“This non-verbal lingo exists in every culture. One cannot be completely fluent in a language until and unless one learns the intricacies of jargon conveyed through the nuance of gestures, posture, and facial…

“Achileas’ yearly celebration of a country he would never see again was so deeply felt, as young as I was, it made an imprint. Did he know he’d never see his beloved Aegean,…

“You taught me that patience and stoicism have a kind of dignity; that self-respect is essential to respecting others. From you, I inherited my looks and my disposition, my love of Greece, of…

“The advantages of getting older—why do so few explore the blessings of age?—are experience and, through experience, acceptance. If we accept age as a gift of acquired wisdom, there is an added bonus:…

“Often, I’m burdened by the cruel madness of some in this world, at my immediate anger with them. But I stop and consider those who give of themselves, create beauty and share it,…

“As a child, I measured the rhythm of the year by the scope of preparations for and celebrations of each of our holy days. The month leading up to Christmas and the one…

“When will we learn to let go of our fear of the other—to see that there is no other, that we are one? Our needs, our grief, our joys, are all the same,…

“They speak of god and country, wave flags they claim to love, plant their flagpoles into our Native brethren’s backs. The god they speak of does not deserve a capital G—he has no…

“EKG done, the triage nurse takes over, checks your blood pressure (high), your oxygen intake (decent, but lower than usual), temperature (normal). She looks more closely at the computer, then at you, ‘Wow.…

“My parents, and their parents before them, were Greek. They were ‘Greeks of the Diaspora’ for four generations. Before that, the maternal side of my family had its roots in ‘Constantinopoli’ (modern-day Istanbul).…