In 2002, My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, written by Nia Vardalos, who also starred in the leading role as Toula Portokalos, came out of nowhere to become the highest-grossing romantic comedy in American film history – and the highest-grossing film of all time never to rise all the way to #1 at the U.S. box office.  Despite never being at the very top, it maintained a huge following among Americans as a whole, beside, of course, being discussed endlessly to this day in Greek-American households, its many funny lines uttered over and over again.

“What about the sequel?” fans would ask Vardalos, she told USA Today. They waited, and waited, and waited. And now, the wait is over.

Next March 25 – appropriately, Greek Independence Day – My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding 2 will be released in theaters.

The film stars Vardalos and John Corbett, who plays her on-screen non-Greek husband Ian Miller, and reprising their roles as Toula’s parents, Gus and Maria, are Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan.

Andrea Marin also reprises her role as Aunt Voula, and Hollywood heavyweight couple Tom Hanks and his Greek-American wife, Rita Wilson, are once again producers.

Though Vardalos doesn’t reveal much about the plot, she did tell USA today that the sequel deals with “angst and anger” from their daughter, now a teenager, and their own “relationship lull” stemming from their focus on their child and not enough on one another.

New to the film is another well-known Greek-American actor, John Stamos.

The post My Big, Fat Greek Sneak Peek appeared first on The National Herald.

NEW YORK – Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, co-Chair of the Congressional Hellenic Caucus, was joined by Greek-American leaders in Manhattan on August 13, calling for the imminent lifting of capital controls in Greece as well as the restrictions to monies sent by Greek-Americans to their families and friends in Greece.

Rep. Maloney, a longstanding philhellene, contended that remittances by Greek-Americans sent to Greece exceed $800 million and not only help the crisis victims there personally, but also enhance liquidity, which is vital to Greece’s economic recovery.

Maloney (D-NY) announced that she and Caucus co-Chair Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) sent letters to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, as well as other federal officials who oversee banking and finance, impressing upon them the urgency with which they ought to lift the current restrictions.

As The National Herald has been reporting, the community was anguished by restrictions to funds they could send to Greece not only to their relatives who live there year-round, but also to those currently visiting there for the summer.

Maloney and Bilirakis also sent a letter to Elizabeth L. Littlefield, President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a government agency that mobilizes private investment to financially struggling countries throughout the world, calling upon OPIC to lend their support to this cause as well, namely by establishing an office and more of a presence in Greece. Maloney pointed out OPIC’s success in intervening in Portugal, another EU member nation that suffered economic peril.

OPIC’s involvement in Greece, Maloney said, not only would contribute greatly to Greece’s economic stability, but would serve American interests insofar as Greece is a strategic U.S. and NATO ally, and plays a geostrategic role in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The press conference setting, at Park Avenue and 54^th Street in Midtown, had particular symbolic significance, as it is across the street from a branch of the Atlantic Bank – founded in 1920 as a subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece. Maloney and the other speakers captured the attention of passersby, their words ringing with indignation toward Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble of Germany, and the notion perpetuated by the German and European media, they said, that Greeks are lazy.

Greek-American entrepreneur and 2013 NYC mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, who hosts the weekly radio show Cats Roundtable, also expressed his outrage. He said no bank and no government has the right to retain $800 million that Greek-Americans send to their Greek brethren. He called upon the Greek government to sign the agreement with the Troika (which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had approved and which, on the morning of August 14 was approved by Parliament), and said “shame on you, Mrs. Merkel, stop making our Greek brothers and sisters suffer.”

Lou Katsos, a member of the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce’s (HACC) Board of Directors, emphasized that the current sanctions impede Greek productivity, and discussed HACC’s efforts to support businesses in Greece. “They must stop this propaganda,” he said, pointing out that the negative press affects Greeks both in the homeland and abroad. “The Greeks are not lazy; they are hardworking and have pride.”

New York Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas, who represents Astoria, described growing up Greek-American, with parents born in Greece, and how sending money back to needy relatives in the homeland is part of what the American dream is all about.

The money her parents would send to her grandparents in Greece “was a constant source of income for them. Therefore, remittances should reach their intended recipients without hindrance,” she added, and reiterated how such funds enhance Greek liquidity.

John Tsunis, Chairman and CEO of Gold Coast Bank, noted that Greeks love Greece and revealed that he performed the “Dance of Isaiah” (i.e., was married) on the island of Santorini. He added that not only Greek-Americans, but all Americans, should support Greece, as it is an ally of the United States. “By supporting Greece, we protect the interests of America itself.”
Mark Arey, Executive Director of The Hellenic Initiative (THI), spoke of the organization’s support for Greek entrepreneurship and efforts to provide relief.

Tasos Pardalis and Anthony Kammas, who serve on the Hellenic American Leadership Council’s (HALC) Board of Directors, spoke of the initiatives of the Jaharis Family Foundation and Nick Mouyaris to double every dollar donated to help the children of Greece victimized by the crisis. They emphasized that through the website Help Greece Now, they raised $100,000 within 70 hours, which was promptly doubled by the Foundation and Mouyaris, each contributing $50,000.
Banker Kimon Bakos, representing Atlantic Bank President Nancy Papaioannou (who could not attend because she is in Greece), announced that Atlantic Bank will help them any effort and initiative taken to assist the homeland.

Loula Loi Alafoyiannis Founder and President of the Euro-American Women’s Council (EAWC), also expressed her discontent for the perception that Greeks are lazy, a perception that she characterized as false.

Other attendees included Atlantic Bank VP Artie Gyftopoulos, Capital Link President Nicolas Bornozis, and Ionian Management Chairman Spiros Milonas, who congratulated Congresswoman Maloney for the initiative and for her support of Greece.

The post Maloney, Greek-Am. Leaders, Call for Lifting of Greece Funds Restrictions appeared first on The National Herald.

Technology Whiz Macricostas Gives $1.1M to Rand Paul GOP Campaign

California technology entrepreneur George Macricostas, who started the off-site data backup management site RagingWire, has donated $1.1 million so far to the campaign of Republican Presidential candidate Rand Paul, a Republican U.S. Senator from Kentucky.

Macricostas ranked 29th on a list of donors of more than $1 million to presidential campaigns more than a year before the election and as the Republican field has swollen.

Paul, a physician, is the son of former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul from Texas. Sen. Paul is a libertarian and strong supporter of the ultra-right Tea Party movement who announced his candidacy on April 7, 2015 and has seen Macricostas being his prime supporter among the $6 million raised so far for the campaign.

Paul is known for being accessible to the media but he admitted in an interview on CNN to being “short-tempered” with the press.

The big donations flow through so-called Super PACs (Political Action Committees). Leading the list of donors to candidates is Robert Mercer, co-Chief Executive of Renaissance Technologies, who gave $11.3 million, 98 percent to Texas Republican conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, and the rest split between Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina.

RagingWire is largely owned by the Japanese company NTT Communications. Macricostas gave his donation to Paul through America’s Liberty PAC, which is run by Paul’s former campaign manager Jesse Benton, the Huffington Post said.

Macricostas donated to the 2012 Presidential campaign of Paul’s father and to a joint fundraising committee providing money to Rand Paul’s Presidential campaign, 2016 Senate account, and leadership PAC.

RagingWire started as a co-location center providing off-site data backup for financial and technology companies. George Macricostas was a founder in 2000 and served as the company’s first CEO.

In a profile, the Sacramento Business Journal reported that he led the company from its somewhat rocky birth — coming just as the dot-com crash occurred — to rapid growth.

In October he struck a $350 million deal to sell 80 percent of the company to NTT Corp. aimed at allowing the business to continue rapid growth.

With the deal, RagingWire overnight went from from being a local company to a major international player, part of a Japanese giant and now with 150 data centers.

The post Macricostas Gives $1.1M to Rand Paul appeared first on The National Herald.

NEW YORK – Retired 4-Star Admiral James Stavridis, Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, presented a lecture titled, “21^st Century Security Challenges and Opportunities” at the Kimisis Church of the Hamptons on August 8.

The lecture is one of the major summertime events of a parish that does not slow down after June. Fr. Alexander Karloutsos, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Fr. Constantine Lazarakis, and the Parish Council, led by President Gus Karpathakis, will welcome the guests.

Stavrides, who will be signing copies of his book, The Accidental Admiral, is the author of six books and hundreds of articles. He told The National Herald his presentation is “a look at the global security situation which I think we can all agree is pretty dangerous.”

“There will obviously also be a conversation about Greece and its economic challenges and the challenges in the eurozone,” he said.

