The National Herald...Bianna Golodryga, 31, whom he met in May at the annual White House...
12
To subscribe call: 718.784.5255 e-mail: [email protected] The National Herald A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION VOL. 13, ISSUE 640 $1.25 Bringing the news to generations of Greek Americans O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 www.thenationalherald.com c v January 16-22, 2010 NEW YORK – The road from New York City to Columbia, South Car- olina is a fairly long one, but for University of South Carolina Presi- dent Dr. Harris Pastides, the dis- tance is trivial when compared to his greater life journey. As the only American-born child of a family that immigrated to Astoria, Queens, from Cyprus in October 1948, Dr. Pastides always had close ties with the Greek community - near and overseas. “[My parents and sister, Bar- bara] settled here during the post- World War II period, when farming was devastated in Europe,” Dr. Pastides told The National Herald. “My mother had an older sister who came [to the United States] earlier. I was born in 1954, and I grew up in a bilingual household; I spoke Greek well before I spoke English.” Dr. Pastides was a long-time member of the St. Demetrios parish in Astoria and even now in Colum- bia, SC, he’s active at Holy Trinity Church, where he is doing his part to help work on a capital campaign to build a new sanctuary. At the time Dr. Pastides was growing up in New York, his father worked in restaurants and eventu- ally opened up his own restaurant. “Essentially, we lived the New York City life and we were a very close- knit family of four,” he said. After attending Stuyvesant High School, Dr. Pastides went on to the State University of New York at Al- bany, then to Yale University, where he received two master’s degrees in Public Health and a Ph.D, and met his wife, Patricia Moore-Pastides, in 1977. “Originally, I was pre-med in college, but it was during the days of the Vietnam War, and so I felt I had a social consciousness that wanted me to do something civic and broad,” Dr. Pastides said. “I learned about public health and I always had a strong biology incli- nation which migrated to epidemi- ology, [so I entered the public health field]. I’ve conducted many studies on cancer, and reproductive disorders, and I pursued that in Yale and later in my professional career at the University of Massa- chusetts.” But Dr. Pastides didn’t limit his health studies to the American pop- ulation. Professionally, there were two times in his career that he lived in Greece and Cyprus. Pastides has Roots Both in Queens And Cyprus President of Univ. of S.C. Rose from Humble Beginnings BOSTON- Peter Orszag, 41, Presi- dent Obama’s budget director, was involved in a relationship with Greek American Claire Milonas, 39, who last November 17 gave birth to his daughter, Tatiana Zoe Milonas. The story was first revealed by the New York Post, before being picked up by the Associated Press and the New York Times. Claire Milonas is a successful business woman who has studied at Yale and Harvard and is a senior advisor to the X Prize Foundation, founded by the Greek American Pe- ter Diamandis. She is the daughter of a prominent New York-based Greek businessman. After his relationship with Ms. Milonas ended, Mr. Orszag became engaged to ABC correspondent Bianna Golodryga, 31, whom he met in May at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner. Orszag was formerly director of the Congressional Budget Office and an economic adviser to Bill Clin- ton’s administration. He was di- vorced in 2005 from Cameron Hamil, with whom he has two young children. After the New York Post broke the story, Mr. Orszag and Ms. Milonas issued a joint statement in which they said: “We were in a committed relationship until the spring of 2009.” In the joint Wednesday, January 6 statement, which was spurred by the Post article, Mr. Orszag and Ms. Milonas said: “In November, Claire gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Although we are no longer together, we are both thrilled she is happy and healthy, and we would hope that everyone would respect her priva- cy.” Orszag’s fiancé, Golodryga, an- nounced their engagement on the “Good Morning America” show on December 29, just weeks after the birth of his daughter Tatiana Zoe Milonas. The Associated Press, in its story on January 7, said that “Modern re- lationships can be complex. Just ask White House budget director Peter Orszag, whose ex-girlfriend gave birth to his daughter a few weeks before he got engaged to a Budget Director Orszag's Complicated Life By Christopher Tripoulas The National Herald Staff Writer NEW YORK - Arsonists set fire to the synagogue of Chania, the only synagogue on the Greek island of Crete late Tuesday, January 5, but fire crews managed to save the building before it suffered irrepara- ble damage, and placed the fire un- der control after it destroyed an outside staircase and caused some damage to books and other materi- als in the synagogue’s library. Deputy Fire Chief of Chania Niko- laos Skouloudis announced that a container with liquid was discov- ered burning under the wooden staircase. The Etz Hayyim synagogue holds more than 1,500 books and functions as a museum and memor- ial in the harbor city. Authorities are still searching for the attackers. Two major Greek American groups expressed outrage over the arson attempt, with the first con- demnation issued in Chicago on Thursday by World Council of Hel- lenes Abroad (SAE) US Region Co- ordinator Theodore Spyropoulos."The Greek American Community is outraged at the re- cent act of anti-Semitism at the his- toric Chania Synagogue in Crete. We are deeply disturbed that such acts of terrorism happen in 21st century Greece..." the statement read. In addition, a statement issued in Washington on Wednesday by the Pan-Cretan Association of America (PAA), underlined that Greek Americans "castigate the ar- son attempt against the Chania Synagogue on Jan. 5, 2010." "After the attempt, January 5, 2010, to torch to the ground the historic Chania Synagogue in Crete, we Cretans in the United States are outraged at all actions of anti-Semitism in Greece and all at- tempts to terrorize Greeks of Jew- ish faith," read the statement, signed by PAA National President Theodore Manousakis. "As an expression of our outrage at all actions against the Jewish Community in Greece we sign this statement and we appeal to all peo- ple of good will to voice their sup- port in efforts to eradicate hatred and racism in Greece," the state- ment continued. According to Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, Museum Director at Kehila Kedosha Janina in down- town New York, the fire severely damaged the recently restored "ezrat nashim" (the women's sec- Chania Arsonists Target Crete’s Lone Synagogue Two 10-year-old orphans, twins Demetris and Konstantinos Sporidis, born to a Greek father and a Congolese mother, are hoping to find a home in the U.S. but were turned away from St. Basil’s Academy. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The as- sassination of Cyprus' most power- ful publisher stirred fears of rising instability Tuesday as ethnic Greek and Turkish leaders made a new push to reunify the war-divided Mediterranean island. Dias publishing group director Andy Hadjicostis, 43, was gunned down Monday night, hours after the Greek Cypriot president and the leader of the island's breakaway Turkish region launched a new round of negotiations aimed at re- uniting the country. Police said the victim was shot twice — in the back and chest — as he stepped out of his car outside his home in central Nicosia. He died at the scene, a heavily policed upscale area of the Cypriot capital that in- cludes several embassy com- pounds. The spokesman said the gun- man fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. No shell casings were found. Police in Cyprus say that it is un- likely that the assassination of the country's most powerful publisher was politically motivated. Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said on Wednesday that a member of the island's intelligence service had warned Hadjicostis that his life was in danger. Katsounotos said the investigation is proceeding in a "specific direction", but did not elaborate. The killing stirred fears of rising instability amid a new push by eth- nic Greek and Turkish leaders to re- unify the war-divided Mediter- ranean island. Politicians also said the crime appeared aimed at spurring instability at a time when the peace talks with Turkish Cypri- ots have sharpened political divi- Cyprus ‘Dias’ Publisher Assassination Stirs Fears of Instability By Eleni Kostopoulos The National Herald Staff Writer NEW YORK – Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) officially an- nounced on Monday, January 11 that he will run for a spot in New York State Senate this November, in replacement of George Onorato (D- Astoria). Onorato, who has repre- sented the 12th Senate District in Queens since winning a special elec- tion in 1983, also announced on Monday that he will be retiring as a state senator after his 27 year-long tenure. In an exclusive interview with The National Herald, 39 year-old Gi- anaris said climbing the political lad- der will grant him the ability to ac- complish more for the people he rep- resents. “As a New York State senator, I will have a lot more ability to do more; it’s a smaller number of people and because the margin of the two parties is so close, every person counts more than usual,” Gianaris Gianaris Says He’s Running For NY Senate By Steve Frangos The National Herald Staff Writer CHICAGO- In the late autumn of 1927, Koula Antonopoulos’ life was in total chaos. Andreas, her hus- band, had just died of a sudden vio- lent heart attack. Without a second thought, Koula closed the vastly successful Panhellenion Record Company, putting all the inventory and business papers into storage. In uncontrollable grief, Koula sold or gave away everything else she owned except the now nearly bare home whose darkness she would never leave. Nothing, no one, could console her. Worst of all, she would not, could not, sing again. Koula’s daughter Paraskevi met all the visitors who stopped by the house. The saloni, was filled with the Greek musicians and friends who regularly stopped by in those first few weeks after Andreas’ death. As was the custom of the time, the women gravitated to the kitchen, where they prepared food and drink while the men smoked and talked in the saloni. That Koula The Poignant Recordings of Oct. 25, 1927 Continued on page 4 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 7 By Theodore Kalmoukos The National Herald Staff Writer BOSTON- Two 10-year-old twin boys from the Peoples Republic of Congo born to a Greek father and a Congolese mother are enduring a painful life-drama. They lost their father (Stylianos Sporidis) in 2002 and now face the grim reality of losing their beloved mother, who is terminally ill with cancer. Their mother’s health has dete- riorated to the point where she can no longer take care of the 10 year old twins, as was stated in a letter sent by Metropolitan Ignatios of Central Africa to His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America, in which he asks the Archbishop to open his heart and extend shelter and protection for the twins at St Basil’s Academy in N.Y. Metropolitan Ignatios wrote that “the boys’ father Stylianos Sporidis (a Greek national) passed away on June 23, 2002, and their mother Florence Nkay Moseka is terminally ill with cancer and can no longer provide or care for the boys.” Mr. John Sporidis (the brother of the twins’ deceased father who resides in Philadelphia, Pensylva- nia) is retired, legally blind and ad- vanced in age. Mr. John Sporidis called on St. Basil’s Academy as well as the Archdiocese of America with a request for help to save the orphan twin boys and help them find shelter. He also offered to con- tribute to the best of his ability, giv- en that he is retired and on a fixed income. However, after the passing of several months, on December 21, 2009, he received a final nega- tive response to his plea from Arch- bishop Dimitrios. The Archbishop wrote to Mr. Sporidis that, “With much sorrow, I learned about the terrible position in which your two nephews, Kostakis and Demetris, have found themselves.” He continued by ac- knowledging “the situation for the boys is truly difficult and I truly hope that a solution is found that will provide a secure future for them.” The Archbishop stated that “this request of yours is in conflict with, among other things, the fact that the boys are not United States citizens and hence cannot live per- manently in the United States.” In conclusion, the Archbishop wrote “I wish you and your family every blessing of God and strength. Let the Lord, whose birth we will celebrate within the next few days, be your helper and supporter so these two children will be helped effectively.” Demetrios’ Handling of Request to Help Two Orphans Creates Crisis N.Y. Federation Present Gift to Benefactor Nicholas Bouras A delegation from the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater N.Y. presents a painting of the Greek Pa- rade on 5th Avenue to Nicholas Bouras (4th from right), businessman and philanthropist. Mr. Bouras is part of a group which has contributed more than $100,000 towards the cost of the live TV broadcast. Washington Demands Answers from Bankers Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Chairman Phil Angelides, center, asks questions during the commission's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. He is flanked by Commission Vice Chairman. former California Rep. Bill Thomas, left, and Commissioner Heather Murren. Continued on page 4 Continued on page 7 AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS TNH/COSTAS BEJ
Transcript of The National Herald...Bianna Golodryga, 31, whom he met in May at the annual White House...
To subscribe call: 718.784.5255e-mail: [email protected]
The National HeraldA WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION
VOL. 13, ISSUE 640 $1.25
Bringing the news
to generations of
Greek Americans
O C V
ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915
www.thenationalherald.comc v
January 16-22, 2010
NEW YORK – The road from NewYork City to Columbia, South Car-olina is a fairly long one, but forUniversity of South Carolina Presi-dent Dr. Harris Pastides, the dis-tance is trivial when compared tohis greater life journey. As the onlyAmerican-born child of a familythat immigrated to Astoria,Queens, from Cyprus in October1948, Dr. Pastides always had closeties with the Greek community -near and overseas.
“[My parents and sister, Bar-bara] settled here during the post-World War II period, when farmingwas devastated in Europe,” Dr.Pastides told The National Herald.“My mother had an older sister whocame [to the United States] earlier.I was born in 1954, and I grew upin a bilingual household; I spokeGreek well before I spoke English.”
Dr. Pastides was a long-timemember of the St. Demetrios parishin Astoria and even now in Colum-bia, SC, he’s active at Holy TrinityChurch, where he is doing his partto help work on a capital campaignto build a new sanctuary.
At the time Dr. Pastides wasgrowing up in New York, his fatherworked in restaurants and eventu-ally opened up his own restaurant.“Essentially, we lived the New YorkCity life and we were a very close-knit family of four,” he said.
After attending Stuyvesant HighSchool, Dr. Pastides went on to theState University of New York at Al-bany, then to Yale University, wherehe received two master’s degrees inPublic Health and a Ph.D, and methis wife, Patricia Moore-Pastides, in1977.
“Originally, I was pre-med incollege, but it was during the daysof the Vietnam War, and so I felt Ihad a social consciousness thatwanted me to do something civicand broad,” Dr. Pastides said. “Ilearned about public health and Ialways had a strong biology incli-nation which migrated to epidemi-ology, [so I entered the publichealth field]. I’ve conducted manystudies on cancer, and reproductivedisorders, and I pursued that inYale and later in my professionalcareer at the University of Massa-chusetts.”
But Dr. Pastides didn’t limit hishealth studies to the American pop-ulation. Professionally, there weretwo times in his career that he livedin Greece and Cyprus.
Pastides hasRoots Bothin QueensAnd CyprusPresident of Univ. of S.C. Rose fromHumble Beginnings
BOSTON- Peter Orszag, 41, Presi-dent Obama’s budget director, wasinvolved in a relationship withGreek American Claire Milonas, 39,who last November 17 gave birth tohis daughter, Tatiana Zoe Milonas.
The story was first revealed bythe New York Post, before beingpicked up by the Associated Pressand the New York Times.
Claire Milonas is a successfulbusiness woman who has studiedat Yale and Harvard and is a senioradvisor to the X Prize Foundation,founded by the Greek American Pe-ter Diamandis. She is the daughterof a prominent New York-basedGreek businessman.
After his relationship with Ms.Milonas ended, Mr. Orszag becameengaged to ABC correspondent
Bianna Golodryga, 31, whom hemet in May at the annual WhiteHouse Correspondents Dinner.Orszag was formerly director of theCongressional Budget Office andan economic adviser to Bill Clin-ton’s administration. He was di-vorced in 2005 from CameronHamil, with whom he has twoyoung children.
After the New York Post brokethe story, Mr. Orszag and Ms.Milonas issued a joint statement inwhich they said: “We were in acommitted relationship until thespring of 2009.”
In the joint Wednesday, January6 statement, which was spurred bythe Post article, Mr. Orszag and Ms.Milonas said:
“In November, Claire gave birth
to a beautiful baby girl. Althoughwe are no longer together, we areboth thrilled she is happy andhealthy, and we would hope thateveryone would respect her priva-cy.”
Orszag’s fiancé, Golodryga, an-nounced their engagement on the“Good Morning America” show onDecember 29, just weeks after thebirth of his daughter Tatiana ZoeMilonas.
The Associated Press, in its storyon January 7, said that “Modern re-lationships can be complex. Justask White House budget directorPeter Orszag, whose ex-girlfriendgave birth to his daughter a fewweeks before he got engaged to a
Budget Director Orszag's Complicated Life
By Christopher TripoulasThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK - Arsonists set fire tothe synagogue of Chania, the onlysynagogue on the Greek island ofCrete late Tuesday, January 5, butfire crews managed to save thebuilding before it suffered irrepara-ble damage, and placed the fire un-der control after it destroyed anoutside staircase and caused somedamage to books and other materi-als in the synagogue’s library.Deputy Fire Chief of Chania Niko-laos Skouloudis announced that acontainer with liquid was discov-ered burning under the wooden
staircase.The Etz Hayyim synagogue
holds more than 1,500 books andfunctions as a museum and memor-ial in the harbor city. Authoritiesare still searching for the attackers.
Two major Greek Americangroups expressed outrage over thearson attempt, with the first con-demnation issued in Chicago onThursday by World Council of Hel-lenes Abroad (SAE) US Region Co-ordinator TheodoreSpyropoulos."The Greek AmericanCommunity is outraged at the re-cent act of anti-Semitism at the his-toric Chania Synagogue in Crete.We are deeply disturbed that such
acts of terrorism happen in 21stcentury Greece..." the statementread.
In addition, a statement issuedin Washington on Wednesday bythe Pan-Cretan Association ofAmerica (PAA), underlined thatGreek Americans "castigate the ar-son attempt against the ChaniaSynagogue on Jan. 5, 2010."
"After the attempt, January 5,2010, to torch to the ground thehistoric Chania Synagogue inCrete, we Cretans in the UnitedStates are outraged at all actions ofanti-Semitism in Greece and all at-tempts to terrorize Greeks of Jew-ish faith," read the statement,
signed by PAA National PresidentTheodore Manousakis.
"As an expression of our outrageat all actions against the JewishCommunity in Greece we sign thisstatement and we appeal to all peo-ple of good will to voice their sup-port in efforts to eradicate hatredand racism in Greece," the state-ment continued.
According to Marcia HaddadIkonomopoulos, Museum Directorat Kehila Kedosha Janina in down-town New York, the fire severelydamaged the recently restored"ezrat nashim" (the women's sec-
Chania Arsonists Target Crete’s Lone Synagogue
Two 10-year-old orphans, twins Demetris and Konstantinos Sporidis, born to a Greek father and aCongolese mother, are hoping to find a home in the U.S. but were turned away from St. Basil’s Academy.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The as-sassination of Cyprus' most power-ful publisher stirred fears of risinginstability Tuesday as ethnic Greekand Turkish leaders made a newpush to reunify the war-dividedMediterranean island.
Dias publishing group directorAndy Hadjicostis, 43, was gunneddown Monday night, hours afterthe Greek Cypriot president andthe leader of the island's breakawayTurkish region launched a newround of negotiations aimed at re-uniting the country.
Police said the victim was shottwice — in the back and chest — ashe stepped out of his car outside hishome in central Nicosia. He died atthe scene, a heavily policed upscalearea of the Cypriot capital that in-cludes several embassy com-pounds.
The spokesman said the gun-man fled on a motorcycle driven byan accomplice. No shell casingswere found.
Police in Cyprus say that it is un-likely that the assassination of thecountry's most powerful publisherwas politically motivated. Policespokesman Michalis Katsounotossaid on Wednesday that a memberof the island's intelligence servicehad warned Hadjicostis that his lifewas in danger. Katsounotos saidthe investigation is proceeding in a"specific direction", but did notelaborate.
The killing stirred fears of risinginstability amid a new push by eth-nic Greek and Turkish leaders to re-unify the war-divided Mediter-ranean island. Politicians also saidthe crime appeared aimed atspurring instability at a time whenthe peace talks with Turkish Cypri-ots have sharpened political divi-
Cyprus ‘Dias’PublisherAssassinationStirs Fears ofInstability
By Eleni KostopoulosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Assemblyman MichaelGianaris (D-Astoria) officially an-nounced on Monday, January 11that he will run for a spot in NewYork State Senate this November, inreplacement of George Onorato (D-Astoria). Onorato, who has repre-sented the 12th Senate District inQueens since winning a special elec-tion in 1983, also announced onMonday that he will be retiring as astate senator after his 27 year-longtenure.
In an exclusive interview withThe National Herald, 39 year-old Gi-anaris said climbing the political lad-der will grant him the ability to ac-complish more for the people he rep-resents.
“As a New York State senator, Iwill have a lot more ability to domore; it’s a smaller number of peopleand because the margin of the twoparties is so close, every personcounts more than usual,” Gianaris
Gianaris SaysHe’s RunningFor NY Senate
By Steve FrangosThe National Herald Staff Writer
CHICAGO- In the late autumn of1927, Koula Antonopoulos’ life wasin total chaos. Andreas, her hus-band, had just died of a sudden vio-lent heart attack. Without a secondthought, Koula closed the vastlysuccessful Panhellenion RecordCompany, putting all the inventoryand business papers into storage. Inuncontrollable grief, Koula sold orgave away everything else sheowned except the now nearly barehome whose darkness she wouldnever leave. Nothing, no one, couldconsole her. Worst of all, she wouldnot, could not, sing again.
Koula’s daughter Paraskevi metall the visitors who stopped by thehouse. The saloni, was filled withthe Greek musicians and friendswho regularly stopped by in thosefirst few weeks after Andreas’death. As was the custom of thetime, the women gravitated to thekitchen, where they prepared foodand drink while the men smokedand talked in the saloni. That Koula
The PoignantRecordings ofOct. 25, 1927
Continued on page 4
Continued on page 5 Continued on page 9
Continued on page 6
Continued on page 7
By Theodore KalmoukosThe National Herald Staff Writer
BOSTON- Two 10-year-old twinboys from the Peoples Republic ofCongo born to a Greek father and aCongolese mother are enduring apainful life-drama. They lost theirfather (Stylianos Sporidis) in 2002and now face the grim reality oflosing their beloved mother, who isterminally ill with cancer.
Their mother’s health has dete-riorated to the point where she canno longer take care of the 10 yearold twins, as was stated in a lettersent by Metropolitan Ignatios ofCentral Africa to His EminenceArchbishop Demetrios of America,in which he asks the Archbishop toopen his heart and extend shelterand protection for the twins at StBasil’s Academy in N.Y.
Metropolitan Ignatios wrotethat “the boys’ father StylianosSporidis (a Greek national) passedaway on June 23, 2002, and theirmother Florence Nkay Moseka isterminally ill with cancer and canno longer provide or care for theboys.”
Mr. John Sporidis (the brotherof the twins’ deceased father whoresides in Philadelphia, Pensylva-nia) is retired, legally blind and ad-vanced in age. Mr. John Sporidiscalled on St. Basil’s Academy as
well as the Archdiocese of Americawith a request for help to save theorphan twin boys and help themfind shelter. He also offered to con-tribute to the best of his ability, giv-en that he is retired and on a fixedincome. However, after the passingof several months, on December21, 2009, he received a final nega-tive response to his plea from Arch-bishop Dimitrios.
The Archbishop wrote to Mr.Sporidis that, “With much sorrow, Ilearned about the terrible positionin which your two nephews,Kostakis and Demetris, have foundthemselves.” He continued by ac-knowledging “the situation for theboys is truly difficult and I trulyhope that a solution is found thatwill provide a secure future forthem.” The Archbishop stated that“this request of yours is in conflictwith, among other things, the factthat the boys are not United Statescitizens and hence cannot live per-manently in the United States.”
In conclusion, the Archbishopwrote “I wish you and your familyevery blessing of God and strength.Let the Lord, whose birth we willcelebrate within the next few days,be your helper and supporter sothese two children will be helpedeffectively.”
Demetrios’ Handling ofRequest to Help Two Orphans Creates Crisis
N.Y. Federation Present Gift to Benefactor Nicholas Bouras
A delegation from the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater N.Y. presents a painting of the Greek Pa-rade on 5th Avenue to Nicholas Bouras (4th from right), businessman and philanthropist. Mr. Bouras ispart of a group which has contributed more than $100,000 towards the cost of the live TV broadcast.
Washington Demands Answers from Bankers
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Chairman Phil Angelides,center, asks questions during the commission's hearing on CapitolHill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. He is flanked byCommission Vice Chairman. former California Rep. Bill Thomas,left, and Commissioner Heather Murren.
Continued on page 4
Continued on page 7
AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010
JANUARY 16-17ASTORIA, N.Y. – Ethos Productionspresents ‘A Cuckoo Family’ at theHellenic Cultural Center in Astoria.‘A Cuckoo Family.’ is a play adaptedand directed by Larisa Antypa. Thestory takes place in the 1960’s inAthens. Andreas and Mika meet dur-ing Carnival in Venice; they fell inlove and get married that same day.With their return to Athens, Andreasfinds out that Mika is not only veryspoiled but also was engaged tosomeone else. There are no rules inMika’s home, everybody does what-ever they like and Andreas attemptsto win Mika’s heart and put some or-der in this Cuckoo Family. “A Cuck-oo Family” is presented in Greekwith English subtitles. General Ad-mission is $ 25 and $20 forSeniors/Students/Groups (10 peo-ple or more. The Hellenic CulturalCenter of the Greek Orthodox Arch-diocese is located at 27-09 CrescentStreet. For further information andreservations, call: (646) 945-9429or (718) 408-4571 or e-mail: [email protected]
JANUARY 20WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Ameri-can Hellenic Institute is hosting aseminar and luncheon on, “The De-struction of the Cultural and Reli-gious Heritage of Cyprus: The Factsand the Law.” Guest speakers in-clude Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou,Vice Chair at the United Commis-sion on International Religious Free-dom and Assistant Professor in theDepartment of International Rela-tions at Boston University; NicholasG. Karambelas, Esq., Partner atSfikas & Karambelas, LLP; and RonMcNamara, Policy Advisor, HelsinkiCommission. The event will be heldon January 20 at the National PressClub at 12:00 p.m. The NationalPress Club is located at: 529 14 St.NW, 13 Fl., Washington, D.C. Formore information, call: (202) 662-7500.
