ΜΙΑ ΤΟΥΡΤΑ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΑ - Γιορτάζουμε την παγκόσμια ημέρα παιδικού βιβλίου και σάς περιμένουμε :)

Βιβλίο…χρόνια πολλά!

Κυριακή 5 Απριλίου, 11:30 - 13:00

Πλοήγηση Εκδήλωσης

Το βιβλίο…

γιορτάζει με εκδηλώσεις για μικρούς και μεγάλους στο Λυρικό Μικρό Πλανήτη.

Την Κυριακή 5 Απριλίου στις 11.30-13.00 η συγγραφέας Μαρία Παπαμαργαρίτη – Μπασινά παρουσιάζει το βιβλίο της «Μια τούρτα για την Ιωάννα».

Μια τρυφερή ιστορία που ξεκινά από το πως φτιάχνεται μια τούρτα και καταλήγει να μιλά για την αξία της αγάπης και της φιλίας. Την εκδήλωση θα πλαισιώσουν οι μικροί ηθοποιοί της θεατρικής ομάδας «Λυρικός μικρός πλανήτης» που θα δραματοποιήσουν το παραμύθι και θα ευχηθούν χρόνια πολλά στο βιβλίο.

Ηλικία: 3 -10 ετών / Είσοδος ελεύθερη

 http://lyrikos.gr/event/%CE%B2%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%BF-%CF%87%CF%81%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AC/

The Must- to -Say List for our Kids - A 'Decalogue' for Happy Kids (Part 1)

Is there a Must - to- Say List for our Kids?

Part One 

   There is no doubt that actions speak louder and better than words. A widely acknowledged piece of truth. Still, there seems to be such emphasis on the Must-To-Do List within every single family that I have started wondering how many families are there who still speak to each other. So, my dearests I have come to think that it is time we had "a family gathering for the remaining family members who still speak to each other" 

    So, now let's imagine that we have the gathering. And then let's hope for the best and let's find ourselves enjoying the gathering with our beloved ones who share the same hopeful need with us, the need to talk. What is there to say? Other that the Must-To-Do list?

   Now, let's not freak out, not yet.... there must be something to say other than the due day to pick the clothes from the cleaners' or the day of the dentist's appointment or the reminding of the leaking tap that needs fixing, or the quarrel while trying to decide on who is responsible to getting the oldest one to football and who is responsible for the younger's music lessons ...and so on.... and bla bla bla.... and then the TV is switched on and everybody gets lost in his nerves again.... 

   Well today I am not going to spend not even a fraction of a second on what is or ought to be told between a couple. But I am going to remind myself and you as well of the Ten things that parents ought to say to their children so that they can always hope that they will find something to talk about when they get together other than the housework, or the homework or the dreadful Must-To-Do List. 

1. Number One : I am so happy to have you 

It's not bad to remember how lucky we are to have a kid or kids. Moreover to thank them for enlightening our buffing and confusing routine. Kids are not ours. They are our lives' gifts. has there been any moment that you have been offered a present and you have not expressed your thanks? I don't think so, Only a live Thank you suits a live present.

2. Number Two : Always stand up for your opinion -no matter how different it is from mine

We always complain about our kids turning to mimics of what they see or what they hear. How responsible may we really be? How often do we encourage our kids to express their own opinion, their own thought? How often do we let our kids - let alone encourage - to leave their own trademark on an everyday basis in their own decisions? 

3. Number Three: You Know I love you, right?

Love has never hurt anyone. Neither its admitting to it. It is time we allowed the words 'I love you" take us upon their magic cloud and travel us all around the heavenly world of positive feelings. Let's not forget: The more you share your feelings, the more powerful they become. 

4. Number Four: I am so proud of you

Showing your kid how proud you are of him /her and his /her achievements is the ultimate means of empowering one's confidence and self-esteem. Think about yourself. How much in love did you feel you are when your beloved one congratulated you on your dressing choices or your cooking? 

