Global Greek World

Global Greek of the Year: THE NOMINEES

2012-01-25T23:51:00.000+02:00

The idea for a Global Greek of the Year Poll is one that came to me as I was sharing a post on our Facebook page about Greece's Protest Dog, Loukanikos, also known as Riot-Dog, who was one of TIME Magazine's Person of the Year:The Protester.

I mentioned it, our readers liked the idea and here we are a few weeks later with a list of names that is very interesting indeed. Not exactly the Greek Oscars right now as it is the first one ever and we're playing it a little by ear, but, we'll learn from this one so that next year's will be better and brighter!

All the nominees were proposed and voted on by readers. The names below were transferred to this list in the order in which they finalised in the nomination vote which ended on January 3, 2011. For those that don't have any information by their names, it is because no information is available on them and we did not get a response from the people who nominated them...

So here they are! Once you've decided who YOUR choice is for Global Greek of the Year, please go to the sidebar and vote...

Mario Frangoulis

Zimbabwe/Greece - Performer

Mario probably needs little introduction to most of us. Born in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) but raised and educated in Greece, Mario has made an international career of the thing he likes doing most... singing!

He discovered his talent for singing while a student at Athens' Campion School,where he first started singing in choirs at eight, going on to take on his first ever Lloyd-Webber role as Issachar in Joseph and the amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the age of 11. Years later, in 1991 and after extensive theatrical and musical training abroad, the prestigious Maria Callas Scholarship under his belt, and a stint in Les Miserables, Mario would be asked by Lloyd-Webber himself to play the role of Raoul in the Phantom of the Opera in London...

From that point on Mario's multi-faceted musical career literally took off! Mario's talent is such that he can sing almost everything (from opera to folk), with everyone, (from Pavarotti to Westinra), everywhere, (from La Scala to Iera Odos), his vast popularity ensuring that most of his performances are sold out well in advance!

Generous and giving, and a person whose fame has not spoilt the warm and sincere person at the heart of the singer, Mario's philanthropic work is far reaching, especially where children's causes are concerned. His appearances for charity and the concerts he has given in every corner of the world to help promote a worthy cause are too numerous to mention and are always highly successful, wherever they are held.

His love for Greece is such that he doesn't fail to stand up and be counted at Greece's side, whenever he is needed. Present for the Final Torch Ceremony of the Olympic Games and the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics in 2004, Mario was also present at the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in 2011, a very noble cause at a very difficult moment for Greece...

About Mario Frangoulis on Wikipedia
Mario Frangoulis Facebook Page

Peter Economides

South Africa/Greece - Brand Strategist

The battering Greece has received on every level on the world stage has got many of us thinking about what is needed to get our country back on the rails.

As a successful brand strategist with a global perspective Peter is one of those who is giving it more than just thought. As a creator, he put words and unique images to our thoughts ...

We got to know Peter in November of 2011, shortly after his rousing, inspiring and inspired 'Rebranding Greece' presentation. His work impressed us greatly, it was just the tonic of hope and positive thinking that we neeed and we were one of the first to feature the presentation on one of our posts about Peter and his vision for Greece! It didn't take long for Greeks all over the world to acknowledge that what Peter was saying was right... the image of Greece needed to get a facelift, it needed to change... Peter's presentation went viral!

Peter has lived on four continents doing work that has impacted brands and consumers almost everywhere. He has learned from the leaders of some of the world’s best brands, including Apple's famous rebranding project, which started with an email he sent Steve Jobs after a meeting. 'The world needs Apple' is all it said... the rest is history!

Owner and founder of Felix BNI based in Athens, Peter is a former Executive Vice President and Worldwide Director of Client Services at global advertising agency McCann Erickson Worldwide and Head of Global Clients at TBWA\Worldwide.

Born in South Africa, his tremendous journey through the world of advertising and marketing which started in his homeland, took him via Hong Kong, Greece and Mexico to New York, and then back to Athens.

Peter is passionate about what he would like for Greece: he wants to reposition Greece as the Apple of the Mediterranean. An ambitious project which most of us would love to see come to fruition.

It means of course that we all need to get to work NOW to fix what's wrong, for the good of Greece and the future generations... but Yes, Greece CAN!!!

Peter Economides Facebook Page: Greece: It's Time to Imagine the Future
Peter Economides on Twitter

Mikis Theodorakis

Greece - Composer

What can we say about Greece's national composer, reknowned songwriter and composer, Mikis Theodorakis, that hasn't already been said 1000 times at least? This amazingly creative and inspiring man is a living legend and part of the history of Modern Greece. With his incredible music he has left an indelible mark on Greece and her people.

A highly political persona who became a legend for his efforts and resistance during the Second World War and his fight for democracy during the civil war and the 7 year military dictatorship, for which he was rewarded with many periods in exile, Mikis continues to this day to exert influence in the political arena, even making plans for his own political movement in the next elections.

Present at the Athens premiere of a documentary on his life Mikis Theodorakis, The Man, the Genius, the Legend by Greek Australian Eleni Evangel, in Athens in April 2010, Mikis took the microphone to talk to us about his life but also to denounce the calling in of the IMF/EU/ECB Troika assistance saying that Greece should have maintained its dignity and taken all the measures necessary by itself.

Miki is above all a creator of beautiful music with thousands of melodies in his 'library'. With more than a thousand songs and song-cycles to his credit, Mikis melodies have become part of the heritage of Greek music. He was one of the first to put Greek poetry to music including the works of Nobel Prize winners Odysseus Elytis and George Seferis, thus bringing poetry to the people as he often says. His repertoire includes Symphonic works, chamber music, cantatas and oratorios, hymns, ballets, operas, music for theatrical productions, classical tragedies, modern plays and many popular film scores, including the much acclaimed Zorba the Greek, Z, Phaedra and Serpico.

Still charismatic and a visionary at the age of 86, we'd like to share with you a statement Greece's great composer made recently. His thoughts on how he sees Greece in the world today. Mikis vision for Greece is as a Switzerland of Culture and Peace, a cultural oasis for Europe...Food for thought indeed...

«Στο σηµείο αυτό θα ήθελα να σας µιλήσω για κάτι που πιστεύω ότι θα έλυνε το πρόβληµα της εθνικής µας ασφάλειας µια για πάντα: την Ιδέα της Ουδετερότητας. Με άλλα λόγια, να γίνει η Ελλάδα η Ελβετία του Πολιτισµού και της Ειρήνης. Με όπλα µας την ιστορία µας, τη συνεισφορά µας στον πολιτισµό και την πρόσφατη συµµετοχή µας στη συντριβή του φασισµού, είναι δυνατόν να κάνουµε το µεγάλο αυτό όραµα πραγµατικότητα. Με την προϋπόθεση βέβαια ότι όλοι οι Ελληνες µέσα και έξω από τη χώρα θα προσπαθήσουµε να πείσουµε τον ΟΗΕ (και φυσικά τις µεγάλες δυνάµεις) ότι η ύπαρξή µας ως τόπου συνάντησης των πολιτισµών και τόπου επίλυσης διαφορών κάτω από τη σκιά των ∆ελφών, της Ολυµπίας και της Ακρόπολης θα είναι και γι' αυτούς ωφέλιµη».

"At this point I would like to talk to you about something which I think would solve our national Security problem once and for all: the concept of Neutrality. In other word, Greece should become Switzerland, the Switzerland of Culture and Peace. With weapons such as ours, our history, our contribution to civilisation and our more recent involvement in crushing fascism, it is indeed possible to turn this great vision into reality. With the proviso of course, that all Greeks both inside and outside the country, will try to persuade the United Nations (and of course the great powers) that our existence as a meeting point of cultures and a place where disputes will be solved, in the shadow of Delphi, Olympia and the Acropolis, will also be beneficial to them"

About Mikis Theodorakis on Wikipedia

Mikis Theodorakis Website

Steve Agi

Australia - Publisher

Steve is a Greek-Australian from Australia's largest Greek city...Melbourne and although heavily involved in Australia's coffee industry is now committed to promoting and informing the world about all things Greek!

His latest publishing venture, OPA! Magazine, celebrating the Greek-Australian way of life both nationally and abroad, was recently awarded the Victorian award for Excellence in MEDIA by the Victorian Government after just 9 months of distribution!

Such forward and innovative thinking has opened up a Pandora’s box of opportunity to work with Greece and Hellenes abroad and a whole new world of excitement and passion for this born-again Greek with a strong passion for multiculturalism and Melbourne’s strong focus on it.

"It certainly is an exciting time for Hellenism internationally amongst all of the doom and gloom in Greece with the magazine re-igniting a passion and interest in all things Greek.” OPA! is the voice of a new generation. It is born out of a deep passion and love of a race that is dear to my heart – out of a deep respect for a culture that I personally, but that we all, owe so much to and to a way of life that is both inspirational and aspirational,” explains Steve

With mainstream international heavyweights ranging from Alex Perry, George Calombaris & Kalomira gracing the front cover of the monthly publication, OPA! is the only Australian cultural magazine published in English to capture a broader and younger audience.

OPA! informs, educates and celebrates just what it means to be Greek- the lifestyle, the culture, the history, the food, the people, the places. A patron of the arts, OPA! is a proud sponsor of the Hellenic Museum in Melbourne. Founded in 2007 by Spiros Stamoulis, the Hellenic Museum aims to provide Greek Australians and the wider community, with programs that promote understanding and appreciation for the rich and cultural traditions of ancient and contemporary Greece

EMIRATES Airlines internationally are now including OPA! as part of their preferred reading list in all their VIP lounges.

2012 will see continued growth for OPA! with plans to launch a free Greek insert as part of the OPA! brand, to cater for older Greeks and non-English speaking audiences, international versions of the magazine to cater for a growing demand across the globe as well as a focus on OPA! LIVE events that will showcase and celebrate Greek achievements and celebrities to Greeks but also Philhellenes alike.

Facebook Page: OPA! Magazine

Loukanikos - Athens Riot Dog

Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece

Athens' Loukanikos, a protester with a difference, is a feature of all the demonstrations and protests which take place in the centre of Athens, and there have been plenty in the last 24 months. During 2010 and 2011 Loukanikos was present at all the protests and gained widespread fame via the media's focus on Greece, and gaining TIME's Person of the Year status in 2011!

TIME's photogallery of Loukanikos

Irene Papas

Greece - Actress

Irene Papas is one of our Global Greeks with instant recognition status, like Mikis Theodorakis, Nana Mouskouri, Manos Hatzidakis, Melina Mercouri...

My introduction to Irene Papas came in a movie theatre on the other side of the world, when as a young child watching the star-studded Guns of Navarone, I was fascinated by her talent and beauty... I have been a fan ever since.

Her superb acting skills along with her classical and ageless Greek beauty and the fiery passion she brought to her roles, ensured that extra something in many films which themselves have become classics. One of Greece's most accomplished ambassadors, Irene Papas presence in a film has always added an extra special dimension to it.

Her compelling and riveting performance, her dynamism and sultry beauty have uniquely enriched movies like Zorba the Greek, The Guns of Navarone, Z, screen adaptations of ancient tragedies - Electra, The Trojan Women, Antigone, and even Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Her theatrical performances are equally legendary and an honour and a privilege to watch, while her musical efforts have met with resounding success!

An unexpected but wonderful musical collaboration with fellow Global Greek, Vangelis Papathanassiou, produced some magnificent albums, Odes and Rhapsodies, the first featuring traditional folk songs and music, and the second, Greek Orthodox Byzantine Hymns as well as the controversial 666.

Irene Papas has won many awards for her performances over the years, but even though she has deserved one at least, she has never received an Academy Award.

This is something which we believe is an injustice, but she has made light of this omission by quipping ' I never won an Oscar... and the Oscars never won Irene Papas' .

Irene Papas on Wikipedia

Arianna Huffington Stassinopoulos

USA - Publisher

2011 was a great year for Arianna Huffington!

She was named as one of TIME's 100 Most Influential for 2011, an honour she was given once before in 2006, and sold her Huffington Post to AOL for a record $315 million!

Arianna launched Huffington Post in 2005 as a news and blog site that quickly became one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the Internet.

Born Arianna Stassinopoulou in Athens, Greece, Arianna moved to Cambridge, England to study Economics at the age of 16. A gifted debater, Arianna became President of the Cambridge Union, no mean achievement for a person who didn't speak English as a native language at the time.

Ambitious and gifted, Arianna's talent as a writer didn't take long to surface. Although she began writing books in the 1970's it wasn't until 1981, when she wrote a biography of Maria Callas, Maria Callas - The Woman Behind the Legend, a fascinating look at Greece's most famous Diva, that her career as an author took off. She later wrote a second biography, this time on painter Pablo Picasso, Picasso: Creator and Destroyer. Both books were considered controversial by some, but it didn't lessen Arianna's success.