JANUARY 23WATERTOWN, Mass.- The ArcadianSociety of Massachusetts (Tripolit-sa) is hosting the ‘Cutting of theVasilopita’ event and their annualdance and scholarship presentationon January 23 at 8:00 p.m. at theTaxiarchae Church Hall. Live musicby the Olympics orchestra and guestD.J. The Taziarche Church Hall is lo-cated at: 25 Bigelow Avenue, Water-town, MA. Admission is $ 15.00;Children under 12 free of charge.For information, please contact A.Delegas at (617) 364-2866.
JANUARY 24NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Greek Or-thodox Church of the Annunciationinvites you to a Taverna Night onSunday evening, January 24 at theLafayette Grill & Bar in trendyTribeca from 6 to 10 p.m. $100 ad-mission includes appetizers, maincourse, wine, dessert and live musicand dancing. RSVP by January 20 at(212) 724-2070. The Lafayette is lo-cated at 54 Franklin Street, betweenBroadway and Lafayette Street (3blocks south of Canal Street). Thereis plenty of free street parking andthe restaurant is convenient to mostManhattan Subway lines. Visit theGrill’s web site at www.lafayettegril-landbar.net and the site of the An-nunciation Church at www.evange-lismos.org.
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The New YorkChapter of the American Founda-tion for Greek Language and Cul-ture invites you, in celebration of theday of the Three Hierarchs and theday of Greek Letters, to the presen-tation of the book, “Lost to the West:The Forgotten Byzantine Empirethat Rescued Western Civilization”by Lars Brownworth, on January 24at 2:00 p.m. in the Holiday Inn Ex-press Stony Brook. The event is free.The Holiday Inn Express StonyBrook is located at: 3131 NesconsetHighway, Stony Brook, N.Y. For fur-ther information, call: (631) 471-8000.
JANUARY 25LOS ANGELES, Calif - Dr. Frederic J.Kakis, author of the book, “Legacy ofCourage”, will speak about living inGreece during the Nazi occupationon January 25 at 12:30 pm at St.Sophia Cathedral. His book is a fic-tional account based on the true sto-ry of his family’s survival from theNazis in Greece. In his book, he skill-fully manages to concurrently pro-vide details and background infor-mation about the historical eventsrelated to the Greek resistancemovement and the major role itplayed in saving the lives of JewishGreeks. St. Sophia Cathedral is lo-cated at: 1324 S. Normandie Ave.
JANUARY 28NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Hellenic Uni-versity (HUC) of New York will hosta Vasilopita cutting on ThursdayJan. 28 at the Onassis FoundationAtrium which will be preceded by aguided Tour at 5:00 p.m. of the cur-rent exhibit “Origins of El Greco,icon paintings from VenetianCrete”. The Vasilopita ceremonywith coffee will begin at 6:00 p.m.To RSVP and for more information,e-mail [email protected] or call(914) 381-5192. A donation of$10.00 will benefit the HUC Schol-arship Fund. The Onassis Founda-tion is located on 51st street be-tween Fifth and Madison avenues.
JANUARY 31MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The HelpYano Fight Neuroblastomafundraiser will be held on January31 at the St. John’s Fellowship Hallwith guest Basile, the comedian.The event begins at 6:00 p.m. andthe Basile Unleashed Comedy showwill begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are$50 per person and the price in-cludes dinner, open bar (beer &wine) and the show. The St. John’sFellowship Hall is located at: 330133rd Ave. N, Myrtle Beach, S.C.29577. For further information,ticket purchases or donations, con-tact: Bill Pournaras at: (843) 283-3012 or visit: http://helpyano.com.
JANUARY 29-31CHARLESTON, S.C. – The GreekChurch of Holy Trinity ofCharleston South Carolina is host-ing its Centennial Banquet on Janu-ary 29-31 at the Charleston PlaceHotel. On January 29, cocktails andArt Exhibit Reception will begin at6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the GibbesMuseum of Art. The Gibbes willfeature an exhibit as part of itsCharleston Story entitled, “TheGreek American Experience at theTurn of the Century in Charleston.”On Saturday, January 30 the DivineLiturgy of the Three Hierarchs andTonsure of Altar Boys at the HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Church willbegin at 9:45 a.m. and a CentennialBrunch will follow at the HellenicCenter with Metropolitan Alexiosand Archbishop Demetrios. A Cen-tennial Grand Banquet program,dinner and dance will begin at 7:00p.m. at the Charleston Place Hotel.On Sunday, January 31, the HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Church Hi-erarchal Divine Liturgy with Arch-bishop Demetrios and MetropolitanAlexios will begin at 9:45 a.m. Afarewell luncheon will follow at theTown and Country Inn and Confer-ence Center. For further informa-tion, e-mail:holytrinitycentennial@gmail. comor call: (843) 577-2063.
FEBRUARY 6CHICAGO, Ill. – The Hellenic Amer-ican Dental Society, the HellenicProfessional Society of Illinois, theHellenic Bar Association and theGreek Women’s University Club ourhosting their 29th Annual Joint Pro-fessional Valentines Soiree at Gib-sons Bar on February 6 at 7:00 p.m.Music by DJ John Grammatis. Gib-son’s Bar and Steakhouse is locatedat 1028 North Rush Street, Chicago.For further information visit:www.hadsinc.net
FEBRUARY 7CHICAGO, Ill. - Father Chris P. Ker-hulas and The Saint Basil Greek Or-thodox Family present The AnnualSuper Bash Party in the newly re-modeled Philoptochos Hall at St.Basil Greek Orthodox Church onFebruary 7 at 3:00 p.m. There willbe dinner, raffles and auctions withover 100 exciting prizes. Tickets are$135 and include open bar and con-tinual buffet. Call church office fortickets at: (312) 243-3738 or visit:stbasil.il.goarch.org. The St. BasilGreek Orthodox Church is locatedat: 733 S. Ashland, Chicago, Illi-nois.
FEBRUARY 13PALM BEACH, Calif. – The St.George Greek Orthodox Church ishosting their Annual Greek Festivalon February 13 and 14 from 11:00a.m. – 9:00 p.m. “Fall in Love withGreece” on Valentines’ Day Week-end with a celebration of Greek cul-ture in beautiful downtown PalmDesert, with guided Church tours,Byzantine icons, live Greek musicand traditional folk dancing, sou-venirs, food and religious items.The heart of our festival is the won-derful homemade, authentic Greekfood and mouth-watering pastriescreated from generational familyrecipes. For more information visitwww.palmdesertgreekfestival.org orcall (760) 832-2824.
GOINGS ON...
By Eleni KostopoulosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Eleni A. Rossides isthe Executive Director of the Wash-ington Tennis & Education Founda-tion. As a tennis player, she madenumber one on a Stanford teamthat won four consecutive nationalchampionships and spent eightyears on the women's professionaltennis tour before retiring in 1998due to leg and shoulder injuries.Ms. Rossides shifted focus whenshe attended the Kellogg School ofManagement at Northwestern Uni-versity and later worked as a con-sultant for McKinsey & Companyand Black & Decker before takingher position at WTEF in 2004.
TNH: Tell us about yourself.ER: I was born in New York, but
moved to Washington D.C. in myyounger years. Growing up in theD.C.-area, I was a tennis player. Idid well here locally and then na-tionally before going on to play incollege and going on tour for anumber of years. I also studiedmanagement and worked as a con-sultant for two companies beforejoining WTEF, which gave me an in-valuable experience; it taught mean incredible amount about how torun a business, how to manage,how to analyze.
Today, I’m lucky to work for anorganization [WTEF] that helpsunderprivileged kids by providingthem with the opportunity to playtennis and participate in academicprograms. It’s really been a perfectfit for me with respect to my life; itcombines my passion for tennis,children and Washington, D.C.
When this position opened up, itwas wonderful mix of all of my pas-sions. My coach on the pro-tour is aprogram manager here at the orga-nization and prior to coming here, I
volunteered with the children, ten-nis and coaching.
I’ve also been married now forseven years to a wonderful mannamed Nikolas Bezianis, withwhom I have three children: Aris-totelis, 6; Demetrios, 4; andAthena, 1 and one-half.
Balancing full-time work andfamily is difficult but equally re-warding. My father hails fromSparta and Cyprus, and my motheris from Northern Epirus.
TNH: You are the Winner of the2008 Washington Post Award forExcellence in Nonprofit Manage-ment. What did winning thataward mean to you and to your or-ganization?
ER: This is a very importantaward in the non-profit community.It’s really an incredible validation
of the strength of the organizationand how we manage and efficientlyuse dollars for the children.
TNH: What’s the most challeng-ing aspect of your career?
ER: We’re in a recession andthat’s a challenge in itself; we’reworking on an expansion campaignright now to build a new communi-ty center in one of the worst areasof Washington D.C. Also, just find-ing balance between family andwork is challenging as well. Familyis still obviously the most importantthing in my life and spending timewith my children is crucial to me.
TNH: Do you have any rolemodels?
ER: My parents. My father [Eu-gene Rossides, the first GreekAmerican presidential appointeeever to be confirmed by the U.S.
Senate and legendary startingquarterback of Columbia Universi-ty’s Lions] is obviously accom-plished and it was always impor-tant to him to serve his communityand give back.
My mother was one of the firstwomen in her community to be en-couraged by her father to attendcollege and that wasn’t a typicalthing for women to enter educationat the time, so she’s always encour-aged me to get good grades and towork and be self-sufficient.
TNH: What is your most enjoy-able pastime?
ER: Spending time with my chil-dren.
TNH: Does Greek Orthodoxyplay a part in your life and whatyou do?
ER: It does a lot. [My family andI] are members of the church andthe children have been all baptized.The church has meant a great dealto us, and the tradition, the valuesand the culture is something [myhusband and I] want to instill inour children.
My husband was brought up un-der communism, and they weren’tallowed to go to church, so it’s evenmore important to him that thechildren understand the freedom tobe able to go to church, to haveyour religion and to be able to be-lieve in what’s important to you.
TNH: Share with us some wordsof wisdom.
ER: Something I’ve always triedto do is enjoy the process of what-ever it is I’m doing.
Enjoy each and every day, be-cause it goes by so quickly. I appre-ciate and enjoy the work I’m doing,but I also try to enjoy the moment,not letting life pass by too quickly.
Contact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected].
In the Spotlight: Eleni Rossides
Eleni Rossides (left), the Executive Director of the World Tennis & Ed-ucation Foundation , with a winning athlete following a tennis match.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Vote on our website!
You have the chance to express your opinion on our website on animportant question in the news. The results will be published in ourprinted edition next week along with the question for that week.
The question this week is: Have you considered, for yourself in thefuture or for your family members, living in a Greek or Greek Ortho-dox facility like St. Michael's Home for the aged? Yes No Maybe
The results for last week’s question: If you attended Greek after-noon school: Looking back, was Greek school a positive experience?67% voted “Yes”20% voted “No”13% voted “Maybe”
Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com
The Waters of the Bronx Are Also Blessed
The Very Rev. Sylvester Berberis, pastor of the Church of theZoodohos Peghe - The Life Giving Fountain - in the Bronx, hurls theHoly Cross into the frigid waters off City Island during the celebrationof the Epiphany feast. Earlier, the new parish council was sworn in.
New Jersey Federation Board Takes Oath of Office
The new board of directors of the Federation of Hellenic American Or-ganizations of New Jersey is sworn into office by Metropolitan Evan-gelos (far right) at the chapel of St. John Chrysostom at the headquar-ters of the Metropolis in Westfield, N.J. , where a dinner followed.
New York’s Athenians Celebrate the New Year
Astoria’s Aegean Cove restaurant was the scene of the vasilopita cut-ting of the Athenian Society on Friday, January 8. Seen left to right:Pavlos Hadzykiriakos, the society’spresident Christina Kostakis cut-ting the vasilopita, Mary Holevas and Isabella Maniatopolou.
Kastorian Society’s Triple Celebration at St. Nicholas in Flushing
On Saturday January 9 the huge hall of the Church of St. Nicholasseemed very small, packed to overflowing by the Kastorian Societywhich gathered to cut its vasilopita New Year’s cake, to launch its2010 Centennial celebrations and to enjoy the Ragoutsaria festival.
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
TNH/COSTAS BEJ TNH/COSTAS BEJ
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
Από το 1915για τον Ελληνισµό
ΤΟΤΕ και ΤΩΡΑ Εγκυρη και έγκαιρη ενηµέρωση µε µέτρο(718) 784-5255, 888-547-9527ext. 108 - 109 • Fax: (718) 472-0510e-mail στο [email protected] • www.ekirikas.com
By Angelike ContisThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK – “Forty years ago, Inever could have imagined that aGreek kid from Belmont Streetwould become the mayor of thiscity. While today it becomes a reali-ty, you only need to ask my brotherMichael or even my motherPauline, as supportive as she is, andthey will tell you that at times noone would have thought this waspossible. Beyond hard work, sup-port from family and blessings fromGod, what helped make it possiblewas that no one told me it wasn’tpossible, and I was surrounded bypeople who believed in me.”
These were among the wordsthat Ted Gatsas, 59, spoke at he
was sworn in as mayor of Manches-ter, New Hampshire, on January 5.The Republican businessman, whowas a state senator from 2000-2009, was elected mayor of North-ern New England’s largest city onNovember 3.
Speaking to The National Her-ald by phone six days after his inau-guration, he said: “The only otherday that was more exciting thanthat was my wedding day.” Five for-mer mayors attended the inaugura-tion. Metropolitan Methodius de-livered the invocation.
“It’s certainly been a very excit-ing week,” said Mr. Gatsas on Janu-ary 11. He had just held an openhouse at City Hall, where con-stituents enjoyed cookies andbrownies, and observed, accordingto him, “that the city government istransparent and that people havean opportunity to come in and vis-it.” Among his first actions as may-or was establishing two task forces,devoted to, respectively, Efficien-cies and Consolidations and Stu-dent Alignment.
The mayor who was born andbred in Manchester pointed to hisgoals for the city of over 100,000.He noted: “We’re going to craft aneducation system for the childrenof Manchester second to none. Weare certainly going to make Man-chester a safe city in all neighbor-hoods. We are going to make surethat we are a community thatbrings businesses in and has busi-nesses stay.” He wants increasedcommunity policing in the city forevents like those at Verizon Wire-less Arena or Fisher Cats’ baseballgames.
He ticked off the city’s assets.“You’re one hour from the moun-tains. You’re one hour from the seacoast, one hour from Boston.” Theairport, he added, contributes“$1.2 billion of economic energy inthe state of New Hampshire.”
Mayor Gatsas credited a tight-
knit Manchester Greek communitywith helping to elect him. They vot-ed across party lines, he said. “Asyou look at the nonpartisan elec-tion that was before us, I think thatprobably most of the Greek popula-tion was a registered Democrat.They came out in great numbers tomake sure they supported the localGreek kid.”
That kid grew up in a multi-gen-erational, immigrant household. “Iwas brought up going to Greekschool. My grandparents came overfrom Greece…We grew up on alarge farm. My grandfather was afarmer. My grandmother did workin the leather industry. We all livedin the same house with my uncleand my aunt. My grandparents hada lot of helping hands.”
The new mayor who pridedhimself, as a senator, on “bringingbalanced budgets forward” noted:“The city’s in solid financial condi-tion.” Mr. Gatsas said of today’schallenges, “We’re looking for-ward. We’re no different than any
other community in the countryright now. We are having some verydifficult economic times, but thefooting that we are on is very good.We’re going to work hard to makesure that we get every value thatwe can get for the taxpayers of thegreat city of Manchester.” THE VIRGINIA ‘GREEK CAUCUS’
Meanwhile, much further south,two Greek Americanattorney/politicians rolled up theirsleeves to tackle the business of Vir-ginia’s House of Delegates, the 100-member lower house of the state’sGeneral Assembly.
In November, District 68 Repub-lican Manoli Loupassi was re-elect-ed to his second term and 79th Dis-trict Democrat Johnny Joannouwas re-elected to a post he’s filledbetween 1976 and 1983 and from1998 to the present. Joannou was astate senator from 1984 to 1991.
In a phone interview on January11, Mr. Loupassi jokingly referredto himself and Mr. Joannou as “theGreek Caucus”. Loupassi may not
speak Greek, but he proudly point-ed to his grandfather who died inWorld War Two, while fighting Nazi
forces in Crete.Richmond attorney Loupassi
started the new year by introducinga bill (HB2) providing tax creditsfor investments made by small-business taxpayers in personalproperty and real estate improve-ments used in the business. He ex-plained, “The idea is to get busi-nesses to spend money now.”
Mr. Loupassi said he’ll benefitfrom a “long learning curve” in hissecond term, though crafting billsis “a very difficult and laboriousprocess”, just as the country’sfounders intended.
“It’s all about jobs”, he said,even if unemployment in the stateis 2% below the national averagedue to military/government work.He noted that the main crunch willbe at the start of the year in theHouse of Delegates’ 60-day sessionfocused on passing Virginia’s bud-get.
Contact Angelike Contis at [email protected]
COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010 3
By Constantine S. SirigosThe National Herald Staff Writer
YONKERS, N.Y. - At St. Michael’sHome in Yonkers, New York, onedoes not encounter a home for theaged, but simply, a remarkablehome. A home for the Greek Amer-ican community’s senior Orthodoxbrothers and sisters. The word thatis heard incessantly when St.Michael’s is discussed is warmth,and warmth was the image thatpervaded all who spoke on Satur-day January 9, when it was so coldoutside, but inside a new board ofdirectors took its oath of office inthe beautiful chapel, and a lun-cheon was held which included thecutting of the New Year’s vasilopitacake. The warmth flowed from theresidents and from the devoted vol-unteers, friends and guests
His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios blessed the fare, assistedby Deacon Nathaniel Symeonides.After the meal ArchbishopDemetrios shared his moving expe-rience at the recent Epiphany cele-bration in Tarpon Springs, Florida,where more young adults thanever, “those heroic young people,”participated, despite this year’sfrigid temperatures.
Turning to St. Michael’s, His Em-inence thanked benefactors andsupporters and then made a specialappeal to them to re-commit them-selves to the Home’s expansion pro-gram. Saying it would make himmost happy, the Archbishop de-clared “it is doable,” and wasthrilled later when the vasilopita’slucky coin fell to the slice dedicatedto the St. Michael’s Home. Heclosed by praising the volunteersand urged everyone to further de-velop the spirit of volunteerism sothat more people make charitableactivities their offering to theircountry and community.
Bishop Andonios of Phasiane,who has served as the director ofSt. Michael’s for 14 years, thankedthe outgoing president of the Boardof Directors, Nikitas Drakotos, forhis decades of dedication to thehome. Despite the economic down-turn, His Grace announced that2009 turned out be the Home’s bestyear financially, with $500,000added to the St. Michael’s expan-
sion fund in 2009, reflecting boththe importance of its function inthe community and people’s appre-ciation of and commitment to it.
The Bishop was also pleased toannounce that local clergy haveagreed to take turns offering theEucharist on every Saturday nowthat his new responsibilities asArchdiocesan Chancellor take himaway for many weekends. In clos-ing, the Bishop congratulated Dr.Urania Poulis for her appointmentas the Home’s Administrator in2009 after serving two years ascounseling psychologist, andthanked the dedicated women, andincreasingly, men, who volunteertheir time and energy.
Ambassador Aghi Balta,Greece’s Consul General in NewYork, told the guests and residents,“There are places and events that Iattend where I find that I am withmy family. St. Michaels is one of
those places, for the ‘agape’ and‘storge’ that I feel when I am nearyou for the people who live, workand volunteer here in this blessedplace. I get strength from you tobecome a better person and I am in-spired by your achievements. I wishyou a good new year and newdecade, and for God to be always
with us.”Cyprus’s new Consul General
Koula Sophianou said she wasmoved during the morning’schurch service, hearing the resi-dents and guests singing the hymnsthey learned as children and whichare still in their hearts. Likeningthem to angels singing in heaven,
Sophianou said that it was for her“a mystagogia”, an experience ofthe mystery of the divine, “and Ihope to return and experience thatonce again.”
National Philoptochos PresidentAphrodite Skeadas expressed herappreciation for the supporters ofthe home by reminding all that the
vasilopita they were about to cut isnamed for St. Basil “who gave awayhis wealth and dedicated himself tothe underprivileged, adding that“St. Michae’ls Home has offeredphysical, emotional and physicalcare for our senior adults for morethan 50 years in a family setting.She pledged that the “Philoptochoswill be present for you always andwe will assist you always.”
In a moving speech, resident EvyWay also thanked the Home’sdonors and volunteers. The resi-dents were in full holiday spirits asthey welcomed both long-time visi-tors and new friends. A life-longYankee fan, Nicholas Christon toldthe National Herald that the homeis right next to the Bronx, where hegrew up and where he attended De-Witt Clinton High School. He miss-es the florist shop he ran for 40years on Madison Avenue and 84thStreet in Manhattan, but enjoys thecompany of his new friends.
Florence Perperis was vistingher good friend Theodora Fas-suliois, who told TNH both her par-ents were from the Smyrna regionin Asia Minor. She grew up in theSheepshead Bay neighborhood inBrooklyn, were she was a parish-ioner at the Three HierarchsChurch.
Among the new members of theboard of directors, whose numberwas reduced from 26 to 17, wasJohn Kastanis, a healthcare indus-try veteran who served 30 years asa hospital executive and is now aprivate consultant in the field. Hetold TNH that he was introduced toSt. Michael’s Home by Fr. NicholasAnctil, who was present represent-ing the Clergy Syndesmos organi-zation, of which he is the president.
Founded in 1958 under theleadership of then-ArchbishopMichael, Saint Michael's is a NewYork State - Department of Healthcertified residential adult care facil-ity under the aegis of the Greek Or-thodox Archdiocese of America. Itis the only Greek Orthodox adulthome in the United States and allthe residents are Greek Orthodox.The programs and services of St.Michael's are specifically designedfor those individuals who seek as-sisted living in a Greek Orthodoxenvironment.
A Warm Winter’s Day at St. Michael’s Orthodox Home for the Aged in Yonkers
Sunday, January 17, 2010 Great Hierarchical Vesper Service with Artoclasia at 7:30 p.m.
After the Service the Ladies of our Philoptochos Society will host a reception in our community center.
Monday, January 18The Feast of Saint AthanasiosOrthros 8:45 a.m. and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Artoklasia.His Eminence Metropolitan EVANGELOS of New Jerseywill preside at the Services.
Luncheon will follow in the community center hosted by the Philoptochos Society of our Parish.
Protopresbyter Anargyros Stavropoulos and the President of the Parish Council Mr. George Karounos cordially invite youto join us in celebrating the Feast Day of our Church.
Feast Dayof Saint Athanasios the Great
Patron Saint of our Parish
H O LY M E T R O P O L I S O F N E W J E R S E Y
SSaaiinntt AAtthhaannaassiiooss GGrreeeekk OOrrtthhooddooxx CChhuurrcchh
51 Paramus Road, Paramus, NJ 07652 • (201) 368-8881
Holiday decorations adorn thedining hall of the St. Michael’shome as its director, Bishop An-doni of Phasiane, at the daisadressess (above left) and greets(above right) residents andguests. At the dais lower right are(l. to r.) Fr. Nick Anctil, Maria Ski-adas, Bishop Philotheos andGreek Consul General Aghi Balta.
Ted Gatsas: Manchester, New Hampshire’s First Greek American Mayor Assumes Office
Johnny Joannou, a long-timemember of Virginia's House ofDelegates, was re-elected in Nov.
Manoli Loupassi, an attorney inRichmond, was re-elected to Vir-ginia's House of Delegates.
Ted Gatsas, the new mayor ofManchester, NH, was state sena-tor from 2000 to 2009. He wassworn in on January 5, 2010,vowing to make better educationand more prosperity realities forthe city where he was born.
MMeemmbbeerrss ooff tthhee ccoommmmuunniittyy aarree wweellccoommee ttoo ppllaaccee aann aadd..
