The Hellenic Student Association’s President George Petrocheilos has revitalized the cultural club at Hopkins with the help of benefactor, scientist, and innovator Aris Melissaratos. The bond between these two men has helped the association become the strongest Hellenic club at any university in the United States.

Melissaratos has been labeled by many as kind, intellectual, brilliant, innovative, and generous. The former Secretary of Business and Economic Development in Maryland, who helped lower unemployment from 11% to almost 4%, and the current Senior Adviser to the Johns Hopkins President, he’s a success story and I was amazed by how intellectual and humble he was.

Petrocheilos is a senior majoring in Economics, but has the ability to create a new major at Hopkins; Networking Operations because he’s on a first-name basis with some of the most successful people in Maryland. The Hellenic club held its Fall Reception and Fundraiser at Melissarato’s estate, attended by some 250 guests, including politicians, CEOs, restaurant owners, bankers and many other successful people.  They included former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Congressmen Chris Van Hollen, Eli Cummings,  Paul’s son John Sarbanes, Andy Harris and many others.

Petrocheilos brought together people of different backgrounds to share his pride in the Hellenic culture. As Melissaratos commented, “Each ethnicity has had its turn in this melting pot that is America.” As a freshman entering Hopkins, I was amazed at the event that was put together, and the people I had the opportunity to interact with.

George is now planning an event in February which will aim to combine both Greek and African-American pride. “It is amazing what I’ve seen George accomplish in his time here, and will always be there to support him,” Neil Vranis a member of HSA said during the event. Petrocheilos and Melissaratos are quite the dynamic duo, and as a proud Greek-American I was happy to see these two men working together for a common goal; to raise funds for an organization wants to preserve my Hellenic culture.

I really didn’t know what to expect by joining the HSA. I was assuming I’d meet some people who I shared my heritage with, and a way to make some friends, but I found something larger. As a proud Greek-American, I have been inspired by Petrocheilos and Melissaratos, and their efforts to share Hellenism with the world.

- Niko Kotoulas

The word Humor comes from Himor (juicy or someone who is happy or excited; Gr: χυμόρ;), originated from the word Himos (Juice; Gr: χυμός;) in Euboean Dialect (Gr: ευβοϊκή διάλεκτο;). First found on Plato’s Kratylos (Gr: Κρατύλος του Πλάτωνος;) where the final sigma (s; Gr: σ, ς ) is pronounced as r (Gr: ρ;)

The word Marmelade comes from the Latin Melimelum that originates from the Greek Melimilon (Gr: μελίμηλον;). The word Melimilon (Gr: μελίμηλον;) is a complex word from Meli (Honey; Gr: Μέλι;) and Milo (Apple; Gr: Μήλο;) that literally means quince. Probably because its believed that the first marmelades were made out of quince.

The word Money comes from the Latin Moneta. The goddess Moneta was created under the influence of Mnemosyne (Gr: Μνημοσύνη;), The only other name for Godess Hera (Gr: Ήρα; Latin: Juno;) the goddess of memory, Zeus wife and the mother of the Muses. The goddess’s name is derived from Latin monēre (which means to remind, warn, or instruct). Outside the temple of Hera in Rome was the mint and the coins had Hera’s face on them (monetae) before the Roman Caesars and Emperors decided to put their own.

Until next time, with more words originated from ancient Greek.

The word amen comes from the latin “amen,” the well known amen that we all know from the Bible and all the Christian scripts. What most of us don’t know is that amen comes from imin (true or truthful; better pronounced emen; Gr: ή-μήν; in Hellenistic Era as ημέν), first found in Homers Iliad (rhapsody b, verse  291 – 301) “The Dream of Agamemnon and the Catalogue of Ships” (Ιλιάδα Ομήρου β291-301). The evolution of amen in Greek “slug” language is ame (I agree, I will do it, or yes; Gr: αμέ)

The word glamour comes from the latin “gramo ur” that originates from the greek word grammario (gram or gramme; better pronounced grammário; Gr: γραμμάριο). During the middle ages, magicians and alchemists brewing recipes with ingredients measured in grams and as the whole process was fascinating and prestigious, especially to the people of that era that they had no knowledge of chemistry or physics, the gramo ur-glamou r, took its present meaning glamour because it was something impressive to others.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

The word cinema comes from the French cinéma, shortened from cinématographe (kinimatografo; Gr: κινηματογράφο), coined in the 1890s by the Lumiere brothers, who invented it, from the Greek cinema (movement; better pronounced as kinima; Gr: κίνημα), from the verb cino (to move; better pronounced as kino; Gr: κινώ). graphe (write; better pronounced as grafo; Gr: γράφω – γραφή).