“It’s important that we recognize that Greece is in an incredibly important geographic position, right on the nexus of terrorist routes, in a very contentious area for NATO, and is a willing participant in all NATO operation. It has been a very good and constructive partner from a geopolitical perspective and it affords extremely important strategic bases for the alliance and the United States,” he said.

So “Point 1 is: Greece Matters,” and not just in the financial scheme of things,” he continued.

His second point is that “Greece has an incredibly difficult time ahead and it is vitally important that the U.S., the troika, Greece, all work in a constructive way and not throw stones at each other.”

“I spent a lot of time in negotiations over the years and personality matters,” he told TNH. “How people address each other matters – whether it is with respect or lack of respect – and I think there is plenty of blame for both sides. Those negotiations were not conducted in my view in an entirely professional way on both sides. There were personal attacks and it was counterproductive,” he said.

It was noted that Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek Finance Minister, said he was running on two hours of sleep per night for months. “How it is possible for people to be making optimal decisions,” under those conditions TNH asked. “I think you answered your own question,” Stavrides replied.

“I am not an economist,” he said, shifting into that area, “but most economists agree – even the IMF says that – we will have to see some restructuring of Greek debt, and provide some means of lift to the Greek economy. We will not solve the problem simply by a series of cuts that bring more downward economic pressure… you have to use some form of expansionary policy to stimulate growth to avoid an endless downward spiral.”

He emphasized, however, that Greece must also take action on matters like reducing tax evasion and other structural reforms like raising the retirement age and reducing the bloated public sector. “Most responsible Greeks recognize this, and that’s the painful part of this, but it has to come with some kind of stimulus or the boat won’t float.”

Stavridis agreed that the opportunity dimension must be addressed, for example, making it easier for entrepreneurs, especially young people, to open businesses.”

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The presentation will include a discussion on ISIS and the massive migrations that are from Africa and the Middle East to Europe, and he will also look at cyber risk, the situation in Ukraine and China.

“It’s a walk around the world to look at the challenges, but I hate talks that suddenly stop with the message ‘there it is. It’s a pretty dangerous world. What do you think of that?”

He said he tries to then talk about opportunities, to also focus on what is going well.

A Q & A and reception will follow.

Stavrides is enjoying the summer. His only regret is that the referendum interfered with his planned trip to Greece. “It was not going to be productive to have meetings with government officials.”

He is looking forward to a vacation trip and visit to his family in Florida next week, where he grew up, his father Paul George Stavrides being stationed there as a U.S. Marine.

His paternal grandparents were refugees from the Smyrna region, and his mother, Shirley Anne, is of Pennsylvania Dutch stock.

Asked if he ever pursued genealogical research, Stavrides said his sister was more interested in that. “I am one to look forward. I’m very proud to be a Greek-American and proud of my family’s courage, coming here during difficult times,” passing through Ellis Island and settling in Allentown, PA.

Stavrides and his father have led parallel lives. After his military career “He was still a relatively young man. He earned a PhD in higher education and became the president of Allegheny Community College in the Pittsburgh area.

He acknowledged that his path was inspired by this father “his example based on patriotism and courage, and the fact that he became president of a college was very much on my mind.”

Paul George “loved to mentor young people and was a natural teacher. Throughout his time in the Marine Corps he spent a lot of time helping young people and he wanted to continue that as a civilian and the same rationale applied to me.”

“He was a fabulous father,” Stavrides said, and added he was also blessed with great mentors, including Admiral Michael Mullin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice Admiral Cutler Dawson, Secretary Defense Robert Gates – “the was instrumental in recommending I become an educator…he later become the president of Texas A&M.”

Among the things he learned from them are: “Never lose your temper. Stay calm at all times. Always focus on the positive – be an optimist. Optimism is a very powerful force.”

They also reinforced the value of education, and last but not least, they showed him the value of family, which means “Making sure that you put your family first in your heat, knowing that there will be times when you have to take on hard jobs and cannot always be the perfect father or husband.”

The post Admiral Stavridis on “21st Century Challenges & Opportunities” appeared first on The National Herald.

NEW YORK – As the United States prepared for the formal reopening of its Embassy in Cuba after a half century of dour relations with that country, at ABC news there was a story behind the story.

The New York Post’s Page Six reports that there is an ongoing rivalry behind the scenes between ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, and World News Tonight anchor David Muir.

Both newsmen bickered about which one would get to cover the story for ABC, the Post reported, to the point that ABC simply considered sending them both.

An unlrelated glitch was that ABC could not get its satellite to broadcast live in HD from Havana. But an ABC source said, the Post reported, that “not only is there a dish issue, there is a male diva issue here at ABC.”

Ulitimately, neither Muir nor Stephanopoulos were given the assignment. Instead, Jim Avila was sent, “because of his previous Cuba coverage.”

The post The Greek and Mr. Muir appeared first on The National Herald.

[The speech below was given by Church Archon Michael Karloutsos in July, 2014 at the 42^nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in Philadelphia, which he co-chaired.]

Thank you all for participating in the 42nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in Philadelphia! I was personally moved by the enthusiasm and passion exemplified throughout the Congress. Each and every one of you plays an important role not only in your home parish but in our Greek orthodox community as a whole. As I reflected on our theme “The Orthodox Christian Family: A Dwelling of Christ and A Witness of His Gospel,” I recalled a story of a young man, a son, a husband, a father of six who had recently come to America from Greece to seek opportunity that could only be found in the United States. Sixty years ago in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in the Church of St. John the Baptist, this young man began his ministry as Greek Orthodox Priest. That storied ministry brought him and his family from Springfield, MA to Detroit, MI, where he tragically lost his beloved Presbytera Olga, who was only 33 years old. From Bayard, NE to Wilmington, NC where he ultimately retired. In total Father Michael served over a dozen parishes and communities across the United States.

This priest, better known to me as Pappou Michael, laid the foundation for his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to participate in the life of the Church while understanding the sacrifices that were made and the challenges that were overcome.

(Father Alex, Michael, Xanthi, Anastasia, and Olga Karloutsos.)

I am a PK (“Priest’s Kid”). But my Dad, Father Alex, is also a PK which of course makes me a PGK (“Priest’s Grandkid”). I’m also the nephew of two priests, Father Peter (Danbury, CT) and Father Kosmas (Annapolis, MD), the brother-in-law of a priest, Father Constantine (Southampton, NY) and the cousin of a priest, Father Nikolas (Port Washington, NY). Not to mention I have a koumbaro who’s a priest, Father Christ (Broomall, PA) and my “Spiritual Nouno”, Father Byron (Palos Hills, IL) is also a priest.

Yes, there is absolutely something in the (Holy) water!

Being part of this incredible family legacy was often very difficult, especially when I realized that priesthood was not in my future. I loved the church, but where did I belong? This is something I struggled with for a long time. How would I serve the Church?

My shining example of how to serve the Church as a layperson is my Uncle Jimmy (James Karloutsos). Like his brothers, he too attended Hellenic College/Holy Cross but never entered the priesthood. Instead, he shared his talents through education, which ultimately led him back to HC/HC where he is the school’s Chief Operating Officer. My uncle found a way to serve.

(Michael, Anastasia, Michael Jr., Presbytera Xanthi, Metropolitan Elpidoforos, Father Alex, Presbytera Anastasia, Olga Palladino, Marc Palladino, Father Constantine Lazarakis, BOTTOM: Demetrios, Konstantina, Steven, Alexander, Joshua, Xanthi, Luca, Konstantina and Leo.)

We as laypeople participate by taking an interest. By stepping up! We welcome fellow congregants at the pangari, we hold the cloth at communion, we teach Sunday school, we work the souvlaki stand, we support those in need through Philoptochos or we spend our days off coaching GOYA basketball. We each do our part to make our Church great and to keep our community alive and thriving for generations to come. This is what my beautiful wife, Anastasia, and I do for our children, Alexander, Konstantina, Steven, Michael Jr., and our Godson Joshua. We find a way to serve.

We also participate by speaking up and acting out when we feel something is wrong. At the 1998 Clergy Laity Congress, I led a group of concerned Greek Orthodox Christians who burst in on the 34th Clergy Laity Congress in Orlando, FL to speak up in what has become known as the “Open Forum.” Not without some irony, sixteen years later I have had the distinct honor and privilege to serve as co-Chair of the 42nd Clergy laity Congress, where I’m proud that we held Open Forums of our own to ensure that dialogue and activism continue to be part of our Church experience. Life comes full circle, but our responsibility to “speak the truth in love” as the Apostle Paul reminds us never changes.

