New Year's Resolutions for the
DC Greek Community
With 2001 over and 2002 finally here, many of us have
thought of our New Year's Resolutions. We here at DCGreeks.com offer up a list of
New Year’s Resolutions for the Greek Community in DC, in the hopes of bringing
this community that much closer together and having a little bit of fun along
the way.
1. Support every local Greek organization’s events…
There are many Greek organizations in this town, from
the various YALs, to student organizations like Kosmos and Digenis, to societies
representing various regions of Greece and Cyprus (Laconian, Macedonian, Cretan,
Pancyprian, Evrytanians, etc.), as well as the organizations under the AHEPA
umbrella, and the important yet often forgotten Hellenic Society Prometheas and
the American Hellenic Institute. (If we’ve left anyone out we apologize.) Each
one of these organizations has the goal of promoting aspects of our Greek
culture and heritage in its own way. These organizations go out of their way to
organize events and sponsor programs and it should be our goal to try to support
these events or programs, even if it’s simply by showing up. Most of these
organizations don’t care if you’re a member or if you’re from their part
of Greece or not. We realize that some of these events aren’t the most
exciting or most “social” events out there in any given week or on any given
night for that matter, but not every Greek event has to be a happy hour or a
raging Greek Night. Take time for the Greek movies, the Greek plays, the
speakers and lecturers that come to DC. Get involved with your church’s YAL,
not just for the happy hours and other get-togethers, but for the volunteer work
they do both for their churches and for the greater community. You get enough
young Greek adults helping at a Greek festival, a car wash, a bake sale, or
making sandwiches for the needy, it can be a pretty good time. (And with proper
planning there’s nothing stopping you from going out and getting a drink
afterwards, unless you’ve been working the gyro booth all day at a festival,
then you may need to go home and take a shower first.)
2. Try going to something different this year…
This is as a corollary to resolution #1, but it’s
worth saying. If you’re the type of person who thinks that hanging out with
Greeks can only be done at Greek Nights, then try going to a YAL event. On the
other hand, if you’re the type of person who may identify with their Greek
Orthodox heritage but not so much with the other aspects of their Greek culture,
then go to a Greek Dance, the bouzoukia or a Greek Night. There’s a proper
balance to being a Greek-American that we should all strive to meet, that
includes both keeping up our reputations as a culture that knows how to party,
and the more everyday aspects of our heritage as well.
3. Break out of your clique…
Make a resolution to meet someone new this year. You
see a lot of the same people every time you go out but have you ever taken the
time to meet them? If you’re new in town and haven’t met that many Greek
people yet, come on out to a Greek event or stop by a YAL meeting. It doesn’t
matter if you don’t know anyone because generally Greeks are open to meeting
new people in this community. It might not happen the first time you go out, it
might not even be the second or third, but if you go out enough, people will
notice you and more than likely come up and say hi. A great icebreaker is to say
you saw their profile on DCGreeks.com or their picture in the Photos section.
Getting a profile on DCGreeks.com is also a way to get people to feel
comfortable with coming up and saying hi to you first.
4. Learn a new Greek dance…
It’s never too late to learn how to Greek dance if
you don’t know how. If you do know the basics, take the opportunity to learn
one of those Greek dances that you see people doing that usually sends you off
the dance floor. Watch how it’s done the first time, but the next time just
jump right in.
5. Speak more Greek…
A lot of us get to that certain age where we just find
it easier to speak English all the time, even to our parents, who more often
than not as skilled in the language as we are. Most of us are also now unable to
make it to Greece every summer or every other summer like we did before the
pressures of our school and work schedules kicked in. So as a result many of us
see our Greek get rusty with bad subject-verb agreement and bad accents to
match. So take some time to speak Greek when you can.
6. Stop worrying about what everyone else is thinking
about you…
There’s a great extreme in the DC Greek community
where some people out there can live and interact inside this community without
caring what people think about them, and then there are a lot of people out
there who think that people are watching their every move. You know who these
people are, the ones who will go out of their way to make sure they’re never
even in the shadow of the spotlight, who use “shyness” as an excuse to keep
them from doing anything that could potentially “embarrass” them, when in
reality it’s all in their heads. We’re not advocating making an ass out of
yourself, but it’s time to realize that for the most part, you’re among
friends in the DC Greek community.
7. Stop thinking that being Greek means that you’re
competing against other Greeks…
This resolution certainly doesn’t apply to everyone,
but it applies to just enough people out there in the DC Greek community that it
can turn off a lot of innocent bystanders. Being Greek is not a popularity
contest. Being Greek is not about being bitter because your friend is dating
someone and you’re not. Being Greek is not about competing against your fellow
organizations to see who will throw the better event on any given night. (More
than one Greek event at the same time usually leads to worse Greek events on the
whole.) Outsiders see the Greek community as a very tight-knit community where
everyone supports everyone else, a so-called “Greek Mafia,” but often times
that the furthest thing from what actually happens. Too often the pettiness and
the jealousy in this community that ruins the fun for everyone, by adding a
sometimes noticeable cloud of tension that can ruin an evening. It’s 2002 and
about time that the city-state mentality of our ancient forefathers comes to an
end, especially in a community as small as DC.
8. Wear more black…
Honestly, isn’t this the year you should go out and
buy more black clothing? If you’re not wearing all-black, all-the-time, isn’t
there something seriously wrong with you?…

Read
past feature articles.