The Greek Bagehot

I was among the first persons of Greek descent to complete a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship, which allows mid-career journalists a paid year in Columbia Business School that results in a master's in journalism.
Only 10 people get the honor each year, and it's good to note that this year's Bagehots include:

Katerina Sokou, 37, head of international financial news for Kathimerini, the Athens, Greece, daily newspaper, where she has led coverage of the international response to the financial crisis since 2008. She has become a source of information on the Greek crisis for the BBC, The Times, and countless foreign journalists via Twitter. She graduated from University of Warwick in the united Kinkgdom in 1998, and started as a trainee at the Greek newspaper To Vima, where she spent ten years. She has a history degree from the University of Ioannina, Greece.

Pearl River

When I think of Iowa, I think of big skies, of vast fields like those in Illinois, and of the wool factory, hog farms and Amish culture in Amana. I think the true smell of bacon was imprinted on my brain on a trip to Amana.
But did you know that an Iowa town called Muscatine once was a mecca in the production of shell buttons, made with local river mollusks? People called these buttons "pearls," and the business boomed for awhile after government intervention made foreign shell imports expensive. Today, there's just a Muscatine Shell Museum, and you can pick up handfuls of vintage pearl buttons for $12 on Ebay or Etsy. You can read online about the interesting history of Muscatine's buttons. Road trip?

Listen To Alkinoos Ioannides

Guitar, raw vocal folk melodies and poetic lyrics are what engage you at an Αlkinoos concert - and the singer-guitarist may come to a big-city venue near you in 2012.
A pianist friend from Greece told me four years ago that Alkinoos is "the best new musician Greece has right now." And my Athens cousins gave Alkinoos a thumbs up long ago.
The beauty of Alkinoos is that he is an anti-star. And his music and lyrics are his own - those of a lover-rebel. Even the album art is a family affair - his father is a painter.
From Cyprus, the singer is in his 40s. Just as he is not afraid to show his grey hair, he is not afraid to express a feeling in a weird octave. Sometimes there are English horns, recorders or a stringed instrument. It makes you listen. And the words and instrumentation deliver.
His new album, "local stranger," is a best-of CD that I picked up at his only NYC show last night. It's presented in English, lyrics all in Greek, and it is really mellow and accessible and addictive, even if you don't know Greek. Favorites songs:

The Pilgrim
Afternoon at the Tree (apologies for the YouTube remix)
All Love Dreams Of
This Changing World
 You can buy it on Amazon for $13, shipped from Chicago!

Alkinoos plays small venues when he tours; I only heard about the show from a last-minute, local poster. He raps, does a waltz, includes bouzouki, and even tries some orchestral arrangements. He's technically quite talented and comes from a creative family in Cyprus.
Some critics can't relate to the rock component in some of his songs. But Americans probably can't understand the hard rock that Greek youth have been getting in volumes, for decades. Those same kids also hear traditional music; one more lesson in the hodge-podge that is Greece.
Alkinoos ended last night's show with an acoustic, un-microphoned Cypriot lullaby that his grandmother once sang to him.
Tour schedule here: http://www.alkinoos.gr/en/concerts.html
Post show, we went out for salad, Halloumi cheese and a Cypriot ground-pork-and-mint meze you sprinkle with lemon.

Never Forget

A new website, http://genocide1915.org, published by a Swedish Armenian organization, explains the deaths of millions of Christians in Ottoman Turkey, and, rather progressively, acknowledges Armenians, Syriac people, Assyrians and Greeks of Anatolia and Pontos. The FAQ in English explains why April 24 is a commemoration day for Armenians.

This Sunday, April 22, Kehila Kedosha Janina, the only Greek synagogue in Manhattan, hosts a memorial service to remember the Shoah - the Jewish Holocaust - at 2 p.m., followed by a special film on the Jewish community of Salonika (Thessaloniki), Greece.

Turkish Schools in U.S.; Who is Gulen?

Chicago Tribune lead columnist John Kass, who's normally focused on scrappy city politics, just wrapped up two weeks of foreign reporting that took him from his familial Greek village to resurrection services in Istanbul.

There were 10 columns in all. But in the column where he visits with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Kass dropped the little-known name Muhammed Fethullah Gulen.

Gulen's many followers in Turkey and among Turkish-Americans like to call Gulen a philosopher. Kass called him a theologian. But it seems fair to say Gulen is a preacher, born in Turkey but living in the U.S., who harnesses a powerful wealth network to put a progressive face on Islam.

