Brotherhood

In my recent trip to Greece, and the prefecture of Evros in particular, I came across scores of locals, Greeks and Turks, living side by side in a geography tormented by wars and rivalries during at least a thousand years. Our recent memory (1920's) is filled with atrocities performed by the armies of each of the two countries upon the other side's civilian populations, and each of us on either side has been systematically brainwashed in the years that followed by respective politicians and political parties into deep hatred for each other. It's been so bad that feelings seem to have been embedded deeply in people's emotions and culture that to a Greek, for instance, the French attribute "tête de Turc" finds its true meaning of a scapegoat. Blame the buggers for everything wrong happening to us, that is. Especially in the current crisis climate to justify our appalling behaviour and abusive habits.

My recent trip opened my eyes for good. I visited for a few hours Edirne, in Turkey's European segment, just a few miles east of the border with Greece. I felt a little uncomfortable, under the influence of my own personal brainwash during my youth, by elder family members and the Greek State, especially when crossing the border and being stopped for lack of a Visa to enter the country. An interesting point, Greek nationals don't need a Visa to enter Turkey these days, but the rest of us, carrying non-Greek passports need to pay 15 Euros for a six month tourist Visa! That will teach me to abandon my Greek papers...

That said, a few miles further on appeared Edirne with its markets, its people, its school going kids, and its places of worship and public baths. The place reminded me of the towns and villages I grew up. If I were dropped there from outer space, I couldn't tell the difference between those folks and the ones I consider compatriots because of my DNA. Our guide, a Greek from Sterna, near Orestias, fluent in Turkish, seemed to be extremely well acquainted with the locals, and especially shop owners in businesses where he is a regular customer. Cost of living in that part of Turkey is obviously much lower than over the border in Greece, for the simple reason Turkey has been quite clever to stay out of the EU to this day. Let them become the new member in a 'United States of Europe' and they are up next to join our prestigious club of PIGS (or iPIGS, if you added Italy to the bunch of EU 'losers'). At least for now, despite all, Turkey is a member of the G20. So, many Greeks cross the border and do their shopping in centres and malls on the other side, whereas richer Turks come over to Greek resorts for weekends and normal vacationing. In other words, nobody should bother anymore about what happened hundred years ago; get over it and get on with life.

The picture I am posting here is one with our guide socialising in brotherhood with a couple of fish traders, posing as the best of friends. We often see our political leaders pose for photographs the same way, but in my shoot all three men meant their feelings and didn't pretend like usually politicians do.

Similar encounters I witnessed in spades during the full four to five hours I have been there. On a given moment I saw a local taylor, working in his five sq meters shop, jump off his chair at the sight of our guide and kiss the latter's hand with respect. He was so immensely glad to see him. He shouted that our guide was the nicest person on earth, and when I later asked our guide what the reason of such an affection was he replied: It's nothing serious... I only happened to have brought him some work long time ago as I was passing by, and ever since every time he sees me he's getting emotional.

I think regular people only want to live in peace and prosperity, where possible. And mutual respect and dignity. Especially those simple Turks, struggling to earn their daily loaf, like the terribly poor street shoe-polisher we engaged for a turn, and when we asked what we had to pay he responded "whatever your heart desires Effendi". They all seemed such a loveable bunch, ready to do anything we asked. Affectionate and friendly and hospitable like the rest of us Greeks, usually claiming 'hospitality' as a key characteristic of our ethos by genetic connection to our forefathers in Antiquity. Forgot to mention the exquisite taste of their meals at a price you could hardly feed one person in our part of the world. And it were three of us!