(My children: Stylianos (Steven), Konstantina, Michael Jr, Alexander, and Joshua.)

I want to thank my co-Chair, the amazing Anne Michals, for her partnership and trust. I want to thank His Eminence Metropolitan Evangelos for his spiritual guidance and friendship and His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios for providing our community with the steady, principled leadership that it so richly deserves. And, of course, I want to thank His All Holiness our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for his paternal love and exemplary sacrifice.

Finally, I want to thank the men, women, and children, priests, beloved presbyteres and laypeople alike for your incredible contributions in making the 42nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in Philadelphia something we can all be proud of. Together we found a way to serve! Thank you!

The post Michael Karloutsos: Serving as Layperson appeared first on The National Herald.

Looking at Alexandra Mitsotakis, you might mistake her for a high-fashion model. Instead, the daughter of former Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis heads Action Aid, a charitable organization that she founded to provide food and water for children in third-world countries.

Fluent in four languages, she also directs the Greek Cultural Institute in Paris, where she lives. As the mother of four grown children ranging from 19 to 32, she takes family seriously. She grew up in one that is both brilliant and accomplished, as well as being close-knit.

Her sister, Dora Bakoyannis, was Athens’ first woman Mayor, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Her brother Kyriakos, an economist and former MP, is a politician in the New Democracy Party.

But it is her late mother, Marika, who took center stage in an exclusive interview Alexandra gave to The National Herald on a recent trip to New York. A culinary legend, supposedly Marika could sway a politico’s votes with, for in

The book, Recipes of Love, just published in the United States was “authored” by her mother in the sense that Marika originated all the recipes, and the initial half of the book tells the story of her life and ongoing love affair with husband Constantine.

She never started a day without having coffee with her husband, and sent him off on every trip – large or small – with a sandwich from home. Said Alexandra: “My mother was first of all in love with my father. He came first.”

We met in the lobby of the Park Lane Hotel, where Alexandra was staying. The Sophia-Loren lookalike oozed down-to-earth charm as she uncapped a Coke Zero and admitted: “I’m not a cook. What I really enjoy cooking is pasta and salads. Those are the things I do very easily. Somehow I was destroyed. I just had to go home and there was all this wonderful Greek cooking on the table.”

She recalled the genesis of the book: “It was my mother’s birthday. She turned 80 that day, and we had planned a party, but she went into the hospital. It was very sad. I thought: what gift can I make for her? She’s in the hospital. She’s 80. What can I really do? And suddenly I had this idea for the book. We always thought she should write a book of her recipes, but clearly for her generation cooking is not something you make a book of. Cooking – you do it, you live it, and you eat it!

“I called my sister Katerina, a very good cook. In our family, in every generation, you have an exceptional cook. My grandmother was a great cook. My mother was a great cook. Katerina is the cook of our generation. I said look, I’m going to take care of doing the book. I’ll find the editor, the publisher. But I cannot do the cooking. You will have to help me. There was a practical problem. Nobody cooked in our house with recipes. They were cooking – a little of this, a little of that. So, Katerina was obliged to do the very hard work, to count every gram.

“When the book was ready, it was one year to the day from when we started, which in Greece is not easy. It was my mother’s 81st birthday. She was so moved and happy. It was the best thing we could have done. Because telling the story of her life was a positive experience for her. The woman who did the interviews helped her not only to keep busy, but just to feel good, because she talked about her life. She was reminded of everything.” Marika died four months after book was published.

Recipes of Love takes us inside a world of love, family, food, and politics. And there are those mouth-watering recipes. Says Alexandra, “My favorite is pastitsio with phyllo. This is an old Athenian recipe that nobody does anymore. It’s delicious, and it looks so impressive on a buffet. The stuffed tomatoes with béchamel are special. And there are the parmesan cookies that George Bush liked. The keftedes are divine! Try those. They are fluffy. You know, they are not hard. We had to do them three times to get them right.”

Food and family meals were the glue and the sustenance that held them together through the tempestuous career of Mitsotakis. Alexandra recalled the time of the Colonels, when her father was arrested, then escaped into exile in Paris.

“I was very frightened during the [time of the] Colonels. It was terrible. But my mother still served dinner. It was a kind of security. It was a reference. For me, the dictatorship was the end of my childhood. I was eleven. It was not an easy decade.”

To prepare the recipes for the book, Alexandra and Katerina worked in the family home in Crete. Her mother was there to enjoy the production “It was a fabulous experience,” Alexandra says.

“The photographer came to our house. We had to make all the photographs in one week. So we had to cook all the food that week, several things per day. The funny thing was that this photographer was used to making cook books with food stylists. We said, we will just present it as it is, and then we’ll eat the food. He said, ‘Are you serious? You’ll eat the food? This is the first time I’ve worked on a book where everything is cooked and eaten.’

“Because we had so much food, we were inviting people all the time. We found ourselves on the 15th of August with a turkey and kourambiedes, so we invited all of our cousins to come and we had Christmas in the middle of summer. My mom enjoyed that very much. The house was full of laughter. “

According to Alexandra, creating the book proved an occasion of discovery. “I realized that cooking and the ritual of family meals is something that should not be taken for granted. Even today, my father continues to have his lunch at home every day, and we know that if we want to have lunch with him, there will always be food on the table. It has been a tremendous force in keeping the family together.

“Because of my activities, I’m constantly traveling between Greece and France, and my father, the first thing he will ask me is ‘What do you want to eat tomorrow? What do you want me to cook for you?’ And this is something, honestly, I feel very privileged to have. And I really hope I will remember and try to replicate it. Do it the way my family did. I know it’s another time, but let’s sit around food and talk. That is something that is important. We talk about everything, including politics, and a lot about food.

“One Sunday I was in Athens, and my father said, ‘I have this beautiful kokora and we’re going to do it with pasta.’ It would have been just the two of us, so I called my cousins and said my father has a beautiful kokora, and you’ll have to come for lunch. They said ‘wonderful, we’re coming.’ And suddenly my sister Dora decided that she was coming with one of her kids. So instead of eight, we were sixteen. Of course, the beautiful kokora was not enough, so we needed to cook a second dish.

“That’s how it works. Either we’re trying to find people to eat the food, or food to feed the people. We keep adjusting. We might have big or small arguments, but the fact that it’s happening around food helps.”

The Mitsotakis family continues to gather every summer at the family home in Crete, including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “Between July and August, everyone comes to see their grandfather or great-grandfather, and he loves it. They call him Big Pappou. The family is so large that it requires scheduling, but everyone makes it to Crete sooner or later in the summertime.”

Although Alexandra’s husband is French and she lives in Paris, she insisted that her children learn to speak Greek.

“I made a big effort. First of all, they went on their vacations to Crete, where they learned to speak Greek with my mom and their cousins living in Greece. And in Paris, I had a Greek teacher come to the house through their school years until they were seventeen.

“That was very, very important for me. Because I’m Greek, you see. I’m not French. My husband is French, but I’m Greek. And my grandchildren, I want them to speak Greek. I have spent many years in France but I consider myself living partially in Greece. The difference between being in France and in the United States is that you can go easily between Athens and Paris, and I have an apartment in Athens.”

Alexandra rescued the Greek Cultural Center in Paris. “It was on the verge of closing down when I was approached. I said hold on, Greece will not have a cultural entity in France? To promote our culture, our heritage, our poetry, photography?

“I found a few friends and three months later I was chairman of this thing, and five years later we have a really wonderful cultural center, doing many many, things. We don’t have any public money. We raised money because we had good projects and inspiring ideas. We just finished a film festival showing sixteen new Greek films. We do it every two years. It’s wonderful. People love it.”

She personally avoids politics. “I prefer the civic society,” she says. “I believe in politics you need to be a very good and strong person to remain true to yourself. It doesn’t bring out the best side in people. And I believe in everyone there is a good and a bad side. And it’s nice to do things that appeal to the good side. Because there is a good side in everybody. I believe that.”

She does have her views on the current political situation in Greece. “I worry that people might be very disappointed. I worry because I know that the Greek people have suffered very much. It’s unfair to give them promises that can’t be kept. But we have to be optimistic, and I am an optimist. In any case, let me say that whatever happens, even if things go badly in the short term, I am absolutely certain they will work in the long term.

“The assets that Greece has are very great. We have summer tourism, but we should have tourism year round. In every corner of our country, we have something to show, something to share. There are a million things we could do.

“I’m convinced that Greece’s potential has not been realized. We could become a fount of knowledge and also technology. We can do all that. All we need is to work a little bit hard and have a government that can solve the institutional problems of Greece. I am convinced we will do it because we have to. It will happen.”