To advertise or to obtain rates: tel: (718) 784-5255 ext. 101, e-mail: [email protected]
Coming in February...
Don’t miss...
50Wealthiest
Greeks in America
TheThe National Herald’’ss
COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010
Mr. Ioannis Sporides, the chil-dren’s uncle, told The NationalHerald that “if the Archdiocesewanted to help, we could havefound the solution.” He made aplea for help to other Greek Ameri-can organizations such as AHEPAand SAE to “help these two chil-dren,” saying, “I want to save thesechildren.”
The Herald’s story was widelyreproduced in all forms of newsmedia in Greece and throughoutthe world.
Late on Tuesday evening, Janu-ary 12 the Archdiocese issued anews release that referred to “mis-leading statements distributed inthe press on the case of two or-phaned children in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo.” The releasedoes not mention the Archbishop’sletter of December 21, 2009, wherehe refused to accept the two chil-dren, but on the contrary statedthat “both the Archdiocese and theAcademy look forward- fervently,was the word they used in theGreek text- to receiving Kostakisand Demetris as soon as possible.”
Rev. Costas Sitaras, the directorof St. Basil’s Academy did not re-turn The Herald’s telephone calls.
The parent publication of TheNational Herald - Ethnikos Kirix -broke the story on Friday January 8.Metropolitan Theoliptos of Ikonionof the Ecumenical Patriarchate inConstantinople, read the storyabout the orphans on the line edi-tion of the paper, and the refusal ofArchbishop Demetrios to help them.He responded by sending a strongletter to The National Herald ex-pressing his deep disappointmentabout the Archbishop’s refusal.
Metropolitan Theoliptos wrotethat “I confess that in reading thearticle written by Mr. Theodore
Kalmoukos, I was shuddering, I be-came sorrowful and I am ashamedthat I am a hierarch of the Ortho-dox Church.”
Metropolitan Theoliptos alsowrote “Truly where are we going?Where has our wretched OrthodoxChurch been led? Where has theChurch been led by the conscience-less shepherds? How can we wantthe faithful to believe us and to fol-low us when we do not practicewhat we preach?”
Metropolitan Theoliptos, one ofthe most prominent hierarchs ofthe Ecumenical Patriarchate alsosaid in his letter that “If he (Arch-bishop Demetrios) is not in apposi-tion to help two orphan boys tenyears old, then it is bad that he re-mains in his position.”
The letters of the three hierarchsinvolved in the case are as follows:
The Letter of Metropolitan Ig-natios:
Most Reverend Brother Arch-bishop Demetrios of America,
With much interest I have beenfollowing your activities and I prayfervently for your ministry.
The reason for this letter is thefollowing: The young boysDemetris and Kontantinos Sporidis,who were born on June 23, 1999and are brothers, were baptized Or-
thodox at the St. Mark’s church inKinshasa, Congo, on April 30,2005.
The boys’ father, StylianosSporidis (a Greek national), passedaway on the 23rd of June 2002,and their mother Florence NkayMoseka is terminally ill with cancerand can no longer provide for orcare for the boys. Since they do nothave any relatives in the People’sRepublic of Congo, where they live,and since there are no institutionsto offer shelter, the brother of theirfather, Ioannis Sporidis, and hisson, Philip Sporidis, have suggest-
ed that St. Basil’s Academy offerthem hospitality. I personally agreeand I am kindly requesting thattheir request be accepted. I hopethat Your Eminence will favorablyrespond to our plea.
With brotherly love,Metropolitan Ignatios
of Central AfricaThe entire letter of Archbish-
op Demetrios of America to Mr.Ioannis Sporidis, dated Decem-ber 21, 2009, reads as follows:
Dear Mr. Sporidis,I received your letter through
which you inform me about the is-sue that concerns you and I thankyou. I also received the attachedletter of Metropolitan Ignatios ofCentral America. With much sor-row, I learned about the terrible po-sition in which your two nephews,Kostakis and Demetris, have foundthemselves.
The situation for the boys is tru-ly difficult and I truly hope that asolution will be found that will pro-vide a secure future for them. Ofcourse we would like to favorablyrespond to your request to admitthe children to the St. Basil’s Acade-my of our Holy Archdiocese, as Fr.Constantine Sitaras, the Academy’sdirector, has informed you.
Unfortunately though, this re-quest of yours is in conflict with,among other things, the fact thatthe boys are not United States citi-zens and hence cannot live perma-nently in the United States.
In their case, despite our sor-rowfulness for their ordeal and ourwillingness to help, we are not in aposition to materialize the pro-posed solution. We hope that withthe efforts of different parties andwith the help of God, the really dif-ficult problem of the children willbe resolved in the best possible wayfor them.
I wish you and your family everyblessing of God and strength. Letthe Lord, Whose birth we will cele-brate within the next few days, beyour helper and supporter so thesetwo children will be helped effec-tively.
With prayers and honor,Archbishop Demetrios
of AmericaThe letter of Metropolitan
Theoliptos of Ikonion of the Ecu-menical Patriarchate to The Na-tional Herald, dated January 9th2010 reads as follows:
It is with much sorrow that Iread in your distinguished newspa-per ‘The National Herald’ on Janu-ary 8, 2010, the article, “Theyrefuse to accept two orphans at St.Basil’s Academy”. I confess that inreading the article written by Mr.Theodore Kalmoukos, I shuddered.I became sorrowful and I amashamed to be a hierarch of the Or-thodox Church. I am asking: Wasthe conscience of ArchbishopDemetrios, who had received theletter from the orphans’ uncle, at
peace during the Holy Days ofGod’s Epiphany and New Year? Washe able to celebrate as a high priestthe sacred days without any prob-lem of conscience? How could hehave sent that reply to the uncle ofthose two children, and furthermock them by sending wishes for asolution? Truly, where are we go-ing? Where has our wretched Or-thodox Church been led? Wherehas the Church been led by the con-scienceless shepherds? How can wewant the faithful to believe us andto follow us when we do not prac-tice what we preach? I felt very sor-ry for Archbishop Demetrios, as hedisappointed me one more time.
Which is our mission in theworld? Just to organize dinnersand events to celebrate our tenthanniversary on the Throne of theHoly Archdiocese of America, or tospeak and preach about loving andhelping our suffering fellow man,but not to do anything in reality?The entire Archdiocese of Americais not opposed to helping two 10-year-old children. The reasons fortheir refusal were silly and withoutsubstance. They do not have, saidthe otherwise Holy Brother (Arch-bishop Demetrios), American citi-zenship. To whom is he trying tosell these fairytales? Is it possible towant to help and not be able to findsome solution? If he is not in a posi-tion to help two orphan boys, whoare 10 years old, then it is bad thathe remains in his position.
The essence of the matter is thatthere is no will to help because wehave strayed from our mission. If(the Archbishop) were to ask for100 dollars from each hierarch ofAmerica, he would have collected
1,000 a month, and do not tell methat they do not have the money togive because everybody will laugh.
He (Demetrios) chose to replyshortly before Christmas and that isthe tragicomedy of this whole is-sue. Yes, the Archbishop of Americarefused to provide help on Christ-mas Eve, on the par excellencefeast of love where God becomesman out of love in order to saveman. Is this our ecclesiastical con-science? I feel sorry for the plight ofthe Orthodox Church. I feel sorryfor the plight of the Archdiocese ofAmerica and its Archbishop. Thebones of our forefathers, who es-tablished the institutions for oursuffering brothers, will be turningin their graves. There is a God andwe will be accountable some dayfor our deeds.
We should not complain that thepeople of God stay away from theChurch. We ousted them with ourdeeds and examples. Shame on us.
With honor and love,Metropolitan Theoliptos
of IkonionThe Archdiocesan News Re-
lease follows:“In recent days, misleading
statements distributed in the presson the case of two orphaned chil-dren in the Democratic Republic ofCongo, whose relatives in the Unit-ed States approached the SaintBasil Academy for assistance, re-quire that the Archdiocese of Amer-ica set forth the following factualinformation.
In June of 2009 Saint Basil Acad-emy in Garrison New York, receivedan inquiry as to whether the institu-tion could be of assistance in bring-ing these two children to the United
States and accept them into theAcademy family. The relatives of thetwo children were advised that un-der present U.S. immigration law,the Academy, as a residential facilityand no longer a school, could notlegally sponsor the children to cometo the United States. The family wasalso advised to consider options onlyavailable to them that would allowthe children to enter the U.S. Underthose circumstances, the Academywould be able to provide interim ac-commodations with a view to a morepermanent placement once perma-nent guardianship status by the U.S.relatives had been established.
Saint Basil Academy never re-fused to accept the children andhas been in communication withthe family over the past sevenmonths. There was never any ques-tion of financial resources in ac-cepting the children. The Academyhas been informed by the familythat they are currently working to-ward securing guardianship of thechildren in order for them to beplaced at Saint Basil. Both theArchdiocese and the Academy lookforward to receiving Kostakis andDemetris as soon as possible.
To portray the Archdiocese ofAmerica, His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios, or Saint Basil Academyas being anything but willing andeager to assist this family is irre-sponsible and reprehensible. It is ashame and shameful that anyonewould exploit the tragedy of anychild, especially ones orphaned of aparent, through exaggeration, mis-statement and accusation.
Contact Theodore Kalmoukos [email protected].
Demetrios’ Handling of Request to Help Two Orphans Leads to Censure, Crisis
tion) of the historic synagogue, andentirely destroyed the library andcomputer stations. She reports thatadditional damage from soot andwater to the rest of the structureand furnishings can be repaired,but at a considerable cost.
Ms. Ikonomopoulos cites a re-port from Etz Hayyim SynagogueDirector Dr. Nikos Stavroulakis,which describes the arsonists as"one or two or even more individu-als," who placed an incendiary de-vice underneath a wooden staircaseleading to the office of the director,as well as a library and readingroom. The library reportedly con-tained valuable books in variouslanguages on Ottoman, Byzantineand Jewish art and architecture aswell as resource books on Euro-pean, Near Eastern History and Cre-tan history. A computer and CDplayer with over 150 CDs ofSephardic liturgical and secularmusic were also in the office. Toread the report by Dr. Stavroulakisin its entirety, visit TNH's website atwww.thenationalherald.com.
The attack is believed to havetaken place at approximately12:20-1:00 a.m. on the night of theJanuary 5. By 1:45 a.m. the firebrigade had extinguished the blazeand police had begun investigatingthe scene.
Dr. Stavroulakis noted the pro-portions of the potential danger ofthe attack in his report, stressingthat had the synagogue been en-gulfed in flames, at least half of theold city of Chania would have goneup in flames as the narrow streetsand inaccessible quarters wouldhave prevented access by the firebrigades.
According to Dr. Stavroulakis,the Siphrei Torah were not dam-aged, but the walls of the interior ofthe sanctuary as well as the woodenceiling have been streaked and cov-ered by water-laden soot. Much ofthe naked stone on the interior hasalso been badly stained. All of thecarpets of the synagogue (some 30,most antique Turkish) were coveredwith soot. Synagogue leaders havedecided to build a solid stone wallto protect the new library entrance.
During their search, police founda bar of soap thrown against theouter wall of the synagogue, likelyindicating that the arson was a hate
crime. A common anti-semitic re-mark in Greek refers to making one"into a bar of soap," in reference toHolocaust atrocities.
By 7:00 a.m. a deposition wasmade by the director with the policeand an assessment of the damagewas carried out. Members or theSynagogue fraternity: PaolaNikotera, Konstantine Fischer, SamCohen and David Webber were onhand to examine what had hap-pened to books and to the structure,as well as to assist the police in es-tablishing evidence.
Commenting on the attack thefollowing day, Dr. Stavroulakis not-ed "we must be angry over what hashappened to our synagogue. If wewere not, it would be an indicationthat we were either indifferent or
morally numb. But exactly againstwhat is our anger directed? Whatwe must be angry about is the igno-rance that determines racism, dis-crimination or badly examinedlives."
Despite the attack, Dr.Stavroulakis vowed that the syna-gogue would not change its open-door policy. "Often I have pointedout that we are perhaps the onlysynagogue of significance inGreece, possibly Europe, wherethere is little if any overt sign of pro-tective security. Hand-bags are notchecked, ID cards and passports arenot examined, and one is not oblig-ed to sign in. This character of theSynagogue must not change andthe doors must remain open – or wehave given in to the ignorance that
has perpetrated this desecration,"he wrote in his report.
An account has been opened to
gather the necessary funds to assistin repairing the damage caused bythe fire. Donations may be sent to
Alpha Bank in Chania, Crete.The account information is as
follows: Account name: Friends ofEtz Hayyim, Account # 776-002101-087154, IBAN: GR74 01406600 7760 0210 1087 154,Nicholas Hannan-Stavroulakis / Di-rector Etz Hayyim Synagogue/ Ha-nia.
In the United States, tax-de-ductible charitable contributionsare also being received by the Inter-national Survey of Jewish Monu-ments (ISJM). Checks can be sent toISJM, P.O. Box 210, 118 JulianPlace, Syracuse, N.Y. 13210. Write"Hania" on the memo line. 100% ofall funds will be transferred for useby Etz Hayyim.
Etz Hayyim is located off ofKondylaki in the Old City of Chania,in what was once the heart of theJewish Quarter
Jews lived in Chania for cen-turies, many of them in a ghettobuilt by the Venetians. The commu-nity had two synagogues, Etz Hayy-im, the Romaniote synagogue andthe Shalom Synagogue for theSephardic members of the commu-nity.
The island was under GermanOccupation during WWII and, inJune of 1944, the small communityof 340 Jews was taken off the is-land by boat. On route in theAegean, the boat was destroyed bybombs and all the Jews on boardwere killed. It was only in 1995,when the British archives of WWIIbecame public that is was learnedthat the British had scuttled theboat, thinking that it carried arms.
For decades, the only survivingsynagogue, Etz Hayyim, lay in ru-ins. Nikos Stavroulakis, the founderof the Jewish Museum of Greeceand a Jew of Chaniote descent,gathered worldwide support for itsrestoration. In October of 2000 EtzHayyim was rededicated. It standsnow, not only as a functioning syna-gogue, but also as a memorial to theJews of Chania lost in the Holo-caust.
This article includes reports fromThe Athens News Agency, DPA,the Pan Cretan Association ofAmerica, and Dr. NicholasStavroulakis of the Etz HayyimSynagogue
Contact Christopher Tripoulas [email protected].
Arsonists Target Chania’s Old Synagogue, Greece, U.S. Greeks Condemn ActContinued from page 1
Some of the damage within Chania’s Etz Hayyim synagogue. The placeof worship is also a museum and memorial, with over 1,500 books.Despite the attack, the synagogue vows to retain it’s open-door policy.
Continued from page 1
Metropolitan Theoliptos of Iconion, ranking hierarch of the Ecumeni-cal Patriarchate, was outraged by the way the orphans were treated.
Children enjoy an afternoon of sports and fun on the grounds of St. Basil’s Academy in Garrison, N.Y.
COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010 5
By Eleni KostopoulosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK –Paul Apostolakis, 21,was the sole brave soul to dive intothe frigid waters of New York Bayon Sunday, January 10 to retrieve across thrown in by Rev. John Romasof St. Nicholas Greek OrthodoxChurch. Members of the communi-ty, from both Brooklyn and Man-hattan, cheered on Apostolakisfrom the shore of Battery Park bySouth Ferry at around 2 p.m., whenthe wind chill was about 20 de-grees.
“I’m very proud of him,” Aposto-lakis’ mother, Pauline, told The Na-tional Herald. “He’s very religiousand he likes to keep tradition alive.He looks forward to it every year,although he wishes he had somemore competition - some years hedid, and other years he was the on-ly one.”
Ms. Apostolakis added that shewas worried the first time her sonparticipated in the ceremony of theEpiphany, but got used to it aftersome time. “He’s also a diver; he’sparticipated in national competi-tions and East Coast champi-onships so he knows what he’s do-ing,” she said.
Brooklyn-based Apostolakis cur-rently attends Rider University,where he is pursuing a Bachelor ofScience Degree in Business Admin-istration, double majoring in Fi-nance and Entrepreneurial Studies.
The celebration was especiallysentimental for the community thatapplauded Apostolakis, as it alsomarks another year gone by that St.
Nicholas, which was destroyed bythe collapse of the World TradeCenter towers during the Septem-ber 11 attacks, exists without ahome. Within a month of the attackon the trade center, His EminenceArchbishop Demetrios said thefour-story church would be built“on the same sacred spot as a sym-bol of determined faith.”
More than eight years later, the
re-building of St. Nicholas remainsa dream. The agency overseeing re-construction, the Port Authority ofNew York and New Jersey, has yetto finalize the exchange of landneeded to provide the parishionerswith a new home near ground zero.
“We gather here every year andafter September 11, we still comehere and I hope we’ll have ourchurch back soon,” said Rev. Ro-
mas. “Right now, we have Sts. Con-stantine and Helen in Brooklyn -they love us and we love them.”
Rev. Romas also prayed for goodhealth of the community and en-couraged all to embrace forgive-ness.
St. Nicholas Greek OrthodoxChurch stood across Liberty Streetfrom the South Tower of the WorldTrade Center. The building thathoused the church was built in themid 1800s. In 1916, Greek Ameri-can immigrants started the congre-gation of St. Nicholas Greek Ortho-dox Church and one year later,started to hold worship services atthe Manhattan location.
Although the church buildingwas small (22 feet wide, 56 feetlong and 35 feet tall) the churchhad a congregation of about 70families, led by Rev. Romas. Oneday of the week it was opened tothe public, including individualswho worked in the Twin Towers,both Orthodox and non-Orthodox,who would use the space forprayer. The valuable possessionsdestroyed in the attacks includesome of the remains of St. Nicholas,St. Catherine, and St. Sava, donat-ed by Nicholas II, the last czar ofRussia.
Although the Epiphany celebra-tion triumphed again this year,members of the community hopethat they will be able to call LowerManhattan home again for theircongregation sooner rather thanlater.
Contact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected].
Frigid Temps Don’t Faze the Faithful of St. Nicholas in Epiphany Celebration
By Eleni KostopoulosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Four dynamic profes-sional organizations—The HellenicAmerican Chamber of Commerce(HACC), the Hellenic Medical Soci-ety of New York (HMS-NY), theHellenic Lawyers Association ofNew York (HLA) and the HellenicAmerican Bankers Association(HABA)—collaborated on Mondayevening, January 11, to host the an-nual “Traditional Cutting of theVasilopita”. The social event waswell-attended and welcomed bothmembers and non-members of thedistinguished professional HellenicAmerican organizations to the HolyTrinity Cathedral Ballroom in NewYork City, including special guestsGreek Consul of New York Evange-los Kyriakopoulos, Nassau CountySupreme Court Judge Peter Skelos,Judge Harriet P. George and JusticeNorman George of Floral Park,Queens.
Reverend Dr. Frank Marangos ofthe Cathedral welcomed all thosewho attended on behalf of thechurch’s Board of Trustees andcommenced with a blessing.
“I’ve been thinking about Jasonand the Argonauts; Jason needed50 rowers to go after the GoldenFleece,” Rev. Dr. Marangos said. “In
many ways, each and every one ofyou is a Hellenic rower on behalf ofthe church and on behalf of Hel-lenism. We spoke about the organi-zations that are here this evening.If we all grab an oar and we movein the same direction and in theright direction, the church, [and allthose in] business, medicine, law,education, etc., would be very
proud, because we come from awonderful background of Hel-lenism and Orthodoxy. Thisevening, we gather together as Hel-lenic Orthodox professionals underthe offices of the church to offerthis vasilopita on behalf of healthand prosperity for all our respectiveorganizations.”
The presidents of the organiza-
tions—LeRoy Lambert (HACC), Dr.George Tsioulias (HMS-NY), MamiStathatos-Fulgieri (HLA), GeorgiaS. Mouzakis (HABA)—all offeredtheir welcoming remarks and wish-es for a happy and healthy newyear.
“It’s so wonderful to see so manyorganizations getting together andcollaborating so well for such an
auspicious event,” said Stathatos-Fulgieri. “It’s been such a pleasureworking with so many professionalGreek American organizations.”
Rev. Dr. Marangos, also took theopportunity to announce an up-coming gathering to take place inNew York City.
“This coming Thursday, [Janu-ary 14], FOS will be gathering at
the Onassis Foundation, which ishosting our outreach gathering forthis session of lectures,” he said.“The lectures take place here onTuesday evenings and this year wewill be focusing on Hellenism [in-cluding Greek mythology] and Or-thodoxy.”
The Chamber of Commerce wasfounded more than 50 years ago topromote and strengthen economicand cultural ties between the U.S.and Greece and has since then fos-tered and developed commercialand trade relations between thetwo nations. The HLA was formedto address the needs and concernsof attorneys of Hellenic descentand has more than 450 attorneys asmembers. HMS-NY is a society ded-icated to strengthening networkingin the medical profession and toraise money for medical scholar-ships. HABA is a not-for-profit or-ganization established in 1982 topromote the professional and edu-cational interests of Greek Ameri-cans in the banking and finance in-dustries. Its current active member-ship consists of over 200 profes-sionals representing more than 50institutions across the financialspectrum. All four organizationswere founded on the basis of pro-moting Hellenic culture in the Unit-ed States.
Four Greek American Powerhouses in N.Y. Gather Their Members for Vasilopita Cutting
said. “I should be able to chair a com-
mittee immediately upon enteringthe senate and it will give me the op-portunity to represent almost threetimes as many people as I representnow.”
Gianaris said that among themany issues that will be on his agen-da if elected, the economy is themost important.
“This past year, I was the only de-mocrat from the downstate part ofNew York who voted against thestate budget in April,” he said.
“At the time, I said I was worriedthat we were spending too much giv-en [the condition] the economy wasin. In November, we weren’t sup-posed to be in session, but we were,because the state ran out of money.The economic recovery helps peopleget jobs, it helps people get insur-ance, it helps families get their kidsback in school, so that is the top pri-ority so far.”
Other concerns during his tenure
as assemblyman that he hopes tocontinue to focus on if elected arethe environment and helping to im-prove the air quality in Queens.
“Queens has more power plantsthan anywhere else in the city andthat means our air quality is especial-ly bad. This month, we’ll be closingthe worst polluter in the city in thelast 30 years based on an agreementI reached with power authorities. I’malso always looking for opportunitiesto beautify the neighborhood.”
Gianaris told TNH that the GreekAmerican vote is imperative forthese elections, and for the primaryelections, which will take placesometime in September of this year.
“I am very thankful for all thesupport I’ve received from the Greekcommunity, but I also want to stressthe importance of getting out thereto vote; we Greeks started democra-cy and whoever is here in the UnitedStates now, who aren’t involved inpolitics and who don’t vote, are for-getting where they come from,” saidGianaris, who added he has hireddozens of Greek American interns in
hopes of inspiring them to enter pub-lic office, much like he was inspiredto do so as an intern for fellow GreekAmerican, presidential candidateMichael Dukakis, while attendingcollege at Fordham University.
Gianaris continued pursuing hispolitical endeavors as an aide to late-Rep. Thomas Manton (D), and lateras the Queens County regional rep-resentative for Gov. Mario Cuomo(D). He also practiced law as a litiga-tor for several years before beingelected to the Assembly in 2000.
Gianaris, who represents the 36thAssembly District in Queens, is thefirst Greek American to be elected tooffice from New York City. Among hisaccomplishments, he authored thefirst-in-the-nation “Airline PassengerBill of Rights” and “Energy Con-sumer Bill of Rights” legislation,which provided unprecedented con-sumer protection to New Yorkers.
He also authored important pub-lic safety measures, including thestate’s first major anti-terror law af-ter September 11, 2001.
His Energy Security Act became a
national model and his approachwas expanded to include other criti-cal infrastructure sites throughoutNew York.
Onorato, who is completing his fi-nal term this year as a state senator,is among the endorsers of Gianaris(U.S. Representative for New York's14th District, Democrat Carolyn B.Maloney is also publicly endorsingGianaris’ candidacy).
Onorato currently sits on severalcommittees: he is a member of NewYork State Senate Democratic PuertoRican and Hispanic Task Force, theSenate Minority Task Force on Viet-nam Veterans, and the Senate Mi-nority Task Force on Waterfront De-velopment.
He is also the Vice Chair of theMajority Conference, Co-chair of theNew York State Armed Forces Leg-islative Caucus, and Co-Chairman ofthe New York State Senate Democra-tic Task Force on Energy & Conserva-tion.
Contact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected]
Mike Gianaris Says He’s Running for N.Y. State Senate
Stay informed all year round, anytime, anywhereBecome an online subscriber of The National Herald and get...
