The National Herald 2via air and sea for 2016 is 2.19%, surpassed only by Hun - garians (2.75%) and...

The National HeraldA weekLy Greek-AmericAn PubLicAtion

May 27 - June 2, 2017

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VOL. 20, ISSUE 1024

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By Eleni Sakellis

John Kiriakou’s first book,Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life inthe CIA's War on Terror, writtenwith Michael Ruby, was pub-lished in 2012. A first-person ac-count of the covert agent's two-decade career in the CIA, thebook describes his role in thecapture of senior Al-Qaida ter-rorists and offers insight into thedebate about interrogation tech-niques used in Afghanistan andthe Iraq War.

Kiriakou, whose family isfrom Rhodes, spent the firsteight years of his career in theCIA as a Middle East analystspecializing on Iraq. He main-tained a Top Secret/SensitiveCompartmented Information se-curity clearance. He learnedArabic and was assigned to theAmerican Embassy in Bahrain.He eventually became CIA's Di-rectorate of Operations and wasa counter-terrorism operationsofficer and worked on Eurocom-munist terrorism.

Kiriakou was named Chief ofCounterterrorist Operations inPakistan. In that position, he leda series of military raids on al-Qaeda safehouses, capturingdozens of al-Qaeda fighters.Kiriakou claims to have led araid that captured Abu Zubay-dah, then thought to be al-Qaeda’s third-ranking official.After all of this John Kiriakouwas sent to prison, serving athirty-month sentence for expos-ing the CIA’s use of torture onal-Qaeda prisoners.

Doing Time Like A Spy: How

KiriakouTalks toTNH aboutLatest Book

TNH Staff

NEW ROCHELLE, NY – AHEPANew Rochelle “James Plevritisand Joseph C. Keane Chapter405” commemorated the mem-ory of the pioneers who foundedthe chapter with a specialmemorial service at Holy TrinityChurch in New Rochelle, NY onMay 21. The event reaffirmedthe dedication of the leadershipand members to the foundersand initiators of Chapter 405.

The ceremony moved manyamong the leaders and mem-bers of the organization and theHoly Trinity community as 32members of AHEPA were re-membered for their longstand-ing contributions to the Greek-American community and thecommunity at large.

Chapter President Joseph C.Keane, who has led Chapter 405

AHEPASunday atHoly Trinity

By Demetris Tsakas

CORONA – ArchbishopDemetrios of America on the af-ternoon of May 21 visited thefire-damaged Church of theTransfiguration of the Savior inCorona, Queens and viewed theimmense damage.

The archbishop was accom-panied by Transfiguration’s Fr.George Anastasiou, Philopto-chos Society President EleniKatehis, Treasurer Peter Pallas,Kelly Pappas, and other mem-bers of the parish. Consul Gen-eral of Cyprus, AmbassadorVasilios Philippou also attended.

As The National Herald pre-viously wrote, the fire was re-ported at noon on May 19, pre-sumably beginning at theChurch’s northeastern point ofthe church and spreading to thesanctuary. At press time, the fi-nal report of the fire’s cause waspending.

Although the crews managedto clean up the debris from thetemple, the smell of smoke wasstill intense. The executives andthe parishioners, though upset

by the damage, are determinedto rebuild an even better church.

After Demetrios viewed thechurch, Anastasiou showed himthe artoforion, the Holy Gospeland other books, the anointingoil and the relic of St. Nektarios,the reliquary with the ashes ofthe remains of St. Matrona andSt. Artemius, and other objectsthat were saved from the fire.

Demetrios urged Anastasiouand the community leaders tokeep all of those remnants andcreate a museum. Anastasiouexpressed his thanks to thepriests of all the communitieswho conveyed their readiness tohelp and offered their churchesto the community for the fulfill-ment of the mysteries.

Demetrios told TNH that“this is the third church that wasfaced with fire in a short spaceof time. We had St. Demetriosin Merrick, followed by St.Nicholas in West Babylon, andnow the Transfiguration Church.It is a very sad and tragic pic-ture, because the damaged

Archbishop Visits FireDamaged Church ofthe Transfiguration

Ahepans Continue Proud Tradition AHEPA Supreme President Andrew Zachariades, accompanied by Colonel Nicholas P. Vamvakias(US Army ret.), past supreme treasurer, laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, ArlingtonNational Cemetery. The ceremony is an AHEPA tradition since 1949.

TNH Staff

ATHENS – Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras’ hopes – and de-mands – for debt relief afteragreeing to more harsh austeritymeasures as part of a thirdbailout, this one for 86 billioneuros ($96.71 billion) has beenpushed back to June, undermin-ing his plans.

The Radical Left SYRIZAleader had insisted on the Troikaof the European Union-Euro-pean Central Bank-EuropeanStability Mechanism (EU-ECB-ESM) giving Greece some formof a debt break from 326 billioneuros ($366.61 billion) in threerescue packages after renegingon anti-austerity promises sawhis popularity plummet to aslow as 10 percent.

No deal was reached at themeeting of Eurozone financechiefs in Brussels and the next

hope for Tsipras is a June meet-ing. Eurozone President JeroenDijsselbloem said that whileGreece has made “hugeprogress” that some promisedreforms remain undone and thelenders weren’t satisfied yet.

The Troika also wants the In-ternational Monetary Fund(IMF), which took part in twofirst bailouts of 240 billion euros($269.9 billion) but has stayedout of the third until yet morebrutal measures are imposed,and a debt deal too, to come onboard.

Squashing Tsipras again wasGerman Finance Minister Wolf-gang Schaeuble, whose countryis putting up the bulk of theloans but demanded big paycuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions,worker firings and privatizationsin return.

Earlier in the day Dijssel-bloem dampened Greek expec-

tations for a debt deal nowadding that it might not happenuntil 2018, when the bailoutsrun out and before more aus-terity and taxes on low-incomefamilies is imposed as Tsiprasagreed.

Schaeuble said Germany willnot go along with more moneyor debt relief for Greece withoutthe IMF taking part in a dealand only after 2018.

“Midterm debt relief mea-sures are already in effect. Thenext measures will be decidedafter the end of the program,”Schaeuble said before the meet-ing, adding that debt relief forGreece will need special ap-proval by Germany’s Parliament.

The EU’s Economic AffairsCommissioner Pierre Moscovicihad predicted a deal would bestruck but was proved wrong

No Eurozone Debt Deal for SYRIZA

TNH Staff

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S.Department of Homeland Secu-rity (DHS) released the FiscalYear (FY) 2016 Entry/Exit Over-stay Report. The report providesdata on departures and over-stays, by country, for foreign vis-itors to the United States whoentered as nonimmigrant visi-tors through an air or sea Portof Entry (POE) and were ex-pected to depart in FY16.

The table below provides ahigh-level summary of the coun-try-by-country data identified inthe following tables.

Overstay rate for nonimmi-grant Greek visitors admitted tothe United States for businessor pleasure (WB/WT/B-1/B-2)via air and sea for 2016 is2.19%, surpassed only by Hun-garians (2.75%) and Portuguese(2,42%).

Moreover, figures reveal thatabout six more thousand Greeks(77,562) overstayed in the

United States in 2016 comparedto 71,430 on 2015.

This year’s report also in-cludes visitors who entered ona student or exchange visitorvisa (F, M, or J visa). Of the1,457,556 students and ex-change visitors scheduled tocomplete their program in theUnited States in FY16, 79,818stayed beyond their authorizedwindow for departure, resultingin a 5.48 percent overstay rate.Of the 79,818, 40,949 are sus-pected in-country overstays(2.81 percent).

3,977 0r 2.39% of the TotalOverstay Rate were Greek stu-dents.

The in-scope population forthis report includes temporaryworkers and families (tempo-rary workers and trainees, in-tracompany transferees, treatytraders and investors, represen-tatives of foreign informationmedia), students, exchange vis-

Greeks Are 3rd in Overstaying Visas DHS Says

Patr. Bartholomew Meets Greek Pres. PavlopoulosHis All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, right,the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, metwith Greece's President Prokopios Pavlopoulos at the Patriar-chate in Constantinople. Pavlopoulos is attending the 25th An-niversary Summit of the Organization of the Black Sea Eco-nomic Cooperation.

Protests Continue, More Austerity on the WayGreek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, left, and Prime Min-ister Alexis Tsipras react during a parliamentary session tovote more austerity measures as part of an agreement with in-ternational bailout creditors, in Athens.

Continued on page 9

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TNH Staff

For 102 years the NationalHerald – now the only dailyGreek-language newspaper oper-ating outside of Greece – hasbeen the voice and “Gospel” ofthe Greek-American community,providing critical news about thecommunity but also from Greece,and pointed commentary aboutthe mutual roles, and as the pa-per of record.

Kathimerini, Greece’s mostprestigious newspaper, showedthat history and background andits significance in an interviewwith the Herald’s Publisher-Edi-tor Antonis H. Diamataris, whospoke of Hellenes, the Church,the need for closer cooperationwith Greece and politics, Greek-

KathimeriniInterviewsDiamataris

Continued on page 4

AP Photo/Lefteris PitArAkis

AP Photo/Petros GiAnnAkouris

Continued on page 9

By Vasilis Papoutsis

LOS ANGELES, CA – At a recentdiscussion at Chapman Univer-sity in Orange, CA about theirnew book, You are the Universe,New York Times bestselling au-thor Deepak Chopra, MD andChapman University physicistDr. Menas Kafatos spoke aboutthe unique alliance between amedical doctor and an astro-physicist who are challenging tooverturn traditional scientificmodels or reality.

Although they have writtenmany articles and book chapterstogether as well as edited otherbooks, this is the first time theyhave co-authored a book. Theyboth have distinguished careersin different fields that make thispartnership an intriguing andalso a complementary one.

Dr. Kafatos is the FletcherJones Endowed Professor ofComputational Physics at Chap-man. He is a quantum physicist,cosmologist, natural hazardsand climate change researcherwho also directs the Center ofExcellence of Earth SystemsModeling and Observations atthe university.

Dr. Chopra is Board Certifiedin Internal Medicine, En-

docrinology and Metabolism,and a clinical Professor in Med-icine and Public Health at theUniversity of California, SanDiego. As a licensed physician,he became chief of staff at theNew England Memorial Hospi-tal (NEMH) in 1980. His meet-ing with Maharishi Mahesh Yogiin 1985 changed the directionof his thinking and became in-volved with the TranscendentalMeditation Movement. Tran-scendental Meditation (TM) isa form of a silent mantra(sound) and is practiced for 15-20 minutes daily. The practicedrew millions of followers whenit became known that the Beat-les and the Beach Boys had em-braced it.

Shortly after that, Chopra re-signed his position at NEMH toestablish the MaharishiAyurveda Health Center that es-poused the philosophy of alter-native medicine, which empha-sizes the role of consciousnessand gives importance to positiveemotions. He gained a huge fol-lowing in 1993 after his inter-view on The Oprah WinfreyShow and today Chopra is con-sidered one of the most influ-ential thinkers in integrativemedicine and personal transfor-

mation. Kafatos, on the other hand,

is a researcher who works ex-tensively on the quantumphysics, the nature of the mind,cosmic awareness and topicsthat bridge science to meta-physics and philosophy.

You are the Universe was re-leased in February and quicklyrose to the top of the Times’bestseller list. In her review, Dr.

Constance Scharff describes thebook as a "powerful, compellingdiscussion of an emerging per-spective in science that changesthe world from a cold, fixed re-ality to a human universe." Butshe also notes that the receptionof the book spans the spectrumof emotions. Either the reader"accepts the ideas put forth orshouts obscenities at the authorsbefore hurling the book at the

wall." When asked about the ex-treme responses the book re-ceives, Chopra told TNH that“every time you are challengingperceptions of traditional think-ing you should expect negativereactions. I have been dealingwith it all my professional life."Reaction to Chopra's 1989 bookQuantum Healing caused an up-roar to the scientific communityas well. The concept of quantum

healing that states that humanaging is fluid and changeableand it can be determined byone's state of mind and changein consciousness, was heavilycriticized by medical and scien-tific professionals as unsubstan-tiated theories.

Elaborating on the book'sphilosophy, Kafatos told TNH, "Ibelieve that in the future sciencewill have to address the issue ofexperience and what the expe-rience tell us about the natureof Reality. This is what we callQualia Science."

The human ability to nameor describe an experience is thedefinition of a Human Construct.In the lecture, Chopra posed thequestion: is there a universe oris it just an experience? "Civi-lization would definitely not ex-ist without the ability to namean experience," Chopra said.Language is the fundamentaltool that allows us to translateideas," Kafatos added.

A prolific writer, Kafatos' nextbook presentation will be at theStavros Niarchos FoundationCultural Center in Athens onJune 9. His book Living the Liv-ing Presence "gives practicalsteps to experience unity aware-ness in everyday life," he said.

Deepak Chopra and Kafatos on their New Book: You are the Universe

for a quarter century, and Trea-surer James Zafiros visited TheNational Herald offices recentlyto discuss the event. They par-ticipated in the procession alongwith the other leaders andmembers of the chapter. Manyin attendance at the event werethe children, grandchildren, andrelatives of the AHEPA membershonored, and they expressedtheir gratitude for events like

this that keep the memory oftheir loved ones alive.

The ceremony honoring thememory of the AHEPA memberswho have passed on took placeafter the Divine Liturgy, whichwas performed by the presidingpriest of Holy Trinity Fr.Nicholas Anctil. The Boy Scoutsentered with the banners, fol-lowed by the Ahepans, and thenFr. Anctil read the encyclical ofArchbishop Demetrios of Amer-ica for AHEPA Sunday. The

memorial service followed thereading.

During the ceremony, the Na-tional Anthems of the UnitedStates and Greece were sung aswell as the patriotic song“Greece never dies.”

Chapter 405, as Keane andZafiros pointed out, wasfounded in 1961 and has awealth of national, educational,cultural, and philanthropic ac-tivity. At the same time, theynoted that both Anctil and the

president and the other mem-bers of the community areChapter members.

Keane thanked Frs. Anctiland Fr. Patrick O’Rourke, andArchbishop Demetrios for theopportunity to have an AHEPAday and thanked Anctil for hisbeautiful words, noting that hecould be the chapter’s “publicrelations director if Jimmy evertakes a break.” Fr. Anctil de-clined, urging Zafiros to “stayon.”

Keane, who is Irish-Ameri-can, married a Greek wife,Demetra, and became an Ortho-dox Christian. He joined AHEPAto help carry out the worthy

mission of the organization andgive back to the community.Zafiros told TNH that althoughhe and Keane are both retired,AHEPA is their full-time job now.

AHEPA Sunday Celebrated at Holy Trinity Church in New Rochelle

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Continued from page 1

President of AHEPA Chapter 405 for 25 years and counting, Joseph Keane thanked Fr. NicholasAnctil, Fr. Patrick O'Rourke, and the Archbishop on AHEPA Sunday in New Rochelle, NY.

The board and members of AHEPA New Rochelle “James Plevritis and Joseph C. Keane Chapter405” posed for a commemorative photo with the poster honoring the late founders and members.

AHEPA New Rochelle “James Plevritis and Joseph C. KeaneChapter 405” at Holy Trinity Church for AHEPA Sunday, in-cluding Chapter President Joseph Keane, and Treasurer JamesZafiros honoring Nikita Drakotos.

Photos: tnh/costAs beJ

Follow us on Facebook:The National Herald / Eθνικός Κήρυξ

By Theodore Kalmoukos

BOSTON, MA –The ExecutiveCommittee of the Board ofTrustees of Hellenic College andHoly Cross Greek OrthodoxSchool of Theology (HCHC) hasestablished a four-Board Mem-ber Committee to examine thefate of its president, Fr. Christo-pher Metropulos.

It was an Executive Commit-tee meeting on May 16, the de-cision was made to establish theCommittee to examine Metrop-ulos. The Committee will eval-uate his overall performanceand by the end of June arescheduled to present their find-ings to His Eminence Arch-bishop Geron of America

Demetrios, who has a fiduciaryresponsibility toward HCHC asChairman of the Board ofTrustees.

Though chosen unanimouslyout of 41 candidates, he had notsubmitted his candidacy but wasdrafted, as TNH had reported.

The search committee wascomprised of Board Vice Chair-man Tomas Lelon, Robert Ba-davas, Helen Carlos, George Alex,Archdiocesan Cathedral ParishCouncil Member Demetra Manis,Faculty Representatives of HolyCross and Hellenic College re-spectively, Rev. Thomas FitzGer-

ald and Aristotle Michopoulos.Oddly, those who voted for

Metropulos for president are theones who now demand his re-moval, claiming they made amistake. Some even threaten toresign if he is not removed.

In a regular Board meetingon May 19, the issue of the pres-idency was not discussed, butemphasis was placed on fi-nances, where there appears tobe a problem.

TNH has learned that Arch-diocesan Director Jerry Dimitrioudoes not send the allocation toHCHC on time, and sometimesdelays doing so for months.

The first meeting of the Com-mittee to examine Metropuloswas scheduled to convene on

May 19, but Lelon canceled it.He was not present at the Boardmeeting or at the HCHC gradu-ation on May 20.

As the TNH had reported,Lelon and Metropulos arekoumpari, because Lelon bap-tized Metropulos’ daughter.Archbishop Demetrios knewabout that relationship, and ina May 21, 2015 interview toldTNH that he didn’t see anything

wrong with it, even given thatone was the newly appointedHCHC president and the otherchair of the Presidential SearchCommittee. In fact, Demetriosdefended the process and calledit “exceptional.”

Demetrios, as well as BoardMembers Carlos, Badavas, andMark Stavropoulos, and Ba-davas did not respond to TNH’srequest for comment.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 27 - JUNE 2, 2017 3

By Theodore Kalmoukos

BOSTON, MA – Under an all-blue New England sky andplenty of sunshine, Hellenic Col-lege and Holy Cross Greek Or-thodox School of Theology(HCHC) held its 75th com-mencement on May 20,presided by His Eminence Arch-bishop Geron Demetrios ofAmerica.

Hellenic College graduated18 students and Holy Cross 34,

of which 22 received the masterof divinity degree, 9 master oftheological studies and 3 masterof theology. The MDiv is forthose who are planning to enterthe Holy Priesthood.

Also, honorary doctorateswere awarded, in humanities toentrepreneur and philanthropistGeorge Logothetis and in divin-ity to Fr. George Poulos, a 1948graduate of Holy Cross Semi-nary in Pomfret, CT.