Arianna moved to the USA in 1980 and in 1986 married Michael Huffington, a Republican who narrowly lost a seat in the US House of representatives in 1992, despite Arianna's exhausting campaigning and support. The marriage did not last long but the result, their two beautiful daughters are Arianna's pride and joy. Truly charismatic, a smart and intelligent woman, Arianna quickly became a household name.

Following her divorce, and the gradual change in her political views, in 2003 Arianna unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Governor of California against Arnold Schwarznegger.

In 2005 she launched the Huffington Post which became a point of reference for all online media and a highly profitable operation.

Leaping from one success to another, Arianna hasn't looked back and credits part of her success with the Huffington Post to her mother's pivotal influence in her life...

'I get my knack for relationships from my mother. She was incapable of having an impersonal relationship with anybody. The delivery man would arrive at the house, and she'd say, "Sit down; have something to eat." As a result, I find it very easy to connect with people. And that's part of the Huffington Post. I'm bringing in voices -- some well known, some not -- and providing a platform....' from her interview in How I Did It...

In 2011 after selling the Huffington Post to AOL, Arianna stayed on as

President and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group. In 2011 she also launched the UK version, and just yesterday the French version, Le HuffPost.

We look forward to the Greek version, in the very near future...

PS We loved the idea of moving Davos to Greece! Behind you all the way!

Arianna Huffington's Facebook Page
Arianna Huffington on Twitter

Theodora Alessandra Mellinis

United Kingdom - Budding Entrepreneur

Theodora Alessandra Mellinis (a Psychotherapy graduate) comes from hardworking Greek immigrant parents, who immigrated to South Africa from Rhodos, Greece and created a life for themselves.

Having lived in Greece, Africa and England all before the age of Nineteen, Theodora describes herself as 'A citizen of the world' who is "addicted to ideas, and my therapy is the ability to express them” as she says.

At age 19, along with her family ,Theodora immigrated to London, England where she initially found the new country to be very challenging. After working for two British medical firms and obtaining valuable experience, at age 24 ,Theodora decided to open her own Medical recruitment company called WRIGHT PLACEMENTS, where her clients are some of the top private healthcare companies in the UK. She has had the opportunity to place all calibres of medical staff internationally, including Greek medical staff.
She is about to launch a Computer and Technology division of her company called WRIGHT IT JOBS which will be launching at the end of January.

Now at age 26, this budding entrepreneur hopes to expand her businesses beyond the British and European borders, to reach the US.

Theodora enjoys writing and producing music and is honoured to be a suggested candidate, even though she is still at the beginning of her journey and is still learning the ins and outs of life and business...

Thea Mellinis on MY SPACE

Lakis Lazopoulos

Greece - Actor/Writer/Satirist

Lakis Lazopoulos is one of Greece's multi-talented performers. Actor, writer, singer and satirist, all in one, Lakis has become immensely popular over the last 20 years in Greece as he attempts to showcase the many and varied personas of modern of Greek society with humour, following the lead of Greece's classic Aristophanes.

Lakis' 10 Mikroi Mitsoi (Ten Little Mitsoi) personifying 10 of the kind of Greek people we meet in society, were very popular in the 1990s and remain popular to this day as he 'invites' them often to his weekly one man stand up comedy show Al Tsantiri News on Greece's Alpha TV. He even managed to take his popular Al Tsantiri character to Athens' Olympic Stadium in 2004 for the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Laki's speciality of course was the politico-satirical revue in which he excels, his sharp wit often cutting politicians to the quick, but he is also an accomplished actor and writer, who has taken part in many theatrical and stage productions as well as major films both locally and internationally. His latest appearance in the film biography of El Greco by Yiannis Smaragdis was very well received as were his other film appearances in Beware of Greeks with John Tatoulis , My Best Friend and Smaragdis' Cavafy, about the life of Greece's famous Cavafy. He achieved every actor's life ambition to play in the ancient theatre of Epidaurus and he did it twice, once as Lysistrata in the classic comedy of the same name, and the second in Ploutos (Wealth).

Compassionate and caring, Laki keeps a low profile off screen and spends much of his time helping out with causes dear to his heart.

Lakis Lazopoulos on Wikipedia

Aganaktismenoi Plateias Syntagmatos
Indignados of Syntagma Square

Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece

In Greece this summer the people's movement 'Aganaktismenoi (Indignados) Plateias Syntagmatos' was very much a part of life in Athens Centre. At first hundreds then thousands flocked to Occypy Syntagma Square, generally in peaceful protest at the unilateral austerity measures being imposed on the people of Greece, whilst the privileges of the ruling 'elite' appeared to be untouched.

People from all walks of life,wanting to register their voice at the injustices being wreaked by the blanket austerity being imposed upon them and seeing that their very livelihood was being threatened came down daily to Syntagma Square in front of Parliament, families with children, newly unemployed, employees from the public and private sector, from the professions This picture we posted went viral with 2647 likes and 1264 shares!!! It is an aerial view of Syntagma Square on the 19th October 2010, a screen shot from Skai TV's broadcast on that day's events.

Every Honest Greek Citizen - Greece

'They're freezing WAGES! Why aren't they freezing PRICES?'

The Honest Greek Citizen as portrayed by Cartoonist Kostas Mitropoulos

in most of the cartoons he pens for Greece's Ta Nea daily newspaper

Right behind the Aganaktismenoi of Syntagma Square is the Honest Greek Citizen.
The one who pays his taxes and his dues on time, the one who wants to see progress in Greece and who expects to have the roads, hospitals and public services that he pays for without having to bribe, the one who hasn't lied about having 2000 olive trees in order to get the olive oil subsidies, who hasn't declared he is disabled in order to get the benefit, who hasn't got a non-existent 105 year old father in order to keep getting the former's pension, the one who wears his safety belt, the one who wears his bike's helmet, the one who drives with consideration for others, the one who doesn't park in the special carpark reserved for handicapped drivers, the one who waits patiently in the queue, the one who doesn't call his MP to get his son to serve in the army at the MP's officethe one who pays his parking fines, the one who gives a receipt for the services he provides or products he sells.

This is the one who is continually being called upon to pay more taxes and make sacrifices yet sees the political and financial elite of the country getting away with all those dishonest practices that have brought Greece and its economy to its knees.

This is the one who refuses to partake in the bribery and corruption around him, feels like an idiot many times but is strong in the hope that by doing the right thing he is ensuring that things will change for the better for the next generations...

Alexander Payne

USA - Director/Screenwriter

Greek-American Director/Screenwriter Alexander Payne was born Alexander Constantine Papadopoulos, in Omaha Nebraska. Recipient of many film awards, Alexander Payne already has one Oscar under his belt, for 'Sideways' in 2005, whilst his latest film The Descendants, seems to be a favourite for this year's Oscars!

In fact as we were writing this post we heard of his success at the Golden Globes for The Descendants, the film which opened the Thessaloniki Film Festival last year, along with his Greek Dream Team of course - Jim Gianopulos and Phedon Papamichael! All three are board members of the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF). Payne's Ad Hominem Enterprises and Gianopulos' Fox Searchlight Pictures won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama) for THE DESCENDANTS while Phedon Papamichael served as Director of Photography. The film also won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) for George Clooney. He now has an Academy Award Nomination as well! Congratulations Alexandre! Not bad going at all!

Asked to comment on the economic crisis in the middle of one of the most intense political crises in Greece, in November last year, Alexander Payne said the following in an interview to the English language Kathimerini:

"Looking at the dire straits that Greece is in, is “horrifying, heartbreaking and frustrating, and there doesn't seem to be a solution. I have to tell you I've been very touched to be here; it's been meaningful for me to be here, even for three days, to talk to people, to feel it, to feel a little more solidarity. We Greeks of the Diaspora read the paper every day, scratch our heads, very heartbroken, but feeling very much in solidarity. I'm American and I have a much different life than if my grandparents had not emigrated – I'm not saying better, just different – but it's in situations like this that my Greek DNA and my Greek heart are reawakened.”

Alexander Payne on Wikipedia

John Psathas

New Zealand - Olympic Composer

Athens 2004 Composer, Greek New Zealander John Psathas, who recently became Professor at the NZ School of Music, is one of a handful of New Zealand composers who havemade a mark on the international scene, particularly in Europe and NorthAmerica.

Widely considered one of the three most important livingcomposers of the Greek Diaspora, John Psathas is the son of Greek immigrant parents who arrived in New Zealandin the early 1960s. Born in Wellington in 1966 and raised in Taumaranui andNapier, John studied piano and composition at VictoriaUniversity, then studied in Belgium before returning to take up lecturing at theNew Zealand School of Music in Wellington, where he is now Professor inComposition.

John’s music is repeatedly commissioned and performed by many of thebest musicians and orchestras around the world. His works are also regularlybroadcast to audiences of millions in the USA and Europe. John has a naturalinclination and innate ability for mega-projects. Since writing much of theceremonial music for the 2004 Olympic Games – screened to over a billion people - John’s music has been on the radar screen of a wider public than thatnormally associated with contemporary classical music. He has won BestClassical CD of the Year three times, and has won NZ’s top composition prize –SOUNZ Contemporary – twice. He is an Arts Laureate, recipient of a Fulbrightaward, and an Officer of the Order of NZ Merit. In 2010 and 2011 he was theAuckland Philharmonia’s Composer in Residence.

To him, music composition is first and foremost a communicative artform. He is constantly seeking ways and means of making art music accessible toa wider audience. He explores connections between contemporary music andage-old musical traditions, like The New Zeibekiko - celebrating 2500 years ofGreek music - which premiered in 2011 at the Auckland Arts Festival.He has recently engaged in classical-rock crossovers, collaborating withWellington-based Little Bushman, and his collaboration with System of a Down’sfront man Serj Tankian, went to #2 in the classical billboard charts inAmerica.

In 2010-2011 John’s musicreceived its Carnegie Hall debut (the Takacs Quartet performing “A Cool Wind”),he completed his first feature film score, and was Distinguished Guest Composerat Winnipeg’s 2010 New Music Festival. Also this year TVNZ commissioned “ViewFrom Olympus”, a feature-lengthdocumentary about John, which was since included in the 2011 NZ FilmFestival. 2011 saw many international and local performances of John’swork, including a performance at Athens Megaron Mousikis, the premiere of a new work created in collaboration with Warren Maxwelland the Auckland Philharmonia, and John will be Distinguished Guest Composer atthe Taiwan International Percussion Festival.

He is currently workingon projects with Jane Curry (classical guitar), Salman Rushdie (author), aconsortium of 14 American percussion ensembles, and Strike (percussion).

We look forward to the day that John's major works 'View from Olympus' or 'The New Zeibekiko' are performed in Athens at the Herodus Atticus or the Megaron!

John Psathas Official Website

John Psathas on Twitter

Jennifer Aniston

USA - Actress

Jennifer Aniston is one of those people that has become a household name over the years and needs little introduction from us.

Born in California, she spent a small part of her childhood in Greece before moving back to California and following in her father John Aniston's (born Anastasakis) footsteps.
A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2007, Jennifer Aniston became known to most of us with her superb portrayal of Rachel in the long running, immensely popular sitcom Friends for which she also received an Emmy, a Golden Globe and the American Screen Actors' Guild Award.

With a successful Hollywood career to boast of, she has also spent time behind the camera as a producer and director. 2012 will see Jennifer Aniston join the rest of Hollywood's greats as she gets to have her very own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame later this year.

The daughter of Days of Our Lives actor John Aniston, she and her father teamed up with him to narrate the CD accompanying several of writer, and fellow Greek American, Nick Katsoris’ Loukoumi series.

“In our house, we grew up with the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” says her father, when asked about the values he instilled in his children, Alexander and Jennifer. That’s precisely the message in the children’s book, Loukoumi’s Good Deeds, the third book in a series which showcases the lovable lamb’s discovery of the joy of doing nice things for others, and follow up on the selfless themes in earlier books narrated by Jennifer and featuring the voice of John as Loukoumi’s daddy, Growing Up with Loukoumi and Loukoumi’s Gift.

All proceeds of from sales of Loukoumi’s Good Deeds benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, an organization that both John and Jennifer have supported.
(For more information on this, please visit www.Loukoumi.com)

Jennifer Aniston on Wikipedia

Gregory Pappas

USA - Publisher

Gregory C Pappas, dynamic publisher of the nation’s most widely-circulated periodical for Greek Americans, Greek America Magazine, is best known for the work he does within the framework of the Greek American Community.