Visit us online at www.thenationalherald.com or call us: 718-784-5255 ext.108
*The price indicated above is for current subscribers. Regular price is $45.95/year. Alternative for current subscribers is per 3 months $14.95, per 6 months $23.95
WRΑπό το 1915 για τον Ελληνισµό
The National HeraldBringing the news to generations of Greek Americans
OONNLLYY**
$$3344..9955aa YYeeaarr!!
daily updates with news covering the community, Greece and Cyprus.
immediate access to our previous editions. edification that every Greek American should have!
LLaaww FFiirrmm
Mr. Spiridakis and his colleagues have successfully
won over $50 million for clients
the past 24 years
OFFICES: Manhattan, Queens (Astoria), Brooklyn, Long Island, LICENSED: New York, New Jersey
“To receive our special care”Call us at (212) 768-8088 or (718) 204-8600
Toll-Free 1-888-SPIRIDA (774-7432)[email protected] • www.lawhelp1.com
Legal expenses are payable at the conclusion of the case only if you win
ACCIDENTS - MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
a b
Free consultations • Home & Hospital visits • 24 Hours • 7 Days
JJ OO HH NN SS PP II RR II DD AA KK II SSThe Law Firm the Community Trusts
• Construction • Car/Motor Vehicle• Head injuries
• Slip & Fall • Wrongful death
• All injuries• Estates & Wills• Divorces
ABOVE: 21 year-old Paul Apostolakis braves the cold water to retrievethe cross thrown in by Rev. Romas. RIGHT: Rev. Romas of St. NicholasGreek Orthodox Church, which was formerly situated by Ground Ze-ro, with Apostolakis, following the Epiphany tradition.
PHOTOS: ETA IMAGE
Continued from page 1
Michael Gianaris announced he will run for New York State Senatethis November, to take the place of long-standing George Onorato.
Dr. George Tsoulias, President of the Hellenic Medical Society. Mami Stathatos-Fulgieri, President of the Hellenic Lawyers Association.
TNH ARCHIVES
FEATURE6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010
ALL HISTORY
refused to sing, now, was under-standable. That Koula would neversing, again, that was unthinkable.
It is critical for our understand-ing of the events in 1927 to realizethat Koula Yiortzi Antonopouloswas, at that precise moment, themost successful Greek recordingstar in North America. True, othersingers such as Marika Papagikaand Tetos Demetriades were, atthat very same moment, tremen-dously popular commercial artistsand each would eventually sellmore records than Koula - but thatwas all in the future. It was mostcertainly not the case in late 1927.
Kyriaki Yiortzi Antonopouloswas the first internationally suc-cessful Greek female vocalist whomade North America her perma-nent home. Known simply asMadame Koula (Koula being thediminutive of Kyriaki), this womanproved to be so popular that be-tween 1916 and 1927 she recordedat least 199 individual songs. Noother female vocalist of Greek her-itage in North America made orsold as many records during thissame period.
In late 1916 (or early 1917),Koula Antonopoulos (circa, 1880-1954) entered the New York Citystudios of Columbia Records andconquered the Greek music scenein North America. Singing througha megaphone, Madame Koularecorded 34 songs. While we do notalways know which instrumentalistplayed on each song, we do knowAthanasios Makedonas played theviolin; Andreas Patrinos was onlaouto and Stelios Melas played thesantouri.
Xenophon Mitchell, KoulaAntonopoulos’ grandson, contendsthat Koula’s husband, his maternalgrandfather Andreas Antonopoulosalso played the laouto on some ofthese Columbia songs. MadameKoula’s first song was a karsilamastitled “Eleni” (Columbia E3324).
Unexpectedly, it is only whenone actually listens to MadameKoula’s first Columbia records thatyou learn she is not always singingalone. Many of these early songsare more choral rather than indi-vidual renditions. As it was ex-plained to me, these recordingswere meant to mimic the club con-ditions in which Koula performed.While a vocalist accompanied byinstrumentalists was the norm, theperformance was deemed a criticalsuccess if the patrons of the cafe-
nion or taverna joined in with theperformers. Unlike other Greekrecords available during this earlyperiod, quite a number of MadameKoula’s records showcased the im-pression of audience membersthrough the presence of a choralgroup accompanying her perfor-mance.
The unexpected and totally un-precedented success – in terms ofoverall sales – of just these 34 songsprompted Columbia Records, Vic-tor Talking Machine Company andthe other large commercial recordcompanies to release their own do-mestically recorded Greek music totry and get as large a share of thislucrative new audience as possible.
At the time of Andreas’s death inlate 1927, Koula’s voice had in lessthan eight years made Panhel-
lenion the single largest indepen-dent Greek-owned record companyin the United States. From our per-spective in history we can see thelong-term effects of MadameKoula’s singing that those gatheredin the comfortable Brooklyn home,in 1927, could not. The race to cap-ture (or at least cash in on) the lu-crative Greek commercial recordbuying market that Koula’s recordshad set into motion was nothingshort of phenomenal. By 1940,Greek records were at least fifth inoverall total sales of all ethnic
records sold in the United States. Itis well recognized that the successexperienced by Madame Koula’s1916-1917 Columbia recordingsstarted this entire process in mo-tion, followed by PanhellenionRecords’ string of hits, withMadame Koula as the label’s starperformer.
As the bitter cold blew in theearly winter of 1927, all the softlyspeaking Greeks gathered in theAntonopoulos saloni knewMadame Koula’s standing. Theyeach must have wondered whatwould the Doyenne of Greek songin North America do next?
After the customs of Greece ofthe early 1900s, Koula had neverhandled any of the family finances.Business affairs were totally foreignto her. Andreas had always, and
with incredible skill, managed theday-to-day business of not only thePanhellenion Record Company butthe family as well. At the time ofAndreas Antonopoulos’ deathKoula did not even know howmuch money she had in the banklet alone her overall total financialworth.
In stepped the smooth and ableTetos Demetriades. In 1927, TetosDemetriades was a man whose ca-reer as musician and record compa-ny executive were unquestionablyboth on the rise. By the 1930s,
Demetriades would be the singlemost powerful and influential fig-ure in Greek music in North Ameri-ca. Some claim his influence wassuch that all commercially record-ed ethnic music fell under his sway.But all this was yet to be.
In the autumn of 1927, the dark-ly handsome, carefully dressed,Constantinople Greek recalled, forthe amusement of the men gath-ered in the Antonopoulos saloni, atime when he had been physicallythrown out the front door of morethan one American recording stu-dio. A time when all his demo-records were returned, unopened,from every American record com-pany in New York City. Except one.Sometime in the early 1920s thefirst records Tetos Demetriades wasever to see released appeared onthe Panhellenion label.
“Ela” and “Se Agapo” featured avery young Tetos Demetriadessinging with a woman only knownin available documents as “Vivis”(Panhellenion 307). As XenophonMitchell recalls, his grandmother,Madame Koula, had long wantedher only child, her daughterParaskevi (Vivi, for short), to be-come a Greek recording star. Asidefrom being Demetriades’ first
known recordings this music alsomarks the first occasion that a childof an established Greek Americanmusician performs on the family’sown record company label.
Given Tetos Demetriades’ per-sonal history with Madame Koula,he was able to accomplish the un-expected. Demetriades somehowconvinced Koula to record for RCAVictor Records. While it is impossi-ble to guess, from this distance oftime, what Demetriades’ motivesmay or may not have been, we doknow two facts: first Demetriadeswas a remarkable business manwho became a much honored fig-ure in the American commercialrecord business. Secondly, in 1927,Madame Koula Antonopoulos wasthe biggest independent recordingstar in North America. Demetriadeswould have been a fool, which hemost certainly was not, if he did notat least attempt to get this phenom-enal performer to record for Victorrecords.
So, on October 25, 1927, at theRCA Victor recording studios inCamden, New Jersey KoulaAntonopoulos recorded four songs.They are not what we would call to-day her most accomplished record-ings. The songs were first “Tis Nifis
E Tsembera” (The Bride’s Veil) asyrto with the B-side being “TisMantzouranas ton Antho” (TheFlowers and the Trees). For those ofyou still with Greek 78 rpm recordsin the house, this specific record isVictor Talking Machine Company68910 (released on the Orthophon-ic Record label) in the twelve inchdeluxe format. The next two songs“Agapo Ena Helidoni” (I Love aBlackbird) is a tsamiko and “Katoston Aspropotamo” (Down by theWhite River) released on the samerecord, Victor 68948. On eachKoula was accompanied by two un-named musicians, a clarinetist anda cymbalon player. We should notethat these songs were recordedwith the latest recording technolo-gy of the day, the electric micro-phone.
What is especially interestingabout listening to “Tis Nifis E Tsem-bera”, once we know something ofthe emotional state Koula musthave been experiencing when itwas being recorded, is the discon-certing faux enthusiasm of TetosDemetriades shouting, “hoopa,hoopa” between the lyrical lines. Itis as if Demetriades is trying tohearten the obviously weak perfor-mance.
On “Tis Nifis E Tsembera”,Koula’s voice is strained and franklythere is no color in her voice what-soever. As the song progresses,Koula, ever the professional, triesto give energy to the song but, infact, merely walks through the per-formance. The hallmark of Koula’sperformances, her usually success-ful effort to recreate the mood of alive musical event though not justher singing but in calling out to theinstrumentalists is heard but,again, without vigor or real emo-tion.
“Tis Mantzouranas Ton Antho”clearly renders the dignity andbearing of Koula in control of hermaterial in a slowly meteredtsamiko. Then, between one lyricalline and another, we hear Koula callout to the other musicians what on-ly those who knew somethingabout her life, could fully compre-hend, “Ax, foraö mavra, Panagia,yassas pedia, laö, yassas!” “Ax, I amwearing (mourning) black, HolyVirgin Mary, Life to you my Boys, Isay, Life to You!” Kyriaki YiortziAntonopoulos never made a com-mercial record for a large company,ever again.
Contact Steve Frangos at [email protected].
The Poignant Recordings of Oct. 25, 1927
NEW YORK - Two weeks ago onJanuary 1st, we concluded the firstcolumn of the New Year with a littletrivia question: Are you able toidentify the “lyricist” of an other-wise well known and very popular,time-transcending song? The col-umn’s contention is that in thegreat majority of cases, we wouldbe able to identify the singer, infewer cases the composer, and insubstantially fewer cases, the lyri-cist, despite the defining impor-tance of the lyrics in the success of asong. We will, thus, devote today’scolumn to comments and answers,on some of the songs we broughtinto the discussion at the end of thelast column.
STO PERIGIALI TO KRYFOOne of the most popular Greek
songs of the 60s, that Greeks allover the world have sung and con-tinue to sing. There is little doubtthat everyone will identify MikisTheodorakis as the composer andthat Grigoris Bithikotsis wouldcome to mind as the original singer.Would we also be correct to assumethat most people would identifyGeorge Seferis, the first Greek to beawarded a Nobel Prize (for litera-ture) in 1963, as the “word” crafts-man of the song, the poet?
When it comes to the lyrics, andin particular to the widely used andgenerally accepted title of the song,“Sto perigiali to kryfo”, I wonderhow many people really know thatit is actually a non-existenttitle/name. The poet never gave itsuch a title and the composer neverrecorded it as such. The true title ofthe poem, turned song, is“Αρνηση-denial”, and yet, few peo-ple would be able to properly iden-tify it as such. A case in point, that“the word/lyric” and its creator/po-et/lyricist, are not given appropri-ate credit and adequate attentionin a song. This poem is also a classiccase of the misinterpretation of thelyrics, where the proper placementof a punctuation mark, in this casea semicolon, cannot be correctlyexecuted and interpreted by thesinger, because of the meter of themusic.
The result is that most people donot get the meaning that the poetintended to convey. The controver-sial phrase in the poem is the fol-lowing: “Με τι καρδιά, µε τι πνοή,τι πόθους και τι πάθος πήραµε τηζωή µας. λάθος.” The key punctua-tion mark is the comma after thewords “…τη ζωή µας..” which sep-
arates them from the word “λάθος”.If properly translated the phrasewould mean: “With what heart,what spirit, what desires and whatpassion we led our life; MIS-TAKE…!” When sung, however, be-cause the music does not allow theproper “execution” of the comma,the meaning most people get fromthe song, is “With what heart, whatspirit, what desires and what pas-sion we led our life WRONG”.
The case epitomizes the poten-tial conflict that might occur be-tween the “word” and the music.
Concluding our comments onthis song, we should mention thatGeorge Seferis was born at thetown of Vourla, in the Asia Minorprovince of Smyrna in 1900. Hestudied law in Paris and in his mid20’s was appointed to the GreekMinistry of Foreign Affairs, later be-coming Greek Ambassador to Lon-don. In 1963 he was awarded theNobel Prize for Literature. He wasgood friends with U.S. Senator Eu-gene McCarthy, a poet himself andonce a Democratic U.S. Presiden-tial candidate, with whom he oftenexchanged thoughts and commentsabout each other’s poetry.
Seferis died in Athens in 1971,his last years clouded by the Greekmilitary dictatorship, under whichhe refused to publish any new poet-ry. In early 2000, in a formal cere-mony, the Turkish mayor of Vourlanamed one of the city’s streets afterthe great Nobel Laureate Greek
poet. ENA TO HELIDONI
Every Greek hassung this extremelypopular song. Thelyrics belong to yet an-other great Greek po-et, the 1979 NobelLaureate OdysseusElytis. Born on the is-land of Crete in 1911,the scion of a prosper-ous family from Les-bos, he abandoned thefamily name (Ale-poudhelis) as a youngman, in order to disas-sociate his writingfrom the family soap business.
The lyrics of the song come fromhis epic work “Axion esti-Worthy Itis” written in 1959.
The poem is likely the mostwidely read volume of verse tohave appeared in Greece sinceWWII and most experts consider it“a kind of spiritual autobiographywhich attempts to dramatize thenational and philosophical exten-sions of a highly personal sensibili-ty…” The poem has been translatedin its entirety into English by Pro-fessor Edmund Keeley of PrincetonUniversity, while the music of MikisThedorakis made it uniquely popu-lar for Greeks all over the world.The song is but one of the total offive “λαϊκά” songs, included in thecomposition, the other four being,“Tης ∆ικαιοσύνης Ηλιε νοητέ-Theknowable sun of justice”, “ΤηςΑγαπης αιµατα-The blood of love”,“Ανοίγω το στόµα µου-I open mymouth” and “Με το Λύχνο τουάστρου-with the star as a lamp”.They are the only passages in thepoem that were sung by a popularsinger (gr: λαϊκος τραγουδιστής),in this case Grigoris Bithikotsis. Therest of the poem, which is dividedinto three major sections, The Gen-esis-Η Γενεσις, The Passion-ΤαΠάθη” and The Gloria -Το∆οξαστικόν, is sung by a classicalbaritone “chanter/ψάλτης” accom-panied by a choir.
APNOI ZOI-TO MERTIKOMOU AP’TI HARA
Both songs, extremely popularand widely sung , are still most of-ten identified with the two leg-endary singers who performedthem originally, Grigoris Bithikotsisand Stelios Kazantzidis. Most peo-ple would likely identify StavrosXarhakos as the composer of thefirst song while a lot fewer would
possibly know thatManos Loizos (com-poser of many verypopular songs i.e. “Ja-maica” , “Ola se thymi-zoun”, “O Koutal-ianos”, etc ) is thecomposer of the sec-ond.
It would be inter-esting to find out,however, how manypeople know that thelyrics are by LefterisPapadopoulos, consid-ered by many as thebest and most prolificGreek lyricist alive to-
day.TO ASTERI TOU VORIA-
GEIA SOU HARA SOU VENETIAIt is more than likely that in this
case we would correctly identifyManos Hadjidakis as the composerof the first song which he composedfor Elias Kazan’s movie “America-America”. My guess is that no par-ticular singer would be specificallyidentified with it, as it was a moviesong originally sung by an actor.
As far as the second song is con-cerned, I am very confident that thevast majority of Greeks would iden-tify it with the uniquely distinctvoice of Nikos Xilouris. I would al-so guess that many would knowthat the composer is the wellknown Stavros Xarhakos. Howmany would actually know, howev-er, that the lyricist of both songs isone of our great poets, the prolificNikos Gatsos? Gatsos was born inPeloponissos in 1911 and died inAthens in 1992. He has left a lega-cy of lyrics for at least 340 widelyknown songs, set to music by thebest and most famous Greek com-posers. A uniquely significant con-tribution to the quality of contem-porary Greek song.
DRAPETSONA-VRAHO TON KAIMO MOU
I am certain that both of thesesongs would be readily identifiedas two of the most popular MikisTheodorakis’ compositions of the60s. Grigoris Bithikotsis and SteliosKazantzidis would also be very like-ly associated with the performanceof each song. Sadly, however, anddespite the great popularity of boththe composer and the singers, it isvery unlikely that many of us wouldbe able to identify the lyricists asTasos Livaditis and DimitrisChristodoulou, a case in point,about the injustice associated with
the lyricists of songs. The fact isthat both Livaditis andChristodoulou have been greatlyrespected and justifiably recog-nized in music and literary circles,even after their death, as they havemade a vastly significant contribu-tion to the Greek treasury of musicas lyricists of some of the most im-portant songs composed by thegreatest and most important Greekcomposers.
TA KAVOURAKIA-SE TOUTO TO PALIOSPITO-
OLA INE ENA PSEMMA-ILIOVASILEMATA-FANTASIAI have purposely left for last
some comments about five ex-tremely popular songs.
And I can state with a great de-gree of confidence that they havebeen sung, at one time or another,by most Greeks of all ages all overthe world.
The first two are the creations ofthe legendary Vasilis Tsitsanis, orig-inally sung by Marika Ninou andKaiti Grey. “Ola ine ena psemma” isassociated, in composition and per-formance, with the greatest Greeksinger of all time SteliosKazantzidis. “Iliovasilemata” is aManolis Hiotis composition sungby Mary Linda and “Fantasia”, amore contemporary ApostolosKaldaras composition, is identifiedwith the voice of George Dalaras,one of the most popular contempo-
rary Greek singers.Who then is the lyricist of these
great songs? Her name is EftichiaPapagiannopoulou. I don’t knowhow familiar people are with thisincredible woman. All I know isthat, in my opinion, she epitomizesall the injustices “suffered” by mostlyricists, as far getting their properrecognition and due credit. I shouldalso mention that I was quite fasci-nated by her, having recently readabout her life, including some ofher own comments and assess-ments of it. So much so, that I havedecided to devote one full columnto her in the future.
Be well and don’t hesitate tocomment and/or give us your sug-gestions on any of the various as-pects of this column.
Grigoris Maninakis is a Professorof Engineering Technology atSUNY Farmingdale. He has beenactive in Greek music since theearly 70s as a founding memberand singer/soloist of the GreekPopular Chorus of N.Y. establishedby Mikis Theodorakis. He has or-ganized quality Greek music con-certs all over the U.S. and occa-sionally in Greece. His columnwill appear twice a month in TheNational Herald. For commentsand suggestions email or visit:[email protected], www.gmani-nakis.com
GREEK MUSIC ...PLUS
The Word - O Λόγος: Words are the Essence of a Song ...But Who is the Lyricist?
by GRIGORIS
MANINAKIS
Special to The National Herald
Manos Hadjidakis’ touch is obvious in composition ‘To Asteri tou Voria’.
Composer Manos Loizos
Continued from page 1
Madame Koula appeared on the label of Panhellenic Records (left).There were other stars in the Greek American musical firmament, likeMarika Papagika (above), but in 1927 Madame Koula shone brightest.
COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010 7
different woman.”A front page article in the New
York Times’ “Sunday Style” supple-ment on Sunday, January 10 was ti-tled, “If Peter Orszag Is So Smart,What Will He do Now?”.
The piece said: “In retrospect,maybe the whole Peter Orszaggroupie phenomenon was getting alittle out of hand early last yearwith the (ahem) birth ofOrszagasm.com, the fan blog de-voted to the allegedly hunky WhiteHouse Director of the Office ofManagement and Budget – a.k.a.the guy who is ‘putting the OMGback in the OMB’.”
According to the New YorkTimes story, “He became the epito-me of Obama-Era Nerd Cool. ThePresident himself joked lovinglyabout his favorite “propeller head”at the White House CorrespondentsDinner last May.
His dates were noted (TheWashington Post publisherKatharine Weymouth, among oth-ers).
Some West Wing wags worriedthat Mr. Orszag’s profile might begetting a tad inflated and that hewas getting a little big for his Black-Berry holsters (yes, that’s plural).”
The fact that Claire Milonas waspregnant with Peter Orszag’s childwas well known in Washington. Itwas called “The worst-kept secretin the history of Washington,” byhis brother Jon, an economic con-sultant in Los Angeles.
After this “secret” was revealedby the New York Post, the New YorkTimes called it “a distraction in aWhite House otherwise preoccu-pied by matters like terrorist plots,health care costs and unemploy-ment reports.
Mr. Orszag alerted “the seniorpeople in the West Wing” about thesituation, said Kenneth S. Baer,spokesman for the Office of Man-agement and Budget.
As a general rule, executivebranch spokesmen are not accus-tomed to worrying about “InsideEdition” — at least since the Clin-ton years.”
The article continued: “Trying toexplain the sustainable growth ratein Recent and archival health newsabout Medicare."
Medicare is challenging,” Mr.Baer said. But this is different. Hejust wants this story to go away —something both sides seem to agreeon.”
In the same story Ms. Milonas isquoted as saying that: “I think thewhole thing is silly, I hope thiswhole thing blows over quickly.”Ms. Milonas added that she wishesMr. Orszag well in his upcomingnuptials. (It is unclear whether shehas done this directly.)
The article adds: “This is not astory that will easily go away. Fri-day brought another wave: anotherNew York Post story about the‘lover-boy budget director.’ Hemade the cover of the tabloidWashington Examiner. The Wash-ington Post’s Reliable Source col-
umn was comparing Mr. Orszag toTom Brady - not so much as a foot-ball player, but as simply “a player.”
The article says that “Big ques-tions kept coursing through thecorridors of power, particularly thisone: Did the Casanova with a calcu-lator really ‘ditch’ his pregnant girl-friend for a younger televisionnews babe? Depends what your de-finition of ‘ditch’ is — and, ofcourse, whom you ask. People inMr. Orszag’s camp say he and Ms.Milonas had broken up well beforehe started seeing Ms. Golodrygalast spring; people close to Ms.Milonas say they are not so sure ofthe timing (Ms. Milonas would notspeak on this matter, and Mr.Orszag declined to comment alto-gether).
Commenting on their jointstatement, friends of Ms. Milonassay that Mr. Orszag wasn’t exactlyasking for privacy in Decemberwhen Ms. Golodryga was showingoff her engagement rock on “GoodMorning America.”
It is not clear yet what role, ifany, Peter Orszag will have in thelife of his newborn daughter Ta-tiana Zoe Milonas.
He was not present at her birthon November 17 and he has notspent any time with her.
It is noted that Orszag lives inthe northwest part of Washington,D.C. and he shares custody of histwo children from his first mar-riage, while both Claire Milonasand Bianna Golodryga live in NewYork.
By Theodore Kalmoukos, The Na-tional Herald Staff Writer.
Contact Theodore Kalmoukos [email protected].
Budget Director Orszag’s Complicated Life Involves Greek American
Untitled -ByzantineIf you love, don’t cringe,your soul slippery,filled with supplication.Be prudent, cover yourself,try to raise your eyebrowsand cast frugal glances.For it is the way of womento scorn those who
are overbearingand laugh out loud at those who
cower.The best lover is he who mingleshumility with some manly pride.
Agathias Scholasticus(ca. 532-580 AD)
Translated by Edmund Keeley in“The Greek Poets” edited by Con-stantine, Hadas, Keeley and VanDyck.
GREEK POETRY
www.GreekKitchennyc.com
“In 1987, I was a Fulbrightscholar and I worked with a verywell-known professor, DemetriosDracopoulos at the University ofAthens Medical School,” he said. “I,with my wife and two children, An-drew and Katharine, lived inAthens while working on a study ofthe Greek diet relative to gall blad-der disease in women. At that time,my wife took Greek languagelessons and cooking lessons and thechildren began to learn someGreek.
Then in 2006, the Cyprus Insti-tute invited me to help Cyprus de-velop a cancer registry so I spentthree months with my family inNicossia, Cyprus working with col-leagues on cancer problems.”
The trip was enriching for Dr.Pastides, whose research has beensupported by the Centers for Dis-ease Control, the W.K. KelloggFoundation, the U.S. Departmentof Energy and the National Insti-tutes of Health, among others, andhas received awards and honorsfrom The National Cancer Instituteand the American College of Epi-demiology. The trip was also veryenriching for his wife Patricia, whoas a result, has a soon-to-be pub-lished book on the Greek diet,called “Greek Revival: Cooking for
Life”, which talks about the health-ful benefits of the Mediterraneandiet and the Greek diet.