So: Cinema = Kinima (κίνημα) “that has motion”

French: cinema, cinematographe,

Italian: cinematografo,

Spanish: cine, cinematica,

German: Kino, Kinematograph

Until next time, where I will investigate a new word or phrase.

Can you sense the sarcasm in my voice? Don’t get me wrong I have lived the whole “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” story with my father working at four different Greek diners and my mother telling me every day of my life to find “a nice Greek boy to marry.” But I don’t think, I can say that every Greek-American reading this believes the same thing, that this is not the way to promote Greece. The person responsible for this brilliant idea is the deputy minister of tourism and culture Mr. George Nikitiadis. His idea goes as follows, to grab a bunch of Greek artists put their work on these placemats, which as well know that these very same placemats get crumbled, doodle and wipe off everybody’s spills and leftover food daily. The sad part is not just the idea but that commercial sponsors from Greece, like ΟΠΑΠ and the restaurant association are giving money for this idea to blossom and come alive.

About 6 million euro’s are being given for 7 million throwaway placemats to be printed and distributed to diners across America. It doesn’t end here also plastic throwaway cups are going to be given to the customers of these diners as well. What happened to posters, art exhibits with various Greek or Greek-American artists, concerts and dance festivals to raise money to promote Greece? You can just shoot a commercial in Astoria, Queens in New York City and you have your promotion right there.

I might be the only one angry and annoyed about this “awesome”, “brilliant”, “extraordinary”, and “wonderful” tourism idea but I believe Greece deserves better than throwaway placemats and plastic cups, especially in the times that we are in now.

Us Greeks should be well aware that it is our job to produce, maintain and help tragedy develop to its full capacity. If people aren’t swearing at each other on crudely presented late night reality shows, we are nowhere near fullfilling our role as Greeks in the universe.

Other cultures, such the Anglosaxon culture for example, keep calm. It is what it is. We’ll do the best we can. We shall take one step at a time. There may be some exception, but in general, people don’t drive like madmen ready to blow their heads into a million pieces because the country is in financial turmoil. Americans aren’t happy about the financial crisis in the US either. The news, however, focus mostly on consumer confidence and gas prices. Channels do not pick the most tragic title for their ‘news at ten’ ad and they do not repeat this herrendously tragic and fear infusing headline throughout the day just to intimidate the ones that aren’t yet terrified by means of incessant repetition.

Embracing fear brings a familiar tragedy back for us Greeks considering that the German occupation of World War 2 wasn’t that far back. Suffering and striving and struggling and fighting is familiar territory for the Greek psyche of recent times. Ladies in their 50s and 60s are almost happy to be complaining about the crisis, cursing politicians and showcasing the suffering that is either taking place or is about to take place. ‘I am cooking simpler things these days because of the crisis’ ‘In this crisis we should all be taking the bus’. Everything we didn’t feel like doing because it required too much energy, too much work or we just didn’t feel like doing,  all of a sudden turns to a fashionably ‘out’ activity. There’s a crisis. Noone should be doing it anyway. Let us all stay home and moan or gather someplace and moan collectivelly. This way the tragedy will be lived out, felt and somehow dealt with in a masochistic yet agressive and bold manner. It’s not the most efficient way to deal with a problem, it’s not polite and seam-free, it is incessantly crude if not downright barbaric, but it’s as extreme as it gets; and tragedy needs extreme states of being to play out right. Hopefully, the much-needed catharsis, will come in a form that includes a little less passionate moaning and groaning and a lot more cold and calculated action…

Greeks who never left Greece -other than on a shopping trip to London, Paris, Munich or Milan where cousin Maria or best friend from High School, Spyros, was studying- however, think differently. 

Taking Greece for granted is a problem for modern Greeks who never left Greece. It creates two contrasting Greek identities. That of Palamas, where Greece is an ideal of a country, and that of Seferis, who wrote: ‘No matter where I travel, Greece hurts me’. Seferis’ view of Greece was powered by the same pain felt by a lot of internationally renowned Greeks once Greece acts like a spoiled child towards them. The most current example of this highly disfunctional behavior is no other than the way the Lyric Opera House treated the internationally recognized Verdi soprano Dimitra Theodossiou.

Prime ministers around the world bring Ms Theodossiou flowers, crowds of fans gather outside the Scala in Milan just to catch a glimpse of her walking by, groups of opera fanatics travel through continents to avoid missing one single premiere of hers -and mind you, there’s a great big deal of those these days- international joyrnalists and opera critics name her the new Maria Callas, but the Lyric opera house in Greece just decided she shouldn’t sing Nabucco at Herodium theatre this year because she’s ‘too expensive’. Nope, us Greeks who live in Greece prefer people who are able to sing (or perform in any way) at a moment’s notice,  make no plans and have no life or serious carreer. We prefer mediocrity cause this makes us feel safe, unchallenged, idle and on the sidelines of things, life, the world.

