The National Herald - Amazon S3 · they are seeing, says Dr. Gary Vikan, Director of the Walters...
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The National Herald A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION October 23-29, 2010 www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 14, ISSUE 680 $1.50 c v Bringing the news to generations of Greek Americans O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 By Constantine S. Sirigos TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK – Faithful Christians believe – or hope – they are be- ing watched over by God, and that Jesus will too. But who do they see when they look at his image? With some icons, it de- pends on which side of his face they are seeing, says Dr. Gary Vikan, Director of the Walters Art Museum of Baltimore, who talked about the visage of Christ as part of a provocative two-day conference at the Rubin Musem of Art to mark the opening of its fascinating exhibition Embody- ing the Holy: Icons in Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Ti- betan Buddhism. Particularly ap- pealing was his talk Icons and the Brain – Neuroscience and the Icon Experience, which dis- cussed the Look of Jesus. The exhibition, which opened October 5 and will remain on view through March 7, 2011 ex- amines the intriguing correspon- dences and differences between Eastern Orthodox icons and Ti- betan Buddhist religious art. Eastern Orthodox icons and Ti- betan Buddhist thangkas (paint- ings on cloth) predominate among the almost 100 works on display. Each of them seemed to glow in deep rich colors beauti- fully arranged and unencum- bered by the usual labels on art museums – the items were fully described in the guide available to all. Byzantine and Buddhist icons, especially the ancient ones, are usually anonymous, but a case can be made that the creators of the icon masterpieces of the Byzantine and Buddhist traditions were no less brilliant than the great renaissance mas- ters. An explanation of the power of these images to seize and transfix viewers is welcome, and was offered by Vikan. His presentation made a strong case for adding psychological if not neurological insight to the list of qualities that make a great painter. Vikan said he believes that icons evoke a dialogue between image and viewer that is respon- sible for their spiritual power. He prepared the audience by speak- ing of the “expectant eye,” a term which describes the per- sonal, emotional and the social and cultural framework we bring to our visual encounters. He ex- plores the contribution a viewer’s mind makes to the experience of any image, including icons. Vikan told of “Mental image icons” and “icons without icons” those “visual impressions en- countered in dreams and waking visions and conjured up from chance visual stimuli offered by nature.” He cited a 15th Century description of a marble slab on the walls of the Aghia Sophia in For subscription: 718.784.5255 [email protected] By Constantine S. Sirigos and Andy Dabilis TNH Staff Writers As mid-term election cam- paigns enter the home stretch in the final days before voters make their choices on Nov. 2, Greek Americans have their eyes especially attuned to three key races where they hope the com- munity can pick up a couple of some of the most coveted seats in politics – the United States Senate – as well as the key fi- nancial officer for New York State. Perhaps the most closely- watched battle is in Illinois, where the Senate seat held by current President Barack Obama seems a toss-up between Demo- crat Alexi Giannoulias, the State Treasurer, and Republican chal- lenger Congressman Mark Kirk, who has engaged in pitched at- tacks they’ve mounted on each other. In Florida, Governor Charlie Crist, who bolted the Re- publican Party to run as an In- dependent, is going up against Democratic Congressman Kendrick Meek and the GOP’s nominee, Mark Rubio, in three- way political warfare. But while those races are the glamour fights, one of the most critical, at a state level, is in New York, where surging Greek American candidate Harry Wil- son, 38, a Republican former Wall Street trader who made a fortune before stepping into the political ring, is trying to wrest the State Comptroller’s seat from Democrat Thomas Di- Napoli, in a campaign that, like the tense fight between Gian- noulias and Kirk, has had some intense exchanges and charges flying back and forth. Wilson and his wife, Harry and Eva Ro- mas Wilson have poured a lot of their own money into his campaign for the job of holding New York’s purse strings. He has also raised a lot of money from donors who believe in the Greek American candidate, including Greek and Cypriot Americans. When he is asked “why” he is spending so much of his own money he quickly responds it’s because he wants “this once in a generation opportunity to fix this state.” The higher-profile Senate contests may have gar- nered most of the attention, but Wilson, who had been trailing in polls, has been showing an uptick, especially after DiNapoli was accused in the media of some dirty politics. Wilson takes a very serious tone when he goes into details about New York State and Albany, its capi- tal. Wilson said he could turn around debt-burdened New York State just as he helped save General Motors as part of a task force last year. “Our state is in the early stages of a massive fiscal crisis and our political leaders don’t really understand it, or have the capabilities for dealing with it. I’ve spent my career fixing bro- ken companies, most recently GM and I think that exactly the Wilson, Giannoulias and Crist Hit the Home Stretch in High Gear By Theodore Kalmoukos TNH Staff Writer BOSTON - Merkourios or “Mike” Angeliades as he is widely known, started the jour- ney of his life in the small but beautiful island of Simi in Do- decanese. He came to the United States dreaming of its opportunities for those not afraid to work and he realized the American dream. Angeliades became one of the most promi- nent businessmen in the con- struction field. His company is the fifth biggest of its kind in the Metro New York area and among the first 400 in the coun- try. When he left his island he took with him the fervent prayers and wishes of his par- ents as well as the icon of his patron Saint Archangel Michael known as Panormitis of Simi, hoping to be covered with his wings all of his life, but he quickly learned how to fly him- self, so to speak. Angeliades became big and successful professionally, so- cially, financially, but said he has never forgotten his roots and de- scent, and he’s decorated his surroundings with reminders to make sure. Among the decor in his office are huge photographs of his is- land Simi, which he calls the “holy place.” He pointed to his home where he was born and said that he misses Simi a lot, but he is quick to say, “I thank God I visit Simi at least twice a year, Simi is the nostalgia of my heart.” He said he remembers growing up in his island and “the warmth of his family, the values and ideals that my par- ents instilled in my heart” he said, and he added “things were very different at that time.” Simi was a beautiful but small island, too small to contain his big From Simi to New York, Angeliades Built a Life Merkouris Angeliades owns the fifth-largest construction firm in New York, but said coming to America was not easy. He imag- ined America to be “very different... In the beginning I did not want to stay.” He was making more money working on ships. Interfaith Exhibition Sponsored by Stavros Niarchos Foundation On October 20, religious leaders, politicians, academics and the art community gathered for the opening of Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an new exhibit presented by the New York Public Library. The exhibit was made possible by grants from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Coexist Foundation and consists of 200 objects representing Judaism, Chris- tianity and Islam. In the above photo are seen Greece’s Ambassador to the U.S. Vasillis Kaskarelis (L) and Co-President of the Niarchos Foundation Andreas Dracopoulos. Icons and the Brain: What Do you See in Christ’s Face? By Ralph Gardner Jr. The Wall Street Journal Andrea Catsimatidis, Presi- dent of the NYU College Repub- licans, saved the best news for last - for after a speech by As- sembly candidate Vince Tabone of Queens that broke little new ground in terms of oratory, and for after the announcement of a pumpkin-picking trip, com- plete with cornfield mazes. “I am going to make a very special announcement,” Ms. Catsima- tidis said. “We have our big fall speaker coming and locked in.” She paused for dramatic effect. “For the first time in history, we have candidate for Governor Carl Paladino coming. In two weeks. On October 15th.” The Kimmel Center classroom, filled with about 50 students, broke into applause as Ms. Catsima- tidis, a 20-year-old junior who is very much her own creation, even by the singular standards of this political season, beamed with delight. Daughter of bil- lionaire supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis and betrothed of recently trounced congres- sional primary candidate and Richard Nixon grandson Christopher Cox, her style - with her silver bangs, mini-mini skirts and high heels - seems more ‘60s flashback than contempo- rary Sarah Palin/Christine O’- Donnell sexy librarian. “We’ve got to make this big,” Ms. Catsimatidis went on, “grow the crowd. I’m going to take down names. We have to make sure the first couple of rows are filled.” She meant by College Republicans rather than by De- mocrats and Socialists (the terms seemed to be used by club members interchangeably), who have supposedly caused mis- chief at previous events spon- sored by the College Republi- cans. Ms. Catsimatidis contends that her club is among the most popular on campus, and that while most of its members are economically conservative, there are “a lot of socially liberal people. It skews more towards gay marriage.” “I think Andrea has put it on the map and made it an impor- tant fixture in New York poli- tics,” said Mr. Tabone. “The fact that Paladino is coming here is a reflection of that.” “We’re definitely outnum- bered by students and profes- sors who love to implant their liberal ideology,” said John Watts, an NYU student. “It in- spires us more.” I can’t say I was able to de- duce what drives these kids to swim against the perceived lib- eral current, though their moti- vation seemed something more than the free pizza and soda - but less than a fully formed po- litical philosophy. Then again, some of them are still in their teens. “There’s a lot that’s been going on this week,” Ms. Catsi- matidis said as the meeting mor- phed into current-events class. “Another terrorist attack. A mil- Heiress Leads NYU’s GOP Club ATHENS- While still insisting there’s no chance of default or restructuring its staggering $360 billion debt, Greece, which is borrowing $146 billion over three years from the Interna- tional Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU) to stave off bankruptcy, is reportedly con- sidering asking for a longer re- payment period, government of- ficials said, and they’re getting a receptive audience. While the rescheduling option has not been officially requested, Fi- nance Minister George Papacon- stantinou has acknowledged that ‘‘an informal debate’’ was in place. However, restructuring the debt in other words, not pay- ing back all that is due ‘‘was out of the question,” he said. Facing a devastating debt crisis, Greece hopes to slash this year’s budget Greece Ponders Longer Loan By Steve Frangos TNH Staff Writer The Hellenic Heritage Mu- seum is an especially unique ex- pression of the many new Greek American museums, archives, cultural centers springing up all around the country. It is part of the 14-acre San Jose History Park which showcases 27 origi- nal refurbished homes, busi- nesses and landmarks that col- lectively highlight various periods of Santa Clara Valley’s past (www.historysanjose.org.) The Hellenic Heritage Museum fills the Nelson-DeLuz House which is a renovated neo-clas- sical home built about 1905 and originally located on the corner of South Eleventh and Williams Streets in San Jose. Since, its grand opening on May 26, 2002, this beautiful white neo- classical structure has served as the headquarters of the Hellenic Heritage Institute (HHI.) Given that the museum is host to sev- eral thousand visitors a year, not counting those who attend for the special events and tour groups, it behooves Greek- America to become more aware of this successful and singular cultural institution. The HHI has quite con- sciously developed a triptych of Greek cultural programs focus- ing on education. First of these is the museum, whose principal theme is to present an Arhondikon, or Greek noble- man’s home. The approximately 3,500 to 4,000 square feet of the Nelson-DeLuz’s home has been transformed into an exhi- bition space composed of au- thentic Greek-made furniture and other historical objects such as photographs, needlework heirlooms, folk costumes, reli- gious artifacts and other deco- rative elements all drawn from various parts of Greece. It was a stroke of genius to recreate a Greek merchant home of the 1880s-1890’s. This choice of of- fering an upper-class home is striking because not only is it the only such exhibition outside of Greece but it is also unique in Greek-American historical presentations. The vast majority of Greek sojourners to North America be- tween 1880 and 1920 were overwhelmingly from peasant households of the Peloponnesus and the Aegean islands. But cer- tainly not all Greeks everywhere were peasant famers or shep- herds, not even in North Amer- ica. A vibrant Greek merchant class was found in coastal cities in the United States by the 1830’s, and in ever growing numbers from the 1860’s throughout the 1880’s, just be- fore the massive waves of the laborers in the 1890s. While Greek American historical ac- Hellenic Heritage Lives On in San Jose Hopes High for Three Greek Americans Chasing High Office TNH/COSTAS BEJ Continued on page 8 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 5 TNH/COSTAS BEJ Continued on page 11 Continued on page 4
Transcript of The National Herald - Amazon S3 · they are seeing, says Dr. Gary Vikan, Director of the Walters...
The National HeraldA wEEkly GrEEk AmEriCAN PuBliCATiON
October 23-29, 2010
www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 14, ISSUE 680 $1.50
c v
Bringing the newsto generations ofGreek Americans
O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915
By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Faithful Christiansbelieve – or hope – they are be-ing watched over by God, andthat Jesus will too. But who dothey see when they look at hisimage? With some icons, it de-pends on which side of his facethey are seeing, says Dr. GaryVikan, Director of the Walters ArtMuseum of Baltimore, whotalked about the visage of Christas part of a provocative two-dayconference at the Rubin Musemof Art to mark the opening of its
fascinating exhibition Embody-ing the Holy: Icons in EasternOrthodox Christianity and Ti-betan Buddhism. Particularly ap-pealing was his talk Icons andthe Brain – Neuroscience and theIcon Experience, which dis-cussed the Look of Jesus.
The exhibition, which openedOctober 5 and will remain onview through March 7, 2011 ex-amines the intriguing correspon-dences and differences betweenEastern Orthodox icons and Ti-betan Buddhist religious art.Eastern Orthodox icons and Ti-betan Buddhist thangkas (paint-ings on cloth) predominateamong the almost 100 works ondisplay. Each of them seemed toglow in deep rich colors beauti-fully arranged and unencum-bered by the usual labels on artmuseums – the items were fullydescribed in the guide availableto all.
Byzantine and Buddhisticons, especially the ancientones, are usually anonymous,but a case can be made that thecreators of the icon masterpiecesof the Byzantine and Buddhisttraditions were no less brilliantthan the great renaissance mas-ters. An explanation of thepower of these images to seizeand transfix viewers is welcome,and was offered by Vikan. Hispresentation made a strong casefor adding psychological if notneurological insight to the list ofqualities that make a greatpainter.
Vikan said he believes thaticons evoke a dialogue betweenimage and viewer that is respon-sible for their spiritual power. Heprepared the audience by speak-ing of the “expectant eye,” aterm which describes the per-sonal, emotional and the socialand cultural framework we bringto our visual encounters. He ex-plores the contribution a viewer’smind makes to the experience ofany image, including icons.Vikan told of “Mental imageicons” and “icons without icons”those “visual impressions en-countered in dreams and wakingvisions and conjured up fromchance visual stimuli offered bynature.” He cited a 15th Centurydescription of a marble slab onthe walls of the Aghia Sophia in
For subscription:
By Constantine S. Sirigosand Andy DabilisTNH Staff Writers
As mid-term election cam-paigns enter the home stretchin the final days before votersmake their choices on Nov. 2,Greek Americans have their eyesespecially attuned to three keyraces where they hope the com-munity can pick up a couple ofsome of the most coveted seatsin politics – the United StatesSenate – as well as the key fi-nancial officer for New YorkState. Perhaps the most closely-watched battle is in Illinois,where the Senate seat held bycurrent President Barack Obamaseems a toss-up between Demo-crat Alexi Giannoulias, the StateTreasurer, and Republican chal-lenger Congressman Mark Kirk,who has engaged in pitched at-tacks they’ve mounted on eachother. In Florida, GovernorCharlie Crist, who bolted the Re-publican Party to run as an In-dependent, is going up againstDemocratic CongressmanKendrick Meek and the GOP’snominee, Mark Rubio, in three-way political warfare.
But while those races are theglamour fights, one of the mostcritical, at a state level, is inNew York, where surging GreekAmerican candidate Harry Wil-son, 38, a Republican formerWall Street trader who made afortune before stepping into thepolitical ring, is trying to wrestthe State Comptroller’s seatfrom Democrat Thomas Di-Napoli, in a campaign that, likethe tense fight between Gian-noulias and Kirk, has had someintense exchanges and chargesflying back and forth. Wilsonand his wife, Harry and Eva Ro-mas Wilson have poured a lotof their own money into hiscampaign for the job of holdingNew York’s purse strings. He hasalso raised a lot of money from
donors who believe in the GreekAmerican candidate, includingGreek and Cypriot Americans.When he is asked “why” he isspending so much of his ownmoney he quickly responds it’sbecause he wants “this once ina generation opportunity to fixthis state.” The higher-profileSenate contests may have gar-nered most of the attention, butWilson, who had been trailingin polls, has been showing anuptick, especially after DiNapoliwas accused in the media ofsome dirty politics. Wilson takesa very serious tone when hegoes into details about NewYork State and Albany, its capi-tal. Wilson said he could turnaround debt-burdened NewYork State just as he helped saveGeneral Motors as part of a taskforce last year.
“Our state is in the earlystages of a massive fiscal crisisand our political leaders don’treally understand it, or have thecapabilities for dealing with it.I’ve spent my career fixing bro-ken companies, most recentlyGM and I think that exactly the
Wilson, Giannoulias and Crist Hit the Home Stretch in High Gear
By Theodore KalmoukosTNH Staff Writer
BOSTON - Merkourios or“Mike” Angeliades as he iswidely known, started the jour-ney of his life in the small butbeautiful island of Simi in Do-decanese. He came to theUnited States dreaming of itsopportunities for those notafraid to work and he realizedthe American dream. Angeliadesbecame one of the most promi-
nent businessmen in the con-struction field. His company isthe fifth biggest of its kind inthe Metro New York area andamong the first 400 in the coun-try. When he left his island hetook with him the ferventprayers and wishes of his par-ents as well as the icon of hispatron Saint Archangel Michaelknown as Panormitis of Simi,hoping to be covered with hiswings all of his life, but hequickly learned how to fly him-
self, so to speak.Angeliades became big and
successful professionally, so-cially, financially, but said he hasnever forgotten his roots and de-scent, and he’s decorated hissurroundings with reminders tomake sure.
Among the decor in his officeare huge photographs of his is-land Simi, which he calls the“holy place.” He pointed to hishome where he was born andsaid that he misses Simi a lot,
but he is quick to say, “I thankGod I visit Simi at least twice ayear, Simi is the nostalgia of myheart.” He said he remembersgrowing up in his island and“the warmth of his family, thevalues and ideals that my par-ents instilled in my heart” hesaid, and he added “things werevery different at that time.” Simiwas a beautiful but small island,too small to contain his big
From Simi to New York, Angeliades Built a Life
Merkouris Angeliades owns the fifth-largest construction firm inNew York, but said coming to America was not easy. He imag-
ined America to be “very different... In the beginning I did notwant to stay.” He was making more money working on ships.
Interfaith Exhibition Sponsored by Stavros Niarchos FoundationOn October 20, religious leaders, politicians, academics and the art community gathered forthe opening of Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an new exhibit presented by theNew York Public Library. The exhibit was made possible by grants from the Stavros NiarchosFoundation and the Coexist Foundation and consists of 200 objects representing Judaism, Chris-tianity and Islam. In the above photo are seen Greece’s Ambassador to the U.S. VasillisKaskarelis (L) and Co-President of the Niarchos Foundation Andreas Dracopoulos.
Icons and the Brain: WhatDo you See in Christ’s Face?
By Ralph Gardner Jr. The Wall Street Journal
Andrea Catsimatidis, Presi-dent of the NYU College Repub-licans, saved the best news forlast - for after a speech by As-sembly candidate Vince Taboneof Queens that broke little newground in terms of oratory, andfor after the announcement ofa pumpkin-picking trip, com-plete with cornfield mazes. “Iam going to make a very specialannouncement,” Ms. Catsima-tidis said. “We have our big fallspeaker coming and locked in.”She paused for dramatic effect.“For the first time in history, wehave candidate for GovernorCarl Paladino coming. In twoweeks. On October 15th.” TheKimmel Center classroom, filledwith about 50 students, brokeinto applause as Ms. Catsima-tidis, a 20-year-old junior whois very much her own creation,even by the singular standardsof this political season, beamedwith delight. Daughter of bil-
lionaire supermarket mogulJohn Catsimatidis and betrothedof recently trounced congres-sional primary candidate andRichard Nixon grandsonChristopher Cox, her style - withher silver bangs, mini-mini skirtsand high heels - seems more‘60s flashback than contempo-rary Sarah Palin/Christine O’-Donnell sexy librarian.
“We’ve got to make this big,”Ms. Catsimatidis went on, “growthe crowd. I’m going to takedown names. We have to makesure the first couple of rows arefilled.” She meant by CollegeRepublicans rather than by De-mocrats and Socialists (theterms seemed to be used by clubmembers interchangeably), whohave supposedly caused mis-chief at previous events spon-sored by the College Republi-cans. Ms. Catsimatidis contendsthat her club is among the mostpopular on campus, and thatwhile most of its members areeconomically conservative,there are “a lot of socially liberal
people. It skews more towardsgay marriage.”
“I think Andrea has put it onthe map and made it an impor-tant fixture in New York poli-tics,” said Mr. Tabone. “The factthat Paladino is coming here isa reflection of that.”
“We’re definitely outnum-bered by students and profes-sors who love to implant theirliberal ideology,” said JohnWatts, an NYU student. “It in-spires us more.”