Logothetis is chairman and

CEO of Libra Group, an inter-national diverse company com-prised of 30 subsidiaries in 35countries on six continents.

Poulos, described as “leg-endary” by ArchbishopDemetrios, is retried priest ofChurch of the Archangels inStamford, CT, where he activelyserved for 53 years and, at age95, still continues to have officehours at the church.

Poulos unable to attend inperson. Fr. Steven Zorzos from

the Saint Sophia Cathedral inWashington, DC, who was an al-tar boy under Poulos, acceptedthe degree on Poulos’ behalf.

Following the singing of theGreek and American Nationalanthems by the Holy Cross St.Romanos the Melodist Byzan-tine Choir, President Rev.Christopher Metropulos wel-comed the hundreds of atten-dees. Greetings also were of-fered by National PhiloptochosFirst Vice President Jeannie

Ranglas and ArchdiocesanCouncil Vice President andLeadership 100 ChairmanGeorge S. Tsandikos.

In the morning, Demetriospresided over the archierarchi-cal Divine Liturgy at Holy CrossChapel and chanted a 40-daymemorial for the repose ofChristine Karavitis, a formerHCHC treasurer.

Also present were Metropol-itans Methodios of Boston,Gerasimos of San Francisco

(who was honored the previousevening at HCHC’s GraduatingClasses Dinner), Savas of Pitts-burgh and Bishop Elias ofFilomilion of the Albanian Or-thodox Diocese.

Demetrios concluded withexhortatory remarks highlight-ing three components of theschool’s significance to the stu-dents: education, faith, and Hel-lenism. The Board of Trusteesheld their meeting on May 18and 19.

Hellenic College – Holy Cross 75th Graduation Ceremonies

Dr. Papantoniou Honored at AnnualPapanicolaou SymposiumThe Hellenic Medical Society of New York (HMSNY), the GreekTeachers Association "Prometheus", and the Panevoikos Societyof America presented the annual Dr. Papanicolaou Symposium,honoring Dr. Nikolaos E. Papantoniou. The event on May 23 atWeill Cornell Medical College in New York also included theaward presentation for the Greek Teachers Association"Prometheus" student essay contest winners. Dr. George Li-akeas, HMSNY President, said one of the main goals of the or-ganization is to provide scholarships to students, especiallyfor medical school. Top Left: The essay contest-winning students posed with thebust of Dr. George N. Papanicolaou, the inventor of the PapTest, and visited his lab at Weill Cornell Medical College. TopRight: Left to right: Consul of Greece Manos Koubarakis, Dr.Frank A. Chervenak, Dr. George Liakeas, Mrs. Papantoniou,honoree Dr. Nikolaos E. Papantoniou, Dr. Spyros Mezitis, andDr. Chris Moschos. Left: Dr. George Liakeas, HMSNY President,gave the welcoming remarks.

HCHC President Rev. Christopher Metropulos, Libra Group Chairman and CEO George Logothetiswho received an honorary doctorate, and His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios at the ceremony.

The HCHC’s 75th graduation ceremony held at the Pappas auditorium, presided over by HisEminence Archbishop Demetrios. Metropolitan Methodios of Boston also attended the event.

Photos: GoA/Dimitrios PAnAGos

Four-Member Committee to Decide Fate of Metropulos’ HCHC Presidency HCHC President Fr. Chistopher Metropulos

TNH Staff

MERRILLVILLE, IN – The Panhellenic Motorcycle Associationof Northern Indiana hosted the 3rd Annual Motorcycle Bless-ing on Sunday, May 21, at the American Legion Post 430 inMerrillville. A fundraiser motorcycle ride immediately fol-lowed. Frs. Ted Poteres and George Pappas presided over theBlessing Service for the large number of people in attendance.

The Association is a Canadian non-profit organization. TheNorthern Indiana Chapter is the only chapter currently in theUnited States. Their mission is to inspire friendship and unityamong Hellenic motorcycle riders and in turn unite and sup-port Greek communities through their membership. The As-sociation is supportive of all Hellenic initiatives that trulyshare the same vision.

Also in Merrillville, Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago visitedSaints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral onMay 20, to preside over the Vesper Service for the PatronSaints of the parish. His Eminence was honored to be joinedby a large contingent of Greek Orthodox Clergy from through-out Northern Indiana and Chicagoland in addition to Poteresand Pappas.

The 3rd Annual Blessing of the Motorcycles in Indiana

Fr. Ted Poteres blesses the bikers of all ages with agiasmoat the blessing of the motorcycles in Merrillville, IN.Jo

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church is like seeing a man fullof injuries and burns.

“For it is the place of wor-ship, which has an element ofsanctity, and a fire is always dis-turbing, an assault. It is a pro-jection against the sanctuary. Itis due to human weakness or Ido not know what else, but it isa very sad picture. In our churchthere is a constant blessing forprotection from many otherthings, including the fire.

“We were here during HolyWeek here in the same place, ina beautiful church filled withpeople, and now we are seeinga sad spectacle here. It stillsmells from the fire, the churchis dark and it is a very negativeimage. But as happened with St.Demetrios and St. Nicholas, weare sure the Church will be bet-ter than it was before.”

Demetrios referenced thewords of Dionysios Solomos,“The Chasm opened the earth-quake immediately,” and said“so here it will be better, but itwill take time and effort.”

He then referred to commu-nity solidarity and noted “today,we performed the services in theChurch of Saints Constantineand Helen in Jackson Heightsand told them at the end: 'weare dealing with a sudden event,can we pass a special collectionplate and say that the first helpcame from this church?’ And$800 was collected. It is veryimportant that one church is re-cruited to help the other.

“We are faced with a prob-lem for the parish, the peoplehave to attend church in otherplaces. It is a very negativeevent to which we have to re-spond by showing solidarity,support, and initiative to do

something better than we have,always having as a final and ab-solute example St. Nicholas atthe World Trade Center.”

Consul General Philippounoted that “today we have wit-nessed the destruction of thechurch of Corona, which is a his-toric church with a faithfulflock. Metamorphosis as it iscalled will be transformed intoa new church with the help andlove of the Greek-Christian com-munity. The damage, as it turnsout, is great and the hagiogra-phy of the church will have tobe rebuilt. We pray that thefaithful will find the poweragain and rebuild the altar oftheir faith.”

American political leaders, rela-tions with Turkey, and the Greek-American lobby.

That full-page interview in-cluded a photograph of Dia-mataris at his office in Long Is-land City, as well as a sketch byKathimerini artist Titina Chal-matzi.

In the introductory note,Athanasios Ellis, who was formany years a Herald contributorand now works for Kathimerini,noted his acquaintance with Dia-mataris, his first journalistic stepsat the Herald, and the continuinghistory of the newspaper.

Diamataris talked about thenewspaper’s beginnings and therelations of Greece with Hellenesabroad. He noted that the Greeklobby in the United States can domuch with strategic, practicalsupport from Hellenes abroad,and firm cooperation with Greekgovernments, regardless of party.

He said the role of the Omo-geneia (community) has been in-extricably tied to Greece, whosegovernments have not fully re-spected that significance nor yetgiven the vote to those Greeksliving outside the country, as domany other countries.

“The Omogeneia alone, in thevoid, as strong as it is, which ismuch more so than imagined –can do little. But with stable,timeless, nonpartisan coopera-tion, it can do a great deal inmany areas. While many othercountries have given the vote totheir emigrants, we are almostthe last ones who have not. Andwhile the leader of New Democ-racy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, stronglysupports it, the government is re-luctant to vote for small-minded,

micropolitical reasons. But howcorrect is it for the nation?”

That was in reference to thecurrent ruling Radical LeftSYRIZA-led coalition, which hasshown little interest in the bene-fits of working with the Omo-geneia, despite Greece’s crushingeconomic crisis and the need formore investment and support.WHAT THE HERALD MEANS

The National Herald, he said,has had an essential mission forthe community and its ties toGreece. “Our community viewsthe Herald as the Gospel, whichis a great honor, but also a greatresponsibility for us. In the past,we also had a formal agreementwith the late Eleni Vlachou to useKathimerini’s news. And here Iwould like to thank you for theopportunity you give me to com-municate with the distinguishedreadership of your newspaper.”

He added that “the Herald’smission does not differ from thatof others in the field of informa-tion. But as it is published in NewYork, its mission has a more gen-eral national significance: to actas the voice and conscience ofthe Omogeneia.”

Its role, he added, is to “con-tribute to the continuation of Hel-lenism in the United States, withemphasis on the preservation oflanguage, culture, traditions, andreligion. To fight for the defenseof our national interests in thisgreat and hospitable country.

“Not only has the newspapermanaged to survive, but it is alsogoing through, I think, the bestperiod of its long history. Perhapsbecause it treats the reader withlove, appreciation, and respect,and follows the publishing phi-losophy of the West’s newspapers– as much as possible – of objec-

tive journalism and the separa-tion of news from commentary.

“The National Herald is iden-tified with policies of the future,those that contribute to the pro-motion of the interests of societyand the nation. It supports politi-cians whom the reader may tem-porarily dislike, but they are his-torically justified by the events,making them even stronger.”

There are important differ-ences between newspapers inGreece and the United States,too, he said.

What is the difference be-tween publishing a newspaper inthe United States rather than inGreece? “An Athenian newspa-per, theoretically at least, is tar-geted at a few million potentialreaders and a large advertisingmarket, including varied state ad-vertising. The number of our po-tential readers is, of course, muchsmaller, as is the advertising mar-ket, while Greek state ads arescarce.”

While many Greek newspa-pers align themselves with polit-ical parties and philosophies, henoted that those in the UnitedStates rarely do, although on theeditorial page they can showtheir bent, but not in news sto-ries.

“The American governmentdoes not provide any support tothe media. But we also enjoy sig-nificant benefits, the most impor-tant of which is the rare relation-ship of trust that has developedbetween the Herald and its read-ers,” he said.

LOBBYING STRENGTHLinked to that is the role of

the Greek-American lobby, whichhas been a bulwark and a keyfactor in the Congress, withAmerican presidents in defendingthe rights of the community andof Greece, especially given thefrequent tension with Turkey, alsoan important American ally andwith a stronger geopolitical rolein some ways in the Middle East,and along the Mediterraneanduring these troubled times.

Diamataris said that “theGreek lobby for power must bebased on the support of the Omo-geneia and in cooperation withAthens. And for support fromHellenes abroad, government po-sitions must be rooted in pro-Western positions.

“For example, Tsipras’ refusalto swear on the bible created aterrible impression. In addition,what is happening today is thatfor years there has been an indif-ference to the lobby – when somepeople in Athens considered it oflittle use – now they think thatan effective lobby can be raisedovernight, and by magic to solveproblems…that have withstoodfor years. These are not seriousnotions. Establishing a stronglobby requires long-term effort,strategy, organization, coopera-tion, goals. See what AmericanJews do and, to their credit, havethe most successful lobby. TelAviv doesn’t remember them onlywhen it needs them.

THE CHURCHThe role of the Church has

changed over the years, too, henoted. “After a century of pres-ence in the United States, theChurch also faces identity and

orientation problems, showingsigns of distancing itself from itsroots, something with which theEcumenical Patriarchate shouldalso be concerned. Unfortunately,the Church has no solidarity, andit is not in close cooperation withGreece. And if it does, it will notoverturn the natural evolution ofthings, but it will certainly affectthem,” he said.

TALKING TURKEYWith the elevation of Repub-

lican Donald Trump to an al-ready-tumultuous presidency,Diamataris said Greece could finditself affected too, especiallygiven Trump’s open fondness forthe near-dictatorial style of Turk-ish President Recep Tayyip Erdo-gan.

“Greek-Turkish positions aregoing through one of the mostdangerous phases of their recenthistory because of the expansion-ist policy pursued by the Turkishpresident, taking advantage ofthe weakness of Greece andCyprus…because Trump feelsmore comfortable working withauthoritarian leaders, in the caseof the Greek-Turkish crisis, thereis a danger that Greece will beleft to its fate,” he cautioned.

There are other dynamics atplay too, he noted, in the curioustriangle of U.S.-Greece-Turkey re-lations that require a balance ofinterests and politics.

“The current administrationwill pursue a tougher policy thatwill affect its relations with othercountries on the basis of theireconomic and military power andthe benefits they will primarilydeliver to America itself. Thus, inthe case of Greece, the WhiteHouse will have far less under-standing and patience for Greekpolitical idioms than previousgovernments.

“As for Greece’s relations withthe current administration, ofcourse Washington will workwith Greece on certain issues andwill get what it can, but it willnot develop trust in Greece be-cause it breaks up an ideologicaldivide. How unfortunate is thefact that more than a hundreddays after the inauguration of thepresident, Mr. Tsipras has notbeen able to talk to him on thephone despite the enormous ef-forts made by various parties in-side and outside the UnitedStates.”

NO GIANTS NOWAsked about whether there is

a Greek-American political leaderthe likes of 1988 Presidential can-didate Michael Dukakis, the lateIndiana Congressman and formerNYU President John Brademas,or former U.S. Senator fromMaryland Paul Sarbanes, he saidthere is not – yet.

“These people were the resultof a “perfect coincidence.” Chil-dren of immigrants with brilliantacademic backgrounds, whowent into politics, were em-braced by their first steps fromHellenes abroad, and who fromthe important positions theyreached were able to speak onGreek issues.

“When Brademas died, thegovernment did not issue a singleannouncement, which, fortu-nately, the president of the re-

public did. But there are severalrising expatriates. Just a few daysago, a New York City Assembly-woman announced her candi-dacy for Mayor of the city. I thinkit’s time for a Greek-Americanpresident.”

He said the presence of Greek-American politicians is important.“However, they can only be help-ful if they cooperate with Greecebased on mutual interests. Whilethere is no question of agreeingwith American positions defend-ing Greece, they must be basedon logic and the general philoso-phy of the West and not on out-dated and failed recipes and the-ories that come out of leadershipcircles of the government andthat shame and put expatriatesin a difficult position.”

TIES THAT BINDWhile times change, he said

the ties between Greece and theUnited States have remained tra-ditionally strong as they’ve beenallied in important wars andother issues that affect not justthe countries but the region andeven the world.

“The United States andGreece are countries that arelinked with strong historical ties,such as blood ties, both from theGreek-American side and in com-mon battlegrounds. And weought not overlook it. The loveand mutual respect of both peo-ples, from the American side toAncient Greece and its unparal-leled contribution to humanity,are also linked, but I also believefrom the Greek side there is ad-miration for the American lead-ership in so many areas, what Icall the ‘Empire of Science.’

“They are joined with al-liances such as NATO. Therefore,it is inevitable that the two coun-tries will continue to cooperateunder the present Greek andAmerican administrations aswell. But I appreciate that theirrelationship is turning a page.”

THE HERALD’S FUTUREDiamataris said he anticipates

that the Herald will remain a crit-ical tool for the community andHellenes everywhere, especiallyas it keeps an office in Athensand brings important news fromGreece with a staff there. Hisgoal, he said, is much like theplan he’s always had when he be-came its owner in September,1979 – exactly 10 years fromwhen he arrived in New York –as he just finished studies at theColumbia University School ofBusiness Administration.

“I went to the newspaper fora while, but I was so charmedthat I rejected a position in amultinational corporation to staythere. And I never regrettedthat.”

That plan, he said, is “tostrive, together with my col-leagues, to constantly improve,albeit a little, the versions wehave. The second concerns thegreat challenges of the new rev-olutionary technologies in ourfield. But bigger are the oppor-tunities they offer. Therefore,without neglecting our print pub-lications, we are using, on an in-ternational level now the newtechnologies with interesting re-sults.”

TNH Publisher-Editor Antonis Diamataris Interviewed by KathimeriniContinued from page 1

Archbishop Demetrios Visits Fire-Damaged Transfiguration Church in CoronaContinued from page 1

Deacon Eleftherios Constantine, Archdeacon Panteleimon Papadopoulos, His Eminence Arch-bishop Demetrios, and Fr. George Anastasiou viewed the damaged altar in the church.

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios viewed the damage to the interior of the church just twodays after the fire and noted that the community will rebuild as other communities have.


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The fire ravaged the oncebrightly painted interior ofthe Transfiguration of theSavior Church in Corona.


By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO- All things consid-ered, for the times and placesthey lived, John and Ruth Nitsoswere just an ordinary couple.Hardworking Greek immigrants,they quite literally helped buildand maintain the society aroundthem.

Yet what the average Ameri-can (and perhaps even the aver-age Greek-American) would rec-ognize as a life of marked byconsiderable economic and so-cial success was in the end some-how not enough for John Nitsos.While he left a legacy of sus-tained material success, Nitsossought to honor his family witha gift common enough amongGreeks in the United States butone rarely acknowledged out-side of one's home community.

Nitsos was born in Frangista,Greece on June 2, 1895. At thetime of his birth, Frangista wasdesignated as being a part ofEvrytania. However, since 2011,local government reform desig-nated that Frangista becomepart of the Agrafa municipality.Nitsos left Greece in 1910,bound for New York. We knowlittle of Nitsos' life in the Northuntil 1920, when he marriedRuth.

The young couple eventuallymoved South. In a true Ameri-can entrepreneurial spirit, theNitsoses established a numberof successful restaurants. By theearly 1920s they arrived nearMobile, AL and in time had adaughter, Penelope. In the mid-1940s, they started vacationingalong the Gulf coast of theFlorida Panhandle.

Sometime in the mid-to-late1940s, the hardworking Nitsoscouple wanted to find their ownbeachfront retreat. In 1948, after

scouring the area for propertyto build a dream cottage on thebeach, they finally found theirpiece of paradise on a very re-mote two-lane road that paral-leled the Gulf, connecting thethen small rural hamlet of Destinto Panama City. What happenednext occurred in stages.

Initially, they built a smallcottage on Miramar Beach.“Once complete, their cottagewas one of the only homes lo-cated along a long lonely stretchof highway. On occasion, travel-ers would stop by and some in-quired if they could rent a roomin their charming beach cottage.The enterprising couple realizedthe potential of how much in-come could be derived fromsuch travelers who were lookingfor a place to stay in this obscureexquisite piece of paradise nearDestin. Soon, they decided tobuild a small beachfront motelby their home, the FrangistaBeach Inn. It was almost an im-mediate success, so they alsobuilt a restaurant to serve theirtravelers and established acampground for others near theInn.