Is this really where we want to be, though? Greece gave birth to philosophy, art, science, architecture, medicine,  just to name a few, do we really want to stay on the sidelines and just drag ourselves behind others?

When a friend or and an aquaintance goes to hospital, the considerate North American may send a Get Well card. A phonecall could be perceived as too personal at a time that a person would normally crave privacy and isolation. Any normal person that is. A Greek person, however, would be concerned if everyone he/she, her/his family and their aquaintances know don’t march into hospital, lively, loud and all dressed up as if it were a 4th of July parade in central NY.

They will all be wearing their biggest smiles, carrying sweets or tyropitakia their aunt Litsa made and will proceed to outline every other hospital visit complete with the condition of the patient, the outcome and the amount of visitors that other patient had. Talking insessantly appears to be the attitude of choice and all those herds of people visiting the poor patient (who could coincidentally only be there for a mild one-day-deal nose job or 3 stitches after a kitchen accident) will defend their right to disregard visiting hours, silence, cell phone and non-smoking signs with such conviction that would put any General that ever fought any war to shame.

Expressing concern is nice. Warm. Kind. Even touching. But it is also a step too far. Intimidating. Overbearring. Over the limit.Whatever the choice we make when faced with the question on whether to keep it Greek or americanise it all a bit, the grass will always be greener on the other side. An outsider will always notice the difference and wonder, who’s right on this.

The American ideal of being supportive to a family member, at a time of need (emphasis on that one) and just then and no other time whatsoever, usualy involves sending a postcard. The postcard’s presence under the tacky Bermuda magnet is a constant boost to one’s self-confidence, an omnipresent souvenir of love and a sentimental reminder that your sister/ brother/ father/ mother/ uncle/ aunt/ mother-in-law/ step-mother/ friend respect and care about you and their will is to see you happy in your own way of defining happiness, whatever that may be.

Well, that is not the case with Greek families. Nope. Everyone would like to be in control of everybody else’s lives. And I am not talking meddling once in a while. I am talking 24-7 365 days a year. If it was up to a Greek mother to decide what her son would wear to work everyday she seize tha opportunity like no other, even if her son is 57 and married with 3 kids. Mind you, quite a few actually do.

Us Greeks tend to disassociate ourselves with that cold and detached Anglosaxon culture. We throw accusations around, ‘Oh they do not care about their own kids, they throw them out on the streets’ or ‘They don’t care about who lives next door to them’. Yep, they do all that, and so much more, cause they do not consider it good manners to be controlling  and they do not appreciate being on either side of the gossip game, some Greeks seem to get so much pleasure out of -or used to get so much pleasure out of. Nope, respects comes first. And respect involves space, time and peace and clarity of mind. I can see my Aunt rolling her eyes and looking away towards the Archipelago as I recite that last sentence to her. It’s all Greek to her now, isn’t it?

‘Alitissa Psihi’ means a soul free enough to explore its instant, imminent and pressing urges each and every moment. A soul that allows a person to experience each moment as though it’s the only living moment anywhere, ever. The word ‘Alitis’ is as ingrained to the Greek identity as the word love is ingrained to emotions. All of us Greeks hide a percentage of this ‘Alitisa Psihi’ deep inside, whether or not we care to admit to it.

Living abroad and adding a second nationality cultivates the illusion we tamed it, we conquered over it, even, we’re done, nice and all well put together. And then the day comes when it’s all out in the open again. Anything could trigget the outburst. A lousy job, a partner/husband/girlfriend, an outrageously insulting event or an Anna Vissi concert (beware, the North American tour is coming up). And then the ‘Alitis’ in us comes out stronger than ever, prouder than the flad on Independence Day, unbending and remorseless, kicking and screaming and we belong to it, one way or another, willingly or otherwise.

That wildly open heart breaks all obstacles and allows the truth to come out and life tobe lived in full. It’s a curse and a blessing. A curse cause it cause one to suffer while in a tormenting all-destructive conquest to reveal the truth and unveil pains that societies around the globe get structured around repressing. Yet, it’s a blessing, cause living life to the full involves living out pain, whether that is the pain in Melina Mercouri’s eyes when singing ‘Ta paidia tou Piraia’ in ‘Never on Sunday’ or the pain in Papamichail’s anger when crashing that shot glass inside his hand in that movie I believe was called ‘To pio labro asteri’.

Having that word in our vocabulary makes us Greek in a very particular, painful and yet liberating way, so we might as well rejoice in all its sorrow.