I can’t say I was able to de-duce what drives these kids toswim against the perceived lib-eral current, though their moti-vation seemed something morethan the free pizza and soda -but less than a fully formed po-litical philosophy. Then again,some of them are still in theirteens. “There’s a lot that’s beengoing on this week,” Ms. Catsi-matidis said as the meeting mor-phed into current-events class.“Another terrorist attack. A mil-
Heiress Leads NYU’s GOP ClubATHENS- While still insistingthere’s no chance of default orrestructuring its staggering $360billion debt, Greece, which isborrowing $146 billion overthree years from the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) andEuropean Union (EU) to staveoff bankruptcy, is reportedly con-sidering asking for a longer re-payment period, government of-ficials said, and they’re gettinga receptive audience. While therescheduling option has notbeen officially requested, Fi-nance Minister George Papacon-stantinou has acknowledgedthat ‘‘an informal debate’’ was inplace. However, restructuringthe debt in other words, not pay-ing back all that is due ‘‘was outof the question,” he said. Facinga devastating debt crisis, Greecehopes to slash this year’s budget
GreecePondersLonger Loan
By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer
The Hellenic Heritage Mu-seum is an especially unique ex-pression of the many new GreekAmerican museums, archives,cultural centers springing up allaround the country. It is part ofthe 14-acre San Jose HistoryPark which showcases 27 origi-nal refurbished homes, busi-nesses and landmarks that col-lectively highlight variousperiods of Santa Clara Valley’spast (www.historysanjose.org.)The Hellenic Heritage Museumfills the Nelson-DeLuz Housewhich is a renovated neo-clas-sical home built about 1905 andoriginally located on the cornerof South Eleventh and WilliamsStreets in San Jose. Since, itsgrand opening on May 26,2002, this beautiful white neo-classical structure has served asthe headquarters of the HellenicHeritage Institute (HHI.) Giventhat the museum is host to sev-eral thousand visitors a year, notcounting those who attend forthe special events and tourgroups, it behooves Greek-America to become more awareof this successful and singularcultural institution.
The HHI has quite con-sciously developed a triptych ofGreek cultural programs focus-ing on education. First of theseis the museum, whose principaltheme is to present anArhondikon, or Greek noble-man’s home. The approximately3,500 to 4,000 square feet ofthe Nelson-DeLuz’s home hasbeen transformed into an exhi-bition space composed of au-thentic Greek-made furnitureand other historical objects suchas photographs, needleworkheirlooms, folk costumes, reli-gious artifacts and other deco-rative elements all drawn fromvarious parts of Greece. It wasa stroke of genius to recreate aGreek merchant home of the1880s-1890’s. This choice of of-fering an upper-class home isstriking because not only is itthe only such exhibition outsideof Greece but it is also uniquein Greek-American historicalpresentations.
The vast majority of Greeksojourners to North America be-tween 1880 and 1920 wereoverwhelmingly from peasanthouseholds of the Peloponnesusand the Aegean islands. But cer-tainly not all Greeks everywherewere peasant famers or shep-herds, not even in North Amer-ica. A vibrant Greek merchantclass was found in coastal citiesin the United States by the1830’s, and in ever growingnumbers from the 1860’sthroughout the 1880’s, just be-fore the massive waves of thelaborers in the 1890s. WhileGreek American historical ac-
HellenicHeritageLives On inSan Jose
Hopes High for Three Greek Americans Chasing High Office
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
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COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Vote on our website!You have the chance to express your opinion on our website
on an important question in the news. The results will be pub-lished in our printed edition next week along with the questionfor that week.
The question this week is: Would you like to see GreekAmerican financing for a major film about the role of Greecein WWII?o Yeso Noo Maybe
The results for last week’s question: Would you favor Greecehaving closer ties with Israel even if it hurts relations withArab countries?55% voted "Yes"45% voted "No"0% voted "Maybe"
Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com
n OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 17
TARPON SPRINGS, Fl. – Dr.Mary Coros, director of the Lev-endia Dance Troupe, will be pro-viding Greek dance lessons di-vided into nine different sessionsfrom September 22 until No-vember 17. Learn to dance pop-ular Greek dances and also learnabout the origin of and tradi-tions surrounding each dance.Dances practices will be heldevery Wednesday from 7:00-8:30 p.m. at the Tarpon SpringsCultural Center. Prices for thedance classes are: $75 for nineweek session, $50 for any sixclasses and/or $10 drop in rate.Register online at: www.tar-ponarts.org or call: (727) 942-5605. The Tarpon Springs Cul-tural Center is located at:Cultural Center, 101 S. PinellasAve., Tarpon Springs, FL 34689.
n OCTOBER 22NEW YORK, NY- The New YorkCity Greek Film Festival presentsa free screening of the contro-versial international hit "Dog-tooth" (KYNODONTAS), fol-lowed by a discussion of thefilm, featuring Professor DanGeorgakas, Time Out NY criticJoshua Rothkopf, and the leg-endary Andrew Sarris, on Octo-ber 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the NYUTisch School, 721 Broadway,New York City. Reserve yourseat by visiting: [email protected].
n OCTOBER 22-24LYNN, Mass. – AHEPA and theSons of Pericles will be hostinga double elimination basketballtournament on October 22-24.Games will be played at the St.George Church in Lynn, Massa-chusetts. Participants must bemale between the ages of 16-27.Older AHEPANs are permittedto play if they choose. Hotelrooms can be booked at HolidayInn Express on Rt. 1 in Saugusunder “AHEPA Group.” Roomrate includes free buffet stylebreakfast. Contact Jason Verga-dos, Boston SOP President, forprice/event details at: [email protected] or call:(617) 834-3447. St. GeorgeChurch is located at: 54 SouthCommon Street, Lynn, MA01902.
n OCTOBER 23CHICAGO, Ill. – The NationalHellenic Museum is hosting theirannual fall gala on October 23at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago.Celebrate “The Newest Thing inAncient History” with ChefJimmy Bannos, Jr., Hephaestus,VIPs from Chicago’s arts, cultureand political scene and manymore. The black tie gala will befeaturing cocktails, silent andlive auctions, dinner and danc-ing. Chef Jimmy Bannos Jr. of,The Purple Pig, will createMediterranean flavors for an ex-traordinary dinner; Tony Her-nandez will dazzle guests withperformers from Looking glassTheatre’s Hephaestus, giving theaudience a glimpse at GreekGods; and Public I Band and theJohn Linardakis Orchestra willadd melody to the night. TheNational Hellenic Museum con-nects generations through his-tory, culture and art. The galawill be held from 6:30 – mid-night. Tickets are $250 per per-son; special youth rate (25 yearsand under) is $125 per person.Call (312) 655-1234 or visit na-tionalhellenicmuseum.org formore information. The HiltonHotel is located at: 720 SouthMichigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.
n OCTOBER 23 – NOVEMBER 1
NEW YORK, NY - The New YorkCity Greek Film Festival will beheld on October 23 - November1 at various Manhattan andQueens Venues. Look for hitslike, "Plato's Academy," as wellas short films of Greek Americanteens (a section sponsored byTNH). The festival is looking forbox office volunteers. For moreinfo/to volunteer, contact festi-val director Jimmy DeMetro at(212) 988-1929 or email at:[email protected]. Foradditional information, visit thefestival website: www.nycgreek-filmfestival.com.
n OCTOBER 23ASTORIA, NY – The Hellenic Or-thodox Community of Astoria in-vites you to an Opera Gala fea-
turing the Hellenic Music Foun-dation Symphony Orchestra atSaint Demetrios Cathedral onOctober 23 at 7:00 p.m. theHellenic Music Foundation Sym-phony Orchestra and ninesoloists will perform exceptsfrom the opera, Il Corsaro, byGiuseppe Verdi, followed byArias and Ensembles from Guil-laume Tell, Mose in Egitto, Mar-riage of Figaro, Magic Flute, andmany more. Featured Soloistsare: Maryann Mootos, MichellePretto, Kristina Semos, Alexan-dra Skendrou, Katia Zallas,Hong Dai, Matthew Garrett,Michael Janaros, Raemond Mar-tin, Christian Sebek and Conduc-tor, Yannis Xylas. The Petros Pa-trides Cultural Center is locatedat; 30-03 30th Drive, Astoria, NY11102. Admission is free andrefreshments will be served. Forfurther information, visit:www.SaintDemetriosAstoria.com or call: (718) 545-9071.
n OCTOBER 23NEW YORK, NY- ALMA Bank, incooperation with the New YorkCity Greek Film Festival, pre-sents a free screening of the hitcomedy, "The Island," on Octo-ber 23, at the Frank SinatraSchool of the Arts, 35-12 35thAve., Astoria. Doors open at 7:00p.m. Also on the program arethe winning videos directed byteens entered in The NationalHerald's No Limits 2010 videocompetition.
n OCTOBER 25NEW YORK, NY - The New YorkCity Greek Film Festival presentsa tribute to actor and dance his-torian Athan Karras, with a freescreening of "Dark Odyssey," onOctober 25 at 7:00 p.m. at theNYU Tisch School, 721 Broad-way, New York City. The film, anearly American independentproduction, is a valuable recordof life in the Greek communityof Washington Heights in the1950s. A panel discussion fol-lowing the film will feature Prof.Dan Georgakas and directorRadley Metzger. Reserve yourseat at: www.nycgreekfilmfesti-val.com.
n OCTOBER 26NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Associa-tion of Greek American Profes-sional Women (AGAPW) will behosting a symposium honoringthe success of Greek Americanwomen in the News media onOctober 26 at Hughes Hubbard& Reed at 6:00 p.m. It will be anin-depth look at their contribu-tions to both ethnic and nationalmedia and their personal jour-neys on the road to success. Thisevent will feature a panel of sev-eral special guest speakers includ-ing, Tina Santorineou, a pioneervoice in the Greek Americancommunity; Alexis Christoforous,CBS News Business Correspon-dent; Joannie Danielides, Presi-dent and Founder, DanielidesCommunications, Inc.; AnemonaHartocollis, New York TimesHealth Reporter; Penny Manis,CNN Anderson Cooper 360, Se-nior Producer; and accomplishedyoung journalist, Eleni Kostopou-los will moderate the discussion.The event will be held at HughesHubbard & Reed, One BatteryPark Plaza, New York, NY, 10004from 6:00-9:00 p.m. There willbe a reception from 6:00-7:00p.m. to be followed by a paneldiscussion from 7:00-9:00 p.m.Hors d'oeuvres and refreshmentswill be served. RSVP is required.For further information, visit:www.agapw.org/home_files/events.htm or contact AGAPW Pres-ident, Olga Alexakos at: [email protected], (917) 405-6833 or Sophia Catsambis,AGAPW V.P. Treasurer, at: [email protected], (718)997-2801.
n OCTOBER 26-31NEW YORK, NY - The New YorkCity Greek Film Festival opensits Manhattan run on Tuesday,October 26 with two screeningsof the award-winning comedy"Plato's Academy," at 7:00 p.m.and 9:00 p.m. at the renownedParis Theater on Fifth Ave. andWest 58 St. The next eveningthe festival launches its regulardaily screenings, though October31, at the SVA Theater, 333 West23 St. Film descriptions, screen-ing schedules and ticket infor-mation available at: www.nyc-greekfilmfestival.com or call:(212) 629-6380.
GOINGS ON...
By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK - Asher Matathiasis an Adjunct Professor of Polit-ical Science at St. John's Uni-versity in Queens. He was bornin Greece, during the Nazi oc-cupation, escaping while hidingin Mt. Pelion. Teaching, writing,and public speaking are pas-sions that he indulges in when-ever and wherever opportunitiesarise, but activism in behalf ofhis dual Hebraic and Hellenicheritage and the democratic val-ues of his adopted country,America, he considers sacredduties.
TNH: Tell us of your family’strials during WW II.
AM: My parents married inthe midst of the war, September6, 1942. My father, Jacob, wasfrom Trikala, and my motherNina from Thessaloniki. Becausethey married before theroundup of Jews, my father wasable to save my mother and heryounger sister, Medi Atoun, whois still alive. Two younger sib-lings, along with their parents,were taken to Auschwitz. Dur-ing the occupation, the Gentilefamily Stamos protected theMatathias family, even arrang-ing for my baptism and adop-tion by them, were my parentsnot to be fortunate to survive.That arrangement became abone of contention when thechildless Stamos couple de-manded that my parents surren-der me, as a token of gratitude- saying they would be able tohave other children. The localMetropolitan heard the case anddecided it in favor of ... my par-ents! The initial estrangementwas eventually overcome, andgood relations existed betweenour families until their demise.
TNH: Has your life path beeninfluenced by your Ancientand/or Modern Greek heritage?
AM: Most directly, I came toappreciate the importance ofknowing Greek, having arrivedin the States without knowledgeof English. In an early episode,when I shifted my reading fromthe now defunct N.Y. Daily Mir-ror (lots of pictures, little text)to the N.Y. Times, I became anovernight sensation with myclassmates - settling vocabularymeanings when I discovered thepolysyllabic words off the storiesof the latter publication hadGreek roots (I also was some-what familiar with Latin, aswell.)
Of course, ancient and mod-ern Greek history was central tomy understanding and appreci-ation of that which has formedmy early existence, and contin-ues to direct my participation
with the Greek American com-munity as an active, vocal rep-resentative in the Federation ofHellenic Societies of GreaterNew York.
TNH: What are yourthoughts on the recent strength-ening of Greece-Israel relations?
AM: My involvement withcommunal work - both in theGreek Orthodox and Jewishcommunities - appears on thecusp of yielding sweet fruits, in-deed. I like to think that in myown modest way I have con-tributed to the long-sought-afteropening in relations between Is-rael and Greece and their re-spective peoples.
Still, even in a positive bent,there are those in the Greekcommunity who cast aspersionsthat Israelis - read Jews - aregobbling up Greek real estate,and that Israelis are poised toexpand their perceived hege-mony in the region.
More, I am still confrontedwith the nonsensical propositionthat I must choose between be-ing Greek or Jewish! The com-plexity of modern life is oblivi-ous to those narrow minds. Irevel at the enjoyment of havingmany friends and associates inall communities, ready to col-laborate on projects that willbring people closer to under-standing and tolerance.
The work is at times arduous,
but oh so satisfying!TNH: What has been your
greatest achievement so far? AM: Marriage to my An-
noula, following a 13-daycourtship, 40 years ago; threedaughters - Miriam, Joy, andSara - three sons-in-law(Bradley Herman, Peri Avitan,and Lee-Lev Thayer; also fivegrandchildren: Ava-Gwen, Ja-cob-Stanley, Simon-Max, Jaque-line, and Raquel (with a sixthexpected on Thanksgiving). In1974 I became the first Greek-American-Jewish-immigrant toattain candidate status for As-semblyman (36 A.D.) for the Re-publicans and Liberals. I am alsoa frequently published writer.
TNH: What’s the greatest les-son you've ever learned?
AM: Live and let live; toler-ance and welcoming diversity inthought, ethnicity, race. More,maintaining a high level of pas-sionate involvement in every-thing one does in life. Beingever ready to accept criticismwith good mien, knowing thattotal acceptance is both impos-sible and undesirable, especiallywhen one enters the publicstage.
TNH: Do you have a rolemodel?
AM: In politics, the laterevered U.S. Senator Jacob K.Javits, a liberal Republican whowas able to collaborate with De-
mocrats and others for the ben-efit of the nation. Additionalmodels are the American Found-ing Fathers, warts and all, forhaving the rare vision to com-promise and create the lastingU.S. Constitution!
TNH: What’s your ultimategoal in life?
AM: To leave a legacy oflove, social involvement, andoptimism. I am always availablevia email, cell, and regular tele-phone to students and all mysocial contacts. Frequently, I amasked to write recommenda-tions, or place calls to key peo-ple in industry and the profes-sions.
I also serve as a source forthe media of information on anumber of topics, a role I amglad to fulfill.
TNH: If you could changesomething about yourself, whatwould it be?
AM: To be slower to anger,even when the provocation ispalpable.
TNH: What’s your most en-joyable pastime?
AM: Dancing and singing,and I’m always reading andwriting. I am a grandfather tosoon-to-be six grandchildren, soI devote as much time as possi-ble to them. The difficulties ofwar and existence melt at thethought of the personalities thatwill drive the next generation,including my own grandchil-dren - so imbued with inno-cence, optimism, and determi-nation to harvest all that life hasto offer.
My happiness is on displaywhen the sons-in-law, mydaughters, and their childrengather; I withdraw to take in thewonder of their happy interac-tions, smiling that all the effortof raising a family is indeedworth while. I have lived in theFive Towns area of Long Island(Woodmere) for 34 years, and Iam pleased to continue (in my27th year) as President of LongIsland Lodge #1353, B'nai B'rith- the largest service organizationin the world.
TNH: Share with us somewords of wisdom.
AM: They are already con-tained in what I have saidabove, but I can summarizethem here: Live for each other,in order to live with ourselves!
In the Spotlight: Asher Matathias, Optimist
Asher Matathias
Athenians’ Celebrate 90th Anniversary in N.Y.New York’s Athenians celebrated the 66th anniversary of thliberation of Athens from the Nazis and the 90th year of theirsociety at the Terrace on the Park in Queens. Dr. George Tsiou-lias and Paul Hatzikyriakos were the dinnner dance co-chairs.
Dramatic Festivities at the Terrace on the ParkJordan Alexiades (2nd from R) is honored for his 10 years ofservice to the Association Draminon at its 30th anniversarygala at Terrace on the Park on October 16. Pres. Nikos Komsiosis holding the award next to Greek Consul E. Kyriakopoulos.
TNH/COSTAS BEJ TNH/COSTAS BEJ
If you'd like to nominate a no-table member of the GreekAmerican community for “Inthe Spotlight”, please [email protected] with your suggestions.
Greek Food&Wine
Special Insert
Coming November 20th, 2010
By Constantine S. SirigosSpecial to TNH
NEW YORK – Bringing togetheryoung Greek Americans in allthe professions is the purposeand mission of the HellenicAmerican Chamber of Com-merce’s Young Professionals. OnFriday evening, October 15 thegroup hosted a reception at NewYork’s Pierre hotel in conjunc-tion with the 62nd Annual Galaof its parent organization. Theoverwhelming response to thechoice of Sophocles N. Zoullasto be honored as the Chamber’sPerson of the Year caused thegala to be moved from its tradi-tional venue at the MetropolitanClub to the Pierre Hotel. TheGrand Ballroom was packedwith almost 600 people in at-tendance to pay tribute to theman who founded Eagle BulkShipping in 2005 with four ves-sels before he turned 40. Theebullient Zoullas has built thefirm into a major force in thebulk shipping industry withamore than 40 vessels in itsfleet. He has served as the NewYork and Athens-based com-pany’s Chief Executive Officerand Chairman of the Board ofDirectors since 2005. Even inthe stellar world of Greek ship-ping tycoons he stands out, aswas apparent by the big turnoutto honor him and his achieve-ments especially during theGreek economic crisis whereshipping stands out as a contin-uing success story and givesGreece something of which itcan be proud. That he achievedso much at such a relativelyyoung age in a business filledwith veterans of a tough indus-try also heralded part of a nextgeneration of younger Greekshipping leaders, those whocombine higher education withthe hands-on seafaring expertiseof their predecessors, and hispopularity was evident.
William Ioannides, a memberof the Chamber’s Board of Di-rectors was the Master of Cere-monies for the evening. Workingwith Executive Director Stama-tis A. Ghikas he was also theGala Chairman. Popular GreekAmerican FOX 5 TV Weather-man Nick Gregory introducedthe national anthems.
While the long-establishedmen and woman of business ofthe Greek American communitywined, dined and danced in theballroom, the future was cominginto being though networkingand socializing in the nearbyCotillion Room of the Pierre. Ka-terina Makris pointed out that
the Young Professionals groupwas designed for maximum out-reach. Each of its board mem-bers represents a different fieldand industry so that the profes-sional insight and expertise ofits members can be sharedacross the Greek American com-munity. The board meetsmonthly to plan is events andendeavors, which focus on “howwe Greek Americans can cometogether and connect with each
other,” Makris said.Sophocles Zoullas escaped
the spotlight of the Grand Ball-room to join in the fun of hisfellow young professionals.When he was introduced by at-torney Taso Pardalis, Presidentof the Young Professsionals,Zoullas apologized for the breakin the dancing that had brokenout, but he felt compelled toshare some thoughts and wordsof encouragement with the
younger group on a specialnight. Zoullas said, “As weGreek Americans achieve moreand more, what a privilege it is”to be part of two great culturesand to benefit from their valuesand their traits of “of opportu-nity, optimism, hard work, en-trepreneurial spirit and a strongdedication to family.”
MASTER OF SHIPPING Zoullas has been involved in
the dry bulk shipping industry
for 24 years with experience instrategic, commercial and oper-ational aspects of the business.From 1989 to 2005, Zoullasserved as an executive officerand a director of Norland Ship-ping & Trading Corporation, ashipping agency in the dry bulkshipping industry. He earned hisbachelor’s degree from HarvardCollege and an MBA from IMD(IMEDE) in Lausanne, Switzer-land. Zoullas is currently Vice-Chairman of the USA AdvisoryCommittee of Lloyd’s Registerand a member of the AmericanBureau of Shipping. He servesas Director Emeritus of theNorth American Marine Envi-ronment Protection Association(NAMEPA) and is also a com-mittee member of the presti-gious London P&I Club Commit-tee.