Business at the Inn and thesurrounding properties keptgrowing, so they built additional

beach cottages that were rentedto guests who wanted an out ofthe way location for a family va-cation. Anchored by theFrangista Beach Inn, this iso-lated part of the beach startedto look like a real community soJohn decided to name itFrangista Beach in homage tohis home town in Greece. Beforelong they added a beach picnicpavilion for guests along with anarcade, a miniature golf courseand even a small bowling alley.The Nitsos family successfullyoperated these businesses formany decades.

The Frangista Beach proper-ties continued to thrive and in1994 two more rental buildingscalled Periwinkle and Seabreezewere added bringing it to a totalof eleven separate structures.Many of those were completelyremodeled and renovated at thissame time and an Olympic-sizedswimming pool and hot tubwere added.

Unfortunately, one year later,the entire area was devastatedby Hurricane Opal and most ofold Frangista Beach was de-stroyed. However, the beautifulsugar white beach and emeraldcolored waters remained alongwith the family’s substantial par-

cel of property. Today, FrangistaBeach is a well-known upscaleshorefront community, consist-ing of single-family homes andbeachfront condominiums thathave been featured in majormagazines such as Coastal Liv-ing and Birmingham Home &Garden.

Sometime between 1959 and1961 (accounts differ markedlyon this point), Nitsos began tobuild a small chapel at FrangistaBeach eight miles east of Destin.It was a simple design, a steepleand alabaster white stucco walls.In memory of his father, Nitsosnamed it St. Nikolas by the Sea.Nitsos conceived of his chapelas a place where people couldfind a modest sanctuary forprayer and reflection.

On September 17, 1961, Nit-sos was leaving for Greece to se-cure new materials for hischapel. As he walked out of hisfront door, he died of a heart-attack. His funeral was held onSeptember 19 and he was buriedin Pine Crest Cemetery in Mobile(Pensacola News Journal Sep-tember 20, 1961). After Nitsos'death, the chapel fell into a cycleof considerable disrepair,restoration, and neglect.

In 1977, the St. Nikolas

chapel's windows were vandal-ized which led Pensacola re-porter Loyal Phillips to write anoverview account on Nitsos andchapel. During the course of hissurvey, Phillips interviewedCleopatra Marier, who hequoted: “Greek Orthodox fami-lies for centuries constructed ontheir own property chapelswhich served by priests from thearea diocese...Numerous smallchapels were found in water-front communities and in thehills (Pensacola News JournalJune 17, 1977).”

Since their arrival, EasternOrthodox faithful of all nation-alities have not just celebratedtheir faith but have seen to thebuilding of the very structuresin which that faith is collectivelyexperienced. In addition to thelocal churches, there has beenphenomenal growth in smallEastern Orthodox parishes,chapels, shrines, and evenmonasteries across the conti-nent. The undertaking of build-ing these structures across thecountry is in keeping with theappearance of this complex ofc h u r c h e s / c h a p e l s /shrines/monasteries around theworld. Parishioners in these avarious places of worship en-compass a wide social range interms of immigration, theologi-cal belief, village or region oforigin, economic standing, andother components of identity.

To the best of my knowledgethe first ethnic Greek to have achapel in his home wasDemetrios Botassi, the GreekConsul in New York City in thevery early 1900s. In ThomasBurgess' 1913 study Greeks inAmerica: An Account of TheirComing, Progress, Customs, Liv-ing, and Aspirations is the firstaccount in English I have locatedthat speaks of the Greeks build-

ing such small chapels in thiscountry. Such chapels are no se-cret to the Orthodox faithfulrather they are part of our every-day lives. The first such chapel Irecall seeing was in High Point,NC. My family was attending alocal wedding in the early1960s.One day Jerry Thompson, a fineGreek-American gentleman,took me for a walk in High Point.We walked out of his house anddown the block a short way. Weturned at what proved to be anunpaved alley or driveway run-ning behind the neighborhoodhouses. At one point he stopped,pointed, and told me to go tothis small white garage and lookin the window. I had to stand ontiptoe but what I saw was a fullyappointed Greek Orthodoxchurch. As it was explained tome, not long after their arrival,the few Greeks in High Pointrented this small garage and out-fitted as their church. Over theyears I have heard similar talesfrom any number of Greek andRussian Americans.

In the early 2000s, Peneloperenovated the chapel. Today, StNikolas by the Sea remains aplace for prayer, reflection, andit is said even weddings. The St.Nikolas by the Sea Chapel is lo-cated at 33 Daytona Street inMiramar, Florida. Chapels like itare not just a structural expres-sion of the Orthodox faith, theyare often the only aspect of ourfaith the average American ever“sees.” As with so much aboutbeing Greek in North Americamore of an effort must be madeto not just physically maintainthese small chapels, but to havethem understood by the non-Greek Americans that surroundthem.

[email protected]

John and Ruth Nitsos: an Average Greek-American Life HISTORICAL COMMENTARY

By Eleni Sakellis

NEW YORK – On May 18, theHellenic American Associationfor Professionals in Finance(HABA) held its 35th Anniver-sary Executive of the Year AwardDinner honoring finance execu-tive and philanthropist Alexan-der Navab.

The well-attended eventdrew professionals from allfields of finance, including ninepast HABA presidents, as well asmembers of the community.Demetri Papacostas served asMaster of Ceremonies whileFanny Trataros HABA Presidentgave the welcoming remarks.She thanked all the memberspresent, especially the Board ofDirectors whose leadership hasled to success and growth thisyear, and administrator ArianaFranciscovic for her efforts.Trataros noted that the organi-zation’s diverse members exem-plify the best of the Hellenic-American community. Shequoted an African proverb, “Ifyou want to walk fast, walkalone. If you want to go far walktogether,” to highlight the im-portance of working together tomake HABA’s next 35 years evenmore successful.

Fr. Alexander Karloutsos thengave the invocation and GeorgeP. Stamas, Senior Partner at Kirk-land & Ellis, LLC introduced thehonoree, noting Navab’s extra-ordinary background, strongfamily values, and dedication tophilanthropy.

Alexander Navab joined KKRin 1993. He is the Head of KKR’sAmericas Private Equity busi-

ness. Navab serves as the Chairof the Americas Private EquityInvestment Committee, and alsoas the Chair of the Americas Port-folio Management Committee, aswell as serving on KKR’s SpecialSituations Investment Commit-tee. Prior to joining KKR, Navabwas with James D. WolfensohnIncorporated where he was in-volved in mergers and acquisi-tions as well as corporate financeadvisory work. From 1987 to1989, he was with Goldman,Sachs & Co. where he worked inthe Investment Banking Depart-ment. He received a BA withhonors, Phi Beta Kappa, from Co-lumbia College, and an MBAwith High Distinction, BakerScholar, Wolfe Award, from Har-vard Business School. In 2011,

Navab received the John JayAward for distinguished profes-sional achievement from Colum-bia College. In 2016, he wasawarded the Ellis Island Medalof Honor. Navab is actively in-volved in philanthropic, educa-tional, community, and nationalorganizations, serving as a mem-ber of the Board of Trustees atNew York-Presbyterian Hospital;a member of the Board of Direc-tors at The Robin Hood Founda-tion; a member of the Board ofVisitors at Columbia College; Co-Chair of the National Council ofAmerican Enterprise Institute(AEI); a member of the Board ofTrustees at The Buckley Schoolin New York; a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations; amember of the Board of Dean's

Advisors at Harvard BusinessSchool; Co-Chair of the NationalAdvisory Board at Youth I.N.C.(Improving Non-Profits for Chil-dren); and on the ExecutiveCommittee at The Hellenic Ini-tiative- a non-profit organizationsupporting economic renewal inGreece through philanthropy, en-trepreneurship, and economic in-vestment.

Navab spoke about his uniquebackground as a Hellenic-Iran-ian-American whose parents metin New York, moved to Iran,where the family lived for 14years, then left due to the IslamicRevolution, moving to Greece fortwo years before moving to theUnited States. Navab’s Greekmother, Tina was present at theevent, along with his wife, MaryKathryn, and daughter Arabella.His father, he mentioned, couldnot attend because he was in thehospital, but was doing fine andthe family was going to visit himafter the dinner.

After recounting the dramaticevents of his young life, Navabsaid that for someone who wit-nessed such dislocation, immi-gration is one of the greatestthings about the United States.He said “you can come with adream and still fulfill thatdream,” noting how his familyarrived with nothing and thoughhis father was a doctor, the fam-ily had to start all over again. Hisparents instilled values in himand his three siblings, to workhard and take advantage of theopportunities this country offers.The importance of education wasalso central to their upbringing.Navab gave his advice for success

in life. Rely on faith, value family,cultivate long-term friendships,embrace change, and give backto those in need, he said.

Michael Psaros, co-Founderand Managing Partner of KPSCapital Partners, LP, and HABAExecutive of the Year in 2014,presented the award to Navab,after he asked Navab’s motherto stand and receive a round ofapplause. Psaros noted that thevalues and value system Navab’sparents instilled in him are thevalues he carries to the officeevery day.

Senator Gianaris and NassauCounty DA Singas presented aproclamation in honor of Navabas well. HABA’s Vice PresidentRobert Savage gave the closingremarks. Among those in atten-dance were Consul General ofGreece in New York KonstantinosKoutras and his wife Popita, Con-sul of Greece Manos Koubarakis,New York State Senator MichaelGianaris, Nassau County DistrictAttorney Madeline Singas, As-semblymember Nicole Mallio-takis, Nicholas Melissinos fromGovernor Cuomo’s office, Dr.George Liakeas- President of theHellenic Medical Society of NewYork, Atlantic Bank President andChairman of the Hellenic Amer-ican Chamber of CommerceNancy Papaioannou, Capital Linkfounder, President and CEONicolas Bornozis, and the HABABoard of Directors including Pa-pacostas, Emmanuel Caravanos,James P. Gerkis, Costas Kellas,and Nick Lionas. John Gi-apoutzis, George Zapantis, andformer HABA President Peter A.Dedousis also attended.

By Demetris Tsakas

NEW YORK – The flags ofGreece and Pontus were raisedon May 19, and waved alongsidethe Stars and Stripes at BowlingGreen in Lower Manhattan forthe continuing struggle to recog-nize the Genocide of PontianHellenism. Representatives of theGreek-American community andPontian organizations attendedthe event and sent a clear mes-sage of resolve.

The commemoration of the98th anniversary of the Genocidewas organized by the Pan-Pon-tian Federation of the USA andCanada, the Pontic Associations,and the Holy Institution PanagiaSoumela.

Many Pontians of Americaand Canada attended as well asthe Consul General of Greece inNew York Konstantinos Koutras,Consul Manos Koubarakis, thePresident and Vice-President ofthe Hellenic Federation PetrosGalatoulas and Vasilios Gourne-los, respectively, the President ofthe Panthracian Union Orpheus-Ted Astrinidis, the veteran BasilTheodossakis, who heads theMemorial Committee for the

Holocaust of Asia Minor, LouKatsos, who represented AHEPAand the Hellenic AmericanChamber of Commerce, the for-mer president of the Pan-PontianFederation Elias Tsekerides, andother leading members of thecommunity.

After the flag raising cere-mony, the Greeks and theyounger generation of the Pon-tians sang the national anthems.

Federation President Konstan-tinos Tsilfidis, welcomed theguests and noted the presence of“The National Herald journalists,who with dedication report ourstruggle.”

“We are united here to renewthe promise that we will fight torestore historical truth, recognizethe Genocide, and pay tribute toits victims,” said Tsilfidis.

Ted Astrinidis, President ofthe Panthracian Union Orpheusreported that the Genocide of theChristian populations began in1908 with the Genocide of WestThrace and continued with theGenocide of Pontians and Ionia.

Pan-Pontian Youth PresidentMaria Kokkinidou noted that theyounger generation of the Pon-tians is determined to continue

the struggle for recognition ofthe Genocide.

Greetings were given by thePresident of the Federation ofHellenic Societies of GreaterNew York Petros Galatoulas, thePresident of the Holy InstitutionPanagia Soumela Dr. Charalam-bos Vasiliadis, the teacher VasilikiTsanaktsidou, the President ofthe Pontian Society Komninoi ofNew York Dimitris Molohidis andthe former President of the Pon-tus Pontic Association of Con-necticut Giorgos Tsilfidis.

The Greek Consul General inNew York, Konstantinos Koutras,referred to the message of thePresident of the Hellenic Repub-lic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, andpointed out that “We do not for-get this shameful crime againsthumanity.” Then he congratu-lated the organizers of the eventand urged them to fight unitedfor the common purpose.

The memorial events for the98th anniversary of the Genocidewere completed with a perfor-mance organized by the PontianSociety of Komninoi of New Yorkin collaboration with VasilikiTsanaktsidou at the Archdioce-san Cultural Center in Astoria.

Pontian Genocide Commemorated at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan

The flags of Greece, Pontus, and the U.S. were raised in a solemn ceremony at Bowling Greenin Lower Manhattan to commemorate the 98th anniversary of the Pontic Genocide.

tnh/costAs beJ

BILOXI, MS – The community ofthe Greek Holy Trinity OrthodoxChurch in Biloxi, MI celebrates its50th anniversary May 20 and 21at which His Eminence Metropol-itan Alexios is scheduled to makea speech at the Grand LuncheonBanquet. Other events include aGolden Gala Celebration, Hierar-chical Divine Liturgy, and anevent featuring Russian singersand dancers.

“Created to serve as a spiritualhome for military families servingtheir country at Keesler Air ForceBase, where many of the Ortho-dox families attended liturgy,” apress release noted, Holy Trinitywas founded in 1967. At thattime, Lt. Col. Father Michael Mar-gitich, an Orthodox Air Forcechaplain informed the Coast’sGreek Orthodox community thatthe US Air Force was about to de-molish a chapel and build a newone.

The chapel was rescued fromdemolition through persuadingthe contractor to give it to the Or-thodox community who paid forit to be transported in four sec-tions to a new location where ithas been ever since. The land wasdonated by Will Rich for thechurch which began as a missionchapel for Holy Trinity Greek Or-thodox Cathedral in New Orleans.Receiving its charter in 1983 fromthe Metropolis of Atlanta, Biloxi’sHoly Trinity was consecrated in2014 during Metropolitan Alex-ios’ visit to the Mississippi Coast.

Holy TrinityBiloxi 50thCelebrated

Alexander Navab Honored as HABA’s Executive of the Year

HABA President Fanny Trataros looks on as Michael Psarospresents the Executive of the Year Award for 2017 to honoreeAlexander Navab.

tnh/costAs beJ


n THRU JUNE 29WESTON, MA – The GreekLeague Basketball Games pre-sented by the Teddy KariotisFoundation andgreekboston.com. Enjoy a nightout with fellow Greeks of Bostonfor some fun competition! Gameswill be hosted at the SaintDemetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch, 57 Brown Street in We-ston. This season will featureteams from Arlington, Boston,Roslindale, Lexington, Norwoodand West Roxbury. Games areplayed every Wednesday night.The season will conclude onThursday, Jun. 29 with theChampionship Game! Want tojoin our next season? Get intouch right away as we are al-ready preparing our summer andfall seasons! Check out our Face-book Page: @thegreekleague-boston for news, pictures, scores,and sign up information! Moreinformation is available byphone: 781-237-5561.

n MAY 26-28NEW BRITAIN, CT – St. GeorgeGreek Orthodox Church, 301West Main Street in New Britain,located at the corner of W. Mainand Grove Hill; across from Lex-ington, holds its annual DionysosFestival. All activities indoors,free parking, and free to enter.Rain or shine. Homemade food,live music and dancing, youthethnic dance performances, raf-fle, tag sale, vendors, and loadsof dining area. Hours: Friday,May 26 from 11 AM to 11 PM,Saturday, May 27 from 11 AM toMidnight, and Sunday, May 28from noon to 10 PM. More infor-mation is available onlinehttps://www.nbstgeorge.com/festval or by phone: 860-229-0055.

NOVATO, CA – Nativity of ChristChurch holds the annual MarinCounty Greek Festival on Memo-rial Day weekend Friday, May 26

from noon to 10 PM, Saturday,May 27 and Sunday, May 28from 11 AM to 10 PM at 1110Highland Drive in Novato. Greekstyle lunch and dinner with dol-mades, tiropita, fasolada, sou-vlaki, loukaniko, baklava, galak-toboureko, and more! Music,dancing, cooking demos, chil-dren's activities, marketplace, ex-hibits, and church tours. Admis-sion for Adults: $5, Seniors: $4(55+), and Children 16 and un-der: free. Five percent of the fes-tival's net proceeds to benefit theCenter for Domestic Peace. Moreinformation is available online atnativityofchrist.org or by phone:415-883-1998.

ROSEVILLE, CA – St. Anna GreekOrthodox Church, 1001 StoneCanyon Drive, holds its 23rd An-nual Roseville Greek Food &Wine Festival on Memorial DayWeekend. Our mission is to shareGreek culture with the surround-ing community while bringingawareness of Orthodox Christian-ity and presenting a wonderfulweekend event for friends andfamilies. Hours: Friday, May 265-1010 PM, Saturday, May 27,Noon-10 PM, and Sunday, May28 Noon-8PM. Free parking andshuttle. $5 Admission, 12 and un-der free. More information isavailable online at saintanna.organd by phone: 916-772-9372.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – Holy Trin-ity Greek Orthodox Cathedral,1200 Robert E. Lee Blvd. in NewOrleans, holds its annual GreekFestival, 44 years strong! Featur-ing plenty of homemade tradi-tional Greek food and wine, aswell as amazing pastries anddesserts. Experience live tradi-tional Greek dancing, performedby the Hellenic Dancers. Relaxon the bayou and listen to ourlive Greek band, tour our beauti-ful Cathedral, get our annualposter, and visit our Greek gro-cery with delectable cheeses,dips, spices, and much more.More information is available on-line at greekfestnola.com and byphone: 504-282-0259.

n MAY 27ASTORIA – On Saturday, May 27at 8 PM, the Hellenic CulturalCenter, 27-09 Crescent Street inAstoria, presents Mou Aresei PouEimai Ellinas (I Like that I amGreek) Tasos Papaioannou playsand sings favorite songs and un-forgettable hits by the iconicsinger Dimitris Mitropanos witha talented team of singers andmusicians, creating a wonderfulmusical experience. The eventhonors the legacy of Mitropanoswho passed away five years ago.General Admission is $30 and Se-niors (65+) & Children: $25.Tickets are available online ath t t p : / / i - l i k e - t h a t - i - a m -greek.bpt.me/ or by phone: 646-339-0620. A wine and cheese re-ception takes place before theshow from 7:30 PM to 8 PM.