Dr. Pastides, who was namedthe University of South Carolina's28th president on August 1, 2008,following 10 years of service as aprofessor, dean and vice presidentat the university, was a professor ofepidemiology and chairman of theDepartment of Biostatistics andEpidemiology at the University ofMassachusetts at Amherst prior tojoining the U. of S.C. team.
“I have always been close to theGreek community - It is a greatsource of pride for our Greek com-munity in South Carolina to have aGreek leader of a university; it’s asmaller state, so its president has alot of exposure and public atten-tion, and I’m equally as proud ofthe Greek community as they are ofme.”
Dr. Pastides isn’t the only GreekAmerican administrator at the ac-claimed university; Michael D.Amiridis, Ph.D. is Vice President forAcademic Affairs and Provost.
“I am confident to say we are theonly major university in America tohave a Greek president andprovost, and I believe the Greekembassy is planning to invite us tocollaborate with other Americanuniversities who also have Greekadministrators to see if we can de-
velop closer ties with Greece.”According to Dr. Pastides, his
humble climb to the top of the aca-demic ladder was not planned out.
“Having been the first memberof my family to go to college, I thinkit’s fair [to say that becoming presi-dent] was the last thing on mymind,” he said.
“For most of my early years, Iwas always active in student gov-ernment, and in graduate school atYale I was quite inspired by thepresident at the time, AngeloBartlett “Bart” Giamatti, who isnow passed. As a grad schoolleader, I had the opportunity totalk, debate and work with him,which gave me a better perspectiveon what being a college presidentwas about—not a complete one, ofcourse— but I certainly recognizedhe’d been a scholar of renaissanceand literature, and there he was, asthe president of the university, whokind of opened my eyes to that.And in my career at the Universityof Massachusetts, I always had tofocus on my work and research, butI also had the opportunity to [par-ticipate] in leadership and service,so I became a department chair andI liked it. When I had found out Iwas nominated to be dean at theUniversity of South Carolina, I wasvery happy.”
As president, Pastides’ responsi-
bilities include academic affairs inthe five health sciences colleges, in-cluding: student welfare, facultyrecruitment, promotion andtenure, and retention. He alsoserves as executive director of theS.C. Research Foundation, in whichhe oversees the distribution of indi-rect cost recovered funds, directsfaculty research policies, and man-ages research administrative ser-vices.
Although he’s miles away fromhis first home in Astoria, Dr.Pastides said he visits New York fre-quently to visit his sister, Barbaraand his son, Andrew, an Equitystage actor who’s currently en-gaged.
His daughter Katharine is on theother side of the country, workingas an education specialist at theGetty Villa in Malibu, California.
When asked to describe his lifenarrative, Dr. Pastides said: “It’s astory of hardworking parents whoweren’t formally educated, butwere smart and learned individu-als, who used education as a vehi-cle to promote their children - andthe rest is history.”
By Eleni Kostopoulos, The Na-tional Herald Staff Writer.
Contact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected].
Univ. of S.C. President Harris Pastides Has Roots in Astoria, Queens & CyprusContinued from page 1
University of South Carolina President Dr. Harris Pastides with hiswife, Patricia Moore-Pastides, daughter, Katharine, and son, Andrew.
Continued from page 1
Peter Orszag became engaged toBianna Golodryga just weeks af-ter Milonas gave birth to his child
Greek American business woman Claire Milonas
By Stavros Marmarinos Special to The National Herald
NEW YORK – The Co-Chairpersonsof New York’s Greek Parade on FifthAvenue, set for Sunday, April 18,2010, will be Dr. George Tsioulias,President of the Hellenic Medical So-ciety of New York, and MamieStathatos-Fulgieri, President of theHellenic Lawyers Association of NewYork. Elias Tsekerides, a former Pa-rade Chairman and Treasurer, willbe this year’s Parade Committee Co-ordinator. The announcement camelate last week, following a Federa-tion of Hellenic Societies of GreaterNew York board meeting. It was alsodecided that a representative of theBoy Scouts of America – who are cel-ebrating their 100th anniversary –will be honored as one of this year’sParade’s Grand Marshals. Scoutinggained popularity in Greek Americancommunities in the 1960s.
Official preparations for the2010 Greek Independence Day Pa-rade in New York and its relatedevents kicked off on Thursday nightJanuary 14, 2010 at this year's firstpublic FHSGNY meeting in theStathakion Center in Astoria.
As this paper went to press, Arch-bishop Demetrios of America wasscheduled to attend, along with arepresentative from the New YorkState Governor’s office, N.Y. StateAssembly Michael Gianaris, theConsuls General of Greece andCyprus, St. Demetrios AstoriaCathedral Dean V. Rev. ApostolosKoufalakis, and others.
The meeting began with the tra-ditional cutting of the New Year’svasilopita cake, followed by a gener-al assembly where community is-sues, including the parade, were dis-cussed.
During the FHSGNY public meet-ings taking place from now until
April, community members can sub-mit nominations for the remainingparade grand marshals. The ParadeCommittee will present the propos-als to the Federation’s board of di-rectors, who will make the final de-cision as the organizing authority.
Business mogul John Catsima-tidis, who has served as ParadeCommittee Chairman in recentyears, was also expected to attend.FHSGNY President Demetrius Kala-maras told The National Herald thatMr. Catsimatidis felt it was time togive members of the younger gener-ation a chance to contribute bychairing the Parade Committee. Ofcourse, Mr. Catsimatidis haspledged his full support for theGreek Parade and will continue tolead efforts to secure live televisioncoverage of the event. Thanks to Mr.Catsimatidis’ personal efforts, theGreek Parade on Fifth Avenue wasbroadcast by Fox 5 over the past few
years. Parade subcommittees will also
be formed at Thursday’s meeting.Mr. Kalamaras said the FHSGNY isconsidering combining the twolarge pre-parade ceremonies intoone big event, where all the paradecontributors will be honored. Hold-ing a formal dinner on March 26th –a day after Greek Independence Day– on the second floor of theStathakion Center, is under discus-sion.
Speaking about this year’s Pa-rade Co-Chairpersons, Mr. Kalama-ras noted that both Dr. Tsioulias andMrs. Stathatos-Fulgieri are success-ful and prominent Greek Americans,who are well respected in their pro-fessions and the community, with akeen interest in Hellenic issues. Mr.Kalamaras also said that Mr. Tsek-erides will be an asset to the Paradethanks to his experience and profes-sionalism.
Preparations for 2010 Greek Parade on Fifth Ave. Begin, Co-Chairs Appointed
A recent public meeting for the 2009 Greek Parade held at the Feder-ation of Hellenic Societies of Greater NY at the Stathakion Center inAstoria, NY. The community is welcomed to help in the planning.
X PRIZE FOUNDATION
Don’t miss...
The National Herald’’ss
GGrreeeekk AAmmeerr ii ccaannWWeeddddiinngg IIss ssuuee
CCoommiinngg iinn FFeebbrruuaarryy......
MMeemmbbeerrss ooff tthhee ccoommmmuunniittyy aarree wweellccoommee ttoo ppllaaccee aann aadd..
To advertise or to obtain rates:
tel: (718) 784-5255 ext. 101, e-mail: [email protected]
OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010
By Frederick N. RasmussenThe Baltimore Sun
Peter J. Moralis, 80, a retired la-bor leader who had been area di-rector for the American Federationof State, County and Municipal Em-ployees (AFL-CIO) international'sMaryland and District of Columbiadistrict, died of a heart attack onJanuary 3 in his Hunt Valley home.
Born in Athens, Greece, the sonof refugees from Asia Minor, Mr.Moralis was 40 days old when heimmigrated with his family to theUnited States, landing at Ellis Is-land in New York Harbor.
The family then traveled to Bal-timore, where they resided in ahome on Reisterstown Road. Hewas a 1947 graduate of FranklinHigh School.
His family, who owned and op-erated a restaurant and Moralis'Liquors on Harford Road, latermoved to Royston Avenue inHamilton.
During the Korean War, he en-listed in the Air Force and was as-
signed to Keesler Air Force Base inBiloxi, Miss., where he was a radartechnician.
While in the service, Mr. Moralismet his future wife, the formerSarah Vrachalus, while attendingGood Friday services in Mobile,Ala.
"Her father invited him to din-ner for the Easter celebration andtheir love began," said a son, theVery Rev. Constantine Moralis, whois dean of the Greek OrthodoxCathedral of the Annunciation inBaltimore.
They were married in 1954 afterhe was discharged from the AirForce and the young couple lived inhis parent's home in Hamilton, be-fore moving to Lutherville, wherethey lived for 50 years.
Mr. Moralis worked for Martin-Marietta Corp. before becoming ac-tive as a union organizer with AF-SCME in the early 1960s.
"He dedicated his life to workingfor ASCME that spanned threedecades," Father Moralis said.
"He made sure that all people
were treated with dignity, respectand equally. Countless times he ledor participated in protests, picketedand was arrested numerous timesfor standing up for what he be-lieved," his son said.
"In the eyes of many, he was ahero who triumphed over so manyadversities. He even protested inMemphis during the garbage strikein the 1960s with Martin LutherKing Jr.," Father Moralis recalled.
During the summer of 1975, Mr.Moralis conducted interviews withscores of candidates seeking the en-dorsement of organized labor.
An article in The Baltimore Sunrecounted that, as a 5th DistrictCity Council candidate "pouredword after mellifluous word at thepanel of labor leaders seatedaround him, Peter J. Moralis leanedback in his chair, folded his handsacross his chest, and let a wearysmile appear on his face. " 'Mr. Can-didate,' he said when the speakerconcluded, " 'you're bull---- me,'"The Sun reported.
"He was one of the finest people
I've ever met in organized labor. Hewas absolutely dedicated to orga-nized labor," said Tom Toporovich,former secretary to the BaltimoreCounty Council and a Dundalkcommunity leader. "He had theability to listen to both sides and tryto come to a conclusion that wassatisfactory to both."
During the 1980s, Mr. Moralisserved on the staff of Maryland Re-publican Sen. Charles “Mac” Math-ias, Jr., and played a pivotal role ingarnering support of statewide la-bor for Mathias' 1980 re-electioncampaign.
Dan D. Zaccagnini, a veteran po-litical adviser and a former memberof the Maryland Parole Commis-sion, was an old friend and col-league when both served on Sena-tor Mathias' staff.
"I first met Pete years ago whenhe was beginning his career in or-ganized labor," Mr. Zaccagnini said."He began in the streets and quicklyadvanced through the ranks. Hewas devoted to labor. It was hislife," he said. "Pete was more than a
labor guy to me; he was a close per-sonal friend."
Mr. Moralis served as a delegateto the Democratic presidentialnominating conventions that nomi-nated Michael S. Dukakis in 1988and Bill Clinton in 1992.
Mr. Moralis was a longtime ac-tive member of the Greek OrthodoxCathedral of the Annunciation,where he had been treasurer of thecathedral's parish council andserved on many committees and as-sisted with church festivals.
He was a past president of theAmerican Hellenic Progressive As-sociation, where he recently hadbeen recognized for 50 years of ser-vice to the organization.
For the last 15 years, Mr. Moralisexperienced failing health. He suf-fered a stroke and endured a hip re-placement that later resulted in los-ing his leg from an infection.
"He did his best to carry on andto lead as normal a life as possibleand to be independent," his sonsaid. "He was strong, and his chil-dren recall that his voice could be
heard for blocks."Father Moralis said his father
still had end-of-life goals."He wanted to see his 80th birth-
day, celebrate his 55th wedding an-niversary, and be part of one moreChristmas and New Year's," his sonsaid. "He saw all of them."
He is survived by his wife; hischildren, John Moralis and AngelaMoralis; his sister, Mary MoralisKariotis; and five grandchildren.
Peter J. Moralis, Outspoken & Dynamic Labor Leader, Passes Away at 80
BOLLOS, JAMESCHICAGO, Ill. – The Chicago Tri-bune reported that James N. Bollos,48, passed away peacefully. Hewas predeceased by his father NickBollos. He is survived by his moth-er, Rena; his sister Toula (George)Gountanis; his brother, Steve Bol-los; his nephew, John Gountanis;and many cousins here and inGreece. Visitation was held at St.John the Baptist Church. In lieu offlowers, contributions to the Amer-ican Diabetes Association appreci-ated. Arrangements by Oehler Fu-neral Home (847) 824-5155.
BOUTSIKAKIS, SOPHIAMODESTO, Calif. - The ModestoBee reported that Sophia Bout-sikakis, 83, passed away on Decem-ber 30 after a long illness. She wasborn in Anopolis Sfakia, Crete,Greece to Peter and Athena Savio-lis. She was preceeded in death byone son. She is survived by her de-voted husband, Arestides Bout-sikakis; her loving children, GeorgeBoutsikakis, Irene (Chris) Bout-sikakis-Kennedy, Andrew Bout-sikakis, Johnny (Renee) Bout-sikakis; her nine grandchildren;
and her sisters Maria and Evan-gelia. Her memory will be carriedon by her family. The Trisagion washeld at the Salas Brothers FuneralHome and funeral services wereheld at the Annunciation Church.Donations may be made to the An-nunciation Church.
COSTA, PAULINENEW BEDFORD, Mass. - Pauline(Querim) Costa, 57, passed awayon January 6 unexpectedly at St.Luke's Hospital. She was born inNew Bedford, the daughter of thelate John and Olga (Hatzis) Quer-im. Mrs. Costa was a member of St.George Greek Orthodox Church.She enjoyed spending time withher grandchildren. She is survivedby her husband; her children,Steven Costa, Sherry (Glen) Fran-cis and Heidi Costa and her com-panion, John Reed; her brother,John Querim; her sister, Athena De-mers; her grandchildren, Kevin,Haley, Zachary, Glen, Jr., Briannaand John, Jr.; and several niecesand nephews including Cheryl Nel-son, William Menard and NormanDemers, Jr. Funeral services wereheld in St. George Church. Visita-
tion was held at the Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals.
FILANDRINOS, ANNSHEBOYGAN, Wisc. - The Sheboy-gan Press reported that Ann Filan-drinos, 89, a resident at HarborHouse, passed away on January 6after battling Alzheimer's Disease.Ann was a loving, charismatic andselfless person, who was loved byeveryone who knew her. "AuntieAnn" was like a Mother to so manyof her nieces and nephews, oftencalling them by a special nicknameshe created just for them. Ann wasborn on April 11, 1920 in Racine,the daughter of the late Constan-tine and Demetra (Vakos) Filandri-nos. Ann was a secretary at theGreat Lakes Naval Station duringWorld War II and later with J.I.Case Company and Western Pub-lishing. Ann was a member of St.Spyridon Church and a longtimemember of Kimissis TheorokouChurch. She was preceded in deathby her brother, Peter Filandrinosand two sisters, Jane Poulakos andAngeline Loumos. Ann is survivedby her sisters, Helen Drivas and Kay(George) Karas; her brother, Rev.
Theodore C. (Ione) Filandrinos;and many nieces, nephews and oth-er relatives. Funeral services wereheld at St. Spyridon Church withFr. Peter Pappademetriou officiat-ing. A memorial fund has been es-tablished in Ann's name. Ann'sfamily would like to thank her care-givers, Mary Schneider, HarborHouse and St. Nicholas Hospice forthe friendship and compassion be-stowed upon her. The Novak-Ramm-Ziegler Funeral Home isserving the family. Online condo-lences may be expressed atwww.novakrammziegler.com.
This is a service to the community.
Announcements of deaths may be telephoned to the Classified Department of The National Herald at
(718) 784-5255, Monday through Friday,
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST or e-mailed to:
DEATHS
By Mary-Ellen SaundersTelegraph-Journal
ROTHESAY, CANADA - MetaxiaFlogeras lived as an angel on Earthpassing blessings of health, loveand happiness and never losingfaith, her family says. "Her name inGreek means 'made of silk' and shelived her life reflecting that of hername," said her daughter, HeleneMesserlian. "Her inner fabric wastruly made of a very fine silk."
Helene said that throughout hermother's life, including the last twoweeks and even until her dying mo-ment in her Rothesay home on De-cember 23, she was sustained byfaith. She said her mother lived inpeace knowing she did the best shecould for her family and everyonearound her.
Flogeras was serene and neverworried because of her strong faith,Flogeras said. "She had a kind ofholiness about her," said her grand-
son, Yorgo Likourgiotis. "We allknew this; it was just a fact; like thesky is blue. She stood on an un-
shakable ground of faith. She knewthat all fears or doubts had an an-swer in prayer, for all good thingsGod was the answer. And God an-swered. Her blessings flow throughus all."
Flogeras, her late husband,George, and their eight childrenemigrated from Greece in 1971.She was a devout mother, grand-mother and wife who alwaysshowed her pride in her family, notfor their material gains, but fortheir kind families and lovinghearts, Messerlian said.
And for that and for everythingelse, she was loved dearly by all ofher children and grandchildren,said her daughter, Voula Likourgri-otis.
"She did not care to go for agood time or go out and enjoy her-self - she would rather be with herchildren," Voula Likourgriotis said."While we were all running aroundin our busy lives, stressed and wor-
ried, she reminded us that only twothings mattered," Yorgo Likourgio-tis said.
"The wellness of the body andthe wellness of the soul, as she saidto all of us: health and love. Such asimple philosophy and truer thananything any Greek ever said. Inher quiet way she gave us so much."
The love she gave was not re-served only for the members of herfamily. She shared it with thosewho needed her love and generosi-ty the most.
"She was generous to the poorand needy always, but she demon-strated that especially during theDepression years in Greece. Whenpeople were starving, she wouldreach out and give all she could,"Messerlian said.
Voula Likourgriotis said hermother was forgiving and wouldnot respond to hurtful things saidto her. She chose to ignore them,keep quiet and wait for them to
pass. She was non-confrontationaland did not hold a grudge, she said.
Messerlian said Flogeras lovedher adopted country of Canada andits people and often commentedabout their respectful manners,which she appreciated because she
was that way herself.She is survived by eight chil-
dren, 18 grandchildren and 10great grandchildren.
"Now is the time to believe in an-gels," Yorgo Likourgiotis said. "Shewas our angel."
Metaxia Flogeras a Serene, Strong and Charitable Angel to Everyone Around Her
REAL ESTATE
PRINTED EDITION OF THE NATIONAL HERALDvia the post-office:
1 Month $11.00 3 Months $22.00 6 Months $33.00 One Year $66.00
VIA HOME DELIVERY (NY, NJ & CT): 1 Month for $14.00 3 Months for $33.00 6 Months for $48.00 One Year for $88.00
VIA HOME DELIVERY (NEW ENGLAND, PENNSYLVANIA,WASHINGTON D.C., VIRGINIA & MARYLAND)
1 Month for $18.00 3 Months for $41.00 6 Months for $57.00 One Year for $109.00
ON LINE SUBSCRIPTION www.thenationalherald.comNON SUBSCRIBERS: One Year for $45.95 6 Months for $29.95
3 Months for $18.95SUBSCRIBERS: One Year for $34.95 6 Months for $23.95
3 Months for $14.95
subscribe
NAME: .................................................................................................................ADDRESS: .............................................................................................................CITY:....................................STATE: ...................................ZIP: ............................TEL.: ...............................E-MAIL:.........................................CELL........................PLEASE SEND A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION TO:
NAME: .................................................................................................................ADDRESS: .............................................................................................................CITY:....................................STATE: ...................................ZIP: ............................TEL.: ...............................E-MAIL:.........................................CELL........................Please specify method of payment
I enclose a check/money order for $ ............. made payable to: The National Herald, Inc., 37-10 30th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101 - 2614or please debit my Mastercard Visa American Express
CARD NUMBER: ..................................................................................................EXPIRATION DATE: ...............................SIGNATURE: .........................................
NOTICE of formation of LIMITED LIABILITYCOMPANY. NAME: ECOPLAST & PACKAGINGLLC. Articles of Organization were filedwith the Secretary of State of the New York(SSNY) on 11/25/09. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated as agentof he LLC upon whom process against itmay be served. SSNY shall mail a copy ofprocess to the LLC. 1369 45th Street,Brooklyn, New York 11219. Purpose: Forany lawful purpose.
270596/12206
209 Sumpter St LLC. Arts. of Org. filed withSecy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/13/09.Ofc location Kings Cty. SSNY designatedagent of LLC upon whom process against itmay be served. SSNY shall mail process to199 Lee Ave Ste 365, Bklyn, NY 11211.Purpose any lawful purpose.
270484/16424/01-09-10
LEADING GREEK AMERICANNEWSPAPER SEEKS
Full-time AD sales representativesfor both GREEK and ENGLISH lan-guage publications. Applicantsshould have some sales and/or mar-keting experience. Fluency withcomputer use and knowledge of In-ternet a plus. Bi-lingual commandof both languages preferred. Thispositions offers base salary, pluscommissions. E-mail resume and
cover letter to [email protected]: (718) 472-0510 Attn. Publish-er or call (718) 784-5255 ask forVeta.
CONSTANTINIDESFUNERAL PARLOR Co.405 91st StreetBay Ridge - Brooklyn, NY 11209(718) 745-1010Services in all localities - Low cost shipping to Greece
ANTONOPOULOS FUNERAL HOME, INC.Konstantinos Antonopoulos - Funeral Director38-08 Ditmars Blvd.,Astoria, New York 11105(718) 728-8500Not affiliated with any other funeral home.
APOSTOLOPOULOSApostle Family - Gregory, Nicholas, Andrew - Funeral Directors of RIVERDALE FUNERAL HOME Inc.5044 BroadwayNew York, NY 10034(212) 942-4000Toll Free 1-888-GAPOSTLE
LITRAS FUNERAL HOMEARLINGTON BENSON DOWD,INC FUNERAL HOME83-15 Parsons Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11432(718) 858-4434 • (800) 245-4872
FUNERAL HOMES
HELP WANTED
Legal Notice/LLC
Legal Notice-Notice of Formation/LLC
CLASSIFIEDS
TO PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIED AD, CALL:
(718) 784-5255, EXT. 106, E-MAIL:
classifieds@ thenationalherald.com
Peter J. Moralis
Metaxia Flogeras
By Stephen MillerWall Street Journal
NEW YORK - After selling andmanufacturing some of the firstbusiness computers, Theodore Pa-pes helped create one of the earliestonline services for consumers. Mr.Papes, who died January 8 at theage of 81, led the development ofProdigy Services Co., a digital en-terprise that provided online news,email, shopping and other servicesyears before the World Wide Web.
A joint venture of InternationalBusiness Machines Corp. and SearsRoebuck & Co., Prodigy was meantto introduce online services to amass audience. Founded in 1984and rolled out regionally starting in1988, Prodigy caught on with thehelp of intensive marketing. In1991, it passed the million-sub-scriber mark. But not long after, itbegan to flag in the face of competi-tion from rivals such as AmericaOnline.
"We were the pioneers, but weended up with some arrows in ourback," says Les Briney, Prodigy's di-rector of technology.
Mr. Papes, a career IBM execu-tive who had led the company's Eu-ropean operations and systemsproducts divisions in the 1970s,was appointed in 1984 to head thenew venture, which initially includ-ed CBS as a third partner. FromProdigy's White Plains, N.Y., head-quarters, he oversaw focus groupsand software developers as they de-cided what might appeal to con-sumers on a dial-up computer net-work.
They settled on a mix of services
that foreshadowed today's Inter-net, though with key differences.Prodigy featured a graphical userinterface, one of the first at a timebefore Microsoft's Windows hadbeen widely introduced. Early com-peting services such as CompuserveInc. were run with typed com-mands. Prodigy was supported inpart with something similar to to-day's browser banner ads, custom-delivered according to the user de-mographics.
One of Mr. Papes's key moveswas to convince Hayes Microcom-puter Products Inc. to produce alow-price modem, one of the firstaimed at the consumer rather thanbusiness market. Most home-com-puter owners at the time had nomeans of connecting their comput-er to a network.
"All the things we take for grant-ed today were just pie in the sky,"says Ross Glatzer, who workedalongside Mr. Papes at Prodigy.
Some experiments, such as on-line grocery shopping, were fail-ures. But others, like online flowerordering, airline reservations andstock quotes, gained more traction.More surprising to Prodigy's de-signers was the popularity of itsemail and bulletin-board systems.The bulletin boards became thecenter of controversy in 1991 whenit emerged that Prodigy pre-screened and deleted postings. Afew months later, the company wasagain in the spotlight when it de-fended on free-speech grounds therights of users to post anti-Semitichate messages.
The intense debate surroundingthe bulletin boards foreshadowed
many fights over freedom of ex-pression on the Internet. But it washardly the kind of thing Mr. Papesexpected as a button-down IBM ex-ecutive responsible for some of themost powerful business computerson the market.
