto the Nationals, held at the ST.NEKTARIOS SHRINE CHURCHin Charlotte.

“She represented our Me-tropolis there and competedagainst the eight other Metrop-olises of the United States andplaced first, winning the com-petition, and was awarded a$2,000 scholarship. Present atthe finals was ARCHBISHOPDEMETRIOS.

LOWELL, MA – MARTY MEE-HAN, President of the UNIVER-SITY OF MASSACHUSETTS(UMASS) was honored in

Athens on June 25 at the AMER-ICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE(AGC), UMASS reported. Presi-dent Meehan challenged theAGC students to “embrace inno-vation” and, echoing the wordsof PRESIDENT OBAMA, to com-pete vigorously on “the battle-field of ideas.”

He said “when you take offthat cap and gown, work hardto help your country embraceinnovation, and as you do, com-mit to innovative thinking inyour own lives,” he said, as theAmerican College of Greeceheld commencement exercisesin Athens.

“Now more than ever, weneed you to embrace innova-tion, diversity and new think-ing,” President Meehan said.“Seek it out. In the careers youchoose, and the relationshipsyou forge.”

Meehan was awarded anhonorary Doctor of Laws degreeby AGC in recognition of his“significant accomplishmentsand contributions to academiaand society.”

“Your life and work reflectvalues that the College strivesto inculcate in its students,” saidAGC President DAVID G.HORNER.

Meehan spoke about thehard work and accomplishments

of Greek-Americans, includingLowell native and former U.S.Senator, the late PAULTSONGAS, former Massachu-setts Governor and 1988 Demo-cratic Presidential NomineeMICHAEL DUKAKIS, AmerescoFounder GEORGE SAKELLARIS,WASHINGTON CAPITALS andWIZARDS Owner TED LEON-SIS, and Market Basket headARTHUR DEMOULAS.

He praised Greek-Americansfor their ongoing efforts to re-build Greece’s economy, andnoted that “if there is one thingI learned growing up in Lowell,it is that Greek-Americans willalways help Greece.”

Meehan graduated cumlaude from UMass Lowell in1978 with a degree in educationand political science, is the firstundergraduate alumnus to lead

the five-campus UMass system.He became UMass’ 27th presi-dent on July 1, 2015, after serv-ing in the U.S. House of Repre-sentatives and as chancellor ofUMass Lowell. He earned a mas-ter’s degree in public adminis-tration from SUFFOLK UNIVER-SITY in 1981 and a jurisdoctorate from SUFFOLK UNI-VERSITY LAW SCHOOL in1986.

ACROSS1 American Research Bureau, Inc. (abbrev.)5 A wager (2 wds.)9 In the lead14 One who gets things done15 Part of speech16 Dignified17 Without18 Grime19 "He throws _ ____ curveball" (2 words)20 Escudo21 Folk singer Guthrie22 South southeast23 Subjects25 City of Tigers and Lions, but not Bears29 Railway Express Agcy. (abbrev.)30 Hi!31 Highest or lowest card32 Plant shoot35 Snaky fish36 Killed in action37 A Cartrwright38 Father and son presidents40 Drink41 Eurasian Nat'l. University (abbrev.)42 Pros43 A Fonda44 Cutting tool45 Not any46 California (abbr.)47 Casting metals49 Celebreated Greek poet52 Sea eagle53 Book unit54 Hip-Hop56 Run after59 Win60 Neck hair61 Fourth Greek letter62 Horse63 Saint honored on December 964 People from Switzerland65 Helen of ____66 Skier's need

DOWN1 Abu Dhabi Stock Exchng. (abbrev.)2 Cook with dry heat3 Big Red Machine's Johnny4 Tax agcy. (init.)5 Signor Bocelli6 Cooks at 212 degrees, Fahrenheit7 European monetary unit8 Explosive lttrs? (abbrev.)9 Newsman Ernie

10 Odyssey author11 Evidence Based Educ. (abbrev.)12 Chicken _ __ king - 2 words13 Cozy room21 Prayer ending22 Elite naval force24 Love god25 Carpe __26 Made of oak27 Colder28 Watery30 Come to an end32 Package33 Condominium34 Car manufacturer38 Oak nut39 Renounce40 Lugosi of Dracula fame42 A Papandreou43 Hold46 Starred in Angels with Dirty Faces48 Bird homes49 Egypt's capital50 Sicilian-Greek Zappa51 Greek New Age Musician53 Carson's Tonight Show predecessor55 In a pod, often56 Discs57 Chop58 "The Greatest"59 Time zone60 "No ___" Duran's famous comment vs.

Leonard

A P S E M E A L A H E A D

E L I A O N C E N O B L E

R U S T R A I N A M E A N

O M A A B C D E S E

B L O W I T D E T R O I T

N O D K A R O F D R

E M A I L A R I S F E Y

L A R D B E T T E P E A S

I R E Z A C H F I R S T

A S N A C H Y A R E

S H A M P O O F R E S C A

A O N B O N D L A G

S T A R T M A Y O G O R E

A E R I E A B E L A N O N

X E B E C C A R D L E N T

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 WEEKWhen you heard about the Brexit vote result, was your first

reaction: what will this mean for the United States, or forGreece?

Please email your response [email protected] We may publish some re-sponses as Letters to the Editor in a future issue.

Christina Hanos delivers winning sermon at the St. John Chrysos-tom Festival in Charlotte as Archbishop Demetrios listens.

HELLENIC HAPPENINGS FROM COAST TO COAST

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 theCity’s historic Sponge Docks,along Dodecanese Boulevard.Food, drinks, and the street isclosed off for live dancing: 6-11PM on Saturdays July 9, Au-gust 6. And September 10.Sponsoring restaurants includeCosta’s Hellas, Mama’s andMykonos.

n JULY 8-24ASTORIA – The Museum of theMoving Image, 36-01 35th Av-enue in Astoria, will presentEternity and History: The Cin-ema of Theo Angelopoulos, July8-24. This is a complete retro-spective of the director's career,the first of its kind in the UnitedStates. Greece's most prominentfilm director of the post-1968era, Theo Angelopoulos (1935-2012) was a master cinema styl-ist. His investigations into his-tory and politics, tyranny andresistance, and spiritual anomieand emotional devastation placehim on equal footing with film-makers like Andrei Tarkovsky,Bernardo Bertolucci, and WimWenders. Today, at a time whenGreece has struggled with im-pending economic collapse, andas the country's refugee crisishas worsened, with displacedpopulations fleeing war in theMiddle East and massing on itsborders, the themes of An-gelopoulos's cinema are pressingonce again. Unless otherwisenoted, tickets are $12 adults ($9seniors and students / $7 youth3-17) and free for Museummembers at the Film Lover andKids Premium levels and above.Advance tickets are availableonline at movingimage.us.Ticket purchase may be appliedtoward same-day admission tothe Museum's galleries. A fullschedule of events is availableat movingimage.us.