The post How Alexandra Mitsotakis Created Recipes of Love appeared first on The National Herald.

Eugenios Mihail Andoniadis was one of the most famous of all planetary astronomers. Yet few Greeks anywhere in the world could readily identify this man. This is especially curious since E.M. Antoniadi (as he was later known) is the most renowned question of mapmaker of Mars in human history. It was not until the 1975 Viking orbiter images that Antoniadi’s maps became a part of history rather than regularly consulted geographic guides. Such was the level of Antoniadi’s overall work that he is attributed with finally resolving the most sensational and perplexing question ever to be raised by Mankind; the existence of the Martian canals.

On March 1, 1870, Antoniadi was born in the Tatavla quarter of Constantinople the son of Michel Antoniadi and Photini Alexiou. Antoniadi so quickly developed an interest in astronomy that by his late teens he was already systematically searching the night skies with a 3-inch (76-mm) refracting telescope. First in Constantinople and later on the beaches of the island of Prinkipo, the young Greek began to compile detailed drawings of the planets and other objects he observed. Antoniadi’s exceptional talent as a draftsman was immediately recognized as he submitted his drawings to the Societe Astronomique de France and the British Astronomical Association.

In 1893, the young Greek was invited by (Nicholas) Camille Flammarion (1842-1925), to work at his private observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge, near Paris. Flammarion was one of the world’s leading astronomers as well as the funder, in 1887, of the French Astronomical Society. Antoniadi published regularly in this society’s official bulletin L’astronomie. While Antoniadi was to earn a reputation as a brilliant observer it is in his role as a publishing scholar upon which his international fame was to rest. Aside from French the young Greek was fluent in English and regularly wrote for the Journal of the British Astronomical Association. Once in France Antoniadi devoted the rest of his life to the telescopic observation of planetary surfaces.

Clearly Antoniadi was a well-respected colleague who was read and listened to closely. But he was not initially a leading figure at the very center of the field of cutting edge astronomical debate. All that would come with the international controversy over life on Mars.

Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910), an Italian astronomer was the director of the Milan observatory from 1862 until, 1900, when he retired. Schiaparelli was the first to observe the asteroid Hesperia (1861) and is credited with identifying the orbits of numerous comets and shooting stars. Such was Schiaparelli’s work that he was awarded the prestigious Lalande Prize of the French Academie des Sciences in 1868. Today, Schiaparelli is most known for his observations and writings on the planet Mars.

Schiaparelli was not the first astronomer to draw maps of Mars but he was the first to note specific geographic features such as mountain ranges, seas, islands, capes, straits and so on. More importantly Schiaparelli was the first to systematically assign specific names to these geographic forms on his published maps. It was the translation of the word canali, which in Italian can mean either “channels” or “canals” that caused an international sensation.

Percival Lowell (1855-1916), a wealthy businessman and intellectual, who founded and became the director of the Lowell Astronomical Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, immediately, responded to the implications of canals on Mars. In 1906, Lowell published Mars and Its Canals arguing that for these massive canals to exist some intelligence must be at work on the planet surface (New York: Macmillan). A charismatic individual and dynamic public speaker Percival Lowell soon had the world scientific community and the world press abuzz with his theories.

Antoniadi made his observations from the Grand Lunette at Meudon to study Mars’s planetary oppositions between 1924 and 1941. While much of Antoniadi’ public life and work is documented his private life remains largely unknown. Curiously Antoniadi never officially belonged to the observatory staff. He referred to himself simply as the “astronome volontarie a l’Obervatoire de Meudon” Antoniadi was a man who could easily have secured a position in astromony literally anywhere in the world. But he did not seem to have needed such employment. On June 9, 1902, Antoniadi married Katherine Sevastupulo, who is said to have belonged to one of the leading families in Paris’s Greek community. Curiously history does not now record how Antoniadi made his living, assuming that he needed to do.

It is perhaps difficult for the modern Reader to fully comprehend the degree of public response and interest in Percival Lowell’s assertion of the intelligent life on Mars. What would otherwise have been dry academic articles read and argued by only a small circle of persons became the stuff of banner headlines in newspapers around the world. The scientific debate on the true surface of Mars became one of the very first international sensations of modern history.

At first, while at the Juvisy-sur-Orge observatory, Antoniadi was a supporter of Lowell’s work. Yet, Antoniadi’s own ongoing investigations and the publications of his colleagues caused him some considerable reflection. As William Sheehan has noted in, The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery, Antoniadi’s: “confidence in the whole network had been badly shaken by the “discovery” by Lowell and his assistants of what Antoniadi referred to as “subjective” linear markings on Mercury, Venus, and the Jovian satellites. Whereas in 1898 Antoniadi had stated that “despite the skepticism of several eminent authorities, I do not hesitate to say that the famous canals of Mars have a true objective existence,” by 1902 he characterized his position as “agnostic” (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1996).”

Such was Antoniadi’s professional accomplishments that no less a figure than Henri Deslandres (1853-1948) the director of the Meudon Observatory placed the Grand Lunette, then, as now the largest refractor telescope in Europe (and the third largest in the world) fully at the Greek’s disposal. This led to a revelation. As Antoniadi’s wrote of his observations of Martian deserts using the Grand Lunette, “[T]he soil of the planet then appeared covered with a vast number of dark knots and chequered fields, diversified with the faintest imaginable dusky areas, and marbled with irregular, undulating filaments, the representations of which was evidently beyond the powers of any artist. There was nothing geometrical in all this, nothing artificial, the whole appearance having something overwhelming natural about it.”

The ever-meticulous Antoniadi soon realized that various optical effects were at play. Some involved the diffraction of light by the Earth’s atmosphere that gave the illusion of spots on his telescope lens. Other’s had to do with the eye’s linking of many tiny surface details into apparently meaningful patterns. In time Antoniadi took the unwavering position that, “Nobody has ever seen a genuine canal on Mars.” He rightly concluded that the “completely illusory canals” seen on Mars were, in fact, irregular features on that planet’s surface. The entry on Antoniadi in the International Encyclopedia of Astronomy flatly concludes, “he settled the controversy about the canals on Mars (Patrick Moore, editor, New York: Orion Books, 1987).”

In 1930, Antoniadi published, La planete Mars, 1659-1929 (Paris: Hedrmann et Cie), which has been translated into English by Patrick Moore as The Planet Mars (Sheldon Devon, U.K.: Keith Reid, 1975). Much has been written about Antoniadi. For those interested in learning more about Antoniadi’s career they can consult Richard J. McKim’s, 1993, two part article, “The Life and Times of E.M. Antoniadi, 1870-1944. Part I: An Astronomer in the Making” (Journal of the British Astronomical Association 103: 164–170. Bibcode: 1993JBAA..103..164M and Bibcode: 1993JBAA..103..219M). A serviceable overview that has extended passages on Antoniadi’s career can be found in the William Sheehan book already mentioned.

Antoniadi has experienced lasting fame within the scientific community in yet another manner. No less than three geographic sites on two planets and one moon are named after him. On our Moon there is the Antoniadi Crater, on Mercury there is the Antoniadi Dorsum, and on Mars there is the 381 km Antoniadi Crater, so named in 1973. This means that quite literally in our solar system more geographic locations are named after Eugenios Mihail Andoniadis than any other single Greek in history. In like manner Modern Greek history will never be complete until figures such as Antoniadi, an internationally recognized astronomer, on an equal footing with figures such as Flammarion, Schiaparelli and Lowell are factored into the wider flow of historical events.

The post Eugenios Mihail Andoniadi: The Greek Mapmaker of Mars appeared first on The National Herald.

AMES, IA — Iowa State says basketball player Georgios Tsalmpouris is turning prom the Associated Press reported.

Tsalmpouris, a 7-foot-1 center from Katerini, Greece, was a late addition to the Cyclones roster last season.

Tsalmpouris was a project for former coach Fred Hoiberg. He played in just eight games as a freshman in 2014-15, averaging 1.4 points. The move was expected after Tsalmpouris returned to Greece this summer.

Tsalmpouris’s departure frees up a scholarship for new coach Steve Prohm, who will lose four key contributors following next season, the AP wrote.

As the Des Moines register reported earlier this year, upon Tsalmpouris’ arrival to the Cyclones, height is finally here.

“The Cyclones signed 7-foot-1 Greek center Giorgos Tsalmpouris on May 10. Tsalmpouris will play for the Greek national team this summer before joining Iowa State. It’s quite the relief for ISU, whose second-tallest player at the beginning of the upcoming season will still be 6-foot-7 Georges Niang (the Giorgos-Georges combination should be deadly for both opponents and broadcasters).

