Greece’s Naughty Octopus

21 Jun

A few months ago my father emailed me to tell me about his new pet.  In New Jersey, he tried to literally bring the ocean into our house.  He kept all sorts of salt water fish, starfish, shrimp, and sea horses in huge tanks that took up the length of our living room wall.  Now in Greece, he’d apparently fished an octopus out of the ocean.

Over the course of several weeks, he emailed me stories about his pet octopus’ silly antics.  It was a curious octopus, always watching him.  One day, though, the octopus grew despondent.  No amount of feta cheese improved his happiness.  My father decided it was time to release him back into the ocean.

Now you may remember that my father lives in the Peloponnesus in Greece, near where the Greek poet Arion, who sang and danced for the gods, was rescued by a pod dolphins after being kidnapped by pirates.

Currently, the Ionian Dolphin Project is studying dolphins of the non-mythological variety in a different region of Greece, the island of Kalamos.  Catalan biologist Joan Gonzalvo reported on the blog that he recently witnessed an octopus attach itself on top of a, um, rather sensitive, private area of a bottlenose dolphin.  With the octopus still attached, the dolphin leapt out of the sea, and the scientists got some awesome photographs.

Speaking of Catalan, don’t forget to check out the Human Tower events happening throughout New York.

 

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Your Invite to the Record-Setting Human Towers Being Built Tonight at 230 FIFTH

20 Jun

 

Filmmaker Ram Devineni is proving to the world the beautiful complexity of human language.  In On the Road with Bob Holman, he traveled the world, documenting the plight of languages headed toward extinction.  In The Human Towers he picked up his suitcase again, this time to film the art-sport-poem that is castells, human towers.  Castells have been recognized as Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Tonight, 150 people from the Catalan’s finest castell group will attempt to build the first-ever eight-story human tower on a rooftop at 150 FIFTH  (@27th Street, NYC), and YOU can witness the incredible spectacle for free.  It starts at 8pm.

The Wall Street Journal has already created some buzz.

Here’s the press release:

One of the world’s most unusual and spectacular team endeavors – the Spanish region of Catalonia’s three hundred year old tradition of building multi-storey human towers called castells – will make its New York City debut on June 20 at 230 FIFTH, when the 150 member Castellers de Vilafranca will attempt a new world record by building the first eight-level castell ever assembled on a rooftop. The performance, which will also include the building of several other towers in different configurations on 230 FIFTH’s palm punctuated roof deck, will inaugurate a series of free public castell buildings throughout New York City from June 20 to 24 in honor of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center complex. Each tower will be an exercise in intense concentration, strength and balance as the bare footed participants form successively smaller tiers – resembling a human wedding cake – by climbing up the bodies of each layer to mount the shoulders of the previous tier until the tower is topped by a single 9 years old child. An almost balletic, decidedly athletic and heart-stopping feat orchestrated to the inspiring melodies of a quartet playing Catalonian music.

The series of performances will be the first by any castell team in New York City; the Castellers de Vilafranca, considered Spain’s best, have been planning for years to build in the Big Apple as a means of introducing to the United States the activity which UNESCO has recognized as being amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Their trip coincides with an official visit by President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas.

The Castellers de Vilfranca will perform in Central Park and Battery Park for the Make Music NY Festival on June 21st. They will also build a human tower at the United Nations on June 22nd and are scheduling other venues throughout the city including Times Square and Brooklyn Bridge. In addition, the team will participate in the presentation of the global documentary about their passion as practiced in Catalonia, Chile and India on June 22nd at Goldcrest Studios Theater, West Village. The Human Tower is directed by Ram Devineni and Cano Rojas and distributed by Goldcrest.

The record breaking roof building of a human tower by the Castellars Vilfranca at 230 FIFTH will take place at 8:15 p.m. again at 9:30 on June 20, with several different towers created by the team between 8:20 and 10. Like all of the team’s performances in New York City, the event will be free and open. 230 FIFTH is located at 230 Fifth Avenue at the corner of 27th Street, (212) 724-4300, www.230-fifth.com. The rooftop event is supported by Barcelona’s Estrella Damm Beer.

See you there!