MAY 27-29NORTHRIDGE, CA – The 44thAnnual Valley Greek Festival atSaint Nicholas Greek OrthodoxChurch, 9501 Balboa Boulevard

in Northridge takes place onMemorial Day weekend, Satur-day, May 27, Sunday, May 28,and Monday, May 29 1-9PM eachday. The festival evokes thesights, sounds and tastes that de-fine the traditional Greek way oflife. Enjoy the hospitality of theValley’s Greek community andexperience the simple pleasuresof life in a Greek village. Admis-sion is $3 with free parking. Moreinformation is available online athttp://valleygreekfestival.com/and by phone: 818-886-4040.

n MAY 28MANCHESTER, NH – Assump-tion Greek Church in Manchesterholds its Annual Spring FlingDance. Put on your dancingshoes and come join us for our10th Annual Spring Dance, fea-turing music from Orfeas on Sun-day, May 28 at the Puritan Back-room Event Center, 245 HooksettRoad from 6 PM - 11:30 PM. Buf-fet, coffee and dessert with cashbar available, raffles, and silentauction. For more information,please contact the church officeat 623-2045. Reserve your ticketsby May 20. Advanced tickets are$45 for Adults, $20 for Childrenages 16 and under. Due to lim-ited seating capacity, there is noguarantee tickets will be avail-able at the door.

n MAY 31MANHATTAN – The Hellenic-American Cultural Foundationpresents Greece, Byzantium andPost-Byzantium at The Metropol-itan Museum of Art (MMA) onWednesday, May 31 at 7 PM atthe offices of Debevoise & Plimp-ton, 919 3rd Avenue in Manhat-tan. Dr. Helen C. Evans, the Maryand Michael Jaharis Curator forByzantine Art at MMA, will dis-cuss how the Byzantine and post-Byzantine centuries maintainedmany aspects of classical Greekculture and traditions, even as

Christianity replaced the gods ofGreek antiquity and ultimatelythe Ottoman Empire and othersoccupied much of its land. Dr.Evans oversees the Byzantine,Early Christian and Early Jewishcollections at The MetropolitanMuseum. A reception with Dr.Evans will follow the program.The program and reception arefree of charge, but due to build-ing security requirements, onlyregistered attendees will be ad-mitted to this event. No walk-inswill be permitted. RSVP via [email protected].

n JUNE 1MANHATTAN – The HellenicLawyers Association invites youto an Advising Clients on Em-ployment Law Matters CLE (Con-tinuing Legal Education) at Du-ane Morris, 1540 Broadway(entrance at 45 Street) in Man-hattan with guest speakers PeterMetis, Esq., Michael Tiliakos, Esq.and Michael Pappas, Esq. onThursday, Jun. 1 f6-8:30 PM.Please visit hlany.org for details.

n JUNE 1-4ARLINGTON, MA – St. Athana-sius The Great Greek OrthodoxChurch, 4 Appleton Street in Ar-lington holds its annual GreekFestival on June 1-4. Hours:Thursday 5-9 PM, Friday and Sat-urday 11 AM-10 PM, and Sunday11 AM - 8 PM. Greek foods, mu-sic, dancing, church tours, kidsgames, live music, shopping, andKafenio. More information isavailable online at www.arling-tonfestival.com/ and by phone:781-646-0705.

STAMFORD, CT – AnnunciationGreek Orthodox Church, 1230Newfield Avenue, presents EthosStamford Greek Festival with au-thentic Greek Food & Desserts -Rides - Games - Agora Market -Live Music by "The GrecianNights" - BMW Car Raffle - FreeAdmission and more! More in-formation is available online atannunciationofstamford.org andby phone: 203-322-2093.

n JUNE 2-3LOUISVILLE, KY – AssumptionGreek Orthodox Church, 930Ormsby Lane in Louisville holdsits Greekfest, Louisville’s one andonly Greek Festival, on FridayJun. 2 4-11PM and Saturday,Jun. 3 11 AM-11 PM. Greek food,dancing, Baklava workshops,church tours, vendors. Free ad-mission and parking with addi-tional parking available at ElksLodge & Lyndon Baptist Churchwith free shuttle service. Moreinformation is available online atglendi.us/ and by phone: 502-425-7775.

n NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events section isa complimentary service to theGreek American community. Allparishes, organizations and insti-tutions are encouraged to e-mailtheir information regarding theevent 3-4 weeks ahead of time,and no later than Monday of theweek before the event, to [email protected]

GOINGS ON...

the CIA Taught Me to Surviveand Thrive in Prison is Kiri-akou's memoir of his time inprison and is at once a criticaljournal of daily prison life anda commentary on the federalprison system. Kiriakou is acolumnist with Reader Sup-ported News. He was a CIA an-alyst and case officer, senior in-vestigator for the Senate ForeignRelations Committee, and coun-terterrorism consultant for ABCNews. He spoke with The Na-tional Herald about the book,the desperate need for prisonreform in the United States, hislife and family, and how the sup-port of the Greek communityhas helped him through toughtimes.

Kiriakou said, “I can’t tell youhow many people, other prison-ers told me ‘you have an audi-ence, you have to get our storyout there because people don’tknow what it’s like in prison.’ Iwas struck by a couple of things.I found the prison system to beracist, xenophobic, and mostdisturbingly, they treat mentalillness as a disciplinary problemrather than a medical problem.I had one cellmate who was ahomeless man living in a card-board box under a bridge inPittsburgh and he violated theterms of his federal probationon purpose so he could spendthe winter indoors. So he got tomy cell on the first day andthere were six of us in the celland he said, ‘guys I’ve got towarn you, I have severe mentalillness. When I’m on my med-ication I’m fine, when I go offmy medication I am absolutelyinsane and they’re not giving memy medication,’ and sureenough a week later he was araving lunatic and they took himto solitary confinement. Then,because he was a raving lunatic,they stripped him naked and puthim outside in single-degreetemperatures. For the first hour,he cursed them and screamedand shouted, then he cried, andthen curled up in a ball andpassed out. That’s not legal,that’s not a legal punishment,that’s not rehabilitation, it’s nottreatment, it’s just wrong…[and] it’s the rule and not theexception.”

He continued, “it’s worsewith private prisons because pri-vate prisons are for-profit enti-ties and where they save moneyfor the shareholders is on foodand medical care, and so youget food that is in many casesnot fit for human consumptionjust like the food was in ourprison and you get no medicalcare. In our prison, speaking offood, my very first day there Iwent to the cafeteria and sawthese boxes of fish and theywere marked on each box notfor human consumption, feeduse only, and that’s what theywere feeding us for lunch and itwas funny because my first fullday was a Friday and somebodysaid Fish Friday and I said ‘Oh,good, I like fish,’ and one of theguys said, ‘You’re not going tolike this fish, we call it sewertrout. Don’t eat the fish.’ That’swhen I saw it was animal feed.”

Kiriakou was determined toget his book written and pub-lished. He said, “One of the ad-ministrators made fun of meand he said ‘so I heard you’rewriting a book’ and I said ‘Yeah,I am.’ He laughed and said everyprisoner says he’s writing a bookand I said well how many ofyour prisoners’ first books made#5 on the Washington Post best-seller list? This book is going tobe published and it’s going tobe my revenge against you guys.So there it is.”

Of the support of the Greek-American community, he said,“there are a couple of importantpeople Nikos Mouyiaris andDennis Mehiel who have beengreat… my AHEPA chapter justhas been wonderful and Nikoand Dennis, Alexi Giannouliasthey have been so truly great,they’ve been anticipating it [thebook’s release] just as much asI have, I think.”

He added that “the wholeGreek-American communitywas very good to me, not evenGreek-American community, theGreek community… I madethree trips to Greece in 2015 towork on a new whistleblowerprotection law. Everybody’sbeen great and then here espe-cially between Nikos and Dennisand Alexi, and the Manatoses inWashington, I couldn’t haveasked for anything more.

“Metropolitan Savas of Pitts-burgh has been one of my greatchampions, he has been gener-ous and selfless, he visited mein prison, he talked about mycase, he circulated articles thatwere written about me. He’sbeen a real friend to me and it’snot just him, the diocese of Pitts-burgh… there are so many peo-ple from Pittsburgh, well fromWestern Pennsylvania which iswhere I’m from originally. Fr.Michael Kallaur came to see mea half a dozen times. The sup-port of the community was re-ally incredible.”

Of his family, Kiriakou said,

“they’re very well, thank God.It’s been a long road for all ofus. We moved back into ourhouse in July last year and mywife’s doing well, the kids aregreat. I have a lot to be thankfulfor.

“I will say I could not possi-bly have gotten through it with-out the support of my wife… Idon’t think I could have copedwithout her,” he noted.

“[The book] orders are solidand a second printing has beenordered. My first book sold thefirst week 647 copies which wasgood for #5 on the WashingtonPost bestsellers list. I’ve alreadysold out an edition of 2,000 andthe book didn’t come out untiltoday. So, I’m optimistic. Thingsare going well.

“On the day of my arrest mywife said you have to embracethis, you can’t hide from this,you’ve done nothing wrongyou’re a whistleblower and youhave to fight them and she wasright. Another thing she told mewas that I have to keep talkingabout it because eventuallythey’re going to move on to thenext victim which was EdwardSnowden. And she said if youkeep talking about it your sideof the story is going to be theside of record and she was right.It was good advice.”

When asked about the ques-tions the book raises, he notedthat, “our civil liberties are soimportant to me I would ratherface a terrorist attack than giveup our constitutional rights. Ireally would. I just got backfrom Germany last night and Iaddressed the German parlia-ment there and had lunch thenext day with the national se-curity advisor and the Germansand other Europeans are so faradvanced, so much farther ad-vanced than we are on these is-sues of whistleblowing and civilliberties and human rights.”

When asked about the back-lash after TNH interviewed himin prison, he said, “it was awful,they shook me down, threw allmy clothes on the floor, dumpedout my food on the floor, theythrew my pictures of my kids onthe floor and walked on them,because they were so angry Ihad done that interview.”

About the writing of thebook, Kiriakou said, “the bookwas handwritten because inprison there are no computersor typewriters. So this started offas 550 legal pages and I wouldsend them home every time Iwrite ten pages or so. I’d send acopy home and a copy to my at-torney because the cops whenthey would shake me down theywould take them and destroythem and then I’d have to re-construct those ten pages, soevery time I got to ten I wouldsend them out, just to protectthem and then once I got homeI gave the 550 pages to a collegestudent and I said just put it allin a word document and so shedid and sent it to me and I didthe editing and boiled it downto this [indicating book].”

He noted that while inprison, “I did buy a radio, wewere allowed these littleAM/FM radios, clear plastic,

and as soon as the sun wouldgo down I could get this Greekstation in Toronto and so at leastI could listen to Greek musicevery night. It was all classicstuff, Theodorakis, and Bithikot-sis, and Dalaras and all thoseguys.”

A celebration for multicultur-alism during his prison termgave Kiriakou the opportunity tospeak about his Greek heritage.“I gave this speech, they didn’twant to let me do it because Irefused to write the speech inadvance and give it to them forclearance. I said, ‘Listen I’m notgoing to disrupt your library, I’mnot going to disrupt your littleevent, I’m not going to clear mywords with you. I’m going to saywhat I want to say.’ So, I did itin the context of the history ofAHEPA and that as Greeks westood together with African-Americans to fight the clan, toensure human rights and civilliberties, beginning in the heartof it all Atlanta, GA, in the early1920s. And I said, we lived asslaves of the Turks for more 400years, so we knew what African-Americans were going throughand we knew that it was wrongand so we stood with them andthat’s why Archbishop Iakovosstood with Martin Luther Kingat Selma Bridge and I said that’swhat Greeks are. We createddemocracy and philosophy andmedicine, mathematics and hu-man rights. That’s what westand for.”

On the controversial meetingof President Donald Trump andRussian Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov, he observed that “noAmerican media were allowedin the Oval Office, only Russianmedia, only the Russian photog-rapher was allowed in, so all ofthe photos focus on Lavrovrather than on Trump and thenhe shared with them classifiedinformation without having itcleared by the CIA, apparentlyjeopardizing a liaison relation-

ship. If Obama were president,Trump would be charged withespionage for what he did. I cer-tainly was and I did less thanthat.”

When asked about the secu-rity situation now, Kiriakou said,“you know you hear thesealarmist predictions from the di-rector of National Intelligenceand I’m just not buying it. Wewere so ill-prepared for 9/11 it’slike we were asleep and now wehave utterly destroyed Al-Qaida,ISIS is not a threat to us domes-tically, and we’re relentless inour attacks on ISIS, the nation-alist and communist groups es-sentially don’t exist anymore soI think we’re better off now, Ireally do. But with that said,we’ve lost so many of our rights,

that you have to ask yourself isthe trade-off really worth it? Insome cases it is. In others, nonot at all. You know I don’t mindtaking my shoes off at the air-port, but I will be damned if Iturn over my laptop and phoneat the border and give the copsmy password. I’m not doing itand they can’t stop me fromcoming back into my own coun-try.”

About his upcoming projects,Kiriakou said “the truth is I’mnever going to work in Wash-ington again, it’s just not in thecards for me. But I think I founda second life in Los Angeles andso since I’ve been home I’ve soldtwo TV series to different net-works, one to the History chan-nel and one to AMC with somepretty heavy hitters. The Historychannel with Oliver Stone andAMC with Alec Baldwin, and I’mgoing back out to pitch a thirdseries and then my manager isvery confident that we’re goingto sell this book as a televisionseries.”

About Greece, he said, “we’regoing to go back this summer. Ilove it there so much. And evenAthens for all of its problems,unemployment, garbage, graf-fiti, pollution, overcrowding, it’sone of the most glorious placeson earth to me. You know, everytime, I even lived there for acouple of years, and I still neverget tired of looking at theParthenon, it makes me teary-eyed. Coming into Rhodes onthe boat, and just seeing themountains in the distance, ohmy gosh, it’s so beautiful.”

An event at the Strand Book-store for Kiriakou’s book tookplace on May 16 following ourinterview. The author read ex-cerpts from his book and thenhad a conversation with BrianRoss of ABC News. Kiriakou andRoss are good friends, and Rossnoted that he felt a bit respon-sible for Kiriakou’s situation fol-lowing their interview on the

use of torture. He asked whatthe next battleground will beand Kiriakou said the use ofdrones is the next battlegroundissue that has to be addressed.He also noted that the Republi-cans and Far Right do not havea monopoly on patriotism.

As a third-generation Demo-crat, he loves this country, andnoted that civil rights, civil lib-erties, and human rights are ofthe utmost importance. Afterthe lively conversation, Kiriakousigned copies of his book forthose in attendance.

He mentioned to TNH aboutupcoming book events in Wash-ington, Cincinnati, and Los An-geles. Kiriakou also mentionedthat his next book is due out inJune.

Kiriakou Talks to TNH about His Latest Book

Author John Kiriakou discussed his new book with Brian Ross of ABC News at the Strand inNew York City after his interview with The National Herald.


Author John Kiriakou read from his new book at the StrandBookstore in New York City.

tnh/eLeni sAkeLLis

tnh/eLeni sAkeLLis

By Eleni Sakellis

Roasted chicken is a classicdish for many cultures. In Greekcuisine, it is often flavored witha generous amount of oreganoand lemon juice and usually ac-companied by potatoes. In thespring, okra (bamyes) are inseason and make a fine side dishfor roasted chicken or othermeats. Stewed with tomatoes,they can be a vegetarian maincourse as well. Okra probablyoriginated in Africa and madetheir way throughout the Mid-dle East and into the Mediter-

ranean region. Thename bamya forthe plant is fromArabic and wasused by the Egyp-tians and Moors inthe 12th and 13thcenturies, accord-ing to Texas A&M’sAggie Horticulturearticle on okra.The plant is alsocalled gumbo, acorruption of thePortuguese cor-ruption of its WestAfrican name.Gumbo is also thefamous southernLouisiana stewwhich contains okra. Rich in di-etary fiber, vitamin C and vita-min K, okra also contain folate,thiamine, and magnesium. Therecipes that follow are the tra-ditional Greek ones. To reducethe mucilaginous texture, youngfrozen okra, preferably Greekones, should be used.

Roasted Chicken

• 1 whole organic chicken• 2-3 lemons• Dried oregano• Salt • Pepper• Olive oil (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.If your oven has a convectionroast feature, use it, but raisethe oven temperature to 400 de-grees since the convection fanmay lower the overall tempera-ture of your oven.

Rinse the chicken with coldwater and place breast side upin a roasting pan with spaceenough for the potatoes.Squeeze the lemons and drizzleover the top of the chicken andinto the cavity. Stuff the cavitywith one or two of the squeezedout lemon halves. If using, driz-zle with some olive oil. Sprinklewith salt, freshly ground pepperand oregano, preferably fromGreece, or your favoriteoregano-growing region. Roastthe chicken for 30 minutes oruntil the breast begins to lightly

color. Then, using a fork, or twoforks if the chicken is large, turnthe chicken breast side down,sprinkle with salt, pepper andoregano and continue roastinguntil the skin is golden brown,then turn the chicken again androast until the breast side isgolden brown. Remove the panfrom the oven and tent with foilto allow the chicken to rest 15-20 minutes before carving. Theresting time keeps the chickenmoist. If there are pan drippingsleft, drizzle them over the cutchicken pieces before serving.During the roasting process, you

may need to add about 1/4 cupof water to the pan in case itdries out to prevent burning.Serve the chicken with thestewed okra (bamyes).

Stewed Okra (BamyesYiannis)

• 1 large onion, diced• 1/4 cup Greek extra virgin

olive oil• 1 can (28 oz.) whole peeled

San Marzano tomatoes or 5-6 large fresh tomatoes,chopped

• Greek sea salt• Freshly ground pepper• 2 packages (15 oz. each)

frozen okra (bamyes)

In a large deep pot, heat theoil over medium high heat untilit shimmers. Add the dicedonion and a dash of salt andsauté until translucent. Then,add the chopped tomatoes, twocups of water, 1 teaspoon salt,and freshly ground pepper totaste. Bring the pot to a boil,then reduce heat to mediumand allow to simmer until thesauce is reduced slightly, forabout 20 minutes. Rinse theokra with cool water and addto the sauce. Simmer until theokra are cooked about 20 min-utes. Test for doneness and ad-just the seasoning, if needed.Serve warm with roastedchicken.