Gregory's Chicago-based Greek America Foundation, a non-profit organization, has developed a number of tremendous initiatives aimed at highlighting Greek America's Best and Brightest, including the biennial GABBY Awards, the 40 Under 40's and the National Innovation Conference. It grants full-semester scholarships for study abroad in Greece, as well as a number of other cultural and educational projects in North America. Gregory's latest initiative is The Pappas Post whose goal is 'to start a dialogue about who we are, where we have come from and where we are headed'.

Greg's company, The Pappas Group Inc., handles public affairs advisory-related services and strategic corporate planning, business development, public and media relations and event planning throughout the world.

Greg serves on the Advisory Council of the X Prize Foundation, an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.

He serves the Greek Orthodox Church in a number of capacities, including membership on the Archdiocese Council of the Archdiocese of America and the Leadership 100, the late Archbishop Iakovos' Endowment fund. Greg also serves on the executive board of directors of the PanHellenic Scholarship Foundation, which awards $250,000 annually to Greek American university students.

The son of Greek immigrants from the island of Crete who were involved in the anti-Nazi resistance effort, Gregory developed an interest in Greek World War II history. He is an avid collector of Greek-related World War II memorabilia, including original photos, newspapers, magazines and the largest known collection of authentic Greek War Relief posters.

Gregory Pappas Facebook Page

Gregory Pappas on Twitter

Michael (Michalis) Cacoyannis

Cyprus - Director (deceased)

Born on June 11, 1921 in Limassol, Cyprus, Michael Cacoyannis was the elder son of Sir Panayiotis and Lady Cacoyannis. The famous Cypriot born director of Zorba the Greek died in July this year. He studied law in London and was called to the Bar in 1943 but, fortunately for us, the theatre won him over. Without him, we are sure Zorba the Greek would never have been quite the same!

Not long after his debut as an actor in 1947, he decided to concentrate instead on directing. In 1952 he left London to settle in Athens and one year later the success of his first film (“Windfall in Athens”) marked the beginning of an international career in directing. Among them “Stella”, “A Girl in Black”, “A Matter of Dignity”, “Zorba the Greek” and the trilogy of “Electra”, “The Trojan Women”, “Iphigenia”, his films were regularly screened at the most prestigious International film festivals, receiving awards and distinctions. Michael Cacoyannis has worked with some of the best and most distinguished actors of his time, in Greece, Europe and Hollywood.

Michael Cacoyannis distinguished himself not only as an international filmmaker, but also as a stage and opera director, with critically acclaimed productions in Greece, the U.S. France and other European countries. He published several screenplays, translated Shakespeare’s plays into Greek and Euripides into English, and wrote the lyrics of some of the best-known and best-loved Greek songs.

It was Michael Cacoyannis' initiative that led to the dramatic and inspiring new illumination of the Acropolis. Enlisting the services of the famous French Engineer Pierre Bideau for a study, and with generous donations by the Friends of Athens, which he established, the project finally received backing from the Ministry of Culture and the City of Athens.

In 2004, Michael Cacoyannis established a charitable foundation in his name, whose aim is to support , preserve and promote the arts of Theatre and Cinema. The foundation’s Cultural Centre, located in Piraeus Street, in the district of Tavros, opened its doors to the public in October 2009.

For his work and overall contributions to the Arts, Michael Cacoyannis has been awarded the Order of the Golden Phoenix (Greece), the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (France), the Grand Cross / Order of Makarios 3rd (Cyprus) and the Special Grand Prix of the Americas (Montreal). He has been honoured by the Greek Academy with its highest award for national services and with Lifetime Achievement Award by the Salonica, Jerusalem and Cairo Film Festivals, as well as the American Hellenic Institute in Washington. He has been declared an Honorary Citizen of Limassol, Montpellier and Dallas, and has received Honory Doctorates from Columbia College (Chicago), Athens University, Cyprus University, and the Aristotelio University of Salonica.

For most of us he lives on in our hearts as the talented and visionary director of Zorba the Greek...

Michael Cacoyannis Foundation Facebook Page

Alexandra Tsiavou -

World Rowing Champion - Greece

Alexandra Tsiavou is current world women's rowing champion and a definite contender for an Olympic medal in rowing for Greece. She is dedicated, has worked hard and quietly in a sport that is not about fame or money, specially in Greece, but it's where her talent and dream led her.

Probably Igoumenitsa Rowing Club's most famous member, Alexandra Tsiavou was the 2009 Best Athlete for Greece. In that year she became a World Champion in the lightweight women’s double sculls and won the European Rowing Championships in the same class. This was on the back of making the 2008 Olympic final in the double and becoming the Under-23 Champion in the lightweight single for the second time the previous year. World Rowing profiled Tsiavou as the 2010 season got under way to find out where she was heading and said of her in 2009

' Tsiavou is good, very good, and her rowing career is only just beginning' .

Prophetic and no understatement as it turns out. Alexandra Tsiavou is one of our Greek Golden Girls headed for London's Olympics in 2012 armed with great hopes for an Olympic Medal!

We'll all be right behind you Alexandra!

Alexandra Tsiavou's Facebook Page

Haralambos (Bobby) Tzanetatos

Panama - Businessman/Benefactor

Haralambos (or Bobby as he prefers to be known) Tzanetatos, is one of our quiet unassuming diaspora Greeks who put in a lot of time, effort and money to ensure the Greek flag is flown with honour in their part of the world.

Greece's Honorary Consul in Panama for many years, Bobby has used the economic benefits he has been fortunate enough to enjoy to ensure that others not so fortunate benefit also. He has contributed to many projects and charities in Panama and Miami, donating time and money and work behind the scenes for the benefit of Greece and all things Greek in that part of the world. He has donated the funds and the land for building the ATHENA Greek School in Panama. When Archbishop Christodoulos of Greece was in Miami for the liver transplant he was going to get it was Bobby's house he was staying at and it was Bobby's cousin, the lifesaving transplant surgeon Andreas Tzakis who would perform that operation. Things didn't work out for him but that Christmas, Bobby and Andreas Tzakis came to Athens and went to see the ailing Archbishop in his home.

The next evening Bobby had a small gathering really to honour Andreas Tzakis ...We count ourselves lucky to have been among those invited to that function, simply because we were able to hear first hand the amazing stories of philanthropy from the people who had been the recipients...children, parents and others who had been touched by the magic hands of Dr Tzakis, the welcomed assistance of Bobby and of his friends in Miami, the tireless John and Evangeline Scurtis.

The Greek mother of a child who had been operated on by Dr Tzakis some years before told us how they arrived in Miami and were greeted by John who introduced Bobby as his chauffeur...

Bobby's latest charity project is the development of a giant hospital complex in Panama dedicated to Irmita, the daughter he lost so tragically in an accident at the age of 21...

Bobby left his native Sami in Kefallonia at the age of 16 with the dream of acquiring a car. That was his only ambition when he went to Panama to join his uncle. Now one of Panama's wealthiest and most 'connected' citizens, he has never forgotten his origins, his island, his people or his family values, remaining above all, true to himself, with enormous humility, generosity and a helping hand for those less fortunate than he.

H. Tzanetatos Official Site

All Global Greeks

Everywhere

Our Global Greeks are present in all walks of life, in every part of the world, excelling in many fields.

You name it, and you can be sure that there will be a Global Greek, somewhere, in some city, in some country, who has done it, and in a lot of cases, who has done it extremely well.

Architecture, Politics, Law and Order, Medicine, Technology, Sport, Fashion and Design, Music, Drama, Theatre and Films are just some of the areas in which Global Greeks have excelled.

Global Greeks give their time to man the church pagari, the church fair, the Sunday School, the Church Choir, the Dancing Group and the list goes on. They're the ones who organize and run around for the Taverna Nights, the Greek dances, the Souvlaki Stands, raising funds for the community, for those in need, for the Church.

Our Global Greeks keep the flag flying high and run to help the homeland whenever they can however they can.

Our Global Greeks are proud of Greece and want to see her doing well.

Their hearts swell with pride when Greece flies high but they hurt when Greece hurts, and they are the first to defend Greece when the going gets tough ...

All Global Greeks - the greatest asset Greece has!!!

Alexander N Pattakos

USA- Political Scientist/Author

Alex Pattakos, Ph.D., is a politicalscientist, best-selling author, and very proud Greek American of Cretanheritage.

With his spouse, Elaine Dundon, he has developed The OPA! Way®,a new paradigm and approach to Living & Working with Meaning that isuniquely inspired by Greek culture(www.theopaway.com). As part of this global initiative, he is also theco-author with Elaine of a forthcoming book on The OPA! Way, aswell as the co-founder of the "OPA! Center," based in SantaFe, New Mexico, USA, where clients are introduced to and apply theageless lessons of The OPA! Way to enhance meaning in their personal andwork lives.

Alex and Elaine are also responsible for creating "OPA!Day," a designated day--September 15th--each year for the world torecognize and celebrate the vast contributions made by Greece and Greeksto our way and quality of life. First celebrated in Rethymno, Crete,Greece, on September 15, 2010, OPA! Day 2011 celebrations were held onfive continents and plans are already underway to expand awareness of andcelebratory activities on this special day to more locations around theworld.

Among his many publications, Alex is the author of theinternational best-selling book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts,available in 20 languages, including a Greek edition, and his writing hasappeared in a wide variety of Greek-themed publications, such as TheNational Herald newspaper where he has been a featured columnist,Greek America Magazine where he most recently wrote the coverstory on Arianna Huffington, and OPA! Magazine, with whom hismeaning-focused venture, The OPA! Way, is an official partner.

Alex canbe reached by email at: aleko@theopaway.com
TheOPAWay on Twitter

George Kalivitis

No information made available

Filippos Parginos

No information made available

Happy Voting everyone!

Global Greek Arianna Huffington on Britain's Phone Hacking Scandal

2012-01-18T20:03:00.000+02:00

Source: @GGWorld Twitter Feed

Hearing about media mogul Rupert Murdoch taking to Twitter to criticise Obama, reminded us of this post by Arianna Huffington which we realised we hadn't published! Oops...

Short, sweet and straight to the point,
a true Aristophanes style response to the News of the World phone hacking scandal
from our own Arianna Huffington on 12 July
One of TIME100s Most Influential for 2011

Follow Arianna Huffington

on Twitter on facebook

Happy 90th Birthday to Amazing Global Greek Golden Girl Betty White!

2012-01-17T22:35:00.000+02:00

Global Greek Golden Girl Betty White who turns 90 today

'We always made a big thing about birthdays because they were such fun and my mother always taught me never lie about your age - brag about it - never lie about it...'

From all of us in our Global Greek World

we want to thank you for all the joy you have given us,

and to wish you

a very Happy Birthday and many, many happy returns!

In Greek we generally say,

Na ta ekatostiseis - may you live to be 100-

but in Betty's case, we'll make it 1000!

Chronia Polla & Kala, Betty! Na ta chiliaseis!

Read about Betty on Wikipedia

Global Greek of the Year: THE NOMINEES

2012-01-07T15:14:00.002+02:00

So here they are! Once you've decided who YOUR choice is for Global Greek of the Year, please go to the sidebar and vote...

Mario Frangoulis

Zimbabwe/Greece - Performer

About Mario Frangoulis on Wikipedia
Mario Frangoulis Facebook Page

Peter Economides

South Africa/Greece - Brand Strategist

The battering Greece has received on every level on the world stage has got many of us thinking about what is needed to get our country back on the rails.

As a successful brand strategist with a global perspective Peter is one of those who is giving it more than just thought. As a creator, he put words and images to our thoughts ...

We got to know Peter in November of 2011, shortly after his rousing, inspiring and inspired 'Rebranding Greece' presentation. His work impressed us greatly, it was just the tonic of hope and positive thinking that we neeed and we were one of the first to feature the presentation on one of our posts about Peter and his vision for Greece! It didn't take long for Greeks all over the world to acknowledge that what Peter was saying was right... the image of Greece needed to get a facelift, it needed to change... Peter's presentation went viral!

Peter is passionate about what he would like for Greece: he wants to reposition Greece as the Apple of the Mediterranean. An ambitious project which most of us would love to see come to fruition. It means of course that we all need to get to work again to fix what's wrong, for the good of Greece and the future generations...

Peter Economides Facebook Page: Greece: It's Time to Imagine the Future
Peter Economides on Twitter

Mikis Theodorakis

Greece - Composer

About Mikis Theodorakis on Wikipedia

Mikis Theodorakis Website

Steve Agi

Australia - Publisher

Facebook Page: OPA! Magazine

Loukanikos - Athens Riot Dog

Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece

Athens' Loukanikos, a protester with a difference, is a feature of all the demonstrations and protests which take place in the centre of Athens, and there have been plenty in the last 24 months. During 2010 and 2011 Loukanikos was present at all the protests and gained widespread fame via the media's focus on Greece, and gaining TIME's Person of the Year status in 2011!