The son of a Greek immigrantwho established a home-furnish-ings business in Gary, Ind., Mr. Pa-pes was president of his senior classin high school and a Navy veteran.He was hired out of college in 1952by IBM, where he sold some of theearliest computers to banks. He lat-er became an executive responsiblefor developing communicationsterminals, storage drives and oper-ating systems. He moved quicklyup the IBM hierarchy, becoming avice president in 1968 at age 40.
Although he took on a series ofmore responsible positions, familymembers say, it became evidentthat he wouldn't become chief ex-ecutive of IBM itself, and so in 1984he was open to heading up a newonline joint venture, initially calledTrintex.
Three years later, when Prodigywas about to be rolled out, Mr. Pa-pes told Fortune, "We're creatingsomething so compelling that you'llsay, 'I've got to have it.'"
First, though, users had to learnabout it. Alvin Toffler, the author of"Future Shock," was hired to star intelevision ads promoting the ser-vice. Another spokesperson wasjournalist Linda Ellerbee.
"We were trying to change theway people had always donethings," says Mr. Glatzer, who be-came Prodigy's CEO after Mr. Papesretired in 1992.
When Mr. Papes stepped down,Prodigy claimed 1.4 million sub-scribers. But the company soon be-gan losing ground to rivals likeAOL, which brought new market-ing muscle, vibrant graphics and aMicrosoft Windows platform to thenascent online world. Prodigy wassold by IBM and Sears to a private-equity firm in 1996 for a fraction ofthe companies' investment.
While Prodigy was eventuallyeclipsed by its rivals, the companyplayed a pivotal role in introducingthe early home-computer users toonline networking, says BarryBerkov, former executive vice presi-dent of Compuserve. "AOL wouldprobably never have been success-ful without the mass promotionthat Prodigy did."
Theodore Papes Passes Away, Developer of “Prodigy”
Theodore Papes
By Christopher TripoulasThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK - The leaders of theGreek and Turkish Cypriot commu-nities concluded three days of in-tensive negotiations on Wednesdaynight, without getting closer tosolving the long-standing Cyprusproblem.
Asked whether the goal of nar-rowing differences in his talks withTurkish Cypriot leader Mehmet AliTalat had been achieved, CyprusPresident Demetris Christofiasreplied "not yet."
"I am very-very cautious to tellyou that there have been conver-gences. I cannot say that we haveconcrete results, yet the discussionhas a meaning," he told reportersafter five hours of talks with Talaton Wednesday.
"These talks have been held in apositive spirit and very good atmos-phere," UN envoy Alexander Down-er told journalists at the end of thethree-day marathon talks. “I thinkthat you will find out how this hasall gone at the end of the process,"
he added.The rival Cypriot leaders began
intensified talks Monday, one dayafter the Greek Cypriot side reject-ed proposals submitted by TurkishCypriots regarding governance andpower sharing. The political partieson the Greek Cypriot side have de-scribed the new proposals as "unac-ceptable" and a public relationsmove by Turkey, who they believe isbehind the blueprint. "These pro-posals cannot form the basis for dis-cussion," said GovernmentSpokesman Stephanos Stephanou,following a meeting attended byleaders of Greek Cypriot parties.
President Christofias said afterTuesday's session, which lastedabout eight hours, that he had sub-mitted a document on the positionsof the Greek Cypriot side on the gov-ernance and power sharing issue.
He added that the documentwas a response to a similar docu-ment submitted by the TurkishCypriot side last week.
Christofias said the two docu-ments are not being discussed athis meetings with Talat.
"Because we have said we willnot discuss the Turkish Cypriot doc-ument, it is not necessary to discussthe positions of our document ei-ther," said Christofias.
Meanwhile, a Turkish Cypriotspokesman said the document sub-mitted by Talat will not be with-drawn just because the GreekCypriot side said it is not acceptableas a basis of negotiations.
According to unconfirmed re-ports by Greek Cypriot media, theTurkish Cypriots in their proposalsaccept the weighted vote or crossvoting suggested by the GreekCypriots but under certain condi-tions, such as the acceptance by theGreek Cypriots of two separateflight information regions or FIRs.
The Turkish Cypriot side also re-portedly suggests the rotating pres-idency to be on a 3 to 2 ratio - threeyears for a Greek Cypriot presidentand two years for a Turkish Cypriot,with a cabinet made up of sevenGreek Cypriot ministers and fiveTurkish Cypriots.
Some Greek Cypriot politicalparties said the proposals "effec-tively torpedoed" the talks.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, however, said he was en-couraged by the new talks and re-peated his offer to get directly in-volved in efforts to find a solution"whenever the time is appropriate."Speaking from UN headquarters inNew York, Ban said he hopesCyprus' leaders show a spirit "flexi-
bility and compromise" to break thenegotiating deadlock.
The talks, which ran from Jan.11-13, will resume again Jan. 25-27, and are designed to jumpstartthe peace process. Christofias and
Talat have held 60 meetings overthe past 16 months. Real progresswould restore the talks' credibilityand rekindle hope among jadedCypriots that their leaders can solvethe decades-old dispute.
This article includes reports fromThe Associated Press, DPA andXinhua.
Contact Christopher Tripoulas [email protected]
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A smallbomb exploded Saturday, January9 near the Tomb of the UnknownSoldier in front of Parliament incentral Athens. No one was injured.The blast occurred at 7:59 p.m. lo-cal time and was heard acrossAthens' Syntagma Square.
An anonymous caller had tele-phoned a warning to a nationalnewspaper 17 minutes earlier. Po-lice cordoned off the area beforethe blast, shutting down a majoravenue in the center of the capital.About an hour later, the nearby 5-
star Grande Bretagne hotel re-ceived a bomb threat.
The Greek radical anarchistgroup "Conspiracy of the Cells ofFire" claimed responsibility for theblast to demand the release of threeyouths arrested for alleged groupmembership.
Police say the bomb was placedin a trash can. Following the blast,hundreds of police were deployedaround the Parliament and Syntag-ma Square, shouting at passers-byto stay clear. But the guards in frontof the tomb did not budge although
the blast occurred just a few metersaway.
The Greek government said itwould not step up security mea-sures outside Parliament and incentral Athens in response to thebombing. "The message is very sim-ple: democracy will not be terror-ized," Prime Minister George Pa-pandreou told reporters outsideParliament.
Civil Protection MinisterMichalis Chrisochoidis said the Par-liament grounds, where the blasttook place, will remain accessible
to all. "They will not force us to turnthe city center into a militarizedzone. Athens is a safe city," he said.
Parliament is not in session, butlawmakers from the ruling Socialistparty were meeting with the Minis-ter of the Interior at the time.
"We heard the blast, but we con-tinued our meeting. We are notworried," lawmaker Christos Pro-topapas told the Associated Press.
Several extremist left-winggroups operate in Greece, and theyoften plant bombs targeting busi-nesses, government offices andbanks. The bombs are usuallyplanted late at night or preceded bywarning calls and rarely cause ca-sualties. In recent months, the Cellsof Fire group has targeted severalpoliticians with small bombs, caus-ing no injuries.
On Monday, Greece's PresidentKarolos Papoulias received threemembers of the Presidential Guardand praised them for their devotionto their duty, by not abandoningtheir posts at the Tomb of the Un-known Soldier when they receivedword that a bomb was due to ex-plode momentarily in a trash recep-tacle next to their sentry posts. Thesoldiers on guard, Vassilis Vernikosand Ioannis Andreakos, were givenpermission by their commanderMarios Theodorou to leave theirpost because of the impending dan-ger, but both declined, nodding 'no'- Evzones are not allowed to speakon duty. Theodorou then stood inbetween them as a sign of solidari-ty. President Papoulias commendedthe three Evzones for their bravery,stressing that "the psyche of theGreeks is evident in times of diffi-culty."
The above article contains addi-tional reporting from the AthensNews Agency.
sions between Greek Cypriot liber-als and nationalists favoring aharder line.
Former president Tassos Pa-padopoulos' corpse was stolen lastmonth from his grave on Nicosia'soutskirts last month. He was seenby some nationalist Greek Cypriotsas a symbol of resistance againstpeace deals they believe have beenweighted against them.
Hadjicostis was seen as a risingstar in the island's majority GreekCypriot community, taking over amedia stable founded by his fatherthat includes the conservative dailySimerini, the private Sigma televi-sion station, a popular radio stationand several magazines.
His newspaper and media weresupportive of the broader peaceprocess but had expressed publicconcern that Christofias couldmake too many concessions to theTurkish Cypriot side.
A front-page editorial in Simeri-ni suggested Hadjicostis' murdermay have been linked to the theftof Papadopoulos' corpse. "Somepeople don't want this place tocalm down. They don't want citi-zens to live in conditions of securityand calm," it said. Parliamentspeaker Marios Garoyan said theshooting may have been an attemptto destabilize the island but did notelaborate.
The leader of the island's GreekOrthodox church, ArchbishopChrysostomos, said that "under nocircumstance should we permit thesituation to become destabilized.Crime and terrorism must not pre-vail," he said in a written state-ment.
Hadjicostis' murder also followsa spike in violence related to orga-nized crime — including threekillings in the coastal resort of Li-massol since November. But noneof the targets have had such a highprofile.
This tiny island remains scarredby political and interethnic vio-lence that erupted after indepen-
dence from Britain in 1960. Cyprushas been split since 1974, whenTurkey invaded and illegally occu-pied the island's northern third.Cyprus joined the European Unionsix years ago, but only Greek Cypri-ots enjoy the benefits of member-ship.
The island's president, DimitrisChristofias, took a break from re-newed settlement negotiations tovisit the victim's family. "The policewill exhaust all their resources tosolve this horrible crime,"Christofias said. "These are likescenes from an ancient tragedy ...The family's pain is unfathomable."
Conspiracy theories are com-mon in Cyprus and Nicosia Univer-sity professor Hubert Faustmannsaid Greek Cypriots were grippedby a sense of insecurity. "Nobodycan make plausible sense of this ...other than to spread insecurity andto get everyone suspecting every-one else," he said.
Hadjicostis, survived by his wifeand two stepchildren, was buriedon Wednesday.
GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010 9
By Christopher TripoulasThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK - The EuropeanUnion's statistics arm Eurostatcalled Greece's public finance fig-ures "unreliable" on Tuesday, as-serting they were fudged to playdown last year's swelling budgetgap.
This latest swipe by EU officialscame on the same day as EU Presi-dent Herman Van Rompuy's visit toAthens. Speaking after talks withGreek Prime Minister George Pa-pandreou, Van Rompuy said: "I amconfident that the Greek govern-ment is already taking the neces-sary further steps to address the sit-uation." He said this was "a matterof common interest" to the entireEU.
Greece's new Socialist Govern-ment is due to submit a plan to cutthe deficit from 12.7 percent ofGDP in 2009 to under 3 percent in3 years. "This will be a year of radi-cal changes for the economy andfor the state," Papandreou said in aWednesday news conference fol-lowing his first 100 days in office.
Papandreou said Greece wantedto establish a sense of trust amongits creditors, and Greeks were avidfor change and progress. However,he gave a warning about the fair-ness of the planned fiscal measures."It would not be a courageous mea-sure to make the poor and wage-earners pay - this is not our policy,"he said. "Some bankers or othersabroad may like it, but I have saidthat we are going towards a differ-ent model." Papandreou added,"we have said that those who havemore will pay more, including thebanks."
These statements came just aday after a Reuters report on Tues-day that the European Commissionis likely to launch infringementproceedings against Greece for fail-ing to provide reliable statistics onits budget deficit and debt. The
Commission, the EU's executivearm, is responsible for upholdingEU law. It had already oncelaunched proceedings againstGreece for unreliable deficit statis-tics in 2004, but ended them in2007.
Papandreou said on Wednesdaythere had been "foul play" with thecountry's much maligned statistics,adding that a parliamentary com-mission may be set up to investi-gate the matter. A Commission re-port officially released on Tuesdaysaid Eurostat had questionedGreece's figures five times between2005 and 2009.
The Greek Government said inNovember it planned to grant itsstatistics office full independenceand create a commission to investi-gate shortcomings, with officialsfrom the EU's statistical office Euro-stat helping out.
But the Commission report saidpolitical interference may havecontinued with the new govern-ment too. Eurostat said the Greekstatistical office NSSG had com-plained of political interference inthe financial figures sent to the EUas recently as last October. "In theperiod between 16 and 21 October,the General Secretary of the NSSGrepeatedly contacted Eurostatclaiming political interference overthe provision of figures and withthe sending of a revised notifica-tion," the report said.
Meanwhile, International Mon-etary Fund officials visited Greecethis past week to provide technicalassistance. The Greek Premier,however, stressed that there was noway his highly indebted countrywould exit the euro zone or resortto the IMF and Greek Finance Min-ister George Papaconstantinou said"We need no bailout ... we knowwhat we have to do now. Despitethe high spreads we can currentlyborrow money more cheaply than ayear ago. The markets are alreadyacknowledging that we have the
political will and a program for thereduction of the deficit."
In Brussels, the EU's commis-sioner-designate for economic andmonetary affairs, Olli Rehn, told aEuropean Parliament confirmationhearing that EU officials should beallowed to audit Greece's public fi-nance figures. However, he tooruled out any idea of Greece leav-ing the euro zone due to troubleswith its public finances.
Last Friday, an EU Commissionauditing team visiting Athens askedthe Greek Government to urgentlyadopt stricter measures on deficitreduction, recommending reduc-tions of wages in the public sectorand pensions of up to 7 percent, theabolishment of early retirement,and a more flexible labor market,local media reported.
Ministers who met with the au-ditors reiterated the Government'scommitment to solving Greece'seconomic problems without pun-ishing the poor. Backing up hisministers, Prime Minister Papan-dreou criticized what he said wereexaggerated attacks from abroad,noting that "some descriptionsreach the level of racism."
"There are often exaggerations,our country is often reviled, thephrases and words used for Greeceare often beyond any acceptablelimit," he said on Wednesday. "Thisdisturbs me deeply and is an insultto all of us, but this does not meanthat there are not objective reasonsfor this, which we have to face anddeal with."
At a Sunday Cabinet meeting,Papandreou noted "we must pre-serve our independence and ourright to make decisions about oureconomy without outside interven-
tions." He reiterated the currenthuge budget deficit Greece facesamounts to a "threat to nationalsovereignty," but called on Greeksto "say no to panic," insisting thatthe root of Greece's problems is notthe economy, but the way of gover-nance.
During his first 100-daysspeech, Papandreou arguedGreece's economy had been bat-tered by decades of public corrup-tion. He said, "It would be very easyto say that all these problems werecreated by the international finan-cial crisis. But cronyism, lack of ac-countability and corruption havenothing to do with the internation-al crisis..."
Even though EU officials andforeign analysts remain skeptical,the majority of Greek citizens seemconvinced that Papandreou haschosen a good direction. Accordingto the latest poll, 57.1 percent ofGreeks think that what has beenannounced so far is positive.
"We have to reform the tax sys-tem, which encourages tax evasion.And we have to sanitize our pen-sion system, which in the currentform is not sustainable. ... We haveto prove now to the EuropeanUnion, the markets and our owncitizens that we are serious," Fi-nance Minister Papaconstantinousaid.
However, in response to the gov-ernment's austerity measures, theGreek civil servants' union ADEDYhas called a one-day strike for Feb-ruary 10.
This article includes reports fromReuters and Xinhua.Contact Christopher Tripoulas [email protected].
Greece to Speed Up Deficit Reduction Measures; PM Calls Some Critics Racist
EU Commissioner designate for Economic and Monetary Affairs OllieRehn speaks at a confirmation hearing at the European Parliament inBrussels, Monday January 11, 2010. Rehn acknowledged thatGreece's troubles represented a very serious challenge to the euro.
AP PHOTO/GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT
1st Round of Intensive Cyprus Talks Concludes with Leaders’ Smiles, Grumbles
Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, left, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat talk before theirmeeting at a UN compound in UN buffer zone in the divided capital of Nicosia, Cyprus, on Monday, Jan. 11,2010. President Christofias and Mr. Talat started six daylong sessions, hoping to overcome obstacles thathindered progress during 60 meetings over the past 16 months.
AP PHOTO/HARUN UCAR
Cyprus Publisher’s AssassinationStirs Fears of Instability
Andy Hadjicostis, the Director ofDias Media Group, had taken onthe reins of his father’s work.
AP PHOTO/PETROS GIANNAKOURIS
Continued from page 1
Bomb Explodes in Central Athens, No One is Hurt
Police investigate the scene outside the Greek Parliament in central Athens minutes after a bomb explod-ed in a trash can in front of the building on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010. Police cordoned off the area before theincident, after they were notified that an anonymous caller had tipped off a Greek newspaper.
EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010
Dabilis Was Right: 2009 Was aYear to Forget for Greece
To the Editor:This is the second time I have
decided to congratulate [AndyDabilis on his] column.
The year 2009 was a disaster forGreece and I do not see any im-provement for the future.
The first thing I read on gettingthe National Herald is your veryperceptive comments in "LettersFrom Athens". Although I knowboth of us love Greece with its im-perfections, I admire what you aredoing and only wish some thepoliticians in Athens could readyour column.
Recently I read a book "Cultureof Corruption" by Michelle Malkinwhich has on its cover this headline"Obama And His Team Of TaxCheats, And Cronies"
If you can find it in Athens, try toread it. I do not know who is worse- Washington or Athens. You tellme!
Keep up what you are doing. Itis opening up some eyes.
Alex P. Mekedis, Esq.Gates Mills, Ohio
Pancretan Assoc. CondemnsAttack on Chania Synagogue
To the Editor:After the attempt yesterday, Jan-
uary 5, 2010, to torch to the groundthe historic Chania synagogue, inCrete, we Cretans in the UnitedStates, are outraged at all actions ofanti-Semitism in Greece and all at-tempts to terrorize Greeks of Jew-
ish faith.Arsonists attempted to burn
down the historic Chania Syna-gogue in late night hours but fire-fighters placed the fire under con-trol after it destroyed an outsidestaircase and caused some damageto books and other materials in thesynagogue’s library.
Deputy Fire Chief of ChaniaNikolaos Skouloudis announcedthat a container with liquid wasdiscovered burning under thewooden staircase but it was placedunder control before the fire spreadto the rest of the synagogue.
As an expression of our outrageat all actions against the Jewish
Community in Greece we sign thisstatement and we appeal to all peo-ple of good will to voice their sup-port in efforts to eradicate hatredand racism in Greece.
On behalf of the Pancretan Association of America (PAA)
Theodore ManousakisNational President
A Greek tragedy It would have been funny if it were not tragic. Unfortunately, it involves
the Archbishop, our spiritual leader. God help us!Here is the story:The Metropolitan of Central Africa Ignatios and the uncle of two or-
phans from the Republic of Congo born of a Greek father, in letters ad-dressed to Archbishop Demetrios and the head of St. Basil’s Academy, re-quested that they provide shelter to these orphans at that institution.
On December 21, 2009 the Archbishop in a letter addressed to the un-cle, – who happens to be legally blind - turned down the request adding“the situation for the boys is truly difficult and I truly hope that a solutionis found that will provide a secure future for them.”
The Greek edition of The National Herald broke the story on the bot-tom of the front page of its January 8th edition, printing the full letter ofhis Eminence to the uncle. The story was picked up by the Greek mediaworldwide.
Over the weekend we received a letter from one of the ranking Metro-politans of the Ecumenical Patriarchate expressing outrage at the actionsof the Archbishop which was printed in the Monday edition of the paper.
On Tuesday night the Archdioceses issued a press releases in Greek –later on in English -denying that he rejected the request to help the chil-dren, declaring in the Greek that he is “ready and wishes fervently to helpthe family” and concluding with a unprecedented attack against this paper(english text): it is a shame and shameful that anyone would exploit thetragedy of any child …through exaggeration, misstatement and accusa-tion.” (The full story and the related letters as well as the text English pressrelease are printed starting on page 1).
Keep in mind that His Eminence, in the press release, chose to ignorethe existence of the letter he had written to the uncle - the source of theoriginal controversy.
But if the letter is correct, as it is, then how in the world can he now de-ny what he wrote in there, that is that he would not provide help to thesechildren?
We are baffled. We have never seen anything like it!There is something profoundly wrong here. And if this were only a
problem for Archbishop Demetrios, so be it. Unfortunately it affects theChurch as a whole. It affects the community. It insults our intelligence.
Here is the press release we would have expected from one of the high-est religious figures in our Church:
My dear spiritual children,I am communicating with you about a very important matter, one that
has caused great pain and, frankly, personal embarrassment.A few days before Christmas, a particularly busy time for me, as you
can understand, I was given a letter to sign addressed to the uncle of twoorphans, in which I informed him that for legal and other reasons wecould not provide shelter to those two orphans at St. Basil’s Academy, ashe had requested.
I was told that the appropriate people at the archdiocese looked intothe matter and that the letter expressed their conclusion. As a result, Isigned the letter without much further thought.
In retrospect, I now realize that I made a mistake for which I am askingfor the forgiveness of God Himself, of those children and of all of you.
Even though my staff meant well and the reasons given to me for refus-ing to help them are probably correct, I, as the Archbishop, should havethought and acted otherwise.
I should have taken the time to look at it from the human and Christianstandpoint and sought a way to help them.
Of course I take full responsibility for what happened. After all, I am theArchbishop.
I want you to know that I have now instructed my staff to find a way tohelp to get the children into the academy, and to bring them here to theArchdiocese so that I can meet them myself and bless them.
I must thank His Eminence, Metropolitan of Ikonion Theoliptos, for thesensitivity he expressed on this subject, on the role of the Church in soci-ety, especially when it comes to helping the poor.
Even though I find some of his statements to be more forceful than Iwould have used, still he made a valid point. I am asking for his under-standing.
His response is the kind of action that has helped perpetuate Hellenism,and that has enabled Orthodoxy to survive through the centuries. This ishow the Patriarchate has been able to survive and how it will continue tosurvive, and to maintain its ties to our Church in America: because of themoral voices of those who stand up, regardless of the cost, to remind us allwhat the true meaning and mission of the Christian clergy is, to give voiceto the voiceless, and embarrassing us all for straying from the right course.
When things seem hopeless, when people begin to lose their trust andeven their faith, suddenly there springs from the depths of conscience avoice true and powerful that pours some oil into the lamp of hope, andhelps to overturn apathy by castigating the culprits who, even unwittingly,have committed offensive or immoral acts.
Finally I am asking His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomewfor his forgiveness to the extent that my action or inaction damaged in anyway the image of the Church and scandalized the flock.
May God have mercy upon all of usArchbishop Demetrios of America.
Greece and Israel We do not know if the fire at the synagogue in the beautiful city of Cha-
nia, in Crete was the criminal act of a provocateur. We do not know if the person(s) who started it is Greek or not.What we do know is that these kind of actions, regardless of motiva-
tion, are heinous, criminal acts that must be condemned by everybody.The powerful Pancretan Association in America, the umbrella organi-
zation of all the local charters of Crete, immediately issued a strong state-ment expressing their outrage in the most explicit terms.
We believe that the whole community, indeed the whole of Hellenism,joins them in condemning this act.
We are happy to report that the local authorities in Chania sprang to ac-tion right away.
The fire department reached the blaze in the shortest time possible,putting out the flames and preventing more damage. Unfortunately, somedamage was done.
Orthodox and Jewish Greeks have lived together in harmony, side byside, for centuries. There was a time when the Greek Jews were a sizableminority of Salonica.
In World War Two, the Greeks, with Archbishop Damaskinos and Policechief Evert leading the way, did everything they could to save as manyJews as possible, despite the revisionist history that some academics aretrying to impose on the subject.
And after a period of one-sidedness, Greece and Cyprus are now notonly taking a much more balanced view, but are seeking closer relationswith Israel. It matters, now that the Israelis have realized that relying onTurkey so much has proven to be a mistake.
We hope they do come closer.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
COMMENTARY
By Eleni KostopoulosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK- My strong, fit andseemingly ageless grandfather inGreece has a habit of pouring aninch of salt on all his food. “It’s goodfor you,” he claims, after I accusehim of inducing a heart attack. Itseems New York City is on my sidewith this one, as the New York CityHealth Department recently un-veiled an initiative urging restau-rants and food companies through-out the nation to voluntarily reducetheir products' salt levels, claimingconsumers will have more choiceabout the amount of salt intake,thus reducing their risk of heart dis-ease and stroke in the process. Theprogram is modeled after a similarone adopted in the United Kingdom,which is credited with having re-duced salt consumption by nine percent during the past 10 years.
