HAS IT BEEN TWENTY YEARS?

by Dimitri C. Michalakis

As I mention in our cover story about the founding of NEO twenty years ago, we had an idea and an ambition, that seemed improbable then, because we had been hardened in the trenches of the Greek press, where nothing lasted for very long, unless it was the newsletter of a civic group, and an occasional magazine would pop up, glossy and mysteriously-funded, but then just as mysteriously disappear from view: Was it even still printing?

Those were the treacherous waters we entered back when everything was printed and subscriptions were key to getting ads (now it’s the hits and eyeballs on the internet). But we felt it’s about time. I asked my nephews and nieces if they ever read the Greek press. And they looked at me with round eyes but tried to be polite: Like which ones? they said and tried to think of any.

There were none for the generations born in America and, for better or worse, getting most of their news and information in English. Just a scattering of civic bulletins and newsletters, and the occasional efforts of the Greek-speaking press to publish something in English that they soon realized very few English speakers would read—our new generations were not reading the Greek press in any language.

Which we tried to remedy, by publishing in English from the start, and featuring some of our best and brightest of the new generation, but also paying tribute to the generations that made their success possible: a magazine that would bridge the generation gap.

And through dogged efforts, we have kept to that purpose, and NEO is now a lasting part of our Greek American landscape, with features on most of the movers and shakers of all our generations. They self-made tycoons who made our society possible, and have funded many of our institutions, and the new tycoons of our media world, politics, business, entertainment, and civic life, who are bringing us into a brave new world.

We honor them all, for their achievements, we wish them many more, and we thank all those who have supported our efforts over all these many years: as Dimitri Rhompotis has said, this is a communal effort, and our community has supported us and given us the courage to persist.

Thank you from all of us at NEO, you have inspired us, as we have tried to inspire you with all the wonderful achievements of our Greek world.