Roasted Chicken with Okra(Bamyes)

GREEK GASTRONOMYOUR EVERYDAY GREEK

By Dr. Dimitra Pontoporou

Let’s learn the adjective black together with the desktop vocab-ulary.

Greek word Pronunciation MeaningΟ μαύρος O MAvros black (masculine)Η μαύρη EE MAvri black (feminine) Το μαύρο TO MAvro black (neuter) Ο κατάμαυρος, -η, -ο O kaTAmavros, -i, -o totally blackΟ στυλός O stiLOS penΗ γραμμα EE TSAnta bag, school bag Το μολύβι TO moLEEvi pencilΟ πίνακας O PEEnakas boardΟ μαρκαδόρος O markaDOros markerΗ μπογιά EE boYIA paintΤο βιβλίο TO viVLEEO bookΤο τετράδιο TO teTRAdio notebookΤο θρανίο TO thraNEEo school deskΗ καρέκλα EE kaREkla chairΤο γραφείο TO graFEEo deskΓράφω GRAfo I write

Note that το γραφείο, desk, η γραμμή, the line, το γράμμα,letter, and η γραμματική, grammar, derive from the verb γράφω, Iwrite.

Adjectives agree in gender, number and case with the nounthey modify. The masculine adjectives’ endings in the cases are thesame as those of the masculine nouns ending in -ος: ο μαύρος στυ-λός. The feminine adjectives’ endings are the same as those of thefeminine nouns ending in -η. The neuter adjectives’ endings arethe same as those of the neuter nouns endings in -o: το μαύρο μο-λύβι.

Singular: Masculine Feminine NeuterNom.: ο μαύρ-ος στυλ-ός η μαύρ-η γραμμ-ή το μαύρ-ο μολύβ-ιGen.: του μαύρ-ου στυλ-ού της μαύρ-ης γραμμ-ής του μαύρ-ου μολυβ-ιούAcc.: το μαύρ-ο στυλ-ό τη μαύρ-η γραμμ-ή το μαύρ-ο μολύβ-ιVoc.: μαύρ-ε στυλ-έ μαύρ-η γραμμ-ή μαύρ-ο μολύβ-ι

Plural: Masculine Feminine NeuterNom.: οι μαύρ-οι στυλ-οί οι μαύρ-ες γραμμ-ές τα μαύρ-α μολύβ-ιαGen.: των μαύρ-ων στυλ-ών των μαύρ-ων γραμμ-ών των μαύρ-ων μολυβ-ιώνAcc.: τους μαύρ-ους στυλ-ούς τις μαύρ-ες γραμμ-ές τα μαύρ-α μολύβ-ιαVoc.: μαύρ-οι στυλ-οί μαύρ-ες γραμμ-ές μαύρ-α μολύβ-ια

EXERCISES

1. The word color, το χρώμα, is neuter in Greek. Therefore,when we talk about the color, we put the adjective in theneuter gender, singular, μαύρο, like in the given example:

Το χρώμα του πίνακα είναι μαύρο.Τα χρώμα των μολυβιών είναι μαύρο.1.1 Το χρώμα της γραμμής είναι …..1.2. Το χρώμα του μολυβιού είναι …..

1.3. Το χρώμα του στυλού είναι …..1.4. Το χρώμα της μπογιάς είναι …..

2. Put the adjectives ο μαύρος, -η, -ο or κατάμαυρος, -η, -οin the correct gender, nominative case, singular number, likein the given example:

Ο στυλός είναι …..Ο στυλός είναι μαύρος.2.1. Ο μαρκαδόρος είναι …..2.2. H μπογιά είναι …..2.3. Ο στυλός είναι κατά…..2.4. Το τετράδιο είναι κατά…..2.5. Το βιβλίο είναι κατά…..

3. Put the adjectives ο μαύρος, -η, -ο or κατάμαυρος, -η, -οin the correct gender, nominative case, and plural number.

3.1. Οι πίνακες είναι κατά…..3.2. Τα μολύβια είναι …..3.3. Οι στυλοί είναι …..3.4. Οι μαρκαδόροι είναι …..3.5. Τα θρανία είναι …..

4. Put the adjective μαύρος in the nominative case, singularor plural together with the correct article.

4.1. Μου αρέσει .. ….. μαρκαδόρος.4.2. Μου αρέσουν .. ….. μολύβια. 4.3. Μου αρέσει .. ….. στυλός.4.4. Μου αρέσουν .. ….. γραμμές.

5. Put the adjective ο μαύρος, -η, -ο in the correct gender,number and case.

5.1. Γράφω με τον …… στυλό.5.2. Γράφουμε με τον …... μαρκαδόρο.5.3. Γράφεις με το ….. μολύβι στο τετράδιο;5.4. Γράφεις με τον ….. στυλό στο βιβλίο;5.5. O ….. στυλός και το ….. μολύβι είναι πάνω στο γραφείο.5.6. Η ….. καρέκλα είναι στο ….. γραφείο.5.7. Ο …... μαρκαδόρος είναι μέσα στη …... τσάντα.5.8. Η ….. μπογιά είναι πάνω στο ….. θρανίο.

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.

Mαύρο Είναι tο Μολύβι, Black is the Pencil and the Pen

By Phyllis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

It’s hard to think aboutGreece without recalling theplace where the Acropolisstands, proudly, an eternal tes-tament to a glorious past, thebright, dry sunny weather, theclean, white houses along themain avenues and side streets,the sparkling clean windows inevery building. I can’t help butremember having tasted themost delicious fruit I’d evereaten; balconies studded withgreenery; people, nonchalantly,enjoying their coffee after thenoon siesta. From what I’dheard from friends, things havechanged, dramatically andmelancholia overcomes me.Then, I feel very fortunate tohave been there when it was in-nocently beautiful, enjoying thefriendships and gloriousweather, and lounge in an out-door café sipping frappe, with anonchalance I never quite re-peated in New Jersey.

Often, people will criticizeGreece for having the traditionalsiesta, a tradition necessary be-cause of the energy sappingheat, as it is in Mexico, Italy andother very sunny locales. I’dheard people complain abouttaxi drivers and lax store em-ployees when I‘ve found, truth-fully, it is no different here. Ihave to blame those criticismson people seeking superiority,an attempt to belittle “them”with “us!” I try to see the posi-tive – see beyond the flaws thatexist everywhere, recalling I’vehad awful experiences in Al-abama and Florida. But, I chalkit up to ignorance and unfortu-nate, brain shrunken people.They’re everywhere!

I find I still long for thegreenery of Vitina, Stemnitsa,the islands of Symi and Rhodes,the quaint Athenian neighbor-hoods of Ambelokipos and NeaIonia. Why would I take a taxiwhen riding the Metro was anenjoyable experience, where theplatforms were clean and taste-

ful music was piped throughoutevery car making me wish theride was longer? How excited Iwas getting off at Monastiraki,looking up at the cozy buildingsalong winding streets. I becamemesmerized in Plaka, whererows of little shops displayed akaleidoscope of artistic wares,paintings, and jewelry, imagin-ing a time when guitar strum-ming men sang nostalgic tunesfrom yesteryear in those verytaverns.

There, I experienced an innerpeace just sitting and having

coffee and a pita or a sweetwhile viewing the passing pa-rade of plain citizens, busily go-ing about their business, womenholding cloth shopping bags,heading for their daily shop-ping, trying to picture myself liv-ing there and doing the samething and wondering if I’d havebeen happier there or where Ilive.

The neighborhood cats, wiseto who is a tourist and who islocal, come for a handout whichI, invariably, succumb to and en-joy observing their cautious ex-

pressions, their wily ways. Beingan infamous cat lover, I canhave an entire conversationwith one of them just by watch-ing their every move and facialexpressions. Most of them tellme, “it’s a hard life.”

Thankfully, I have relativeswith whom I enjoyed visitingand who liked having me. Inever felt like an intruder orsomeone who has to be toler-ated until the visit was over.Thankfully, too, they lived incentral Athens where just sittingon the balcony afforded me awonderful view of people,strolling along as if nothing isso important that it can’t wait.Others rushed around as if themafia was after them. I sat andobserved, creating stories in myactive, scatter brained imagina-tion. I conversed with my rela-tives about politics without un-due irritation. Amazingly, myrelatives shared my very opin-ions. In me they find no one-sidedness, no demeaning opin-ions on the superiority of

America against Greece, no dis-play of imagined wealth or suc-cess from either side. I am withthem, I am like them, and I’mfor them. When the time cameto begin packing for the returnjourney, I try hard not be a wa-ter fountain of tears. I,staunchly, promise them we’llmeet again even though thatmay be just wishful thinking onmy part.

Then, when the taxi came totake me to the airport, I start tofeel anxious for home. I enjoyedmy visit but my thoughts be-come occupied with my familyat the airport in Newark. Curi-ously, I become anxious for thefamiliar, the faces of my kidsand grandkids, my husband andmy cat. I wonder if she missedme. (My cat.) I sure missed her.Back home once again, sittingin my patio, I take up a supermarket peach. That’s when mythoughts return to Greece, thelittle cafés and my relatives,more especially the lusciouspeaches (Yarmades) there.

GREEK AMERICAN STORIES

A Little Nostalgia


By Eleni Sakellis

ASTORIA – The Pancyprian As-sociation Cultural Division pre-sented the poetic monologueFarewell by Yannis Ritsos at thePancyprian Center in Astoriawith Phytos Stratis as GrigorisAfxentiou under the direction ofIoanna Katsarou. This yearmarks the 60th anniversary ofAfxentiou’s ultimate sacrificeand of the writing of the poem.

Ritsos wrote this poeticmonologue as a tribute to theBattle of Macheras, the outcomeof which was the death of Grig-oris Afxentiou, EOKA's second-in-command, and the pre-emi-nent hero of the struggle to ridCyprus of British colonial ruleand unite the island withGreece.

Entering the performancespace, the set design immedi-ately struck the audience assomething more than your av-erage theatrical experience. Thedark cave with dirt and treebranches strewn throughout thespace creates an immersive as-pect that brings the audience di-rectly into communion with Afx-entiou, as portrayed by thetalented Stratis. The smell of thedirt reminds one of a newly duggrave, adding to the visceralquality of the performance.

The poem, written in thesame month as Afxentiou's sac-rifice, reveals the hero’s ecstaticstate of mind during 10 hoursunder siege in his hideout as hemeditates on his life and on his

decision to die. It is shocking toconsider that during those 10hours fighting, wounded, inpain, Afxentiou must have con-sidered again and again givinghimself up, imagined living andreturning to his home and fam-ily, and yet he would not be de-flected by love of life and in-stead remained committed tohis own death.

O Apoheretismos (TheFarewell) is subtitled the LastHours of Grigoris Afxentiou inthe Burning Cave. The harrow-ing experience is shared withthe audience by Stratis as Afx-entiou as he struggles with hismortality and the devastatingfact that he wants to live. Only29 years old at the time of hisdeath, Afxentiou was full of life,a born leader of men recognizedby EOKA leader General Geor-

gios Grivas who promoted himto second in command. Stratisbrings Afxentiou to life vividlyand movingly. Performing thispoetic monologue, essentially aone-man show, is a difficult task,but Stratis proves more thanequal to it. His intensity neverwanes throughout the perfor-mance while the rhythm of hisvocal delivery conveys a well ofemotion as he speaks the linesfrom Ritsos’ iconic poem. On hisown, he holds the audience’s at-tention and brings them alongon his final journey with precisetiming and profound sensitivity.

Under Katsarou’s direction,the performance is well-pacedand striking, highlighted by thevisuals projected on the wall,music, and sound effects height-ening the theatrical experience.The intimate space of the cave

with all its suggestion and sym-bolism from ancient times andonward offers an impressivebackdrop for the imagination aswell as the important historicaltruth of Afxentiou’s heroic sac-rifice.

The video is incorporatedinto the performance seamlessly,giving the audience the histori-cal facts with stark images ofwar, the fighting men of EOKA,and then the beautiful sceneryof Cyprus that emphasizes whatAfxentiou, and so many others,fought and died for. The highquality of the entire productionimpressed many audience mem-bers.

The poignancy of Stratis’ por-trayal brought many to tears.The moment Afxentiou talksabout his mother was particu-larly moving, knowing that hewould never see her again inthis life. The audience gave astanding ovation at the conclu-sion of the performance.

Afxentiou’s heroic death willnever be forgotten, immortal-ized in Ritsos’ poem, which re-minds us of the tremendousspirit and humanity of the manwho embodied the ideals of Hel-lenism and sacrificed his life forfreedom and for Cyprus.

The Cast and Crew: GrigorisAfxentiou- Phytos Stratis, Direc-tor & Set Designer- Ioanna Kat-sarou, Video- Kyriakos Pishoftas,Graphic designer- Tharivol Pro-ductions, Music selection-Ioanna Katsarou, Production-Phytos Stratis.

THEATER REVIEW

A Powerful Performance of Ritsos’ The Farewell

Phytos Stratis as Grigoris Afxentiou in The Farewell.

OBITUARIES/CLASSIFIEDS/COMMUNITY8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 27 - JUNE 2, 2017

DEATH NOTICES

n DELYANNIS, HARRYLEONIDAS

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (from TheVirginian Pilot, published onMay 14) – Harry LeonidasDelyannis, 53, passed away onMay 12, 2017. Harry was bornin Washington, D.C. and haslived in Virginia Beach for mostof his life. Harry was a lovinghusband, father, son, brother,cousin, and friend who will bedeeply missed. He was theowner of HLD Landscaping, Inc.He was a member of the Annun-ciation Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral in Norfolk, and the PrincessAnne Country Club in VirginiaBeach. He was an avid sportsfan of the Washington Redskins,Capitals, Nationals, and theMaryland Terps. Survivors in-clude his loving wife of 14 years,Kelly Rae Delyannis, and theirfour children: Leonidas HarryDelyannis, Maria Anna Delyan-nis, Zoe Symeon Delyannis, andTeddy Harry Delyannis. Hismother, Georgia H. Delyannis,his brother, Theodore LeonidasDelyannis, his uncle, AlexanderPapademetriou, two cousins,Artemis McDonald, Spyro andKristen Papademetriou and theirfamilies. His in -laws, The Hon-orable Tony and Barbara Eber-wein, his Godson, ChristopherJohn Katsias, as well as ex-tended family members andgood friends. He was precededin death by his father, LeonidasHarry Delyannis. The funeralservice will be held in the An-nunciation Greek OrthodoxCathedral, 7220 Granby St, Nor-folk on Tuesday. Interment willfollow in the Eastern ShoreChapel Cemetery in VirginiaBeach. In lieu of flowers, memo-rial donations may be made tothe Annunciation Greek Ortho-dox Cathedral. Online condo-lences may be made to the fam-ily at hdoliver.com.

n HATZIGEORGIOU, ANASTASIA

FORT WAYNE, IN (from the D.O.McComb and Sons FuneralHome, published online on May19) – Anastasia (Raptis) Hatzi-georgiou, 56 of Fort Wayne,died peacefully on May 18,2017. Born on July 5, 1960 inFort Wayne, she attended SouthSide High School and workedat Friends Restaurant alongsideher husband. She was a memberof Holy Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch. Surviving are her hus-band, Nikolaos "Nikos" G. Hatzi-georgiou; a daughter, MarianthiHatzigeorgiou; a son, George"Yorgo" Hatzigeorgiou; fourbrothers: Chris (Kullie) Raptisof Chicago, IL., Kostantinos"Dino" (Kathy) Raptis, Spyros"Pete" Raptis, and Gregory(Heather) Raptis, all of FortWayne, a brother-in-law, Vasilis"Bill" Hatzigeorgiou of Thessa-loniki, Greece; eight nieces andnephews: Niko Raptis, Chris Jr.Raptis, Shannon Raptis, George(Stacy) Raptis, Christina(Michael) Raptis, Eleni (Sam)Raptis, Maria Hatzigeorgiou,Stella Hatzigeorgiou; 9 great-nieces and nephews: Zoe,Tommy, Alexander, Rowan,Lilith, Spyro, Lia, Yiani, Fox, ex-tended family throughout Amer-ica and Greece, and all herfriends from "Friends". She waspreceded in death by her par-ents George (2004) andAphrodite (1997) Raptis, in-laws George (1966) and Maria(2016) Hatzigeorgiou, and sis-ter-in-law Marianthi Hatzigeor-giou (1984). Burial will be inKrioneri, Greece. Donations maybe made to Holy Trinity GreekOrthodox Church.

n KAPAKOS, PANAYOTAPAPPAS

FT. LAUDERDALE, FL (fromLegacy.com, published on May15) – Panayota Pappas Kapakospassed away on Sunday, May14, 2017. Panayota was a resi-dent of Florida. Her viewing willbe on Wed. May 17 from6:30pm- 8:30pm with a Trisi-gion at 7:15pm at Barbara

Falowski Funeral Home 300 SW6th St. Ft. Lauderdale, FL33315. Funeral services will beThur. May 18 2017 at 10:00amheld at Saint Demetrios GreekOrthodox Church 815 NE 15thStreet Ft. Lauderdale, 33304.The family requests in lieu offlowers please send donationsto Saint Demetrios in her lovingmemory.

n PECHLIVANOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS O.

