Welcome New User!

Registered Members
Please Login

Member ID:
Password:

Not a member?
 Click here for free registration.

The Chios Society of the Greater Washington, DC Area invites you to the 67th Annual Convention of the Chios Societies of the Americas & Canada from Friday October 11th to Sunday October 13th, 2024 in Washington, DC! Tickets to all events will be on sale soon at DCGreeks.com! Click here for details!
St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Bethesda, MD invites you to our Greek Festival 2024 on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, 2024 at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bethesda, MD. Click here for details!
International Powerhouse Tenor & Classical-Crossover Artist MARIO FRANGOULIS performs live in Washington, DC on Friday, April 12, 2024 at Warner Theatre, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the American Hellenic Institute. Click here for details!
St. Katherine presents The Path of the Sacred Passion, a Byzantine Music Concert featuring Stelios Kontakiotis, Spiros Perivolaris, and Georgios Theodoridis on Saturday, 4/20/24, inside St. Katherine's Greek Orthodox Church in Falls Church, VA. General Admission tickets now on sale at DCGreeks.com!
What's New @ DCGreeks.com
03/12Tickets are now on sale for POLIS - The Queen of Cities: A Musical Tribute to the Fall of Constantinople on May 10, 2024 at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC!
03/11Tickets are now on sale for The Path of the Sacred Passion: A Byzantine Music Concert on April 20, 2024 at St. Katherine's in Falls Church, VA!
03/04Tickets are now on sale for Midwest Greeks 2024 from May 17-19, 2024 in Cleveland, OH!
02/24New Event: Chios Societies of the Americas & Canada 67th Annual Convention from October 11-13, 2024, in Washington, DC!
02/17New Event: St. George's Greek Festival 2024 on 5/18/24 & 5/19/24 in Bethesda, MD
02/07New Event: AHI 50th Anniversary Gala Weekend, April 12-13, 2024, in Washington, DC, featuring Mario Frangoulis in Concert and Hellenic Heritage Achievement and National Public Service Awards Dinner
01/15Tickets are now on sale for DCGreeks.com Greek Heritage Night with the Washington Wizards 2024 on 4/2/24 as they take on Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks!
01/14Tickets are now on sale for Antypas Live in DC with Prodromos & Evgenia on 4/5/24 at Karma DC Live Music Venue in Washington, DC!
DCGreeks.com
Upcoming Events
ThuFriSatSunMonTueWed

28

29

30

31

1

2

3

Join Greeks and Philhellenes from over the Midwest and beyond from 5/17/24 - 5/19/24 in Cleveland, OH for three days of parties at the first annual Midwest Greeks event!  Ticket packages are now on sale exclusively at DCGreeks.com! Click here for details!

Being Greek During the Week

January 23, 2008

If you tried hitting the gym over the last three weeks, you may have noticed how hard it was trying to find a treadmill or other piece of equipment. College students with nothing better to do, along with young professionals and others working through their New Year’s Resolutions probably had a lot to do with that. January is an interesting month in that there’s a huge emphasis on sports and fitness in this country, both by participants and spectators alike. The DC Greek community is not immune to this either, as January is typically the start of the Greek League basketball season, which invariably has to be worked around the NFL Playoff Schedule. We were pleased to hear that the YAL Basketball Tournament earlier this month organized by St. George YAL was successful in attracting both men’s and women’s teams for a weekend of basketball and fellowship.

In beginning this year thinking about how life in the Greek community in this area could improve, it’s natural to think about ways how people can come together in a less event-oriented way. Coming out of the holiday season, the traditional mid-point of the Dinner Dance circuit in DC, it’s hard to imagine hanging out with Greeks without getting dressed up for a night in a church hall, hotel or other venue; not that this is a bad thing. What our community is missing for the most part during the year, with the exception of Greek League, are opportunities for Greek young adults to come together or meet in low-key settings. Going back to how this article began, with a trip to the gym, think about how many people meet in the gym, or in the beer aisle at the Harris Teeter, Social Safeway, or its neighborhood equivalent, or volunteering through some young professionals society that give young adults an opportunity to give back. There is no Greek gym or Greek Safeway, and outlets for meeting people while doing good works (outside of the YALs, which unfortunately most Greek young adults don’t get involved with consistently in this area) are absent. For those of you who have ridden the Metro during the warm months here in DC, think about how many of those colorfully loud WAKA (World Adult Kickball Association) shirts you see people wearing, with guys and girls playing a game for a couple of hours on a summer evening and kicking back at a local bar afterwards. How great would it be to have some co-rec leagues of any sport in the Greek community here in DC, or other organized ways of Greeks getting together on a random Tuesday or Wednesday night after work, in a setting that doesn’t carry with it the traditional pressures or expectations of a meet market?

All of these thoughts are based on the premise that Greek-Americans would prefer to perform these activities with other Greek-Americans around, whether it is breaking a sweat, breaking bread, or giving back. Among those Greek-American young adults who are still looking for that nice Greek guy or girl to settle down with, it not like these increased opportunities to be around other Greek young adults could hurt. We hope that this concept would appeal to those who have either found someone or aren’t looking as well; that “the search” isn’t the only thing that’s keeping them active in the Greek community in the first place. These are just a few thoughts with which to start off the year, hoping that some of these spur some discussion or change in the months ahead.

 


 

Read past feature articles