“However, Tsalmpouris will soon be getting help. Star 6-foot-9 JUCO forward Jameel McKay will likely be eligible in the second semester for the beginning of conference play, while fellow JUCO forward Darien Williams will sit out this year for shoulder surgery, but begin playing for the Cyclones in 2015-16.

“With a formidable frontcourt coming in, Iowa State has the opportunity to continue to be incredibly efficient on offense, with players who can score in the paint and from three. Georges Niang and Dustin Hogue are both solid players in the paint, but without Kane or some size coming in, the Cyclones’ offense figured to take a step back. If Tsalmpouris can contribute immediately, it might not skip a beat.”

The athletically-gifted Greek is bound to head to an NBA team soon.

The post 7’1 Tsalmpouris to Turn Pro appeared first on The National Herald.

TORONTO, CANADA – The Taste of the Danforth is an annual tradition among Toronto’s Greeks. Approximately 1.6 million people gather for three days in August along Danforth Avenue in the city’s GreekTown section of food, music, and breaking world’s records. To the latter event, records shattered in years past included the World’s largest Zorba dance group, the world’s largest yogurt bowl, and other such Greek-related feats.

These records are not merely speculative: the Danforth events were measured against previous records (the Zorba dance in Volos, the yogurt bowl in South Africa).

Contest winners win prizes such as a trip to Greece, and the proceeds from the contest entry fees go to charity. As the Festival sponsor, the Danforth Business Improvement Association (BIA) states, “the Festival combines exquisite food, culture and music with extraordinary philanthropy to   benefit the local community. What most people don’t realize is that the profits from the Festival are donated back to the community by the GreekTown on the Danforth BIA.

Over the years, GreekTown has donated more than $2 million to Toronto East General Hospital. In 2012, GreekTown committed to a further $500,000 to enhance pediatric care. This year, GreekTown made a commitment to a joint hospital project between Sick Kids and a children’s hospital in Greece – Agia Sofia.”

The main sponsor is Krinos Foods, whose home base is in New York, but which has operations in other North American cities, including Toronto.

One record The Taste has held for years is being the largest street festival in Canada, easily drawing over 1.5 million per year, when 22 years ago it began with about 5000 people.

On its Facebook page, the Taste gave “a huge thank you to everyone who made it another great success! A special thank you to Krinos Foods Canada, the Greektown on the Danforth BIA President of the Board Constantine Voidonicolas, our sponsors, business members and volunteers who make the festival possible year after year! A special shout out also goes to Toronto Police Service for ensuring the festival’s safety year in and year out!

But most of all, thank you to all of you – the visitors – who make all of the work and effort all worthwhile. Until next year!”

The post The Big, Fat Greek Taste of the Danforth appeared first on The National Herald.

NORWICH, CT – The Rev. Matthew Baker, priest of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Norwich, was killed on March 1. As TNH reported, over $600,000 was raised for his wife and children within days (Over $600K is Raised for Fr. Baker’s Wife and Children,” Mar. 14). That number, reports the Norwich Bulletin, is now over $1million.

But the amazing link between Baker’s family and the city of Norwich is the link that remains in the most unpredictable of ways:

Recently, Baker’s wife, Katherine, and their six children moved into a dormitory at St. Basil’s Academy in Garrison, NY.

The room in which they are staying was donated by the Rose City AHEPA 110 Chapter in the early 1980s. Chapter spokesperson Tony Petros said of Katherine, the Bulletin reported, “she made a point of sending me the nameplate on the door. It is amazing that this donation would eventually go to help Fr. Baker’s wife and children.”
What makes it so amazing: that this donation to Garrison, NY was made by the AHEPA Chapter of…Norwich, CT!

The post Baker’s Family Helped by Coincidence appeared first on The National Herald.

NEW YORK – the Chemical Marketing and Economics (CME) group of the American Chemical Society’s New York Section, Inc., announced on Aug. 11 that P. Roy Vagelos, MD, Chairman of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., will receive CME’s Leadership Award™ for Lifetime Achievement at the Yale Club Ballroom in New York City on December 8, 2015.

Dr. Vagelos has an unmatched record in building both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies into top world-class enterprises that effectively translate science into medicine. Under his leadership Merck was elected Fortune’s Most Admired Corporation seven years in a row, an extraordinary achievement.

“It is remarkable to have an active career over six decades but it is truly exceptional to head the legendary Merck & Co., Inc. for a decade, taking it to new heights, retire, and subsequently spend two decades developing Regeneron into the fifth largest biotech company in the USA,” Mr. George Rodriguez, Chair of CME and Board member of the ACS NY Section noted. “Further, his passion and support for STEM education are truly exemplary.

“My career began when I majored in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania.  Then my knowledge of chemistry permitted me to work in medicine, biochemistry and drug discovery, and ultimately to lead a giant research-based pharmaceutical company, Merck.  After retirement, I agreed to chair the board of Regeneron because of the superb quality of its science.  It was bound to succeed,” Dr. Vagelos said. “I wholeheartedly support the American Chemical Society, and in particular the CME group, for their initiatives to expand STEM student programs and to provide a venue for the industries of chemistry to learn the many paths to progress and growth.

Vagelos is the retired Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc.  He received an AB in 1950 from the University of Pennsylvania and an MD in 1954 from Columbia University.  After working at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Institutes of Health and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, he joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1975. In 1985, he became CEO and subsequently Chairman of the company until retirement in 1994.

Since becoming Chairman of the biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in 1995, he continues in that role while also serving as Chairman of the Board of Advisors at Columbia University Medical Center.  Dr. Vagelos is a member of a number of public policy and advisory boards, including the National Math & Science Initiative and The Nature Conservancy.

The author of more than 100 scientific papers, Dr. Vagelos is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He has received many awards in science and business as well as 14 honorary doctorates.  In the past, he was Chairman of the Board of the University of Pennsylvania and served on many boards including TRW and McDonnell Douglas.

The CME Leadership Awards honor leaders with distinction in harnessing the transformative power of chemistry to advance humanity. Prior honorees include Andrew Liveris (Dow Chemical), Jon M. Huntsman (Huntsman Corp.), Juan Pablo del Valle (Mexichem) and other leaders.

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SARASOTA, FL ­– Khaleej Times reported this week that Sharjah is all set to host the internationally acclaimed musical genius YANNI CHRYSSOMALIS (popularly known simply by his first name) on Nov. 6 at the Al Majaz Amphitheatre in the heart of Khalid Lagoon.

Then, in early 2016, Yanni embarks on a monthlong tour of the American South, particularly in the Florida cities of Sarasota (Feb. 2), Jacksonville (Feb 3), Clearwater (Feb. 5), West Palm Beach (Feb. 6), Naples (Feb. 8), Tallahassee (Feb. 9), Orlando (Feb. 13), and Melbourne (Feb. 14).

Yanni is a Greek-born American composer and keyboardist who was a leading figure in late 20th-century new age music, a characteristically nonarousing genre of popular music, often entirely instrumental and used for relaxation or in the cultural, artistic and tourism spheres in Sharjah inspire the eagerly-awaited concert at a time when the Arab League is celebrating the Emirate as the Capital of Arab Tourism for 2015, says the Khaleej Times. “To mark the crowning of Sharjah as the Arab Tourism Capital, Al Majaz Amphitheatre is looking forward to hosting a wide array of art and cultural events and popular international musical performances and concerts over the next few months in order to shine the light on Sharjah’s growing presence on the global art and cultural map.”

BEL AIR, CA – Greek-American actress JENNIFER ANISTON has wed again, this time to actor and long-time beau JUSTIN THEROUX, reported the Master Herald. “The couple exchanged vows in front of more than 75 surprised guests, as most of them had no idea they were in for a nuptial affair. According to US Weekly, guests were told that the event was for Justin’s birthday party. The Tropic Thunder screenwriter turns 44 on August 10 which coincidentally is also the date of the couple’s engagement anniversary, says the Master Herald. TMZ also reported “that a huge shed was built over the past week to conceal what was really going on at the couple’s mansion and that no one was allowed to park near the area. Judging by the amount of secrecy going on, the outlet had a hint that something was up when they spotted a wedding-themed cake and two puppet caricatures earlier that day, they also spotted an actual pastor with a bible in hand walking into the house.” Master Herald also reported that Jennifer’s parents weren’t in attendance despite the bride’s reconciliation with her mom last year after a long-standing rift. Just like Rachel and Monica in their hit TV comedy series FRIENDS, the actress’ longtime friend and co-star COURTENEY COX served as maid of honor while Justin’s good pal and tattoo artist Scott Campbell served as best man. “The best part about Jen and Justin’s marriage was how they remained clandestine about it. For three years since their engagement, the couple seemed happier with their long-term fiancé label and what better way to seal the deal when almost everyone thought the pair was in no rush for marriage.”