n JULY 14-17SOUTHAMPTON, NY – TheDormition of the Virgin MaryGreek Orthodox Church, at 111St. Andrews Road in Southamp-ton, is happy to present our an-nual Greek Festival, Thursday,Jul 14 through Sunday, Jul. 17.Our Church Family has beenworking for months to preparefor the largest and happiest

party given by Greek Americansin the Hamptons. We thank youfor coming to the HamptonsGreek Festival and hope you willenjoy your stay with us. Wehave opened our hearts andhome to you; we will feed you;entertain you; and yes, en-lighten you about our cultureand heritage. Please be sure tovisit all the booths and try ourdelicious, home-made foods andpastries. In the true spirit of“Filoxenia”, that is, hospitality,we welcome you and pray yourstay with us will be enjoyable.Festival hours are: Thursday-Saturday 4-11PM, and Sunday12-9PM. Come learn more andbe part of our community! Formore information, please visitour website at hamptonsgreek-festival.com.

n JULY 15-17PORTSMOUTH, NH – The St.Nicholas Greek OrthodoxChurch, 40 Andrew Jarvis Drivein Portsmouth, is proud to pre-sent its annual Greek festivalFriday, Jul. 15 through Sunday,Jul. 17. For 41 years, this festi-val has proven to be over andover again a fun event for allages. This years' Greek Festivalyear promises to be anothergreat event. The families of theSt Nicholas Greek OrthodoxChurch get together in Aprilthrough early July preparingmany of the menu items. Socome join us for fresh Lamb,Moussaka, Spanakopita(Spinach Pie), a Gyro or a freshpiece of Baklava. All of the foodand pastries at the St NicholasGreek Festival, taste just likeyour YiaYia's (Grandmother)recipes. With all of this greathomemade food, it's no wonderthat the St Nicholas Greek Fes-tival is one of the must attendevents every summer on theSeacoast. People travel from allover New England to enjoy thefood and the live entertainment.Oh and they may buy some de-licious pastries for the ridehome! Also, please make sureto visit the Church and enjoythe beautiful iconography! TheChurch itself has a traditionalByzantine architectural style,with the center dome and thefootprint in the shape of a cross.The church structure is modeledafter many island churches typ-ical in Greece. Between the altarand the upper Solea is a walladorned with icons with a cen-

tral doorway called "RoyalDoors." This wall is referred toas the iconostasis, and is char-acteristic of all Orthodoxchurches.This year’s festivalhours are Friday, 5-11PM, Sat-urday, Noon-11PM, and Sunday,Noon-4PM. Greek Dancing Ex-hibitions by our Greek SchoolStudents Friday at 6PM and Sat-urday at 7PM. For more infor-mation, please call (603) 436-2733.

REDONDO BEACH, CA – TheSt. Katherine Greek OrthodoxChurch, 722 Knob Hill Avenuein Redondo Beach, will hold itsSouth Bay Greek festival Friday,Jul. 15 through Sunday, Jul. 18.Friday, 5-10PM, Saturday, Noon-10PM, and Sunday, Noon-9PM.Music, games, dancing, and thebest Greek food in town! Formore information, visit sbgreek-festival.com or call (310) 540-2434.

n AUGUST 19-21ANCHORAGE, AK – The HolyTransfiguration Greek OrthodoxChurch, 2800 O’Malley Road inAnchorage, will hold its annualGreek Festival Friday, Aug. 19through Sunday, Aug. 21, Noonuntil 7PM. Music will be providedby Peter Deneff and Danny Pa-pakalos of Synthesi. Come down-stairs in the new church buildingand watch as Laurie Constantinoprepares famous Greek recipes.Come see our nearly finished newchurch and listen as Father Vasiliexplains the history, traditionsand worship of the Greek Ortho-dox Faith. Our two dancinggroups perform traditional Greekdances, dressed in regional cos-tumes. (This performance is onSaturday and Sunday only.) Also,we will be featuring: BouncyHouse: Lots of fun for the kids! Afee will be charged to bounce.Silent Auction: Come inside thenew church building to bid on awide variety of great items includ-ing jewelry, housewares, gift bas-kets, artwork, and gift certificatesfor local restaurants and services.The Agora: Our Agora (market)has gifts and souvenirs fromGreece, novelty T-shirts andGreek music. Plus, get Greek foodto go: Moussaka and Pastitsio areavailable frozen for you to bakeat home, along with Galakto-boureko, one of our most popularKafenion treats. For more infor-mation visit our website:akgreekfestival.com.

GOINGS ON...

FEATURE8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016

HEllAS mUSiC rECOrDS

AGC President David G. Horner honors Marty Meehan, President of the University of Mass.

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TNH Staff

ATHENS – Prime Minister AlexisTsipras’ reneging on anti-auster-ity promises is punishing his Rad-ical Left SYRIZA with a pollshowing New Democracy’s leadhas surged to 6.5 percent as hemoved toward trying to convincerival parties to back radical elec-tion law changes.

Tsipras’ proposal to radicallychange Greece’s election lawshas caused a schism in the op-position parties.

The Radical Left SYRIZAleader reportedly said he wantsthe changes to leave a legacy forhis faltering party because hecan’t keep any of his anti-auster-ity promises, although he deniedever saying it.

The central point in his planis to scrap a 50-seat bonus forseats in Parliament given thewinners of elections, a changethat New Democracy leader Kyr-iakos Mitsotakis said is an at-tempt to thwart the Conserva-tives from being able to controlParliament if it wins the nextelections, with polls showing ithas surged far ahead now.

Tsipras also wants to lowerthe voting age to 17, to letGreeks abroad have the right tovote and for voters, not the rul-ing parties, to pick the country’ssymbolic, powerless office ofPresident, which essentially ex-

ists for photo opportunities andnon-binding consultations.

The opposition parties havesaid they won’t back him apartfrom the Democratic Alignment(DS) comprised of the formeronce-dominant PASOK Socialistswho are in a partnership withthe tiny Democratic Left (DI-

MAR) which served in a coalitionwith them and New Democracybut got bounced for its pro-aus-terity stance in last year’s elec-tions.

DS’ support so far for Tsiprashas driven away one of its sym-pathizers, the fast-fading ToPotami centrists who have al-

most disappeared from the po-litical landscape after starting offwith such promise as an anti-mainstream movement beforeseeking ties with established par-ties.

Mitsotakis had warnedagainst any “Alliance of the Will-ing” and said he would seek to

repeal any changes if they ap-proved during Tsipras’ tenure.

Aides to Potami leaderStavros Theodorakis toldKathimerini they believe PASOKleader Fofi Gennimata has be-come “trapped” by a wrong de-cision to support the govern-ment’s proposal. Theodorakissaid eliminating the 50-seatbonus would make Greece “un-governable” because it wouldcreate several-party coalitions atodds with each other.

NEW ELECTION CALLRepeating his on-again, off-

again call, Mitsotakis wants snapelections.

The Conservative leader hastaken his party to a surging leadover the plummeting Radical LeftSYRIZA of Alexis Tsipras who’staking a beating for breaking vir-tually all his anti-austerity cam-paign promises.

The Pulse survey, which wascommissioned by Action 24 TV,gives New Democracy 30 percentto 23.5 percent for SYRIZA,which got 36.3 percent in theJanuary and September, 2015snap elections in winning twice.

In an article in the Germannewspaper Handlesblatt – whosecountry is putting up the bulk of326 billion euros ($360.64 bil-lion) in three bailouts and de-manded austerity in return – hesaid that, “We paid dearly forTsipras.”