Some links with more info:

• The Gulen movement has134 U.S. charter schools (list here).
• Gulen operates media outlets including Today's Zaman,one of Turkey's two English-language dailies.
• Gulen supports a myriad of cultural foundations and businesses in the U.S and abroad.
• The New York Times said some U.S. Gulen schools may use taxpayer dollars to benefit the movement.
• An FAQ by U.S. critics.
• The biography of M. Fethullah Gulen and how the movement functions.

How to Find Work in Greece

Hysterical desperation from two young Greeks looking for work
(δουλειά) is on display in this YouTube video passed on by a friend in
Athens.
All in Greek, but you will get the negotiation: They start by saying
all of the things they don't need -- acronyms for retirement, extras,
days off work. You'll hear number of hours they are willing to work,
what personal things they are willing to give up.
The punchline? The winner calls his honey: the work is at Mitso's
little restaurant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z5nEcOAxQLE#

Quoting my friend who sent this: <<Ο ΄Ελληνας δεν χάνει ποτέ το
χιούμορ του, ούτε και στις πιό δύσκολες στιγμές του. Γι' αυτό : Η
Ελλάδα ποτέ δεν πεθαίνει. Απολαύστε την συνέντευξη!>>
"The Greek never loses a sense of humor, even in his/her most
difficult moments. Greece won't die ..."

Turkey's Deep State

The March 12 New Yorker magazine is getting some buzz for a piece on Turkey's secular "deep state" that author Dexter Filkin calls...

"a presumed clandestine network of military officers and their civilian allies who, for decades, suppressed and sometimes murdered dissidents, Communists, reporters, Islamists, Christian missionaries, and members of minority groups—anyone thought to pose a threat to the secular order, established in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal, or Atatürk. Friends and colleagues say Erdoğan worried that the deep state would never allow him to govern. But, to the surprise of many, he has pulled Turkey closer to the West, opening up the economy and becoming a crucial go-between for the West with Palestine, Iran, and Syria," says Filkins in this week's edition, the one with Mitt Romney in a car on the cover.

Invisible Children

Watch this video that aims to stop a war against children in Uganda. This is getting more and more coverage and if forces us to think about other wars, how we spend money, our election rhetoric in America ... so many things.
KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Forgiveness is a Powerful Thing

Regardless of your belief system, you should find this essay on forgiveness a powerful one. The author writes:

 "Forgiveness is the antidote for negative thinking. Forgiveness means to let go. Let go of resentment, thoughts of payback, and the hurt that remains and will always be part of your life. Forgiveness releases the grip anger has on your heart. It opens the focus on those parts of life that lead to understanding, empathy, and compassion for the person who hurt you. It doesn’t deny responsibility, or minimize or justify wrong – not excusing, but rather offering inner peace, presence of the Lord, spiritual and psychological well-being. It alleviates stress, hostility and blood pressure."

Payne Loves Mama

Alexander Payne may have received the Oscar for his adaptation on The Descendants, but he deserves another for dedicating it to his mother, and telling her Σ´αγαπω - "I love you" in Greek - on national TV. Maybe John Stamos will pop over with a case of Danon's oddly pronounced Greek yogurt being advertised all night.

Fenugreek Vindaloo

It's India meets Greece tonight chez Dimitra, inspired by a new Ganesh companion. The menu was greens that Indians call "methi" and others call fenugreek.
Instead of following the excruciating ingredient list in The India Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant, I simplified with shallot, olive oil and a tablespoon of Penzey's Vindaloo seasoning: coriander, garlic, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, brown mustard, red pepper, jalapeño, turmeric, "Tellicherry" black pepper and clove.
It worked. This Fenugreek didn't have much flavor. Served with a nice Chapoutier Rosé. Delish and lots of iron.
Hard to resist fresh-looking greens with Greek in the name when at Patel Brothers in Queens, the emporium for must haves: divine paratha dough, spicy mung bean snacks and Darjeeling tea. And the prices are often half those of Kalustyan's in Manhattan.
Dinner reading: the Greek Star newspaper, under new ownership, and materials on the new National Hellenic Museum. Each is based in Chicago with great national potential.

Finns Chant Om

Forget the soft drink – I want this on my next flight!