Overall, this is a good and impor-tant initiative; it’s about time we asAmericans, and as Greek Americans,start paying attention to the food weconsume and the effects it has on ourbodies and overall health. However,it is not enough.
I am not a proposing a piece oflegislation, but rather, making astrong recommendation, whichmeans people would still have theoption to choose the chow immersedin sodium over the more bland op-tion. And it should be this way; weshould never be forced to makehealthy choices, if we simply don’twant to, for whatever reason.
But I fear that eradicating certainunhealthy foods from our diets onlymakes us crave them more - as in asimilar proposal that bans junk foodfrom being sold in schools to chil-dren. If the student can’t eat a greasybag of chips at lunch time, he or shewill surely find replacement rubbishto eat after school. The bigger culpritin this picture is not so much the foodthat is detrimental to our health, buta lack of education on moderationfrom an early age.
Take health classes in Americaand throughout parts of the globe,which continue to push the foodpyramid, a guide developed by theU.S. Department of Agriculture in1992 that is outdated and doesn't re-flect the latest food research, accord-ing to scholars and nutritionists. Asyoungsters, we also aren’t taught
about the role of culture on ourhabits; in Greek culture, for example,we are quick to equate food with cel-ebrations, family and being an idealhousewife. A major part of being agood “nikokiria” means feeding thewhole family, to the point of satisfac-tion, and sometimes, to the point ofdestruction. How many times haveyou sat at a holiday family dinner andate all of yiayia’s second and thirdhelpings because you knew it wouldmake her happy?
Psychologically, we often use foodto fill emotional voids, to occupy usduring boring periods, or to deal withstressful or depressing situations.Why aren’t we taught, from an earlyage, about the many options areavailable to us to cope with dailystressors, so that we don’t fall into ad-dictive behaviors involving alcohol,drugs, nicotine and yes - food?
So far, New York City has alreadyrequired restaurants to cut out transfat from their food and for restaurantchains to post calorie counts on theirmenus - and the city should be com-mended for leading the way towardsa healthy road in America. But we arestill going to McDonald’s and order-ing the most artery-clogging selec-
tion on the menu, we still choose toveg out in front of our televisions andcomputers instead of hitting the gymor doing something active, we con-tinue to serve as poor role models toour children when it comes to devel-oping healthy habits. As long asthere’s an option, we will probablytake the road most traveled.
Another approach would be totrain children how to eat correctlyby endorsing physical exercises andsports. If children are taught at anearly age to appreciate their bodies,then the implementation of dietaryrestrictions becomes unnecessary.Perhaps parents could be offeredsessions or classes on how to instillhealthy eating values in their chil-dren - a challenging endeavor - orhow to shop for nutritious itemsduring times of financial distress.
The motivations of MayorBloomberg may be righteous, butwhen it comes down to it, we are on-ly placing cover-up on a scar that willalways be there. The cover-up worksfor now, but in the long-term, it does-n’t suffice. Bottom line is: you cantake the salt out of the food, but thesalt-shaker will always be on thetabletop.
Health Matters: Salt Today, Gone Tomorrow
The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC. (ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΞ),
reporting the news and addressing the issues of paramount interest to the Greek American community of the United States of America.
Publisher-Editor Antonis H. Diamataris
Assistant to Publisher, Advertising Veta H. Diamataris PapadopoulosExecutive Editor Constantine S. Sirigos
On Line Assistant Editor Christos TripoulasProduction Manager Chrysoula Karametros
Webmaster Alexandros Tsoukias
The National Herald (USPS 016864) is published weekly byThe National Herald Inc. at 37-10 30th Street, LIC, NY 11101-2614
Tel: (718)784-5255, Fax: (718)472-0510, e-mail: [email protected]
Democritou 1 and Academias Sts, Athens, 10671, GreeceTel: 011.30.210.3614.598, Fax: 011.30.210.3643.776, e-mail: [email protected]
Subscriptions by mail: 1 year $66.00, 6 months $33.00, 3 months $22.00, 1 month $11.00Home delivery NY, NJ, CT: 1 year $88.00, 6 months $48.00, 3 months $33.00, 1 month $14.00
Home delivery New England States, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland:1 year $109.00, 6 months $57.00, 3 months $41.00, 1 month $18.00
On line subscription: Subscribers to the print edition: 1 year $34.95, 6 months $23.95, 3 months $14.95; Non subscribers: 1 year $45.95, 6 months $29.95, 3 months $18.95
Periodical postage paid at L.I.C., N.Y. and additional mailing offices.Postmaster send change of address to:
THE NATIONAL HERALD, 37-10 30th Street, LIC, NY 11101-2614
CHRYSANTHI LIRISTIS / SPECIAL TO THE NATIONAL HERALD
ΛΟΓΟΣ
SANTA FE, N.M. - “There is nogreater evil than anarchy,” wrote theAthenian playwright and poet,Sophocles.
Greece didn’t get very far into theNew Year before unidentified anar-chists once again left their ugly markon a nation that already has enoughon its plate. It was only last Satur-day, just about a week into 2010,when a small bomb exploded infront of the Parliament, near theTomb of the Unknown Soldier, in thevery heart of Athens. Fortunately, noone was injured. This time anyway.
I was saddened to learn about theblast since I was hoping that the spir-it of the “New Year” would be carriedover and sustained for awhile. In mymind, the Greek people would actcivilized by exhibiting respect foreach other, valuing public and pri-vate property, and showing consid-eration for the governmental systemupon which, like it or not, they ulti-mately depend. The amount of an-archistic shenanigans that tookplace last year in Greece was anoth-er reason why I was hoping for a re-prieve that lasted longer than aweek! Unfortunately, hope is not astrategy, no matter how much “au-dacity” may be behind it.
Apparently, an “anonymouscaller” had telephoned a warningnot too many minutes before thebomb went off. How courteous ofhim or her. And how courageous!Perhaps Greece should erect a Tombof the Unknown Anarchist in honorof such obvious “bravery” (a groupcalling themselves the “Conspiracyof the Cells of Fire” has since claimedresponsibility for this attack). In allseriousness, I must agree withSophocles that such acts are “evil” atbest. In my opinion, only cowards,who don’t have anything else to dobut “play terrorist,” would be in-volved in such harmful, destructive,and shameful activities. It is ironicthat Greece, whose history is soclosely associated with bringingabout what we know as “Western”
culture and civilization,to say nothing about itsdefining influence asthe so-called “cradle ofdemocracy,” shouldhave to tolerate suchbehavior.
I don’t know aboutyou, but I, for one, amdismayed and disgust-ed. And I’m not talkingjust about the cowardlyanarchists and their an-archist sympathizers.My dismay and disgustare also targeted at theGreek government and,more fundamentally, atthe Greek people for allowing suchthings to happen—and continue tohappen—over and over again.Where is Greek pride? Where is“philotimo” when we need it?
If the culprits who are subversive-ly attacking the very fabric of Greeceare “Greeks,” then where is theirlove of honor? In this regard, I grewup with the belief that the love ofhonor was the highest, most cher-ished Greek value. Am I wrong?Was I deceived all these years?
And if the culprits are not Greeks,then why isn’t the Greek “communi-ty” up in arms defending its way oflife before it is too late? When toler-ance becomes appeasement, andthen morphs into complacency,watch out! The end of a dead-endstreet is near.
Regular readers of this columnshould know that I am a true opti-mist and believe in the inherentgoodness of humankind. I also be-lieve that there is such a thing as“good government,” which, at aminimum, is needed to bring orderout of chaos. However, in Greece, itseems like citizens and their govern-ments have given up or perhaps“given in” by accepting the manifes-tations of anarchy, like bombings,graffiti, vandalism, and violence, aspart of the postmodern urban land-scape. I hope, of course, that I am
wrong about this.Please, somebody,prove to me that I’mwrong!
After last Saturday’sblast, Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreoutold reporters that,“The message is verysimple: democracy willnot be terrorized.”Well I’m not so surethat the message is thatsimple for I didn’t sensethat there is a real strat-egy in place to preventdemocracy from being“terrorized”.
Moreover, I didn’t discern any“outrage” or other expression of au-thentic emotion by anyone with re-sponsibility for managing the pub-lic’s business in Greece about what isessentially the “dark side” of free-dom. True freedom cannot, and willnot, exist without responsibility—in-dividually and collectively. And, inGreece today, responsibility seems tobe wanting.
Civil Protection Minister MichalisChrisochoidis was reported to havesaid that “Athens is a safe city.” Imust ask, safe for whom? For thetourists or for the foreign investorswhom Greece would like to attractas a way to bolster its failing econo-my? Get real! Every time that themedia around the world featuresGreece in a negative light and makesit appear like an “anarchist” haven,tourists and potential investors turntheir heads—in disbelief and, moreimportantly, away from the veryplace that needs them. Unfortunate-ly, this does not make Greece an at-tractive place to visit or invest. Thisdoes not bode well for dealing withthe “Greek problem” as defined re-cently by the country’s finance min-ister.
Furthermore, I’m afraid that non-chalant statements about “safety inAthens” fall on deaf ears in placeslike America every time that CNN
depicts chaos in the streets. It’s badenough that Greece’s economicwoes are so severe, brought on inlarge part by mismanagement andnepotism on the part of those who,in the spirit of philotimo, should beguarding the public trust. But citi-zens also must carry part of theblame for what is happening in theirhomeland. Feeling that “if govern-ment officials can do it, so can I,” cit-izens engage in their own brand ofcorruption and fraud. It’s a viciouscycle; and no wonder that the so-called anarchists can survive andthrive in the cradle of Western civi-lization and democracy!
And thriving anarchists they are!A quick scan of the TNH during justthe month of December 2009 re-vealed far too many stories aboutbombings by far-left anarchistgroups in Greece (and I’m not evencounting other forms of anarchy,such as the recurring violence andvandalism on university campuses—don’t get me started!). Moreover,there are indications that suchgroups are proud to report that they“stepped up bombing and shootingattacks” last year, targeting banks,the Athens Stock Exchange, an in-surance company, a private TV sta-tion, and the office of a Socialist law-maker’s office. And now, the GreekParliament is on the list. Hmm, whatis wrong with this picture? Does itsound like it’s time for change thatwe can believe in? There’s that au-dacity of hope again!
Dr. Pattakos, author of “Prisonersof Our Thoughts”, is currentlyworking on a new book on how tolive a meaningful life inspired byGreek culture (see: www.theop-away.com). His column is pub-lished weekly in The National Her-ald. Readers may contact himwith questions, comments,and/or suggestions for topics at:[email protected] visit his web site: www.prison-ersofourthoughts.com.
Examining Anarchy: Dark Side Rocks the Cradle of Democracy
by Dr. ALEX
PATTAKOS
Special to The National Herald
VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010 11
CLISFFSIDE PARK, N.J. - January20 will mark the completion of Pres-ident Barack Obama’s first year inoffice. Since the onset of the 20th-century, the American presidencyhas been the highest-profile job inthe world, each chief executive’severy move displayed front and cen-ter in the spotlight. The more recentadvent of 24-hour cable news cover-age, coupled with the revolutionaryInternet, render it almost impossiblefor any modern president to enjoyeven a moment of peace that is notsubject to media surveillance. ThatObama’s election was a monumen-tal phenomenon in trying times in-tensifies the scrutiny that his admin-istration endures on a daily basis.
If comparing accomplishments toexpectations is a good way to assessjob performance, Obama is at a dis-tinct disadvantage. Elected in thehope of establishing universal salva-tion in almost Messianic propor-tions, his campaign buzzwords werehope and change, and he has beenlabeled as “the one”. MainstreamDemocrats, who recoiled duringGeorge W. Bush’s eight-year reign,did everything humanly possible toget Obama elected, even shunningtheir inamorata, Hillary Clinton, inthe process. Liberal Democrats, whohave been politically alienated sinceBobby Kennedy was assassinated in1968, could hardly contain theirglee. Even many disgruntled Re-publicans – known as Obamacans,including a smattering of conserva-tives, called Obamacons – rolled thedice and gambled on this unusuallygifted orator.
With the expectations set so high,it would be difficult to imagine eventhe greatest leaders in history livingup to them, let alone a rookie Sena-tor with an unremarkable legislativerecord and no executive experiencewhatsoever. It is not surprising,then, that when we look at Obama’s
accomplishments in2009, he falls far shortof the promise that cat-apulted him to a near-landslide victory theyear before. A greatdeal of the hoopla wasmedia-driven, but hisown ambitious cam-paign rhetoric certainlycontributed to Ameri-ca’s post-Obama eu-phoria hangover.
Obama said hewould close the prisonat Guantanamo, but hehasn’t. He said the mas-sive spending billwould keep unemployment below10 percent, but it hit that mark sev-eral months ago and is rising. Hesaid he would end the war in Iraq,and he hasn’t done that, either. Andhe spent more time on health carethan on any other issue, resulting innothing but a confused and dissatis-fied electorate to this point. Does allof that mean that Obama has failedas a president, and is firmly set on apath of steep decline and certain de-feat in 2012? Hardly.
As presidential historians will in-sist, we cannot begin to accuratelyassess any presidency until its in-habitant has been out of office for atleast 20 years. To evaluate Obamaat this point, then, while he hasthree to seven years left to serve,would be beyond premature.Nonetheless, discussing the Obamapresidency even at this early stage isnot entirely academic. There arelessons to be learned about how thenext few years may unfold.
That Obama has yet to accom-plish any meaningful goal shouldnot be particularly troubling. Afterall, even the greatest of presidentsdidn’t start to make a difference thissoon into their administration. Whatis more revealing about Obama’s job
performance to thispoint is not his record,but his demeanor. Heappears to be emotion-ally detached. More ro-botic than humanistic,more a technocrat thana torchbearer. ThoughObama is often com-pared to PresidentJohn F. Kennedy, he ismore reminiscent of1988 presidential con-tender MichaelDukakis.
Dukakis, wellknown to legions of hisfellow Greek Ameri-
cans as the Greek who almost be-came president, stood idly by whilehis campaign crumbled. A decentman who fell victim to vicious nega-tive campaigning, Dukakis’ oncesizeable lead was long gone by Elec-tion Day. What went wrong? Manyanalysts chalked up Dukakis’ now-legendary political collapse to twocharacteristics: weakness and dis-passion. In an effort to evokestrength and bravado, a helmet-bearing Dukakis popped his headout of a military tank in a politicalad. Much of the country thought helooked like Snoopy, and soured onhim. Newsman Ted Koppel practi-cally begged him to display someoomph, to no avail. When debatemoderator Bernard Shaw askedDukakis if his wife were raped andmurdered whether he would favorthe death penalty for the killer,Dukakis’ answer of “no” was fol-lowed by an explanation so listlessthat even his most ardent supportersrealized that he was doomed.
Turning to Obama, his handlingof rogue dictators and terrorist plotshas been equally unemotional. It’snot that he doesn’t care, it’s thatnothing seems to get his dander up.Maybe Americans thought that
George W. Bush’s “bring ‘em on” re-tort conveyed a polarizing cowboymentality, but they don’t want Mr.Spock from Star Trek, either.Kennedy, by contrast, may havebeen just as cool as Obama, but hisanticommunist fervor was nevertempered. In his Inaugural Address,Kennedy promised that the U.S.would pay any price, bear any bur-den, and oppose any foe in order toensure liberty – hardly a dispassion-ate viewpoint. If Obama’s passion toweed out terrorists could amount toeven a fraction of that, he’ll have amuch easier go of things in 2010and beyond.
As most Americans will attest,jobs are the number one issue onpeople’s minds at the moment, notterrorism. But the economy even-tually will rebound no matter whois president, whereas our nationalsecurity is not that inevitable. Thefickle American public voted forBill Clinton because he “felt theirpain.” They voted for George W.Bush over Al Gore, because theywanted the type of president withwhom they could have a beer. Andthey voted for Obama because theywanted an articulate ambassadoron the world stage, instead of onewho says “noo-ku-lar” with atwang. A year later, maybe return-ing to the Dick Cheney/DonaldRumsfeld foreign policy approachis not in order, but neither is dispas-sionate technocracy. A year intothe Obama presidency has causedthe people to long for a little pas-sionate Texas talkin’.
Constantinos E. Scaros is a pub-lished author and expert in Amer-ican presidential history. Heteaches history, political science,and law at NYU and is Dean ofCriminal Justice at KatharineGibbs College. He can be contact-ed at scaros.blogspot.com
In his First Year, Obama Was More Dukakis Than JFK
WASHINGTON, D.C. - I don’t nor-mally give George W. Bush a lot ofcredit. In 2002, however, he had theright instinct; he resisted the propos-al to create a new Governmentagency that would rewire the intelli-gence and law enforcement agenciesof the United States Government.Unfortunately, within a few monthshe reverted to type and allowed theDemocrats to pressure him into cre-ating the Department of HomelandSecurity (DHS) and the office of theDirector of National Intelligence(DNI). They hoped that the new or-ganization chart would magicallyovercome the “failure to connect thedots.” Connecting the dots, in fact,requires brutal leadership and notrewiring. An incompetent youngNigerian proved it over Detroit onChristmas Day.
After 9/11, President Bush hadthe opportunity to call in his cabinetand tell them angrily that he wouldkneecap the head of any agencyfound to have withheld crucial infor-mation in the event of another majorincident. Instead, George W. Bushwanted to be liked. Hopefully, Oba-ma does not have the same weak-ness, although he did not show hisfangs until last week.
We cannot “connect the dots”through reorganization and technol-ogy alone. The sheer volume of infor-mation produced by the new tech-nology quickly swamps the ability ofthe same new technology to manageit. Technology cannot substitute forthinking. CYA, (the perfectly humandesire to cover one’s backside) addsto the problem. Finally, informationcontrol determines each agency’sslice of the budget pie.
A long time ago diplomats andspies communicated via typewrittendispatches sent through the diplo-matic pouch or, in a hurry, via a labo-rious system of telegrams that tookhours to type, encrypt, decrypt anddistribute. Therefore, diplomats andspies invested serious thought in
their messages and act-ed on them with delib-eration. Those days aregone. Today’s highlyautomated communi-cations – like emails –swamp the readers. In1963 a mid-sized Em-bassy moved 10 or 12telegrams, today thesame Embassy movesmore than a thousand.Modern communica-tions do not save labor,they increase the de-mand.
Modern IT also de-feats security. The Em-bassy in Nigeria put Umar FaroukAbdulmutallab on a watch list con-taining more than 550,000 names.No automated search could find hisname on visa or no-fly lists becausesomeone mistyped his name, i.e.,“Umau” vice “Umar.” Translitera-tion problems make the lists nearlyuseless. Names in non-Latin alpha-bet passports have multiplespellings. “Muhammad” transliter-ates as “Mohamed,” “Mohamad,”“Mohmed” and Mohammed” amongvariations. This problem extends be-yond Arabic passports. The name“Αγγελάκης -Angelakis” on the Greekline in a Greek passport often ap-pears as “Aggelakis,” and “Ange-lakis” in the English line or the bear-er prefers to go by “Angel” in English.Overcoming this problem in realtime requires the State Departmentand other agencies to have ten timesas many well-trained and languagecompetent consular and securitystaff. The geeks might finally devel-op reliable software that can helpscreen, but only intelligent well-trained human beings can sort it out.Our Congress prefers, bipartisan, tosend money to constituents’ compa-nies to produce technology thatdoesn’t work or out-source the workto shady private contractors ratherthan pay for professionals. To make
it worse, the last Admin-istration’s racism poi-soned the hiring ofAmerican citizen nativespeakers of Arabic, Per-sian and other “Muslim”languages.
If this were notenough of a problem,talk-show hosts andcongressmen demandwe fire every low-rank-ing employee whomight possibly make amistake. Consequently,conscientious but para-noid government em-ployees ensure no one
will blame them for letting the next“Xmas Bomber” into the country.They add names wholesale to thelists on even the slimmest of evi-dence. Furthermore, this paranoiaensures that no one’s name can be re-moved from the list. In 2002, the INSarrested and deported a 20-year-oldDubai girl, a junior at a prestigiousU.S. University, for having a can-celled visa. Her father, a rich busi-nessman well known to the Embassy,spent money looking into the matterand discovered that his daughter’sname rhymed with that of a 45 yearold Afghan male. Six years later,armies of lawyers, lobbyists and con-gressmen have been unable to gether name off the no-visa/no-fly lists.Happily, the young lady shares herproblem with several members ofCongress whom TSA harasses everytime they get on an airplane.
Finally, the Congress – in a thor-oughly bipartisan fashion – has creat-ed a complex budget process that pitsone Government agency against an-other. Sharing information betweenTSA and FBI has immediate budgetramifications. Whoever catches thebad guy gets more money from Con-gress. The State Department’s Diplo-matic Security Service arrested the1993 World Trade Center bombingmastermind Ramzi Yousef in Pak-
istan. FBI agents arriving late on thescene demanded credit for the arrest.The ensuing confrontation playedout in front of amused Pakistani offi-cials.
The system cannot work withoutboth major surgery and a change ofattitude. Change must begin at thetop. The President must make itclear that he will punish top officialswho allow their agencies to playgames with one another. The Presi-dent and his cabinet must delineateand enforce responsibilities downthe line and, with Congress’ coopera-tion, must replace, wholesale, un-qualified political appointees withprofessionals. In the U.S. State De-partment, 700 senior officers tradeout with every a change of adminis-tration; the British Foreign Officechanges about six. U.S. agenciesmust hire and properly train thou-sands more professionals and recruitamong immigrant communities.Why did we trust Japanese-Ameri-cans and Italian-Americans to fightand die in World War II but cannotaccord the same trust to MuslimAmericans. We also must relegate“Gee-whiz” technology to its properrole: assisting rather than substitut-ing for human beings. Finally, Con-gress must own up to the fact that itcreated this complex, unwieldy andinefficient monster in full knowledgethat it doesn’t work. (But it does helpwith fund-raising.)
We can never achieve perfect se-curity. Some terrorist will game thesystem and get through. However, itis much easier to “game” a machineand an organization chart than a hu-man being.
The Hon. Ambassador Theros ispresident of the U.S.-Qatar Busi-ness Council. He served in the U.S.Foreign Service for 36 years, andwas American Ambassador toQatar from 1995-98. He also di-rected the State Department’sCounter-Terrorism Office.
One Nigerian Kid Defeats Billion Dollar Technologies
When governmentsget into financial trou-ble they inevitablyturn to increasing tax-es while trying to re-duce profligate spend-ing, although oncethey get the added in-come from taxingworking people (busi-nesses always findloopholes to escapepaying them, or passthe costs on to con-sumers) they return toreckless spending,knowing they can al-ways raise taxes again.So Greece, the economic basketcase of the European Union, worseoff than even Bulgaria, where theminimum wage is $173 a month,will return to the same empty welland try to tax working people tooffset a nearly 13% deficit – 113%of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)and more than four times the EUlimit - and raise another one billioneuros to prevent insolvency, an em-barrassment to itself and the EU.
The minimum income to get byin Greece is about $1,000 a month,which will cover a tiny apartmentand some food for most people, butthe government will try to squeezepeople by reducing wages AND in-creasing taxes, which effectivelymeans double taxation. And fromwhere will the new revenues come?The first resort is so-called “sin tax-es,” on alcohol and cigarettes,which might not be such a bad ideaafter all because Greeks will forgofood and rent, but not cigarettes
and liquor. Under the changes, taxon a packet of cigarettes has al-ready increased from 57.5% to70% for residents of Europe’s heav-iest smoking nation. The newprices mean that a pack of ciga-rettes, currently priced at 3.20 eu-ros, or about $4.63, now costs 3.61euros, or $5.22. That ought to rightthe ship! Booze will also be hit witha 20% tax, so Greece is hoping tooffset its deficit with a plan thatwould increase health care costs oftreating drunks and more peoplewith cancer (since Greeks will notreduce their consumption), whichcosts more than the money derivedby raising taxes on cigarettes andalcohol.
That’s what they call creative ac-counting in Greece. “The measurewill help increase budget revenuesand deter consumption, to the ben-efit of public health,” a FinanceMinistry said, a bald-faced lie, ofcourse, because Greece doesn’tcare who dies, as long as they payfirst, or the government finds a wayto have a death tax paid retroac-tively from the grave. How muchdo those 300 Spartans owe?
Greece has found itself backedinto a corner of its own making be-cause EU officials came to Athensto demand tough measures to re-duce the ballooning deficit, whichhas threatened all 16 countrieswho use the euro. “EU officials areasking us to cut spending as muchas possible,” Finance Minister Gior-gos Papacontantinou told Greektelevision, adding that, “a countrythat borrows 50-60 billion euros ayear has to think of the markets.”But the country’s financial standingis so weak that Greece’s credit rat-ing has been downgraded, increas-ing the interest it must pay on mon-ey it borrows to keep the countryafloat because taxes – even those
on sin – aren’t enoughto pay the cost of run-ning the government,especially when somany crooks are steal-ing from it. It’s not apretty picture. “At thetable of finance minis-ters of the EuropeanUnion, I feel very un-comfortable because Iam obliged to defendan image that does nocredit to my country,”said Papaconstanti-nou, although Greecedeserves no credit.