“The damage increases withevery day that this governmentremains in power,” Mitsotakistold the paper, blaming SYRIZAfor undermining a burgeoning re-covery in 2014 before ousting acoalition of the Conservatives andits then-partner and otherwise ri-val, the fast-fading PASOK Social-ists who also backed austerity.

“Tsipras does not serve thecountry’s interests,” he charged.Mitsotakis now opposes the aus-terity he supported while servingas Administrative Reform Minis-ter where he was charged withfiring thousands of workers with-out giving them a review as hepromised.

Mitsotakis said Tsipras’ plansto introduce a proportional rep-resentation electoral system toparliament was “an admission ofhis defeat.”

In an interview with Star TV,he also said Tsipras’ plan tochange election laws and drop a50-seat bonus for the winningparty in elections in favor of giv-ing parties seats equivalent totheir percentage of the vote was“criminal” he said was like“planting a bomb at the founda-tions of future government sta-bility.”

He said Tsipras’ real goal wasto impose “a recipe of completelack of governance to deny themajority rule of New Democ-racy” after giving up power.”

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016 9

Falling in Polls, Legacy Slipping Away, Tsipras Pushes Election Law Changes

TNH Staff

NICOSIA – Cypriot unity is be-ing delayed because westerngovernments are afraid to putpressure on Turkey, Peter Maru-das, who was the Chief of Stafffor former U.S. Senator PaulSarbanes of Maryland.

While visiting Cyprus, he toldthe news agency CAN that thesense Cypriots have the UnitedStates backs Turkey “is partlyjustified,” even though PresidentBarack Obama recently said hefelt Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan was near-dicta-torial.

Marudas said the US and theWest have what he called a mis-placed sense of security in trust-ing Turkey and cares far lessabout justice. Turkey unlawfullyinvaded Cyprus in 1974 andkeeps a standing army of more

than 30,000 soldiers in thenorthern third it occupies andwhich only it recognizes.

Cypriot President NicosAnastasiades and his Turkishcounterpart, Mustafa Akinci, ayear ago bolstered optimism fora solution to reunify the islandbut their talks have stalled andonly now resumed with anyvigor.

During his weeklong visit,Marudas, now retired, praisedCypriots for what they hadachieved following the invasionthat keeps Cyprus – a memberof the European Union – dividedeven as Turkey is trying to getinto the bloc but won’t recog-nize the country and bars itsships and planes.

“My last visit here was in July1975, there have been bigchanges since then,” he said,noting that people had faced

challenging experiences in thelong aftermath that hasn’t beenresolved by a raft of diplomatsand envoys from the West.

“I am impressed by theachievements of the Cypriots,the invasion was an enormousblow, Cypriots established animpressive country,” he said,and wondered what the USwould have done if it had lost37% of its land.

Cyprus, he added has a goodreputation and plays a positiverole in the region and is an EUmember.

“It is a respected member ofthe international communityand as we say in the States, itcarries its load,” he noted.

Referring to U.S. backing ofTurkey and the belief Cypriotshave that Washington would al-ways support Ankara, he said:“Many in the USA view Cyprus

as a rather minor issue, andthere are a lot of forces pushingto back Turkey.”

While he said Cyprus – ratherlike Greece – has been sidelinedin favor of Turkey, which theWest views as an opportunity tobring a stable Muslim countryunder its influence, Marudassaid that, “Cyprus is an oasis ofstability, notwithstanding the di-vision, the only functionaldemocracy in this part of theworld – apart from Israel in itsown country -, and this elevatesCyprus and its strategic role.”

He said there hasn’t been asolution for four decades be-cause there hasn’t been any realurgency expressed by Europe orthe West beyond lip service andoccasional calls for both sidesto find an answer.

The West will not exert thepressure needed on Turkey for

a solution,” even though he saidthe long-running dilemma is dif-ferent from the also-unresolvedissue of Middle East peace andthe elusive solution between Is-rael and Palestinians.

“It is in the US interests, eco-nomic, political and in relationto the values the country sub-scribes to, to support Cyprus inany way we can, the Cyprus is-sue is a struggle for values theUS values highly,” he said.

TERMS FOR SETTLEMENTSET

While just now coming outof an economic crisis that re-quired a 10-billion euro ($10.99billion) international bailout,Cyprus is standing firm on thereunification even though Anas-

tasiades made significant con-cessions to Erdogan as part of aEuropean Union deal withAnkara to swap refugees. Thatincluded giving Turkey a faster-track into the bloc.

Cyprus Minister of Justiceand Public Order Ionas Nicolaousaid, however, there are four re-quirements the government hasbefore moving toward a resolu-tion.

He said those were: restora-tion of the constitutional orderand the island`s territorial in-tegrity; reunification of thestate`s institutions and the peo-ple; absence of guarantees post-settlement; and respect of thebasic principles of internationaland EU law.

Peter Marudas Says that West Won’t Squeeze Turkey over Cyprus Unity

Refugee Arrivals Inch Up,Greece Will Close Piraeus,Elliniko Camps

ATHENS – Greek authoritiessaid refugees and migrantscamped at the port of Piraeusand the old international airportsite at Elliniko for months willbe moved.

There are 1,284 in Piraeusand 1,374 at Elliniko who willbe taken out by July 20, GreekShipping Minister TheodorosDritsas said during a conference,moving the deadline back yetagain after earlier promises theywould be transferred.

He said the speed of theevacuations will depend on howfast it takes to get official shel-ters ready for inhabitation al-though they are far behindschedules.

Speaking at the same event,which was organized by the Pi-raeus Chamber of Commerceand Industry and activistgroups, Deputy Citizens’ Protec-tion Minister Nikos Toskas saidthat about 25,000 individualsout of the roughly 55,000 cur-rently stranded in Greece willstay in the country.

Even though they’ve beentold to stay away, another 97refugees and migrants enteredGreece in 24 hours, reports saidJune 27 but the numbers are farless than last year when thou-sands a week – sometimes a day– landed on Greek islands nearTurkey such as Lesbos, Chios,and Samos, setting off the Eu-ropean dash to try to controlthem.

A European Union swap dealwith Turkey has been suspendedbecause Greece can’t handle anoverwhelming number of asy-lum applications as Europe hasclosed its borders to them.

In the new batch, 43 landedon the Aegean island of Samos,within viewing distance of theTurkish shore.

With a swap program withTurkey suspended, Greecehopes to relocate 35,000 of49,000 refugees to other Euro-pean Union countries over thenext two years.

The UK won’t be one of themafter voters there approved anexit from the EU, which is ex-pected to happen swifter thanexpected.

A so-called pre-registrationprocess, which is implementedby the Asylum Service in coop-

eration with UNHCR and theEuropean Support Office onAsylum (EASO), should be com-pleted by late July Kathimerinireported.

The program allows individ-uals who entered the countrybetween January 1, 2015 andMarch 19, 2016, especially Syr-ians, to have a chance for asy-lum and take part in a reloca-tion scheme to go to othercountries although many in Eu-rope said they’re not welcome.

It wasn’t clear where theywould go if not wanted. Thosewho don’t apply for asylum, orare rejected, will be deported toTurkey.

For the 8,556 migrants andrefugees stranded on theAegean islands – mainly on Les-bos, Samos, Chios, Leros andKos, who arrived after the EU-Turkey swap deal began onMarch 19, there’s an uncertainfate.