COTTONWOOD, AZ – There is a Greek restaurant in Cottonwood, AZ that not only has a distinctive name, but also engages in a distinctive – and educational – activity. ANCIENT PILLARS, a fitting name for a Greek restaurant, stands out a bit more than the traditional “Olympic” “Acropolis” “Santorini” “Aegean”  and other words typically found on a Hellenic establishment’s awning. What also renders Ancient Pillars to be unordinary is the Greek history trivia questions it posts on its website (Facebook page), “Ancient Pillars Greek Restaurant.” For instance: “Which sea separates Greece from Turkey and contains the island of Crete?” and “On which Greek island was PRINCE PHILIP born?” This monthlong contest (which recently ended but which featured a good deal of online traffic), rewards the winner with a VIP card, all the while spreading knowledge about Greek history.

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BROOKLYN – Parents, students, teachers, Chairman Basil Danas and other Board members of the Greek afternoon school Plato (in Brooklyn), colleagues, patients, relatives, and friends gathered on the evening of August 16 at the Andrew Torregrossa & Sons Funeral Home in Brooklyn to venerate the mortal remains of Dr. Spiro Demetis and express sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family.

The next morning, they gathered at the Church of the Holy Cross in Bay Ridge to attend the funeral and big Dr. Demetis a final farewell.

Dr. Demetis died on August 14 at age 58, survived by his fie, Constantina, their children Antigone and Theodore Cacoyannis, Constantine Demetis, and Statmatia Demetis, his father, Kostas, siblings in Greece Amalia and George Miteloudis, nephews Antigone and Michalis Servos, Dionysios, Alexander, and Constantine, Eugenia and Stergios Naskou,  Constantina and Costas Slatano, Christina Voudouris, cousins, and other relatives.

Dr. Demetis was born in Serres and raised in Thessaloniki. He came to the United States to study and became an accomplished physician and a mentor for many doctors and all those who had the privilege to learn from him.

The book of condolences underscores those sentiments. John Kassotis of Astoria wrote: “it is very difficult to understand how we can be separated from people we love so much, but we find comfort in knowing that our beloved Spiro is resting in Jesus’ bosom. We will miss him.”

Amit Gupta of Tupelo, MS added: “my vocabulary is too limited to describe our feelings for this wonderful man, excellent teacher and doctor, mentor, and friend.”

PLATO SCHOOL

Dr. Demetis loved Greek paideia, and for many years served as president, vice president, and advisor to the Plato School. He was the pillar of the school, and as Chairman Danas said, played a key role in the school’s functioning and progress.

Danas pointed out that the school is now in the hands of those who grew up within it generations ago.

School Treasurer Stefanie Christakos spoke of how crowded the offices were, how over 1000 people came to honor him. “To us, Dr. Demetis was not just the president. He was a teacher, a mentor, the person who kept the school together and gave us the opportunity to offer our own contributions to it.”
Speaking to Dr. Demetis’ generosity, Christakos said: “he covered the tuition of those who couldn’t afford it, and balanced the school budget when there was a deficit. And he did it discretely. He was a philanthropist and an educator in every sense of the word.”
Alkiviadis Amarantos said Demetis “was a true friend – virtuous and moral. He was a first-class person: likable, sociable, and approachable. Our friendship was close, because we shared common visions and ideals, common principles and values…He had a great fondness for children – he had a childlike heart, and ached for each one. And was a great leader of the school, and a staunch supporter of the Hellenic language and culture.”

The post Dr. Spiro Demetis, Plato Pillar, Was 58 appeared first on The National Herald.

WEST MILFORD, NJ – With the magnificence and splendor of a bygone imperial Byzantine era, the Pontians of America honored and venerated the Virgin Mary at the Panagia Soumela Greek Orthodox Church in West Milford.

Metropolitan Evangelos officiated, and Greek Consul Manos Kambourakis was present.

Though fewer than expected were on hand, Pontians traveled from across the United States for the occasion. What was encouraging, though, was the number of young people on hand, portending that this tradition will endure in future generations.

Indeed, the Sunday morning liturgy on August 16, in the small but very warm and welcoming chapel, resembled something out of Byzantine grandeur, and was enhanced by the presence of Evangelos and cantor Dr. George Bilalis.

The metropolitan advised the congregation to live the word of love by faith, works of love, and support of the Church. “Everyone who was here dancing and having fun last night [at the Panagias’ eve celebration] should be here [at the Liturgy] today,” he added.

The procession of the icon of the Panagia followed, which many Astorian Pontians traveled to see, and also to greet Evangelos, whom they remember well when he served the community there.

More than 30 young Pontian-Americans, dressed in traditional costumes, danced the traditional dances of their ancestral homeland. Greetings were read aloud of various well-wishers, including the Metropolitans of Drama, Veria, and Naoussa, and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Philadelphia Pontians were on hand, including the President of the Federation of Hellenic-American Societies of Philadelphia and Greater Delaware Valley, Efstathios Karadonis, who called for support of The Holy Foundation Panagia Soumela Pontion Amerikis, by Pontians and non-Pontians alike. Evangelos praised the Foundation, and said “it is here all the time,” and so called on the laity to support it throughout the year.

Those sentiments were echoed by Gus Tsiflidis, President of the Pan Pontian Federation of America & Canada.

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MEDIA, PA – Michael Coll, a Judge in Delaware Country, PA went into a rant about Greeks during a child support hearing involving Gus Hartas, a Greek-American, NBC10, the network’s local affiliate reported.

According to court transcripts, NBC reported, Coll asked Hartas: “Are you of Greek background, sir?”

When Hartas replied “yes,” the judge went into a rant:  “The Greeks never pay taxes,” he said. “That’s why their country is in bankruptcy.”

Hartas’ attorney objected, but Coll continued: ““So can I take judicial note of the fact that the Greeks are in bankruptcy as a nation and one of the reasons, the principal reason is because none of them ever pay taxes?”

“I object,” the attorney said. “I object to the statements that you’re making.”

“Well, these are simply statements of fact, right?” the judge asked.

Hartas told NBC10 that Coll’s comments about Greeks “just means that he’s a straight racist person. If he said that about  us, you know he would’ve said that about anybody, blacks, Hispanics…”

Hartas also described how his mother, who was in court with him, had her head down and was crying when Coll made the remarks.

Through NBC10, Coll issued an apology: “My language does not accurately reflect my feelings about the Greek community. I regret the language I used during the hearing.”

Coll also vacated the child support order he had signed during the hearing, and ordered a new hearing with a different judge.

The post “Greeks Never Pay Taxes!” Judge Rants appeared first on The National Herald.

TORONTO – The one-plane carrier SkyGreece didn’t make any friends this week when it made passengers wait three days – days – for a flight to take off and gave no real explanation why.

The Toronto-Athens-Zagreb flight that was supposed to take over on Aug. 17 didn’t get off the ground until Aug. 20 with the company saying only that it was for “operational considerations” and waiting for a spare part to arrive and then to let the crew rest.

Passengers were more than just a tad upset at the airline as much for the lack of information as having to wait and keep coming to the airport only to be told the airline still wasn’t flying until it finally took off.

One of the frustrated, Daniela Boronka, was going to a wedding in Greece with her husband, son and mother. She was a maid of honor.

Just before she found out the flight would finally depart, she told CBC News that she was “calm until last night but when the airline kept postponing this flight I became nervous that we weren’t going to make it.”

She said being delayed for a day is understandable, but three days in unacceptable. “I wish them luck and I hope they improve in the future because they’re a young company, but I would be hesitant because this scarred me pretty good,” Boronka said. “This is not how I want to start my vacation.”

In a statement on Aug. 17 the airline said that “due to operational considerations, SkyGreece Airlines need to delay all flights.”

A spokesman for SkyGreece told CBC News that all its flights were delayed for 24 hours “because of crew rest.” He added that when its flight arrived in Toronto, there was “a small technical issue” and SkyGreece had to wait for a part.

On its site, SkyGreece, which has only one plane, says it was founded in 2012 and started its operations in 2014.

“I’m just glad to be on the plane already,” a customer who had just obtained his boarding pass told Global News.