Till the second part of the Decalogue comes in the blog, watch out and remember that 

"Family is a gift that lasts Forever'' as long as you care for it .... 

to be continued 

\

The MYTH, The LEGEND and the Greek Party of SYRIZA

The MYTH, The LEGEND and the Greek Party of SYRIZA

    When you open a dictionary trying to find the definition for the word Myth, the first scientifically reasoned explanation you are provided with, is the Greek origin of the word in terms of its etymology. Myth comes from the Ancient Greek word  "my- thos" which represents and defines anything that can be delivered through the mouth. 

    So, a myth is a kind of speech, a kind of narrative that expresses the mysterious inner thoughts of someone. Then Mythology was born as the science that studies the total of myths that have been generated within time from the human need to rationalize and explain the natural phenomena and any seemingly inexplicable aspects of life. 

   The main difference between a Myth and a Legend is that the Legend which is usually the myth existing about a specific figure or person, is based on a greater extent upon true historical facts compared to a myth that is born by the need to deal with supernatural and reach the answer to the everlasting question of life's mystery. Whee do we come from? What are we made of? And where are we supposed to be heading at? What is that which gives life to life itself?

    Humans have always been attracted to myths and legends. The mythological treasure of each nation has turned to each culture's source of development. Like Joseph Campbell, a mythology lover and worldwide acknowledged teacher has said "Mythology is not a lie. Mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical.  It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth - penultimate because the ultimate cannot put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images, beyond that bounding rim of the Buddhist Wheel of Becoming. Mythology pitches the mind beyond that rim, to what can be known but not told. " Joseph Campbell

   Inspired by this attributed trait of Mythology on behalf of John Campbell, I have started wondering about the extent to which nowadays people are facing an unabridged gap between what can be told and what can be known but not told. Are words nowadays short of expressing what can be known or thought? Are there any truths that words cannot express? And if there are, then who comes to open the gate for them so that they can find their way out? 

  Maybe a kind of Modern Mythology then. Maybe a new kind of Mythology is born out of nowadays' supernatural or abnormal or metaphysical paradoxes that people are asked to face on an everyday basis. Because how else can people explain the paradox of not balanced development and progress all over the world? How can the non existing equality in terms of material wealth and progress among the members of a group can be explained? 

  Of course there is always space for mistakes and fatal errors. Fatal errors committed on behalf of countries, of groups, of politicians may be the sufficient explanation and reasoning of such a paradox. But then again people wake up and are asked to live with the burden of a committed fatal mistake before them and without them, or in the worst case with their silent acceptance.

   So, the Myth of the Change was born. The Myth of Syriza, the party winner of the recent Greek elections. It seems that Greeks have formed their modern myth. There is something that cannot be told. Because the established rules, the pre-defined and accepted beforehand agreements and regulations are forbidding the thought of getting out of the dead -end of a dead or semi - dead, bleeding Greek economy to be expressed in clear and loud voice as a wish. 

And just like that the Legend was built. The Legend and the Myth of the rebirth of the bleeding Greek Economy. Syriza won the elections and took people's untold but deeply known truths in its hands. But there is no modern Heracles, there is no Modern Odysseus or Zeus who can cast his thunders and eliminate any monsters like Ancient Titanes who wished to take over authority at any cost. There is no  woman like Minoas' daughter Ariadne to offer the Greeks the ball of thread out of the labyrinth of their self-bleeding. There is only a demand for cooperation and assurance that all Modern Ariadne daughters, all those who have devoted their lives in studying economy and its mysteries, strengths and weaknesses becoming Economists,  will find the ball of thread without leaving anyone in any labyrinth of darkness. 

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN - A POEM BY ROBERT FROST - Dedicated to the Greek Elections of January 2015

'THE ROAD NOT TAKEN ' and the Greek Elections of January 2015

when a poem by Robert Frost draws the portrait of the nowadays European Community 

   Written in the 1920s, the poem 'The Road not Taken' is a poem about two roads and a man standing in front of them. Having spent my last months within the national elections fever and finding myself within the turmoil of all the predictions regarding the future of the Greek nation within the European community, I have come across this poem which has always appealed to me. 