During my journey I shot several portraits of people I met, and later uploaded them to Flickr as a set. Since then I have asked quite a few friends to guess who were the Greeks in those pictures, and who our brothers the Turks. To the present day I found nobody, who could guess it right hundred percent. We are so similar in looks and character that it is indeed practically impossible to tell the difference. I know that many from both sides would rather have us nourish hatred for each other, and would actually beat the sh*t outta me for having said that, but I am pretty sure I am right. And I also came close to hating myself for being so 'blind' to reality for so long, and maintained the sort of negative feelings that both Greek and Turkish governments and their agents, along with the biased one-sided stories I heard from my refugee parents have built into my unconscious fifty five years ago.

Victoire de Samothrace

Although I lived in Alexandroupolis from birth to the time I went to college, and the island of Samothrace looked so conspicuous in the Aegean sea horizon with its skyline only a handful miles to the south, I never managed to visit the island, until a few weeks ago. I was actually invited by a good friend to tour the entire prefecture of Evros and take photographs (more than 2500, in all, I shot) of its National Parks (yes, there are two mind you, Dadia and the Evros Delta), its ancient sites (I visited six at least older than a thousand years to more than 2 thousand, Mesimvria, Samothrace, Doxipara, Traianoupolis, Didymoteichon with the oldest Mosque in Continental Europe - the whole of Europe actually - and Our Lady Kosmoswtira in Ferres), countless churches large and tiny and scores of priceless Byzantine icones, and of course Edirne in Eastern Thrace occupied by the Turks (aka Adrianoupolis, located a few miles East of Kastanjes at the Northern border between Greece and Turkey). I also shot a series of portraits of locals and challenged friends who saw them to guess who were the Turks and who the Greeks in the series.

The trip to Samothrace however was something quite different. The island has got very much the atmosphere of any Greek island, with a stunning landscape, reminiscent of Kefalonia as it combines wild mountainous views with the peaceful coastal scenery and beautiful sand and rocky beaches. I won't attempt to describe the island in detail for two reasons: 1) I only stayed less than 24 hours in all, and what can you possibly manage to see in just 24 hours,? and 2) I feel more comfortable about showing my pics than describing things. So, I rather not talk and show you the pictures instead, with a myriad hyperlinks posted above and hereunder.

I am sure you can find out a lot about the island and its history in a thousand places anywhere on the net, and maybe many more photographs even better than mine... or whatever, but anyways, I did my thing and feel good about it.

There's a mountainous site in Samothrace with an ancient temple and many ruins (incl. a theater) facing north (the same way Delphi faces south). There's a museum there too. Apparently the works to excavate the area and unearth the ruins was supported by an American humanist (Carl Lehmann). There's a plaque at the entrance of the museum. However, I don't quite know the exact story about how the famous statue of Nike (Victory) of Samothrace found its way to the Louvre in Paris, France, where it is being exhibited to this day, but the fact is that the museum only carries a replica. I have displayed a picture of this replica in the beginning of this post.

As I was wondering around in the museum, for less than half hour in all as it was actually very small, and in November I was probably the only visitor of the day (maybe the week), I asked myself about the pain my compatriots have been going through for years to repatriate the Elgin marbles back to the Parthenon. Now, that's a different story. No foreigner had the right to steal those works from their natural habitat regardless the excuse, and the Elgins should really come back, as there's a dedicated museum opposite the Acropolis today that is world class venue and the best place to house the Parthenon marbles.

How about the Nike statue though? Should it leave the Louvre and come back to Greece? It depends. If it came to Greece it would be probably sent to some Athens museum and not back to Samothrace. But if in a million years one decided to bring it back to Samothrace, what then? Well, I'm not going to put any point of view forward to avoid being lynched by my compats. I will only mention, that a) I couldn't believe the appalling state of the road leading to the archaeological site (probably only worth of Samothrace's (famous for their taste) goats jumping from stone to rock to climb the hill - at least the equally mountainous Delphi is serviced by a motorway) and b) the salle that they would presumably put the original Nike (unless they decided to build a new museum - but with what funds, one wonders). See for yourselves hereunder where they display the replica to grasp my point...