LINDENWOLD, NJ (from theCourier-Post, published on May9) – Konstantinos O. Pechli-vanoglou on May 5, 2017, Age71, known as Kosta by his familyand friends passed away in hishome in West Berlin after a bru-tal battle with cancer. He leaveshis wife Vlasia of 46 years, adaughter Jessica (Jaconski),Michael, his son, and fourgrandsons. After serving in theGreek navy he met his futurewife. They were married inGreece and shortly thereafter,accepted the invitation to immi-grate to the States. Since his ar-rival in the United States heworked diligently to provide forhis family, learning the restau-rant business from kitchenhelper to restaurant owner. .Friends and Family are invitedto a viewing on Wednesday May10, 2017 from 9 AM to 10:30PM at Danks-Hinski FuneralHome, 125 N. White Horse Pike,at Stone Rd. Funeral Service willfollow at St. Thomas Greek Or-thodox Church at11:30 AM, 615Mercer Street, Cherry Hill NJ.Interment will immediately fol-

low at Berlin Cemetery, 40Clementon Rd, Berlin NJ. Con-dolences at www.dankshinski-funeralhome.com.

n SOTIROPOULOU, MARIAEAST HARTFORD, CT (fromThe Hartford Courant, pub-lished on May 9) – Maria (Skiri-oti) Sotiropoulou, 88, of EastHartford, loving wife of 63 yearsof the late George Sotiropoulos,peacefully entered into eternalrest on Friday, May 5, 2017 withher caring daughter by her side.Born in Xios, Greece on Decem-ber 4, 1928, a daughter of thelate Konstantinos and Stella(Kaloudis) Skirioti, she hadbeen a resident of East Hartfordfor the past nine years. Mariaattended St. George Greek Or-thodox Cathedral in Hartfordwith her daughter, and loved tocook, crochet and knit sweaters,scarves, and afghans for familymembers and friends. Maria issurvived by her beloved daugh-ter, Konstantina "Dina" Sirigosof East Hartford with whom shemade her home; a son, MikeSotiropoulos and his wife Maryin Greece; a daughter, EffieStoumbou and her husbandGeorge in Greece; six cherishedgrandchildren, Angie Fragosaand her husband Martin of Glas-tonbury, Jim Sirigos and his wifeBrenda of Glastonbury, ToniaStoumbou and her fiancée PaulHananias, Xristina Jimas andher husband John, GeorgeSotiropoulos and his wifeXristina, Xristos Sotiropoulos allin Greece; five adored great-grandchildren, Tommy L.Williams, Jr., Georgia Sta-mataki, Effie Jimas, MariantaSotiropoulou, XrisanthiSotiropoulou; several nieces,nephews, and friends. Privatefuneral service and burial willbe held at the convenience ofthe family. There are no callinghours. The D'ESOPO-East Hart-ford Memorial Chapel, 30Carter Street, East Hartford hasbeen entrusted with the care ofthe funeral arrangements. Foron-line expressions of sympathyto the family please visitwww.desopo.com.

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:

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

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – The Stavros Niar-chos Foundation (SNF)launched its sustainability studyfor the implementation of thehistoric donation to St.Demetrios High School in Asto-ria. This donation, as The Na-tional Herald reported, is thelargest that has ever been madeto an educational institution ofthe Greek diaspora and is a con-tinuation of SNF’s previous do-nations to the high school whichexceed $2 million.

The sustainability study aimsto explore the potential and theproper way to operate the schoolso that the donation can be fullyutilized and perpetual progress

made.TNH reported that SNF re-

cently organized a roundtablediscussion with four companieswith experience in sustainabilitystudies for schools and other ed-ucational institutions, attendedby the Superintendent of St.Demetrios High School Anasta-sios Koularmanis.

Koularmanis informed themof the advanced programs, theperformance of the students, theplans for the management andthe school committee at presentand for the future. He also re-ferred to the recent $1 milliondonation made by the Schoolfounder and Board president,Nick Andriotis, the members ofthe school committee, and the

community leaders to upgradethe school system and improvethe provided education.

Andriotis’ donation, as TNHreported, will be devoted exclu-sively to the renovation of thePrimary School of the Commu-nity, which is located on Arch-bishop Iakovos Street (between23rd Avenue and Ditmars Boule-vard), across from the Churchof Sts. Catherine and George.

SNF, as pointed out by Dr.Stelios Vasilakis, Director of Pro-grams & Strategic Initiatives,awaits the proposals of the com-panies and in the coming dayswill proceed with the assign-ment of the project.

The SNF donation is in recog-nition of the need to preserve

the Greek language for the nextgenerations and of the importantrole of the School under Koular-manis’ and Andriotis’ leadership.

The aforementioned dona-tions have motivated the Schoolsteachers, students, and their par-ents as they anticipate the 12thgrade graduation ceremony inJune 9 at the Petros G. PatridesCultural Center.

The keynote speaker is EvyPoumpouras, security analystand former Secret Service agentwho had accompanied PresidentObama on many of his travelsthroughout the world. TNH haslearned that Poumpouras at-tended St. Demetrios in the 9thgrade and recently returned fora nostalgic visit.

DETROIT, MI (AP) – RockerChris Cornell, the lead singer ofthe bands Soundgarden and Au-dioslave, has died at age 52, andpolice said on May 18 that hisdeath is being investigated as apossible suicide. Cornell’s wifeVicky (née Karayiannis) is re-portedly in shock, according tothe Associated Press.

Cornell, who had been ontour, died May 17 night in De-troit, Cornell's representativeBrian Bumbery said in a state-ment to AP. Cornell had per-formed a concert withSoundgarden in Detroit thatnight.

Bumbery called the death"sudden and unexpected" andsaid his wife and family are inshock. The statement said thefamily would be working closelywith the medical examiner todetermine the cause and haveasked for privacy.

Through his wife’s influence,Cornell converted to the GreekOrthodox Church. The couplehad two children, a daughter,Toni, in 2004 and son, Christo-pher Nicholas, in 2005. Only amonth ago, Cornell, a dedicatedphilanthropist, had visitedGreece and met with mostlyAfghan refugees in the Elaionasrefugee camp in Athens, accord-ing to pagesix.com. The trip fol-lowed a London screening ofThe Promise, the film about theArmenian Genocide. Cornell, agood friend of producer Eric Es-railian, had written the film’smusic.

Detroit police spokesmanMichael Woody told AP on themorning of May 18 that hecould not release details aboutwhy police are investigating thedeath as a possible suicide, butnoted that there were "basicthings observed at the scene."

The Detroit Free Press re-ported that Detroit police social

media manager Dontae Free-man said Cornell was founddead in a hotel room at theMGM Grand Detroit hotel with"a band around his neck." TheDetroit News cited Freeman ina similar report.

But Woody told AP that hecould not confirm that Cornelldied with a band around hisneck and that the investigationinto his death continues.

Woody said Cornell's wifehad called a family friend andasked him to check on Cornell;the friend forced open a hotelroom door and found Cornellon the bathroom floor.

The Wayne County MedicalExaminer's office will make anofficial determination about thecause of death. An autopsy isbeing conducted, Wayne Countyspokeswoman Lisa Croff said.

News of Cornell's deathprompted scores of tweets ex-pressing sadness. Aerosmith gui-

tarist Joe Perry tweeted: "Verysad news about Chris Cornell to-day. A sad loss of a great talentto the world, his friends andfamily. Rest In Peace."

With his powerful, nearlyfour-octave vocal range, Cornellwas one of the leading voices ofthe 1990s grunge movementwith Soundgarden, whichemerged as one of the biggestbands out of Seattle's emergingmusic scene, joining the likes ofNirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice inChains.

Formed in 1984 by Cornell,guitarist Kim Thayil and bassistHiro Yamamoto, Soundgarden'sthird studio album, Badmo-torfinger, in 1991 spawned pop-ular singles Jesus Christ Pose,Rusty Cage, and Outshined thatreceived regular play on alter-native rock radio stations.

Cornell also collaboratedwith members of what wouldbecome Pearl Jam to form Tem-

ple of the Dog, which produceda self-titled album in 1991 intribute to friend Andrew Wood,former frontman of Mother LoveBone.

Three years later, Soundgar-den broke through on main-stream radio with the album Su-perunknown, which debuted atNo. 1 on the Billboard 200 andwas nominated for a Grammyfor Best Rock Record in 1995. Itincluded hit singles Spoonman,Fell on Black Days, Black HoleSun, My Wave, and The Day ITried to Live.

Soundgarden disbanded in1997 due to tensions in theband, and Cornell pursued asolo career. In 2001, he joinedAudioslave, a supergroup thatincluded former Rage Againstthe Machine members TomMorello, Brad Wilk and TimCommerford. The band releasedthree albums in six years andalso performed at a concertbilled as Cuba's first outdoorrock concert by an Americanband, though some Cubanartists have disputed that claim.

Audioslave disbanded in2007, but Cornell andSoundgarden reunited in 2010and released the band's sixthstudio album, King Animal in2012.

Cornell also released foursolo studio albums and a sololive album. He released the sin-gle The Promise in March oniTunes, with all proceeds goingto the International RescueCommittee, a global humanitar-ian aid, relief, and developmentnon-governmental organization.

In addition to his music, Cor-nell also became involved inphilanthropy and started theChris and Vicky Cornell Foun-dation to support children fac-ing challenges, including home-lessness, poverty, abuse andneglect.

SNF Sustainability Study Cites TNH on St. Demetrios

Rocker Chris Cornell, Dead at Age 52, Greek Wife in Shock

In Memoriam:Of your loved one

commemorate your loved one in the pages ofthe national herald. Announcements may betelephoned or e-mailed to the classified Department.

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According to his representative, rocker Chris Cornell, whogained fame as the lead singer of Soundgarden and later Au-dioslave, died Wednesday night in Detroit at age 52.

AP Photo/chris PizzeLLo, fiLe

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND –Saffie Rose Roussos was at theAriana Grande concert on May22 when a suicide bomber det-onated an explosive device –killing at least 22 and injuringdozens, the Associated Press re-ported. The Islamic State groupclaimed responsibility on May23 for the suicide bombing.

The eight-year-old girl wasconfirmed dead after becomingseparated from her mother andsister during the Manchester ter-ror attack, the Telegraph says.

The uncle of the girl, ChrisRoussos, informed the ForeignMinistry of the Republic ofCyprus that his niece is dead,according to ANA.

The above was reported byan official of the Cypriot ForeignMinistry’s Crisis ManagementCenter at ANA.

Saffie Rose Roussos died ofher injuries after a terrorist com-mitted the atrocity at the ArianaGrande concert on Mondaynight.

The headteacher at herschool, Chris Upton, told theGuardian: “Saffie was simply a

beautiful little girl in every as-pect of the word. She was lovedby everyone.”

The little girl was at the con-cert with her sister, Ashlee, andher mother, Lisa, along with

21,000 concert-goers. Motherand daughter are recovering inthe hospital from their injuries,the AP reported, but youngSaffie fell victim to the blast.

British authorities said the 8-year-old was among the 22 peo-ple killed in the Manchesterbombing. And an ambulance of-ficial says 12 children under theage of 16 were among 59 in-jured in the attack as people leftthe concert, as AP reported.

The suicide bomber blewhimself up as young concertgo-ers left the show by in the north-ern English city of Manchester,killing at least 22 people, somewearing the Grande’s trademarkkitten ears and holding pink bal-loons as they fled.

Teenage screams filled thearena just after the explosion,which also killed the attacker

and injured dozens. BritishPrime Minister Theresa Maysaid Manchester had fallen vic-tim to “a callous terrorist attack.

“We struggle to comprehendthe warped and twisted mindthat sees a room packed withyoung children not as a sceneto cherish but as an opportunityfor carnage,” she said.

Greater Manchester Policeannounced on May 23 that theyhad arrested a 23-year-old manin the south of the city in con-nection with the attack.

The attack sparked a night-long search for loved-ones —parents for the children theyhad accompanied or had beenwaiting to pick up, and friendsfor each other after groups werescattered by the blast. Twitterand Facebook were filled withappeals for the missing.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility for thebombing, which took place atthe end of the concert when theaudience was streaming towardthe exits. Witnesses said theysaw bolts and other bits ofmetal, indicating the bomb may

have contained shrapnel in-tended to maximize injuries.

Public transport shut down,and taxis offered to givestranded people free rideshome, while residents openedtheir homes to provide lodging.

The concert was attended bythousands of young music fansin northern England. Grande,who was not injured, tweetedhours later: “broken. from thebottom of my heart, I am so, sosorry. i don’t have words.”

May said authorities believethey have identified the at-tacker, but did not release thename. She said authorities weretrying to determine if he had anaccomplice.

Hayley Lunt was staying at ahotel nearby and had taken her10-year-old daughter Abigail toher first concert at ManchesterArena on May 22.

She said the explosions rangout as soon as Grande left thestage. “It was almost like theywaited for her to go.”

“We just ran as fast as wecould to get away from thatarea,” Lunt said. “What should

have been a superb evening isnow just horrible.”

The explosion struck near theexit around 10:30 PM as Grandewas ending the concert, part ofher Dangerous Woman Tour. Po-lice cars, bomb-disposal unitsand 60 ambulances raced to thescene as the scale of the carnagebecame clear. More than 400 of-ficers were deployed.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility. Support-ers of the extremist Islamic Stategroup, which holds territory inIraq’s Mosul and around its defacto capital in the Syrian cityof Raqqa, celebrated the blastonline.

President Donald Trump, inBethlehem, said the attackpreyed upon children and de-scribed those responsible as“evil losers.”

“This wicked ideology mustbe obliterated. And I mean com-pletely obliterated,” he added.

The terrorist attack is thedeadliest in Britain since foursuicide bombers killed 52 Lon-don commuters on subwaytrains and a bus in July, 2005.

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 27 - JUNE 2, 2017 9

Greek-Cypriot Girl among the Victims in Manchester Terror Attack

again. “I feel a strong willing-ness by all parties without ex-ception to reach an overalldeal,” he said. He didn’t say any-thing when it didn’t happen.

While hailing the recentprogress the Greek authoritieshave made to implement the re-forms and cuts demanded fromcreditors, Dijsselbloem said cer-tain issues still needed to be ad-

dressed. But time is running outfor Greece as without the rescueloans it would struggle to meeta big repayment hump in Julyof some €7 billion ($7.8 billion).

“We have made hugeprogress on the policy packageon which so much work hasbeen done,” Dijsselbloem said.“A lot of work has already beendone in Greece by the Greekgovernment and they are com-mitted to continue that work as

soon as possible so that we canwork towards that next dis-bursement before the summer.”

One of the stumbling blockswas a divergence of opinion be-tween the Eurozone and theIMF, which is not involved fi-nancially in Greece’s currentthree-year bailout programagreed in the summer of 2015.Getting the IMF involved is im-portant as Germany and TheNetherlands indicated that they

will refuse to lend more moneyto Greece without the Fund’sparticipation.

The IMF said Eurozone fore-casts underpinning the Greekbailout are too rosy and that thecountry as a result should getsubstantial debt relief so it canstart growing on a sustainablebasis.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

No Eurozone Debt Deal Leaves SYRIZA Reeling, Aim at June

This undated photo obtainedby the Press Associationshows Saffie Roussos, age 8,one of the victims of theterrorist attack atManchester Arena, which leftmore than a dozen dead.

TNH Staff

NICOSIA – Hoping to break alogjam over Cyprus’ again-col-lapsed unity talks, PresidentNicos Anastasiades said there’sno hope unless Turkey removesan army and an agreement ismade on how much propertystolen by Turks in an unlawful1974 invasion is returned.

That effectively blocked anymore negotiations for now withTurkish-Cypriot Mustafa Akinci,who wants all issues to be onthe table without separating outthe questions of Turkey’s35,000-strong army and returnof property at the same timeTurkey said it wants the right toinvade further when it wants.

Turkish Foreign MinisterMevlut Cavusoglu said in an in-terview that there would be nopeace deal without a Turkishtroop presence and TurkishPresident Recep Tayyip Erdoganearlier said the army would stay“forever,” putting Anastasiadesin the position of either agreeing– which many Cypriots wouldsee a near-traitorous – or walk-ing away.

Anastasiades also ruled outhalting exploratory oil and gasdrilling off the island’s southerncoast as demanded by Akinci asErdogan is ready to send an en-ergy vessel into Cypriot watersin search of oil and gas and ashe’s demanded a share of anyfinds by Cyprus, which has li-censed drilling to internationalcompanies, including an Amer-ican firm.

The talks, which havemarked some limited progressover the last two years, are nowat a standstill while both sidestry to set the terms for a finalsummit in Geneva, Switzerland.United Nations envoy EspenBarth Eide is expected to shuttlebetween the two sides in searchof a compromise formula pavingthe way for the summit after hisconstant predictions of an im-minent breakthrough were re-peatedly dashed.

Anastasiades said Akinci’sproposal to dive into a give-and-take process on all issues at thesummit would lead nowhere

and risk foisting responsibilityfor the failure on his shoulders.

“I can’t possibly accept some-thing that won’t lead anywherejust so there won’t be deadlock,”Anastasiades said in a televisedaddress.

He said he would be willingto stay in Geneva “as long as ittakes” to reach an overall peacedeal, if his proposal is accepted.

Anastasiades earlier briefedparty leaders about his proposaland then Cypriots about what’sreally been going on.

“The president’s proposalcould, if there is a positive re-sponse, lead to the desired re-

sult; so it is, if you will, the timeof truth, if we really want a set-tlement to the Cyprus problem,”government spokesman NikosChristodoulides said.

Opposition AKEL leader An-dros Kyprianou said the twoleaders had to work together ormiss what could be a last chanceto bring together the island splitby an unlawful Turkish invasionin 1974

“Negotiations are in phasewhere critical and important de-cisions will be taken. Either theycontinue with a view to reach-ing agreement or the talks willcompletely collapse with unpre-dictable consequences,” he said,the Cyprus Mail reported.

Kyprianou said Turkey’sthreats over the drilling hadriled the talks and Akinci keptinsisting on on unacceptable po-sitions, while Anastasiades, withone eye on the presidential elec-tions, was contradicting himselfinstead of working consistentlyand with total commitment to asolution.

“While the main responsibil-ity for the stagnation is the Turk-ish side. I take this opportunityto send a clear message to NicosAnastasiades and Mustafa Ak-inci: history will be unforgivingto those who did not act in thecritical moments. The story willnot be who had more or less re-sponsibility,” he said, as the talksstalled and hopes unraveledagain.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

By Eraklis Diamataris

MAY 22: On this day in 1963, leftistpolitician Grigoris Lambrakis was struckover the head with a club by two far-rightextremists and would succumb to hiswounds five days later at the age of 51.

Lambrakis was delivering a keynotespeech at an anti-war congregationin Thessaloniki when he exitedthe hotel lobby to cross thestreet and two men named Em-manouil Emmanouilidesand SpyrosGotzamanisatop a threew h e e l e dvehicle hitLambrakis inpassing across the head witha club in broad daylight notfar from an anti-war crowdthat was gathering in thestreet.

The two assassins were ar-rested because of the heroic ac-tions of a crowd bystandernamed Manolis Hatziapostolouwho leapt onto the vehicle andfought the two men and slowedthem down to the point wherepolice were able to catch up andarrest them.

Lambrakis’ death sparked apolitical crisis in Greece and his fu-neral became a mass demonstration againstthe government whom the public saw asdirectly responsible for the death of Lam-brakis.