TIME's photogallery of Loukanikos

Irene Papas

Greece - Actress

Irene Papas is one of our Global Greeks with instant recognition status, like Mikis Theodorakis, Nana Mouskouri, Manos Hatzidakis, Melina Mercouri...

Her theatrical performances are equally legendary and an honour and a privilege to watch, while her musical efforts have met with resounding success!

Irene Papas has won many awards for her performances over the years, but even though she has deserved one at least, she has never received an Academy Award.

This is something which we believe is an injustice, but she has made light of this omission by quipping ' I never won an Oscar... and the Oscars never won Irene Papas' .

Irene Papas on Wikipedia

Arianna Huffington Stassinopoulos

USA - Publisher

In 2005 she launched the Huffington Post which became a point of reference for all online media and a highly profitable operation.

Leaping from one success to another, Arianna hasn't looked back and credits part of her success with the Huffington Post to her mother's pivotal influence in her life...

In 2011 after selling the Huffington Post to AOL, Arianna stayed on as

PS We loved your idea of moving Davos to Greece! Behind you all the way!

Arianna Huffington's Facebook Page
Arianna Huffington on Twitter

Theodora Alessandra Mellinis

United Kingdom - Budding Entrepreneur

Thea Mellinis on MY SPACE

Lakis Lazopoulos

Greece - Actor/Writer/Satirist

Compassionate and caring, Laki keeps a low profile off screen and spends much of his time helping out with causes dear to his heart.

Lakis Lazopoulos on Wikipedia

Aganaktismenoi Plateias Syntagmatos
Indignados of Syntagma Square

Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece

In Greece this summer the people's movement 'Aganaktismenoi (Indignados) Plateias Syntagmatos' was very much a part of life in Athens Centre. At first hundreds then thousands flocked to Occypy Syntagma Square, generally in peaceful protest at the unilateral austerity measures being imposed on the people of Greece, whilst the privileges of the ruling 'elite' appeared to be untouched.

People from all walks of life,wanting to register their voice at the injustices being wreaked by the blanket austerity being imposed upon them and seeing that their very livelihood was being threatened came down daily to Syntagma Square in front of Parliament, families with children, newly unemployed, employees from the public and private sector, from the professions This picture we posted went viral with 2647 likes and 1264 shares!!! It is an aerial view of Syntagma Square on the 19th October 2010, a screen shot from Skai TV's broadcast on that day's events.

Every Honest Greek Citizen - Greece

'They're freezing WAGES! Why aren't they freezing PRICES?'

The Honest Greek Citizen as portrayed by Cartoonist Kostas Mitropoulos

in most of the cartoons he pens for Greece's Ta Nea daily newspaper

Alexander Payne

USA - Director/Screenwriter

Alexander Payne on Wikipedia

John Psathas

New Zealand - Olympic Composer

Athens 2004 Composer, Greek New Zealander John Psathas, who recently became Professor at the NZ School of Music, is one of a handful of New Zealand composers who havemade a mark on the international scene, particularly in Europe and NorthAmerica.

Widely considered one of the three most important livingcomposers of the Greek Diaspora, John Psathas is the son of Greek immigrant parents who arrived in New Zealandin the early 1960s. Born in Wellington in 1966 and raised in Taumaranui andNapier, John studied piano and composition at VictoriaUniversity, then studied in Belgium before returning to take up lecturing at theNew Zealand School of Music in Wellington, where he is now Professor inComposition.

John Psathas Official Website

John Psathas on Twitter

Jennifer Aniston

USA - Actress

Jennifer Aniston on Wikipedia

Gregory Pappas

USA - Publisher

Gregory Pappas' Chicago-based Greek America Foundation, a non-profit organization, has developed a number of initiatives aimed at highlighting Greek America's Best and Brightest, including the biennial GABBY Awards, the 40 Under 40's and the National Innovation Conference. It grants full-semester scholarships for study abroad in Greece, as well as a number of other cultural and educational projects in North America. Gregory's latest initiative is The Pappas Post whose goal is 'to start a dialogue about who we are, where we have come from and where we are headed'.

His company, The Pappas Group Inc., handles public affairs advisory-related services and strategic corporate planning, business development, public and media relations and event planning throughout the world.

He serves on the Advisory Council of the X Prize Foundation, an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.

He serves the Greek Orthodox Church in a number of capacities, including membership on the Archdiocese Council of the Archdiocese of America and the Leadership 100, the late Archbishop Iakovos' Endowment fund. He also serves on the executive board of directors of the PanHellenic Scholarship Foundation, which awards $250,000 annually to Greek American university students.

The son of Greek immigrants from the island of Crete who were involved in the anti-Nazi resistance effort, he developed an interest in Greek World War II history. He is an avid collector of Greek-related World War II memorabilia, including original photos, newspapers, magazines and the largest known collection of authentic Greek War Relief posters.

Gregory Pappas Facebook Page

Gregory Pappas on Twitter

Michael (Michalis) Cacoyannis

Cyprus - Director (deceased)

Michael Cacoyannis Foundation Facebook Page

Alexandra Tsiavou -

World Rowing Champion - Greece

We'll all be right behind you Alexandra!

Alexandra Tsiavou's Facebook Page

Haralambos (Bobby) Tzanetatos

Panama - Businessman/Benefactor

H. Tzanetatos Official Site

All Global Greeks

Everywhere

Global Greeks gives their time to man the church pagari, the church fair, the Sunday School, the Church Choir, the Dancing Group and the list goes on. They're the ones who organize and run around for the Taverna Nights, the Greek dances, the Souvlaki Stands, raising funds for the community, for those in need, for the Church.

Our Global Greeks keep the flag flying high and run to help the homeland whenever they can however they can.

Our Global Greeks are proud of Greece and want to see her doing well.

Their hearts swell with pride when Greece flies high but they hurt when Greece hurts, and they are the first to defend Greece when the going gets tough ...

All Global Greeks - the greatest asset Greece has!!!

Alexander N Pattakos

USA- Political Scientist/Author

George Kalivitis

No information made available

Filippos Parginos

No information made available

Happy Voting everyone!

Epiphany Day Around the Global Greek World! Xronia Polla!

2012-01-05T23:13:00.001+02:00

The Statue of the Cross Retriever
outside St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Tarpon Springs

representing all those who have retrieved the cross from the waters of the Bayou

Εν Ιορδάνη βαπτιζομένο Σου Κυρίε...

Epiphany Day (Των Φώτων - Θεοφάνια) today in the Global Greek World and the Orthodox church celebrates the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.

The bells rang out this morning in every church in Greece - a beautiful sound calling the people to attend the blessing of the waters, the Agiasmo, commemorating the day that Christ was christened.

Despite the bad weather in Athens, Piraeus and the rest of Greece, the tradition holds strong and people flocked to their local churches to be blessed, to get some of the Holy water to drink and to bless their homes using a sprig of basil or rosemary to sprinkle the water everywhere.

In our local church, Profiti Elia in Halandri, weather permitting, the ceremony takes place in the church grounds, a beautiful pine studded spot right opposite the Rematia Stream. You can watch a little of the ceremony here...excuse the sound, it was the best I could do as the winds were pretty strong and it started raining in the middle of the Agiasmo!

In Greece it is a public holiday, but in our communities around the world, if Epiphany Day doesn't fall on a weekend, it is usually celebrated on the closest Sunday to the actual day.

Epiphany Day

on a sunny summer January Day in Wellington, New Zealand

Two out of the three brave young men who defied the elements in Wellington, New Zealand

to dive for the cross on a not so summery day in January 2010

The exception is of course the most famous Greek Sponge Village outside Greece, Tarpon Springs, in Florida, USA where for more than 100 years Epiphany Day is celebrated as THE most important day in the church calendar and the biggest event of the year. This year is the 106th Epiphany Day celebrated in Tarpon Springs.

The whole community looks forward to the unique Epiphany Day celebrations and the Greek Festival that accompanies them.

The person who is lucky enough to find the white cross which is cast into the waters of the Bayou, gets to keep the cross he retrieved, is given a commemorative trophy cup and a gold cross to wear. Above all, however he is considered blessed for the whole of his life, holding a place of honour in Tarpon Springs for the ensuing year. The Cross Retriever is Tarpon's very own homegrown hero and looked up to by all, young and old alike and especially by the younger ones who make retrieving the cross one of their life-goals.

His name is entered on the honours memorial at the Bayou and leads the celebrations the next year.

Andrew Nikiforakis was the lucky one to find the cross in 1992

exactly twenty years ago today!

1992 Cross retriever, Andrew Nikiforakis, stands by the honours monument

at the Bayou in 2009 as his sister proudly points to his name etched on the monument

There is something very special indeed about this annual tradition which, apart from its religious significance has become a favourite in the local community for Greeks and non-Greeks alike.

Usually the Archbishop of North America comes down from New York to officiate at the ceremony held at St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral and thousands of Greeks flock to the city.

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Tarpon Springs

The Spring Bayou is prepared and the small boats are readied for the sixty to seventy young boys between 16 and 18 who prepare to dive for the Cross in the calm waters of the Bayou...

The Spring Bayou, calm and quiet, days before Epiphany Day

It is wonderful watching so many young men in their Epiphany Day tops led by the previous year's Cross retriever in the procession from the church to the Bayou and into the little boats. A white dove is set free and as soon as the Holy Cross is thrown into the water they dive into the water from the boats watched by the cheering onlookers and thousands of people wait to see who will be the lucky one!

The late FloridaArchbishop Iakovos officiates at the 1993 Epiphany Day celebrations.

Andrew Nikiforakis, the 1992 retriever, can be seen to his left in the dark suit

ready to handover to this year's lucky boy .

It is a magnificent sight to behold, and definitely a must for any visitors to Tarpon Springs - the most famous Greek Village outside Greece!

This post is dedicated to one of Tarpon's blessed young men, Andrew Nikiforakis, who having retrieved the Cross from the Bayou in 1992, led the 1993 procession and handed over to his successor, Michael Saroukos. Most of the photos on this post are from the Tarpon Springs Epiphany Day celebrations of that year.

I was thrilled to have been there to see this wonderfully inspiring event in 1993...

1993, a time when the local Greek Community was adding its voice of support to the raging controversy of FYROM - proclaiming loudly and proudly to all that would listen, that MACEDONIA IS GREEK...

We don't have a video from the 1992 Epiphany Day but we did find this one from 1990... the ritual and the tradition entrenched in this most Holy event continue to this day.

Kai tou xronou and to all celebrating namedays today - Xronia polla kai kala!!!

Beware of Global Greeks carrying Louis Vuittons...

2012-01-02T12:57:00.002+02:00

In this Warner Bros photo from Hangover II
Global Greek Zach Galifianakis (left) wearing THE bag
as a porter pushes the trolley with THE luggage

It's Monday January 2nd, 2012! Happy New Year! Not a very happy one for luxury brand owner LVMH who has filed a suit against Warner Bros according to today's morning frappe from fellow Greek portal Greek Gateway!!!

LVMH has sued Warner Bros because of the fake LV monogrammed luggage carried by Global Greek actor Zach Galifianakis in Hangover II and the reference he made to it ' Careful...that's a...that's a Louis Vuitton...'

Good luck to the people at Louis Vuitton! We have a great deal of respect for international law but please don't take yourselves so seriously...this is Hollywood THE world of total pretense, the world which gave meaning to the word 'fake'...

When we read this gem, four things sprang to mind...

One: Warner Bros should counter-sue on the grounds that they are giving LV free publicity... just think how many millions of people who saw this movie had never heard of Louis Vuitton, let alone seen their exclusive, astronomically priced, only-for-the-privileged products? How many of the people who saw these would know they were fakes?

Two:Time to copyright the Greek language folks! If Louis Vuitton can sue over the use of a word or a product that it has originated , and thus make money, imagine how much Greece could make if we sued everyone around the world who is not Greek but uses a word of Greek origin... thousands of words are floating around out there which our noble ancestors weren't 'smart' enough to copyright!

Three: We would be very happy if Louis Vuitton successfully sues the Chinese manufacturers who are knocking off its brand of products and shipping it around the world. We are truly sick and tired of these knock-offs cluttering up the streets of Athens, hawked by hundreds of illegal immigrants who play hide and seek with the Greek police!

Four: Warner Bros should have been smart enough to Buy GREEK! There are hundreds of great leather products in Greece...eg KEM they didn't have to resort to cheap fake LV luggage after all!

A fifth point came to mind while uploading these pictures... maybe Greece should sue Louis Vuitton for allowing a knock-off manufacturer to flood the world with his copies of their goods and cheapen our beautiful Athenian Trilogy buildings...