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Death by Pomegranate

19 Jun

Branching out from writing of roses, of the myths and memories and makeup surrounding them, we turn to the Greek vegetation goddess, Persephone, also known as Kore.

The daughter of harvest-goddess Demeter and Zeus, Persephone represents the changing of the seasons.  One day she was out gathering flowers with Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Artemis, goddess of wild animals, when she was abducted by the god of the underworld, Hades.  There, she was tricked into eating the seeds of the pomegranate.  Because she ate four juicy seeds, she was relegated to spending four months of the year in the underworld.  Therefore, she is like vegetation itself, disappearing after the harvest.

In ancient Greek culture, the pomegranate was thought of as the “fruit of the dead.”  In fact, according to Greek Orthodox tradition it was not an apple that Eve ate in the Garden of Eden but rather a pomegranate!  Today, Greek Orthodox believers use pomegranate as an ingredient in koliva, the ritual food prepared for the memorial Divine Liturgy after a death.

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Road Trip Writing: On the Road and The Canterbury Tales

18 Jun

Jack Kerouac once quipped back at a journalist, “I’m not a beatnik; I’m a Catholic.”  Despite the Beat Generation being associated with the countercultural movement—sex, drugs, and … jazz—Kerouac’s writing so often points toward the spiritual.

Visions of Gerard describes his saint-like brother who died at age nine and touches upon life in the Catholic church in Lowell, Massachusetts.  When he left home, Kerouac began exploring Buddhism.  Ultimately he grew disenchanted by it, though, an experience he describes in Desolation Angels.  On the Road is tinged with the idea of holiness.  Check out this quote:

As we crossed the Colorado-Utah border I saw God in the sky in the form of huge gold sunburning clouds above the desert that seemed to point a finger at me and say, “Pass here and go on, you’re on the road to heaven.”

Beautiful, isn’t it?  In some ways, Sal Paradise—what a name!—is on a pilgrimage.  The point of the trip itself isn’t religious, but along the way Sal sees God in nature and in the act of traveling.  Throughout On the Road, Kerouac writes about searching for the holy.  What he finds there on the open road is the beatific—the blessings that seem contradictory to what the world says are blessings.

If you think about it, one of the earliest road trip novels is about a pilgrimage: The Canterbury Tales.  Chaucer’s fourteenth-century tale has all the seedy characters one might find William S. Burroughs depicting.  The pilgrims are road tripping from Southwark to the Saint Thomas Becket shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.  Just like how Sal Paradise finds he has tell good stories to anyone who picks him up while hitchhiking, the cast of characters in The Canterbury Tales each tell a story along the journey.

To support the National Literacy Trust, a group of modern-day pilgrims recently reenacted The Canterbury Tales.  You can read about it, see photographs, and listen to portions at the Guardian.

 

* * *

Don’t forget!

I’m reading tonight at 7:00 at The Penny Farthing (103 3rd Ave., downstairs in the speakeasy), here in New York City, as part of the Storytellers event, hosted by C3.

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New Yorker Quips Greeks Invented Tragedy, Not Much Else Lately

15 Jun

 

I’m getting sick of the way everyone’s always ragging on Greece.  I just read this comment in “Greece Vs. The Rest” in The New Yorker:

Greeks are fond of pointing out that they invented democracy; they invented tragedy, too, and that is what their situation increasingly looks like, whoever wins the election. The problem is that in recent years they haven’t invented much of anything else.

The author clearly thinks he’s being witty, but it is an insensitive and erroneous remark.  We don’t go around mocking other countries that are experiencing crises.  Why is it okay to denigrate Greece?  Is it because, yes, “Greeks are fond of pointing out that they invented democracy,” and therefore come off as braggers?  Or are other countries purely jealous of how much Greece has influenced the world?

Greece in fact is innovating.  Greece is part of the Global Monitoring for Environmental and Security Initiative.  Three years ago, Nanophos SA received first prize for Innovation and Sustainability in the International Exhibition “100% Detail.” Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park is linking culture and technology research. Furthermore, many well-known international companies—such as Coca-Cola, Ericsson, and Motorola—conduct their research and development in Greece.

