My Greek Odyssey

Freedom or Eleftheria

2013-06-18T14:05:03-04:00

Like many others I have been watching with revulsion as peaceful demonstraters have been crushed by Turkish security forces. The fantasy of a democratic Turkey too often touted in European and American circles has finally been exposed by Erdogan's heavy handed approach to those who have the temerity to disagree with his vision of Turkey's future. As the now almost extinct Christian minorities of Turkey can attest to there is no room for those who are different from the ruling elites. It is interesting to note that many who share in the Kemalist ideology of Ataturk now find themselves an out group along with other disenfranchised groups such as the Alevis and the Kurds. What goes around comes around. Greeks were the first humans who gave considerable thought to the concept of freedom. As a commodity, it is much sought after these days, as events in Turkey attest to. Ordinary people are willing to endanger their lives in order to get a taste. In America, freedom has taken on the form of a religion. Our freedom, is unlike the freedom that the Greeks called "eleftheria, " that is, freedom from being tyranized, enslaved or being violated. No wonder then that when Turks pour into the streets in a culmination of years of such tyranny that Americans might have a little difficulty recognizing what it is these people want and our President can only mouth meaningless platitudes. To many Americans, freedom merely means choosing for oneself based on personal desires without...

My Greek Father

2013-06-16T09:21:00-04:00

When I was a kid and television was still the kind of entertainment suitable for a family, one of my favorite shows was "Father Knows Best." The actor who played the father in the series smoked a pipe, wore a smoking jacket and spoke flawless English. He had a study where he sat in a big leather chair and solved everyone's problem with unparalleled wisdom. Let's just say my Greek father did not fit this particular mold. My Dad spoke English with a heavy accent, he never smoked, didn't own a smoking jacket or a leather chair, and his study consisted of the kitchen table. Dad owned tons of books, all in Greek, Euripides, Plato, Homer, Herodotus, the Church Fathers, and on and on. He read the Greek newspaper, carrying it home every night folded in his jacket pocket. He would cut out articles he liked for future reference. Dad had a rule: speak Greek. This was a guy who also spoke Albanian, Turkish and Italian fluently. I had no idea though how he was ever going to improve his English, so I wouldn't be embarrassed at parent-teacher meetings. If that wasn't bad enough, I had to go along to translate. Sometimes he didn't need translation, as in the case of one particular grade school teacher who insisted on calling me "Steve" instead of Stavros. She made me erase the name Stavros from my notebook. When Dad noticed it, he went to school with me the next day, marched up...

Join Us on Facebook

2013-06-15T21:24:37-04:00

ITHAKA ON THE HORIZON IS NOW ON FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/IthakaOnTheHorizon

To Be Greek

2013-06-11T10:44:08-04:00

This superb video speaks for itself. Special Thanks to my friend , Joseph

Greek Independence Day: Faith, Fatherland and Family

2013-03-25T01:14:00-04:00

"For every human being, one's country and faith are his all, and he must make sacrifices of patriotism so that he and his kinsmen may live like honorable people in society. And οnly when adorned with patriotic sentiments do people earn the name of "nation." Otherwise, they are mere shams of nations and a burden οn the earth. This country belongs to each and every one of us and is the product of the struggles of even the smallest and weakest citizen: for he too has a vested interest in this country and this faith. It is improper for any person to be lazy and neglect these duties. Αnd the educated man must proclaim the truth as an educated man; and the simple man must do the same. For the earth has nο handle with which a single person, nο matter how strong οr weak, can lift it οn his οwn shoulders. And when a person is too weak fοr a task and cannot take up the burden single-handed, he gets the others to help: in that case, let him not imagine saying, "Ι did it!" Let him say, τatheτ, "We did it!" For we have all, not just one, put our shoulders into it. Οur rulers and leaders, both native and foreign-bοrn, have become "Most Illustrious" and "Most Brave" : nothing stops them. We were poor and became rich. Here in the Peloponnese Kiamil Bey and the other Turks were extremely wealthy. Kolokotronis, his relatives, and friends have grown...