Successful applicants will besettled in Greece but not al-lowed to move to other EUcountries while the rest will beshipped back to Turkey despiteclaims by human rights groupsit’s unlawful and dangerous.

A total of 6,641 people arecurrently stranded on the north-ern Aegean islands, accordingto official figures, with nearlyanother 43,000 stuck in Greecewhich is housing them in deten-tion centers and undeterminednumbers elsewhere.

The numbers have greatly di-minished since Europe slammedshut its borders but refugeesand migrants keep coming toGreece in hopes of getting toother, more prosperous coun-tries.

Government figures put thevarying number for now at23,675 individuals are currentlyin northern Greece, 1,703 incentral Greece, and 240 insouthern Greece. An estimated8,643 people are scatteredaround the Aegean islands.

Meanwhile, up to 10,198refugees are currently staying atofficial centers set up in Atticaregion, while the number ofthose camping out at makeshiftfacilities is 4,915.

Greek police report that fivepeople were arrested in two sep-arate operations in Thessalonikifor planning to assist a total of53 migrants in illegally crossingGreece’s northern border withFYROM.

once Greece got a 7.5-billioneuro ($8.31 billion) installmentfrom international lenders aspart of a staggered 86-billioneuro ($98 billion) third bailout.The money has been disbursedbut has gone almost entirelyback to banks and the samelenders and the controls are stillin place.

Even the recent restoration ofa waiver by the European Cen-tral Bank to let Greek banks touse state bonds in their posses-sion as collateral for borrowingfrom the central bank hasn’tbeen enough to ease the controlsas the government said it wantsthe country’s battered banks torecover and is allowing them tonow foreclose on primary homes.

Banking officials have cited

the need for an absolute imple-mentation of provisions agreedto with creditors and completionof long-delayed reforms to helpthem even though they’ve beenpropped up with 50 billion euros($55.37 billion) in state aid.

in the third memorandumalong with the numerous prioractions linked to the latter, manyof which came even after a Eu-rogroup meeting on May 24 ap-proved, in principle, the first re-view of the third bailout.

Capital controls and politicalinstability as well as England’svote to leave the EuropeanUnion battered the Athens StockExchange (ASE,) which plungedto its second-lowest level in his-tory in the aftermath.

Last year, when the controlswere put in place, the exchangesaw turnover slashed by 39.3

percent to stand at a paltry 19.1billion euros ($21.15 billion). Itworsened because the exchangewas closed for 25 days after thebanks were shut down to pre-vent a run on deposits from cus-tomers.

RENEGERAll that came after Greeks,

heeding Tsipras’ call to rejectausterity demands in a referen-dum, gave him what he wanted– only to see him renege on thattoo and cave in to the creditorsas funds for Greece were beingsqueezed off by the ECB.

That led to Greece signingthe third bailout that Tsiprasswore he would never seek noraccept but did both although ittook months in a costly delay forhim to agree to more austeritydemands he’s now trying tochange.

Ironically, the deal washarsher than the one he couldhave gotten before the referen-dum but he said his turnaroundhad saved Greece, although ithas crashed his Radical LeftSYRIZA party which has lost 80percent of its support.

The damage has all beendone though and continues. Thedaily average turnover for ASEin 2015 was 85.7 million euros,compared to 127.1 million for2014.

Partial restrictions are still im-posed for Greece-based in-vestors, as they can sell or pur-chase stocks and mutual funds,yet whatever credit for transac-tions must be deposited in aGreek bank account.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

As Arrivals of Refugees areRising, Greece Will ClosePiraeus and Elliniko Camps

Capital Controls a Year Later: Reduction of New BusinessesContinued from page 1

Greek-American community.Obama warmly welcomed

Lalacos to Washington and men-tioned that he looks forward toworking together in order to ad-vance even more the commonagenda and deepen the strongand abiding friendship of the twocountries. He also praised the dy-namic presence of the Greek-Americans and the contributionsthat they have made to the Amer-ican nation.

The president also emphasizedto Greece’s stance in the recentmigration crisis, with the Greekpeople demonstrating extraordi-nary compassion, hospitality andcooperation. Fianlly, PresidentObama expressed his belief thatGreece’s resilience and persever-ance will see the country back toa path of economic prosperity.

ABOUT AMB. LALACOSAmb. Lalacos was born in

Athens in 1957. He earned a BAin history (magna cum laude)from Amherst College in Massa-chusetts in 1980 and a MA in in-ternational relations from JohnHopkins University’s School ofAdvanced International Studies.

From October 1983 until No-vember 1985 he served as a con-script in the Hellenic Navy.

In October 1986 he joined theHellenic Foreign Service and untilSeptember 1990 he worked invarious positions at the Ministry

of Foreign Affairs, Athens.From October 1990 until No-

vember 1994 he was Consul atthe Consulate General of Greecein Sydney.

In December 1994 he wastransferred to the Embassy ofGreece in Ankara, where he

served initially as First Secretaryand subsequently as Counselorfor Political and Economic Affairsuntil the summer of 1998.

From July 1998 until July2000 he directed the cabinet ofDr. P. Roumeliotis, EuropeanUnion Coordinator for the Roy-

aumont Process for Stability andGood Neighborliness in SouthEast Europe and, subsequently,Chairman of the Working Tableon Democratization and HumanRights of the Stability Pact forSoutheast Europe.

From August 2000 until Au-gust 2004, he served as Counselorfor Political Affairs at the Embassyof Greece in Washington.

In August 2004, he assumedduties as Consul General ofGreece in Alexandria, where heserved until the end of July 2007,whereupon he was transferred toAthens.

In August 2007, he becameDeputy Head of the DiplomaticCabinet of the Minister of ForeignAffairs.

From January 2009 to March2010, he was the Head of theCFSP/ESDP Department at theMinistry of Foreign Affairs.

In March 2010 he was trans-ferred to the Embassy of Greecein Ankara as Minister-Counselorand Deputy Head of Mission.From April until December 2012,he was heading the Embassy asCharge d’ Affaires.

In January 2013, he assumedduties as Ambassador and he wasthe Head of the Liaison Office ofthe Hellenic Republic in Skopjeuntil this May.

Amb. Lalacos is married toAnna Michalopoulou. They havetwo children, Errikos (25) andMyrto (23).

Pres. Obama Welcomes Amb. Lalacos to White HouseContinued from page 1

President Obama welcomes Haris Lalacos, Greece’s new Am-bassador to the United States, to the White House.

wHiTE HOUSE

British Prime Minister David Cameron, center left, speaks with Greek Prime Minister AlexisTsipras, center right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday.

AP PHOTO/gEErT vANDEN wiJNgAErT

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EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016

From our Website….

May Big Brother DoesNeed to Watch Us

To the Editor:Re: “We Are Living in the Age

of Fear” (Editorial):We need to violate people’s

civil liberties in order to weedout these animals. I personallyhave no problem and nothingto hide from the government oranyone else if I were being

watched. I don’t think you andmost others have anything tohide either. So why are we notdoing this? Whom are we reallyprotecting?

I’m sorry, but Mr. Obama hasblood on his hands right nowbecause of weakness and inac-tivity.