Half a million people marched againstthe government and the monarchy and feltvindicated after Greek Gendarmerie com-mander, Konstantinos Mitsou a right win

sympathizer was implicated in the murder.The death of Lambrakis destabilized theGreek political system and incited such pub-lic outcry that Prime Minister KonstantinosKaramanlis fled in exile to Paris in July of1963. Lambrakis’ life was immortalized inVassilis Vassilikos book and subsequentmovie based on the book called “Z”.

MAY 24: On this day in 1975, outside ofLarisa In Abelonas, retired Greek central de-fender Giannis Goumas was born. Goumasbegan his career at Abeloniakos as a striker

where he was a clearly talented playerand stood apart from hisopponents and col-leagues at an early age.His impressive appear-

ances earned him the at-tention of AEK Athens and

Panathinaikos with the latterwinning his signature. Goumas became anicon for almost a generation at Panathi-naikos following Vasilis Daniil’s foresight togive him his debut against Levadiakos onApril 15, 1995. Goumas was known as acentral defender who was fearsome in airand approached clearing the defensive linewith tenacity, striking fear into the attack ofthe opposition and making them changetheir game plan.

In addition to his defensive qualitiesGoumas came up time and time again withimportant goals for the greens due to hispast experiences as a striker.

Giannis Gouams is one of the few pro-fessional footballers in Greece and indeedEurope to have spent his entire career withone club. From 1994 until 2009 when hewas a member of Panathinaikos he made277 league appearances scoring 27 goals inthe process, a high figure for a central de-fender.

His advanced age in 2009 prompted themanager of Panathinaikos at the time, HenkTen Cate, to notify Goumas he was not inthe plans of the team under the new coach.Goumas took a severance package of hiscontract and out of respect for his years ofservice to Panathinaikos as the club’s long-time captain and key player he didn’t suitup for another team and retired. In additionto his sterling club career where he wonthree league championships and two GreekCups, Goumas also played a big role for theGreek National Team.

Following his playing career Goumas hascontinued to involve himself with footballhaving managed AO Glyfadas, AO Pevkis,he was an assistant coach at Xanthi FC in2013-2014 and since the end of 2014 he isthe manager of Greece’s U19 National Team.Goumas was hailed as a loyal servant to oneof Greece’s most important clubs.

MAY 28: On this day in 585 BC, Greekphilosopher Thales of Miletus accurately pre-dicted a solar eclipse as told in Herodotus’“The Histories”. Provided that Herodotus’account is reliable Thales would’ve been theearliest recorded human to ever accuratelypredict an eclipse before it occurred.

Thales of Miletus lived in the Pre-Socraticphilosophy era in Asia Minor near what isnow known as Milet, Turkey but was thenAsia Minor. Thales was considered one ofthe seven Sages of Greece who were calledas such because of their lasting contributionafter their lives had ending in the late sevenand early 6th centuries.

Thales is widely regarded as one of thefirst people in Western civilization to refrainform using the traditional mythological sto-ries to explain what was not known and in-stead sought to learn what was not knownthrough scientific based philosophy.

This Week in Greek History

itors, temporary visitors forpleasure, temporary visitors forbusiness, and other nonimmi-grant classes of admission. Thispopulation accounts for 96.02percent of all nonimmigrant ad-missions at U.S. air and seaPOEs in FY16.

3.803 or 1.34% of other in-scope nonimmigrant classes ofadmissions admitted to theUnited States via air and seaPOEs for all countries (exclud-ing Canada and Mexico) wereGreeks.

The full report can be read on-line.

Greeks Are 3rd inOverstaying Visas

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci (R), U.N. Special Advisorof the Secretary-General Espen Barth Eide (C), and Head ofthe United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus ElizabethSpehar are seen during a meeting in the Turkish Cypriot break-away north part of Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, May 24.

PA b

y A

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Cyprus Unity Talks Deadlocked, Anastasiades

AP Photo/Petros kArADJiAs



EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 27 - JUNE 2, 2017

Ending the Lies aboutThe Greek Dictatorship

To the Editor:The Greek left has blamed

George Papadopoulos’ dictator-ship for everything including thesinking of the Titanic. But yourApril 29 editorial “The Cost ofJunta: 50 Years Later,”

went beyond all that. It blamed the dictatorship for

the rise to power of Andreas Pa-pandreou; seven whole years af-ter the fall of the dictatorshipand after Constantine Karaman-lis had won two elections andpresided over the fastest grow-ing economy in Europe.

By the way, when the leftiststalk of the dictatorship they callit junta, which is a Spanish wordand unknown to the Greeks. Itsounds bad and since peopledon’t know what it means, theycan add anything that suitsthem.

The Greek people, thefounders of democracy, do notdeserve dictatorships, but today

it is undeniable that they werebetter off overall under it thanunder leftist governments.

The sad truth is that we Mod-ern Greeks are uneducatedabout politics, economics, andthe realities of life in general.Our institutions have failed usmiserably and as a consequencewe have failed. It is not the dic-tatorship’s fault that a faulty sys-tem exists today whereby theprime minister of Greece has amajority in parliament with only23% of the votes. That is an in-sane system. We have met theenemy and it is our lack of edu-cation about life and livingness.It is time to confront that andturn over a new leaf.

Socialism and communismare failed ideologies, they don’twork. We need responsibledemocracy, not lies on top ofmore lies. The Polytechnic “up-rising” for instance, that broughtabout the “resistance fighters”group (see all leftists), did nottopple the dictatorship as is soldto the believers. It was used to

oust Papadopoulos and open thedoor to the demise of Cyprus.The incident did not bring aboutthe fall of the dictatorship. Theinvasion of Cyprus and loss ofthe 40% of the island did. Thecatastrophe in Cyprus was un-fortunately aided by the Poly-technic incident.

No more lies, truth is what ismissing from the Greek worldtoday.

Dr. Alexander AlemisPALOS HEIGHTS, IL

Dr. Alexander Alemis is the au-thor of Political Systems andtheir Relationship to Economicsand Freedom.

Kathimerini Shows TNH’sCritical Mission

Joseph Pulitzer said a newspaper should have no friends, butthat was in a time different from ours and didn’t take into accountthe needs of publications whose mission is centered around aspecial community, such as served by The National Herald.

And in this time of fierce competition between not just news-papers anymore, but the social media and digital world of blogsand vlogs and online news sources and commentary, it’s evenmore vital for TNH to keep its niche serving the Greek-Americancommunity and Diaspora audience that remains hungry for newsand features about where they live now, but also of Greece, es-pecially during its lingering economic crisis with so much despairamong its people.

So it was more than nice, and appreciated that Greece’s pres-tigious Kathimerini, a newspaper that stands out for its writingand objectivity, found TNH – and publisher Antonis H. Diamataris– a beacon for the Diaspora.

For 102 years the National Herald – now the only daily Greek-language newspaper operating outside Greece – has been thevoice and “Gospel” of the Diaspora, providing critical news aboutthe community but also from Greece, and pointed commentaryabout the mutual roles and as the paper of record.

Kathimerini featured that history and background and its sig-nificance in an interview with TNH’s publisher, who spoke ofHellenes, the Church, the need for closer cooperation with Greeceand politics, Greek-American political leaders, relations withTurkey and the Greek-American lobby.

The full-page interview included a photograph of TNH’s pub-lisher at his office in Long Island City, N.Y. as well as a sketch byKathimerini artist Titina Chalmatzi.

In the introductory note, Athanasios Ellis, who started hisjournalistic career at Ethnikos Kirix and now works forKathimerini, noted his acquaintance with Diamataris, his firstjournalistic steps at TNH, and the continuing history of the news-paper.

It was a good opportunity to share views between mutualpublications – TNH had shared an alliance with Kathimerini –and showcase important issues that links the Diaspora to thehomeland, such as the new provocations from Turkey, the role ofGreek-Americans in politics, the evolution of the Greek OrthodoxChurch in the US, the Greek-American lobby.

It also gave us a chance to show the dedication not only ofthe publisher, but the staff supporting his efforts in the US and inGreece, a team of people who share the vision of providing thenews and analysis that’s essential to our readers, both in printand with the still-changing world of online publications in aworld fraught with peril, terror and uncertainty.

TNH remains viable today because of its readers and an audi-ence which shares that need but I wouldn’t have been possiblewithout both the zeal and persistence of what the publisherbrought in taking a chance on first the newspaper and then sens-ing the changing needs and moving into the online world.

So we thank Kathimerini for the opportunity to be seen inthat newspaper, which, like ours, knows the importance morethan ever of publications whose mission is the truth: “The NationalHerald’s mission does not differ from that of others in the field ofinformation. But as it is issued in New York, its mission has amore general national significance: to act as the voice and con-science of the Omogeneia.”

Its role, our publisher added, is to “Contribute to the continu-ation of Hellenism in the USA, with emphasis on the preservationof language, culture, traditions, and religion. To fight for the de-fense of our national interests in this great and hospitable coun-try.

Our publisher summarized it best: “Not only has the newspa-per managed to survive, but is also going through, I think, thebest period of its long history. Perhaps because it treats the readerwith love, appreciation, and respect and follows the publishingphilosophy of the West’s newspapers – as far as possible – of ob-jective journalism and the separation of news from the commen-tary.

“The National Herald is identified with policies of the future,with policies that contribute to the promotion of the interests ofsociety and the nation. It supports politicians who the readermay temporarily dislike, but they are historically justified by theevents, making them even stronger.”

That’s the point.

What I See in a Pensioner’s FaceI see their faces in photographs and my soul aches.Greek pensioners in the rain, protesting against the new harsh

measures on which Parliament was voting, including pensioncuts.

He is about 75 years old. He is holding an umbrella, is rela-tively well dressed, white-haired, with swollen eyes and a large,manicured mustache, shouting against the measures. There is aweakness about him; he looks like a weak and unprotected bird.It is that “unprotected bird” image that tears me apart.

It is obvious that he cannot make ends meet. What will happen with the new cuts coming under the new

memorandum? I imagine him as a decent man, who worked throughout his

life, who raised a family and believed that his good years wereahead of him.

And suddenly, seven years ago, his entire world was turnedupside down; the tide turned. So, in his desperation – I assume –he grabs his umbrella and goes out in the rain to protest againstthe injustice that is being done.

I understand him. He could have been my grandfather. Ourgrandfather.

It is curious that tens of thousands of pensioners just like himdo not participate in the demonstrations, for having been robbedof their golden years, for having their children suffer, for beingdeprived of hope.

I dare to assume that perhaps it is because, he knew that thatsituation could not go too far.

What’s done is done. The question is what happens next?The lies must stop. A serious, bold, national economic recovery

program must be established by a government that will implementthe reforms that are needed within the first months of coming topower. In which the citizens will work hard and with under-standing.

It is the only way for Greece to enter a path of growth. Thereis no other solution, grandfather/protester. The quicker this hap-pens, the better for your children and grandchildren.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

Whether or not the record-breaking harsh treatment of Pres-ident Trump by so many forcesof opposition is justified is a mat-ter of opinion, and perhaps onethat can be answered more ob-jectively with the passage of time.But that the president – at leastto this point – is being treatedmore harshly certainly than anyof his modern-day predecessorssince President Nixon, and thisearly in his administration moreharshly than anyone since Presi-dent Tyler in the early 1840s, isplainly evident.

Recently, Trump declared asmuch, and was immediatelyridiculed by various segments ofhis detractors as being a whiner,a crybaby, and hypersensitive.They pointed to how the mediatreated President Obama andHillary Clinton as examples thatTrump has it rather easy by com-parison, or at least is no worseoff.

First, the similarities betweenTrump and Nixon, which I havebeen making for at least twoyears now, long before theJohnny-come-latelys caught on.My own comparison, however,has nothing to do with Trump fir-ing FBI director James Comey.Instead, I think Trump and Nixonare similar insofar in their pro-clivity to become skeptical, cyni-cal, and suspicious of others, andparticularly their deep distrust ofthe media. Whereas it tookSupreme Court subpoenas andensuing decades for the public tohear all the words of Nixon’s se-cret White House tape record-ings, which included proclama-tions that “the media is theenemy” of the people, Trumpmakes such claims publicly onTwitter without even giving thema second thought.

It is no secret that with no-table exceptions – such as the FoxNews Channel and conservativetalk radio – the majority of themainstream media leans left of

center as do theoverwhelming – yes,overwhelming – ma-jority of journalists.Accordingly, theytend to favor – attimes, overbearinglyso – Democraticpresidents. Not onlyJohn Kennedy –who among otherthings was a re-porter before enter-ing politics, and thuswas one of theirown – but also BillClinton and BarackObama, the latterreceiving exceptionally mildscrutiny from the press.

No one should blame or re-sent Obama for that. He’d haveto be crazy to complain about themedia treating him with near-adulation. What president wouldlook such an incredible gift horsein the mouth?

But Republican presidentshave a more difficult hurdle. Toenjoy any semblance of fair treat-ment by the media, they have tobe absolute gentlemen – as wasthe case of George W. Bush.Throughout his presidency, theyounger Bush was extra-kind andcourteous to the press, and inturn was still vilified by them, butto a lesser extent than Trump.Like Nixon and even more so,Trump antagonizes journalistsand even lures them into a mud-slinging social media brawl,thereby making the situationworse.

It brings to mind two greatAfrican-American heavyweightboxing champions, Jack Johnsonand Joe Louis, who reigned dur-ing eras when boxing was pre-dominantly a white man’s sport,and racism in the United Stateswas far more rampant than it istoday.

Louis won the title in 1937and held it through the 1940s.Realizing the difficulty of being

accepted by thewhite public, hewent above and be-yond in terms of be-ing humble, polite,and the consum-mate gentleman.Louis retired a pop-ular and belovedchampion., due inlarge part to hisBush-like measuredtone toward his de-tractors.

Johnson, on theother hand, whowon the title threedecades before

Louis, threw the racism back inthe white people’s faces. He pa-raded around with a white girl-friend on each arm, flauntingthem in public to taunt his haters.He was very Trump-like in thatfashion and, like Trump, itdoesn’t mean he was wrong, andit doesn’t mean his haters didn’tdeserve the taunting, but by do-ing so he – like Trump today –made life difficult for himself.

Next, there is the Democraticestablishment which, under-standably, is actively trying to dis-credit Trump’s presidency everychance they can, in order toweaken both him and the Repub-lican Party in the hopes of win-ning back Congress in 2018 andthe White House in 2020. Toblame them for doing so wouldbe to blame one sports team fromtrying to defeat the other. It’stheir job to win, and the propa-ganda they spew in order to doso is just part of politics. And it’snot as if the Republicans aren’tguilty of the same practice.

Academia and Hollywood,also traditionally overwhelminglyprogressive, are generally cold to-ward Republican presidents, andparticularly toward one who an-tagonizes them almost as muchas he does the media. There isnothing surprising, then, aboutdisdain toward Trump from com-

mentator Lawrence O’Donnell oractress Rosie O’Donnell – theydid the same to George W. Bushand would undoubtedly do thesame if the current presidentwere Paul Ryan or Lindsey Gra-ham. “And we thought we had itbad under Bush,” they’ll exclaim.Of course, they’ll say that whenthe next Republican presidenttakes office. As unthinkable as itmight seem now, one day they’llshout “if only Trump were presi-dent instead of” the current Re-publican. That’s how they roll.

What sets Trump apart fromevery other president, though, isthat he won the election withoutany help from any major compo-nent of the establishment: not theDemocrats, or the media, acade-mia, or Hollywood, but also notthe Republicans, or Wall Street,or even most of the conservativemedia. The National Review de-voted an entire issue to makingthe case against him. Ohio Gov-ernor John Kasich, whom Trumptrounced in the GOP presidentialprimaries, wouldn’t even attendthe Republican Convention,which was held in his state.House Speaker Paul Ryan would-n’t even join Trump at a rally inRyan’s home state of Wisconsin.The conservative newspapersthat typically endorse the Repub-lican candidate either switchedto Clinton or made no endorse-ment at all. Ultimately, Trump’snewspaper endorsements literallycould be counted on one hand.

So again, whether or notTrump deserves the harsh treat-ment is a matter of opinion. Butthat Trump has been treatedmore harshly than any presidentin recent memory – if not of alltime – is a matter of fact.

Constantinos E. Scaros' latestbook, Grumpy Old Party (aboutthe 2016 presidential election),is available for purchase on ama-zon.com and in bookstores na-tionwide.

Trump is Right: No One is Treated Worse Than Him

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by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

GeorGe sArAfoGLou / sPeciAL to the nAtionAL herALD

By George Matsoukas

“And afterward, I will pourout my Spirit on all people. Yoursons and daughters will proph-esy, your old men will dreamdreams, your young men willsee visions.” Joel 2:28

For the past seven years Ihave been passively involved,mostly listening and offeringsuggestions, based on my expe-riences as a development direc-tor in educational institutions,to a friend, another academictype, who had a terrific dreamfor his retirement and relocatingback to Greece.

Tom Amygdalitsis lived in theUnited States for 45 years. Hewas born in Glossa, Skopelosand left Greece with his familywhen he was 13 years old. Thefamily settled in the UnitedStates and Tom attended highschool, college, served in theArmed Forces, and had a profes-sional career in educational set-tings dealing with the transfor-mation caused by the computerand its application to learning.He retired from Georgia Perime-ter College after 25 years of ser-vice in 2013. He was the Super-visor of the InformationTechnology (IT) department.

His dream was to go back tohis island and develop a living,active, learning center for allages of islanders and to helpthem appreciate what the islandonce offered to sustain families.High Tech Tom never forgot thememories of his youth growingup in an idyllic setting in simplertimes. He wanted the older peo-ple to reintroduce the skills byhaving a space to talk to youngerpeople. He wanted individuals

still working in farming andherding to have a space wherethey could demonstrate theirworking skills and transmit theirhopes and dreams for the future.He wanted people who knewabout fabrics to demonstratetheir skills. How do you helppeople understand the conceptof sustainability as a means torevitalize their present social,economic situation?

On his own with his limitedresources and with little under-standing, by others, of what hewanted to do and accomplish,he set out to make his dreamconcrete. He rehabbed an oldpiece of family property sendingfunds back home, working longdistance with workers, untan-gling permit requirements andbureaucratic obstacles to makethe space what he wanted. Thisrehab project went on long dis-tance for at least 5 years. He de-veloped purpose, mission and vi-sion statements, a logo and awebsite, isporades.org, whichare the essence of the SporadesIslands Center for SustainableLife (SICSL)

“Our vision is to promote andincorporate our rich cultural tra-ditions into present progressivepractices the development ofwhich constitute a proposal fora sustainable life. Our proposalhas to do with the reconnectionof economic activity with nature,protection of the fragile environ-ment, and the rediscovery of tra-ditional occupations which todaycontinue to be evolving and pro-ductive. We believe that our pro-posal can be used to uplift ourcommunity’s quality of life.”