Zoullas said he agreed withthe observation that the successof the Greek shipping industry,which is world-class, demon-strates to the world what Greeceis capable of, and he told TNHof the importance to Greece’ re-covery of the renowned abilityof Greek entrepreneurs “to startsomething from nothing. TheGreek entrepreneurial spiritnever gives up.” Attorney JohnStratakis, Chairman of theHACC, said he believes thatgroups like HACC are in a strongposition to help Greece over-come its economic and socialcrisis given their expertise andsuccess in many fields. They areespecially expert in how to startup new companies and indus-tries, said Stratakis, who hailsform the island of Chios, whichis proud of its shipping heritage.He joined others who said notsurprised the Greek shipping in-dustry is world class, as Greekshave dominated the waves formore than 3000 years and themodern Greek entrepreneurialspirit is very strong.
Evangelia Douros, a surgeonsassistant, spoke to The NationalHerald about how Greek Amer-icans can help Greece. She be-lieves that those in the medicalprofessions can be valuable tothat country’s struggling healthsector. Callie Lappas spoke toTNH and stressed the impor-tance to the community ofgroups like the Young Profes-sionals. A member of the boardof directors of the Young Pro-fessionals, she was invited to an-nounce creation of RadioNeo,which has a broadcast on WNYE95.5 FM in New York, and canbe heard 24/7 at www.radio-neo.us. She co-hosts a programthat will touch on anything and
everything – society, politics, re-ligion in a format that “will belighthearted and fun,” and willinclude healthy doses of Greekmusic. Ballots filled out by theguests at the reception will de-termine the name of the radioshow.
During the cocktail receptionfor the gala the guests werecharmed by the music of PianistEleni Traganas and dinnerguests were entertained byTimos Amiridis and the Atheni-ans. The reception for the YoungProfessionals featured fine foodand refreshments, and the mu-sic of singer Yiannis Papaste-fanou and his orchestra, whowere joined by pianist SpirosCardmis. DJ Bobby Karounosalso added musical spice to thegathering. Pardalis said all theboard members of the YoungProfessional contributed to theevent’s success, includingChrisanthy Zapantis, KaterniaMakris, Maria Pardalis, FotiAgelopoulos, Peter Antiaris,Justin Bozonelis, George Zapan-tis, Callie Lappas, AndyAdamidis, Angelika Ioannou,Regina Sigalos, and Athena Za-pantis.
HACC’S PROUD HISTORYThe Hellenic American
Chamber of Commerce wasfounded in 1947. Its founderwas the legendary Kyricos P.Tsolainosa. Its objective at its in-ception was to favorably pre-sent, publicize and service thesubstantial Greek Shipping in-terests which had gathered inthe downtown financial area.According to its Web site the“Chamber’s members includemany Greek Americans doingbusiness in Greece or trading inGreek products. The Chamberis expanding its horizon so thatthere may be greater participa-tion of corporate America in itsactive membership and that itmay activate a wider and closerrelationship with Greek busi-nesses in the United States andthroughout the rest of theworld.”
The Chamber’s 2010 NewYork Greek Film Festival will beunveiled with a preview in As-toria on Saturday, October23,and a gala opening night inManhattan on Tuesday, October26. https://www.nycgreekfilm-festival.com/Home_Page.html.
The next Happy Hour Net-working Event of the Young Pro-fessionals will be in Novemberat a venue to be announced onthe Chamber Web site www.hel-lenicamerican.cc/events.htm.
COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010 3
Hellenic Chamber Fetes Shipping Phenom Zoullas, Young Pros Network
Above: Sophocles N. Zoullas is seen here together with this wife Sylvia and mother Marianna.Below: Seen (L-R) are Chrysanthy Zapantis, Debbie Bakes, George Zapantis, Taso Pardalis,Sophocles Zoullas, Dimostenis Lorentzos, Callie Cappas, John Stratakis, Maria Pardalis, KaterinaMakris, Peter Antiaris, Ananea Adamidis, Stamatis Ghikas, Chris Ioannides.
PHOTOS: TNH/COSTAS BEJ
Friday October 22, 7:00 pm
DOGTOOTH • Nyu Tisch
Saturday October 23, 7:30 pm
THE ISLAND • Sinatra School
monday October 25, 7:00 pm
DARK ODYSSEY • Nyu Tisch
Tuesday October 26, 7:00 pm
PLATO'S ACADEMY • Paris Theater
Tuesday October 26, 9:00 pm
PLATO'S ACADEMY • Paris Theater
wednesday October 27, 7:00 pm
BLACK FIELD • SVA Theater
wednesday October 27, 9:00 pm
WITH HEART AND SOUL • SVA Theater
Thursday October 28, 7:00 pm
THE BUILDING MANAGER • SVA Theater
Thursday October 28, 9:00 pm
STRELLA • SVA Theater
Friday October 29, 6:15 pm
AMERICA, AMERICA • SVA Theater
Friday October 29, 10:00 pm
STRELLA • SVA Theater
Saturday October 30, 1:00 pm
COLOSSI/SUGARTOWN • SVA Theater
Saturday October 30, 3:15 pm
THE BUILDING MANAGER • SVA Theater
Saturday October 30, 5:15 pm
FOUR BLACK SUITS • SVA Theater
Saturday October 30, 7:15 pm
WITH HEART AND SOUL • SVA Theater
Saturday October 30, 10:00 pm
STRELLA • SVA Theater
Sunday October 31, 1:00 pm
BLACK FIELD • SVA Theater
Sunday October 31, 3:00 pm
WITH HEART AND SOUL • SVA Theater
Sunday October 31, 5:30 pm
THE BUILDING MANAGER • SVA Theater
Sunday October 31, 7:30 pm
FOUR BLACK SUITS • SVA Theater
THE FOURTH ANNUAL
NEW YORK CITYGREEK FILM FESTIVALHEllENiC AmEriCAN CHAmBEr OF COmmErCE
OCTOBER 22-31
NYU TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS721 Broadway, south of waverly Place, NyC
FRANK SINATRA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS35-12 35th Avenue, Astoria, Ny
PARIS THEATER4 west 58th Street, west of Fifth Avenue, NyC
SVA THEATER333 west 23rd Street, west of Eighth Avenue, NyC
FOr mOrE iNFOrmATiON GO TO: WWW.NYCGREEKFILMFESTIVAL.COM
Friday, October 22, 7pm Nyu Tisch School of the Arts,721 Broadway, NyC. Free screening. reservations required at: [email protected]
DOGTOOTH (KYNODONTAS)in this controversial film, three teenagers are kept cut offfrom the outside world by their parents in a nightmarishexperiment of manipulation and suppression.
Post-screening discussion will feature Time Out NYcritic Joshua Rothkopf, Profs. Dan Georgakas and Evangelos Calotychos, and psychologist ThomasMallios.
Saturday, October 23. Frank Sinatra School of the Arts,35-12 35th Ave., Astoria, NyFree screening made possible by a grant from AlmA Bank.No reservations required. Doors open 7 p.m.Film at 7:30 pm
THE ISLAND (NISOS)The death of a prominent citizen reveals the corruptionthat festers behind closed doors on a seemingly sereneGreek island. lots of skeletons in lots of closets will beaired, and no one will remain untainted!
Monday, October 25, 7pm Nyu Tisch School of the Arts,721 Broadway, NyC Free screening. reservations requiredat: [email protected]
DARK ODYSSEYPresented as a tribute to actor Athan karas, this Americanindependent film made in the 1950s is the story of avendetta played out in washington Heights. The film pre-sents a rare depiction of Greek American life in the 50s.
Tuesday, October 26-7 and 9 pm MANHATTAN GALAParis Theater, Fifth Ave. and w. 58 St., NyC
PLATO'S ACADEMYin this award-winning comedy, four smug ethnocentricfriends are forced to confront their prejudices and xeno-phobia when one of the four discovers his Albanian roots.
Friday, October 29, 6:15pmSVA Theater, 333 w. 23rd St., NyC
AMERICA, AMERICAElia kazan's classic film of one man's troubled journeyfrom Turkish Anatolia to America will be screened in abeautifully restored print.
Expected to attend the post-screening discussionare critic Foster Hirsch and actor Stathis Giallelis.Tickets $15. All who attend will receive a free DVD of America, America courtesy of Warner Home Video,not yet available for sale.
Wednesday, October 27, 7pm Sunday, October 31,1pmSVA Theater, 333 w. 23 St, NyC, Tickets $10
BLACK FIELD (MAVRO LIVADI)The relationship between a nun and a wounded soldierseeking refuge in a remote 17th century cloister takes anunexpected turn when the nun reveals a shocking secret.(Adults only)
Thursday, October 28, 7pm, Saturday, October 30, 3:15pmSunday, October 31, 5:30pmSVA Theater, 333 w. 23 St., NyC Tickets, $10
THE BUILDING MANAGER (O DIAHEIRISTIS)A married man's affair with a much younger womanthreatens his marriage and family in this emotionally insightful drama. (Adults only)
Saturday, October 30, 5:15pm Sunday, October 31, 7:30pmSVA Theater, 333 w 23 St., NyC, $10
FOUR BLACK SUITS (TESSERA MAVRA KOUSTOUMIA)in this offbeat road movie by renos Haralambidis, fourlosers try to change their lives by taking on a strange assignment: fulfilling a dead man's wish of having his bodycarried, on foot, from Athens to a remote village.
Comedian Greg Barris will appear at the October 31 closing night screening. Those coming to the perfor-mance in a black suit or costume will be admitted free.Come see the film, and join the Halloween parade after the show.
Thursday, October 28, 9pm Friday, October 29, 10pmSaturday, October 30, 10pmSVA Theater, 333 w. 23 St., NyC, $10
STRELLA: A WOMAN'S WAY (STRELLA)An ex-con begins an affair with a pre-op transsexual,never imagining how much they have in common. (Adults only)
Wednesday, October 27, 9pm Saturday, October 30, 7:15pmSunday, October 31, 3pmSVA Theater, 333 w, 23 St., NyC, Tickets $10
WITH HEART AND SOUL (PSYCHI VATHIA)Director Pandelis Voulgaris tells the story of two youngbrothers who find themselves on opposite sides of thebrutal Greek Civil war.
Saturday, October 30,1pmSVA Theater, 333 w. 23 St., NyC, S10Two Documentaries on One Program
COLOSSI OF LOVEA comic look back to the days of the "kamaki" suitors,men who perfected the art of seducing foreign tourists.
SUGARTOWN: THE DAY AFTERThe town of Zacharo suffered many losses in the devastating fires of 2007. This film examines how aidmoney intended to help the victims was squandered.
FILMS AND SHOWTIMES
FILM SCHEDULE
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is the principal patron of the NYC Greek Film Festival
skill set we need in Albany,” heintoned. Wilson, a Greek Amer-ican, was endorsed by The NewYork Times, the New York Post,and the New York Daily News.
NO SLAM DUNKIn Illinois, Giannoulias, who
played professional basketball inGreece and is an Obama pro-tégé, brought out the big gun,even bigger perhaps than thePresident who has stumped forhim, when First Lady MichelleObama came home to Chicagoto wow crowds and get behindthe Democratic hopeful. The firstlady said Giannoulias wouldmake a “phenomenal” senator.“We need this man in Washing-ton,” she told a roomful of sup-porters at a private club indowntown Chicago. Obamatalked about her husband’s ac-complishments in office but ac-knowledged there was still workto be done. “Barack knows thattoo many folks are out of workright now,” she said. The firstlady said Obama needs allies inWashington like Giannoulias andsupporters like those at thefundraiser. “I told you that youhad to have my husband’s back... I told you that if I were givinghim up, you had to have his backbecause my husband can’t dothis alone. He can’t do it alone.He needs leaders like Alexi rightby his side,” she said.
Giannoulias and Kirk havegone after each other’s characteras much as the issues, especiallyin a recent debate in which thegloves were off. They went ateach other for an hour in a de-bate moderated by GeorgeStephanopoulos, the anchor ofGood Morning America. Thecandidates sparred over theirpasts before discussing immigra-tion, jobs and corruption. Theyare locked in a close race, ac-cording to polls. The campaignhas been increasingly negative,with each candidate attackingthe other’s background in tele-vision ads.
Giannoulias returned to anissue that arose in the first de-bate, repeatedly asking Kirkwhether he had ever been shotat during his time in the NavalReserve. Kirk has acknowledgedthat he has made misleadingstatements about his service.“Congressman, it’s a simplequestion, were you shot at ornot?” Giannoulias said, firingsome shots of his own. Kirkreplied that Mr. Giannoulias hadno right to criticize him becausehe had not served in the military.“The ultimate irony is that a manwho spends most of his cam-paign for the Senate criticizingmy military record and yet henever served a day in uniform
himself,” Kirk said. Giannouliasshook his head and told the au-dience: “Again, no answer to thequestion.”
Both candidates have facedquestions about their pasts. Gi-annoulias has received criticismfor his time as a senior loan offi-cer at his family’s bank, whichwas seized by federal regulatorsthis year. Reports have foundthat the bank made loans to peo-ple with connections to orga-nized crime. Kirk said that hehad admitted to making mis-
takes while his opponent hadnot fully come clean about hisproblems. “I’m not perfect,” Kirksaid. “I made mistakes, but I’veowned them and correctedthem. Meanwhile my opponentsays nothing is really his fault.”Giannoulias repeatedly soughtto tie Kirk to the Bush adminis-tration and to his political ad-viser Karl Rove, who Giannouliascriticized for providing moneyfor Kirk’s campaign without dis-closing donors. “We can’t affordto let Karl Rove come into townand steal these elections,” Gian-noulias said. Giannoulias’ polit-ical advisor, Endy Zemenides,said they are counting on a bigturnout from the Greek Ameri-can community, particularly inits Chicago stronghold. “Obvi-ously the Greeks in Illinois havebeen huge but Greeks all overthe country have been calling inand helping,” Zemenides said. FLORIDA SWAMP SLUG-OUT
In Florida, Crist has to hopethat voters have caught on to hismessage of independence, whichhe said he showed by bolting theRepublican Party, although his
opponents have used it to chargehe is an opportunist whocouldn’t have gotten the GOPnomination. While he and Meekhave often taken center stage,Republican Rubio has tried toassert himself as well, and thethree have gotten into duringdebates, centering on the econ-omy, which Rubio started talkingabout after the Federal stimulusact passed in 2009.
“The stimulus has failed todo everything it was supposedto do,” Rubio said. “Over the last
18 months, from stimulus, toObamacare, it’s become harder,not easier for jobs to be created.”Crist immediately seized on thepoint made by Rubio and saidthat his time as Governor hasbeen the toughest for the statein any time since the Great De-pression. He also targeted Ru-bio’s lack of support for the stim-ulus. “Twenty thousandeducators would not be em-ployed, 60,000 Floridians wouldnot have an income,” Crist said.“That’s unconscionable to me.That’s not compassionate, that’sdispassionate.”
Crist went on to laud thestimulus for the tax cuts it im-plemented, which Meek dis-puted. “Mr. Rubio and Criststand side-by-side to make surethat the super wealthy, includingthose who ship jobs overseas aretaken care of,” Meek said. “I’mfor tax cuts that will help peopleget back on their feet.” They alsofought it out over the choice ofraising taxes or potentially cut-ting Social Security benefits,anathema in a state with somany retirees. “Now is the time
to cut taxes,” Crist said. “Weshould be smart and prudent toprotect our seniors. We did itwithout hurting seniors, withouthurting health care.”
“It’s very important to pay at-tention to what the governor justsaid, he said very little,” Meekretorted. “When it comes downto entitlement programs, wehave to be able to weed out thewaste. Tax cuts are going to takethis country into a deeper hole,it will bring about the fall ofthese very programs.” Rubio saidthere shouldn’t be any Social Se-curity changes for anyone overthe age of 55. He took time topoint out his 80-year-old motherin the audience and said hewould never support anychanges that impact his mom oranyone in her demographic. Hewas quizzed about his lack ofsupport for unemployment ex-tension that was recently pro-posed in Congress. “I have saidunemployment benefits shouldbe extended, but they should bepaid for,” Rubio said.
Rubio, and Crist, condemnedObama’s health care plan andsaid it wasn’t the solution todealing with the health care cri-sis. Rubio suggested a large wayof solving the problem is by let-ting consumers buy plans fromcompanies in other states. Cristsaid, “Obamacare was off thecharts, it was wrong.”
Meek asked Crist if he calledit Obamacare to PresidentObama’s face when they wereon the beach during the gulf oilspill earlier in 2010. Crist firedback saying, “When we were onthe beach, we were talkingabout the safety of Florida.” Itelicited the biggest laugh of thenight.
Crist was asked by the mod-erators exactly who he is basedon reports he became an inde-pendent when it became politi-cally expedient. “I’m the sameguy I’ve always been,” Crist said.“I’m Charlie Crist and I’m a fiscalconservative and a social mod-erate. I believe in commonsense, not nonsense.”
WILSON RISING The fight to be New York
State’s top financial officer hasgone back and forth althoughWilson has kept to a steady toneof seriousness and said his ex-perience on Wall Street is an ad-vantage, not a disadvantage asDiNapoli has tried to contend.“I spent my entire career cominginto failed organizations, whichI had no prior experience with;identifying the problems andthen working to create collabo-rative solutions to fix those prob-lems,” Wilson, the son of Greekimmigrants, told Reuters in aninterview.
As one of four members of
President Barack Obama’s autotask force, and the lone Repub-lican, Wilson helped bring aboutchanges that turned the com-pany around. He said GeneralMotors and New York State arenot so different -- about thesame size and hobbled bydecades of mismanagement.
“They both suffered from aseries of steps that went on overtime -- weak management, coststhat grew out of control, increas-ingly more expensive commit-ments to retirees they couldn’tafford and didn’t properly planfor,” he said.
Wilson said he favors a moreactivist approach for comptroller-- who invests the state’s $125billion public pension fund andaudits state spending -- and saidthe post has “enormous un-tapped fiscal powers to drivereal reform.”
“The comptroller needs to bethe leading financial advocate inthe state. The reason you haven’theard that talk from the comp-troller is that he hasn’t done hisjob,” he said. DiNapoli has ac-cused Wilson of not understand-ing the job and of proposingchanges that would enrich WallStreet at the expense of middle-class New Yorkers. “You plucksomebody off the street thatdoesn’t know anything abouthow state government works,they’re not going to be able todo that,” he said, not mentioningWilson by name.
Wilson said the job he wantsis out of the limelight but criticalto governing. “The governor isthe CEO of the state. The comp-troller is the CFO of the state,”he said. “The comptroller needsto be the leading financial ad-vocate in the state. The reasonyou haven’t heard that talk fromthe comptroller is that he hasn’tdone his job.” Wilson, the son ofa bartender and a sewing ma-chine operator who describeshimself as a workaholic whowould work all day and nightand catch time with his wife anddaughters at weekends, said heleft the private sector to spendtime with his family. But he saidhe is now committed to publicservice. “I have a very nice lifenot doing any of this,” he said.
Speaking at a fundraiser atLimani Restaurant in Roslyn,N.Y. recently, Wilson’s mood be-gan to match the anger votersacross the nation have been ex-pressing at politicians: “if youlook at our state, our deficit overthe next four years is over 50billion dollars. What’s happenedin the last two years is our stateleaders have promised not to in-crease taxes or borrow, and tomake the tough decisions. Theyfailed to do that, and at the lastminute they increased taxes and
borrowing.” He said his mainconcern is that with the highesttax burden in the nation, NewYork State’s legislature has been“driving out businesses andjobs...and when that happens,the tax burden for the rest ofus...grows beyond the pointwhere it is bearable and I thinkthat’s killing our state, killing theopportunity that all of us wantfor our children and grand chil-dren.” As Wilson dashes acrossthe big state, much of his timeis spent talking about the re-sponsibilities and powers of theoffice he is running for. He sayscomptroller is the least utilizedand least understood position instate government. Wilson ex-plained “it’s basically the CFO ofthe state,” but that its been “heldby career politicians who franklydon’t understand finance andare afraid of rocking the boat. Iam going to take that positionand drive major spending cutsand tax cuts, and make our statemore competitive and a betterplace to do business and raiseour families.”
He said the race is one he be-lieves he’s going to win, runningagainst DiNapoli, who he calls acareer politician who has spenttwo decades years in Albany and“helped to create the terriblestate government we have to-day.”
He reminded the guests ofhow DiNapoli came to be ap-pointed, saying the bi-partisancommission that advised thestate legislature on the candi-dates to replace the disgracedAlan Hevesi, who resigned fromthe office amid scandals, passedover DiNapoli as unqualified forthe post, “but the legislature ap-pointed him anyway.” Wilsonadded, “Even the Governor [Pat-terson] said he was thoroughlyand totally unqualified.”
Hopes High for Three Greek Americans Chasing High Office
COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010
Harry Wilson (second from right) at a Greek fundraiser at the Limani restaurant in Long Island where he spoke to supporters about his plans to overhaul N.Y.’s finances if he becomes Comptroller.
Continued from page 1
Back from its critically acclaimed sold out run at Queens Theatre in the Park...
Only five weekends left! Tickets selling fast!
-
First Lady Michelle Obama with Alexi Giannoulias.
Governor Charlie Crist to runas an Independent.
lion people could be killed.Obama was talking about it toprepare the country.”
This seemed to be the firstmany in the room had heard ofthe threat. “When did this storybreak?” somebody asked. “Re-ally recently,” Ms. Catsimatidissaid. “Anybody have any feel-ings about this?”
