by grancestry | Jan 2, 2023 | Yiayia & Me
By George Zimmar In my years at Hyde Park High School in Chicago, I was not a model student, as evidenced by my three expulsions: two for fist fights and one for smoking in the park across from the school. Hondo, the eagle-eyed cop, spied the canopy of cigarette smoke...
by grancestry | Dec 24, 2022 | Yiayia & Me
By Giannis Michalakakos The tradition of Mani is rich of stories and poems referring to mythical and supernatural creatures. Many of them concern the goblins known by various names in the region of Mani such as “Kalikantzari”, “Likokantzari”, “Tsilikrota”, “Parorites...
by grancestry | Nov 15, 2022 | Yiayia & Me
By George Zimmar Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us Oscar Wilde A visit to my Uncle Tom Zoumaras’s store involved a series of transit switches from the southeast side of Chicago to the northwest section of the city. We would walk from Drexel...
by grancestry | Oct 28, 2022 | Yiayia & Me
By Sofia Pitsineli & Gregory Kontos Greece in WWII WWII broke out in Greece in October 1940, after the famous emphatic “OXI (NO)” that Greek Prime Minster, Ioannis Metaxas, replied to Italy’s request for free passage through the country and occupation of strategic...
by grancestry | Oct 27, 2022 | Yiayia & Me
By George P. Zimmar for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans, 3,23 Shortly after WWII ended, Greek immigration to the United States reopened, especially to those without communist sympathies. After Winston Churchill’s March 5, 1946 Iron Curtain...
by grancestry | Sep 22, 2022 | Yiayia & Me
By George Zimmar When we think of a pilgrimage, like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a spiritual journey comes to mind. My grandfather Georgios Zymaras (or Zoumaras), made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1900, where he prayed before the tomb of Christ, and earned Hadji...
