Come and get involved in this most fascinating discussion that has created quite a historical confrontation between the two popular candidates who possess the popular vote and the other the electoral vote. Don't miss this super presentation.

The Thanksgiving Holiday is now behind us and we proceed toward Christmas and New Years with a great vest. We are working very hard to put into place our agenda for the New Year. One of the efforts is our March 25th Greek Independence Day celebration. As you might recall that last year we had a theatrical presentation depicting some interesting events of the period concerning several heros and their accomplishments. This year will be no different. We plan and have in work a presentation depicting the trials and tribulations of a well known heroine Bubulina. As we did last year, our very talented playwright, Brother Mike Merica, is completing the script with some very interesting feats by this heroine in affecting our independence from the barbaric Ottoman Empire.

Brother Mike has also started with selections and auditions of potential actors for this presentation. For that matter, those interested in maybe participating or volunteering for a roll in this most exciting undertaking, may do so by getting in touch with Brother Mike at (760) 631-4444, (760) 945-1069 or micmerica@aol.com.

We have started our planning and groundwork for the Chapter Scholarships. Our goal and budget for awards for 2000 - 2001 is $4,000 and we will be encouraging worthy students within the AHEPA Family to apply for these scholarships. We will be describing the qualifications and requirements very soon in TA NEA for those interested.

Another area in planning is our Annual Golf Tournament and the Annual AHEPA Day at the Races. Another event we are considering is resurrecting the Moonlight Tour of San Diego Bay which will include dinning and dancing. Any members wishing to join in any of these committees are certainly welcome. You may contact anyone of your administrative officers regarding your interests to which committee you wish to join.

We would like to encourage the membership to also provide new ideas for better events for the coming new year. So we look forward to hearing from you!

Best Wishes and CRONIA POLLA to the following Brothers who are celebrating birthdays:

Stavros Kondilis 12/10

Demetri Zambus 12/10

Tollis Miherinas 12/11

Nick Zambus 12/14

Evan Vassilakis 12/20

Peter Chaconas 12/25

Thanos Karavokiris 12/27

Emmanuel Theodorakis 12/30

Happy Anniversary!!! to the following Brothers and their lovely brides who are celebrating wedding anniversaries:

Mehran & Alexandra Aram 12/1

John & Georgia Ronis 12/5

Peter & Shirley Ellis 12/8

Chris & Joanne Pathe 12/29

Bill & Patricia Moises 12/29

Meeting Agenda - The following is the meeting agenda for the next Social/General Chapter Meeting, being held at SS. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church's Senior Citizen Center, Tuesday, December 5, 2000:

Program Presentation

Christmas Party Committee Report

Greek Independence Committee Report

Old Business

New Business

Good of the Order

General Business Meetings - General Business Meetings are held every third Thursday of the month. The next meeting will be Thursday, December 21, 2000, at Sts. Constantine and Helen Senior Citizen Center at 7:00 p.m. All Officers and appointed officers are expected to attend. Any interested members may attend. Come and see your administrative board at work planning and coordinating for better functions and best events for the membership.

Greek Independence Day Previews -

The playwright Brother Mike Merica is very close to completion of the next play for presentation at our next Greek Independence Day celebration. The theme is depicting the life and heroic adventures of Bubulina, one of the many heroines of the time when Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Brother Mike is looking for volunteers as actors for this most colorful presentation. Wont you make yourselves available for auditions in the assemblage of this production? Establish your desire to audition by calling Mike at (760) 631-4444 or (760) 945-1069, you can also e-mail at: micmerica@aol.com.

MEZETHAKIA! - At the last Social/General Chapter Meeting we had ordered a beautiful spread of food and drink for consumption prior to the Program Presentation and Business Meeting. The "Breaking of Bread" was well received and we plan to continue it, however, we must have more members in attendance and it must be supported by member monetary donations and contributions. Please join us at the next meeting and give us your support or to make suggestions in making our meetings better.

Change of Address or Family Status - Should you have a change of address or change of status please notify and request from the TA NEA Editor a "Directory Questionnaire" to facilitate the update of your new data.