Academy of Athens - one of Greece's magnificent classic Athenian Trilogy Buildings

It's Almost 2012! Καλή Χρονιά! Kali Hronia to Everyone in our Global Greek World!!! Happy New Year!!!

2011-12-31T21:48:00.001+02:00

Our traditional Greek New Year goodies

2012 looks like it is going to go well..

Our daughter and her friends did the rounds of the neighbourhood this morning and sang the traditional New Year carol, Arximinia ki'Arxixronia.

Despite the economic crisis in Greece, the children were rewarded handsomely for their efforts... a great omen.

In the photo above you can see that we have gathered all our traditional New Year goodies ... GREEK made bubbly wine for us this year,

a pomegranate which will be thrown to the ground at midnight,

and the traditional gouri - plant which will adorn the door!

Our euros are ready for the traditional card game and we are ready to greet the New Year full of hope and optimism

We hope that 2012 will be a pivotal year for us all - a year full of Health,Happiness, Love, Peace and Prosperity!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ευχόμαστε ότι το 2012 θα είναι χρονιά σταθμός για όλους μας

Χρονιά γεμάτη Υγεία, Ευτυχία, Αγάπη, Ειρήνη και Ευημερία!

ΚΑΛΗ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ!

Καλά Χριστούγεννα - Καλή Χρονιά! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2011-12-24T21:18:00.000+02:00

Καλά Χριστούγεννα -Καλή Χρονιά!

Kala Christougenna-Kali Chronia!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends!

From Greece to every corner of our Global Greek World,

from our house to yours,

we're sending you Greece's traditional Christmas symbol - a boat - loaded with love, good wishes and hope for a better 2012 for all!

Thank you for your support...

CHRONIA POLLA kai KALA!!!

Από την Ελλάδα σας στέλνουμε το παραδοσιακό μας καραβάκι φορτωμένο με αγάπη και ευχές και με την ελπίδα ότι το 2012 θα είναι καλύτερο για όλους μας!

ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΛΑ!!!

Η Παρθένος Σήμερον

Buy GREEK for Christmas This Year Campaign! Let's ALL Buy GREEK!

2011-12-21T10:12:00.001+02:00

Buy Greek for Christmas...

Share the page - Share the passion - share the thought!

it doesn't have to be big, a chocolate, a card, a book is fine...

just make sure it is Greek!

All those who have been following our blog and our Global Greek World Facebook Page know it as a blog which is for and about Greeks all over the world.

Global Greek World, or GGW as most of us call it, aims at bringing Greeks together, while promoting the best and brightest that Greece has to offer at home and abroad, uniting them all under the Global Greek World umbrella.

Let's not forget that each and every Greek, wherever he or she is in the world, is a walking, talking and sometimes even singing Ambassador for Greece. We need to harness and project the enormous potential this dynamic gives us as much as we can for Greece's benefit, especially today.

One of our traditional Greek sayings goes... Άν δεν παινέψεις το σπίτι σου θα πέσει να σε πλακώσει.... if you don't praise your home it will fall and crush you... what else is Greece but our collective home and one of the most beautiful in the world!

If only we knew how blessed we are!

Greece has so much to offer - at every level. Greek products are world class in many sectors yet, until recently, Greece has never really promoted them as such.

Take our excellent, top of the tops, pure, extra-virgin olive oil, or Greek Yoghurt, as examples of products which have taken off with just a little work...ultimately they sell themselves because their quality is so good.

The concept of Buy GREEK was something I was thinking of for a while as a way to make people aware of the significance of supporting Greece's 'producers' as a move away from the crazy and indiscriminate consumerism of all things imported that has prevailed in the last few years in Greece. I had already done the necessary back office work, the domain, the email and the Buy GREEK page but I was working on the direction it should take...

However life has a way of taking over one's plans: Christmas and a question from a friend on facebook actually acted as a catalyst to get it going earlier than planned...so voila, the Buy GREEK for Christmas This Year Campaign event was launched at the end of November...

We see Buy GREEK as

a) a movement which will make people at home and abroad show their confidence in all things Greek similar to the O ΕΠΙΜΕΝΩN ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ movement of the 80's

b) a 'meeting place' for Greek producers and consumers in Greece and around the world,

c) a way to provide a shot in the arm for all products and services which are also part of a much bigger picture - the image Greece presents to the world - Brand Greece if you like, a brand which has taken a lot of knocks in the last few years and which needs to be rebuilt, yesterday!!!

d) a generic term that refers to all the things available in Greece - from physical products to Greece's rich and unique cultural heritage, and everything in between, on land or sea... the sky's the limit when it comes to showcasing the best!

There hasn't been any contact with any of the producers or the companies either 'liked' on the page or as direct links as yet, but that will come as we develop our strategy ... right now we are happy for people to post suggestions for Greek products, which as you can see they are doing, both on the actual page and on the event.

Buy GREEK is a concept which ultimately can be applied to all Greek products, businesses and services all over the world. We are thrilled to see that people themselves are not restricting it to Greek in the geographical sense and are including the diaspora Greek businesses which promote Greek products and services as well.

The feedback so far has been very positive, but confirmation that it is a good idea and one that everybody will try to embrace will come with an increase in 'likes' or attendance for the Buy Greek for Christmas event itself, so please get 'like-ing'!

There's been a great response following publication of the article by Nelly Abravanel in Kathimerini tis Kyriakis and on Skai as well as the English edition of Kathimerini - a much appreciated gesture, and a big thank you to Nelly for getting in touch!

You can read Nelly's article in Greek - on Skai or in the Kathimerini or in English in the English Edition Kathimerini.

As a result of that interview, the number of guests for the event are multiplying fast as are the 'likes' on the Buy GREEK page. Not bad at all, but we would love it to go viral of course! Ιf we can get those numbers high it means that we increase people's awareness of Greek products and services and show them that it is quite easy to Buy GREEK, wherever we may be.

Along with all the rest of our diaspora Greeks, I grew up and studied abroad, very much involved in all things Greek in our small Greek Community, bridging and bringing together the two worlds I belonged to. Now living, working and raising a family in Greece, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of one of the best things Greece did in the course of her modern history - Athens' Magic Olympic Games - ATHENS 2004!

The amazing things Greece was able to show the world during those unforgettable days in August of 2004 was a result of the fact that as a nation, both at home and abroad, WE worked together as ONE, united and focused on the noble cause - the homecoming of the Olympic Games, one of Greece's many legacies to the world.

Unfortunately our political leaders didn't take the golden opportunity that presented itself after Athens' magical Olympics and they didn't run with it at all. Quite the opposite in fact...

The often undeserved battering Greece has had on the world stage because of the economic crisis has helped many people take a good long look at what has gone wrong in Greece.

We now need to get to work again and fix it all for the good of Greece and the future generations.

We need to start working for the common good again rather than just that of our immediate circle... and Buy GREEK is an initiative in that direction.

We need YOUR help to get the news of this initiative out there.

We need to make people passionate about the cause.

Share the page - Share the passion - share the thought! Buy Greek for Christmas... it doesn't have to be big, a chocolate, a card, a book is fine...just make sure it is Greek!

If you love Greece, it's simple...

Buy GREEK!

Join us

On Facebook: Buy GREEK for Christmas This Year Campaign
Buy GREEK

Global Greek World

On Twitter: Buy GREEK

Global Greek World

PS Just found out that the Dutch central bank has given its 2,000 staff a Greek hamper this Christmas, containing cheese, olives, wine, a travel guide and a book about Greek myths... so...Let's start a trend!

If the Dutch Central Bank can do it so can WE, wherever we are in the world!

GREEK Christmas Hampers for all!

Buy GREEK!

Anyone For a Mc....Makis?

2011-12-08T15:30:00.001+02:00

Photo Source: Unknown - received by email

Location: somewhere in Greece...

We Greeks are pretty enterprising with a good sense of humour...

Hope the Golden Arches trademark police give Mr McMakis a bonus!

ΤΥΡΟΠΙΤΕΣ = CHEESE PIES

ΜΠΟΥΓΑΤΣΕΣ = CREAM PIES

ΠΙΤΣΕΣ = PIZZA

Anyone for a Mc ...Makis?
:)

Greece and the Bailout Package: How it works!

2011-12-07T15:37:00.000+02:00

A gentle reminder to our friends at the EU summit meeting which starts tonight...

It is a slow day in a little village in Crete...

The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted.

Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

On this particular day, a rich German tourist is driving through the
village, stops at the local hotel and lays a €100 note on the desk,
telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to
pick one to spend the night.

The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked
upstairs, the hotelier grabs the €100 note and runs next door to pay his
debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the €100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt
to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the €100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the
supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the Farmers' Co-op takes the €100 note and runs to pay his
drinks bill at the taverna.

The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the
bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him
"services" on credit.

The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the
hotel owner with the €100 note.

The hotel proprietor then places the €100 note back on the counter so the
foreign visitor will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the €100
note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and
leaves town.

No one produced anything.
No one earned anything.
However, the whole village is now out of debt and looking to the future
with a lot more optimism.

And that, dear friends, is how the bailout package works...

US Vice President Joe Biden in Athens. Who's Next? President Obama Maybe?

2011-12-05T08:35:00.001+02:00

Joe Biden - Vice President - USA

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Yesterday, US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Athens after visiting Turkey, where he attended an international conference on entrepreneurship.

Of great significance we believe is his two hour visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate which included a one hour meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, stressing the importance the US government puts on the issue of religious freedoms in Turkey.

Greek-American relations, issues of Greek interest such as the Cyprus problem, the naming issue of FYROM, religious freedom and the Ecumenical Patriarchate are on the agenda of Biden's discussions in Athens, as well as the dire economic crisis and problems in the wider region.

VP Biden was met at the airport by Deputy Prime Minister of Greece Theodoros Pangalos and today will be received by the President of the Republic, Karolos Papoulias. He will also meet separately with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, PASOK leader and former PM George Papandreou, and New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras.

VP Biden's wife, Jill, also visited Greece for the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics held in Athens earlier this year.

It is interesting to note that first, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Athens in July this year, now Vice President Biden visits.

At this rate, maybe Greece should start making plans for a visit by President Obama himself in the summer...

Source: AMNA

Greece - A New Beginning: 7 December 2011 - 13th New York Capital Link Investor Forum

2011-12-02T20:52:00.000+02:00

Greece - "A New Beginning"

Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Metropolitan Club • 1 E 60th Street • New York City
7:45 AM - 5:30 PM
Followed by a Networking Cocktail Reception
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC

and
IN COOPERATION WITH

NYSE Euronext, The Athens Exchange

Luncheon Keynote Speech will be given by

Professor Evangelos Venizelos,
Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance of the Hellenic Republic with
Introductory Remarks by

Ms. Arianna Huffington,
President & Editor-in-Chief
The Huffington Post Media Group

Mr. Jay Collins,
Vice Chairman of Global Banking & Managing Director of the Public Sector Group
Citi

MORNING PRESENTATION SESSIONS: GREECE - A NEW BEGINNING

The forum’s morning sessions will focus on new economic, political, and financial developments in Greece.

European Sovereign Debt Crisis: Searching for the End Game
Greece’s Economic Adjustment Program: The Restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises Privatization Program
The Legal Aspects of the Upcoming Privatization Program
Hellenic Exchanges & the Greek Stock Market
Investment Opportunities for Foreign Investors in the Greek Stock Market
Restructuring as an Investment Opportunity
Telecommunications
Banking Sector
Gaming & Sports Betting

AFTERNOON ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS: 5^TH ANNUAL GLOBAL SHIPPING MARKET

The afternoon sessions will focus on the global shipping markets, which depend on the state of the global energy and commodity markets.

The Global Energy & Tanker Shipping Markets
The Global Commodities & Dry Bulk Shipping Markets
The Global Container Shipping Markets
Analyst Panel

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

>> VIEW AGENDA
There is no charge to attend the morning or afternoon sessions but if you wish to attend the luncheon there will be a fee of $125.00. For further information and to register, please call Eleni Bej at 212-661-7566 or email Eleni

Related Posts: 11th Annual New York Forum and History of Capital Link

30 November 2011:Nomination Deadline for Greek America's Forty Under 40!

2011-11-29T22:54:00.001+02:00

Do you know any young Greek American leaders who strive for excellence in everything they do and at the same time are dedicated to making the world around them a better place?

Do you know any young Greek American leaders who have excelled in their respective business endeavours and who have made philanthropy, community involvement and activism an important part of their lives?

If you do, be sure to nominate him or her for the 2012 Greek America's Forty Under 40 Award!