And I really don’t thinkHillary Clinton will be much dif-ferent , being that almost everyArabic Islamic nation on earthas well as the Royal Saudi fam-ily have donated millions to the

Clinton Foundation. I am not saying Donald

Trump is the answer, but rightnow he sounds pretty good com-pared to the other side. Inciden-

tally, any Republican presiden-tial candidate other than Trumpwould run away with this elec-tion.

Niko

A Metamorphosis in AthensOne day before the shocking decision of Britain to exit the

European Union, as Greece continued to sink deeper into un-certainty, something very good happened: the metamorphosisof Athens, at Faliro, in the area of the once garbage-laden Hip-podrome.

It was there at six in the evening on June 23 that the StavrosNiarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) opened its doorsto Greeks and citizens of the world alike.

Although some of us spent many hours in the cavernoussurroundings, we will not attempt to describe the experience,as mere words might not do full justice to the project and itscreators.

Also, the praise we would bestow upon it might seem over-stated to a reader who has not visited it.

On the other hand, an intentionally understated descriptionof the project would be a flagrant injustice. Accordingly, wewill proceed with a general observation: this project transformsAthens. And, dare we might add, this project is the second-most significant aspect of Athens – second only to the Acropolis.

You will know this firsthand, too, if you visit there next timeyou’re in Athens. You will truly miss out if you don’t.

In creating a top-notch cultural center, opera house, and li-brary equal to if not surpassing American and European stan-dards, some were concerned about the timing – whether it waswise to do so amid the economic crisis.

And yet, it could not have come at a more appropriate time.It appeared like a shining star in the midst of an economic

catastrophe, to give hope and pride to the humbled Greeks.To connect the glorious past with the present.To provide an enchanting Mediterranean Garden, a world-

class Library and an Opera House, which will undoubtedly be-come a destination for international stars of the arts.

To provide a space of world-class culture, a place of restand reflection, spiritual food, and uplifting for the young andold.

Many, out of love, are concerned about the SNFCC’s futureonce it is handed over to the government, which is known forits incompetence.

They worry, taking into account, for example, the fate ofthe Olympic projects.

But this is not the same situation.The Olympic facilities emptied with the last whistle of the

referee. In contrast, while the SNFCC had 16,000 visitors itsopening day, the number of visitors tripled the second day, andwas filled to capacity on day three.

As the SNFCC becomes better known, these numbers areexpected to only go up.

Therefore, this project will not be forgotten. It will be pro-tected by the people themselves.

As for the donor-creators, the Stavros Niarchos Foundationand its president, the soul and brains of this project, AndreasDracopoulos, we save for last.

Few people earn as prominent a place in history as a resultof the significance of their work. Andreas Dracopoulos is nowamong those.

Money alone is not enough to earn its holder a place in his-tory. A personality with vision, soul, and leadership qualities isrequired to create a project that advances the course of mankindone step further. A project such as the SNFCC.

That SNF and Dracopoulos are Hellenes abroad, who didnot make their fortunes in Greece, do not conduct businesswith Greece, and do not expect any financial gain from Greece,is a source of deep pride for us expatriates.

The only thing they wish is for Greece’s prosperity, security,and recovery.

If only more people would follow their example.

Greco-British Alliance?It seems that in Athens few perceive the historical signifi-

cance of the British decision to leave the European Union andthe probable catalytic impact it could have on Greece.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras seems to comprehend it theleast of all; otherwise he would not dare attempt to revise theconstitution in such a way that if he is successful – which ishighly unlikely – it would lead to anarchy, which is the exactopposite of what is needed.

We refer not only to the impact the British pound’s fall islikely to have on tourism for Greece and Cyprus, but manly tothe radical changes to the EU.

To borrow the title of the informative book of former GreekFinance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou, “the game is over”for Europe – if it does not become organized to deal with theimpending problems in a timely manner.

As for Greece, this is the third time that the game is over.The first time was when it was discovered that the prosperity

was illusory and that the reported deficit had nothing to dowith the actual one.

The second was when they played cat-and-mouse with theimplementation of the Agreement and the release of the furtherinstallments.

And now, the game is over for the way by which Europe hasfunctioned to this point.

But the fact that Britain was the one to lead the way to theexit creates an appealing move that could very possibly be em-ulated.

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations,has predicted that some countries will leave the EU within thenext five years. Merrill Lynch advises its clients that “people in-creasingly vote against the reduction of wages, unemployment,immigrants, and inequality.”

And to top it all, the British exit from the EU is bound tofurther weaken the weak economies, including that of Greece.

Moreover, while all these factors and more are occurring si-multaneously, we shudder at the fact that the SYRIZA-ANELgovernment seems to be sleeping soundly. Unless – and this isactually very likely – it considers the British decision to behelpful to its own best interests.

Until now, a country’s exit not just from the Eurozone, butfrom the EU itself, was considered acceptable.

So if Greece does not acquire a competent government soon,the British example will seem like a convenient one to follow.

Except Greece is not Britain.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

With less than 20 weeks togo before Election Day, there re-main millions of Americansdubbed “Never Trumpers,”meaning that there is no con-ceivable way they could everimagine voting for DonaldTrump.

Even accounting for the“never say never” adage, thereare a great many who will re-main Never Trumpers rightthrough November 8. What theyfail to recognize though – whichis the irony of ironies – is thatquite often the very reasons theyare Never Trumpers is exactlywhat helps fuel Trump’s popu-larity.

Trump positives aside (thereare plenty, actually, not least ofwhich his unabashed convictionto ending illegal entry and stayin the United States, eradicatingterrorism, expunging big moneyfrom Capitol Hill and bringingjobs back to America, much tothe chagrin of the “maximizeprofit no matter what” wing ofthe Republican Party), there isa set of Trump negatives, whichcontains two subsets: actualnegatives, and perceived nega-tives. An example of an actualnegative is that Donald Trumpon any given day may give apress conference and cut off anabrasive reporter by calling him“a loser.” A perceived negativeis that Donald Trump is a racist.

Trump has called reporters“losers” (or similar disparagingnames) on more than one occa-sion, no doubt. But to those wholove Trump’s positives, that isnot a hanging offense – it ismerely a sin they can live withas a consequence of the totalpackage.

But if Trump were actually aracist? Well that’s a hundredtimes worse than calling some-one names in the mode of a 10-year-old. Except for one smalldetail: “Trump is a racist” reeksof rampant speculation withouta trace of substance.

Take Herschel Walker, theAfrican-American football great,whose New Jersey Generals(USFL) Trump once owned. Hehas personally known Trump fordecades, and insists Trump isnot a racist. To his detriment,Walker has supported Trump,even as he has been ostracizedfor doing so – among otherthings having lost speaking en-gagements he had already se-cured prior to speaking inTrump’s defense.

Here’s where the NeverTrumpers are exposed as utterlyridiculous: on the one hand,there’s Walker, who has knownTrump for eons, and vows he’snot a racist. But these NeverTrumpers, who should really becalled Never Met Trump-ers be-cause they have never set footwithin miles of the man, letalone ever had a conversationwith him, have the audacity todefame him so recklessly. Whose

assessment shouldwe deem to be morecredible? Walker’s,or the Trump-bash-ers’?

It only goesdownhill for theNever Trumpersfrom there. “Trumpmust have paid himoff,” some will say.Or “Herschel just fellfor Trump’s lies. Hedrank the TrumpKool-Aid.”