“A nightmare, an absolute nightmare,” a New York City woman who asked not to be identified added. “I’ve been traveling for 40 years, a lot of traveling overseas and have never have I seen anything like this.”

Many travelers in Toronto said the new airline failed to deliver accurate or complete information, causing unnecessary anxiety.

“You come here, nothing — the next day again,” said Dorothy Horvatek of Etobicoke, Canaada, who was hosting guests from Croatia, unable to make their return flight on schedule.

“It was a complete lack of information, the information wasn’t correct,” said Anna Kurkowska.

“People accept situations when information is shared … it would have been better than lack of knowledge, that’s the worst thing,” she said.

There was trouble at the other end too with many passengers in Europe with confirmed tickets to return to Canada saying they would have to wait until next week now to get back.

Some relatives told Global News that competing carriers are charging more than $1100 for one way tickets; many passengers paid less than $900 for return travel from Toronto to Greece on SkyGreece.

Passengers who would like to recover expenses related to the delay can contact SkyGreece on their website. They can also file a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency, or through the European Union.

The post SkyGreece Makes Toronto Passengers Wait Three Days for Flight, Little Info appeared first on The National Herald.

HARTFORD, CT – The National Herald’s recent article “Greek-Americans and Miracles over the Decades” (Aug. 8) prompted Dr. James Rouman, a retired anesthesiologist and the author of two novels, to share is own firsthand account of a miracle that occurred almost 30 years ago, yet remains fresh in his mind and left a profound effect on him.

“I was attending a medical meeting at an O’Hare Airport Hotel in March 1987,” Dr. Rouman told TNH, “when I learned of a tearing (weeping) icon at an obscure Albanian Orthodox Church in Chicago, and decided to see for myself what the fuss reported in the newspapers and on television was all about.

“Arriving at the church, I saw a line of people waiting to enter the building in front of which several tour busses were parked,” he continued. “For over four months, more than a quarter million people from as far away as Ceylon, Sri Lanka, England, Rome, and Egypt had made the pilgrimage to see what for many was believed to be a miracle.

“On the afternoon of my visit, a church official remarked that the icon was weeping more than usual, and that the amount of material coming from the eyes of the Virgin Mary was sufficient to permit those present to be anointed if they so desired. Soon it would be my turn to witness the unforgettable. Approaching the icon, I recognized it to be a painting on canvas over wood, standing about five feet tall, three feet wide, and in colors primarily of red and gold. One could see that the icon positioned on the iconostasis was in no way supported from behind or touching anything other than the screen, itself, of which it was a part. As I stood before the icon, I saw a liquid substance falling directly from the pupils of the Virgin Mary’s eyes, over her face and clothing, reaching finally to the bottom of the icon.

“There the exudate was carefully collected, placed in a small silver bowl and taken to several priests, who while uttering words of blessing and prayer, anointed those who came forward. At that moment I knew I was witnessing not just a religious phenomenon, but an awesome and miraculous event unlike anything I could have ever imagined. And although I stood in wonder, I felt transformed by the experience as the tears were placed on my forehead.”

NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL

A graduate of Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago, Rouman interned at the Texas Medical Center in Houston and trained as an anesthesiologist at Hartford Hospital and McGill University. His entire career has been as a staff member of Hartford Hospital, the largest tertiary care center between Boston and New York City. Rouman was also a faculty member of the University of Connecticut Health Center.

How does Rouman reconcile all the science and medicine that he learned, practiced, and taught over the years, with a phenomenon that cannot be explained by those disciplines?

“A great physician or scientist, if honest with himself,” Rouman explains, “is humbled by what little he knows as a function of what there is to know – not just of the human body, but of nature itself, of the universe in which he exists. The infinite order of it all, the intricacy of design of all existing matter, whether alive or inert, boggles the mind of anyone giving expression to such thoughts.

“Through it all, the issue of origin, of ontology, is brought to bear. There had to be a beginning. There had to be a superhuman architect to have fashioned the universe in all of its unfathomable complexity. To me and to the physicians and scientists I’ve known and respected during my career, that answer can only be God, however expressed by any given person. Under such a premise, it is not hard to reconcile the natural with the supernatural. Things can and do occur for which we have no immediate or rational explanation And just what does, for example, constitute a rational explanation? After all, we learn in science that too often today’s wisdom is merely tomorrow’s folly.

As physicians and scientists,” Rouman continues, “we are taught to observe carefully and to record accurately what we see, which in turn determines, to a large extent, what we do and how we react.”

WAS IT REAL?

All that aside, how can the rest of us, who weren’t there be convinced that what Dr. Rouman experienced was really a weeping icon, and not some sort of hoax?

“What I personally observed in that little church in Chicago was not an illusion. It was not a matter of whether there were a few tears that had wetted an icon. There was material enough streaming from the Virgin’s eyes to have been collected and used to anoint hundreds of persons over several months’ time. As for skeptics, there were obviously some. To them, all I can say is that those who need tidy and finite answers to metaphysical questions or inexplicable religious phenomena will not be satisfied until such time they have had a religious experience of their own. Only then will the need for explanations be put aside.”

He continued: one might ask why God chooses to make His presence felt in places far and wide, often mysteriously and beyond comprehension. Why is it that in a small Albanian church the Virgin Mary wept tears? For some people these and similar questions call for plausible answers. To me they are irrelevant. Having seen the tears of the Theotokos, I no longer doubt that God reveals himself at times and in ways that are difficult to understand. I don’t need an explanation for what I witnessed. I know what I saw.”

It would have been considered a “sacrilege if the tears were given up for analysis,” Rouman explains. But why? If those who submitted them for analysis really believed, then what could be better than a good faith effort to show everyone else the tears were real – through whatever evidence they needed to believe, even if that were chemical analysis?

The sacrilege, as Rouman explained, would not have been in the concept of a chemical analysis, but rather in the act. “The ecclesiastic authorities of Chicago prevented the chemical analysis of the material coming from the Virgin’s eyes for theological reasons, the thinking being that the substance represented part of the Virgin’s body and should therefore be handled with same respect as would be shown the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.”

As for what it looked and felt like, Rouman said “the material was not clear fluid likened to tears, but rather a more thick substance akin to myrrh.”

Rouman says the experience further strengthened his faith in God, and make him more open to believing that other similar reported phenomena to be true.

ABOUT DR. ROUMAN

Dr. Rouman was born in Wisconsin to parents from Metamorphosis, a village in the Southern Laconian region of Monemvasia – the family name, “Roumanis,” was shortened at Ellis island by one of his uncles, who had arrived to the United States earlier.

His first novel, Underwater Dreams, is semi-autobiographical in nature and was written as a tribute to that cohort of Greeks, who while finding themselves in remote cities and areas of America, and without the support of a Greek community, church, schools and cultural organizations, managed to maintain their Orthodox faith, language, and traditions, all the while accomplishing great things. “My two siblings and I were home schooled in the Greek language by my mother, who procured material for that purpose from Greece. One of my brothers is also a physician, while the other became a distinguished professor of Greek and Latin,” he says.

His second novel, Uncertain Journey, received high marks from the reviewer Kirkus. The book “is a story in which I attempt to put a face on one of the major and troublesome societal issues of our day, namely, that of the illegal immigrant, through the telling of the plight of an Albanian alien living in the shadows of our society and within a well-established Greek-American community.”

Finally, regarding the miracle he witnessed in 1987, “I urge your readers to go on line and google ‘Weeping Icon, St. Nicholas Albanian Orthodox Church, Chicago,’ where numerous detailed accounts of the phenomenon can be accessed,” Dr. Rouman says.

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PARIS — A Greek-American from Oregon was one of two U.S. Servicemen and an American friend who likely prevented a massacre on a French train when they tackled and subdued a heavily-armed man police said was a known Islamist supporter.

Alek Skarlatos, a National Guardsman who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan, along with fellow U.S. soldiers Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler, charged the man who was carrying an AK-47, a pistol and a box cutter and subdued him before he could kill anyone.

The New York Times said the men, called “heroes” by French authorities, tackled the man, a 26-year-old Moroccan who later said he was only attempting to rob passengers on the high-speed Paris-to-Amsterdam run.

The soldiers grabbed him by the neck and beat him over the head with his own automatic rifle until he was unconscious, one of them said in television interviews, although not before Stone, an Airman First Class, suffered serious slashes from the box cutter, the same weapon used on the 9/11 airplane terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001.