I guess, on a regular day at the Louvre, the authentic Nike statue meets more visitors than during an entire year it's cousin replica does on the island. So, if the purpose of this whole exhibition is to show the world the greatness of Ancient Hellas in all its glory and what our ancestors have achieved in the domains of arts and all the rest, then you better put it somewhere where at least people get the easy way to go and see. With thousands of flights arriving to Paris in its three airports daily, and millions of folks visiting the Louvre, I rest my case.

As a consolation, see the site (right) where the original statue was put thousands of years ago. It's about twenty meters further up from the point I shot that picture, they told me. A nice, no, a superior view, towards the sea and the Saos mountain. And during the night, with clear skies, the most beautiful view of a starry outer space that in the forty years I have been living in Belgium I even forgot it existed. I even saw the Great Bear, almost hidden below the Northern horizon this time of the year. And our Milkyway Galaxy, my God... it all looked so close. Stretch and you'll grab a star! Make a wish!

I know many 'riches' from Alex/city 40 miles to the North, two hours by a local Ferry, maintain a holiday home on the island. Many even spend their weekends during the entire year, and not only in the summer. They must be the luckiest folks on the planet, especially if you think that they can abandon for the weekend the garbage dump Alex/city has been turned into in the last 40 years, and come to Samothrace instead to live at least a couple days a week like kings in France, in a venue close to Paradise, real close!

Bonami Workshop

A slideshow based on a photo-shoot I did yesterday at the premises and workshop of this very up-market and exquisite quality display mannequins from Aalter, Belgium. I have written about them not long ago in the same blog.

A Transactional Analysis Test

I attended a class to learn and practice Transactional Analysis 32.5 years ago, almost to the day. It had such an impact on me that I have used it in my daily life ever since, at least when the stakes were high. For many years I have also been teaching TA basics in various classes at the University or in Business School classes, for more than 10 years now. I haven't met many in my life who were practicing TA, but I've met a few folks here and there, in any case. We were kinda like belonging to a clan of some sort, although it ain't that bad at all. It's a good theory and tends to explain well many of the things that are happening in our lives and the way we face and address everyday situations. Download this PDF kindly offered by Dr. Solomon on her blog. This will provide you with a great description of the TA Basics.

A few months ago I taught a sales class in Athens, Greece, and I found out that one of my participants was also a practicing TAer and a certified teacher for a US based training company. He showed me a questionnaire that they used to test someone's TA scores in terms of the weights of someone's respective ego states. I found it quite interesting, and I decided to translate it in English (it was given to me in Greek) and to send it to friends and acquaintances. The way to fill it is simple. Answer all questions/statements. For each one you decide which column fits best to your character. Each column carries a weight. Never is 0, Seldom is 1, ..., Always is 4. You decide which column fits you best and write down the column weight in the cross-section cell (between the statement row and the best suitable column). You then send me the filled-in table and I'll send you back your scores in terms of ego states, your dominating one, your strongest, and weakest states, and whether your adult risks to be contaminated by your child or parent... and stuff like that. It's fun. Just do it...

Here it is (click on it for larger view).

Trackers, f*** off!

You surf to your heart's desire and spiders and crawlers sent by evil marketeers watch your every step wherever you go. Until someone sells you a tracking strangler like the one I'm using on one of my browsers. Not that they'll discover anything worth mentioning I wouldn't like them to see, but the sheer thought that people keep watching my surf promenades together with those of 100s of millions of others just pisses me off. Look at the screen capture here. As I was watching the Burning man burning night on a live broadcast (sorry, webcast) there were 7 sneaky a-hole crawlers sent by ruthless marketeers with Google on top (be no evil, remember?) watching my moves... with 1047 having done this since a few days that I installed the tracking stopper. Go figure. That's one of the reasons iPad apps are way better. You don't have to put up with crap like this. In the spirit of the burning man, lets burn down these f*ckers. Install tracking stoppers everywhere you use browsers of any sort. I only hope they work as advertised...