Another world class initiative undertaken by Global Greek Gregory Pappas and his dynamic Greek America Foundation, Greek America's Forty Under 40 is made up of 40 young leaders (forty years old and younger) from North America.

Deadline for nominations is tomorrow, November 30, 2011 and the 40 winners will be announced in February 2012.

To submit your nomination please fill in the Forty under 40 Nomination Form.

After this year's emotion-packed Gabby Awards held on the historic Ellis Island and showing his Greek America Foundation's unflinching solidarity for Greece, founder Gregory Pappas has announced that the awards ceremony is to be held on Memorial Day Weekend during the NIC 2012 Conference in Athens - a very symbolic and welcome gesture of support!

Bravo Greg!

How the EU Works - In Case You were Wondering...

2011-11-23T21:27:00.001+02:00

Creator: Unknown

The moral of this story is, try to make sure you are as close to the top as possible, otherwise chances are you'll end up...
in more poop than you can handle!

One of those cartoons that don't need more words...
except to give thanks that you're not at the bottom perhaps!

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Celebrating World Philosophy Day: Isocrates - Great Greek Orator and Philosopher

2011-11-18T16:17:00.001+02:00

"Our Democracy is destroying itself because it abused the rights of freedom and equality, because it taught it's citizens to consider insolence as a right, illegal acts as a freedom, rudeness as equality and anarchy as prosperity".

Isocrates (436 - 338 b.C.)

Isocrates, one of the 10 great Athenian rhetors (orators) was not known as one of Greece's famous philosophers in the strict sense of the word, but we think he was and Keith Murphy, seems to agree with us...

Isocrates professes that rhetoric is philosophic in that it teaches morals andpolitics.

By "philosophy," Isocrates was describing a theory of culture.

Hebelieved that philosophy was the study of how to be a reasonable and useful citizen.

Isocrates held that one should deliberate about both one 's own affairs and the affairs ofthe state.

He believed that a philosophic education should arouse intense patriotism aswell as constructing a personal philosophy close to the stoic ideal.

While Isocrates didnot believe that virtue could be taught, he argued that itcould be strengthened through training and practice in oratory. (Against the Sophists)

He also argued that moralargumentation encourages right action because argumentation produces a historicalnarrative which uses historic events as precedents for present action.

Therefore one gains moral knowledge by studying public address both as the art of oratory and byimitating the great speakers for the lessons made by aman 's life are stronger than lessons furnished by words, as he wrote in Antidosis.

Isocrates also sawthe relationship between morality and oratory as reciprocal.

In the Antidosis Isocrates explains that the more one wishes to persuade one 's fellow citizens, the moreimportant it is that the orator have a favorable reputation among those citizens.

Thisnotion served as the basis for the Roman rhetorician Quintilian 's claim that ethos,or credibility, is a good man speaking well....

In today's context it is rare to find the two together...Where is there morality in leadership? Looking around us today, we see all the troubles foisted on the world by that small group of so-called leaders...fellow 'citizens' in name only, who looking to enormous personal gain and huge individual profit at the expense of society at large.

In his article 'Who's to blame for the implosion of Greece - and the Global Economy?' Greg Palast writes the following:

The firebombing, the mobs in the streets of Athens, mass unemployment, the empty pension funds and the angry despair that would sweep across Europe in 2010 began with a series of banking transactions crafted in the United States and Switzerland. The plan was 18 years old, and here it was played out in the streets of Greece, then Spain and Portugal, and before that in Latin America and Asia. The riot was written right into it.

When I ask, Who did it? I don’t mean the damaged fool who threw the Molotov cocktail into a crowded bank. I’m looking for the men in the shadows, the very big make-the-monkey-jump men who turned economies into explosive kindling, lit the fuse, then stood first in line at the fire sale.

The Greek philosophers had a word for it...hubris, hubris against the whole of society.

Perhaps when we do find the leader that embodies both, ethos or credibility hand in hand with the ability to speak well, to be a charismatic speaker, to be able to convince...he or she will be able to convince the rest of society to return to Isocrates' principles of being a reasonable and useful citizen of society, to reembrace our basic sense of values for equality and justice for all citizens, then our world will surely take a turn for the better...

Food for thought? We hope so!

Don't Forget: ' The Future of Hellenism in America' Conference Today in Washington DC

2011-11-18T12:07:00.001+02:00

The American Hellenic Institute Foundation presents its 10th Annual Conference,

The Future of Hellenism in America
starting today 18 November 2011 in Washington D.C.

With many of our prominent and dynamic Global Greeks taking part,
Greek Americans such as

Ambassador Patrick Theros, Ted Spyropoulos, Professor Dan Georgakas,

Andrew Kaffes and Antonis Diamataris ,

co-sponsored by the Onassis and Niarchos Foundations,

it cannot help but be both thought-provoking and successful!

If you are in Washington and would like to attend this very worthwhile conference, Register here

The Marathon of Marathons: The Athens Classic Marathon

2011-11-13T20:54:00.001+02:00

The Athens Classic Marathon is the Marathon of Marathons! No matter how many Marathons you've run, you haven't run a real Marathon until you've run the original!

Today the world's greatest Marathon race took place in the city where it was born, in Athens, Greece along the exact same path that the heroic Pheidippides followed in 490 B.C., 2501 years ago, to announce the Athenians' victory over the Persians.

Commemorating that incredibly difficult 42 kilometre run from Marathon to Athens by Pheidippides, people from all over the world flock to Greece each year to take part in the Athens Marathon, few being able to withstand the lure, the historic significance and the symbolism of running the same route as Pheidippides, in the Marathon of Marathons,

The message we want to send around the world is simple:

20,000 this year, 30,000 next year!

Spread the word, become a part of history!

The Athens Classic Marathon is the Marathon of Marathons! No matter how many Marathons you've run, you haven't run a real Marathon until you've run the original!

Τηλεοπτικό Σποτ ΣΕΓΑΣ - 29ος Κλασικός Μαραθώνιος... by Athens_classic_marathon

Greece: One of the Greatest Brands that's (N)ever been Branded

2011-11-12T16:28:00.001+02:00

Earlier this year, in a post called Rebuilding Our Myth: YES we CAN we wrote the following

'We Greeks know all about myths... in fact our ancestors created the whole concept and built up the brand name!

Now at one of the critical crossroads in her long and glorious history, Greece, along with the rest of us who love this country whether living here or abroad, has started the process of debunking some of the myths that have been circulating in the last few months and rebuilding her own incredible Greek Myth.

In today's strictly commercial terms, this is called rebuilding a brand and that brand is none other than Greece!

Let's all do our bit to help rebuild Brand GREECE - for us and the future generations.'

Today we were thrilled to see that one of our Global Greeks, Peter Economides, a brand strategist with a successful career behind him (including Apple's Think Different campaign) has got started on this and we love what he has done...

Have a look at the brilliant presentation he put together for Rebranding Greece, the 11th International Aristoteli Conference in Thessaloniki where he was conference keynote speaker on 11/11/11, a historic day for Greece from many points of view ...

You will love it too!

Brand Greece

View more presentations from Peter Economides

Brand GREECE -

One of the Greatest Brands that's never been branded

The Greatest little brand in the world!

Let's all get the message out there!

Here is Peter giving his presentation at the conference bringing it all together...

About Peter ...from his resume at Felix BNI

Peter Economides is a brand strategist with a global perspective.

He has lived on four continents doing work that has impacted brands and consumers almost everywhere. He has learned from the leaders of some of the world’s best brands.

His journey through the world of advertising and marketing started in his native South Africa and took him via Hong Kong, Greece and Mexico to New York, and back to Athens. “The Med is definitely the best.”

He has managed and grown leading ad agencies as CEO/President in Greece, Mexico and the United States. At McCann Erickson Worldwide he was responsible for the global management of the $1.8 billion Coca-Cola advertising account. At TBWA\Worldwide he structured and rolled out the global “Think Different” campaign following the return of Steve Jobs to Apple.

Felix BNI clients have included Audi, Volkswagen, Heineken Breweries, Pepsi-Cola, the International Olympic Committee, easy-forex.com, Seychelles Tourism, the Antenna Group and Pernod-Ricard.

Peter’s work is focussed on change - on the strategic responses to shifting culture, consumer habits and behavior, and the challenges of regional and global expansion.

His view is that branding strategy needs to be spherical and all encompassing, touching every aspect of the business organization and process. As he says, “everything communicates” and “strategy is nothing without a universally compelling, and individually enchanting big idea that engages and aligns people inside and outside the corporation.”

Peter is a Board Director Make-A-Wish Foundation International.

One of his passions is sailing, especially in the Aegean. Another is diving, especially in the Indian Ocean. But his biggest passion is brand strategy....

We want to see Peter's passion create the greatest brand ever...

Greece, Hellas, Hellenes!

Global Greek World is with you all the way!

Show your support, join Peter's Facebook page Greece: It's Time to Imagine the Future
and/or follow Peter on Twitter

Euros...not GYROS ... :)

2011-11-12T12:10:00.001+02:00

Euros...not GYROS!!!

Wonderful cartoon from Nick Anderson in the Houston Chronicle

Food for thought...literally!

Have a great weekend - with love from the real gyrozone*!

*for the word Gyrozone credit goes to Nick Malkoutzis, Deputy Editor of the English language Kathimerini. Follow Nick on Twitter

To the Men and Women of the Hellenic Air Force: Xronia Polla kai Kala!

2011-11-08T17:31:00.000+02:00

Today the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates the Saints' Day of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel... On this day, the 8th of Novembereach year, the Greek nation celebrates those brave men and women in the Hellenic Air Force who like the Archangels guard our country day and night, putting their lives on the line, often falling in the course of duty...

To all these heroes, and to everyone celebrating a nameday today - Angela, Angelo, Michael, Michaela, Gabriel, Gabriella, Stamati, Stamatia, Stratos and Stratia we wish Xronia Polla kai Kala! Na eiste panta kala!

The beautiful song that can be heard below, is 'Ηλιος Θεός ( Sun - God) by Vasilis Skoulas, and was written for Kostas Iliakis, who fell heroically on the 23rd day of a fateful May in 2006...

Σαν το σύννεφο φεύγω πετάω
έχω φίλο τον Ήλιο-Θεό
με του αγέρα το νέκταρ μεθάω
αγκαλιάζω και γη κι ουρανό.

Και χωρίς τα φτερά δεν φοβάμαι
το γαλάζιο ζεστή αγκαλιά
στα ψηλά τα βουνά να κοιμάμαι
στο Αιγαίο να δίνω φιλιά.

Λευτεριά στους ανέμους ζητάω
έχω πάψει να είμαι θνητός
ανεβαίνω ψηλά κι αγαπάω
δίχως σώμα χρυσός αετός.

Και χωρίς τα φτερά δεν φοβάμαι
το γαλάζιο ζεστή αγκαλιά
στα ψηλά τα βουνά να κοιμάμαι
στο Αιγαίο να δίνω φιλιά.
Σαν το σύννεφο φεύγω πετάω
έχω φίλο τον Ήλιο-Θεό
με του αγέρα το νέκταρ μεθάω
αγκαλιάζω και γη κι ουρανό

Σας ευχαριστούμε...
Χρόνια Πολλά και Καλά

Our Nomination for Interim Prime Minister: Minos Zombanakis-The Ultimate Greek Banker

2011-11-06T21:00:00.003+02:00

Minos A Zombanakis

The Ultimate Greek Banker

Greece is once again face to face with its destiny...

As the world watches, after weeks if not months of political turmoil and roller coaster emotions as we go from one bailout talk to the other, from IMF to EU to Eurogroup and even G20 meetings, we watch in dismay as Greece's future is gambled on.

In the last few days, weeks, months, two years, we have watched our political leaders squabble unable or unwilling to come to an agreement, on anything almost...let alone what they need to do today, forming a government of National Unity.

As they continue to play stupid and childish games at the expense of the country, we thought we would make our own nomination for the post of interim Prime Minister.

If Greece is going to have a banker for Prime Minister then our nomination goes to the ultimate Greek banker, Mr Minos Zombanakis, a man who was known simply as The Greek Banker.

With the international connections and impeccable background which are essential qualifications for the job of leading Greece through this period of economic crisis, Minos Zombanakis could well be the ideal person to fill this extremely important position at such a critical point in time.

Kalyves Apokoronou - Crete, Greece

Often credited with being the 'father' of the interest rate formula known as LIBOR, Global Greek Minos Zombanakis was born in Kalyves, one of Crete's beautiful coastal villages and educated at Harvard. He is considered a pivotal figure in the history of the Euromarket, the first banker to make full use of the syndicated loan market after establishing Manufacturers Hanover Trust in London in the late 60's.