Please Notify Us - Should you know of any Brother recovering from illness or surgery, or known to be hospitalized, please notify Brother Alex L. Rigopoulos at (619) 233-7158 or (619) 469-9239.

Newsletter Entries - Please direct all newsletter announcements for "TA NEA" to the editor: Brother D. A. George, (858) 273-2868, FAX (858) 273-0416 or e-mail: dageo@att.net. All entries must be received by the 20th of each month.

The reason dogs have so many friends is because they wag their tails and not their tongues.

-Anonymous

The El Camino Real AHEPA Scholarship Foundation of District #20 invites you and your family members to take advantage of the scholarships made available. The sole purpose of this program is to grant scholarships to worthy students who are members of Sons of Pericles or Maids of Athena of District #20 or whose parents are members of the Order of AHEPA or Daughters of Penelope, living in District #20 and who have been awarded by this Scholarship Foundation less than four (4) times. All completed applications will be evaluated by an impartial panel of administrators/professors from accredited colleges or universities.

To be considered for a scholarship the applicant must:

1. Be a graduating senior entering college in 2001, or currently enrolled in a university or college with a minimum of 12 semester hours working toward an undergraduate degree;

2. Have a Cumulative Grade Point Average of at least 3.0;

3. Complete all pages of the application in their entirety;

4. Provide only one letter of recommendation on official stationery from one of the following:

a. Member of the AHEPA Family;

b. Professor, teacher or counselor; or

c. Member of Clergy.

5. Write an essay of 500 words or less describing any special circumstances which the applicant thinks the panel should take into consideration when evaluating the application, for example:

a. career aspirations

b. honors classes/activities

c. extracurricular/community activities

d. participation in AHEPA Family and church-related activities.

6. Have the school send an official transcript of your high school grades, including class rank and standing;

7. Furnish a completed official Chapter Endorsement (a page of the Application);

8. (For college and university students only) provide all items above plus a transcript of college grades. Applicants of junior status and above need not provide a high school transcript or page 3 of the application.

9. A recipient can receive a scholarship from the El Camino Real Scholarship Foundation only four (4) times.

To be considered, all forms must be postmarked no later than the deadline of March 1, 2001.

Those interested in applying for the District #20 El Camino Real Scholarship Foundation Scholarship may request for applications from the Chapter Secretary, Brother D. A. George, Tel.: (858) 273-2868, Fax: (858) 273-0416, or E-Mail dageo@att.net.

Is it anti-war fever or what in Southern California? While Euripides' Trojan Women is having a triumphant run (in Prof. Marianne McDonald's adaptation) at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Aristophanes's Lysisaata is having a run at the Dorothy Collins Brown Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. One is about women as the innocent victims of war's ugly aftermath, the other is about women using their sexual wiles in the cause of peace.

Since quite a few Greeks helped in the organization and operations of the Olympics in Sydney, Giorgos Floridis, the Greek Undersecretary of Sports, visiting the city during the games, spoke to Greek-Australians in Sydney's Great Hall and asked them (for what else?) to come to Greece in 2004 and help Athens in its efforts to have a successful XXV Olympiad.

That Titan Prometheus was chained to a rock while an eagle feasted daily on his liver, Sisyphus was condemned by having to push a rock to the top of an internal slope incessantly, Socrates had to swallow the hemlock, Antigone was thrown in a cave whereupon she hanged herself. These are some of the examples that propel an interesting volume about the method and philosophy behind the Greek way of punishment, by both mortals and the divine in ancient Athens. The author is Danielle Allen and his book is called The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (Princeton, 449 pp.).

The ancient Greek spirit, in fact, seems to have overtaken the leisure world of Southern California. Besides the Trojan Women and Lysistrata, there are preparations to have Aeschylus' complete trilogy, The Oresteia, as the first play to inaugurate the newly established wing of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in March, 2001. Then the California Repertory Company in Long Beach just opened its season this month with the German playwright Botho Strauss's Ithaka, a stark retelling of Odysseus return from Troy. Similarly with Troy in mind, the San Diego opera next spring will bring Mozart's Idomeneo, a tale from the Trojan War to which a father must sacrifice his son. Not to be outdone, Long Beach Opera will present in October what is generally thought to be the very first opera ever written, Jacopo Peri's Euridice (1615). (Did you know that opera was just an attempt to revive or recreate Greek tragedy?) Another Greek myth will follow in November at the San Francisco Opera - Handel's Semele, a work to be performed by the Bay Area's Philharmonica Baroque. It is the myth of Dionysus's mortal mother who was seduced and then killed by Zeus. If that is not enough, later this Fall, both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony will play Stravinsky's Persephone as well as Ravel's version of the Greek pastoral in Daphnis and Chloe.

