All posts by Dimitri C. Michalakis
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STEFANIE G. ROUMELIOTES AND THE ART OF FUNDING AND PROMOTING POLITICAL CANDIDATES AND THE CAUSE OF WOMENA fundraising and strategic dynamo behind the campaigns of among others California Governor Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and the national campaigns of everyone from Hillary Clinton to Joe Biden to...
- Posted April 30, 2021
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GENDER POLITICSIs politics a man-only province? Maybe not when we have a vice president a heartbeat away from the presidency. Maybe not when we have mayors and governors all over the United States that are women. And members...
- Posted April 30, 2021
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Eternal Greece
One of the most accessible books of modern Greek history is by D. George Kousoulas called simply Modern Greece (Charles Scribner’s, 1974), and it begins with how the Greeks, despite nearly 400 years of subjugation to the...
- Posted March 23, 2021
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Men of Service
I called to do an interview with Senator Sarbanes several years ago and he called me back in the car while I was driving. “Senator, do you mind if I call you back?” I asked him. “Surely,”...
- Posted December 24, 2020
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Fifteen years and counting
The death of George Bizos in South Africa, a friend and partner of Nelson Mandela in his long fight for justice, highlights both a remarkable and historic partnership, and a remarkable man, who saw injustice, and dedicated...
- Posted October 10, 2020
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Hellenic Medical Society President, Dr. Panagiotis Manolas: The pandemic from a doctor’s point of viewDr. Panagiotis Manolas is a surgeon affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, among others, and a founding partner of Surgical Specialists of Greater New York. He is a member of the Athens Medical Association, the...
- Posted April 29, 2020
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Dr. George Liakeas on His Miraculous Recovery from The VirusDr. Liakeas, 48, is in family practice and the medical director of Lexington Medical Associates in Manhattan. He is affiliated with Lenox Hill and Mount Sinai Hospitals and has been in practice for sixteen years, with a...
- Posted April 29, 2020
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Spring is here
For the past few weeks I have seen my two daughters (who also live in Brooklyn, minutes away) only in passing—from the car. When we drop off food to them my wife cooks, to help them, and...
- Posted April 29, 2020
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The RevolutionHis wife and his son stood apart at the railing of the ship while he stood back and smoked along with the old man with the hairy arms and striped shirt and the one gold tooth where...
- Posted March 24, 2020
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Keeping the darkness at bay
The streets are quiet, the shelves are bare, people wear blue masks and blue gloves, and even family and friends shy away from each other with apologies and make sure not to touch. It seems a different...
- Posted March 24, 2020
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Nassau County DA Madeline Singas: “It’s Not About Being a Man or a Woman; It’s about the Work that You Do”Madeline Singas just won reelection to be the Nassau County District Attorney in Long Island, New York based on her record: crime went down 25% during her watch, the notorious MS-13 gang in the county was decimated...
- Posted January 13, 2020
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The Kalanda
A cousin sent me Facebook greetings for the New Year and included a recording of the old “kalanda” from some gathering long ago in Chios. According to Myparea blog, the singing of “kalanda,” carols, goes back to...
- Posted January 13, 2020
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Papou O PolemistisPapou Petro and Yiayia Pota were coming from Florida for Christmas and this time they were bringing Propapou Herakles—Hercules—even though Propapou Hercules looked more like a Hobbit. And Mom said he was staying with George in Petro’s...
- Posted December 12, 2019
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Memories Past and Present
My mother-in-law suffered from depression, but she was fiercely-loyal to her family, and Christmas always made her come alive and exhaust herself buying gifts for her kids and grandkids. My in-laws were not rich people, but the...
- Posted December 12, 2019
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War and RemembranceOne family’s war memories My grandmother in Chios, Greece had a big lacquered cabinet (with a pattern of flowers) and on top of it, incongruously, stood the housing of two gleaming-gold cannon shells: with wheat stalks in...
- Posted October 26, 2019
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The Cost of Peace
This issue, and the article I wrote about the military service of my papoudes and my father (“War and Remembrance”), remind me of the perilous times they lived in and how courageous they were to plunge into...
- Posted October 26, 2019
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A New Lease on Life
My daughter and her husband were recently in Greece, visiting Athens, Santorini and Crete and with the marvels of the age sending us photos of their travels on their phones and Facetiming with us one night while...
- Posted July 12, 2019
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The community of Holy Week
When I was a kid and we lived in Chicago I remember the highlight of the evening vespers during Holy Week at the great domed cathedral of our church, the Assumption on Central Avenue: it was long...
- Posted April 25, 2019
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Startup-Heaven Greece
Over past issues we’ve been featuring the exciting news that Greece, despite the economic climate and hidebound bureaucracy, is a hotbed of startups that have exploded in number and are making their mark throughout the world. As...
- Posted March 13, 2019
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May Old Acquaintance Never Be ForgotIt seems that every year we rue what happened the year before and hope for better for the coming year. We make resolutions that we keep imperfectly, or not at all, and then another New Year comes...
- Posted January 2, 2019
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Maria Zoitas’ MADE WITH LOVE: The Ultimate Greek Cookbook from Lefkada to ManhattanMaria Zoitas was a young bride when she first came to America and her husband John (who took her on romantic carriage rides during their honeymoon back in Greece) now plunged back to work at the grocery...
- Posted December 2, 2018
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Food for thought
Our cover story on food maven and cookbook author Mazia Zoitas highlights how food—any food—is more than just something you cook: there is a whole history behind it. The cooked wheat berries that she features in her...
- Posted December 2, 2018
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A Profile of America
After working as a journalist in the Greek American community for so many years and meeting so many remarkable people I’ve decided to publish a book of profiles about only a few of those people, some who...
- Posted October 16, 2018
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Summer Plans
My friend is a doctor and when I asked him recently if he was going to be around for the summer he said to me, What do you think: doctors do nothing but travel? And then he...
- Posted July 7, 2018
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Holy Week
For the most part I grew up in Brooklyn and I was an altar boy at two of its churches: Holy Cross and Kimisis. Kimisis was the older church on 18th Street and the one that most...
- Posted April 14, 2018
