I love Christmas time! It’s glimmering and shimmering and sparkly and lovey-dovey and cute. It’s lush and it’s fun. Also, scary. Cause it’s all right to carry on regardless when it’s not Christmas. Think about it! Easter is all about suffering. Leading a miserable life doesn’t get threatened by Easter. Yes, summer is supposed to [...]

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Greek or American fashionistas share equal amounts of obsessive compulsive behavior when it comes to clothes. Fashion and its ability/promise to glamorize our simple existence is at its best this time of the year (see pre-Christmas & meta-Thanksgiving).
Some things though, differ. A lot. And it’s not just marketing and prices and trends and shop-window displays. [...]

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Home is a key word in the whole “culture shock” pavillion. Where is a person’s home? What defines it? Level of comfort? Professional/financial opportunities? Quality of life? Living amongst the people who mean the most to us?
Considering the phrase “Home is where you are understood” helps us both close in on and complicate the matter. [...]

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By Aleco Haralambides, President American Hellenic Institute
Some Greek-American news organizations have recently taken up a critical review of the so-called “Greek American Lobby” and the players that are involved, including organizations like ours—the American Hellenic Institute. The articles make some valid points; however, they fail to mention perhaps the most pressing problem facing these Greek [...]

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There must be a certain amount of time that dooms you. A certain amount of time that once you go over it, that’s that, you’re done, you’re toast, you are never to feel 100% comfortable in any country ever again.
So how many years of living in a country -that you originally consider “abroad”- does it [...]

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Summer in Greek means a whole lot more than it does in English. Naturally, everybody has the ability to take time off and enjoy one’s vacations, however, it’s hard for me to think of another group of any sort that maintains such a strong conviction about going on holiday or has such great expectations about [...]

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I always got unrepairably depressed at Easter. And the thing about Greek Easter is that it lasts forever. Greek Easter is not just a day and it is not nearly the fun egg hunting activity that cumulates Easter here in the U.S. The greater Easter period starts on Kathari Deftera (Ash Monday). The day on which the [...]

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Singles of any cultural background face the challenges of trying to date in the era of “political correctness”. Don’t get me wrong, us Greeks are the first in line in desperate need of reinstating a background of respect in the way we deal with people. BUT, the state of fear that is linked to political [...]

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