“Who would do this?” some-body asked.
“Oh, it’s a German cell,”someone else answered.“They’re Arabs but they’re Ger-man citizens.”
“Who saw that video withCarl Paladino - when the NewYork Post reporter came up tohim?” Ms. Catsimatidis went on,the terrorist attack put to bed,or at least until more convincingevidence of an attack could be
sussed out.A scattershot conversation
about Mr. Paladino, his oppo-nent Andrew Cuomo, 10-year-old love children, Post reporterFred Dicker and for some reasonSerena Williams (apparently herinfamous tirade against a linejudge at last year’s U.S. Openreminded a student of the Pal-adino/Dicker dust-up) ensued.“When I saw the tape it justlooked like an angry Italianguy,” offered Mr. Tabone, who’dcome not only to wave the fam-ily-values flag - ”He’s going tolook at government through theeyes of a father,” Ms. Catsima-tidis had said in her introduc-tion—but also to recruit volun-teers. “Fred Dicker was really inhis face.”
“They were definitely egginghim on,” said Ms. Catsimatidiswho had her own run-in with the
Post when it ran a story lastspring portraying Mr. Cox’s en-gagement to the supermarketheiress - who was a 17-year-oldHewitt School student when theyfirst met—as a political liability.The article quoted an unnamed“high ranking GOP leader” who,noting Ms. Catsimatidis’s age andshort skirts, described the coupleas “the political equivalent of theAddams Family.”
“If it was legitimate Iwouldn’t care, but it was reallyirresponsible journalism with abunch of quotes from unnamedsources,” Ms. Catsimatidis com-plained. “They neglected tomention I was a high honor rollstudent in high school. They talkabout my short skirts but I wasvery straight-edge, a hard-work-ing non-party girl.” Apparentlyneither her 31-year-old fiance’sdefeat in September nor the
negative press has soured heron electoral politics. Ms. Catsi-matidis said she might eveneventually run for somethingherself. “I see the road this coun-try is going down,” she ex-plained. “If it continues I wantto get involved because I defi-nitely want to save America.”
And with that she was off toJosie Woods Pub, a localchicken-wings and waffle-friesjoint, to meet up with otheryoung Republicans who’d at-tended the meeting. She cer-tainly cut a striking figure in herfire-engine-red ChristianLouboutin heels and ruffledblouse, amid the flannels andjeans more common to NYU stu-dents. “Being there aren’t thatmany Republicans at NYU,” sheexplained, “there’s also a socialaspect to the club—we hang outtogether.”
Constantinople that was vener-ated as an icon, even though allthe viewers saw was the entirelynatural substance of marble andits veined patterns. Vikan saidthe phenomenon “icons withouticons” was known to the an-cients, who distinguished themanual imitation of the artistwhich is constrained by reality,and the boundless imaginationof the spectator.”
WATCHING OVER YOUNicholas Mesarites, who vis-
ited the now-demolished greatChurch of the Holy Apostles inConstantinople in the 12th cen-tury described the icon of ChristPantocrator in the dome of thechurch this way: “His eyes arejoyful and welcoming to thosewho have a clean conscience butto those who are condemned bytheir own judgment, they arewrathful and hostile.” Vikan saidhe believes that these effects oficons are not accidental, and fo-cused the rest of his talk on thefamous 6th Century encausticicon of Christ from themonastery of St. Catherine at Mt.Mount Sinai. At one point in hislife he said he noticed, “There issomething wonderfully oddabout the icon.” He said he does-n’t recall when he first made theobservation, or whether some-one else had pointed it out, butby alternately blocking out theright and left side of Christ’sFace, one encounters two differ-ent emotions in Christ. “Theproper right side (to the viewer’sleft) is the welcoming side andthe proper left side, the ‘sinister’side is the wrathful and hostileside.” He always asks his audi-ence to vote on the effect theicon has on them: “Do you feelwelcome and forgiven or do youfeel afraid and judged?” He saidthere is a very prominent trendin America towards feeling goodabout yourself.”
As he explored the matter, hesaid he learned, “The duality ofthe human face and the dualityof its threatening and benevolentsides was well known to thosewho spent their times studyingthe brain and emotions.” Vikansaid he realized that the properleft side of Christ’s face was giv-ing expression to the emotion-dominated right hemisphere ofthe brain while the “benign”while the proper right side wasgiving express to the “language-dominated relatively emotion-less left side of the brain.”
“Almost miraculously,” Vikansaid, “Christ’s face in the Sinaiicon was a vehicle for the multi-valent response potential of theicon that the Mesarites text de-scribed ...the same face could al-ternatively be judgmental or for-giving depending on theemotional state of the viewer.”Vikan said the “creator of theicon was doing more than repli-cating a bi-laterally distorted hu-man face. He fully appreciatedthe multi-valent nature of iconicdialogue captured centuries laterby Mesarites and created a facefor Christ to facilitate that dia-logue, in light of the expectanteye.”
In accordance with Mesarites’observations, Vikan said the“Christian suppliant will readthis icon to match his state ofmind – contentment and a senseof self worth will gravitate to-wards and be vindicated by theproper right face of Christ whileanxiety and a sense of guilt willgravitate and be harshly judgedby the proper left side. Modernneuroscience has layered on anapproach/withdrawal leftbrain/right brain distinction aswell whereby we are drawn tothe benign face of Christ and areinclined to flee the threateningside, “but of course for the me-dieval and modern Christian,they are literally torn, there isno escape.”
Vikan buttressed his observa-tions by citing Semir Zeki, Pro-fessor of neurobiology at Univer-sity College London, who coinedthe phrase neuroaesthetics andwho claims all artists are neuro-scientists, meaning they have
learned to achieve their aims byintuitively understanding theworkings of the visual brain. Theconference’s keynote panel dis-cussion, was Are Icons RelevantToday? While the remaining ses-sions discussed Buddhist art,three afternoon presentations fo-cused on Orthodox iconography.Micheal S. Flier spoke on Envi-sioning the Ruler in Medieval Rus– The Iconography of Interces-sion Architecture, and AnnemarieWeyl Carr spoke about TheEleousa Kykkiotissa: A ByzantineIcon in Ottoman Cyprus.
HOLY TRINITY BENEFITMarilena Christodoulou,
Chief Financial Officer of the Ru-bin, serves as a trustee of theArchdiocesan Cathedral of theHoly Trinity and chairs its Cul-tural Committee, said she islooking forward to welcomingGreek Americans and theirfriends to the museum on No-vember 9 for a private eveningthat will benefit the Cathedral.
The event will feature a privatereception and viewing of the ex-hibition, and live Greek musicby Grigoris Maninakis and theMikrokosmos Ensemble. All theMuseum galleries will be openand curators and guides will beavailable. For information call212-288-3215 or [email protected]. TheRubin Museum of Art is arguablyone of the most inviting andbeautiful museums in the UnitedStates. It holds one of theworld’s most important collec-tions of Himalayan art, whichwas augmented by works fromprivate collections while loansof Orthodox Christian iconswhere made by the Museum ofRussian icons in Clinton, Mass,and the private collection of Em-manuel and Argie Tiliakos. Visitthe museum’s Web site atwww.rmanyc.org/icon or call212-620-5000 ext. 344
COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010 5
Icons and the Brain at Rubin: What Do you See in Christ’s Face?
Dr. Gary Vikan demonstrates the extraordinary visual impression given by a famous 6th Centuryicon from Mt. Athos. The left side of the face of Christ seems more benign than the right.
Greek American Billionaire Heiress Catsimatidis Leads NYU’s GOP Club
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Continued from page 1
Continued from page 1
Business Mogul John Catsimatidis (R) is seen with his daughterAndrea and her finance Chris Nixon Cox at a reception.
COMMUNITY6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010
dreams and visions. He went towork on a big ship as otherfriends and classmates of hishad done. “I worked on a cargoship for one and an half year toalmost to all the ports of Eu-rope,” he said. His father’s andmother’s brothers had immi-grated to the United States andthey extended an invitation tohim to come and try America,the land of the free.
THE AMERICAN WAY“I happened to depart from
Simi to the U.S. on the feast dayof the Archangel – Panormitis;it was such an unforgettableday,” he said. In his many trav-els, including to Europe, he saidimagined America to be “verydifferent,” and added, “In thebeginning I did not want to stay,I wanted to go back to Greece.After all my salary here wasmuch less of what I was makingin the ships.” In the beginninghe tried out many jobs. He be-gan working in a factory placepackaging cheese, olive oil,olives which were importedfrom Greece and distributed tothe U.S. “My first salary was 85cents per hour. I did not staylong, just two months and thenI went to work for the Argo BoatCompany which was construct-ing boats owned by a man fromSimi. My salary was increasedbut again I was not happy there.The following summer I went towork for an ice cream company.I worked in the freezers loadingthe trucks for the day’s rounds.”
He then worked as a painterof the bridges, but he did notlike it there because as he ex-
plained “I had to climb high onthe bridges and work fromthere, it was a dangerous workand the people were not thatgreat.” George Levesanos, afriend of Angeliades’ father,owned a small constructioncompany building restaurants.He said that “Mr. Levesanoshired me, I liked the job eventhought I was making one-thirdof the money I was makingpaintings bridges.” It was therethat Angeliades said he remem-bered his father’s occupation
and his small carpentry shop inSimi. “My father was makingeverything from doors and win-dows to furniture by hand andwithout electricity.” Angeliadesused to help his father at theirstore during the summer breakand he had an idea about car-pentry. He said that, “By work-ing with Mr. Levesanos I real-ized that it was something thatattracted me more than any
other previous job that I hadtried, so began learning moreand more about the secrets ofthe job as much as I could.”
CONSTRUCTING HISDREAMS
In 1967, he made the firsthuge step when with his cousinGeorge Nikolis established theA&T Construction Companyrenovating homes. Three yearslater in 1970 they stopped ren-ovating homes and establishedanother company and startedrenovating restaurants. He said,“In the beginning we startedwith small jobs and in a shortperiod of time we ended up do-ing general reconstructions.”Angeliades has build from thescratch 182 restaurants in theNew York Metro area. He said,“I sold the majority of them toGreeks, I financed all of themand I never went to the courtfor any reason and I am saying
this with a sense of pride.” Healso said that “perhaps othersmay have built more restaurantsbut what I am saying is I did notgo to court for any of the 182that I built,” and he added: “Ilost a lot of money, but I had adifferent philosophy, I said tomyself you lost, okay then leave.I am not foolish neither I had alot of money and I just forgottenthem, but when the restaurantdid not do any business howcould I ask the man to pay me,from where?”
In 1990 he split with hiscousin and established his owncompany known as M. A. An-geliades, which does big federaljobs such as libraries, courthouses, and schools and is re-constructing the Blinker trainstation in Manhattan which isgoing to cost $96 million. Hesaid that it will be finished byNovember of 2011. Every timeAngeliades finishes a job he saidfeels an inner satisfaction. “Icannot describe to you how Ifeel,” he said, adding, “When Isee a big job done I say to myselfit is not so much for the money,but where I was and where Iam.” Angeliades’ company hasdone a lot of reconstructionwork in many train stations, es-pecially in the Bronx area.
A FAMILY MANAngeliades’ wife is named
Libby and they have four daugh-ters and four granddaughters.He said adores his family andhe adds that, “I never forget thethree great values that my par-ents taught me: country, faithand family.” Angeliades is a cul-tivated and philosophical man,which is immediately apparentto any one who converses withhim. He said that, “One shouldbe honest and truthful with him-self first and to try to be honestand truthful with the rest of theword.” And he added, “Whenyou do something do it as wellas you can in order to be effec-tive and successful and also youshould assume your responsibil-ities and to hide behind some-one else.” Asked to identifysome of the happiest days of hislife, he said, “When I met mywife and we got married andalso when our daughters wereborn.” He also said that, “everyday and every moment someoneshould his best he can in orderto sleep well and peacefully atnight. There will be good andbad days but I think we shouldface them consciously becauseall of us are taking tests on thisearth.” The most painful days ofhis life were when his parentsdied. “It is sad when you loseyour parents,” he said. He stoodby them, he supported them asa guardian angel and he visitedthem often in Simi, he said.
Although he did have an aca-demic background, he said hedid not want to go for advancededucation because, as he ex-plained, “My family did nothave the financial means. I wassupposed to go to the EducationAcademy in Rhodes to becomea teacher but I did not like thatfield, plus my salary would beminimal so I preferred to getaway from the limited environ-ment of Simi and of Greece asmatter of fact.” He has no re-grets but as he explained, “MyIthaca is there, in Simi, inGreece, which I love with all myheart.”
God and the Church play apivotal role in his life. He said,“I believe deeply in God, al-though I do not show it; what isimportant is to make yourprayer whenever you are with-out any formal preparation” andhe added that “I speak to Godand to myself every day, we arein communication.” Many timeshe converses with himself. Hesaid, “It is important to conversewith yourself,” and he addedthat, “Sometimes I am askingmyself why you are assumingnew jobs, for what?” Recently,Angeliades purchased 47 DairyBarn Stores in New York. “Thereare times that I ask myself whyyou are adding problems? Whydon’t you sit down and relax?But again when I achieve some-thing good, I forget all the prob-lems and I start from the begin-ning.”
Nostalgia led his steps last toSimi time and again. “I cannotdescribe my joy and my emo-tions when I stand in front ofthe icon of the Mother of Godin the same church that I wasstanding without shoes when Iwas a small boy and I recitedthe prayer to the Theotokos,bearing the joys and the bitter-
ness of an entire life.” Speakingabout the course of the Greek-American Community he said,“We can do much more, butthere is no leadership,” and headded, “We carry with us thepatrimonial mentality – ‘Whyyou and not me?’ The Greeksabroad have the goblin ofprogress and creativity.”
Thirty years ago he con-
tributed to the creation of theGreek Orthodox parish of theArchangel in Roslyn, N.Y.
Today the parish is in theprocess of building a newchurch which is going to cost$15 million dollars and An-geliadis has been a major con-tributor He said that, “A lot oftimes I ask myself why we buildso big churches? We today can
support them, but would ourchildren and grandchildren beable to support sustain themwith all their high expenses justto be filled twice a year onChristmas and on Easter?” Tothe question if retirement is inhis vocabulary, or in his plans,he said with a smile, “no, I amaway from these words, I do notuse them.”
From Simi to New York, Angeliades Built a Life, Big BusinessContinued from page 1
Angeliades at his desk going over plans for yet another project. Proudly showing off a gift from his loving grandchildren.
Angeliades has worn protective gear at many building sites – he owns the fifth largest con-struction firm in the NY Metro area) but he is proud of his commemorative helmets.
Merkourios Angeliades speaks to The National Herald’s reporter Theodore Kalmoukos and ex-plains how his ideals and values of faith, family and patriotism have a special place in hisheart.
Merkourios “Mike” Angeliades began life on the small butbeautiful island of Simi. He came to the US dreaming of op-portunities.
“When I see a big jobdone I say to myself it isnot so much for themoney, but where I wasand where I am”
THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010 7
ARTS&CULTURE8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010
NEW YORK- When I realizedthat the second Greek MusicPlus column would go on printfour days before October 28th,the day Greece went to war withMussolini’s Italy in 1940, I hadabsolutely no doubt that thetheme should be about SophiaVembo. After all, she is the onlyGreek singer with the uniquedistinction of being named theSongstress of Victory, specifi-cally for the songs she sang dur-ing the Greco-Italian war, notto mention the fact that herfascinating life story would beof interest to our readers, at anytime. Once I had settled on thetheme my next task was to lookfor appropriate sources so as tofind the truly anecdotal parts ofher life. Searching the Internetwas not much help, as it couldonly provide some necessary, yetroutine biographical facts. Insimilar cases in the past, I havefound that the best and likelythe only way to get the real,anecdotal stories about person-alities, such as Vembo, was ei-ther through their own autobi-ographical narrative, or fromthe writings of people very closeto them. In the case of Vembo Iwas delighted and quite fortu-nate to find, hidden within thecover of an old CD I had withher songs, a rare, sensitive, quitepersonal and occasionally hu-morous, account of her life, byher own husband, MimisTraiforos, a playwright and lyri-cist of many of her songs. Thetitle of his piece, The UnknownSophia Vembo, was quite tellingand reassuring as to the kind ofstory I wanted to write in thiscolumn. Let me translate, some-what freely, the introductoryrather humorous paragraph:“Homer’s place of birth has beenclaimed by several ancientcities. Yet, even to date we stillhave not learned where mymythical colleague first saw thelight of day. Something similaris true about Sophia Vembo.She is being claimed by citiessuch as Larissa,Volos,Tsagarada, Kallipolis, Tsaritsaniand Elassona. However, thebirth registration officers of thecountry, inform us that she wasborn in Kallipolis of Eastern
Thrace, a certain year A.D. Shegrew up in Volos where she alsocompleted high school and fellin love for the first time. Shehad this bad habit since she wasa kid, and she paid a heavy pricefor it, later in life; as she wasdriven to marriage with the in-dividual authoring this write up.She asked for it and she welldeserves it- Καλα να παθει“.
She was born Efie Bebo, in1910, (Sophia Vembo was aname she adopted later,) andpassed away on March 11, 1978in Athens, at the age of 68. Af-ter the Asia Minor Catastropheof 1922 her family moved toTsaritsani in Greece, where herfather worked as a tobaccoworker, and later moved to Vo-los where she spent her child-hood and teenage years. Al-though she sang and played theguitar since she was very youngshe never aspired to be a singer.In fact she would really becomeangry and ready to cry if some-one told her that she would bea singer or worse, an actress.God forbid. She was convincedthat being an actress or a singerwas only for promiscuous badgirls. That is what she had beentold growing up and she reallybelieved it. She was informallydiscovered at the age of 17 dur-ing a trip to Thessaloniki on aboat. She was going to some rel-atives in the hope of finding ajob because her father had losthis and the family was living inpoverty. A middle-aged gentle-man, agent and young talentseeker, heard her play the guitarand sing in a corner of the boatand he immediately approachedher. Despite her initial skepti-cism and her strong dislike forhim, Kostas Tsimbas, the agent,finally convinced her to meetwith him, when he showed hisgood intentions by asking herto bring along a relative. Even-tually she signed her first con-tract, quite reluctantly, thinkingthat she was really getting intothe “gutter” of the theatreworld. It was much later whenshe discovered that performingand singing in the theatre wasbut another profession. If yourespect it, it will respect you aswell. On this premise she suc-
ceeded on bothcounts. During herwhole artistic lifethere was never atime when a rumorcame out about her,to tarnish her repu-tation. The terms ofher contract werequite good if notunusually generous,at the time. She wasto receive nearly$40 a month, in to-day’s dollars, a veryhigh salary for thattime, and which sheand her family des-perately needed. In 1933 shestarts rehearsing for her firsttheatrical revue play Parrot1933. Her voice at the re-hearsal, shocked producers,composers and playwrightsalike. Not in a positive way,though. “Where did you findthis fruitcake?” they asked thetheater owner/agent who hadhired her. “Her harsh voice willfor sure scare the audienceaway”.
THE DEEP VOICEBut, Fortis Samartzis the
agent-theater owner believed inher and insisted that she shouldcontinue in the play. The com-poser, Loula Voti, was at a lossas to what kind of songs to writefor this young girl, with the un-usual deep, man-like voice. Shefinally went on stage dressed asa gypsy singing gypsy songswith her guitar. Her success wasunprecedented. The audiencewent wild and recalled her onstage several times at the endof the performance. Yet, therewere some critics who were notat all impressed. One such criticwrote: “Efie Bebo, the Gypsy,has no place in the theatre. It isbetter for her to stay home andwash dishes.” The record com-panies were also very skeptical.Columbia, the well-knownrecord company, rejected herand the company’s music direc-tor, named Vitalis, commented:“These songs are for a femalesinger. You brought us a manto sing them.” Despite this neg-ative atmosphere, among theelite of the recording establish-ment, a small company dared
produce Sophia’sfirst record, butwithout any com-pensation for her.The record wascalled Don’t Askfor Kisses and be-came a huge suc-cess from the mo-ment it came out.After that, all whohad previously re-jected her wantedto collaborate withher, including mu-sic director Vitalisand Columbia.Vembo worked
with Columbia without inter-ruption for 45 years. In 1938she started to sing and broughtto prominence traditional folksongs from the Greek mainland.Every Greek at every corner ofthe country sang along with her.Characteristically, one of her ad-
Sopmirers wrote to her hus-band: “ you will not believe itMr. Traiforios, but when I hearSophia’s voice singing ‘I loveyou’ in a song, I begin to loveeven my mother-in-law.’” Suchwas her influence on the publicthat for a while many peoplethought that the Morning Star(Αυγερινος) was coming outfrom the city of Larissa, becausein one of Vembo’s songs thelyrics were starting with thephrase “In Larissa, comes up theMorning Star -Στη Λαρισσαβγαινει ο Αυγερινος.” The wholecountry was not only listeningto Vembo. But worshipped heras well.
