Dispatches from Greece

By Paula Xanthopoulou

Dispatches from Greece aims at opening eyes and nurturing your love for Greece. It's a selection of 20 unique reports posted on my personal blog as I returned to Northern Greece in 2015 for the first time in more than 30 years. I had lived and worked at the American Farm School just outside of Thessaloniki from 1968-78 -- most closely with the Girls School Department students, their families, and their villages (which I visited every chance I got). That complex and rather treacherous period in Greek history included 6 years under a military junta. My return came smack in the midst of a grave financial crisis that had effectively crippled the country and caused a humanitarian crisis underscored by 26 percent unemployment. My search for Girls School graduates subsequently set me on an unforeseen mission to find all of them and organize an active network based on beautiful memories, friendship and moral support. In August 2016, I began living 6 months a year in my father’s hometown of Naousa, giving me even more insight into the Greek reality. These reports -- written between 6/17/15 and 11/18/17 -- gave readers a look at highs and lows of Greek life at an often underreported/misunderstood time and also chronicled my personal journey compiling family trees.They will make your next trip to beautiful Greece much more meaningful and memorable. -- Paula Xanthopoulou (Cover photo: Author behind traditional Naousa mask or "face" worn by the Yenitsari during the town's amazing and renowned Carnival rituals.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paula Xanthopoulou
• Release date: Feb 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370390823

Paula Xanthopoulou

UPDATE: While Paula Xanthopoulou continues to be an advocate for the creation of a real power base for women through the election of many more women, especially to Congress -- she now lives 6 months a year in her father's hometown of Naousa, Northern Greece. She has memorialized research for filling out her Greek Family Tree at dispatches fromgreece.com, which now also includes her first-hand reports from Greece at a critical and often misrepresented juncture in Greek history. Additional writings are in progress, stay tuned!Paula Xanthopoulou was born and educated in Stockton, California, attending the University of the Pacific where she majored in International Relations and won the Thomas O. Boren Award (Outstanding Senior in Journalism). She spent ten years as a teacher and administrator at the American Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece -- followed by consulting and working for non-profit organizations when she returned to the U.S. and then a 6-year stint managing opera singers for her own company (Lyric Arts Group) in New York City.Paula was very active politically in New York, and has been involved in a myriad of community and political efforts since moving to Miami in 1994. She headed the Miami Shores Brockway Memorial Library Building Fund, worked with SAVE Dade, and served for nine years on the Miami-Dade County Commission for Women. She also served two terms as president of the National Women's Political Caucus of Florida (2001-2005), and on NWPC’s National Board. During that time, Paula worked on the Janet Reno for Florida Governor campaign and later served as Deputy Campaign Manager on the Carol Moseley Braun for President campaign based in Chicago.In 2002 she was a Miami-Dade “In the Company of Women” honoree for her work and was honored with the NWPC/FL 2005 “Elaine Gordon Leadership Award.” In 2007, her essay “Equal Representation: Common Denominator, Common Cause,” was published in Women Moving Forward, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

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Dispatches from Greece

Paula Xanthopoulou

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Copyright 2018 Paula Xanthopoulou

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Preface

Dispatches from Greece is a collection of 20 reports originally posted to my personal blog as I returned to Northern Greece in 2015 for the first time in more than 30 years. I had lived and worked at the American Farm School just outside of Thessaloniki from 1968-78 -- most closely with the Girls School Department students, their families, and their villages (which I visited every chance I got). That complex and rather treacherous period in Greek history included 6 years under a military junta. My return came smack in the middle of a grave financial crisis that had effectively crippled the country and caused a humanitarian crisis underscored by 26 percent unemployment. My search for Girls School graduates subsequently set me on an unforeseen mission to find all of them and organize an active network based on beautiful memories, friendship and moral support. In August 2016, I began living 6 months a year in my father’s hometown of Naousa, giving me even more insight into the Greek reality. These unique reports -- posted between 6/17/15 and 11/18/17 -- gave readers a close look at highs and lows of Greek life at an often misunderstood/underreported time and also chronicled my personal journey compiling family trees. They will make your next trip to beautiful Greece much more meaningful and memorable. (Cover photo: Author behind traditional Naousa mask or face worn by the Yenitsari during the town's amazing and renowned Carnival rituals.)

Going to Thessaloniki, Greece still in economic limbo...

(June 17, 2015) Heading north to Thessaloniki, where I have not been since 1983...and I have serendipitously caught a ride with the daughter of AFS Girls School graduate Eleftheria R. '71, who now lives in Philadelphia. Kathy -- born in Connecticut and a trained nurse -- lives outside of Athens with her Greek husband and family. She is going to pick up her‎ own daughter Eleftheria, who is attending the American Farm School high school program some 44 years after her grandmother graduated. A somewhat dizzying circle is closing.

I would like to report good, clear-cut news about the political/economic situation here in Greece, but I cannot. The capital is awash in speculation and anxiety. People here simply cannot afford more cuts to their pensions or added taxes for necessities like food and utilities.  Many people have put even minimal summer plans on hold. The Finance Minister said that yesterday was a good day, because now the issues have been clarified. And polling shows that the Greek public doesn't want the government for change to back down. We will have some answers very soon. 

While in Athens