Tom had a few friends herein the United States along the

way, encouraging him and offer-ing their skill sets when theycould. We wanted him to stay fo-cused. When you oversee allthese moveable parts it is easyto lose your focus. Finally, threeyears ago he went back and nowis there serving as the full timedirector.

I visited the SICSL, last sum-mer, and seeing the building andthe programs up and runningwas amazing. This summer moreprograms will be presented.

Tom has found some amazinglocal island visionaries just likehimself with big dreams makingtheir dreams a reality. He haspartnered with them and has fea-tured them at the Center. Plumfarmer Thanasis Grypiotis isbuilding an amazing complex tomanufacture products developedfrom the three varieties of uniqueplums that grow on the Island.He has over 2,100 plum treesand will grow, dry, manufacturevarious products and ship themfrom the complex he is buildingin a magical setting overlookingthe sea. The complex will alsohouse a hotel for visitors. Grypi-otis’ vision for his complex alsooverwhelmed the students whocould not imagine him farmingand constructing the buildingswith stones from his land all atthe same time.

Tom was able to networkwith the Polytechnic Institute ofAgriculture in Kalamata andhave their faculty study the spe-cial nutritional properties of thisunique Sporadic Island plum. Ananalysis has been completed andmade public.

Goat farmer Spyros Gerakisis in full production with a mod-ern goat cheese complex which

is home to hundreds of theunique Skopelos goats. Hismyzithres are shipped all overGreece and beyond. Gerakis is adelightful, animated, and pas-sionate agricultural entrepre-neur. He delighted teenageAmerican and local island stu-dents with his talk about hiswork when we attended a work-shop at his farm.

John Boudalas is a third-gen-eration boat builder. His familyhas been building ships since the1870’s. Today, he uses the blue-prints his grandfather and fatherused to build ships but he buildsthem as good sized models. Theyare museum quality. Some arefor sale and others are not. For-mer President George H.W. Bushhas one of his model ships. Hehas displayed them and talkedabout them at the Center.

James Michener would callall four of these individuals whoare working within a crisis situ-ation, an economic meltdown,the Golden Men. They under-stand the movement goingaround them. They know fromdespair hope rises and from de-feat victory results.

To the 35-to-45-year-oldswho want to leave Greece, lookaround and create opportunity.You are the hope of the future.Do not rely on the government.Band together and make a neworder. You young men andwomen need to see a vision.These old men are living a dreamand making it happen. Work to-gether to make sustainablechange.

George Matsoukas is ExecutiveDirector of the OrthodoxChristian Laity.

Sporades Islands Center for Sustainable Life Skopelos

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 27 - JUNE 2, 2017 11

Even in one of Athens’busiest neighborhoods, Sundaymorning was peaceful, quiet, al-most devoid of the buzz of mo-torbikes, free from the dailynoise of everyday living, theway life used to be even in theUnited States not so many yearsago, once upon a time in Leave-it-to-Beaver- Land when therewas a different pace to life.

It’s still like that in Greece onSundays – except for the churchbells – a time to slow down,catch your breath, take a breakfrom the grind of work, espe-cially during a more than seven-year-long crisis that has wornout workers, pensioners, andthe poor with brutal austeritymeasures while the rich andpoliticians and tax cheats con-tinue to prosper, leaving it toothers to bear the burden.

Sunday openings in theUnited States were opposed –as they are still in Greece – onreligious grounds as well as bythose who felt people shouldhave one day to rest and wor-ship and not to have this dayfeel like any other.

But Greece’s owners, theQuartet of the European Union-European Central Bank-Euro-pean Stability Mechanism-Inter-national Monetary Fund, whohave put up 326 billion euros($364.14 billion) and de-manded big pay cuts, tax hikes,slashed pensions, worker firingsand privatizations, want to stripthe country of one of its mostprecious times too: Sundayserenity.

Stores in non-tourist areashad only been allowed to openeight Sundays a year but thedeal agreed to by the rulingLooney Left SYRIZA-led coali-

tion means a partialof full lifting of theban on other Sun-days.

Lifting the Sun-day store openingban would allowmerchants and re-tailers to open,should they want.Initial reports re-ferred only to“tourism” areas,with a looser defini-tion of what consti-tutes a tourist re-gion and anextension of thetourism season cited, Naftem-poriki said. Stores hours are al-ready fully deregulated intourism areas, such as well-known holiday islands.

Designated tourism regionsin the country are current de-fined by a presidential decreedating back to 1976, which thelenders said was far outdated.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprashad opposed Sunday openingsbut broke that vow as well,adding to his pile of renegingon anti-austerity promises,which has driven his popularitydown to around 10 percent inpolls.

Economy Minister Dimitri Pa-padimitriou, a New York acade-mic, said that “naturally we dis-agreed, but this is somethingthat occurs in most Europeancountries and America. We cansee this (lifting of the ban) as amodernization,” contradictinghimself and his party’s allegedprinciples.

So, having surrendered tothe lenders over more pensioncuts and taxing low-incomefamilies, it was a trifle for “The

Great Reneger”Tsipras to agree toimpose Sundayopenings on peo-ple who don’twant it, who wanta day off or to stayhome with theirfamilies – which iswhat he’ll be doingbecause you canbet he won’t bedown in the centerof Athens or at amall looking forshoes or under-wear.

The problemfor him is that the people hewants to suffocate with morework don’t want it. And so onSunday, May 8, more than 85percent of shops across Greeceremained closed, except intourist areas which are openlong hours to gouge unsuspect-ing visitors.

The data came from the Na-tional Confederation of GreekCommerce (ESEE) which op-poses Sunday openings, as domany workers.

ESEE President Vassilis Ko-rkidis said that the majority ofbusiness owners went alongwith the union’s call for a boy-cott of the plan and that pro-testers blocked people from get-ting into some retail chains thatopened.

“The most deafening re-sponse came from the absenceof consumers who turned theirback on those who deliberatelyannounced that shops would beopen on Sunday across Greece,”Korkidis said, Kathimerini re-ported.

Hundreds of people in Athensprotested in a rally held by the

Communist Party-affiliatedunion PAME and groups repre-senting small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

Extending Sunday trading isone of a list of demands byGreece’s lenders, and must beapproved by Parliament. Shopsare currently compelled to openon the first Sunday of everymonth. The reform would raisethe number of Sundays from 12times a year to 30.

Greece’s OIYE federation ofprivate sector workers has calledon employees in the retail sectorto strike against Sunday’s open-ing of shops and supermarketsand refuse to work.

Smaller businesses say itraises their operating costs andbenefits large chains and multi-nationals, while labor unionsclaim it undercuts workers’rights.

“So long as the governmentfails to live to its promise forabolishing Sunday operation, sothe workers and unions in retailcommerce will continue mobi-lizing, resisting and striking,”the federation said.

There’s a lot more to do onSunday than shop: take yourfamily to the zoo, lie under a treeon a blanket and read a book,go to a museum or the beach ora park, take a walk in the woods,ruminate, reminisce, sit on abench with a friend and talkabout old times, visit a friend ora family member, browse an an-tique fair or flea market, writein a journal, lie on the couch andread the Sunday newspaper,have a long, slow cup of coffeeinstead of one on the run. EvenGod rested this day.

[email protected]

President Trump’s electionmay very well have the unin-tended consequence of makingChina the most powerful coun-try in the world. In the earlyhours of his presidency, DonaldTrump fulfilled his campaignpromise to withdraw from theTrans Pacific Partnership (TPP).One can quibble over details ofwhich American economic sec-tors would have won or lost un-der the TPP; no one can doubtthat America’s withdrawal froman agreement was a win forChina.

The United States designedthe agreement to bind elevenPacific countries firmly to the itand obstruct China’s economicdomination of the region. Theother countries party to the TPPleft no doubt that they saw it asa counterweight to China’s Re-gional Comprehensive Eco-nomic Partnership (RCEP) in-volving 16 other countries. Nowwe have pulled the only alter-native to the RCEP out from un-der them.

To rub salt in our self-createdwound, Chinese President XImade it clear at the World Eco-nomic Forum the followingweek that China would replaceAmerica as the champion ofworld trade and globalization.We just made staying out ofChina’s orbit a lot harder for ourallies.

In recent news, China has ac-celerated investment in Greeklogistic facilities (ports, airportsand railroads) for its “One RoadOne Belt” (OROB) strategy. Thevast majority of Americans nei-ther know nor apparently carethat China is implementing anenormously ambitious project todominate trade with Europe bybuilding a huge network of railand road across Central Asiaand Russia to Europe comple-mented by equally huge invest-ments in maritime logistics uti-lizing Greece as its principalbridgehead into Europe. Oncecompleted, OROB will make EUtrade with China cheaper thanwith the US (a problem exacer-bated by GOP refusal to fundAmerican infrastructure,Trump’s rhetoric notwithstand-ing). America’s 20th centuryworld dominance was built onthe foundations of 19th centuryAmerican trade advantages.China reads history better thanwe do.

Trump appearsto have quietly putaside campaignpromises to declareChina a currencymanipulator andother campaignpromises to stopChina’s “rape” ofAmerica. On thepolitical front, hebriefly ventured,unscripted, into up-ending our “oneChina” policy, therecognition thatTaiwan is part ofChina. A monthlater the president humiliatedour country by reversing him-self. Obama’s failure to act onhis ill-considered “red line”statements in Syria pales bycomparison to the American lossof face with China. By escalatingthe confrontation with NorthKorea, the president madeChina the go-to power broker inresolving a crisis that could leadto nuclear war. Threats tolaunch a war that would griev-ously harm Japan and South Ko-rea, our two key Pacific allies,make no sense; we can only begChina to pressure North Koreathrough its monopoly of the lat-ter’s vital energy trade.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, ourallies are discovering that theUnited States lacks the powerto defend their interests againstChina. Philippine PresidentDuterte told the press on May19th that China’s leader had

threatened war ifthe Philippines ex-ercised its right, le-gitimized by the In-ternational Courtof Justice, to drillfor oil in the SouthChina Sea. Adecade ago, a UScarrier battlegroupwould have ap-peared on thescene (and not got-ten lost steamingthe wrong way).Now an ally nolonger thinks ofasking for help.

Spending more on defense doesnot change the equation any-more. We already spend threetimes as much as China but thenumber is meaningless. Chinaspends enough to make U.S.military intervention into itshome turf unthinkable.

The Trump Administrationlacks an overall foreign policystrategy toward China. Lackinga strategy, we react to criseswithout plans or vision. With-drawing from the TPP withouta plan telegraphed that omissionto capitals all over the Pacific.The White House has exacer-bated our problems by emascu-lating American diplomacy andfailing to fill key foreign policypositions. The Chinese have astrategy, carefully planned andsystematically implemented.China leads with so-called “soft”economic power and eschewsmilitary threats except when it

knows it has overwhelming ad-vantage. Economic power andtrade may look “soft,” but, in theend, it extends political controlover trading partners more ef-fectively than the proverbial car-rier battle group.

The current contretempswith Russia does not help but,even without this distraction,our lack of policy allows Chinato make inroads all over theworld. The EU, distracted byBrexit, rigid fiscal policies anddealing with Russia, missed theboat formulating a response toChina’s inroads in Greece.Trump made matters worse bydeclaring NATO obsolete andcheerleading for Brexit and anti-EU European politicians andthen inducing whiplash by re-versing those policies. He treatsthe relationship with China as aone-on-one duel between thetwo countries, ignoring how itfits into larger American inter-ests. This clears the field for Bei-jing to exercise economic impe-rialism with impunity.

Trump gets no help from hisinner circle. Trump groupiescling to the fantasy that uncer-tainty substitutes for foreign pol-icy. Bannon et. al., believe thatthe United States can return toan isolationism that never reallyexisted guaranteed by militaryforce. Trump’s Wall Street cabi-net sees the world in purely fi-nancial term: measured by therise and fall of the stock andbond markets, happily obliviousto the hard things in life. Therest of the establishment GOP,drawing the wrong lessons fromthe collapse of the USSR, has apathetic faith that untrammeledfree markets always triumphover the guy with Plan.

When we still taught history,we learned that for Britain“trade followed the flag” whilefor America “the flag followedtrade.” China reads history; doesignoring it doom us?

The Hon. Ambassador Theros ispresident of the U.S.-QatarBusiness Council. He served inthe U.S. Foreign Service for 36years, mostly in the MiddleEast, and was American Ambas-sador to Qatar from 1995 to1998. He also directed the StateDepartment’s Counter-Terrorism Office, and holds nu-merous U.S. Government deco-rations.

Trump Will Make China Great Again

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Greek Businesses, Workers Still Say Never on Sunday

by ANDYDABILIS


One week afterthe presidentialelection, I called forthe removal ofJames Comey ashead of the FBI. Hisdiscussion of an on-going investigationof Hilary Clinton’se-mail was totallyunacceptable andprofessionally irre-sponsible. OutgoingPresident Obamadid not have thecourage to fireComey, and Trump,sometimes pro-Comey, sometimes anti-Comey,did not dismiss him when he as-sumed office. That Comey finallyhas been booted out does nottrouble me.

What is troubling is when,how, and why Trump got aroundto this task. Comey states thatwhen he went to the WhiteHouse asking for more money tospeed the FBI’s investigation ofRussian interference in the pres-idential election, he was askedto “quash” the investigation ofMichael Flynn. Such a requestfrom a sitting president couldconstitute an attempted obstruc-tion of justice, an impeachableoffense. Trump himself has ad-mitted that he asked Comey onthree separate occasions to as-sure him that he was not underpersonal investigation.

Trump clouded his dismissalof Comey by hastily announcingit publicly before informingComey. That the president senthis intimidating personal body-guard to deliver the dismissal let-ter was ominous as Trump laterthreatened severe retaliation ifComey exposed any records hehad of their interactions.

The usually media-savvyTrump further blundered bymeeting with the Russian ambas-sador the day he was firing theman leading the investigation ofwhat Trump refers to as “theRussian thing.” His blunder wascompounded by excluding allAmerican media while allowing

Russian media to be present. A few days later the New York

Times reported highly classifiednational security data had beengiven to the Russians, a chargedenied by the Trump Adminis-tration. Had the American pressbeen present, there would be lit-tle or no controversy regardingnational security. Since then, al-lies such as Israel and even ourown national security agencieshave expressed reluctance aboutforwarding sensitive materials toTrump out of fear his carelessuse of their data might compro-mise their sources.

These startling events havespotlighted the question of howseriously Russia interfered in thelast election and whether Trumpand/or his associates cooperatedwith them. Again, Trump has notmade things easier for himself.At one point, he boasted of hispersonal friendship with Putinbut later stated he had never metPutin. He insists he has no per-sonal investments in Russia butwill not release his income taxrecords which might indicateotherwise. His business partnershave documented ties.

At least fourteen Trump asso-ciates, including Trump familymembers, are under scrutiny fortheir contacts with the Russiangovernment and Russian oli-garchs. Among these are MichaelFlynn, Paul Manafort, JaredKushner (son-in-law), Rex Tiller-son (Sec. of State), Carter Page,Roger Stone, Wilbur Ross (Sec.of Commerce), Felix Sater, and

Jeff Sessions (Attor-ney General). Manyhave shares or part-nerships in petro-leum, banking, andreal estate venturesowned by Russianoligarchs, includingholding companieswith which Putin isdirectly connected.Details about thesecontacts are avail-able in Politico(March/April 2017)and the WashingtonPost (May 2).

Michael Flynn,fired as Trump’s National Secu-rity Advisor after twenty-fourdays, has admitted receiving$10,000 for an appearance onRussian television. He is willingto testify to Congressional com-mittees on other Russian con-tacts if he is given immunity fromprosecution. Flynn also advo-cated anti-Kurdish actions toTrump when he was a then-un-registered paid lobbyist forTurkey.

Paul Manafort, Trump’s cam-paign manager through last July,has similar dubious entangle-ments with Russian oligarchsand security officials. He alsowas a lavishly paid financial ad-visor to Dimitry Firtash, aUkrainian oligarch facing crimi-nal charges in several nations.

Recently, the Trump Admin-istration rescinded previous de-nials of any contacts with Russ-ian officials during the finalseven months of the presidentialcampaign. Trump now admitsthere were at least eighteen suchcontacts, many of them involvingFlynn.

The Justice Department seeksto unravel the Russian spiderweb by appointing the highly re-spected Robert Mueller to serveas special counsel to FBI investi-gators. Mueller is a former direc-tor of the FBI (2001-20013),noted for his rigorous attentionto detail and the rule of law. Hisappointment was supported bythe leadership of both parties.

With fresh data being re-vealed daily, by the time this col-umn appears even more detailsabout Russian tampering inAmerican elections may come tolight. In any case, the FBI and itsspecial counsel are mandated tolearn exactly how the Russianstried to influence the past elec-tion and why. Did any Americansconspire with them in somemanner? If so, was the motivepersonal economic gain? Anyconspiring with a foreign powerto shape an American govern-ment or shape economic policyis an act of treason.

The Trump presidency is nowin a volatile moment. The presi-dent could withstand the shameof one or two advisors having de-ceived him, but his clout wouldbe greatly curbed by such poorpolitical judgments. If Trump isshown to have created a generalambiance that encouraged collu-sion with the Russians, he wouldhave to resign. If he was awareof specific election tamperingschemes and/or sought personalgains by use of his office, im-peachment proceedings would bein order. On the other hand, aninvestigation that absolves Trumpand associates of wrongdoingwould provide the president withconsiderable political capital touse to advance his agenda.

Prof. Georgakas is Director ofthe Greek American Studies Pro-ject at Queens College – CUNYand Consulting Editor ofCINEASTE magazine.

Trump and “The RussianThing” Examined

by PROF. DANGEORGAKAS


James Comey, former head of the FBI.

by AMB. PATRICK N.THEROS


AP Photo

In this April 6, 2017 photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping, left,smiles at U.S. President Donald Trump as they pose together forphotographers before dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL.

AP Photo/ALex brAnDon

12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 27 - JUNE 2, 2017

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