Never Again

Some six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during World War II, and President Barack Obama commemorated Holocaust remembrance day last week with this statement to live by:

"We are reminded to remain ever-vigilant against the possibility of genocide, and to ensure that 'Never Again' is not just a phrase but a principled cause. And we resolve to stand up against prejudice, stereotyping, and violence – including the scourge of anti-Semitism – around the globe."

Read the full release here.

What Do All The People Know?

Not sure what happened to the Monroes, but listen to this.

Rainy January in Times Square

A Merry Christmas Chant

May blessings shower on you and yours today and always!
Have patience with this lovely video because at the end of it, you realize that daily war news from the Middle East overshadows so much good there - of all faiths.
Imagine the life of Christians in Syria, Iraq, Egypt & nearby places.

Source on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvjiVam2HO4

Turkey: Genocide Was In Algeria

French lawmakers have drafted a law that would make it illegal to deny that it was genocide when Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in 1915.

Turkey cut diplomatic ties with France, Turks are protesting and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded with, "Approximately 15% of the population of Algeria have been subjected to a massacre by the French starting in 1945. This is genocide." Erdogan called the bill "politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia," according to the two-paragraph story in the Chicago Tribune.

Well, Merry Christmas. All I know is that racism, discrimination and xenophobia brought way too many of our forebears to America.

The BBC states that Ankara says close to 300,000 Armenians died in 1915-1916, while Armenians put the number at up to 1.5 million. The New York Times' reporter in Istanbul writes, "Turkey acknowledges atrocities without any specific death toll, but says that they did not constitute systematic genocide."

The Times piece notes that Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel-winning fiction author from Turkey, recently was fined about $3,700, for telling a Swiss newspaper that "we have killed 30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians."

Rick Steves in Istanbul

Istanbul was the featured city of tonight's PBS re-broadcast from intrepid traveler Rick Steves.
In Chicago, the show was on Channel 20 at 8 p.m., but you can check local listings here on his Website. He brings home that the Turks have a script for the city's tourists: nation created in 1923, Sultans at Topkapi lived in rich sophistication, Istliklal Caddesi is interesting, and Hagia Sofia was the center of Christianity.
Why, as a museum, even after restoration, is Hagia Sofia still in a state of decay inside?
Working at the family dining table here, I just can't bring myself to finish the last nibbles of the loukoumi (locum) that I bought back from an adorable old-fashioned-looking shop in Uskudar. That's a neighborhood on the Asia side of Istanbul where there were many Greeks and Armenians at one time; the ferry ride across the blue sea full of fluorescent jelly fish, the warm sun setting, was really pleasant.
I realized after I got back to the states that the candy box decoration is a church. I thought it was just a clock tower, since there is no cross on it. I didn't recognize the spelling of church, "kulesi," because I only knew it was pronounced KEEleeseh.

Lacroix & Empress Theodora

Theodora blesses Lacroix. Credit: Elle Decor 10/2011

Designer Christian Lacroix has been enamored with Byzantine mosaics since his childhood. That would seem obscure for someone from Arles, France, except that his great grandparents dug up Greco-Roman tiles under their house there, according to an article in October's Elle Decor.

The famous mosaics of Empress Theodora & Emperor Justinian are among the richly-colored artworks in Ravenna, Italy where Lacroix not so coincidentally has partnered with a company to produce a new furniture line.

I love Lacroix's now-discontinued Follement china pattern for Christofle - especially since I fell in love with it when the euro traded at 85 cents to the dollar. Not sure I'd want the Theodora Chair.

Theodora mosaic, Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

But Theodora's character certainly would bring good vibes to a house. The article says she was "the daughter of a bear trainer ... renowned for her beauty and wit, as well as her expertise as a courtesan, and reportedly suppressed revolts, exposed political corruption, and expanded women's rights in her day."

The name Theodora means "God's gift" in Greek. The empress is recognized as a saint and is remembered on November 14. The church in Italy where she's depicted in mosaic was completed a year before her death -- and having seen it in person, I can vouch for how vivid the tiles remain - minerals baked into glass last.
Justinian and Theodora ruled from Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey. All this is one more reminder of how interconnected ethnic worlds were in the era of empires.

Vintage Costume Gold

In what era do you think this holiday sparkle of a necklace was made? No markings, fairly heavy, so not even gold filled, I'm guessing. But lovely, thick and modern design; very nice interlock structure too. Another vintage find! It was very hard to find modern gold design in Turkey, where I saw much ornate stuff from India.