A recent article in the Batlimore Sun about that city's Greektown sparked some ideas in our minds of what Greektowns today really symbolize; and whether in today's world they truly were 'Greek.'
As immigrant waves came into new countries (Canada, Australia, United States, France, UK etc), Greeks and other ethnic groups often settled into areas that they knew how to relate with, conduct business with and communicate with. This
created numerous ethnic neighborhoods in many cities including the Greektowns that sprouted up in numerous cities. But as immigration has faded, the Greek element of many former Greek towns has been lost, and in many cases has been reduced to nothing more than a strip of retail shops or restaurants. Some exceptions do exist; most notably in Tarpon Springs, Florida; Astoria, New York; and on the Danforth in Toronto; where a large Greek community still resides in the area and helps retain more of a cultural element to the neighborhoods.
But in U.S., the term Greektown has in many cases become nothing more than a tourist attraction. In Chicago, the former Greektown that used to span blocks and blocks and was home to dozens of businesses and hundreds of families was razed in the 1960s and today consists of three blocks of retail stores. (The Greeks who used to live there have dispersed to the northwest and southwest suburbs.) Detroit's Greektown is also a small commercial strip, and Denver's Greektown is merely a collection of a restaurants on a busy street. The Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland has lost most of its Greek residents and the Greek neighborhoods of Los Angeles and St. Louis have all but vanished. In Australia, the same phenomena is occurring. Melbourne, with its huge Greek population has seen a population shift to the suburbs; a occurrence also happening in Sydney and Brisbane.
Something that should be noted is that although Greeks may still not reside in their former 'neighborhoods', Greektowns still serve as a focal point for the community and are hosts for parades, and large festivals celebrating our heritage.
What do you think of the Greektown in your neck of the world? Are there adequate measures being taken to preserve this pat of history?
List of Greek towns around the world
posted on Wednesday, October 22
Greece's Touristic Research Institute (ITEP) is predicting a rocky road for the 2009 tourist season. The sour outlook comes after news news of a 1.2 percent drop in Greek airport arrivals in the first nine months of 2008. In fact, all of Greece's main tourist destinations showed a decrease in airport arrivals in September, with the worst-hit being the Dodecanese archipelago with a plunge of 7 percent year-on-year.
Forbes
Around the web
Store owners and plumbers want in! A free-for-all erupts in Greece as seemingly everyone is joining this weeks work stoppages. ...via IHT
Nice life: Former NBA star Josh Childress on living/working in Greece ...via NYT
posted on Tuesday, October 21
Last week, the President of the Greek Republic (Karolos Papoulias); established an official day where Greece would honor one of the country's most important phil Hellenes, Lord Byron. From now on, April 19th will be seen as a "day of philhellenism and international solidarity." April 19th was chosen because it is the day that Lord Byron died of a fever inside the then sieged city of Messlongi. He had traveled to the city with money and food when it first was surround by Ottoman forces. Lord Byron wrote passionately about the Greeks and their struggles for freedom against the Ottoman Empire and encouraged many other Europeans to join the effort to liberate Greece.
...via The Hindu
Around the web:
Obama/Biden on Greek issues: Positions outlined on Cyprus, Ecumenical Partiarch, FYROM. via GreekNews
Still Visa-less: Greek ambassador in Washington conveys displeasure that Greece not admitted to the US Visa Waiver Program. via ANA
posted on Monday, October 20
A recent Eurobarometer poll revealed Greeks are well informed on the issues of animal cloning. 87% of Greeks correctly thought that the statement “cloning is making an identical copy of an existing animal” was correct. Denmark topped the list with 91% of Danes agreeing with the statement.
The study also showed that 63% of Greeks saying that animal cloning for food production should never be justified (58 percent for the EU average).
Read the full report here. (pdf)
DF: We love the fact Greeks are on top of this issue, and in general, are much more aware of the make- up of its food supply --including genetically modified foods like corn and wheat.. The consequence of a non-vigilant populous? China.
Around the web:
Break out the good stuff!: Metaxa celebrates 120 years by introducing the £700 a bottle, AEN METAXA.
Is 28 billion euros enough? Greece to shield banking system with 28 bln euros.
posted on Friday, October 17
They come from all over the world; fleeing persecution, wars, and famine. Many endure dangerous trips to touch Greek soil from which they hope a better life can begin, albeit in Greece or somewhere else in Europe. Already in 2008, Greek authorities have intercepted 11,000 migrants. A report from a Bulgarian paper stated that nearly 116,000 illegal immigrants have entered Greece this year alone. That number is astounding. And then there are increasing stories of those who don't make it; those who meet danger and sometimes don't finish the journey.
18 Immigrants killed in Road Crash on the way to Greece
Four immigrants killed from mine on Greek border
18 bodies wash up on Aegean Shores after immigrant boat sinks
These immigrants are washing up on shores and ports all over the country, and it seems that now no one town or island is immune to it. A great article (in the form of a PDF file) in Athens Plus has a detailed map of where immigrants have been caught so far this year. The top five locations in Greece where immigrants have been intercepted and have been detained are:
1. Samos - 2,850 immigrants intercepted
2. Lesvos - 2,700 immigrants intercepted
3. Leros - 2,668 immigrants intercepted
4. Patmos - 1,420 immigrants intercepted
5 Symi - 203 immigrants intercepted
While Greece is trying to cope with the influx as best as she could; it is getting to the point where it is getting nearly impossible to manage. The WHOLE EU should look into ways to stop the flow of immigrants onto the continent and if they do reach EU soil, to help take care of those who need help. The top three sources of immigrants into Greece come from the some of the roughest countries in the world; Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia; where wars have taken their toll.
