DOULIS NOVEL: Critic, translator and literary historian, as well as prolific author and college professor, Thomas Doulis of Portland has authored another book, The Eye: A Novel. Newly published in hardbound, softbound and Ebook formats, it is about a Greek family caught up in intrigue, yet still connected to the ethnic and religious Greek milieu.
Thomas Doulis, born and raised in Pennsylvania, as a paratrooper in the Army, wrote the field manual on Unconventional Warfare for the Special Forces. After WWII, Doulis taught at the Philadelphia College of Art in Center City until 1968. Then, he with his family, went for two years to junta-era Greece on a Fulbright, where he studied modern Greek literature and met most of the important writers. Subsequently, the Doulises went to Britain for two years, where he continued his study of Greek History at Oxford University. The family moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1972 where Doulis taught at Portland State University before retiring about two decades ago as Professor Emeritus. His specializations were in Greek Studies, as well as English, teaching separate courses in Modern Greek Fiction, History, and Culture; in Film Noir, and in Fiction and Film. He also gave seminars on George Seferis and Modern Greek Poetry, and on Nikos Kazantzakis. Doulis’ books include other novels and nonfiction on the Greek Junta, on Greek Immigration, and on the Asia Minor Disaster (1922). Here in the Northwest, he is especially known for his two historical books on Greeks in Oregon. For a full list of books and more information on Doulis, go to http://web.pdx.edu/~hhtd/Biography.htm
CAMP FUNDRAISER: “Under the Big Top” is this year’s theme for the annual fundraiser for All Saints Camp in Gig Harbor, WA, to be held February 2, 2019 at St. Demetrios Community Center in Seattle, WA. Each year, the committee comes up with a different clever theme, with many attendees dressing up accordingly. Plan to be there to see the many variations on the theme and to enjoy a good dinner, with auctions to support the camp that Assumption and St. Demetrios churches own together, and which the other parishes also support with volunteers and campers. This year’s dinner will be special in that Vera Mazoonin and her daughter Gloria Moss will be honored. George Mazoonin, Vera’s late husband, bequeathed an amazing $3.5 million dollars to the camp to replace the main lodge which includes the dining hall/activity center and to otherwise support camp needs.
Following the New Year’s call by Greek President Pavlopoulos, Alaska Greeks gather: (L-R) Nikos Pennino, Vasillios Copadis, Holy Transfiguration Church Proistamenos Fr. Vasili Hillhouse, Vasillios Gialopsos, Theodore Kouris, Don Varlamos, and Dr. Nick Papacostas. (Photo Credit: Cathy Copadis)
GREEK PRESIDENT CALLS: The President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, gave his New Year’s wishes in a telephone call to Anchorage’s Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Community on January 1 as parishioners were gathered in the church hall for a New Year’s Eve celebration. The President’s call is a yearly tradition reaching out to a different Greek community in the diaspora.
Jacob Sotiriadis blessed by Proistamenos Fr. Alexander Leong, Magic Island, Honolulu. (Photo Credit: Suzanne Keyser)
THEOPHANY BLESSING OF THE WATERS: Spokane, Bellingham, and Honolulu traditionally hold outdoor blessings of the waters on January 6 respectively at the Spokane River, the Bellingham Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. In Spokane, the waters are blessed, but people do not swim in the frigid water there. In Bellingham, Niko Adamopoulos of Delta, British Columbia, Canada, retrieved the Cross. Jacob Sotiriadis brought in the Cross this year at the celebration off Magic Island, Honolulu.
Email the author: Theodora Argue