Oh, I get it now.Either HerschelWalker is a corrupthuman being who compromisedhis principles and betrayed hisown race, public image, and in-tegrity all for a few bucks (eventhough he is a multimillionairein his own right), or he’s simplynot as smart as the NeverTrumpers. Good thing we havethem around to tell the rest ofus how dumb we are!

Then, there was the dreaded“look at my African-American”remark, Trump made at a rallyin California earlier this month.In response to praise for a blackman who at a previous Trumprally punched anti-Trump pro-testers wearing Ku Klux Klanuniforms, Trump spoke glow-ingly of the African-Americansupport he receives and, spot-ting Gregory Cheadle, a blackman, in the crowd, said: “lookat my African-American.”

Was that offensive? Well, let’shear from the man himself. AsNPR reported, “Gregory Chea-

dle, the black mansingled out bypresumptive Re-publican presiden-tial nominee Don-ald Trump at aRedding, CA, rally,said he took no of-fense when thebillionaire urgedthe crowd, ‘look atmy African-Amer-ican over here.’

"‘I was not of-fended by it be-cause he had beenspeaking posi-tively about black

people prior to that statement.People around me were laugh-ing [at the fact] that he noticedme, and everybody was happy.It was a jovial thing.’” NPR alsonoted that Cheadle, who is run-ning for Congress in California,noted that “I am not a Trumpsupporter,” though he is not nec-essarily committed to voting

against Trump, either. "I wentto go hear Donald Trump be-cause I have an open mind."

Was “look at my African-American” the best way forTrump to shower black support-ers with praise?

Surely not. But let’s compareit to a remark made by onewhite politician to another,about Barack Obama in 2008:“a few years ago, this guy[Obama] would’ve been carry-ing our bags.”

Do you know who said that?Bill Clinton, to Ted Kennedy, inhopes of getting the then-Mass-

achusetts Senator to endorseClinton’s wife, Hillary, for pres-ident over Obama.

Kennedy did the exact oppo-site. And as I have always main-tained, it was that key Kennedyendorsement that propelledObama into a serious candidate,and gave him irreversible mo-mentum over Clinton, for whichObama was so grateful that hecast aside his original top prior-ity issues of energy indepen-dence and transparency in gov-ernment, for Kennedy’s petproject, sweeping health care re-form.

But the point is, Clinton’s“carry our bags” remark, farworse by any objective measurethan “look at my African-Amer-ican” (or do we need to askPresident Obama if he found theremark offensive so as to com-pare?) was emblematic of thevicious campaign the Clintonsran against Obama in 2008,with droves of the race-coded

“dog whistles” of which theTrump campaign is routinely ac-cused.

But forget what HerschelWalker says. Forget what Gre-gory Cheadle says. They simplydo not possess the intellectualcapacity of the Never Trumpersto fully grasp the situation.Surely that must be it.

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

How Donald Trump’s Bashers Help Him Gain Support

The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.

(ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΞ),reporting the news and addressing the issues of paramount interest to the Greek-American community of the United States of America.

Publisher-Editor Antonis H. DiamatarisAssistant to the Publisher, Advertising Veta H. Diamataris Papadopoulos

Executive Editor Constantinos E. ScarosReligion Editor Theodore Kalmoukos

Production Manager Chrysoula Karametros

The National Herald (USPS 016864) is published weekly byThe National Herald Inc. at 37-10 30th Street, LIC, NY 11101-2614

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TO OUR READERS

The National Herald welcomes letters from its readers intended forpublication. They should include the writer’s name, address, andtelephone number and be addressed to: The Editor, The NationalHerald, 37-10 30th Street, long island City, NY 11101. letters canalso be faxed to (718) 472-0510 or e-mailed to [email protected]. we reserve the right to edit letters for publicationand regret that we are unable to acknowledge or return those leftunpublished.

by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

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Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris

Expat Suffrage

The winners, or those who can at leastcan stay afloat amid the earth-shatteringchanges around them, are the ones whowill promptly understand their situation andapply the necessary corrective measures.

This applies not only to the EU as awhole, but to specific countries, such asGreece.

As I recently noted, the prime minister,unfortunately, seems stuck at “more of thesame”: more populism, turning public at-tention away from the problems, a littlesleight of hand regarding the Troika – asthe time passes.

Except time is passing at Greece’s ex-pense.

So, in this “business as usual” era, that“more of the same” time, has passed. Thisis a time for boldness, imagination, action,partnerships.

For Greece, in the current era of techno-logical revolution, this means coordinatingactions with Hellenes abroad. Its naturalally. The blood from its blood.

But instead of Athens and the expatriatesbeginning the process of institutionalizingtheir cooperation, instead of the politicaland economic elite of the Greek capitaleliminating the phobia and the illusion thatthey don’t need us, with which they seemto be consumed, and instead of we expatri-ates treating them with greater humilityand with less of a superior moral sense, in-stead of both sides realizing that we are nota threat to each other, but that we comple-ment each other, we continue with the samemindset that brought us to this point in thefirst place.

Therefore, while New Democracy PartyLeader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has repeatedlycalled for the right to vote to be granted toHellenes abroad, Prime Minister AlexisTsipras refuses.

He prefers to grant the vote to 17-year-old Greeks in Greece rather than to the Hel-lenes abroad. Apparently, he believes it isin his best interests for impressionable chil-dren to vote, but not expatriates.

He refuses to sacrifice personal interests(assuming that would be the case if expa-triates voted) for the benefit of the nation.

And yet, he imposes sacrifices on thepeople.

Without sacrifices, small or large, it isobvious that the country is not going to getout of the decline it is in.

Without sacrifices today, tomorrow willbe no different than now.

Greece is one of the last countries todeny the right to vote to its emigrants.

But now it is only a matter of time beforethat happens.

Besides, as one particular Helleneabroad, Dr. Spyros Mezitis, has aptlypointed out: how can they continue to im-pose taxation without representation?

Football legend Herschel Walker, an African-American proclaims that Donald Trump, whom hehas known for decades, is not a racist. But the Never Trumpers, who never even met the man,insist that he is.

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VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016 11

If he hadn’t left such a trailof the wounded behind youcould almost feel sorry for GreekPrime Minister Alexis “Che”Tsipras, the Marxist-Maoist-Stal-inist-Lenininst-Sadist caféphilosopher who found himselfin a position which Greek Com-munists never wanted, ruling acountry that can’t be ruled.

After breaking essentiallyevery anti-austerity promise hemade to get elected, a ruse hethought was clever until his em-pire of lies buried him under theweight of its own deceit, Tsiprasis left with trying to peddle elec-tion law reform as what hehopes will be the legacy of theLooney Left SYRIZA after thenext elections when he’s tarred-and-feathered and sent homepacking.

Except for the Nazi Craziesof Golden Dawn, who’ve beenon trial more than a year oncharges of running a criminalgang and one charged with themurder of an anti-fascist hip-hopartist, Tsipras met with the lead-ers of rival political parties tryingto convince them to back hisscheme to change the way Greekpolitical parties are elected.

Tsipras had vacillated onwhat he wanted, first saying hewanted to scrap a 50-seat bonusin Parliament given the winnersof elections, then thinking per-haps 30 would be better. But af-ter objections from SYRIZA dis-sidents that he was leaningtoward a reduced bonus he set-tled on direct proportional rep-resentation among other ideas.