Many of us who are reading this are a part of a diaspora because our parents or grandparents left Greece for various reasons. Do you think Greece should be doing more to help this immigrants or should it be more of an EU commitment? Does Greece shut its borders? Or open up the flood gates?
posted on Thursday, October 16
And so do we. If you're still wondering whether you should join Facebook, maybe this will help you. In the most recent 3Q '08 user tally, Greece now ranks 25th, behind Finland, with 663,920 people who use the social networking service. The pace of adding new users gained 28% in the quarter. There are now 102 million active users around the world.
What are you waiting for? Sign up and join 6,000 other DF readers over at our own super fabulous Facebook application, Meet Me in Greece.
Thanks to Dimitri for the tip.
...via Inside Facebook
Around the web:
Medical mayhem: Doctors leave 22cm spatula in patient and TB outbreak closes Greek schools
posted on Wednesday, October 15
A Greek University for the first time has ranked amongst the highest and most important in the world. The Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings recently identified the world's top 100 universities in 2008; ranking the institutions on six factors including academic peer review; employer review; faculty/student ratio; citations per faculty; international faculty, and international students.
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens ranked in number 200 on the list. (Last place but hey better than not being on there at all!) The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens has been educating students for 170 years and was not only the first University to open in Greece but in the whole Balkan region. It's main campus is in the Ilissia suburb of Athens. For more info on this university click on their website.
Click here to see the full list of the universities making the cut.
Last week it was reported that Greece's 23rd university will be opened in the city of Agrinio in central Greece.
Top picks today:
Greece unemployment rate down to 7%.
BBC reports on the Plaka debate raging in the Athenian neighborhood.
Greece dominates Moldova in World Cup Qualifying match, winning 3 to 0.
posted on Tuesday, October 14
A recent survey declared Greece the top "desired" travel destination for Australians.
Aussie online travel company, Flight Centre, compiled the list based on the company’s top selling destination data, showing the countries that have consistently gained popularity over the past 12 months and will be the places to be seen in 2009.
Top 10 list Australians
1. Greece
2. Brunei
3. Croatia
4. Vietnam
5. New Caledonia
6. Bali
7. Mexico
8. Czech Republic
9. United Arab Emirates
10. SpaiN
Around the web
Pirates strike again! Somalians hijack Greek ship (flying a Panamanian flag) ...via Fox
Rewriting history? Attempt to bolster peaceful coexistence with new textbooks cause stir ...via Daily Star
posted on Monday, October 13
Here are some of the latest news clips and happenings of some of our diaspora communities around the world. Enjoy the weekend everyone.
Paris, France
“A Tribute to the Greek Resistance, 1940-1944” is an exhibition that just opened at the Memorial Leclerc – Musee Jean Moulin in Paris in cooperation with the Hellenic Foundation for Culture and the National Gallery. Curated by Zina Kaloudi, the exhibition features the art that international – mostly French – artists donated around 1945 to the Greek state to honor the Greeks’ resistance against the Axis powers.
Bucharest, Romania
Hellenic Foundation of Culture (HFC), inaugurated its first branch in the Balkans with an exhibition of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons at the National Museum of Art in Bucharest.
The 65 icons in the exhibition come from the Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, the Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki, the Museum of Veroia, the Museum of Kastoria and the Benaki Museum in Athens.
The HFC in Bucharest will soon begin hosting language classes for Modern Greek in Bucharest.
Fun fact: There are over 800 Greek businesses in Romania, employing nearly 4,000 Greeks.
Galveston, Texas, United States
Nearly a month after Hurricane Ike came ashore on Texas, the small Greek Orthodox community at Assumption of the Virgin Mary is struggling to get back on solid ground. For more info on how you can help this parish please click here. Also please note the large and popular Original Greek Festival of Houston Texas has been postponed to November 20th due to related issues with Ike.
Adelaide, Australia
The 3rd annual "Odyssey" Cultural Festival has begun in Adelaide. Organised by the Greek-Orthodox Community of South Australia this year, the festival is dedicated to young people and the inauguration constituted a revival of the ancient “Agora” – a place to meet and exchange views and ideas, focusing on young people and their interests, music, entertainment, creative expression and dream.
A series of cultural, theatrical and educational programs are part of the festival. For more info click on link below.
Odyssey Festival Adelaide
New York City, New York, United States
A recently released Zagat rating of the best food in the borough of Queens (NYC), found four of the ten best restaurants located in Astoria. The one Greek restaurant that got top marks was Taverna Kyclades on Ditmars Blvd. Be sure to check it out.
posted on Friday, October 10
The city of Athens is working on a brand new website. "BreathtakingAthens" as the site is named, is a fine effort from the Athens Tourism and Economic Development Company (ATEDCO D.S.A.) --the city's official Tourism entity. It's being billed as the 'official city of Athens visitors' website.
After a quick run through we are impressed. There's a comprehensive directory which includes Hotels, Travel Agencies, Public Transport, Taxis, Restaurants, Shopping, and Nightlife destinations.
We're going to be keeping our eye on this site--while it's still in "beta," we like what we see. We're not quite sure about the name but we'll give it some time and see if it grows on us. The trick we've found with these types of endeavors (and we have some experience in this area) is to keep the content fresh and relevant. Congrats to all those involved.
breathtakingathens.gr
Around the web:
Girls gone wild: Greek girls drinking more ...via xinhuanet
posted on Thursday, October 9