A Gift of Music

2013-03-18T22:36:56-04:00

Good music is a gift to us all and gives us enjoyment through the years. For a short time we can put our worries away or at least sing about them and thereby give voice to the emotions that dwell in our hearts. I think Greeks have been blessed with a great many truly gifted musicians and singers who have been able to satisfy the deep seated need we all have for music which expresses what we feel. Tsitsanis, Panou, Doukissa, Zambetas to name only a few. They brought us together as families, as Greeks, as human beings irregardless of where we came from or where we were at a given moment. For that brief time we put aside our differences or petty squabbles while we revelled in our mutual love of the music they offerd us. During these difficult days may we all share the treasures they left behind and may they give us the courage to face life with a smile and a song on our lips. Το σκαλοπατι σου - Πολυ Πανου & Βασιλης Τσιτσανης ΔΟΥΚΙΣΣΑ ΠΟΥ ΠΑΣ ΧΩΡΙΣ ΑΓΑΠΗ Καποια μανα αναστεναζει _Γιώργος Ζαμπέτας - Χίλια Περιστέρια

ITHAKA ON THE HORIZON: A Greek-American Journey

2013-03-07T19:56:27-05:00

Release Date: 1 July 2013 Dear Reader, Almost six years ago I decided to create a blog and write about things Greek. When you reach a certain advanced age you feel the need to talk about the things you are passionate about. That's when the words began pouring out. The beauty of the written word is that those who go on to read what you write probably find a nugget or two that they appreciate and thus continue on, maybe they even come back. When a writer and reader make that connection, it is indeed a special relationship because each answers a need in the other. The writer wants to be heard and the reader wants to listen, perhaps to learn or even understand what is being said. Blogging allows the writer to have a dialogue on occasion with the reader in a unique give and take that I have always found to be a learning experience. Six hundred posts later I began thinking that somewhere in this pile of words is a book. I began sifting through all the things I've written to put together a quilt of those stories that I love best. It has been an arduous and drawn out process. MGO has suffered as a result, but the neglect was always intended to be temporary. I decided to name the book "Ithaka on the Horizon: A Greek-American Journey" because it is a very much a journey. It is about the Greek immigrant experience as seen through...

Of Dreams and Memories

2013-03-05T12:21:41-05:00

The years pass so quickly. The events of our lives rush past us as if they took place just yesterday, when they actually happened many years ago. Time is like water in our cupped hand, dripping through our fingers, no matter how tightly we hold them. Before you know it, all that is left is a few drops, like the memories we cherish, stll holding fast. Those memories are bittersweet, yet we store them away with the other precious relics of our past, taking them out to gaze at or think upon, now and then. The past was never as good as we imagine it now, yet it offers so much more certainty than the unknown future ahead. It is filled with the familiar faces and voices of those we love that have either grown up or passed on, never to return as we knew them. We too, change, whether we want to or not. Age catches up with us and life's slings and arrows chasten us.With humility comes wisdom, though we look at the young, smile inwardly, wishing we too could throw caution to the winds, once again. Living life on our terms, even if we lose, as we must in the end. The poet said you can't go home again, and so it is. Some of my happiest memories are of summer days in Loutsa, a little coastal village outside of Athens. It was there that my children got their taste of life in Greece surrounded by family...

The Golden Greeks - The Romance of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis

2013-01-11T18:32:21-05:00

By ALMA H. BOND "On October 20, 1968, Maria got the news she had prayed she would never hear. Ari's butler called to tell her Aristotle and Kennedy were going to be married. Maria did what she could to pass the time. She attended the opera next to Ghiringhelli, made a movie, taught a master class at Jiulliard. In the meantime, Ari was becoming disillusioned with Jackie's lavish buying sprees of jewelry and clothing and he was beginning to realize she was taking him for a fool. He kept calling and sending Maria flowers, but for a long time her pride was too hurt and she refused to talk with him. Finally in 1969 they met at a party and little by little, began to see each other again. The climax came after they had spent four nights together when he took her to dine at Maxim's for the whole world to see. Maria was ecstatic, and believed Jackie was just another paramour to be forgotten. But the lady had other ideas. When she saw the newspaper photos of her husband and Maria dining together with blissful smiles, she was furious and flew immediately to his side. She insisted he repeat the drama of the day before at Maxim's with her in Maria's place. The next day Maria was admitted to the American Hospital at Neuilly with the diagnosis of "overdose of barbiturates." For the first time since Ari's marriage, Maria returned to Greece, this time as the guest of...