She reached the ultimatefame, in 1940-41 with the pa-triotic and satirical songs shesang about the war and Mus-solini that I am sure many ofour readers remember. In par-ticular the song Pedia tis Ellados
Pedia – Παιδια της ΕλλαδοςΠαιδια, the lyrics of which werewritten by Mimis Traiforos hereventual husband to be, broughttears and unprecedented feel-ings of pride and joy to everyGreek all over the world. Themelody was along the lines ofZehra, another of her popularsongs, at her request.
Here is how Mr. Traiforos de-scribed her singing the song forthe first time: “She sang it onthe same day that I wrote it,reading the lyrics on stage fromthe piece of paper I wrote themon. But she could not finish it.Overcome by emotion, she wascrying along with the audience,which for the most part con-sisted of newly drafted soldierson their way to the battlefrontand of the first wounded sol-diers brought from the front be-cause of their frozen feet andhands. Full of tears, one youngsoldier, with both feet mutilatedrose up from the audience andcried out “ Sing Sophia, sing !!When you sing we do not feelthe pain in our legs.”
(κρυοπαγηματα: frozen ex-tremities, hands and feet, suf-fered by many soldiers becauseof the snow and frozen groundon the battlefront. In manycases the κρυοπαγηματα re-sulted in necessary mutilations.)
Writer’s note: It does notseem that one Greek MusicPlus column will be enough todo justice to the legend ofSophia Vembo. Thus, we willcontinue in the next columntwo weeks from today.
Grigoris Maninakis is aProfessor of Engineering Tech-nology at SUNY Farmingdale.He has been active in Greek mu-sic since the early 70s asa founding member andsinger/soloist of the Greek Pop-ular Chorus of N.Y. establishedby Mikis Theodorakis. He hasorganized quality Greek musicconcerts all over the U.S. andoccasionally in Greece. His col-umn appears twice a month inThe National Herald. For com-ments and suggestions email orvisit: gkangm@ aol.com,www.gmaninakis.com
Sophia Vembo, The Songstress of Victory, Voice that Soothed Troubled Nation
by GRIGORISMANINAKIS
Special to The National Herald
GREEK MUSIC ...PLUS
counts sometimes discuss therise of a business class withinthe ranks of the overall commu-nity few systematic studies ofthis class exist.
THE RICH GREEK LIFEAs a first-time visitor to The
Hellenic Heritage Institute I wasespecially struck by this presen-tation of a wealthy merchantfamily. The usual offering ofGreek life, in standard Americanaccounts and museum exhibi-tions, is one focused on rurallife and that of the farming orshepherd class. The HHI offersa more complete view of thecomplexity and variety of socialstrata in Greece. As I was toldby local Greek-Americans dur-ing the course of my stay in theSan Jose area even many of thelocal Greek-Americans were es-pecially surprised by this aspectof the Hellenic Heritage Mu-seum. Unfortunately the vastmajority of Greek Americansknow little of the actual historyof the Greek people. In this sim-ple act of accurate inclusion theHellenic Heritage Institute offersa social economic perspectiveunique among all the museumsor archives I have seen so far inNorth America.
For those wishing to betterunderstand the early Greek mer-chant class one needs only con-sult Michael Contopoulos’ in-depth study of the earlymerchants of the 1830s-1890speriods in his The Greeks inNew York City: Early Years to1910. For those wishing to ex-tend their study of the Greekmerchant class on a world widebasis I suggest you reviewChristopher Long’s website(www.christopherlong.co.uk/migrations) and the Rallis Brothersentry on Wikipedia.org. I shouldalso quickly note, if only in pass-ing, that Professor George Kou-vretaris has not only written ofthe Greek entrepreneur class butfrequently lectures on this topic.
To be sure, other exhibitionsand art can be found in the var-ious rooms of the Nelson-DeLuzHouse. Just to quickly mentionone work of art we need onlynote Kati Casida’s, The Memor-ial Chair of the Missing Personsof the Turkish Invasion ofCyprus. As Casida describes herartistic memorial: “The villagechair, wrapped in layers of whitedoves printed with names of1,532 Greek Cypriots and Greeksoldiers, missing after the tragic
1974 Turkish invasion ofCyprus, is a symbol of our hopesand prayers that many of themmay still return to sit at theirfamily tables. May we alwaysremember and celebrate theirlives.”
Hellenic cultural classes com-pose the second triptych. TheHHI annually offers classes con-sisting of dance, language, andcooking instruction, which aregeared for both “people ofGreek origin who wish to redis-cover their roots and for non-Greeks who choose to explorethe many aspects of Hellenicculture.” Depending on circum-stances these classes are held orpresented at the Nelson-DeLuzsite or elsewhere. A workingkitchen in the rear of the Nel-son-DeLuz House makes the ef-forts at hosting and culinary in-struction a seamless aspect ofthe Museum’s everyday activi-ties.
The third triptych focuses onthe hosting and/or sponsorshipof cultural events. These cul-tural events are meant to “en-tertain, educate and familiarizethe general public with differentaspects of performing arts in-cluding lectures, movies, the-atrical performances, and con-certs.” Notable among theseactivities was a mock Cretan-style wedding held at the SanJose Historical Park with all thetrimmings. The organa walkedthe bride and groom to an ab-stract altar with a choir, whichsang a few of the weddinghymns. A traditional weddingfeast with roasted lamb and
dancing followed. The HHI hasalso developed a program forschool children who studyGreece as part of their SocialScience Curriculum. Sixth gradesocial science this program in-cludes history, language,Olympic Games, Greek folkdancing cooking and art. AGreek film festival is also partof the annual programs. All inall as far as the HHI can deter-mine, there is no other organi-zation offering this kind of acomplex of Greek culturalclasses anywhere in the UnitedStates.
TEACH US TO DANCESince 2005, among the many
material products of the Hel-lenic Heritage Institute are theannual Kazamias/Almanacs. Inkeeping with the nature ofGreek almanacs these publica-tions offer the cultural calendarfor the Hellenic communityalong the western coast of theUnited States. PredominatelyEnglish-language Kazamias’aside from the calendar of cul-tural and social events, offermore than 200 pages of essayson all facets of Hellenism’s cul-ture and history, proverbs,recipes, and extensive culturaland business resources ofGreeks found in the westerncoast of the nation. These aretruly impressive volumes that,without exaggeration, couldwell be used in Greek school orSunday school classes by Greekcommunities around the nation.
In the 2009, HHI Kazamiawe find an account of HHI’s his-tory development:
“The Hellenic Heritage Insti-tute (HHI) evolved from the De-motic Greek Folk Dance Group,comprised of San José StateUniversity Faculty wives. It wasestablished in 1963 by MarinaMoustakas, a faculty wife her-self. The group existed for sev-eral years and performed at fes-tivals, ethnic celebrations andinternational fairs. In 1974,Moustakas taught Greek FolkDancing at the YWCA. Severalfaculty wives followed her thereand were joined by a new groupof enthusiastic dancers, amongthem Larraine McBride, who be-came the star student of thatclass. Larraine eventually tookover the Demotic Dancers anddirected the group with the easeof a native Greek.
In 1989 the group estab-lished itself as a non-profit or-ganization under the name ofHellenic Traditional Arts Insti-tute. The newly named groupcontinued its tradition of per-formance and education in thehistory of Greek dancing, cos-tumes, music, and songs associ-
ated with the folklore of Greece. In 1999, Moustakas was re-
united with the group, the scopeof which was broadened to in-clude many other aspects ofGreek Culture and the HellenicHeritage Museum was estab-lished. The Hellenic Museum isthe culmination of years of hardwork and dedication of thosepeople who truly believe in thepreservation and propagation ofthe Hellenic Heritage. The firsttime that the concept of a Greek
Museum was presented to thepublic, in the Bay Area, was in1971, when the first Culturalfestival took place in San José.A Museum of Hellenic Culturewas built for two days only.Some of those displays are nowpermanently housed in the Hel-lenic Heritage Museum. In2000, as Moustakas relates it,by total chance; she got in touchwith San Jose History Park andsecured the Nelson-DeLuzHouse for the site of the Hel-lenic Heritage Museum. Mous-takas remains the firebrand be-hind the establishment andmaintenance of the HellenicHeritage Institute. Born inKozani, Greece, she first cameto the United States as a Ful-bright student at the Universityof Oregon. Moustakas has adiploma of Social Work fromGreece, a B.A. in Sociology, andthe credentials to teach Greekas a Second-Language from theState of California.
In 1962, she married Evan-gelos Moustakas, Professor ofElectrical Engineering and
moved to Santa Clara Californiawhere she still lives. The Mous-takas couple has two children:Aristides and Sophia, and giventhat both are married threegrandchildren Alexia Niki,Michalaki-Dimitri, and Andrea-Aristidi. Marina Moustakas re-mains the very heart of The Hel-lenic Heritage Institute.
HELLENISM’S CULTURALOUTPOST
The Nelson-DeLuz site is alsothe HHI’s administrative head-
quarters. Within the museum isone of the ongoing projects ofthe HHI, which is the establish-ment of a Hellenic Reference Li-brary. At the moment the HHIhas some 600 volumes of booksin Greek and English coveringsuch topics as history, geogra-phy, Greek folk costumes, An-cient Greece, cooking traditionsof the Greeks, The OlympicGames, Modern Greek Litera-ture, Poetry, Children’s stories,Byzantine architecture and cul-ture as well as numerous vol-umes on Modern Greece. Mostof the volumes today housed atthe HHI library have been cata-logued and entered into a data-base by a small team of dedi-cated volunteers under thedirection of the steadfast EdHughot. Several thousand visi-tors a year tour the museum.This says nothing of those whoattend the cultural program-ming.
As I visited the HHI earlierthis year I was struck by ques-tion of how is it that such anarticulate and active organiza-tion remains so little known out-side its immediate region? Es-pecially when the evolution ofthis group matches many otherGreek American cultural orga-nizations around the country.Having said that let me stressthe point that no other Greek-American museum or organiza-tion anywhere in the UnitedStates exhibits the socio-eco-nomic complexity of the Greekpeople as seen on a daily basisat the museum. It needs yoursupport (www.hhisj.org408.247-4685.) As a nonprofitorganization the HHI is dedi-cated to the preservation anddissemination of various aspectsof the Greek heritage. Contribu-tions are always welcomed cer-tainly but other forms of supportare as necessary, if not more so,for it to function as a social in-stitution. Simply serving as avolunteer for the public pro-gramming and other events arejust as valuable as gold. For thereal daily effort of the HellenicHeritage Institute, aside fromeducation, is to pass on Hellenicculture to the next generationof Greeks in North America.Come and visit The HellenicHeritage Museum for yourselfand see how a judicious mix ofElliniki philoxenia and educa-tion always makes it the nextbest thing to visiting Greece
ALL HISTORY
Continued from page 1
The rich are different than you and I, even when they wereGreeks at the turn of the 20th Century and living it up withfine fabrics for their homes.
The earliest rich Greek immigrants had fine homes with ex-pensive appointments and the Hellenic Heritage Museum de-picts how the fortunate lived.
Hellenic Heritage Lives On In San Jose, Museum for the Rich Greek Life
During the horror of World War II in Greece, Sophia Vembomarched off with the troops singing the National Anthem, in-fusing Greeks with hope and courage.
By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Through the dark-ness of Italian dictator BenitoMussolini’s attack and the Nazioccupation of Greece a lightshone, giving hope to Hellenesall over the world – it was singerSophia Vembo, whose voice gavehope and encouragement toGreeks everywhere during WorldWar II was warmly rememberedby most and introduced to othersin an audience that overflowedthe Cathedral Center in Manhat-tan on Oct. 20 the Hellenic Amer-ican Chamber of Commerce inconjunction with the CulturalCommittee of the ArchdiocesanCathedral of the Holy Trinity pre-sented a concert titled Songs ofFreedom: A Celebration of SofiaVembo in Her Centenary Year tohonor the memory of an artistwho lifted the spirits of an entirenation. Vembo, born Efi Bebo inEastern Thrace and whose familyentered Greece as refugees afterthe disastrous Greek-Turkish war,was a leading Greek singer andactress before WW II, but afterMussolini’s attack and Greece’scounterattack, triggered by GreekPrime Minster Metaxas’ resound-ing “OXI! – No!” to Mussolini’sdemands, she was catapulted torenown by her performances ofpatriotic songs, which includedlyrics satirizing Il Duce, the mostfamous, Koroido Mussolinipromising to throw his armiesout of Greece.
Her songs inspired Greece’ssoldiers, who drove back the Ital-ian invaders deep into Albania,the first victory of the Alliesagainst fascism. At the time shewas dubbed the Songstress ofVictory and because of her patri-otic role after the Oxiand duringthe subsequent German occupa-tion, she was given the honoraryrank of a Major of the Greekarmy. The military museums inAthens and Thessaloniki are filledwith her mementos.
The concert and biographicalprogram was this year’s offeringin The Fifth Annual DemetriosContos Memorial Program in Cel-ebration of OXI Day and was pre-sented under the auspices ofGreece’s Consul General in NewYork Aghi Balta, who was repre-sented by Consul Evangleos Kyr-
iakopoulos. Vembo’s most fa-mous and beloved songs wereperformed by the New York Choirof Demotic songs led by its Di-rector Athanasia Filios, accompa-nied by pianist Glafkos Konteme-niotis. Filios invited the guests tosing along. “Tonight we are allone choir,” she announced. Thefinal songs were about the cityof Athens and were dedicated tothe 66th anniversary of her lib-eration by the allies on October12, 1944. After welcoming re-marks by LeRoy Lambert, Presi-dent of the Chamber and theChamber’s Chairman JohnStratakis, there was a moving au-dio-visual presentation ofVembo’s life by Filios in Greekand George Contos in English.Photos of the beautiful and pas-sionate artist were projected onscreen as audio clips of her songs,poetry reading and even radioprogram appearances wereplayed. Carol Contos, the wife ofDemetios “Mimis” Contos,thanked the groups who orga-nized and publicized the eventand expressed deep appreciationto Filios, whose choir “helps usto preserve what is Greek in us.”Mimi (Contos) believed in ourGreek heritage,” and said she is
steadfast in her obligation to con-tinue the series every year.
Kyriakopoulos told of flash-backs to his childhood, Vembo’smusic flooding him and many inthe audience with memories ofschool holidays and their parents’and grandparents’ 78 rpmrecords.
TRIUMPH, TRAGEDY,JOURNEY
After the great Oxi, Hitler hadto bail out his Italian partner andafter the German invasion andoccupation of Greece in April1941, Vembo was transported tothe Middle East, where she con-tinued to perform for the Greektroops in exile and give encour-agement to a homeland under-going a brutal Nazi occupation.Her generosity and patriotismknew no bounds as she presented2,000 gold pounds of her ownmoney to the Greek Navy. Filiostold the audience, “She never ac-cepted a dime for her efforts. Herrewards were the respect, loveand applause of an entire na-tion.” After the liberation ofGreece, Vembo journeyed to theUnited States where she was em-braced by an appreciative andadoring Greek Diaspora. Filiostold of triumphant performances
in Carnegie Hall where non-Greeks who could not under-stand her lyrics were moved totears or sat with their mouthsopen in amazement. She saidVembo was the only Greek artistwho consistently appeared inmainstream American newspa-pers.
Contos recounted the times,as a little girl, when she wouldattend dinner dances whereVembo performed. “I’ll never for-get the shaking of the ballroom
of the Commodore Hotel, thescreaming, the yelling, the tears.People stood for hours while sheperformed. It’s an unforgettablepicture. The Greeks who werehere during the war, and wereworried about their families didall they could to help and Vembowas their (emotional) lifeline.”Viola Valvis told TNH, “They toldme that I went to the danceswhen I was a child but I didn’tremember, but tonight as a lis-tened to the music I realized itmust be true. I felt a wave of nos-talgia,” that made the stories shewas told real. Vembo’s voice andpersona continue to have pow-erful effects on the Greek psyche.“My grandmother Anthi hadAlzheimer’s,” Alex Miral toldTNH. “When we played her songsshe came out of it. She remem-bered the songs and began tosing them.” Nicos Phidi-Colovonsaid, “We listened to her musiccontinuously when I was a kid.She was an icon. She kept up themorale of the Greeks. My parentswould listen to her and be in-spired to send money for Greekwar relief.”
Vembo had become spiritualroyalty for the Greeks. Maria saidthat when the singer was in theU.S. she lived in the St. Moritzhotel with her sister. When sheordered groceries from the Hel-lenic Food Market, Haralambatos’late husband, who was an owner,would deliver the items himself,not trusting anyone else to bringthem to Vembo. Dr. ChristosIoannides, Director of QueensCollege’s Center for Byzantine
and Modern Greek Studies toldTNH that Vembo is a heroic fig-ure because she inspired a wholenation. She reflected the soul andheart of the Greek people – that’swhat she was made of, that’s whoshe was. We don’t have thosekinds of heroic figures in the artstoday, but perhaps she was aproduct of her times.” After herAmerican sojourn, Vembo re-turned to Greece in triumph,where she realized her dream ofhaving her own theater in 1949,and in 1957 she married herlong-time lover Mimis Traïforos.
By the 1960’s her perfor-mances grew more infrequent asailments took their toll, but herspirit and patriotism waxedstrong. As opposed to the 1967-74 Greek junta as she was to WWII fascism, she provided sanctuaryto Athens Polytechnic studentswho participated in the 1973 up-rising against dictator George Pa-padopoulos. When state securityforces arrived at her door, Vembodeclared, “I was not afraid ofMussolini or Hitler, how can Ipossibly be afraid of you?”Stratakis thanked the choir andspeakers in behalf of the standingroom only crowd. “For those ofus who did not know about SofiaVembo, it was an impressive andenlightening evening.” The orga-nizations that helped present theconcert include the HellenicAmerican Bankers Association,the Hellenic American MedicalSociety and the Hellenic LawyersAssociation.
“OXI” DAYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010 9
WWII Heroine and Icon Vembo Remembered at Oxi Day Ceremony
A moving audio-visual presentation and the voices of the N.Y. Choir of Greek Demotic Songs,led by Athanasia Filios (L,) brought iconic singer Sofia Vembo to life at the Cathedral Center.
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Within the time-honored history of Hellenism,which stretches from the dawn of civilization to thepresent and contains enduring milestones ofhuman history, this date of October 28 representsa sacred, watershed moment to Hellenic peopleeverywhere.
At this time, we honor the core character of ourproud people in the modern era which can be dis-tilled into the singular, defiant reply to those whosought, on October 28, 1940, to abolish all that wecherished, treasured, and held dear.
The answer which reverberates still to this daywas a resounding, "NO!" And that is why, this oc-casion, in the timeless words of His Eminence,Archbishop Demetrios, is "more than a memory: itis the embodiment – in the flesh and blood of ourparents and grandparents – of the highest idealsof the Greek people."