Minos Zombanakis, whose friends' list read like a Who's Who of the international and financial elite, is one of the world's savvy wheelers and dealers. A respected and popular figure both at home and abroad, his advice was always sought out at every opportunity. This was particularly obvious during the Athens Stock Exchange boom in August of 1999, when you would often see him at the beach or at the local taverna in animated discussion with ordinary locals but also with people such as Yale educated Stavros Thomadakis, then Chairman of the Capital Market Commission of Greece and fellow native of Chania's Apokorona district.

Equally at home in Crete as he is in London, Mr Zombanakis has often hosted some of the world's most famous citizens at his home in his native Kalyves, a town he has supported at all levels and of which he has been made an honorary citizen. It is not by chance that the Kalyves City Centre is named Minos Zombanakis in his honour.

Following vice President Al Gore's unsuccessful bid for the Presidency of the USA he spent much needed down time at Mr Zombanakis' home town, incognito, sporting a beard and a Mexican hat...

In 2010, the Belfer Center launched a new professorship named for Zombanakis, chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank's International Advisory Council for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, a Harvard Kennedy School alum and member of the Belfer Center International Council. Harvard Kennedy School celebrated the professorship with Zombanakis and his family in April that year.

Minos Zombanakis and Family at the Harvard Celebrations

Picture Source: Belfer Center, KSG, Harvard

The Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System is defined as being aimed at 'a distinguished professor or professor of practice whose research and teaching will illuminate major policy issues of the era in ways that will be informative to policymakers addressing challenges of the international financial system'.

In fact, in April this year, former Vice President of the European Central Bank, esteemed economist Lucas Papademos was appointed the inaugural Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

It was because Papademos' name has been bandied around as possible interim Prime Minister of Greece in the last few days that we decided to nominate another, much more influential Global Greek for the position.

At 85 today, you might say Minos Zombanakis age might be against him, but let's not forget we have a precedent: Economist and banker Xenofon Zolotas who headed the Ecumenical Government formed in 1989 at the age of 85...

Why not?

Readers might be interested to read Mr Zombanakis' views on how we got to today's economic crisis. In an address to the Hellenic Bankers' Association in 2008, entitled The Financial Crisis: How did we get here?, Mr Zombanakis had this to say:

'Let me start by reflecting on the present turmoil in the financial markets.

Though it is not completely unprecedented in my experience, it is as scary as anything since the original oil price shock of the early 1970s, and it is still very uncertain as to its outcome. In my view, it has its roots in the powerful forces which have completely transformed the financial landscape in recent decades – forces that have transformed the financial system into a giant lottery.

It is worth glancing back to see how these forces originated, and how they interacted to create the toxic mix we have today, because there may be lessons.

I would single out three: financial innovation, deregulation of the finance industry, and monetary policy. I mention them in that order because that is the order in which they occurred.

Taking financial innovation first, I am talking here about innovation in two senses: the invention of new ways of doing business, and the globalisation of financial markets. These trends essentially began back in the 1960s with the development of the Euromarkets, a process with which I was personally and intimately involved.

The phenomenon of “stateless” money – mainly dollars which had left the US or avoided to be deposited in US banks – created a resource which opened up international financial trading on a completely new scale, and which allowed virtually any bank with international ambitions to participate.
These markets evolved in essentially two forms: securities and loans. The eurobond market was the first to emerge, in the early 1960s, as a means for international companies to tap new sources of capital at a time when national barriers were coming down. But though they were very inventive, these markets were rapidly overtaken in size by the syndicated loan market which emerged a few years later, in the late 1960s/early 70s. That, I am proud to say,was my contribution.

Within five years of the first Euroloans that Manufacturers Hanover Ltd arranged for Iran and later Italy, deals were running at the rate of hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

This process was made easier by the willingness of the monetary authorities of the day to allow these developments. Or, more accurately perhaps, I should say their inability to do anything about them because we must remember that the US (under Presidents Kennedy and Nixon) introduced tough capital controls to prevent the outflow of dollars. But generally “willingness” is the more accurate term because these new markets took pressure off hard-pressed domestic capital markets, and opened up important new sources of capital for business and sovereign borrowers alike, which was good.

The process was also facilitated by the invention, of an interest rate formula known as LIBOR, which enabled large groups of banks, several dozen, to put together very large loans. Again, this is an area where I was directly involved.

While I am proud of my contribution, I must accept that the history of the Euromarkets is not entirely positive, though at the time it helped countries to finance balance of payments deficits arising from the sudden increase in oil prices. As we know, these markets soon exhibited the sort of “irrational exuberance” which we have come to associate with almost all large scale financial developments. They got carried away with their success.

By the end of the 1970s, the international syndicated loan market, in particular, had become enormously competitive, and was churning out loans at the rate of over a hundred billion dollars a year. Loans were literally being forced on ill-qualified borrowers, many of them unsophisticated Third World countries, and when they couldn’t repay, they were given more loans to keep them current. By this time, I was no longer directly involved in the loan business, and I am on record as warning about “the monster” I had helped create.

But, rather like Dr Frankenstein’s own monster, it had become unstoppable....'

Unstoppable indeed...the results manifest themselves before us...

Καλή μας δύναμη!
Strength and courage for the hard road ahead!

Axion Esti: Odysseas Elytis - 100 Years Since the Birth of Greece's Nobel Prize Winning Poet

2011-11-03T01:02:00.001+02:00

Odysseas Elytis

Born 2 November 1911

Photo Source: Wikipedia

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1979 was awarded to Odysseus Elytis "for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness".

2011 is the centennial anniversary of his birth and has been officially designated as the year of Greece's Nobel Prize winning poet Odysseas Elytis.

His marvellous poetry continues to be as strikingly relevant today as it ever was and cotinues to give us hope...

We are of good stock...

From Sun the First

Ilios o Protos - Sun the First/The Sovereign Sun

Maria Dimitriadis

Axion Esti

Mario Frangoulis

Κάνε Kουράγιο, Ελλάδα μου! Courage, Ma Grece! Courage, My Greece....

2011-10-26T21:50:00.002+03:00

The words of this beautiful song are as timely and appropriate today, 26 October 2011, another historic day for Greece as the world awaits the results of a critical and pivotal EU Summit Meeting, as they were when Sofia Vembo first sang it in 1946, in a Greece devastated by war but dignified and courageous in the face of the poverty and destruction wrought by the occupying German forces in the Second World War...

It is that very same Greece, that very same people who have the will and the determination to weather the current storm and survive...

Greece, our Greece, the Greece we know and love, our homeland, the land whose heartstrings are attached to us and pull us close wherever we are in the world, the Greece which is deep in our heart, deep in our soul...

That same Greece which has remained strong and survived much worse in the course of her history,

That same Greece which has been through so many storms and adversities... no matter what the outcome,

THAT SAME GREECE IS THE GREECE THAT WANTS TO LIVE AND LIVE SHE WILL!

Η ΕΛΛΑΣ ΘΕΛΕΙ ΝΑ ΖΗΣΗ ΚΑΙ ΘΑ ΖΗΣΗ
Hellas wants to live and live she will!

Κάνε κουράγιο Ελλάδα μου...

Ποιος το περίμενε στ' αλήθεια,
να βγουν ψευτιές και παραμύθια
και να ξεχάσουν τώρα πια τα λόγια εκείνα τους,
που μας τα 'λέγαν κάθε βράδι απ' τα Λονδίνα τους.

Μα δεν πειράζει, δεν πειράζει,
δεν θα το βάλουμε μαράζι
και δεν θα κλάψουμε που πάλι μας ξεχάσατε,
γιατί δεν είν' πρώτη φορά που μας τη σκάσατε
και στην υγειά σας μια οκαδούλα εμείς θα πιούμε
και στη μικρή την Ελλαδούλα μας θα πούμε:

Κάνε κουράγιο Ελλάδα μου
κι όσο μπορείς κρατήσου
και στα παλιά παπούτσια σου,
γράψε όσα λέν' οι εχθροί σου.

Κι αν μας τη σκάσανε με μπαμπεσιά,
οι σύμμαχοι στη μοιρασιά,
κάνε κουράγιο Ελλάδα μου, να μη μας αρρωστήσεις,
γιατί το θέλει ο Θεός να ζήσεις και θα ζήσεις.

Σε κάθε χιονισμένη ράχη,
σαν πολεμούσαμε μονάχοι,
όλοι λαγούς με πετραχήλια μας ετάζατε
και μεσ' στα μάτια με λατρεία μας κοιτάζατε.

Μα ξεχαστήκαν όλα εκείνα,
η Πίνδος και η Τρεμπεσίνα,
ίσως μια μέρα εμάς που τόσο αίμα εχάσαμε,
να μας καθήσουν στο σκαμνί, γιατί νικήσαμε.

Μα φυσικό θα μας φανεί κι αυτό ακόμα
και στην Ελλάδα μας θα πούμε μ' ένα στόμα:

Κάνε κουράγιο Ελλάδα μου
κι όσο μπορείς κρατήσου
και στα παλιά παπούτσια σου,
γράψε όσα λέν' οι εχθροί σου.

Κι αν μας τη σκάσανε με μπαμπεσιά,
οι σύμμαχοι στη μοιρασιά,
κάνε κουράγιο Ελλάδα μου, να μη μας αρρωστήσεις,
γιατί το θέλει ο Θεός να ζήσεις και θα ζήσεις...

Lyrics/Στίχοι: Μίμης Τραϊφόρος / Mimis Traiforos
Music/Μουσική: Μιχάλης Σουγιούλ / Mihalis Souyioul
First Release/ Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Σοφία Βέμπο / Sofia Vembo

Source: Stixoi

YES, Global Greeks CAN! St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero to be Rebuilt!

2011-10-15T22:27:00.000+03:00

“We are grateful to our esteemed Governor and precious friend Andrew Cuomo for bringing to reality the dream we have nourished for ten long years. St. Nicholas Church, rising again with the help of God at Ground Zero - where it stood spiritually important for 85 years, is an affirmation of the significance of religious freedom and experience for all New Yorkers and all Americans. The covenant stands firm. We will again light many candles in the new St. Nicholas Church and remember those who were lost to us, and those heroes who so nobly sacrificed their lives. Our pledge is to be a witness for all New Yorkers, that freedom of conscience and the fundamental human right of free religious expression will always shine forth in the resurrected St. Nicholas Church.”

Archbishop Demetrios, on the long awaited agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on the rebuilding of the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

Photo by: Eric O'Connell
Photo Source: Rebuild St Nicholas at Ground Zero Facebook Page

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church which was destroyed in the terrorist attack and subsequent collapse of the twin towers on September 11, 2001, will be rebuilt.

In New York, The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America announced the much awaited and long overdue agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey regarding the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo invited Archbishop Demetrios and the Hierarchs of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, together with leadership of the St. Nicholas Parish and the Archdiocesan Council to his New York City office for the official signing of the agreement by Archdiocesan Council Vice-Chairman Michael Jaharis and Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward. Archbishop Demetrios and Governor Cuomo signed as the formal witnesses to the agreement.

Archbishop Demetrios expressed particular praise for Governor Cuomo and also expressed deep appreciation to Michael Jaharis and Dennis Mehiel and the other members of the joint committee who had laboured so diligently to accomplish this historic agreement.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo: “We lost St. Nicholas Church in the destruction of September 11 and for too long its future has been uncertain. Rebuilding St. Nicholas Church, with a nondenominational bereavement center, is not just good news for the Greek Orthodox community, but for all New Yorkers. With this agreement, we are continuing New York’s collective healing, restoration, and resurgence. Now we are finally returning this treasured place of reflection to where it belongs.”

According to the Port Authority Press Release:“The agreement … permits the rebuilding of the Church with a nondenominational bereavement center at the east end of Liberty Park, at 130 Liberty Street. The agreement follows a four-month independent engineering study commissioned by the Port Authority and the Archdiocese, which found that the Church could be built on the site with minor modifications to the original plan and with no impact on the World Trade Center construction schedule.”

In Washington, D.C., U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, welcomed and applauded the agreement:

Rep. Bilirakis :“The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has been ready, willing, and able to re-erect its beloved church for some time now and I am pleased that the Port Authority and New York City officials have reached this important and symbolic agreement to reconstruct St. Nicholas Church. As the only house of worship destroyed in the tragic attacks on 9/11, St. Nicholas not only serves as a house of prayer and worship for the Hellenic community, but is a reminder that the United States and its resounding faith cannot and will not be held down by those who wish to harm us. I look forward to the day that this church re-opens its doors and the first post-9/11 Divine Liturgy is celebrated,” said Rep. Bilirakis.