So desperate isGreece for money, although notenough to require politicians tokeep their hands in their own pock-ets, that people who inherit landcould face higher taxes – includingthose who were beneficiaries of in-heritances in previous years, aretroactive provision that some le-gal experts say is unconstitutional.Greeks fearing the land inheritancetax rushed to make those transfersbefore 2009 ended, thinking theywould be protected, but they arenot. And Greece late last yearslipped through a secret tax oncars, boosting the payment on cir-culation passes needed to drive,which now may be returned to dri-vers because that tax apparently isunlawful as well and was never ap-proved by Parliament. This is whathappens in a country where busi-ness is done in the dark. The gov-ernment said it has ruled out an in-crease in the 19% Value Added Tax,which, of course, means it will beincreased because that’s the bigrevenue-raiser affecting almostevery purchase.
But what has Greeks crazy is achange in tax laws which cut in halfhow much of their income is ex-empt from taxes and a requirementthey will have to show receipts forvirtually every expenditure to takeback the exemptions. That meansyou must save receipts from super-markets, gas stations and other ex-penditures, although no one is surewhat is covered or required. Maybethey could make the tax lawsretroactive to 480 B.C. to raisemoney, but that will have Greeksscrambling through their recordsfor receipts (Let’s see …. one cup ofhemlock for Socrates … damn, hedidn’t sign it!) The Ministry of Re-ceipts plan has led to some per-plexed exchanges, especially at gasstations, which do not give receiptsso they can hide their real incomeand evade paying taxes, and nowmust have cash registers and givereceipts. But you have to get out ofthe car and go inside and give yourname, address and tax number. Byyear’s end you can file a tax returnwith thousands of receipts at-tached, which means that process-ing times, already six months long,could extend into the next tax year.By that time, of course, taxpayerswon’t have received any refundsand Greece will be further in debt,so the only way out is to increasetaxes again. That means findingenough money or cutting spendingenough to cut the deficit by $14.4billion this year, and the sameamount for each of the next twoyears. It’s enough to make a mandrink or take up smoking, so that’sapparently the plan to rescueGreece from itself. Anybody got alight? Or some hemlock?
Mr. Dabilis was the New Englandeditor for United Press Interna-tional in Boston, and a staff writerand assistant metropolitan editorat the Boston Globe for 17 yearsbefore relocating to Greece. Hiscolumn is published weekly in theNational Herald. Readers interest-ed in contacting him can send e-mails to [email protected].
An Economic Rescue Plan:Sin and Inheritance Taxes
LETTER FROM ATHENS
by ANDY
DABILIS
Special to The National Herald
People who inherit land
could face higher taxes
– including those
who were beneficiaries
…in previous years
by CONSTANTINOS E.
SCAROS
Special to The National Herald
by AMB. PATRICK N.
THEROS
Special to The National Herald
By Nick LarigakisSpecial to The National Herald
WASHINGTON, D.C. 2010 is a presi-dential mid-term election year. All435 members of the House of Repre-sentatives and one third of the Senatewill be up for re-election. Additional-ly, early estimates suggest approxi-mately 39 House Members and 5Senators will be retiring. These num-bers are expected to rise as we moveforward into the year.
The feeding frenzy that is politicalfundraising has begun. I have beeninundated with emails announcingone fundraiser after another. Like itor not, this is just the reality of our po-litical system.
So what does this all mean for theGreek American community?
It means that the Greek Americancandidates and those who identifywith the community in Congress willbe reaching out to us to support theircampaigns. All of them deserve andwill need our financial support. Run-ning a congressional campaign todaycan cost millions of dollars.
The Greek American members ofCongress up for re-election in 2010are: Representatives Shelley Berkley(D-NV), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL),
Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), John Sar-banes (D-MD), Zack Space (D-OH),Dina Titus (D-NV), and Niki Tsongas(D-MA). Senator Olympia Snowe (R-MD) will also be up for re-election in2012.
Among the Greek Americans run-ning for Congress for the first timeare Governor Charlie Crist (R-FL)and Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Gi-annoulias (D-IL) who are running forthe Senate, and George Demos (D-NY) who is running for the 1st Con-gressional District of New York.
There are legal restrictions onwho can contribute and how mucheach person can contribute. Informa-tion on these matters is available onthe website of the Federal ElectionCommission (www.fec.gov).
Generally speaking, assuming acandidate makes it to the generalelection, the maximum that an indi-vidual can contribute to a candidatein one political cycle is $4,800. Whilethis is not an insignificant amount ofmoney, there are many in our com-munity who will “max out” to a num-ber of candidates. There will be manymore who will give the customary$250, $500, etc.
Greek Americans are inclined toparticipate in political fundraising ef-
forts. A number of us, including my-self, have hosted fundraisers—bethey in our homes or local Greekrestaurants, and will continue to doso. This is a good thing. For make nodoubt about it, while it might be re-garded as taboo to speak of it openly,no one is naïve enough not to knowthat this too is part of the lobbyingprocess and is very important for in-fluencing the policy discussion. Atminimum, it provides you with one ofthe most important and basic ele-ments of lobbying: access – a chanceto make your case! So, like it or not,this too is part of our political system.
Many of us will give to the GreekAmerican candidates, as we should,to make sure they retain their seats. Ialso believe that many of us will alsosupport those who are seeking to winseats for the first time. However,when it comes to the Greek Americanmembers of Congress, we can all feelcomfortable knowing that they willsupport our causes in Congress.Causes and principles, I might add,that are American in nature andserve to protect the interests of theUnited States. After all, we shouldnever be asking ANY Member of Con-gress to support anything regardingforeign policy which does not serve
the interests of our nation. We are allAmericans and they are elected touphold the national interests of theUnited States of America and to de-fend the Constitution. We shouldnever lose sight of this.
Which brings us to all the otherswho will be reaching out to us forfunds and support, and there aremany out there. There are those whohave tangibly supported our issues byadding their name to a Resolution ora Bill. There are those who havesigned onto letters that have beensent to the Administration for a spe-cific action of support, and there areothers who have signed onto the Hel-lenic Caucus, but have done nothingmore. And there is the overwhelmingnumber who have done absolutelynothing. I would venture to say thatnumber approaches two thirds of theentire Congress! Yet most, if not all,will be seeking to get financial sup-port from their specific Greek Ameri-can constituencies. As I said, this isour political system at work.
However, we have an option thatwe can exercise with our hard earnedmoney and how we spend it in sup-port of Congressional candidates. Ina year with the economy still reach-ing for recovery and where unem-
ployment numbers nationally are atover 10%, candidates will be havinga much more difficult time raisingmoney. Therefore, we need to makeour political contributions count!
We can do this by asking thesecandidates in advance of hosting anyfundraisers or responding to anymailed solicitations, some very perti-nent questions. For example—“willyou support legislation that calls forthe removal of Turkish troops fromCyprus?” “Will you support our gov-ernment taking action by calling onTurkey to stop violating Greece’s ter-ritorial integrity on a daily basiswhich threatens stability in thesoutheastern Mediterranean andtherefore U.S. interests there?” “Areyou willing to recommend to the Ad-ministration to invoke the Interna-tional Religious Freedom Act in pres-suring Turkey to safeguard the Ecu-menical Patriarchate and for the re-opening of the Halki SeminarySchool of Theology?” “Will you sup-port conditioning U.S. foreign assis-tance to the Former Yugoslav Repub-lic of Macedonia (FYROM) until suchtime as FYROM displays a willing-ness to negotiate in good faith withour most important ally in the region,Greece, to come to a resolution on
the Macedonia name issue?” While I understand as Americans
we also support candidates - as weshould - based on our domesticneeds, and we like to hear what theyhave to say about that agenda, thetruth is that there isn’t one politicalfundraiser that I have attended thatwas hosted by a Greek American en-tity where the main message did notrevolve around our core foreign poli-cy issues. The candidates understandthis. Let us also understand it.
Therefore, in a year where politi-cal fundraising will be a struggle andevery candidate will be looking toreach out to as many ethnic groups aspossible to be able to get that edge—let’s all be smart with our contribu-tions. Let us all make sure that we geta commitment from the candidatesthat we are supporting so that we canmake our contribution count. If wedon’t like what we hear, let’s supportthe candidate that will. Of course,then the other challenge is to holdtheir feet to the fire once they areelected and remind them of whatthey promised. But that’s a story foranother day.
Nick Larigakis is the Executive Di-rector of AHI.
New Year, New Decade, New Elections: Making Your Political Contribution Count
TOURISM12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, JANUARY 16-22, 2010
Lesvos is a green jewel locatedin the northeast corner of theAegean sea. It’s an earthly paradisewith healing springs and manybeaches that charm visitors withthe perfection of their setting andtheir crystal-clear waters.
A piece of land that was cut fromAsia Minor and floated on the bluewaters of the Aegean Sea, Lesvos isthe third biggest island in theAegean, after Crete and Evoia, it islike a wonderfully decorated ship,as writer Stratis Myrivilis had said.The endless forests offer a silver-green color to the island thatOdysseus Elytis described as beingshaped like a leaf.
The beauties of the island are in-numerable: The mountainous vil-lages, the olive trees and the sea-side, with crystal-clear blue watersare just some of the scenes that willcharm you.
The island is also renowned asthe birthplace of many great artists,thinkers and writers, ancient andmodern, like the philosopherTheophrastus, the singer and gui-tar-player Arion, the poets Sapphoand Alcaeos, and Pittakos - one ofthe seven wise men whose face hasappeared on many coins. In themodern era Lesvos produced thegreat painter Jakobidis and the No-bel prize winner Odysseus Elitis.
The rich history of Lesvos,whose beginnings are shrouded inmyth, began when Makaras namedthe island after his son-in-law. Dur-ing that period the first cities werefounded and named after Makara’sdaughters: Mitilini, Issa, Antissa,Mithumna, Arisbi and his son, Eres-sos.
Homer’s poems declare that is-land’s civilization has its originsduring the first years of the TrojanWar, but research has demonstrat-ed that the island was inhabitedsince the Neolithic period. There isevidence of a remarkable civiliza-tion during the Chalcolithic (cop-per) age and exhibits in the island’smuseum show that the island’s civi-lization was influenced by neigh-boring Troy.
The island’s classical period be-gan in 546 BC when the Persiansgained control. After a series ofbattles and revolutions they finallymanaged to set the island free in472 B.C. by taking part the Athen-ian alliance. The Athenians and theSpartans later dominated andfought over Lesvos.
In 88 BC, the Romans con-quered the island. It possessed ameasure of autonomy under thegeneral Pompey and its populationflourished in many periods. Afterthe division of the Roman Empire,Lesvos was an important provinceor theme of the Byzantine Empire,however, during the Byzantine pe-riod, the island was successivelysacked by the Slavs, Arabs, Vene-tians and crusaders.
When the island was under thedomination of Gatelouzos family inthe 14th century, art, education,and trade were developed. Howev-er, the island’s prosperity did notlast long; nature destroyed the is-land with a catastrophic earth-quake and 1462 fell under Ot-toman rule. The oppressive Turk-ish yoke made the spirit of the is-land lethargic but the Church creat-ed oases for the education and cul-tivation of the inhabitants insidethe monasteries, where the idea ofa free nation was kept alive.Lesvos’ suffering ended on Novem-ber 1912 when the Turks departed.
EXCURSIONSThe emerald waters of the
Aegean Sea that bathe Lesvos con-
tribute to the seductive atmospherethat makes the island so appealing.It offers a wonderful vacation spotto all visitors. Tours of the islandbegin from the capital of the island,Mitilini.
It is a city that is built amphithe-atrically around the south port andoffers a unique sightseeing experi-ence that includes the church of theMetropolis, with its interesting ar-chitectural elements, wonderful ec-clesiastical objects and beautifulicons. You will also enjoy the an-cient theatre, the statue of Sappho,the Roman aqueduct, the bronzestatue of freedom (its will remindyou of New York’s Statue of Liber-ty) and many museums.
Picturesque taverns offer tradi-tional snacks while hotels, locatedin the city, offer all the comforts avisitor might require. On the south-ern side of the city there are manypicturesque seaside villages like the
village of Varia and Neapoli, withgraphic country houses a step awayfrom the beach, and the village ofKratigos with its wonderful beach-es surrounded by pine trees thatwelcome many visitors every year.
The pine tree beaches of AgiosErmogenis and Loutra, a few kilo-meters to the north, also containhuge olive trees, and both villagescommand spectacular views of thesea. Towards the northern tip ofthe island is the city of Panagiouda,a paradoxical village with peacefulbeaches and a wild nightlife. Con-tinuing north, you come across thecity of Thermi, which is surroundedby monasteries such as AgiouRaphael and Eisodia tis Theotokou.This area is also famous for the oldhotel of ‘Sarlitza Pallas’ and sourcesof healing waters; it is a perfectplace to find peace and relaxation.The area’s seaside road leads to theflowery beach of Skalas in Kydonia.
The scenic beaches continue inMantamado with the silver-greenbeaches of Aspropotamos andAgios Stefanos and the exotic smallisland of Tokmaia. Continuing onthe northern route, you cross thevillage of Skamia, the hometown ofthe writer Myrivilis, and one finallyarrives at the wonderful villages ofMolyvos and Petra, where, duringthe sunset, red sunbeams cast anamazing glow on the Aegean.
Moving west on the island, wecome across the village of Sigri andthe famous rock forest. Rocktrunks, some standing and otherslying in the ground, declare the ex-istence of ancient trees, which werecovered by lava 500,000 years agoby the eruption of the Ordumnouvolcano. The Petrified Forest is aunique geological phenomenonthat stretches along the wholewestern end of the island.
The rich greenery of Lesvos isnot found near the beautiful beach-es mentioned above, but instead isspread throughout the mountain-ous areas of the island where youwill find picturesque villages suchas Megalochori and Agiaso. Walk-ing down the road to Polihinto,with its warm springs and the re-markable beaches, you will comeacross the bay of Kaloni, an arearich in fish.
Reaching the southern side ofthe island, you will come across thecosmopolitan Plomari, the island’ssecond largest town after Mitilini.The luxury hotels of the area incombination with the nightclubspresent visitors the experience ofunforgettable nightlife.
THE ART OF LESVOSThe island of Lesvos is a richly
endowed land. Its natural beau-ties, its climate and its fertile soilhave given birth to a people with aprofound sense of beauty and har-mony, from the depths of antiquityuntil the present. It is not a coinci-dence that for millenia, Lesvos wasknown for its flourishing arts.
Excavations at ancient Thermiprovide evidence for the develop-ment of ceramic art and industry,as well as the history of the is-landers working with bronze. Theart of pottery continues to be ex-pressed today in the town of Ayias-sos by craftsmen using traditionaltechniques: potters wheels andovens. Excellent wood-carvingshave been created on Lesvos overthe centuries. Having plenty ofolive wood around the island hasled to its use in the creation oficonostases in churches, woodenchests, and imitations of ancientvessels.
ARCHITECTUREThe Turkish invasion and the
passage of time has caused numer-ous losses and changes to the townof Mitilini, but fine examples of tra-ditional architecture remain. Un-like simple town and country hous-es – which were designed to answerto the basic needs of the population– stone towers with small fanlightsand projecting balconies were thepride of the island. Such towerscan still be found today, along withseveral mansions still in excellentcondition.
ARTS AND LETTERSLesvos is proud of the literary
achievements of its sons anddaughters. These include the fa-mous philosopher and botanistTheophrastus (387-272 B.C.), thehistorian Theophanes (100 B.C.),the renowned musician and poetArion (625-585 B.C.) and the greatmusician and creator of choral po-etry Terpander (210 B.C.)
One of the most important fig-
ures in the history of Lesvos is thepoet Sappho, who was born in Er-essos in 612 B.C. and still remainsunrivalled for the passion, the sen-sitivity and the subtle lyric vibrancyof her lines.
Intellectual life flourished onthe island in the years immediatelyfollowing the achievement of inde-pendence from Turkish rule withwriters such as Stratis Myrivilis, Il-ias Venezis and the Nobel laureate,Odysseas Elytis.
FOLK COSTUMESMany of the traditional cos-
tumes of Lesvos have been pre-served and can be seen in a perma-nent exhibitions organized by theLesvos Women’s Association.Woolen capes, furs, overcoats,trousers, women’s costumes, andgold-embroidered costumes fromPlomari, Vrisa and Yera are on dis-play.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUMThe Archaeological Museum is
in a traditional mansion. There,one can see examples of prehistoricceramics, clay idols from Thermi,
archaic vessels from Antissa, terra-cottas from Pyrra and gold coinsfrom the area of Messoi.
In the courtyard are capitalsfrom the ancient temple of Apollo,the marble throne of the oratorPotamon, small sacrificial altarsand other objects.
In the basements of the mansionthere is a multitude of finds datingto the middle of the 4th millenniumB.C. A new archaeological muse-um has been created in the area ofKioski, Mitilini, with lavish exhibitsthat stretch from the Archaic to theRoman period.
THE BYZANTINEECCLESIASTICAL MUSEUMThe Byzantine Ecclesiastical
Museum that is located opposite St.Therapon contains many notableicons and other items which havebeen used in the course of Christian
worship and testify to the artistictalent of creators who tried to ex-press the purity of Christian feel-ing.
There are vestments embroi-dered with pearls, sections of fineiconostases from old churches,manuscripts and religious books.
THE FOLK ART MUSEUMThe folk art museum is housed
in the former harbor master’s build-ing. This museum contains a widevariety of exhibits that include claypots, water jugs from Ayiassos andMantamados and plates paintedwith scenes from everyday life longago and other exhibits which exem-plify the island’s popular art and il-lustrate its past.
THE THEOPHILOS MUSEUMThe building has five rooms and
houses 86 works by the Lesvos folkpainter who was called “Tsolias”because he always wore the Greeknational dress. Some of the mostfamous works in the museum arethose showing the Limnian shep-herd, the bay of Yera, and the Fish-erman’s dance among others.
TERIAD LIBRARY AND MUSEUMThe Teriad Library and Museum
of Modern Art is next door to theTheophilos Museum. It is a largebuilding with specially designedspaces including 16 of its 24 roomsthat are aside for a permanent exhi-bition of the Teriad’s 29 books.Among the exhibits are five booksillustrated by Chagall: Gogul’s“Dead Souls”; Pierre Reverdu’s“Song of the Dead” illustrated byPicasso; Fernand Leger’s “The Cir-cus”; Matisse’s “Poem of the RightAngle”; and “Paris Without End”with a text and fifty lithographs bythe great sculptor, Giacometti.
The other rooms contain con-tain issues of Teriad’s magazines“Minotaure” and “Verne” whilethree rooms on the ground floorcontain 40 paintings by the greatpainter, Yannis Tsarouchis.
Encountering the Island of Lesvos, Green Jewel of the Aegean
Lesvos is remarkable in its diverse terrain and colorful villages.
Poet Sappho was among the many notables of the large island.
Lesvos’s petrified forest is a must-see found in an otherwordly setting.
By Sylvia KlimakiSpecial to the National Herald
ATHENS - He is an actor, a song-writer, a TV host and above allGreece’s most enigmatic public fig-ure. Politicians often portray him as“dangerous” while intellectuals usethe term “laikistis” – populist -when referring to him. The Greekpopulace, however, places hisname next to Plato, Aristotle Onas-sis and Maria Callas, declaring himamong the 100 greatest Greeks ofall time in a recent survey for SKAItelevision.
In December 2010, Greek Amer-icans will have the chance to seeLakis Lazopoulos in a one-mansatirical show along with his dearfriend, the singer Haris Alexiou. Ina recent interview, he told The Na-tional Herald: “We will unite ourpassion for the art and the deeplove we share for each other.” La-zopoulos added: “If Greece had avoice, it would be that of HarisAlexiou”.
With a tour scheduled to takeplace in New York, Boston, Chicagoand San Francisco, the two artistswill communicate their work to theGreek American audience. “DNAhas no boundaries, understands nolanguage”, he said, referring to sec-ond and third generation GreekAmericans who remain very at-tached to Greek culture, addingthat it will be an honor for him toperform in the United States.
In the near future, Lakis La-zopoulos aspires to create an Amer-ican TV series to tell the stories ofthe Greeks who immigrated to the
U.S. He is currently looking forGreek American writers, actors andproducers that will help him put to-gether this great show for U.S. au-diences. He believes that “Greekpeople have the responsibility totell their ancestors’ great stories inthe U.S.”
Lakis Lazopoulos said his own“odyssey” began when he emigrat-ed from Larisa to pursue his actingcareer in Athens. He often refers tohis hometown as the place where
“he dreamt life” for the first time.His work, which consists of aplethora of theatrical plays, TVshows and movies, has greatly in-fluenced Greek society in the last30 years.
When asked about the titles peo-ple have tried to associate his namewith, he rejected every single oneof them. “If people are afraid of me,it means we are moving towards adifferent political system that isdefinitely not democratic.” He be-lieves that “everybody has the rightto express himself,” adding: “A de-mocratic state fears nobody.”
Looking at modern Greek civi-lization, Lazopoulos believesGreeks have lost their self-confi-dence, being too afraid to trusteach other. When humans areafraid, he said, “They lock them-selves up, their souls, their hearts.They produce nothing.”
He heavily criticized Greece’smajor TV networks that reproducethis “fear over and over again,” be-coming accomplices of a despon-dent political and social systemthat doesn’t allow Greek people “togain back their creativity, theirimagination.”
For those people who lack self-confidence, “showing off becomesthe only form of art,” he added. Inhis current theatrical play, “OViopalaistis sti stegi” (The Life-Bat-tler on the Roof), a Broadway-styleproduction at the marvelous The-atron movie theatre in Athens’Neos Kosmos, among other things,he criticised the nouveau richecaste that has appeared in Greecein the last two decades. “Nowa-
days, we don’t ask how good a the-atrical play is, but who went to seethe play,” he says with despair. Herejects the existing trend, promotedheavily through the Greek media,of a “fake world” that “killed art.”
According to Lazopoulos, thereis “another Greece”, however, thatexists “outside” the mass mediaand gossip magazines. It is theGreece that promotes the modernHellenic spirit and music, and thatopposes “mass culture that pro-duces nothing.” When it comes toancient thinkers, Lazopoulos alignshimself more with the spirit of Her-aclitus, who said that “everythingflows” than with the more dogmat-ic followers of Aristotle. He person-ally discards pretentious frames ofmorality that one day exist and thenext day do not, adding that "Peo-ple cannot face the future if theyare stuck in dogmata."
People who have spent timewith Lazopoulos all marvel at theendless hours he spends in his dailylife talking, but mainly listening, ashe communicates face-to-face withordinary people. “I listen to people.I listen to my daughter. And shebrings her friends along, so that Iwill listen to their problems too. Itis something I have earned, not de-manded, from the Greek people,my friends and family.” He consid-ers himself lucky saying, “Very fewpeople go home so full of hugs kiss-es and love. Yes, I admit it: I love tobe hugged.” As one of the charac-ters in Lazopoulos’s new play said:“I don’t want marriage. I don’t wantsex. All I am asking for is a caress.”
Lazopoulos’ work moves be-
tween a romantic, loving world anda world full of agony and despair.Maybe this is what modern Greeceis.
Is he a mere moneymaker or apassionate dreamer - a populistwho tells the people what theywant to hear, or a charismatic fig-ure that listens to the common peo-ple, listens to their worries and as-pirations?
Perhaps what only matters is
that his art speaks directly to theheart of the Greek public.
His fans believe Greek politi-cians should do the same: Listen tothe common people they have beenelected to represent. Then, theysay, Lazopoulos and the form of arthe introduced would not be consid-ered “dangerous” any more.
Contact Sylvia Klimaki at [email protected]
Coming Soon to USA: The Lakis Lazopoulos Phenomenon & Haris Alexiou
Singer Haris Alexiou.Lakis Lazopoulos, in a scene from his recent musical ‘The Life-Battleron the Roof’. The TV, stage and film star prone to comedy plans to tourthe United States in Dec. 2010 with popular singer Haris Alexiou.
![A boundary value problem for conjugate conductivity equations · The GASPT theory has been investigated by many authors, among whom Weinstein [28{31], Vekua [27], Gilbert [12{15],](https://static.fdocument.org/doc/165x107/5f5a2f39930dab2c133bad38/a-boundary-value-problem-for-conjugate-conductivity-equations-the-gaspt-theory-has.jpg)