Olympia J. Snowe, United States Senator
Carter, DeLuca, Farrell & Schmidt, LLPIntellectual Property Lawyers
445 Broad Hollow Road, Suite 420Melville, New York 11747
Tel.: (631) 501-5700 • Fax: (631) 501-3526
ΜΙΛΑΜΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ
ZHTΩ ΤΟ ΕΘΝΟΣ - ΖΗΤΩ Η ΕΛΛΑΣ ΖΗΤΩ ΤΟ ΕΠOΣ του ’40
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LONG LIVE HELLAS
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Long Live The Heroes
And The Memory Of
October 28th Of 1940
ANTHONY XANTHAKIS
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
n ADAMOPOULOSDEMETRIOS
ASBURY PARK, NJ – The AsburyPark Press reported thatDemetrios Adamopoulos, 79,passed away peacefully on Octo-ber 12 at Community MedicalCenter in Toms River. He wasborn in Greece and immigratedto the United States in 1966. Mr.Adamopoulos retired from OlinHunt Chemical Company after 18years. He was a member of St.Barbara Greek Orthodox Churchin Toms River. He is survived byhis loving wife of 44 years, Evan-gelia; his children, George (Tina)and Sia (Joseph) Carney; his sib-lings, Steven, Helen Pangalos andAngeliki Pantazia; his grandchil-dren, Demi and Peter Adamopou-los and Max, Drew and Finn Car-ney. Visitation was held at theSilverton Memorial FuneralHome. Funeral services wereheld at the St. Barbara Greek Or-thodox Church.
n FLOROU, ANGIEUNION, NJ – The Union Leaderreported that Angie T. Florou, 96,passed away peacefully at herhome on October 10. She wasborn in Fourka, Greece on Sep-tember 26, 1914, to Zoi andAnges Tentas. She married JohnFlorou in Fourka, Greece in 1952and immigrated to the UnitedStates that same year. She wasemployed for many years at TomMcCann Shoe and also workedat AJ Houle's Wig World. Shewas a member of St. GeorgeGreek Orthodox Cathedral andformer member of Daughters ofFourka and The AnagennesisLadies Society at St. GeorgeCathedral. She was predeceasedby her beloved husband, JohnFlorou; a brother and a sister. Vis-itation and a Trisagion prayer ser-vice were held at the Phaneuf Fu-neral Home. Funeral serviceswere held at St. George GreekOrthodox Cathedral with the Rev.Andrew Mahalares officiating.Donations may be made to St.George Greek Orthodox Church,650 Hanover St., Manchester03104. To view an online memo-rial and guestbook, visit:www.phaneuf.net.
n GRIGORIOU, VASILIKIFLINT, Michigan - The Flint Jour-nal reported that Vasiliki Grigo-riou, 85, passed away peacefullyat the Hotel Dieu Hospital inWindsor. Vasiliki was born in Naf-pactos, Greece on May 20, 1925.She married Angelo Grigoriou inGreece in 1949. She is survivedby her daughter, Elpida (Chris)Christakis; her grandchildren,Zack and Alta (John) Spillson;her great-grandchildren, Sophiaand George; her brother, Paul(Pantazis) Pierrette; her sisterAfrodite Koumbiou; and manyother relatives and friends. Visi-tation and a Trisagion prayer ser-vice was held at the Swartz Fu-neral Home. Funeral serviceswere held at the AssumptionGreek Orthodox Church with Fa-ther Angelo Maggos officiating.In lieu of flowers, contributionsmay be made to the AssumptionGreek Orthodox Church BuildingFund, 2245 East Baldwin Road,Grand Blanc.
n LIOLIOU, VASILIKIHOUSTON, Texas – The HoustonChronicle reported that VasilikiLioliou, 70, passed away peace-fully on September 23. She wasborn in Salonica, Greece on Feb-ruary 14, 1940. Visitation and aTrisagion prayer service wereheld in the Memorial Oaks Fu-neral Home Chapel. Funeral ser-vices were held at the Saint Basilthe Great Greek OrthodoxChurch.
n MOLAKIDES, ARTEMISSAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Thesan Francisco Chronicle reportedthat Artemis Molakides, 95,passed away on October 13.Artemis immigrated from Sa-lonika, Greece to San Francisco55 years ago. She married Lam-
pros Molakides and was devotedto him, as well as, to his foursons. Artemis always has had abig appetite for knowledge. Sheenjoyed bringing her grandchil-dren to a new adventure everyweekend. Artemis had alsoseeked more intellectual knowl-edge and attended lectures andclasses at the local San Franciscocolleges for 16 years straight. Shewas also very involved with theHoly Trinity Church; she wouldnot miss a Sunday, nor would hergrandchildren. Artemis hastouched so many lives with herselfless acts of love and friend-ship. She is deeply missed bymany family and friends span-ning from California to Greece.She was predeceased by herbeloved husband, Lampros Mo-lakides, her seven brothers andsisters and her step-son, GeorgeMolakides. She is survived byher step-children, James,Theodore and Paul Molakides;her grandchildren, Terry Mo-lakides, Jamie Papadimos, TamiYoung, Michael Molakides, Dorisand Louie Molakides; her great-grandchildren, ShilohMcGillicuddy, Christine Hitch-cock and Mara Papadimos. Visi-tation, a Trisagion prayer serviceand funeral services were held atHoly Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch. Memorial donationsmay be made to Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church, 999Brotherhood Way, San Francisco,California.
n PAPPAS, SIRMONASHUA, NH – Dignity Memorialreported that Sirmo R. Pappaspassed away peacefully on Octo-ber 12. She was born and raisedin Nashua, New Hampshire andwas married to the late John T.Pappas for 57 years. Prior to rais-ing her children, she was em-ployed in the accounting depart-ment of the Public ServiceCompany of New Hampshire.Sirmo was very active in theGreek Community. She was along time member of the AgapeLadies Society, the Daughters ofPenelope and was Chairperson ofthe Saint Philip Greek OrthodoxChurch Outreach Committee thatprovided food and clothing toneedy families in the area. Sirmowas very proud of her family, hergrandchildren, her church, andher community. She enjoyedreading, the ocean, long walksand traveling throughout Europeand Greece. Sirmo is predeceasedby her husband, John T. Pappas,her parents and a brother, ChrisRellas. She is survived by herchildren, Maria (Steven) Dubeand Thomas (Tracy) Pappas Sr.;her brothers, Steven (Ann) Rellasand Archie (Jackie) Rellas; hersister-in-law, Dorothy Rellas; herbrother-in-law, Steven (Joan)Pappas; her sister-in-law, LenaPappas; her grandchildren, Bran-don and John Dube, Thomas Jr.,Joseph and Mary Pappas; hergreat-granddaughter, Susan RoseDube; as well as many nieces,nephews, cousins and lovingfriends. Funeral services wereheld at the St. Philip Greek Or-thodox Church. In lieu of flow-ers, donations may be made toSt. Philip Greek OrthodoxChurch, 500 West Hollis Street,Nashua, NH. The Zis-SweeneyFuneral Home, 26 Kinsley Street,Nashua, NH 03060, is in chargeof arrangements.
n PARROUS, ANNANEWPORT NEWS, Va. - TheDaily Press reported that AnnaD. Parrous, 87, passed awaypeacefully on October 5. She wasa native of Karpenisi, Greece andwas a resident of the Peninsulafor more than 60 years. She wasthe former owner of the West-wood Restaurant in NewportNews. She was preceded indeath by her beloved husband,Dino J. Parrous and her son-in-law, Michael Evachyk. She is sur-vived by her children, Arthur Par-rous, James Parrous, BessieEvanchyk and Vivian (David)
Swanson; her grandchildren,Christina, Scott and MichelleSwanson; and many lovingfriends. Visitation and a Trisa-gion prayer service were held atthe Peninsula Funeral Home. Fu-neral services were held at Sts.Constantine and Helen Greek Or-thodox Church with the Rev.George Chioros officiating.Memorials may be made to Sts.Constantine and Helen Greek Or-thodox Church, 60 TraverseRoad, Newport News, VA 23601.Peninsula Funeral Home is incharge of arrangements.
n POULIANAS, VASILIOSALTANTIC CITY, N.J. – The Pressof Atlantic City reported thatVasilios Poulianas, 61, passedaway peacefully on September27 at the Cape Regional MedicalCenter. He was born in Velvento,Greece and spent summers inCape May County and his wintersin Greece. He was a constructionhandyman. He is survived by hisbeloved wife, Argyro; his broth-ers and sisters in Greece; andmany nieces, nephews andcousins in Greece and the UnitedStates. Visitation was held at theRadzieta Funeral Home. Funeralservices were held in Velvento,Greece. To leave condolences,visit: www.radzieta.com.
n PRIES, PENELOPESAJOSE, Calif. - The San JoseMercury Sun reported that Pene-lope Pries, 72, passed awaypeacefully on October 3. She wasborn June 28, 1928, in the smallvillage of St. George in Chios,Greece. She was married toKostantinos Pries on July 4, 1947,celebrating a wonderful marriagetogether for 53 years. The familyimmigrated to the United Statesin 1968. She was a proud em-ployee of San Jose State Univer-sity for 20 years. Her many hob-bies included tending to hergarden, spending time with herfamily and friends, caring for herlate husband's bee hives andmaking her famous loukoumadesthat everyone in the communityknew her for. Above all, she wasa devote Greek Orthodox Christ-ian and a pillar in her belovedchurch community. Penelope wasknown by the community as Yi-ayia Penny, because she was likea grandmother to everyonewhose heart she touched. She issurvived by her sons, George(Eleftheria), Paul (Koula) andNick (Evagelia); her grandchil-dren, Dino, Penny (Nick), Terry(Angeliki), Kosti (Kelly), Argyri,Maria (Taki), Pete (Anthie),Penny (Dimitri) and George; andher great-grandchildren, Milton,Kyriaki, George and Elyna. A Tris-agion prayer service and funeralservices were held at St. NicholasGreek Orthodox Church. In lieuof flowers, the family requestsdonations be made in Penny'shonor to St. Nicholas Greek Or-thodox Church.
n PROVOLISIANOS, PANAGIOTIS
HOUSTON, Texas – The HoustonChronicle reported that Panagio-tis Provolisianos, 76, passed awaypeacefully on October 11. He wasborn March 21, 1934 in Kefalo-nia, Greece, son of Andreas andAmalia Provolisianos. He enjoyedcooking and was owner of sev-eral restaurants during his yearsin Houston, including, Pete’s Bar-B-Q. He is survived by his chil-dren, Michael and Alex; hisdaughter-in-law, Marilen; hisgrandsons, Pete and Sandros;and numerous nieces andnephews in Houston and Greece.Visitation and a Trisagion prayerservice were held at the ForestPark Lawndale Funeral Home.Funeral services were held at St.John the Theologian Greek Or-thodox Church.
n ROZAKOS, JOHNGREENVILLE, S.C. - TheGreenville News reported thatJohn George Rozakos, 74, passedaway peacefully on October 10
at the AnMed Health MedicalCenter. Johnny was born inHartsville, South Carolina, the el-dest of ten children. He wasproud of his Greek heritage andwas a member of St. GeorgeGreek Orthodox Cathedral and avolunteer at the Anderson GreekFestival. He was the owner andproprietor of several restaurantsincluding, Petes #5, Capri's ofAnderson, Pete's Downtown Caféand Pete's on Concord, which heowned with his son, George. Hewas predeceased by his parents,Athena Trakas Rozakos andGeorge John Rozakos and hisson, George John Rozakos. He issurvived by his beloved wife, RitaLancianese Rozakos; his children,Christopher (Shae) Rozakos andJennifer (Darrell) Burgess; hisdaughter-in-law, Carrie Rozakos;his grandchildren, AnastasiaRozakos, Anthony Rozakos, JohnRozakos and Nicholas Rozakos;his siblings, Tony Rozakos,Joanna Beleos, Bessie Mentis,Elainey Roberts, Inna Thickston,Tula Bikas, Spero Rozakos, PeteRozakos and Angelina Zo-graphos; and many loving in-laws, nieces and nephews. Visi-tation and a Trisagion prayerservice were held at the Chapelof The McDougald FuneralHome. Funeral services wereheld at Grace Episcopal Churchwith Father Tom Pistolis officiat-ing. In lieu of flowers, contribu-tions in memory of Johnny Roza-kos can be made to the BuildingFund of the Paracletos Monastery,P.O. Box 1284, Anderson, SC29622.
n STAVROPOULOS, SPIROSHARTFORD, Conn. - The Hart-ford Courant reported thatSpiros Stavropoulos, 87, passedaway peacefully on October 5 atHartford Hospital. He was bornin Messolongos, Greece, son ofthe late Fotios and AphroditeStavropoulos. Spiros had livedin Wethersfield for over 30 yearsand was a longtime member ofSt. George Greek OrthodoxCathedral in Hartford. He waspredeceased by a brother, JohnStavropoulos and his sisters, NikiKaramesinis and Katerina Kat-sapis. He is survived by hisbeloved wife; his sons,Theodoros (Maria) Stavropoulosand Fotios (Donna) Stavropou-los; his grandchildren, Nicholas,Mary, Kleanthi, Aphrodite, Eleft-heria and Yeorgia; and manynieces, nephews and cousins.Visitation and a Trisagion prayerservice were held at Dillon-Bax-ter Funeral Home. Funeral ser-vices were held at the St. GeorgeGreek Orthodox Cathedral.Contributions in his memory canbe made to St. George Greek Or-thodox Cathedral, 433 FairfieldAve., Hartford, CT 06114. Toshare a memory with the family,visit: www.dillonbaxter.com.
n VLASOPOULOS, STEFANOS
MONTREAL, CANADA – TheMontreal Gazette reported thatStefanos Vlasopoulos, 66, passedaway peacefully in his home onOctober 3. He was born inGreece on October 5, 1943. Heis survived by his beloved wife,Ermioni; his children, Saki(Maryann) Vlasopoulos, Angelos(Niki) Vlasopoulos andChristina; his grandchildren,Alexander, Christopher and Ali-cia. Viewing was held at UrgelBourgie and funeral serviceswere held at Evangelismos tisTheotokou Greek OrthodoxChurch in Montreal.
n ZAVLIARIS, NICOLAOSMONTREAL, Canada – TheMontreal Gazette reported thatNicolaos Zavliaris, 93, passedaway peacefully on October 10at the Hotel Dieu Hospital. Heserved his country in World WarII in the rank of "lohagos" andwas honored by the Greek Gov-ernment, as well as, the HellenicCommunity. He was prede-
ceased by five brothers, one sis-ter and his beloved wife, Nafkra-tusa. He is survived by hisdaughter, Aglaia; his God daugh-ter, Katerina; and manynephews, nieces and their fami-lies in Greece. Visitation washeld at the M.A. Blythe BernierFuneral Home. Funeral serviceswere held at St. Michael's GreekOrthodox Church.
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By Demetris TsakasTNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Little over one yearago Dr. Angelo Kontarinis, 41, aprofessor at the New HampshireInstitute of Art had beaten cancerand gained fame as the author ofa well known blog on the Internetwhich documented his journeywith kidney cancer, for which hewas first diagnosed back in 2007.He had come to New York to cel-ebrate Easter with his family, whowere left amazed by the zest thathe showed to return to his teach-ing duties and publish his work.A few days after returning to Ex-eter, N.H., he felt dizziness, whichwas the start of new health trou-bles. After a series of tests, his doc-tors told him that the cancer heoriginally was originally diag-nosed with in his kidneys andlater his lungs, had not disap-peared as they had told him a yearearlier. This time, it had metasta-sized to his brain. That was thebeginning of a second Golgothafor Kontarinis and his family.
Despite the shocking news, theGreek American academician did
not give up his struggle, anddreamed of returning to the uni-versity in September to teach hisbeloved history classes and com-plete the book he had begun towrite shortly after completing hisdoctoral dissertation. Sadly, hiscondition took a turn for theworse over the past few weeks,and on Oct. 8, 2010 he took hislast breath at the Merrimack Val-ley Hospice House in Haverhill,Mass. He is survived by his wifeof nine years, Melissa (Cooper-man) Kontarinis of Exeter, NH;his three children, Jack TheodoreKontarinis, Tess Irini Kontarinis,and Pearl Ilyana Kontarinis; hisparents, Dennis and Androniki(Matzoros) Kontarinis of Queens,N.Y.; two sisters, Spy Kontarinisand her husband John Tsantes ofQueens, N.Y., and Lisa Kontarinisand her husband George Lagosof Queens, N.Y.; nieces andnephews, Nikoletta and StevenTsantes, and Deanna and CeciliaLagos; and many aunts, uncles,and cousins.
Kontarinis’ death also plungedhis students and fellow colleaguesinto mourning, along with many
others who would read his blogposts concerning his battle withcancer. After Kontarinis’ initial di-agnosis in 2007, mounting billsand problems with mortgage pay-ments that left him and his wife
facing the possibility of a foreclo-sure. According to Fox News, thecouple's bank refused to helpwhen they tried to restructuretheir mortgage. Fortunately, Kon-tarinis had a support network
provided through Kidney-Onc - adiscussion list for relatives, re-searchers and physicians of kid-ney cancer patients - and dozensof individuals moved by his storyspread the word about his plight,even contacting local politicians,including Democratic SenatorJeanne Shaheen. Under theircombined pressure, the bank re-structured the Kontarinis' mort-gage and lowered their interestpayments. The father of threeused to say that he believed hissuffering happened for a reason."There are people out there whodon't have a thousand other pa-tients supporting them, and in theend, maybe shame is a goodthing," he told the news provider,alluding to the negative publicitythat forced his bank to becomecooperative.
According to the Federal De-posit Insurance Company, whichcites figures from the MortgageBankers Association, some250,000 American families enterinto foreclosure every quarter.Kontarinis was born on March 20,1969 in Athens Greece to Dennisand Androniki Kontarinis. He
came to the U.S. at the age of sixmonths and grew up in New YorkCity. The family originally livedin New Jersey, but later moved toWashington Heights, and thenBrooklyn.
He was a graduate of Xaver-ian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.and attended Pace Universitywhere he was a fraternity mem-ber of Delta Theta Phi. He re-ceived his Bachelor's Degree inhistory and was a member of PhiBeta Kappa at Purdue University.At the University of New Hamp-shire, he received his Masters ofArts in History and was a PHDcandidate in the Department ofHistory. Angelo was very well re-spected in the educational com-munity and taught classes at theUniversity of New Hampshire inDurham and the New HampshireInstitute of Art in Manchester. Hiscareer prior to teaching was asan Internet Architect with IBM,Axia Financial and BridgelineSoftware. A devoted husbandand father, Angelo enjoyed manyoutdoor activities including longdistance cycling and hiking withhis family.
Community Mourns 41-Year-Old Greek American Prof., A Cancer Victim
The late Dr. Angelo Kontarinis was a devoted family man, at-tached to his wife Melissa, who stood by him during his illness,and his three young children.
to 7.8% of gross domestic prod-uct from a revised 13.8% fore-cast earlier this year, althoughthe EU said it was above 15% atone point. To do that, Greeceneeded the emergency loan pro-gram from the EU and IMF, acondition of which was slashingpublic workers salaries, reducingbonuses, raising taxes and cut-ting into pensioners benefits too,drastic measures that havesparked protests and riots.Greece has vowed to hit the EU’sdeficit ceiling of 3% by 2014,but a longer loan repayment pe-riod could make that difficult orimpossible.
Prime Minister George Pa-pandreou has said all year thatGreece will not default nor re-structure its debt, but the dis-cussion now is aimed at makingsure neither will happen by ask-ing for more time to repay theloans. European Central BankExecutive Board memberLorenzo Bini Smaghi said thatthe IMF may set up a longer-term repayment plan so Greecewon’t have to restructure, amove that could further hamperit ability to get loans later frominternational markets still jitteryover the country’s repaymenthopes. “The IMF is certainlythinking of these issues,”Smaghi said in a speech inWashington. “There are mecha-nisms in the IMF to prolongpackages.” He later told re-porters that, “There is a stan-dard procedure which has beenimplemented many ways, inwhich the IMF transforms short-term programs to longer-termprograms” when it sees a coun-try is on track. ECB governingcouncil member EwaldNowotny told the Bloomberg fi-nancial news agency thatstretching out payments did notconstitute a restructuring, whichwas not under discussion. “Wehave developed a good joint
program for Greece by the EUCommission, ECB and IMF,”Nowotny told reporters in Wash-ington. “That’s why I don’t seea perspective for a discussion ona restructuring.” Klaus Regling,Chief Executive Officer of thenewly established European Fi-nancial Stability Facility, alsosaid that restructuring was noton the table. “Nobody said that,”Regling said, adding thatSmaghi “only talked aboutfunds provided by the IMF andthat’s indeed a normal, or com-mon procedure by the IMF tothink again about maturities.The IMF has mechanisms forthat, but that doesn’t concernprimarily markets.”
Papaconstantinou yesterdaysaid investors who didn’t turntheir backs on his country’s debt
are seeing returns. At April’sIMF Fund annual meeting, Pa-paconstantinou said investorswould “lose their shirts” if theybet the cash-strapped nationwas going to default, and earlierthis month China pledged tobuy up Greek bonds as well, ina vote of confidence. Some an-alysts, however, have said thatthere’s little reason for optimismbecause the austerity measures,particularly the tax hikes, haveactually reduced revenue expec-tations. But Eurozone chiefJean-Claude Juncker of Luxem-bourg dismissed the idea.” Idon’t think it is the right timeto start discussing an extensionof the repayment of the loans,”he said in an interview in theTo Vima newspaper. “I believeit is a premature discussion.”
Greece’s borrowing needs areexpected to rise above $97 bil-lion in 2014/2015, when itneeds to pay its lenders back,from around $76.7 billion yearin 2011-2013, raising concernsamong investors and triggeredtalk of a possible rescheduling.
Papaconstantinou said in aninterview with Realnews news-paper that any official discus-sion of an extension of repay-ments was far away.
Juncker also said he believedGreece would achieve toughdeficit cutting targets. “Greecehas made remarkable progressregarding its public finances.The deficit is falling at a remark-able pace.” Papaconstantinoutold the newspaper that extend-ing the repayment period of £97billion in loans provided by the
EU and the IMF “if it is ever de-cided, will be a proof of trustand a recompense for our cur-rent efforts.” He added that itwould be premature to say if anextension was necessary. Hesaid that, “by 2013, Greece willbe a country with better publicfinances and a stronger econ-omy.” He added: “We will notneed further (bail-outs) but topreserve what we will have ac-complished by then.”
A NOBEL IDEANobel Prize co-winner for
economics Prof. Christopher Pis-sarides, a British-Cypriot, saidafter receiving the prize thatGreece needs to cut businesstaxes, not raise them, to be com-petitive and increase its taxbase. Leading economists havewarned that, with further cut-backs in the pipeline, Greece’ssocialist government shouldmove to simultaneously spurgrowth and development. ‘‘Theausterity measures and eco-nomic reform’’ should be accom-panied ‘‘by a very strong pro-gram of development policies inorder to remove the countryfrom the vicious circle of risingunemployment and bankrupt-cies,” he wrote in an article pub-lished by the Athens-basednewspaper Kathimerini. He saidthat corporate taxes should beslashed to 10% to boost foreigndirect investments, currentlystanding at about $3.35 billion,and that the bloated public sec-tor should be severely trimmed,together with the number ofpublic servants, as well as re-ducing the number of stateworkers to revive the economy.An annual growth rate of 4%would enable the country tomeet its borrowing obligationsand improve productivity, Pis-sarides said. Under the terms ofthe EU-IMF loan, Greece is onlyallowed to issue short-term debtbills. It hopes to tap into inter-national markets and resumeborrowing at longer maturities
in the second half of next year. The EU has also delayed until
mid-November a revision ofGreece’s deficit and debt figures,numbers which had been ex-pected to be released now.There was no speculation onwhether that was because theresults are disappointing.Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman forEU Economy Commissioner OlliRehn, told the German PressAgency Deutsche-Presse-Agen-tur (dpa) that a mission by theEU’s numbers-cruncher Eurostatneeded more time to check andverify Greek statistics. The EUhas said that previous Greekgovernments lied through theirteeth about the severity of theeconomic crisis in order to getinto the Eurozone of countriesusing the euro as their currency.There were reports that Greece’s2009 public debt would comein at 127% of Gross DomesticProduct, far above the already-staggering 115% that had beenannounced previously.
