All posts by Dimitri C. Michalakis
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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 thoughtOur 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
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Top Gun Demetries Grimes, a Naval War Hero, Runs for Florida’s 26th CDHow does a man who served his country so well in the military take the next step to serve his country and complete his mission in civilian life? For Demetries Grimes it means running for Congress in...
- Posted March 11, 2018
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Military Heroes
Our story this issue on Demetries Grimes, a decorated Navy commander, who is running for Congress from Florida is in the long line of American military heroes who are propelled to public office either by their own...
- Posted March 11, 2018
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Who inspires you?
On a positive note, who inspires you this year? My eldest daughter inspires me because she got married the end of last year to her husband Mike and they are two peas in a pod. They have...
- Posted January 14, 2018
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Thanks to the Immigrants
My oldest daughter recently got married at a beautiful venue in Brooklyn that overlooked New York Harbor and all its fabled sights: the Statue of Liberty lit up across the water, the Freedom Tower lit up to...
- Posted December 14, 2017
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Greek tourism—stronger than ever
Greek tourism is booming: the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) said it expects a record 30 million visitors to Greece in 2017, which is a 7% growth over last year, or 2 million more visitors, and close...
- Posted July 11, 2017
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Role Models
Great men and women rarely live up to their billing in person, but who can live up to such expectations? We’re all human, we all have our foibles, our Paris Hilton moments when we’re young and our...
- Posted April 22, 2017
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We Are All Refugees
The documentary 4.1 Miles featured in this issue gives just a glimpse into what people are suffering who flee their countries torn apart by war because they need to save their children. And what a country like...
- Posted March 17, 2017
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A listing of gratitude
Should we stop talking politics and instead talk about what we’re grateful for as we enter 2017? I’m grateful—knock on wood—and my late mother would spit to ward off the evil eye—for my health and hope that...
- Posted December 30, 2016
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So here we are
We are coming (hopefully—but you never know) to the end of this fraught election season that even after the votes are counted will still leave us deeply divided. Half of us want a popular rebellion because we...
- Posted October 27, 2016
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JOHN G. RANGOS, SR: CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE OF AMERICA – A kid from a steel town cleans up America and spreads his charity to allJohn Rangos learned several things growing up during the Depression in a steel town like Weirton, West Virginia: he learned about the pluck of people like his mother Anna Rizakus who talked herself into a job at...
- Posted September 13, 2016
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John Brademas: A lifetime of public and private serviceJohn Brademas (1927-2016) In Memoriam A reprint of NEO’s cover story, May 2007 John Brademas is still in a hurry, even more so now. He just celebrated his 80th birthday, but as he leads the way through...
- Posted September 13, 2016
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Stanley Neamonitis: A Great American success story (May 31, 1939 – July 16, 2016)Stanley Neamonitis passed away on July 16, 2016 surrounded by his family at his home in Manhasset, New York. Born in the village of Avgonima, Chios on May 31, 1939, he was the fourth of five children...
- Posted September 13, 2016
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Greek-American success stories
I was speaking to mega-industrialist John Rangos for this issue and I told him I wish I had more time to dig even deeper into the epic and historic circumstances of his life: this is a man...
- Posted September 13, 2016
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Here and There
When I was a kid living on Chios I remember going to the harbor and the “prokimaia” to see people off on the ship that would take them to Athens and the world beyond. The ship was...
- Posted June 26, 2016
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Doing business in Greece and getting the business
It’s startling to hear from an oil expert in this issue that Greece has sizable reserves of oil that might help to bail the country out of its economic morass. It’s not anything new to hear about...
- Posted April 30, 2016
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The Orange Chimera
Of course we have to talk about what’s happening to America in this current presidential election cycle. And it’s not unfathomable. (That doesn’t mean I support him—orange is not my new black.) When you don’t give people...
- Posted March 24, 2016
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LEADERSHIP 100 CHAIRMAN GEORGE TSANDIKOS: THE SON OF A PRIEST SERVING THE CHURCH IN HIS OWN WAYby Dimitri C. Michalakis George Tsandikos is the son of a priest who never felt the calling himself but as chairman of Leadership 100 he helps young men join the priesthood and after working with Leadership for years...
- Posted January 10, 2016
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Moving On
I’ve lived in Brooklyn, New York the majority of my life. I was born in Greece, on the island of Chios, then joined my family in Montreal, Canada when I was seven. Then moved with them to...
- Posted January 10, 2016
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A Greek and a Turk discover they look alike in HIDDEN MOSAICS: AN AEGEAN TALE by Alexander BillinisLike the protagonists of his debut novel, life has been an Aegean odyssey and migration for author Alexander Billinis himself. With a lifelong interest in the region, he’s lived and worked in Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia, traveled...
- Posted December 5, 2015