In a press conference, Dimitris Avramopoulos, the dapper Mayor of Athens, announced that there is a surplus of 5.4 billion drachmas in the city budget. The fact did not inspire humility or modesty in the Mayor and he quipped that "the mayoralty functions properly and most efficiently it's running as a model for the whole Greek society."

With the subheading, "Based on the Odyssey of Homer," the Coen brothers (writer/director Joel and writer/producer Ethan) released their latest film, a comedy called O Brother, Where Are Thou? The film is set in Mississippi in the 1930's and there are frequent borrowing from Homer's great epic. The Sunday London Times (Sept. 17) reviewer considers those borrowing somewhat irreverent, and calls the film "a distillation of all things Coen." (If you've seen their films, you'll understand the comment.)

A segment on ABC's 20-20 Downtown (Sept. 11), about the excesses of drugs, sex and debauchery in the Mediterranean island if Ibizza, culminated with a comment by the host that "the fun and madness has now moved to the island of Cyprus." The specific place she had in mind is Ayia Napa. Three weeks or so ago I remember reading about a priest in that little town in southern Cyprus as saying that in order to walk to the nearby monastery at dawn, he had to move around prostrate bodies on the street, people who had passed out from drugs or alcohol.

Susan Orlean in The New Yorker (18 Sept.), in discussing the problems encountered in the current Olympics in Sydney, makes mention of the medals to be given to the winners which depict the Colosseum of Rome rather than the Parthenon in Athens or the Stadium in Olympia. The Greeks of Australia have already lodged strong protests about the faux pas and the media in Athens have taken note of the mistake, as well, and satirized it. Orlean quotes the daily Avriani as editorializing: "The Australians have confused a sports arena with a public execution arena."

Is Lesbos "a paradise of gay love"? That's the appellation a British cruise operator and the British lesbian magazine DIVA gave to the island of Sappho, and, among other reasons, that is why the Mayor of Eressos, Polydoros Ambatzis, objected both to the tour and what he considered the erroneous designation of Lesbos. He asked a district court to bar entry of the tour to the island, though Lesbos has been visited by tours of gays several times in the past. A group of store-owners in Eresos, incidentally, have disagreed with the mayor.

According to Greece's National Statistical Service, new car sales continued to increase. In August, vehicle sales in Greece had increased to a total of 33,579, up from 27,834 in the same month last year. Of the 33,579 vehicles some 26,616 were automobiles, and the remaining (7,143) were motorcycles. Meanwhile, the injuries and the slaughter in the streets and highways continue with frenetic intensity.

Peter Clenbos was a successful pole vaulter at USC in 1932. He tried for the Olympics but missed by a whisker. As the son of Greek immigrants, with a dual citizenship, he qualified as a pole-vaulter for the 16-member Greek team. It was the Tenth Olympiad, during the Depression. Clentzos did not win a medal but he gained many golden memories, and now, still in shape at 91, he lives in Pasadena and recalls with a smile how the United States had dominated that year with 40 gold medals, including Babe Didrickson (for javelin throw), Buster Crabbe (400 meter free-style swim) and Eleanor Holm (in 100-meter backstroke).

Six Australian citizens of Greek descent competed for Australia in the recent Olympiad. Besides the world reknowned Mark Philippousis (in tennis), the other Greek members of the Aussie team included Michael Diamond (Diamantis), Marie Lisa Vizaniaris, Spiros Marazoes, Stan Lazarides and Kostas Blatsis. Michael Diamond (a gold medal winner in Atlanta in 1996) is won a medal in target shooting, Marie Lisa Vizaniaris is a discus thrower, Spiros Marazoes is a member of the volly-ball team, and Lazarides and Blatsis are members of Australia's soccer team.