Papaconstantinou deniedthat the upcoming statisticalcorrection would force the gov-ernment to take even tougherausterity measures, even as pub-lic worker unions set a date ofDec. 15 for the latest in a roundof 24-hour strikes that havebeen part of social unrest overthe cut in pay and tax hikes.
“The smart money is realiz-ing Greek bonds are a good in-vestment,” he told reporters inWashington. “However, we can-not return to the markets at themoment with bond issues, asthe cost of borrowing will behigh,” he said.
Greek bonds were Europe’stop performers last quarter,gaining for the first time sincethe debt crisis began. The revi-sion “in no way changes the tar-gets or the ability of the Greekgovernment to achieve the goalsthat it has set in the economicprogram,” Papaconstantinou in-sisted.
LONDON - U.S. Attorney AthanT. Tsimpedes has charged that theTurkish Republic of NorthernCyprus (TRNC) is unlawfully op-erating in the United States as acommercial enterprise – and is in-volved in a fraudulent propertyscheme selling properties ownedby Greek Cypriots that wereseized during the Turkish invasionof 1974 to British citizens. At aseminar, Tsimpedes explained thebasis of his current case againstthose assisting or participating inthe TRNC on behalf of Cypriotsand other nationals including UScitizens who own properties inCyprus, in the areas currently un-der the control of the illegalregime. “The Cyprus issue is notwell publicized or understood inAmerica,’ said Tsimpedes. “Butthis is Turkey’s Gaza. The worldneeds to know.”
Tsimpedes outlined that theunrecognized regime is subject toU.S. law because it operating as acommercial enterprise that hasU.S. offices and employees, HSBCbank accounts and is selling stolenproperties through its trade namethe TRNC. The illegal transac-tions for properties in the occu-pied territories are made throughthe global bank, HSBC and its sub-sidiaries. “Because HSBC is in-volved in the fraudulent propertyscheme, the TRNC’s assets can beseized,” said Tsimpedes. The caseis of interest to British citizens andother nationals who own or haveproperty rights in the area con-trolled by the illegal TRNC regimein Cyprus since Turkey’s invasion36 years ago. Theo Theodorou,Coordinator of Lobby for Cyprus,stated that Tsimpedes had givenall the displaced British property
owners in occupied Cyprus aroute to protect and defend theirproperty rights by pursuing thosebenefiting from the illegal tradingof those properties. He also statedthat this action would highlightthe discriminatory basis of the cur-rent Turkish proposals for resolv-ing the property issue in Cyprus,which contravened EuropeanUnion law. He commended Tsim-pedes for his passionate defenseof the displaced property owners.It did not go unnoticed that therepresentatives of the illegalregime were acting clandestinelyand in concert as a commercialenterprise in the U.S. under theradar of U.S. laws, he said.
Tsimpedes concluded by ex-plaining that his lawsuit was opento all displaced property ownerswho could join at minimal risk be-cause their only risk was to pay
the nominal administrative fee toenter the class action. The lawsuitdoes not exchange title for com-pensation. Tsimpedes said his law-suit retains title to the propertyowners but seeks compensationfor the interference of the rightsto property for 36 years, alongwith exemplary damages to pun-ish the illegal acts. The Lobbyurged all displaced property own-ers to join Tsimpedes action with-out delay. All is required is a state-ment that you own property inthe occupied areas of Cyprus withsome minimum details. The sem-inar was organized by British Hu-man Rights NGO Lobby forCyprus.
Dr. Klearchos Kyriakides, Se-nior Law lecturer at the Universityof Hertfordshire, gave some con-cluding remarks including howU.S. case law compliments and
supports the findings in the recentECJ and English decisions in Apos-tolides v. Orams which re-en-forced the property rights of thedisplaced owners. CostasFrangeskides, partner of HolmanFenwick Willan, specialists in in-
ternational litigation reminded ofthe rule of law and how Turkeyand its illegal regime can nevertake these property rights awayfrom their rightful owners. Tsim-pedes said a thief never obtainstitle to stolen property.
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Pro-Is-rael groups denied any role inpassing a congressional resolu-tion slamming Turkey for its al-leged role in removing theGreek cultural presence inNorthern Cyprus. A report inCongressional Quarterly saidthe Anti-Defamation League, theAmerican Jewish Committeeand the American Israel PublicAffairs Committee lobbied forthe nonbinding resolutionpassed in the U.S. House of Rep-resentatives on Sept. 28 by voicevote. Officials for all three
groups denied any such role tothe Jewish Telegraphic Agency(JTA).
A spokesman for Rep. GusBilirakis (R-Fla.), a Greek Amer-ican who initiated the legisla-tion, would say only that, "Wedid not seek support of any out-side group, although many Jew-ish members of Congresscosponsored the resolution."Four Jewish lawmakers areamong the 27 sponsors. One isRep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.),the powerful Chairman of theHouse Foreign Affairs Commit-
tee. Another is Rep. Adam Schiff(D-Calif.,) whose district has astrong Armenian presence andwho routinely has taken onTurkey in his House career. An-other cosponsor, Rep. ShelleyBerkley (D-Calif.,) is of Greek-Jewish heritage. The House hasmore than 30 Jewish members.The Congressional Quarterlystory cast what it said was pro-Israel support for the resolutionas part of deteriorating Israel-Turkey relations in the wake ofthe 2009 Gaza war and Israel'sdeadly May 31 raid on a Turk-
ish-flagged aid flotilla attempt-ing to breach Israel's blockadeof Gaza. Israel and Greece haveenhanced ties over the summer,in part because Turkey recentlycanceled joint military exercises.
Bilirakis at a recent Washing-ton conference promoting Is-raeli-Greek ties said such anevolution was natural, blamingTurkey for alienating both coun-tries. But diplomats from Greeceand Israel at the conferencewere at pains to say that en-hanced ties would not be atTurkey's expense.
Turkey invaded Cyprus in1974 after a coup engineeredby the ultranationalist junta inpower in Greece at the time.The coup had threatened to re-move protections for the island'sethnic Turkish minority.
Atrocities occurred on bothsides. Turkey removed Greekpopulations in the north, andTurks in the south moved to theTurkish enclave. The north de-clared independence in 1983under Turkish protection. OnlyTurkey has recognized the en-tity. International cultural
groups have praised Cyprus forpreserving Turkish cultural her-itage, and have slammed Turkeyand the Turkish Cypriot author-ities for not doing the same inthe north, where internationaldealers are alleged to have re-moved priceless Byzantine arti-facts. Bilirakis' resolution men-tions only the Turkish invasionand not the coup by Greek ul-tranationalists. By focusingstrictly on cultural heritage, itbypasses claims by both Turksand Greeks regarding recoveryof civilian dead and of property.
GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010 11
Revenues Falling Short, Greece Ponders Longer Loan Repayment
U.S. Lawyer Goes After Turkey for Selling Greek Cypriot Homes
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Pro-Israeli Groups Say They Had No Part in Bilirakis’ Cyprus Bill
Continued from page 1
A banner in Greek states “Unemployment” as workers block the entrance of the archaeologicalmuseum of Athens, Oct. 19, 2010. Dozens of protesting ministry workers gathered there, com-plaining they are owed up to two years' worth of back pay and face dismissal when their short-term contracts expire at the end of the month.
AP PHOTO/PETrOS GiANNAkOuriS
EDITORIALS LETTERS12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010
Dr. Vagelos Shows the Way:Will We Follow?
To the Editor:With great pride as a Greek
American, I congratulate Dr. P.Roy Vagelos and Mrs. DianaVagelos for their exceptional do-nation of $50 million dollars toColumbia University’s MedicalSchool. Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, for-mer CEO of Merck & Co., Inc.Pharmaceuticals and currentCEO of Regeneron Pharmaceu-ticals was the Recipient of theAnnual Physician Award of theHellenic Medical Society of NewYork in 1988 and Recipient ofthe first Dr. George PapanicolaouGrand Prize of the Global Hel-lenic Medical and BiosciencesNetwork in 2009. As a GreekAmerican involved in Hellenicorganizations to bolster GreekAmerican influence in Americansociety and to preserve our Hel-lenic heritage, I question whycan’t we Greek Americans haveorganizations with track recordsof community involvement thatcan use donations of GreekAmerican philanthropists such asDr. P. Roy Vagelos for noblecauses.
At the Hellenic Medical Soci-ety of New York, we are estab-lishing a Hellenic Medical Re-
search Fund to support Hellenicphysicians who train with ac-complished Hellenic medical fac-ulty at major institutions. Otherprofessional Hellenic societiescould become involved in similarventures.
However, three major en-deavors that have not been ac-complished by the Hellenic com-munity of New York include aHellenic House in Manhattan, aCollege for Hellenic Educationfor Greek American teachers,and expansion of programs foryoung Greek Americans to visitGreece. In order for our childrento preserve their Hellenic iden-tity, they need to network withHellenic professionals throughsocieties who can provide oppor-tunities to find employment andsucceed in this country.
In order for our children topreserve their Hellenic identity,
we have to work together andestablish a Hellenic House firstin Manhattan that can draw to-gether the Greek American youthwith many cultural and educa-tional projects, house meritori-ous Hellenic societies, provideinformation on Hellenic profes-sionals, and participate in NewYork City community affairs. Inorder for our children to preservetheir Hellenic identity, they needto be taught the Modern Greeklanguage. As Greek governmentsupport for the Omogenia isdwindling and we are losingteachers from Greece, we haveto rise and establish a HellenicCollege for Hellenic education ofGreek American teachers whocan populate our existing schoolsand become available for newschools where the Greek lan-guage and culture are beingtaught.
In order for our children topreserve their Hellenic identity,we must provide them with theopportunity to visit Greece forfree. This can be accomplishedby organizing the major Hellenicgeotopic societies to providefunds for young Hellenic adultsto visit their home region, tourGreece, or become involved inan area of interest practiced inGreece.
These practical thoughts tobecome reality need enlightenedHellenes who coordinate effortsand establish specific projectsthat can be funded by GreekAmerican philanthropists such asDr. P. Roy Vagelos!
Sincerely,Spyros G.E. Mezitis,
MD, PhDPresident, Federation
of Hellenic Medical Societies of North America
Support Wilson and GiannouliasAs of this writing, the Republicans seem poised to make a come-
back, especially in the Congress. It might be the price PresidentBarack Obama will have to pay for losing his connection with thepeople, his sense of direction, of really loosing his... voice. That is, hewill pay for his inability to let us get to know him, to entrust us withhis vision for the country.
As we travel around the country we sense that the Greek Americancommunity is in sync with the rest of the population: the well off,simply put, cannot stand Obama who accuse him of everything underthe sun. Those who have lost a job or are scared they might lose theone they have cannot understand why Obama is not doing more forthem. He loses from both sides.
This country is polarized as few times before and instead of dis-cussing the big issues during this campaign, like the wars, it is fedtrivialities by the media, truly unworthy of a great and serious na-tion.
Among those running for office are two young promising GreekAmericans who deserve our support and that of the rest of the popu-lation:
Harry Wilson, self-made man, whose father was born in this coun-try of Greek parents, and earned his living as a bartender and his im-migrant mother was a sewing machine operator went to HarvardBusiness School, worked at Goldman Sachs, and is now running forState Comptroller of the State of New York, a job he is well qualifiedto handle. He has been endorsed by the NYT and most other seriousmedia in New York State, and he has the full backing of the commu-nity. He looks poised to make a long term impact in New York Statepolitics and beyond if he manages to overcome this first hurdle.
The second candidate is Alexis Giannoulias, a man born to suc-cessful Greek immigrant parents in Chicago, a charismatic individualwho is his own man and who would take Obama’s old Senate if hewins, as now seems likely. He too has the full support of the commu-nity nationwide.
These two young, talented men, if successful, can bring a new dy-namism and fresh ideas to the posts they are running for and canmake a difference for the betterment of the country and their respec-tive communities.
And who knows, maybe one of them or someone else will someday finish the job Michael Dukakis started.
So we urge you to please support them in any way you can.
Rags to riches...via the path of integrity
The story of Mercourios (Mike) Angeliades is an extraordinaryone: a poor boy from a tiny island of Greece making it big in America.
This man began on the usual immigrant path, later built 182diners without ever being sued or suing anyone in the process - arecord in this business – and later built one of the largest constructioncompanies in the cut throat business world of New York.
A man who, who as so sadly happens so often in this town, wasinvestigated by the authorities, accused of ridiculously insignificantthings, but kept his faith in God and in himself, and made it throughthe ordeal with flying colors.
What is extraordinary about Mike Angeliades, is the man himself:the family man, the man with the crystal clear mind who is unfailinglypolite to everyone, the man with the deep understanding of what lifeis all about: triumphs one week, betrayals the next. The man whohas reached a philosophical level of understanding the perplexitiesof life that a professor of philosophy would envy.
Mike Angeliades has not forgotten his island Simi, his roots, hisfamily or his hometown church. He draws strength from them, hekeeps them close to his heart - they are his guides –and protectors- inlife. It can be safely assumed that those memories and experiencesmolded him into what he is, make it difficult for him to deny arequest to help any worthy cause.
Indeed, he is a unique man, a man who makes a difference in thelife of this community.
A man who we thought you should all get to know….
Can you imagine....Dr. P. Roy Vagelos is an American scientific giant. The kind of a
brilliant but down-to-earth individual- so uniquely America- who isalso endowed with the highest integrity.
One gets the strong sense that Vagelos was destined for greatness.Not because of his business acumen - which must have been consid-erable - but because of his character and methodical, scientific mindwho devoted his life to work that truly makes a difference , that is todiscovery and production of pharmaceuticals that help alleviate thepain and cure human beings.
In fact, as he said in a rare interview with this paper last week sit-ting next to his formidable, on her own right wife Diane, he likedwhat he was doing so much that did not look upon it as work. Thatby itself goes a long way to explain his success.
Vagelos -like most of the rest of the Greek billionaires - was borninto an immigrant family. He got his first taste of the workplace atthe family luncheonette.
Both of the Vageloses, speak the Greek language well and theirties with their roots are deep and conscientious. Their children alsoare very proud of their heritage and took Greek at the college level.
From a higher perspective what is truly amazing is that our com-munity is blessed with having a disproportionately large amount ofself-made billionaires than the general population.
The Vageloses, like, most of them, are very generous with theirmoney, and make history making contributions to prestigious acad-emic institutions of the country, like U Penn and Columbia.
Only one or two of them however, fund anything that has to dowith the Greek American community, like the funding of a top ratedschool, a museum, offer scholarships, or pay for trips to the homelandfor poor kids.
Some might criticize them for that. We would argue in their de-fense that they would not shy away from it if the quality of our insti-tutions met their understandably high standards. Perhaps it is achicken and egg question.
In any case, can you imagine the impact it would have if a few ofthese individuals were to get together and explore ways to help set -and finance - an agenda to preserve Hellenism in America?
That would be amazing. Even more it would be making the bestutilization of a historic opportunity…
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
ΛΟΓΟΣ
Perhaps the most provocativeand intriguing of the ancientGreek philosophers, Heraclitus,advised us to expect the unex-pected or we won’t find it. Suchageless wisdom is relevant tomany aspects of life today for ithelps to open up what are es-sentially pathways to unlimitedpossibilities. In this regard, tomany observers, Heraclitus isviewed as the world’s first trueteacher of creativity and creativethinking. Expecting the unex-pected, however, refers to muchmore than the power of creativethought and expression. It helpsframe, or should I say “un-frame,” the way that we look atthe world around us. In a way,Heraclitus is conveying a similarmessage to that which I writeabout in my book, Prisoners ofOur Thoughts. By being willingto escape the inner mental pris-ons that all-too-often restrict ourperception of so-called “reality,”we are offered the prospect ofshifting our frame of reference(a common tool used in creativethinking and problem-solving)and altering or elevating ourstate of consciousness. In otherwords, expecting the unexpectedallows us to find and learn aboutthings that were not even a partof our reality in the first place.
Although I have never con-sidered myself to be a New Ageperson (if anything I would de-scribe myself as being a MiddleAge person!) I have always beenintrigued by the field of quan-tum physics, the supernatural,and the mysterious power of in-tuition (you know—knowingsomething even though youdon’t know how or why youknow it.) I even published abook entitled Intuition at Workand recall my publisher firstbalking at the idea because Iwas a man. At the time itseemed to him that only womenhad intuition! I guess you could
say that I am ametaphysical guy. Ibelieve in thepower of intention,resonate with thelaw of attraction,and can imaginethe possibility ofthe so-called nonlo-cal mind. Let meexplain.
Bestselling au-thor and meta-physician Dr.Wayne Dyer, amongother things, is fa-mously popular forespousing thepower of intention; he even hasa book with that exact title. It isimportant to bring intentioninto your consciousness, i.e.,awareness, as a preparatory stepto achieving what it is that youwould like, i.e., intend, toachieve. I concur with Dr. Dyerthat our ability to articulate in-tention is a powerful force inour lives. Let’s face it, as the oldsaying goes, where there is awill there is a way. And as mymentor, the world-renown psy-chiatrist, Dr. Viktor Frankl per-suasively argued, where there isan aim there is a will. So inten-tion does really matter.
At the same time, intentionis not sufficient to reach ouraims. How many of us knowpeople, maybe even ourselves,who have been caught dream-ing about something, in otherwords engaged in what is essen-tially a form of wishful thinking,but never able to realize ourdreams even though we haveobvious intent? In this regard,NBA coach Phil Jackson, in hisbook Sacred Hoops (a meta-physical title if there ever wasone!) cautions us to rememberthat the best way to realize yourdreams is to wake up. Don’t justsit there, take action.
Taking action by doing some-
thing or by decid-ing not to do some-thing doesn’t inany way take awaythe power ofthought, which in-cludes, of course,intention. Indeed,if you believe like Ido that thought isa source and formof “energy,” thenyou will recognizethat the power ofthought can eitherenable or disableour actions to dos o m e t h i n g .
Thought as a form of life energyis what actually drives us tohave a “will” in the first place.
Our thoughts, moreover,serve us like a magnet too—both for good and for not sogood. This is what the currentNew Age or New Thought ad-vocates refer to as the Law ofAttraction. While I don’t sub-scribe totally to the basicpremise of Rhonda Byrne’s 2006book and movie, both titled TheSecret, that whatever you thinkof will happen, I do believe thatthere is a magnetic quality as-sociated with your thoughtseven if we don’t really knowhow or why it exists (the ancientGreeks, by the way, also pon-dered this question without res-olution.) Whether or not it canclaim the status of a law is notas important as whether we be-lieve, albeit intuitively, that itoperates in our lives at all. Andif there is even a remote possi-bility that such an “attraction”force may influence our exis-tence in some way, then it be-hooves us to try to leverage itin our favor, don’t you think?
The power of intention andthe law of attraction were in fullplay during the last presidentialelection cycle. Do you recallPresident Obama’s call to arms
with his plea to hold on to theaudacity of hope? What is hopeanyway? Spiritual underpin-nings notwithstanding, doesn’tit reflect intention throughthought? And doesn’t the waywe think channel our perceptionof so-called reality? If we believethat the sky is falling, for us, inour world, the sky is falling!
Reflect for a moment on thereality that had to be faced re-cently by the 33 men trapped ina mine in Chile. The world ral-lied around the audacity of hopefor these men, did it not? Andwhat about the miners? Formore than two weeks theyweren’t even sure if someonewould even come look for them.But did they give up hope? Onthe contrary, it was hope (in-cluding that based on deepfaith) that became their resolve,their will to survive against theodds. They demonstrated the re-silience of the human spirit,mind, and body. This is not tosay that the miners’ ordeal isnecessarily over for each to gothrough a personal adjustmentto life above ground. But likethe crowd in Camp Hope downthe hill from the escape shaft,together with so many peoplein Chile and around the worldwho were focused on one holein the ground, a miracle hap-pened. Had we not expected tofind the unexpected, we maynot have found it.
Dr. Pattakos, author ofPrisoners of Our Thoughts, isco-founder of a business initia-tive on how to live a happy,healthy, meaningful lifeinspired by and based on Greekculture. Readers may contacthim with questions, comments,and/or suggestions for topicsat: [email protected] andare invited to visit his web siteand join the OPA! Village at:www.theopaway.com.