Sorry, Greece did not invent the ipod.  Let’s remember that much of modern Greece was under oppression.  During World War I, many Greeks were killed, and Greek refugees fled Turkey for Greece, which led to its own economic stresses.  During World War II, Nazis occupied Greece, sending Greek citizens to concentration camps.  From 1946 to 1949, Greece had a civil war, when it rose up against Communism.  And now, even in the years leading up to the economic crisis, the media has lampooned Greece, scaring off tourists and investors.  It’s hard to be creative and inventive when you’re fighting for your life.

What I do agree with is the author’s statement:

An unsustainable burden is being loaded on those sectors of the population who were already paying.

Just like here in the US, where the rich are able to write everything off so as not to pay taxes, there are many people in Greece who are not paying taxes.  Those who do pay their taxes are being overtaxed.  These are the people who are poorer, who are older, who are retired, who are more generous to those in need, who do what is right, who are loyal to their country.

This is why we saw a 77-year-old man shoot himself in the head in Syntagma Square—the Times Square of Athens—back in April.  As the Guardian reported, he shouted, “I’m leaving because I don’t want to pass on my debts.”

It saddens me that the media is not more compassionate towards Greece.  Yes, there are many things that need to change there, but the blame cannot be placed solely on Greece.  The country has suffered many hardships.  There are real people living in Greece who are, yes, experiencing tragedy.  Maybe we need to cling to our heritage to remind us of what we can accomplish and give us some hope for our future.  Maybe instead of lambasting Greece, the foreign media should believe in Greece.  Because you know what?  Greece has overcome many trials and tribulations, and will rise again.

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“On the Road” Makes “30 Books Everyone Should Read Before Turning 30”

14 Jun

 

Flavorwire listed “30 Books Everyone Should Read Before Turning 30,” and guess what’s on the list?!  That’s right, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

Unfortunately, this follows its inclusion:

Plus, then you’ll have ample time to develop your scorn towards it.

Why the scorn, Flavorwire?

As, I wrote in the comments field:

In the 10+ years since I first read “On the Road” when I was a teenager, I have not developed any scorn for it. In fact, as I’ve delved further into Kerouac’s life and work, I’ve come to see just how brilliant his writing is, especially considering English was not his first language. He had to learn the colloquialisms that he’s so often criticized for using. When “On the Road” was published in 1957, it was groundbreaking to use the type of slang Kerouac used and to improvise the way he did.

The comments section isn’t all that kind to the novel, either.  One commenter called it “one-dimensional.”

Really?  I can certainly understand a reader not liking the voice or even the story.  Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions.  There are plenty of people in the comments section admitting they don’t like Jane Austen or Nathaniel Hawthorne.  It’s okay not to enjoy something.  Not everyone has the same taste.  That’s what makes us unique.  But—you knew there was going to be a but—there’s a difference between personal taste and fact.  The fact of the matter is that On the Road is multi-dimensional.

On the Road is about so much more than the literal exploration of a road trip.  Perhaps Dean Moriarty is a bit one-dimensional in the sense that he acts impulsively, living for his own happiness, and never really grows out of that.  The narrator, Sal Paradise, is on a spiritual quest of sorts, though.  He hits the road, trying to leave behind the East of his youth to find himself in the West.  He befriends Dean, even though he knows he’s conning him.  He’s constantly caught between what he thinks he wants and what he really wants.  He’s searching for meaning and beauty and love and friendship.  He’s a complicated character, not entirely sure of what he wants.

Also on the list were a couple of Greek authors!  Namely, Homer and Jeffrey Eugenides.

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I’m Reading at The Penny Farthing 6/18/12

13 Jun

 

I’ll be reading one of my Greek American stories this Monday night, June 18, at The Penny Farthing!

The Storytellers event, hosted by C3, starts at 7 and will be in the super cool downstairs speakeasy of The Penny Farthing at 103 3rd Avenue (@ 13th Street) in New York City.

Hope to see you there!