Istanbul and Constantinople by ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ

2012-11-24T16:16:16-05:00

When I was young, we lived in a “Greek house.” With its iron shutters, iron gate and high-rise ceiling, our house was different from those in its vicinity. I also remember seeing some female Greek tourists clinging to the walls of some houses in Çeşme, where we would go in the summer. Seeing those Greek women crying, my mother would also burst into cries. For many years, I have been unable to give any meaning to those tears. Our non-Muslims had melted into thin air, leaving behind their houses, streets, churches, fountains and other “remnants,” they have always continued to be part of our lives like some sinister ghost that we cannot ward off. Despite our history textbooks that carefully avoid any mention of them and despite their names erased meticulously from every place, it seemed, they have left some sort of tiny “reminders” across the country. After many years, I started to ponder the country’s matters and issues, and I came to realize that the problem was a “social earthquake” that was far bigger than I as a kid could perceive. If the pre-1915 demographic percentages still applied to today’s Turkey, there would be 18 million non-Muslims living in the country. Just try to visualize 18 million non-Muslims, consisting mainly of Greeks, Armenians and Jews, living in Turkey. What sort of Turkey would it be? Read the whole thing here. 19 Ben seni sevdugumi

Freedom or Death

2012-11-01T21:25:47-04:00

Ψηλά στον Ψηλορείτη μου, μια μέρα εγώ θ'ανέβω, εκειά που ζούνε οι αετοί, την Κρήτη ν'αγναντεύω. With the evacuation of the last surviving remnants of the British Forces that helped defend the island, the Cretan populace was to face its greatest test. In the first months of Nazi occupation, thousands of Cretans were randomly executed to stamp out the resistance movement before it could grow. Families were sent to the concentration camps. Entire villages were burned to the ground. Yet unlike other European resistance efforts which quickly yielded to German pacification—the celebrated French and Dutch among them—Crete’s civilian population never gave up; they locked German soldiers into a state of continuous and relentless conflict in a single location for over four years, drawing in thousands of additional German troops with each passing year. By 1944, that number would exceed 100,000. Yet despite this brute force of numbers, and the brutal terror those numbers would unleash upon the population, the Cretan people never stopped fighting. The Germans had never encountered the extent of civilian resistance that they encountered on Crete. Retribution was swift. The German High Command wanted to break the spirit of the populace and do it quickly. In this they failed and failed miserably.In retaliation for the losses they incurred, the Nazis spread punishment, terror and death on the innocent civilians of the island. More than two thousand Cretans were executed during the first month alone and twenty five thousand more later. Despite these atrocities, for the four years...

Aera!

2012-10-30T23:00:07-04:00

Excerpt from Ten Days of Destiny: The Battle for Crete, 1941 by G.C.Kiriakopoulos: On May 26, 1941, one week after the German airborne invasion of Crete began, the commander of German invasion forces, General Kurt Student, received a cable from Adolf Hitler. It read: "FRANCE FELL IN EIGHT DAYS, WHY IS CRETE STILL RESISTING?" Part of the reason was because of small hard fought engagements throughout the island such as the one on Cemetery Hill, a key defensive position manned by the New Zealand Nineteenth Batalion and elements of the Sixth Greek Regiment. It become the focus of German attempts to breakout out of the area around Maleme airfield: "Captain H.M. Smith, whose men had just repulsed the first assault, warned his men to remain on the alert, his intuition telling him that the Germans would attack again. If they attacked on his front, he held no fears: the earlier attack had cost him only a few casualties and the rest were in good spirits. But Smith did have one concern, his right flank. That section of the hill defense was protected by the remnants of the Sixth Greek regiment. Many of the poorly armed Greeks had been scattered by the earlier German attacks but the Sixth company was still holding its own on the rise of ground to the right of Smith's 19th Battalion. If the Germans pressed their attack on the Greek position and succeeded in penetrating their defenses the New Zealand flank would be turned and the...