Parties would get seats in Par-liament based on what percent-age of the vote they got as longas they could pass a 3 percent

threshold – whichhis partner, the far-right, pro-austerity,in need of acheckup-from-the-neck-up jingoisticIndependent Greeks(ANEL) aren’t meet-ing so he’s willing tojettison them likeyesterday’s news.

The 50-seatbonus generallygave election win-ners enough of thevote to control Par-liament but Tsipras’party got only 144out of 300 seats in last year’selections and needed to bring inthe nine votes of ANEL.

The real intent of the pro-posal, for which he needs 200votes in Parliament to get ap-proved, is to distract attentionfrom cataclysmic failure andleave something behind whenhe’s ousted besides the trail ofthe slug he is.

He’d also like, of course, tosabotage the election’s next win-ners, the former ruling NewDemocracy Conservatives whoseleaders – first, Antonis Samaraswho was Premier, and now Kyr-iakos Mitsotakis, who wants tobe.

Without the 50-seat bonus,Mitsotakis has no chance of rul-ing outright and will need tobring in coalition partners, thepermanent fate of politics nowin Greece where the landscapeis so fractured and where peoplehate politicians so much, thatthe days of New Democracy orits former partner and otherwiserival, the PASOK Anti-Socialists,having dominance is over, elec-

tion reform lawchange or not.

Among thoseTsipras met wasDimitris Kout-soumpas, leader ofGreece’s irrelevant,tiny KKE Commu-nists who are al-most as zealous ashe is in attackingthe symbols ofCapitalism but, un-like him, would ac-tually try to dowhat they say ifthey ever won,which they never

will.Koutsoumpas later reportedly

said Tsipras told him there wasno way he could keep promisesto restore pay and pension ben-efits, stop worker firings (apartfrom hiring his friends as “Spe-cial Advisors” at 2,000 euros amonth to think Leftist thoughts),restore the minimum wage andcollective bargaining rights.

Tsipras, the inveterate liar heis, denied any of that whichmeans it was all true but didn’tdeny reports he told Kout-soumpas he wants the electionreform law changes – includinglowering the voting age to 17and letting disenfranchisedGreeks abroad have the right tovote.

This would all just be insidebaseball if it didn’t matter somuch because changing the elec-tion laws is a big deal and willaffect the makeup of the unde-mocratic Greek Parliament andthe country’s rulers for decades,and if Tsipras is successful,means a permanently brokensystem.

The irony is that the numberof seats a party gets in Parlia-ment should be determined onthe basis of what percent of thevote it gets, not a big bonus forwinning, but that it would meanthe circus would become flat-outchaos and coalitions of severalrival parties being forced towork together: a horse that be-came a camel after being put to-gether by a committee.

Tsipras thinks he cleverlyfolded in ideas such as loweringthe vote age and rights forGreeks abroad but those will belost in the political infightingover the plan to eliminate thebonus which Mitsotakis is fight-ing ferociously, seeing it for thedeception it is.

With the marginalized, cen-trist To Potami first said to beleaning toward voting for theTsipras plan, and PASOK on thewire, Mitsotakis is trying to stopany momentum for building andwarned other parties that if theyjoin the “alliance of the willing”they will be held responsible ifthe economy continues to im-plode.

To Potami then rejected anyidea it would back Tsipras, ashave other parties apart from theonce-dominant PASOK, nowdrift and dying under leader FofiGennimata, who hasn’t ruled outgiving Tsipras her 16 votes.

Not enough, and with PASOKalready extinct and running un-der the banner of DemocraticAlignment after being joined bythe squashed Democratic Left, itwon’t be long before Tsipras andSYRIZA join them in a gloriousdisappearance. Let’s vote on it.

[email protected]

Voices said: “Does Greeceneed a new Opera house?”Though my readings about theSNFCC revealed that the sitewas intended to be much morethan that, I was quite curious tovisit it during the “Metamorpho-sis” (June 23-26 2016). AndreasDracopoulos’ introduction in thebooklet prepared me for reflec-tions of the ancient Agora spirit.Greece and we, the people, neednew ideas that respecting his-tory and our identity are point-ing towards the future and opennew paths. SNF’s co-president,Andreas Dracopoulos, statesthat they envisioned a destina-tion “that would redefine andreimagine the idea of publicspace in a city that over theyears has abandoned and ne-glected the concept of a sharedpublic life in open publicspaces”.

Plateia, the square, was tra-ditionally a core topographicalelement around which the com-munity’s life was arranged. Thelast decades most of Greece’splateias, have been covered withcement. Under the hot sun theyhave become unfriendly places.I particularly regret the trans-formation of the Omonia squarein Athens in a desert of cement,without even one tree.

Renzo Piano brilliantly inte-grated the functions of thespaces on the site, the buildingsfor the Music, for the Libraryand the Park in a unity. By rais-ing the level of the ground andinserting the buildings underthe artificial hill he kept thethree functions without sacrific-ing the Park, which now occu-pies the whole surface. He callsAgoras the square around whichthe Opera and the National Li-brary buildings are arrangedand the space on top of the hill.There a core room of transpar-ent glass walls called the LightHouse has been built, intendedto become a place for physicaland virtual meetings with therest of the world.

Philosophy, democracy andarts have not been developedinside institutional buildingsbut, through the dialogueamong the citizens, in the an-cient market place. Thereforethe idea of the Agora is not re-stricted to these two spaces. Itis present all over the Park,which has been shaped in invit-ing open spaces for gatheringand events. The architect cre-

ated the shell.Limor Tomer, GMof Concerts andLectures at theMetropolitan Mu-seum of Art, NYand Laurie Ander-son, avant-gardemusician and per-former, throughthe organization of“Metamorphosis”,a multiculturalarts, sports and ed-ucation program,show how it can fa-cilitate people’s en-gagement in a cul-tural life that enhancesexperimentation and dialogue.All implementing SNF’s visionof an urban life’s promotingpublic space.

As ideas and senses flow,people move along and around,meet and feel keeping the senseof the community. Renzo Pianoembedded modern design andtechnology into familiar valuesto Greeks. Having preserved thehuman scale and the connectionwith the Greek nature and thewater he created a friendly am-bience, where people feel com-fortable to interact sponta-neously.

It was past two in the morn-ing when most video presenta-

tions were done. Istrolled up to theGreat Lawn, wherea few hours ago Iexperienced an ex-cellent concert,“Water passion afterSt. Matthew,” con-ducted by SarahIoannides. The lastvisitors were leav-ing the place, whenLaurie Anderson ap-peared on stage tocheck the micro-phones and re-hearse the begin-ning, the loudest

and the softest sounds for hernext day’s performance. Cap-tured by the sensitive dialoguebetween her violin and her mu-sician’s cello, the transformationsof her voice, the freedom of theirexpression I didn’t realize that Iwas the only viewer left.