The British have objected to relocating a radar from Cyprus's Troodos mountain because it will not be as accessible to them as in its previous location. But Cyprus's Defense Minister, Socrates Hasikos explained that the radar needs to be moved because it covers a wider security area, but that he would be willing to cooperate with English operations.

France honored Greek author Aatonis Samarakis with the "Golden Cross of the Legion of Arts and Letters." The announcement was made in a letter, accompanied by the award, from Culture Minister Catrin Tasca. The prize is given to those who "with their contributions in the artistic and literary realm have expanded French culture around the world. Samarakis's novels and short stories have been translated in several languages. His novel To Lathes (The Flaw in its English translation) has been translated into 26 languages and was made into a film in Germany.

Just for the record: At least two Chinese gymnasts is the recent Olympics performed to the tune of "Zorba the Greek" during their floor exercises.

The candidacy of Mikis Theodorakis for the Nobel Peace Prize was given a boost recently when the Turkish mayor of the city of Eregli, Halil Posbivik, endorsed the composer's candidacy with a letter to the Nobel Committee. "His contribution to friendship, to peace and democracy;" wrote the Mayor, "must be acknowledged and rewarded."

California Governor Gray Davis signed legislation on September 21 to combat elder abuse and to help victims of Armenian genocide collect on old insurance policies. The Armenian Genocide bill was introduced by Sen. Charles Poochigian (R-Fresno) and is designed to help genocide survivors or their heirs recover benefits from insurance policies sold to Armenians living in Turkey in the first part of the century. Has anyone considered similar legislation. I wonder, for the Greek victims of Kemal's wrath?

(Re-written here by permission of THE GREEKAMERICAN).

It's a well-known fact that millions of people around the world will view the Hellenic Float for the third year in a row! It's also a well-known fact that our float won the Queen's Award for the Best Use of Roses two years in a row! What's a little known fact, in San Diego, is how much fun we had decorating the float the last two years.

Young and old participated in the experience by applying the dry seeds and flowers to the massive Rose Parade floats. During the month of December, every Saturday and Sunday will be dedicated to float decorating and the big push will take place the week before New Years eve. We hope to surpass last year with even more people driving up to work on the float. The schedule for float decoration follows in Ta Nea and the following web site link will provide more information on the 2001 Rose Parade www.baywalk.com/roseparade

I will coordinate the groups going to Pasadena to work on the float. Please call (760) 931-0528 or e-mail me at hillart@n2.net if you are interested in participating.

Dear Sisters,

Our next meeting will be conducted at the Senior Citizen Center at SS. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, Tuesday, December 5, 2000. We encourage all members to attend this most important meeting to discuss the many plans for the new year and to formulate our next trip to Viejas Indian Reservation scheduled for Saturday, January 15, 2001.

It is very important to bring your 2000 membership dues current to close out the year with as many members in good standing as possible. This will make a big difference in our voting power at the next conventions. See you at the next meeting!

Yours in Theta Pi,

Joanna Pathe

cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3 Celery Stalks, Sliced Thin

1 Large Leek, Sliced Thin 3 Carrots, Sliced Thin

½ teaspoon Peppercorns 1½ quarts Water

3 lbs. Large Fresh White Fish 3 Potatoes, Cut Large Chunks

(Bass,Grouper, Snapper, Cod)

Salt & Pepper To Taste Juice of 1 Lemon

Mayonnaise 2 - 3 Capers, Rinsed (optional)

Heat ½ cup olive oil in a large soup pot and add the celery, leeks and carrots. Saute over medium heat, tossing to coat, until softened, about 8 minutes.

Pour in 1½ quarts (6 cups) water, and add the peppercorns. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer the vegetables for 25 minutes. Remove the vegetables to a platter, using a slotted spoon. Add the fish to the stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the fish starts to fall away from the bone.

Strain the soup, reserving the broth and the fish separately. Add the potatoes back to the pot, together with the remaining vegetables and simmer another 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper, and lemon juice, and just before serving add remaining raw olive oil to soup.

Remove the bones from the fish and place the flesh on a platter, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, or tossed lightly with mayonnaise, a few capers and pepper.

Yield: 6 servings