Rep. Maloney:“I congratulate Governor Cuomo, Archbishop Demetrios, and Chairman Ward for their hard work to reach this agreement. Rebuilding St. Nicholas Church, along with the major progress underway at the World Trade Center site, will help complete our city’s recovery from the 9/11 attacks. St. Nicholas Church has been an important part of the Hellenic community for generations, but has also served as a place of respite, calm, and prayer for countless others in the lower Manhattan community. I am delighted that this iconic Church will soon rise again,”

Greek Americans, Greek American Associations all over the USA, and all Greeks, in Greece and abroad, Global Greeks who have worked hard and unstintingly for this cause, welcomed this historic decision with a great sense of relief, joy and vindication.

We at Global Greek World, congratulate all those involved... we know that when we Greeks work together, united and determined, nothing is impossible!

Greece, the Church of Greece, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, organisations and individual people from all over the world have sent money in support of the rebuilding.

For those that can afford to, let's send a donation to help finance this truly worthwhile project.

To see how you can help rebuild, go to the St Nicholas website

Related Articles:

Let's ALL Help Ensure that St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero is Rebuilt. ACT NOW!

Remembering 9/11 - The Day that Changed the World...

Greece's Political Leaders: No Jobs ...No Clue... No Friends...No Voters!

2011-10-12T00:37:00.006+03:00

George...

Antonis...

Aleka...

George...

Alexis...

Dora...

Kostas...

No Comment!!!!

PS Just found out who the creator is! Congratulations to Triantafyllos Omyridis -Greek Photoshop specialist. Great job Triantafylle, we are still laughing...just what Greece needs right now...good reasons to laugh even if it is at ourselves!!!!

Steve Jobs vs George Papandreou...

2011-10-08T13:07:00.000+03:00

Apple's Tribute to Steve Jobs - the visionary

Source: Apple

Source: received by email
Creator :Triandafyllos Omyridis

Macabre humour, and in its own way, a Greek satirical tribute
to Steve Jobs
The toolbar at the top says it all...
Lefta Yparxoun, FastTrack, Haircut, AiMak, AiPant, AiSixtir,
Support and search for ... Australia!

The Greek PM's tribute tweet to Steve Jobs...
from our GGWorld Twitter Feed

Our wish for Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou?

That he too begins to think differently and outside the box

to courageously change the standards and lives of millions of HIS people...

instead of following the usual unproductive and unimaginative course of taxing his people to exhaustion!

We know he can!

Kalimera & Kalo Mina! Καλημέρα & Καλό Μήνα!!! :)

2011-10-01T11:32:00.001+03:00

Dedicated to all of those in our Global Greek World
who love this beautiful country called
Greece,Ελλάδα, Hellas...

Whatever our problems may be, wherever we are,

in Greece or around the world,

let's be optimistic and make the most of every moment!

Greece's beloved ballad singer Yiannis Parios
and a song guaranteed to start your day in the right way -

with a smile!

Καλημέρα, Τι Κάνεις...

Good morning, How are you?

Have a fabulous day and a great month! ...

Kalimera & Kalo Mina!

Fitch, Moody's and S & P: Look Who's behind the Rating Agencies...

2011-09-28T17:08:00.002+03:00

A quick look at who's behind the Big Three Ratings Agencies

The three rating agencies have done it again...

The same agencies who gave AAA ratings to the sub-prime mortgages and weren't 'able' to foresee the Lehman crash of 2008 and its disastrous consequences for the world economy...

Those same ratings agencies that downgraded most of the poor PIIGS and especially Greece...

In Greece's case, the downward spiral sparked by the downgrading of her sovereign debt and the lack of fast and decisive action to nip it in the bud by the leadership of both Greece and the EU has led to an unparalleled credit crisis in Europe with explosive consequences....

Well, these very same, theoretically independent agencies, who instead of being sidelined because strictly speaking they lost their credibility back then, these agencies have now put several of Europe's AAA countries on watch, and now we'll all have to sit back and watch the fireworks, hoping we won't be burned en masse by the flying debris...

Have they gone too far? We will soon know...

Read about the Ratings Agencies on Wikipedia

Maria Callas - La Divina - The Legend - The Woman

2011-09-16T23:30:00.001+03:00

Maria Callas as Medea

34 years ago today, on 16 September 1977, the world farewelled one of the most exceptional opera singers ever and Greece one of her most gifted children of the diaspora...

Maria Callas died, of heartbreak some say, leaving behind her a legend. To this day, so many years later, that legend has remained undiminished.

Maria Callas, the woman who gave the world the definition for DIVA...

Maria Callas - La Divina - the Divine One...

Maria Callas - Golden Global Greek...

Our father's great love for this brilliant performer meant that we grew up with Maria Callas... not literally of course, and when Callas passed away we felt like we had lost a member of our family. As we had most of her recordings in our record collection, Norma, Tosca, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Aida, Carmen and others, we would often sit with our father in our 'saloni', the visitor's room, where our stereo was and listen to that magnificent voice flood the room, transporting us to La Scala, Covent Garden or Epidaurus... That room was always our father's refuge and his record collection his great joy.

Whenever we heard Maria Callas' voice we knew he was sad, mad or just nostalgic for Greece, the homeland he would never see again...

You can hear some of his favourite and some of her most famous pieces, by clicking on video widget 'Maria Callas - The Collection' in the sidebar on the right hand side of the blog.

I remember reading everything about her that I could, and Arianna Huffington's (then Stassinopoulos) biography of her, Maria Callas - The Woman Behind the Legend, was fascinating indeed although I later learned that it was also controversial. Maria Callas' life and especially her love for another legendary Global Greek, Aristotle Onassis, meant that her life often gave the tabloids and the gossip columnists a great deal of material to work with.

I also remember the trail of goose bumps I got when I visited Verona's Arena, the site of Callas' debut at the Verona Opera Festival in 1947, the city where she lived with her mentor and husband,Giovanni Battista Meneghini. The same feeling that I got at Milan's La Scala - the legendary Opera House where she gave some of her finest performances.

Milan's Legendary La Scala Opera House

Earlier this year, the Athens Concert Hall hosted an exhibition in collaboration with La Scala, of rare and magnificent costumes worn by Maria Callas in her great operatic roles.

Our photos taken at that exhibition are our tribute to the brilliant, determined and very talented Global Greek woman who was Maria Callas on this special day... a woman who was a citizen of the world, but didn't hesitate to say in an interview in Greek when she visited in August 1957, to sing at the Athens Festival at the Herodus Atticus Theatre...

'I especially belong to the Greek people, I may have married an Italian, the whole world may have bestowed honours upon me, but my blood is Greek, and no-one can erase that'

Hear Maria Callas' interview, in Greek, below ... and then check out the beautiful costumes from her legendary performances in the pictures which follow.

Maria Callas and Christos Lambrakis

The Athens Megaron celebrating its 20th birthday

pays tribute to Maria Callas

Remembering 9/11 - The Day That Changed the World...Lest we Forget!

2011-09-12T01:16:00.001+03:00

New York's landmark World Trade Centre ...

Before 11 September 2001,

the day that changed the world...

Those of us who have been fortunate enough to see the Twin Towers couldn't fail to be impressed by the sheer technical achievement involved. I took this photo during one of the popular tourist Circle Cruises, never dreaming that just a few years later I would be watching the devastation of their destruction from our living room in Athens...

For all of us who watched the dreadful events that unfolded before our eyes in a live, full colour, stream of horror on that day in 2001, it soon struck home that the reality we were watching was so much more horrific and unthinkable than anything Hollywood would ever have been able to come up with.

As the first plane flew into the tower I don't think any of us could believe what we were watching...as the second one did the same, we knew something terrible was going on... as the day and the day's events unfolded, as more news came to light about the other planes and the crashes, the whole world realised that the unthinkable was happening, the USA was the victim of a carefully planned and meticulously and callously executed terrorist attack... a terrorist attack that would leave its mark for years to come...

The self-sacrifice and heroism of New York Fire Department and Police personnel who rushed to rescue the stranded despite the dangers, the chaos and the appalling conditions which prevailed.

Greek American FDNY firefighter Peter Critsimilios, honoured by the Thessaloniki Fire Department for his heroism, is one of the Greek American firemen who was on the front line during those days. At the honouring ceremony he shared a little of the horror of those days with us...

'The morning of 9/11 the United States, and N.Y.C., the NYPD, the PAPD and the FDNY got knocked to our collective knees.

That afternoon, we stood back up again.

My fire unites responded to the W.T.C. early the next morning.; We were met with a scene of complete devastation. Fires continued to burn in, around, and under the debris pile. We put on our helmets and went to work. While at the site the FDNY changed, adapted, and evolved. We worked till exhausted and then simply rolled up our coats laid our heads down on them and went to sleep.We woke up again and went back to work. This proved to be too physically and mentally draining, so our tours of duty were changed to 24 hours on and 24 hours off. This schedule was modified even further to allow quicker rotation and quicker rest periods.

This was not an environment to work tired and dulled. If you stood in one place too long the bottom of your boots melted.Large pieces of steel, some weighing 10-20 tons were at every conceivable angle and could crush you at any moment.The air was filled with acrid smoke.The footing was dangerous. There were voids 30-40 feet deep. In some places, the rubble pile was 7-8 stories high and extremely unstable.This was a place that could still hurt you, could still kill you.

When our knees became burnt, bruised, and cut, we procured kneepads so that we could work more efficiently.If a tool did not work, we modified it; we adapted it to the task at hand.
We were fluid, we thought of our feet.We were getting the job done....'
Read all of Peter's speech

America's Greek Community counted 39 of its own among the 2983 people who lost their lives so tragically on that day in September in 2001 - a day which started out like so many others but soon turned into one of the most devastating in America's recent history - a day which would change the world forever, but especially for those who lost their loved ones...

Joanne Marie Ahladiotis 27
Ernest Alifakos 43
Arlene T. Babakitis 47
Katherine Bantis 48
Peter Brennan 30
Thomas A. Damaskinos 33
Anthony Demas 61
Constantine (Gus) Economos 41
Michael J. Elferis 27
Ana Fosteris 58
Jimmy Grekiotis
Kenneth G. Grouzalis 56
Steven M. Hagis 31
Vasilios G. Haramis 56
Nicholas John 42
John Katsimatides 31
Danielle Kousoulis 29
Thomas Kuveikis 48
James Maounis 42
Philip William Mastrandrea, Jr 42
George Merkouris 35
Stilianos Mousouroulis—-
Peter C. Moutos 44
Nikos Papadopoulos/Papas 29
James N. Pappageorge 29
George Paris 33
Theodoros Pigis 60
Daphne Pouletsos 47
Richard N. Poulos 55
Stephen E. Poulos 45
Anthony Savas 72
Muriel Fay Siskopoulos 60
Timothy Patrick Soulas 35
Andrew Stergiopoulos 23
Michael C. Tarrou 38
Michael Theodoridis 32
William P. Tselepis 33
Jennifer Tzemis 26
Prokopios Paul Zois 46

(source: Maria Karamitsios for USA Greek Reporter)

Greek American actress Anthoula Katsimatides is the sister of one of those 39 young Greek Americans, John Katsimatides. Anthoula is on the board of directors of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum , and was the liaison to the family members of those who were murdered in the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 terrorist attacks. She also served as Governor Pataki's liaison to the September 11th families, and last Friday, September 9, 2011, was chosen to ring the bell at the NYSE, in memory of those who fell so needlessly...

Talking to the New York Daily News about the annual memorial service, Anthoula had this to say...

'These past 10 years, while there has been no memorial yet to visit on the anniversaries, I have found great comfort through the simple, reverent reading of the names on the site of the attacks. I am surrounded by people who are connected to these names, and, like me, they know that each name represents a life of someone who was loved and who was loved by us as family members. I am also reassured to know that my brother and the nearly 3,000 others are being remembered as people - not as numbers, facts or statistics...' Read more:

You can also listen to Anthoula tell John's story tonight on the Discovery and Science series Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero in episodes 5 & 6 from 9-11pm, on the Science channel today Sunday 11 September, 2011 from 5-11pm.

The total destruction of St Nicholas, the little Greek Orthodox church at the bottom of the twin Towers, and the only place of worship in the area, was a great loss for the Greek Community. The ongoing battle with the Port Authority of New York to ensure that this historic little church can be rebuilt on Ground Zero, its original site, continues, after the discussions came to an abrupt close in 2009, despite the fact that all seemed to be going well, and it seems that the case will be decided on in the courts.

Last year we wrote that it is up to all of us in the Global Greek World, and especially the Greek American Community to ALL ACT NOW to ensure the continuing presence of St Nicholas, the little Greek Orthodox Church that was sacrificed on that black day, 10 years ago, when terrorism came to the USA and changed the course of history forever!

To see how you can help rebuild, go to the St Nicholas website