    If I was offered the possibility to find a literary color to paint the present situation of the Greek nation and the Greek country nowadays, The Road not Taken would be this color. I am not a politician and I have never been involved in any kind of political activities other than participating in my country's elections. And the truth is that never before can I remember myself to have been so tremendously troubled than in the recent elections of January 2015. The reason is as simple as that. I found myself feeling like the man of Robert Frost's poem. Standing in front of two roads, I am looking at each one feeling incapable to predict my satisfaction on my choice. 

    But the poet has stood up and has let his voice speak loud and clear. The traveler of the poem stands before two roads and he seems not to have got the slightest idea on which road to pick so that he can go on with his journey. The whole procedure of looking for the right answer in himself, is depicted in the following stanzas of the poem. ‘And he looked down, one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth / Then took the other, as just as fair / And having perhaps the better claim…’ writes Frost in his second stanza.

   The reader witnesses the traveler’s dilemma for real. Both roads are so alike. They are similar so there is really no way to make the right or wrong choice. The reader gets the impression that one road must be chosen so one is chosen just by luck. Both roads opening their paths in front of the narrator seem equally worn, since ‘Though as for that, the passing there / Had worn them really about the same / And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black.’So the narrator chooses one of the two roads appearing exactly the same and reaches his last years of life in the last stanza where he shares a kind of confession with his readers. ‘ I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence / Two roads diverged in a wood and I - / I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference.’

   So the narrator shares his personal truth. He will say that the road he chose was the less traveled by. This is something he will say with a sigh. Why? Because he really does not know whether or not he should have chosen another path. 

   It seems that Frost aims at raising the question which still remains unanswered. When people are asked to choose their paths, what is the most crucial factor affecting their choices? And the most important question lies in one’s choice is what would have happened differently if one had chosen something else than what he first chose.

   

  The narrator of the poem seems to feel puzzled and not be able to give an answer to this question. He probably wants to say that the journey of one’s life is in a way predestined by factors which are not and cannot be predestined by humans. There is this mystery in human life predefined by mysterious forces like fate and luck. There is even lots to be said in the field of how free one is to choose paths and routes in his / her life. According to the narrator there is really no need in feeling remorse for our choices, in feeling that if one path had been chosen differently things would have come out different.

   

The narrator seems to believe that either way the painful truth remains. No one can ever know for sure what his / her life would be like if chosen differently. It could be better or it could be worse. But there is always a sigh when looking back in life. There is this sigh as a means of defending against the possibility that one failed because he chose this particular path and not the other.

  

One way or the other the journey in life remains the same in terms of entailing equal difficulties, failures, and / or successes. This is what the journey in life is according to Frost.

Could this be the meaning of the Greeks' choice in these recent elections? Could this choice of theirs be their answer to the increasing troubling question on what Europe's future is when no free choices exist other than the imposed ones? Could it just be the expression of their grief since they have come to the realization that neither they nor the others equal members of their European team have realized that they have lost their energy trying to find the correct choice, the correct path without having spent even a fraction of a second on paving their common paths? 

Poetry may be the solution to drawing and painting the feelings. But actions following common wishes for common welfare and common drawing of paths is the solution to the dead- end of a trembling Europe who tries to balance on the non-balance of the increasing gap between the weakest and the most powerful ones .... maybe.... 

Όταν οι Καρυάτιδες χάνουν τον τόνο τους...

«Αι Καρυάτιδαι», ουσιαστικό θηλυκού γένους, τρίτης κλίσης, προέκυψε από την ανάγκη της ομιλούσας τότε κοινότητας να αποδώσει ένα χαρακτηρισμό στις ιέρειες της θεάς Άρτεμης ή αρχαιοελληνιστί «Αρτέμιδος». Η Άρτεμις, δίδυμη αδερφή του θεού Απόλλωνα, θεά του κυνηγιού και της φύσης, συγκέντρωνε το θαυμασμό και τη λατρεία του αγροτικού κυρίως πληθυσμού. Ένας από τους πιο ξακουστούς στην Αρχαία Ελλάδα τόπους λατρείας της ήταν το ιερό της στις σημερινές Καριές. «Αι Καρυαί» που βυθίστηκαν στον ωκεανό της Νεοελληνικής απλοποίησης και το «υ» «εξέπεσε» (για να δανειστούμε το δόκιμο γλωσσολογικό όρο) στο απλούστερο «ι».