The suspect entered the train car carrying an AK-47 and a handgun, according to the Americans. “I looked over at Spencer and said, ‘Let’s go,’” said Skarlatos. “And he jumped, I followed behind him by about three seconds. Spencer got the guy first, grabbed the guy by the neck, I grabbed the handgun,” Skarlatos said.

“Spencer ran a good 10 meters to get to the guy,” Skarlatos told television interviewers. After they tackled the suspect, Skarlatos said he pulled the handgun away from the man and threw it to the side.

He then grabbed the Kalashnikov, which was lying at the suspect’s feet, he told television interviewers. The suspect was yelling at the two to give him back his gun, said Sadler, but Skarlatos began beating him with it.

Skarlatos said he “started muzzle-thumping him in the head with it.” Other passengers joined in, and the injured Stone held him in a chokehold until he lost consciousness, Skarlatos said.

GUNS DIDN’T WORK

With Stone badly cut, Skarlatos only then found the suspect’s guns had malfunctioned as they were charging him.

“He had pulled the trigger on the AK, the primer was just faulty, so the gun didn’t go off, luckily,” Skarlatos said. “And he didn’t know how to fix it, which is also very lucky.”

Spc. Alek Skarlatos, Oregon National Guard

The gunman also hadn’t been able to load his handgun.  “There was no magazine in it, so he either dropped it accidentally or didn’t load it properly, so he was only able to get what appeared to be one shot off,” Skarlatos said.

The man wounded at least one passenger before the two men subdued him. The Americans were decorated with an honor by the French city of Arras, where the train pulled in and the men were being hailed as heroes throughout the country, which has suffered deadly attacks from Islamist terrorists.

An amateur video shows the suspect on the ground with his legs in the air and his hands tied behind his back, while another man — apparently Stone, kneels shirtless and evidently in pain. Groans are heard, and a voice saying, “Dude, I tried to shoot him.”

The incident took only a couple of minutes and the Americans got lucky when the gunman’s rifle malfunctioned before he could fire. Passengers said they saved many lives with their quick action.

“It could have been a real carnage,” said Chris Norman, a British businessman who also helped restrain the suspect after he had been subdued, the Times reported.

Norman, interviewed on television, said: “The guy actually came up, he pulled out a cutter, started cutting Spencer. He cut Spencer behind the neck, he nearly cut his thumb off. We eventually got him under control.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The attack began when a French passenger headed for the toilets in car No. 12 came upon the gun who was carrying the Kalashnikov over his shoulder, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

The passenger “courageously” tried to tackle the man, who fired off several shots, the minister said, hitting another passenger, of dual French-American citizenship. A train employee ran through the carriage.

Norman and the two Americans looked up, saw the man with the Kalashnikov and ducked down into their seats. It was then that the two Americans decided to take action. The train was still moving at top speed.

Despite bleeding heavily, Stone went to the aid of the gunshot victim, Sadler said, according to the Times. “Even though he was injured he went to help the other man who was injured,” he said. “Without his help he would have died.”

QUICK THINKING BRAVERY

“We were scared for sure, but, I mean, adrenaline mostly just takes over, because I didn’t have time to think,” Skarlatos said. “I didn’t realize or fully comprehend what was going on. It felt like it was a dream or a movie.”

French authorities are questioning the attacker and are expected to speak to at least one of the Americans about what happened. Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Cazeneuve, speaking in Arras, said the Americans “were particularly courageous and showed great bravery in very difficult circumstances,” and that “without their sangfroid we could have been confronted with a terrible drama.”

He called for caution before jumping to conclusions. French authorities are on heightened alert after Islamic extremist attacks in January left 20 people dead, including the three gunmen.

In June, a lone attacker claiming allegiance to Islamic radicals beheaded his employer and set off an explosion at an American-owned factory in France, raising concerns about other scattered, hard-to-predict attacks.

Sadler, a senior at Sacramento State University, was traveling with childhood friends Stone, of Carmichael, California, and Skarlatos when they heard a gunshot and breaking glass.

Sadler told The Associated Press that they saw a train employee sprint down the aisle followed by a gunman with an automatic rifle.

RUNNING INTO DANGER

“As he was cocking it to shoot it, Alek just yells, ‘Spencer, go!’ And Spencer runs down the aisle,” Sadler said. “Spencer makes first contact, he tackles the guy, Alek wrestles the gun away from him, and the gunman pulls out a boxcutter and slices Spencer a few times. And the three of us beat him until he was unconscious.”

Another passenger helped tie the gunman up, and Stone then quickly turned to help another passenger who had been wounded in the throat, stopping his bleeding until paramedics came, Sadler said. He said, “The gunman never said a word” during the attack.

Skarlatos, 22, had returned from a deployment in Afghanistan in July, and Stone is stationed in the Azores, according to Skarlatos’ step-mother Karen Skarlatos.

She spoke with her step-son immediately after the incident. “He sounded fine, but he was intense — he sounded like he had just thwarted a terrorist attack.”

“Alek and Spencer, they’re big, brave, strong guys and they decided they were going to tackle him. And they did,” she told the AP from Oregon. “Spencer got a couple good slices on him. But they were able to subdue him while the train was still moving.”

The Arras Mayor praised the “extraordinary reflexes” of the Americans and awarded them special medals overnight. “I wanted them to feel recognition not only from the city but also from French people in general and from all people who are against terrorism,” he said.

“We avoided the worst, but the situation was tough, for them and for everyone,” he said.

A third person, French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, suffered a minor injury while activating the train’s emergency alarm, Lorthiois said.

Europe’s major rail stations, such as Paris’ Gare du Nord and Brussels’ Gare du Midi, are patrolled by soldiers armed with rifles, but passengers can board most high-speed trains without passing through metal detectors or having their bags searched or showing their passports.

(Material from the Associated Press was used in this report)

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ROSEBURG, OR – On August 21, Alex Skarlatos, a 22 year-old National Guardsman who had just completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan, along with fellow U.S. soldiers Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler, charged a man on a French train who was carrying an AK-47, a pistol and a box cutter and subdued him before he could kill anyone.

The soldiers grabbed him by the neck and beat him over the head with his own automatic rifle until he was unconscious, the New York Times reported. It was Skarlatos who took the AK-47 away and hit the man with its muzzle.

Skarlatos’ father, Emanuel, spoke with The National Herald a few hours after his son’s heroic act, which United States, France, and throughout the world.

“Our Alex made all of us proud,” the elder Skarlatos said. “All the relatives, friends, and his fellow citizens are proud of him. All of Roseburg (the Oregon town in which the Skarlatoses live), the state of Oregon, and the nation is proud. His unparalleled heroism certainly saved many people from death.”
Skarlatos and his wife, Karen, from the moment they spoke to their son directly to learn what happened, have been constantly receiving phonecalls from local and national media. Alek contacted them around 1:30 local (Pacific) time in Oregon, about five hours after the incident. Before then, he was relaying the details to the police and the press.  Alek said he expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande, and speak via telephone with President Obama. Having just completed his Afghanistan tour, Alek expected to go on vacation, including a trip to Greece. Due to this unexpected event, his itinerary has changed.

Alek will stay in the National Guard for two or three years, Skarlatos told TNH about his son. “But his dream is to become a police officer,” and Skarlatos advises his children to follow their dreams.

Alek Skarlatos (R) and Anthony Sadler.

SKARLATOS FAMILY

Born in Germany 65 years ago, Emanuel Skarlatos has two other sons besides Alek: Peter (24) and Solon (20). His wife, Karen, is a nurse; he studied fine arts and anthropology – both are now retired. The family lived mostly in California but moved to Roseburg six years ago.

Emanuel’s father (Alek’s grandfather), Socrates, was a shoemaker from Alexandroupolis. Fighting for the Greek army in WWII, he was captured by the Nazis and taken to a concentration camp in East Germany.

Because he was a craftsman, the Germans put Socrates to work in a factory that made boots for the Nazi troops. Smart and capable, Socrates was promoted to head of the department that cut the hides from which to make the boots. That is where he met Else – she also worked in the factory. They married and three children: Nick, Emanuel, and George. They came to the United States almost 60 years ago and settled in California.

Like his father, Emanuel Skarlatos first became a father at 40, and had three boys, all two years apart. “Is it a coincidence,” Emanuel joked? Socrates died at age 63.

Raised in the United States and the son of a German woman, Emanuel nonetheless learned Greek, influenced by Socrates, who wanted his children to retain their Greek heritage. Emanuel visited his father’s birthplace many times. He was in Greece in 2004 for the Olympics, and was there most recently in 2007. “I wish that God grants us the opportunity to go back to Greece again – the birthplace of the Olympics, democracy, and culture.”

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