Poverty and Filotimo

2012-10-09T13:35:36-04:00

He was a diminutive figure of a man looking very much alone. I was washing dishes in the monastery kitchen with my son when we saw him standing in the courtyard holding a small bag. Father Panteleimon dried his hands and went out to talk to him. When he returned he said winking with a smile: "Christ has brought us another lost lamb. He is staying the night. I'm going to give him a bowl of lentil soup and some bread to eat in the Trapeza but I've gotta go fill the oil lamps in church. Could you keep him entertained until I get back then I'll show him where he will be sleeping tonight." I finished up my work in the kicthen took off my apron and walked into the trapeza. "Kalispera," he looked up at me from his meal through tired eyes and stubby white beard. "Kalispera my boy, my name Haramlambos but everyone calls me Lambi. I mused to myself on the meaning of his name, "shine from happiness," noting that he seemed anything but happy nor shining. "What do they call you?" "Stavros," I replied. "And where are you from Stavros?" perhaps noticing that I was out of place in a Greek monastery. "From Ameriki. The monk you spoke with is my son." "Ameriki" he said rubbing the stubble on his chin, so far away from your son? He had within a few minutes of meeting me understood what troubled me. "What a good boy he...

Standing Against the Mob

2012-10-07T15:41:14-04:00

September is always a popular month for atrocities. It doesn't take much for the haters to get riled up and unfortunately they seem to be the one's with the loudest voices in the muslim world, not to mention the one's with blood on their hands. What I find appalling is the seemingly complete collapse of the West in the face of the constant onslaught by people intent on making the rest of us conform to their religious beliefs. So we apologize when they murder us, make nice when they desecrate our churches, invite them into our countries despite the fact that they hate us, allow them to worship freely in our countries even when they refuse to allow us to do so in their countries, give them money when they spit in our face, and worst of all abandon our values to avoid any perceived slights. It's bad enough that Western nations have systematically secularized their societies and most Westerners believe in nothing, now they increasingly kowtow to fundamenatlist muslim extremists who are bent on transforming those very same societies. To be sure there is much that I don't like about western societies but I fear that they will be replaced with something much worse. Societies where women will be relegated to second class citizenship. Free speech and religious tolerance will disappear. In this new world order the gay and lesbian community will not have to worry about whether governments will marry them, they will instead worry about governments killing...

"The Greeks were darn good soldiers, we loved them."

2012-08-07T15:58:44-04:00

I've written about the "Korean Thermopylae" previously. It is to say the least an inspiring story of courage in the face of overwhelming odds. Like many things these days it is unfortunately lost in the pages of history, a history that few people, especially the young, have any familiarity with. Combat changes a soldier forever but the friendships and mutual respect forged in its crucible can never be severed. Listening to the accounts of the Americans that fought side by side with the Greeks of Sparta battalion in Korea one can only be filled with pride. Lest we forget. Watch the whole video. If you are in a hurry jump to 6:48. Outpost Harry was a remote Korean War station located on a tiny hilltop in what was commonly referred to as the "Iron Triangle" on the Korean Peninsula. This was an area approximately 60 miles (100 km) north of Seoul and was the most direct route to the South Korean capital. More than 88,000 rounds of Chinese artillery fell on Outpost Harry. Since the outpost was defended each night by only a single company of American or Greek soldiers, the Chinese had anticipated an easy capture. Over a period of eight days, waves of Chinese forces moved into the outposts trench lines and totalling over 13,000 soldiers. Five UNC companies, four US and one Greek, took turns in defending the outpost. Most of the fighting occurred at night, under heavy mortar fire, while the daylight hours were usually spent...