November was a busy month for celebrity chef and author Diane Kochilas following the October launch of her PBS 13-part series, My Greek Table. The series is also co-sponsored by the National Hellenic Society. 
 
Diane was the featured guest at four NHS chapter-hosted events along with NHS Executive Director Art Dimopoulos in Salt Lake City, UT, hosted by member John Saltas, in Seattle, WA, hosted by co-chair Elizabeth Grillos, in San Diego, CA, hosted by co-chair Gerry Ranglas, and concluded in Los Angeles, CA, hosted by member Thelma Nickols Waxman. Guests were treated to Diane's wealth of Greek cooking historical tips along with a Greek cheese tasting and wine from the Padis Vineyards in Seattle and Los Angeles.

In the 1997 film GATTACA, Ethan Hawke lives in a futuristic world where genetic testing and editing allows parents to ensure that their children will be born without the risk of serious hereditary genetic disorders. Nervous parents are able to secure a future where their children are not at risk for heart disease and can even ensure that their children might grow up to be Olympic champions.

In March, NHS’s Boston chapter hosted a talk by Dr. Robert C. Green, Director of the G2P program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who suggested that not only is this sci-fi world possible, it’s actually already here. The Genomes to People program (G2P) – a joint initiative between Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical University and Partners Healthcare – conducts research around the medical, behavioral and economic outcomes associated with the implementation of genomic medicine.

This past April the Heritage Greece Alumni in North Carolina held our first organized meeting as a chapter.  For our kickoff event in this region we met at Kipos, a Greek restaurant located in downtown Chapel Hill.  As most of us were spread across the different years of Heritage Greece this was a great chance to connect and forge new and lasting relationships with each other based on our shared experiences.

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to come together, but more importantly to be able to reinforce the idea that Heritage Greece does not end once you return from Greece.  The alumni that were present ranged all the way from the inaugural trip to the most recent trip back to the beautiful place we all share roots to.

I‘ve been passionate about the environment for as long as I remember, but it wasn’t until college that I realized it was something that I wanted to further integrate into my life. While teaching myself more about living sustainably, I simultaneously  started working in retail, and it was then that I discovered how interested I am in fashion, more specifically,  sustainable fashion.  Sustainable fashion encompasses fashion that puts sustainability at their forefront by reducing waste, using recycled fabrics, reducing water consumption, using low energy manufacturing methods, and the like. Sustainable fashion can also include fair trade fashion, sourcing material responsibly, as exploitation is a significant problem within the industry.  

The importance to turn to sustainable fashion is supported by the staggering waste and pollution statistics attributed to the fashion industry.  Greenpeace has noted that it takes 2,700 liters of water
to make just one t-shirt; that an estimated 400 billion square meters of textile are produced annually, of which 60 billion square meters are left on the cutting room floor; that three out of four garments will end up in landfills or be incinerated; and that hazardous chemicals used in manufacturing end up in water pipe discharges, as well as emissions in air and solid waste.  In 2011, Greenpeace launched a
Detox campaign to challenge companies to become more transparent about their manufacturing processes and to remove hazardous chemicals from all steps of production by 2020, with the hope that this will reduce toxic water pollution around the world. 

We come from a people that live by the water. The mountains are daringly beautiful and cascade into the sky to tower over everyone.  But they are not monstrous, they are scaled to perfection with low towering plants to show off the beauty and shape of the mountain.

The houses are clustered and scattered and never overbearing. They all have little orange rooftops. The water extends into forever and is flat and gorgeous, and in the distance you can still see the next mountain. Pictures will never describe what I am trying to explain.