Οι νεαρές κοπέλες που επιλέγονταν να τιμούν τη θεά εκτελώντας τις λατρευτικές τελετουργίες προς τιμή τους, κατάγονταν κατά βάση από τη Λακωνία, αν και η εντοπιότητα δεν αποτελούσε βασικό κριτήριο επιλογής τους. Ήταν η ομορφιά τους και η λυγερή κορμοστασιά τους, σε συνδυασμό με την προσωπική τους επιλογή να αφιερώσουν τα νιάτα τους στη λατρεία της πεισματικά εργένιδος θεάς, τα εχχέγυα που άνοιγαν την πόρτα του ιερού. Όπως ήταν φυσικό οι λυγερόκορμες παρθένες κόρες – ιέρειες ταυτίστηκαν στη συνείδηση του αρχαιοελληνικού κόσμου με την έννοια της ομορφιάς και της αφοσίωσης. Σταδιακά ο χαρακτηρισμός τους «Καρυάτιδες» που σηματοδοτούσε την ταυτότητά τους, μετετράπη σε σύμβολο της αιώνιας ομορφιάς, της αγνότητας και της πιστής αφοσίωσης. Γι’αυτό και οι αρχιτέκτονες ανά την Ελλάδα παράγγελναν στους γλύπτες μαρμάρινες Καρυάτιδες με τις οποίες αντικαθιστούσαν τους κίονες στην είσοδο ναών ή άλλων μνημείων. Κάπως έτσι οι Καρυάτιδες βρέθηκαν κάποια στιγμή να κοσμούν την είσοδο σε τάφους, συμβολίζοντας την ιερότητα και την αναγκαιότητα τήρησης αυτής της ιερότητας στην τελευταία κατοικία των θνητών, πριν εισέλθουν στο αιώνιο βασίλειο του Άδη. Ένα τέτοιο ζευγάρι Καρυάτιδων βρέθηκε και στον τάφο της Αμφίπολης, ενισχύοντας φυσικά την πεποίθηση ότι ο τάφος ανήκει σε κάποια σπουδαία προσωπικότητα, της οποίας η τελευταία κατοικία όφειλε να φυλαχτεί από κακόβουλες ενέργειες σύλλησης ή οιουδήποτε έτερου βανδαλισμού. Μα το δημοσιογραφικό δαιμόνιο ξύπνησε παράλληλα με το δαιμόνιο της ανασκαφής και έθεσε το ερώτημα: Ο τόνος πού είναι σωστό να πάει; Λέμε «των Καρυάτιδων», «των Καρυατίδων» ή «των Καρυατιδών»; Η αλήθεια είναι ότι η γενική πληθυντικού των θηλυκών ονομάτων αποτελούσε πάντα μήλο της έριδος ανάμεσα σε γλωσσολόγους και φιλολόγους, ενώ για τους μαθητές ήταν σταθερός εφιάλτης. Αν ακολουθηθεί η πεπατημένη γραμματική οδός, τότε ο τόνος στη γενική πρέπει κανονικά να κατέβει και να υιοθετηθεί η γενική «των Καρυατίδων» κατά «των ελπίδων». Μα αν πάλι ληφθεί υπόψη ότι η λέξη χρησιμοποιήθηκε ως χαρακτηρισμός και έτσι αυτομάτως μετετράπη σε επίθετο, τότε η γραμματική προβλέπει ότι στα επίθετα ο τόνος δεν κατεβαίνει απαραιτήτως στην παραλήγουσα στη γενική πληθυντικού.

Η γλώσσα ορίζει ότι «σωστό» είναι αυτό που «υιοθετείται» από την ομιλούσα κοινότητα. Με την προϋπόθεση όμως ότι ο σεβασμός σε κάθε ζωντανό γλωσσικό κύτταρο και στην ιστορία του καλλιεργείται και τηρείται με πίστη και αφοσίωση. Εξ αφορμής λοιπόν αυτού του «γραμματικού πυρετού» που υπέπεσε στην αντίληψή μου τις τελευταίες ημέρες, έρχομαι να θέσω ένα άλλο ερώτημα: Πόσο έτοιμοι είμαστε να σεβαστούμε τα ευρήματα της ταφικής ανασκαφής της Αμφίπολης μόλις ολοκληρωθούν; Εύχομαι ένας παρεμφερής πυρετός να κυριεύσει τους έχοντας την ευθύνη να τηρηθεί ο πρέπων σεβασμός και η πρέπουσα απόδοση τιμής. 