A Primer on Metaphysics: Be Practical, Expect Miracles
COMMENTARY
By George MatsoukasSpecial to TNH
The work of the Episcopal As-sembly is off to a slow start. Thecoordinators are not coordinat-ing. Could it be that the Patri-arch asked all to go to Istanbulso he too could understandwhere are the committees andhow are they progressing? Afterall, the Old World Patriarchs di-rected the Bishops to meet anddemonstrate that they can worktogether. What have they accom-plished these past four months?Only 50% of the Bishops havesigned up to be members of the12 committees. How manyclergy and laity have been in-vited to serve? How will theybe invited? Will all of the invi-tations be managed? Maybe the
Patriarch has the same questionsthat I have. My experience isthat most Bishops see them-selves as islands unto them-selves. Most Bishops guard theirturf. They seem to have a passive– aggressive ethos. Each Bishopwill need to give up somethingto make this consensus buildingprocess work. The whole worldis watching to see if this willhappen. They need to share theirstaffs and manpower. Will they?They need to work together toassemble a staff and committeethat will over see the work ofthe committees. Someone needsto make sure the committeesmet deadlines and do theirwork. I do not see this happen-ing. Do the Bishops know howto go about doing this - consid-ering their mind sets?
Where is this coordinatingstaff that will assist the commit-tee workers? Business as usualwill not accomplish the splendidopportunity that the Bishopshave been given to build a foun-dation for unity. The Bishopshave been asked to think out ofthe box to show the Old WorldPatriarchs that they can work to-gether. Hopefully they will notsquander a great opportunity be-cause they do not know how tomove ahead. With humility theyneed to ask the clergy and laitythat can help them to help. TheBishops need to direct and letthe staff work by providing a fulltime coordinating staff to assistthe committee members. Thecommittees and the committeestaff under the direction of theBishops will be the ones that do
the hard work of building con-sensus related to unity. Clergyand laity with consensus build-ing skills and knowledge relatedto the issues of unity need to beinvited to begin the work thatwill eventually be approved bythe Bishops that lead to present-ing a conciliar –consensus planfor unity. The staff, not the Bish-ops, will do the hard work. Werealize that Bishops already havefull time jobs administering theirdiocese. They need to direct andtrust and let competent clergyand laity begin to do the workthat they eventually will approveand present. Let us pray for ourBishops. Let the work begin.
George Matsoukas is the Execu-tive Director of Orthodox Christ-ian Laity (OCL)
Episcopal Assembly: Is it Stalled? Let the Work Begin
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VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 23-30, 2010 13
By Evaggelos VallianatosSpecial to The National Herald
When the Italians invadedthe Greek island of Kephaloniaon April 30, 1941, they actedlike tyrants, cutting off all com-munications with the rest ofGreece, ordering the inhabitantsof Kephalonia to learn Italian,read Italian newspapers, anduse Italian currency. The mosttyrannical of Italian policies wasa concerted effort to take con-trol and, in many cases, confis-cate the food of the peasants.My father hid his olive oil andcheese and wheat under theearth. In two-and-a-half years,from their arrival to the islandin April 1941 to September1943, when the Germans dis-mantled their rule in Kephalo-nia, the Italians starved and im-poverished Kephalonia. Theviolent policies of the Italians inKephalonia mirrored what theydid to the third of the countrythat was under their direct con-trol. The Germans and the Bul-garians occupied the rest ofGreece. The Italians came toGreece on the heels of the Ger-mans who had rescued themfrom their humiliating defeat atthe hands of the Greeks in thewinter of 1940 in the Albanian-Greek front.
On October 28, 1940, theGreek Prime Minister IoannisMetaxas said “Oxi” (no) to Mus-solini’s demand for passing hisarmies through Greece. Greeksoldiers then routed the Italianarmy in Albania. This was thefirst allied victory of WWII. Mostof Europe was by then underGerman occupation.
The Italians revenged theirdefeat by the Greeks. Theystarted their occupation ofGreece in the spring of 1941with heavy bombardments ofcivilians. The Italians violatedinternational law and commit-ted war crimes in Greece no lessoffensive than those of the Ger-mans. The Italians massacredGreek peasants routinely. Theycommitted one of their worstatrocities on February 16, 1943in Domenikon, Thessaly. Toavenge the death of nine sol-diers in an ambush of a convoy,the Italian army stationed inLarissa executed all ofDomenikon’s men, ages 15 to80, deporting the children andwomen. Then the Italiansturned to the neighborhood ofthe village killing shepherds andothers they branded sympathiz-
ers of the rebels. The Italianskilled at least 150 peasants. TheItalians’ ferocious reprisalswrecked Greek villages andtowns between Macedonia andThessaly and Central Greece.Italian policy toward the Greeksmeant stealing and plunderingtheir food and animals, destroy-ing their agricultural imple-ments and villages by fire andartillery bombardment, terror-izing the population, raping girlsand women, sending Greekswho refused to work for themto the concentration camp theyoperated in Larissa where theliving conditions amounted to adeath sentence. The Italians,like the Germans, simplifiedtheir mission in occupied Greeceby the politics of terror. Theyhired Muslims, Slavs and Alba-nians to spy or fight the Greeks.They said to the Greeks: you arewith us or you are against us.
The Italians’ bloodstainedpolicies in Greece also sought todestroy the future of the coun-try, sowing economic ruin anddevastation in all of Greece. Inaddition, the Italians dismem-bered Greece, keeping the Ion-ian Islands for themselves, andpreparing the Albanians to takeover Epirus. The murderous Ital-ian policies in Greece nevercame under the scrutiny the vic-torious allies gave to the warcrimes of defeated Germany.The 1943 collapse of Italy andthe immediate post-WWII riseof the cold war covered the Ital-ian war crimes with a fog. Forseveral decades after WWII, onehad the impression that themain beast in WWII was theGerman. The American decisionto make the Nazi Germans anexample of moral depravity leftthe Italian Fascist war criminalsfree; the victims of those crimi-nals, the Greeks, had to suffermore indignity: seeing that thevictorious Westerners largely ig-nored their vital victory againstfascist Italy and, second, the al-lies were selective in bringingenemies of civilization to justice.The Greeks are still angry – andremember the Italian atrocities.
The Italians annexedKephalonia and the rest of theIonian Islands. That’s why theyhad a small army in Kephaloniaof 11,000 soldiers and 525 offi-cers armed with large weapons,which they placed in strategiclocations all over the island.General Antonio Gandin com-manded the Italian forces whenthe inevitable conflict with the
Germans materialized in earlySeptember 1943. The Germanswere apprehensive of their Ital-ian allies so they landed 1,600soldiers in Kephalonia on July5, 1943. Soon thereafter, onJuly 25, 1943, Benito Mussolini,the Italian tyrant and partner ofthe German tyrant, Adolf Hitler,fell from power and his succes-sor, Marshal Badoglio, surren-dered Italy unconditionally tothe Anglo-American allies.American General Dwight Eisen-hower, accepted Italy’s surren-der on September 8, 1943. TheGermans, angry they were los-ing the war in Russia, and furi-ous with the withdrawal of Italyfrom their side, rushed to dis-arm or kill the Italian armies allover Europe, including Italy.
The Italians in Kephaloniabecame victims of the confusionand contradictions following thesurrender of Italy to the allies.In the evening of that fatefulday they celebrated their coun-try’s withdrawal from the war.German soldiers and Greeksjoined the Italians in that unex-pected and hopeful turn ofevents. But appearances weredeceptive. The Germans were inthe war all the way, becomingthe war beast that devoured theItalians.
On the morning of Septem-ber 11, the Germans in Kephalo-nia sent an ultimatum to Gandindemanding immediate surren-der. Gandin and his officerswere thinking of giving them-selves up, but other events in-tervened. Colonel Lusignani,commanding the Italian troopsin Kerkyra, defeated the Ger-mans and was in control of theisland. He encouraged Gandinto resist and fight the Germans.Gandin also learned that, incontrast to their promises ofrepatriating Italian troops, theGermans were sending dis-armed Italian soldiers to inter-ment camps in Germany.
On Sept. 15, the Germans,well armed and supported by
their army and air force sta-tioned in nearby mainlandGreece, attacked the Italians allover Kephalonia. Gandin ap-pealed, but without success, tothe new Italian government fortroops and air power. The An-glo-American allies, however,prevented naval or air supportto reach Kephalonia. They fearedthose Italian airplanes and de-stroyers might defect to the Ger-mans. Gandin’s soldiers foughtwell but ran out of ammunition.On September 22, 1943, the Ital-ians gave up the struggle. Imme-diately, the Germans startedshooting them indiscriminately,killing about 5,000 of them.Hitler had ordered that the entireAcqui Division was to be elimi-nated. The Germans shot 600Italians in Omala, within a milefrom my house. My brother re-members seeing three Germansoldiers leading dozens of Ital-ians to their death.
Of the 11,000 soldiers inKephalonia, 1,250 died in bat-tle; 5,000 died in cold blood atthe hands of the Germans; and4,000 surrendered withoutfighting. The Germans put theseprisoners in three boats to ferrythem to mainland Greece forshipping them to German con-centration camps. But the boatshit mines and sunk, the Ger-mans killing those Italians tryingto swim away from drowning.About 1,000 Italians survivedtheir occupation of Kephalonia.In November 1944, British boatstook them to Italy. Pretty muchthe same thing happened to therest of Italian troops in Greeceand Europe. Only fragments ofhuge Italian armies made it backto Italy alive. The Germans de-voured the Italians everywhere.The fate of Italian soldiers inWWII was reminiscent of Greektragedy; they paid a heavy pricefor their hubris.
Evaggelos Vallianatos is the au-thor of The Passion of theGreeks.
Forgotten Page of WWII History: The Italians in Greece
When you reallyneed money, you’rebetter off borrow-ing from Tony So-prano than Chinabecause the mobmight break yourlegs if you don’t payup - althoughthey’d rather invei-gle their way intoyour business andthen take it over -but the Chinese willkill you with kind-ness, until they killyou for good,m e t a p h o r i c a l l yspeaking of course. Greece’snew love affair with China, bornof desperation that smelledworse than badly preparedsnails in a French restaurant, isthe first step toward ceding au-thority over many of its state-run entities until one day youwill look up and see they are nolonger in Greek hands.
Strapped for cash and goinghat-in-hand to the EuropeanUnion and International Mone-tary Fund (IMF) to borrow $146billion over the next three years,which it can’t pay back becauseDraconian austerity measureshave proved so tough thathigher taxes have actually low-ered revenue estimates becausepeople have stopped shopping,Greece now has to find ways tomake more money and get evenmore support and the Chinese,who already own the UnitedStates, closing in on holding $1billion in American bonds, loveto go shopping and buy smalland panicked countries, pickingup a few African countries hereand now they can buy entry intothe European Union through itssouthern frontier, Greece, andespecially the port of Piraeus. InJune, the Chinese shipping giantCosco assumed full control ofthe major container port in Pi-raeus under a 35-year-lease.Cosco is planning to build a newpier and improve docks in theport, which was previously runby the Piraeus Port Authority,which couldn’t run toy store sell-
ing model boats. Asia’s third-biggest container terminal oper-ator has a 35-year concession torun some operations and Chinaplans to deepen its Piraeus in-vestment to move 3.7 millioncontainers a year by 2015.
Cosco is also pursuing a jointdeal with Greece’s state ports tocreate a distribution hub nearAthens to distribute productsfrom China to the Balkans. Justwhat we need: more cheap Chi-nese junk flooding Greek andEuropean markets and puttingsmall Greek stores out of busi-ness, if there’s any left by thetime you read this anyway.
Perhaps we’re being too hardon the Chinese retailers thoughbecause where else can you getgarishly painted plastic birdsspitting purple water bubblesfor $1.99? And while you’re inthere, and don’t worry becauseit takes about 90 seconds to gothrough a giant-sized store,about as long as you can holdyour breath, you can pick upsome toxic products and maybeeven some shoes, which are con-veniently designed to come offby themselves about 10 minutesafter you buy them.
WHO’S ON FIRST?But that’s small dumplings.
The Chinese want ports and big-ger fish to fry in their woks andwhat better place than Greece,which is ready to sell off what-ever it can. With most of the restof the marketing world lookingat Greek bonds like they’re ra-dioactive, China is ready to snapthem up. During a two-day visitto Athens earlier this month,Chinese Premier Wen Jiabaosaid, “With its foreign exchangereserves, China has alreadybought and intends to buy newGreek bonds. China will under-take a great effort to supporteuro zone countries and Greeceto overcome the crisis.” Chinadoesn’t want anything in return,of course, because they are justPhilhellenes. But then so werethe Germans about 70 year ago.Still, Greece can’t get muchmoney from other markets, sothey’re in the same position as
a guy about to losehis house who can’tget a loan from thebank so he has togo to Satriale’spork store and lookup Tony Soprano.Either way, you’regoing to lose, andthe Chinese varia-tion of vigarishtends to leave youupside down in ashark tank, sowhen Wen (when?Who’s on First,Wen?) said Chinawants more invest-
ment in Greek shipping, whichis the last piece of pride Greecehas left, someone should havechecked the anchors. Wen saida $5 billion shipping fund willbe set up to tighten relations be-tween the countries’ two mar-itime industries and facilitatethe sale of Chinese vessels toGreeks. Wait a minute. Isn’tGreece the best ship builder inthe world? What’s next, theGreek commercial shipping fleetflying the Chinese flag?
When Wen (when? Wen?)met with Greek Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreou, they signedother agreements for Chineseinvestments in construction andtelecommunications and, nor-mally, Foreign Direct Investmentis something a country courts,but when the payback meansyou wake up and find a horse’shead in your bed that’s probablynot the investor you want. “Withour common efforts the totalmass of imports and exports be-tween the two countries in thenext five years can double to $8billion,” Wen said. He called onChinese businesses to invest inGreece because as the worldknows Greece is an easy placefor foreign companies to dobusiness as long as they havebig reserves for bribes and arewilling to withstand the tradi-tional 20-year waiting period forpermits and licenses. Wen alsosigned agreements on invest-ment and tourism and an-nounced the creation of a $5 bil-
lion fund to help finance thepurchase of Chinese ships byGreek shipping companies. Butwhat’s a Greek leader to dowhen few other people want toinvest in his country, especiallywhen he said it’s more corruptthan every thought in RussianPrime Minister Vladimir Putin’shead?
China’s interest in Greeceruns deep and wide. Last weekit was announced the countriesare to form a consortium to bidfor a contract to build a logisticscenter at a site west of Athens.The Thriassion site, which be-longs to the bankrupt Greek rail-ways OSE, is to be sold betweennow and the end of the year, ac-cording to the transport min-istry. Guess who’s already linedup to be a buyer? Cosco, whichsaid it wants to transform thesite into a transportation logis-tics center. In return, the Chi-nese want a free trade zone, andwho in the government is goingto say no when China holds allthe cards and Greek bonds?
China said it wants to makePiraeus its main transit centerfor Chinese goods heading forEuropean markets, and tosweeten the deals, even said itwould buy 290 tons of Greekolive oil, which it will use togrease the skids for more deals.Haris Pamboukis, who heads thegovernment’s investment strat-egy, which essentially is to selleverything not nailed down,told Time magazine that an un-competitive Greece (in the bot-tom half of world rankings)needs foreign cash. “We are em-powering the country because(these investments) increase thecapacity of the country and itsrole in the world. We are veryhappy that the Chinese haveshown a concrete and pragmaticinterest, for instance. But wewould be very happy if invest-ment would happen not onlywith other countries but withother businesses.” Too late, TonySoprano got whacked, andGreece is next.
Made in China: Greece – While it Lasts
LETTER FROM ATHENS
by ANDYDABILIS
Special to The National Herald
Greece’s new Prime Minister, Chinese PM Wen Jiabao
The mere thought of SarahPalin running for Vice Presidentagain is bound to elicit highlycharged responses from acrossthe political spectrum. Progres-sives no doubt will recoil in hor-ror, as if the monster that waskilled off at the end of a horrormovie has returned with avengeance in the sequel. Estab-lishment Republicans, or BigTenters, will scoff that Palin costthem the 2008 election, so whymake the same mistake twice?And Tea Partiers may drown intheir own giddiness; their onlyquestion will be – why Vice Pres-ident and not President? Anystrategy that includes Palin aspart of a Presidential ticket is arisky one, indeed. But it is alsovery bold. Ronald Reagan calledupon his fellow Republicans 35years ago to raise a banner notof pale pastels, but of bold col-ors. Considering that, since thattime, Reagan was the only oneof their presidential nomineesto win by a landslide, perhapsthe Republicans ought to payheed to those words even today.The state of domestic and for-eign affairs two years from nowwill greatly determine whetherthe Democrats can hold on tothe White House. No matterwhat the outcome, however, theRepublican challenge will bestronger with Palin on the ticketthan without her. In lookingahead to 2012, the followingscenarios might help to shedlight on what is good for SarahPalin herself, and for the Repub-lican Party.
Scenario #1 – Palin stillmakes speeches but stays awayfrom elected office: Until 15months ago, Palin was governorof Alaska, a job that paid$125,000 a year in exchange fora lot of responsibility (i.e.,headaches) and political irrele-vance. But from the momentthat she up and quit that job,Palin has made millions by writ-ing books, giving speeches toadoring crowds, and helpinglike-minded candidates getelected. Why would she evergive up such a great life and as-tronomical pay raise? Two rea-sons: first, we are not sure thather primary motivation ismoney. Sure, she’s glad to earnthose seven-figure paydays asmuch as the next gal, but if sheis truly inspired by love of coun-try, eventually she will want tocontribute beyond merely cheer-ing from the sidelines. Second,her exalted status as Conserva-
tive Populist-in-Chief can only lastso long. If a Repub-lican wins theWhite House in2012, that wouldmean PresidentBarack Obama hasnot solved the coun-try’s problems. Thenew President willbe in the samepredicament andwill face the sameangry mobs thatObama does now.Those crowds willbe in no mood tohear Palin defend, rather thandenounce, the new establish-ment. When the Red Scare wasover, Joe McCarthy lost his au-dience; when the DemocratScare is over, Palin will losehers.
Scenario #2 – Palin runs forpresident, not vice president:There is a sizeable segment ofthe population that thinks Palinreally is the second coming ofReagan, and would make justas good a President. And who’sto say they’re wrong? The moresizeable remainder of the popu-lation, that’s who. Some of thembelieve that the only thing shehas in common with Reagan isthat she knows who he was,now that someone informed herof his name. And the rest think
that Reagan him-self wasn’t so greatto begin with (yes,some people reallydo believe that.)The number ofpeople who likeand support Palincan be misleading,because far feweractually think thatshe ought to bePresident. They be-lieve in her values,they like her per-sonally, and thefact that she givesliberals fits is an
added bonus. Nonetheless,many people realize that she hasnot mastered the issues nearlyto the extent necessary to be-come leader of the free world.Had Obama mastered those is-sues before he became Presi-dent? If he had, at least to agreater extent than Palin, thatreinforces the notion that Palinis comparatively unprepared.And if he had not, then it furtherconfirms – given Obama’smediocre job performance rat-ings – that the next Chief Exec-utive needs to be extremely wellprepared because we cannot af-ford any more on-the-job train-ing.
A less obvious but even moreinfluential reason that Palin isunlikely to run for President is
that she really does not seem towant the job. Granted, she couldget up on stage and speak to themasses all day long. But sheknows that there is more to thepresidency than that: hoursupon hours of painstaking, gru-eling meetings and negotiations– the kind of nerve-wrackingminutiae madness that produceswrinkles and gray hair indroves. Palin would love thecrowds and speeches withoutdebriefings about thousands ofpages of policy papers. As Pres-ident, she can’t have the funwithout the dirty work, but shecertainly can as second-in-com-mand.
Scenario #3 – Palin for VicePresident: Imagine if Mitt Rom-ney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gin-grich, or Rudy Giuliani picksPalin as his running mate. If hewins and does not die or be-come incapacitated in office,and does not resign, Palin getsto keep her job making stumpspeeches across the country,casting the occasional tiebreak-ing vote in the Senate, and at-tending foreign leaders’ funer-als. She does so with thelegitimacy of the office of theVice Presidency of the UnitedStates, and she is the President’snumber one public relations ad-vocate. Her candidacy will bringthe Tea Partiers to the polls indroves, as well as other conser-vatives. What about Republicanswho voted for Obama last timeprecisely because of their dis-satisfaction with Palin havingbeen on the GOP ticket? Theywere far more likely to roll thedice and take a gamble onObama’s hope and change mes-sage in 2008 than they will bein 2012. This time around, it isvery likely that Obama will haveusurped Palin as the top nega-tive. But what if Obama winsre-election? Then Palin can goback to her life of luxury asAmerica’s most celebrated pop-ulist conservative. After all, theaftermath of an unsuccessfulvice presidential run tends toagree with her.
Constantinos E. Scaros is a pub-lished author and expert inAmerican presidential history,with a background in AncientGreek history. He has taughthistory, political science, andlaw at New York University, andserved as an Academic Dean attwo other colleges in New York.He welcomes comments at hisblog at scaros.blogspot.com
GOP’s Only 2012 Hope: Palin Plays Second Banana
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AP PHOTO/yVES lOGGHE
Former Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palingives her signature “You betcha!” thumbs up while addressingthe National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Kentucky onSept. 16, 2010.
AP PHOTO/Ed rEiNkE, FilE
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