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Tasty Tuesday: Boukiés

12 Jun

When you’re Greek and you live in such a foodie city as New York, you get the following question posed to you quite often: What’s your favorite Greek restaurant in New York City?  I’ve been asked it enough time that I should have a solid answer, but usually I end up staring off into space and saying something vague about the Greek restaurant scene in New York City.  My issue is that most of the Greek restaurants in New York City fall into three camps:

  1. Gyro carts
  2. Diners
  3. Posh Greek restaurants

As far as the gyro carts go, I don’t care how trendy it is to eat out of food trucks, I won’t eat out of carts or trucks.  Okay, maybe I’d do it for ice cream, but I feel anything that could be dangerous if not refrigerated properly or not cooked long and hot enough should not be created on wheels of any sort.  There, I said it.

 

I love diners.  I’m from Jersey.  However, I don’t really consider diners Greek in the traditional sense.  I’m more apt to order a grilled cheese than tiropita at a diner—even if it is owned by a Greek.

Now, I love luxurious meals at posh restaurants.  However, I just don’t think most Greek food is meant to be upscale.  It could be, don’t get me wrong.  Most of the time, though, the best Greek food gets made in tiny tavernas.  If you’re in New York, you can find these in Astoria.  Part of my prejudice toward super-posh Greek restaurants is that I personally don’t really enjoy most Greek main meals.

I love all the Greek meze (appetizers) and side dishes.  I’m talking tiganita, Greek salad, tzatziki sauce with warm pita, saganaki, feta, french fries with lemon and oregano….  I fill up on all of that and am too stuffed for the main course.

Christos Valtzoglou might be my new best friend.  I’ve never actually met him, but a while back I read on Grub Street that the man behind Pylos was opening up a restaurant called Boukiés, which means “small bites.”  The plan was to have only be two main courses on the menu, with the rest being all those delicious Greek meze I can never get enough of.  Diane Kochilas, whom I’ve previously had the pleasure of interviewing, and Steffen Sander are also involved in the restaurant.

Boukiés opened in March at 29 East Second Street (Second Avenue), taking over the space of Valtzoglou’s former restaurant, Heartbreak.  I’ve been tracking it for a while, but haven’t made it over yet.

I’m excited about the menu.  It includes such items as:

Flaounes me Feta kai Meli
Feta phyllo flutes, drizzled with Greek honey

Manitaropitakia Nymfaio
Northern Greek mushroom phyllo pies

Revithia, Melitzanes V. Elladitika, Aromatiki Saltsa Domatas
Clay-baked chickpeas and eggplants, Northern Greek style, with cinnamon spiced tomato sauce

Sokolata Krya me Rodakina
Chocolate-Mastiha Ganache, Peach Compote

There’s also an impressive Greek wine list.

More recently, Boukiés began serving brunch.  Some of the items offered on their menu include:

Poached eggs with sauteed spinach, tomato compote and
thyme Hollandaise, served on an English muffin

Smoked salmon-asparagus omelet with manouri cheese, 14
lemon zest, and dill

Citrony tsoureki (brioche) french toast served with mix
berries compote

Can’t wait to try Boukiés out!

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I’m Mentioned in Sojourners

11 Jun

Oh my gosh!  I forgot to mention back in April that I was mentioned in Sojourners!!  Such an honor.

My Burnside Writers Collective colleague Larry Shallenberger, whom I attended the Festival of Faith and Writing with, wrote the article “On the Need to Start an Ole Boys’ Club For Writers” about strong women literary voices, and there was my name alongside Kim Gottschild, Rachel Held-Evans, Sarah Thebarge, Karen Spears Zacharias, Jo Hilder, and Susan Isaacs.  I’m so fortunate to be part of a collective that has strong literary voices — both male and female — and that is an incredible support network.

In the article, Larry mentions my work in writing about Jack Kerouac.  It’s so interesting that he specifically mentioned this, as opposed to my visual arts writing for Burnside, because the Beat Generation has often been criticized for not being more open to women’s voices.  Furthermore, so many women have told me they don’t enjoy reading Kerouac because of his hyper-masculinity.

Larry blogs about things like, oh, “God Talk and the Stenciling on an Atomic Bomb” and “The Personality Bending Power of Story.”

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Goodreads Page for Burning Furiously Beautiful

7 Jun

We’re on Goodreads!  Now you can add Burning Furiously Beautiful as a to-read on Goodreads.

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