Επιστρέφοντας...

Επιστρέφοντας...
Σύμφωνα με τον Όμηρο, ο Οδυσσέας προτίμησε να δει τον καπνό να βγαίνει από την καμινάδα του πατρικού του έναντι του δώρου της αιώνιας ζωής που του προσέφερε η Νύμφη Καλυψώ. Φυλακισμένος στην πολυτέλεια της ζωής στο νησί της, πολλές ήταν οι φορές που κατέφευγε στην παρηγοριά της απέραντης θέας του πελάγους. Ένιωθε πως αγναντεύοντας τη θάλασσα, ερχόταν λίγο πιο κοντά στο νησί του. Και όταν έφθασε η στιγμή που οι Ολύμπιοι Θεοί αποφάσισαν να του χαρίσουν το δικαίωμα της επιλογής, δεν δίστασε ούτε στιγμή. Η επιστροφή στην Ιθάκη του ήταν αυτό που αδιαμφισβήτητα ποθούσε. Ο νόστος του ήταν το νόημα του πολύχρονου αγώνα του. Ήξερε πού ήθελε να πάει και γιατί. Ευτυχισμένος ο περιπλανητής που γνωρίζει τον τελικό του προορισμό... Γιατί ακόμα και αν αλλάξει η πυξίδα του προσανατολισμό, ποτέ δε θα απωλέσει την ηθική ικανοποίηση της αρχικής του γνώσης, της πρώτης του σιγουριάς.
Ο Οδυσσέας του σήμερα όμως έχει αλλάξει. Όχι μόνο γιατί δε φυλακίζεται πια από μία παρά από πολλές Νύμφες, αλλά κυρίως γιατί η χαρά του νόστου του απειλείται. 

Δεν προλαβαίνει να τη βιώσει. Ενώ το φθινόπωρο ταυτίζεται με την έννοια της επιστροφής στα πεπατημένα, στα νέα που θέλουμε να δοκιμάσουμε και να πειραματιστούμε, στα παλιά που αγαπάμε ή που θέλουμε να αλλάξουμε, δε μάς γεμίζει τόσο με χαρά όσο με άγχος... Μου έχει τόσο λείψει ο νόστος μου... και τον αποζητώ... μέσα από τις σκέψεις μου που μοιράζομαι μαζί σας, μέσα από τα αντιηλιακά που απομένουν επιμελώς ξεχασμένα στη βεράντα, μέσα από τη μυρωδιά του διάφανου αυτοκόλλητου που θα ντύσει τα βιβλία των παιδιών μου... τον αποζητώ μέσα από όσα θέλω να ξαναβρώ και μέσα από όλα όσα ονειρεύομαι να αλλάξω... επιστρέφοντας λοιπόν τον καλωσορίζω και τον μοιράζομαι μαζί σας...

To Tάμα - Ποίημα

Το Τάμα

Τάζουμε τη ζωή μας

χωρίς ενδοιασμό

σε ‘τέχνες’ άχαρες, ή μάλλον τεχνικές

Τάζουμε τη ζωή μας

χωρίς σκέψη, χωρίς πάθος, χωρίς ιδανικό

στον τρόπο να μάθουμε να επιβιώνουμε και καλά ‘επιτυχώς’

Τάζουμε τη ζωή μας σε σκοτεινό,

χωρίς το φως της ιδέας της υψηλής, σκοπό

Τάζουμε τη ζωή μας και περιμένουμε ….

να δούμε τις μορφές των άλλων γύρω μας,

που μοιράζονται το ίδιο με μας τάμα,

να αποκτούν βλέμμα φωτεινό,

χαμόγελο χρωματιστό, ψυχή….

Γιατί μόνο έτσι ίσως βρούμε μια χαραμάδα φωτός

στο τάμα μας το σκοτεινό….