When she got off stage, myeyes closed and I enveloped my-self in my sleeping bag. In an-cient sacred sites dream incuba-tion was part of thetransformational healingprocess. My eyes opened, whenthe dark sky began to turn blue.I walked to the summit sensingthe herb scented breeze, theopenness, the uplifting lightness,the flight above the city. Have I

beaten gravity? I was not dream-ing. Her lyrics from my favoriteCD Strange Angels came to mymind. “She said: What is his-tory? And he said: History is anangel being blown backwardsinto the future. He said: Historyis a pile of debris and the angelwants to go back and fix thingsto repair the things that havebeen broken but there is a stormblowing from Paradise and thestorm keeps blowing the angelbackwards into the future. Andthe storm, this storm is calledprogress.”

SNF’s gift to Greece is pre-cious. Thank you for giving ushope and perspective. Thankyou for reminding us thestrengths of community life. Inthe middle of the crisis you re-mind us that our homeland’swealth was never material. Cul-ture and values developed in theagoras have shaped our waythrough history and is Greece’slight house in the ocean of cos-mos and time.

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.

Niarchos Cultural Center: Enlivening the Agora Spirit

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Nothing for Tsipras but Phony Election Reform Hopes

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

In today’sworld, the media isreplete with refer-ences about cul-tural diplomacy or“soft power.” Thelatter term wascoined by the for-mer dean of Har-vard’s KennedySchool Joseph S.Nye, Jr. during thelate 1980s, but re-mains ever current.Aside from sover-eign nations, softpower can bewielded by other agents in theinternational political scene,such as NGOs and internationalinstitutions. According to Nye,a country’s soft power rests onthree sources: “its culture, itspolitical values, and its foreignpolicies.” World powers like theUnited States, Russia, China, aswell as other prominent nationslike Great Britain, Germany,France, Italy, Japan, and SouthKorea all dedicate significant re-sources to exercising their softpower internationally and tryingto advance their agenda, notjust by military force or eco-nomic dominance, but alsothrough culture, political values,and policies.

Sadly, despite its arguably in-exhaustible cultural resourcesand significant contribution topolitical values and policies,Greece doesn’t appear anywhereamong the top 15 nations in theannual Soft Power Surveys. Atthe moment, due to the curtail-ment of its sovereignty and eco-nomic decimation by its Euro-pean “partners” (sic), thisabsence may be understandable,however even during previousprosperous times, Greece’s pres-

ence was not what it could begiven its colossal cultural re-sources. Moreover, modernGreece falls short of the culturaldiplomacy exercised by Hellenesof eras past, such as Romanityduring Byzantine times (for anexcellent analysis, see Haralam-bos Papasotiriou’s Stanford Uni-versity doctoral dissertation en-titled “Byzantine GrandStrategy), Alexander the Great’sexportation of Hellenism, andprevious eras, when civilizationslike the Minoans could wieldpower simply by sharing theirtechnological knowhow, reli-gious values, and food. In onefamous case, Greeks famouslytried to encourage the op-pressed peoples of Asia Minorand the Middle East to rise upby exporting their knowledge ofwinemaking, in the hopes thatgrapes (wine) would supplantwheat (beer) in their localeconomies. Unlike wheat,grapes can grow in mountain-ous regions and the ancientGreek cult of Dionysus main-tained a strong independentstreak, constituting it a threatto civil authorities. AncientGreek strategist calculated thatthis cultural combination couldweaken the Persian satraps’stranglehold on the local popu-laces and work in Greece’s favoragainst the expansive designs ofthe Persian emperors.

Although many in the Greek-American Community are oftenvexed by the ankyloses of theModern Greek state, much asthey don’t like to admit it, Mod-ern Greece’s shortcomings areoften directly reflected in thelife of the Greek Diaspora. Inmany ways, the Greek-Americancommunity has missed the boatin exercising soft power andfailed to effectively invest in itscultural diplomacy.

One has to look no furtherthan the situation in Greek-American education. For a com-munity that frequently boastsover its rankings in per capitalincome and education, the gen-eral state of its schools is largelyunderwhelming. More Greek-American schools are closingthan opening, with practically

no concerted effortpresent to studyand effectively dealwith this phenome-non. Even theteachers’ associa-tions remain deaf-eningly silent, un-willing or unable toeffectively exercisethe huge role thatthey could play incommunity life.Archdiocesan indif-ference on the mat-ter is downrightvexing, while no

other major organization hasbeen able to step up and legiti-mately make this issue a matterof public discourse.

In many ways, the opera-tional model followed by Greekschools is still the same as it wasdecades earlier, failing to adaptto new trends and develop-ments. Salaries remain paltry,schools continue to competeagainst one another and operateas autonomous units instead ofcooperating with one anotherand operating like members ofone common body. Moreover,some policymakers continue toadhere to an isolationist (evenracist) approach of catering onlyto “our own,” excluding or atthe very least ignoring thetremendous possibilities of ex-posing the mainstream popula-tion to a Hellenocentric educa-tion.

The failure to create at leastone flagship Greek-Americanschool in major American me-tropolises with a strong Greekpresence, capable of competingagainst top local public and pri-vate schools, while systemati-cally advancing the Greek lan-guage as something beneficialto the public (as countless otherethnic schools are doing, includ-ing the instruction of “dead lan-guages” like Latin) continues tohaunt the Greek-American Com-munity and represents perhapsits greatest failure over the pastcentury. With so much money,political influence, and brainpower floating around, there isno reason why there should notbe a Greek equivalent to aBoston Latin or Lycée Françaisde New York. Rather, this re-flects a lack of vision and plan-ning on behalf of the organizedCommunity.

Now, from a local parishstandpoint, where the nuclei ofthe Greek community lie, a sim-ilar shortsightedness in terms ofcultural diplomacy is evident.Parish communities continue tobe synonymous with Greek fes-tivals, extolling their delicioussouvlaki, superb sweets, andpallet-pleasing pita, but herealso, there seems to be an ab-sence of an agenda capable ofmass transmission of culturalnorms that surpass the folkloric.It would be quite something if aunified branding effort wasmade to ensure that those leg-endary Greek fests that pushpitas and sell souvlaki could alsoextoll the virtues of the Mediter-ranean diet, promote productslike Greek wine and honey, orinvite audiences to a Greek the-atrical performance or concerttogether following their meal.Parishes are coming undergrowing pressure to raise fundsto sustain Archdiocesan “min-istries,” but the absence of a co-ordinating ministry to help ad-vance cultural diplomacyremains a glaring weakness.

Undoubtedly, these issuesshould be primary topics of dis-cussion at the Clergy-Laity Con-gress, the AHEPA National Con-vention, or other assemblies.Sadly, this year in Nashville, it’spractically a foregone conclusionthat even the most obvious pro-posal – levying a luxury tax (callit stewardship, contribution, orwhatever you will) on the rev-enues of all Greek schools thathave been shut and rented outto other institutions (publicschools, unrelated charterschools, etc.) and redirectingthese monies back into Greek ed-ucation by financially endowingexisting schools, developing soft-ware, or funding textbooks willgo unheard. Perhaps the firststep in implementing soft poweris overcoming hardheadedness.

Follow me on Twitter@CTripoulas

Cultural Diplomacy: SoftPower for 21st Century

by DR. DIMITRAKAMARINOU

Special to The National Herald

by ChristopherTRIPOULAS

Special to The National Herald

Sadly, levying a luxury tax of shut Greek Schools rented to other institutions and redirecting money to Greek education willgo unheard.

Greece’s new precious gift: the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC).SNF/YiOrgiS YErOlYmBOS

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12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JULY 2-3, 2016