Tag Archives: Greece

Dear brainstem, you remind me of the Mona Lisa

January 31, 2023

Serena Yue Hong Kong, China   Left: The Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci, between 1503 and 1506. Louvre Museum. Via Wikimedia. Public domain. Right: Brainstem, ventral view. Designed by erico and edited by 小野 浩雅(ONO, Hiromasa). © 2016 DBCLS TogoTV. CC-BY-4.0. Dear brainstem, You remind me of the Mona Lisa, seated firmly and comfortably atop […]

Saying goodbye

January 9, 2023

Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   “A walk into life’s sunset.” Photo by author. Her head is bald, her face pale. Only a couple of weeks have passed since her latest cycle of chemotherapy, which imposed its ravages but offered no benefit. The disease is marching relentlessly ahead, the survival horizon drawing closer each day. She […]

International adoption of Greek “orphans”

October 24, 2022

Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden   Child refugees from Macedonia, Greece, 1948. Retouched from the original held by the State Archives of the Republic of Macedonia (DARM). Via Wikimedia. No known restrictions on publication or modification. “He’s only a pawn in their game.”1 – Bob Dylan   Between 1950 and 1962, 3,200 Greek children were adopted […]

Once a professor…

October 6, 2022

Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   “Good morning, Professor.” Lake Kremasta, Greece. Photo by author. The elderly man I address by this title lies in bed, visibly weak and rather exhausted, a clean white sheet drawn up to his neck. He has been in the hospital for several days now, and the forced immobility has added […]

Rapid testing for the masses

July 20, 2022

Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   A summer camp of flowers. Photo by author. Ten young girls are queueing outside the makeshift surgery. They are between eleven and fifteen, they wear face masks, they giggle and tease each other and try to encourage the timid ones before the coming ordeal. What is this going to be? […]

In Aristotle’s footsteps

January 31, 2022

Henri Colt Laguna Beach, California, United States   Photo by Gianluca Cinnante on Unsplash. Squatting on a cement slab, the old doctor watched sea urchins bristle their spines in clear Aegean waters. His short brown tunic covered shoulders broad as an oxen’s chest. He flexed his tanned, muscular forearms and clenched his fists, then rolled […]

Drama in brief

January 26, 2022

Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   Winter foliage. Photo by author. Four years earlier I had had the sad duty to announce her debut as a protagonist on the stage of cancer. Now I was witnessing the last act. She came to the first visit with her elder sister, an old acquaintance from our student days […]

R. Austin Freeman and the Victorian forensic thriller

December 9, 2021

Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   Richard Austin Freeman, c. 1935. W.L. Briant. Via Encyclopædia Britannica. Many people today are acquainted with well-known books and television series of forensic crime fiction. The modern detective fiction writer is expected to provide detailed descriptions of autopsies, current technology, pharmacology, and toxicology. Yet, even in this relatively new version […]

Sacrifice

October 22, 2021

Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   Ruins of the basilica of St. Achillios, Lake Prespa, Greece. Photo by the author. The supine and inert feminine form has been reduced to a few square centimeters of uncovered skin between the jaw and the sternum. Strategically placed green surgical drapes shroud the rest of the body. A series […]

Doctor-patient reunions

September 3, 2021

Anthony Papagiannis  Thessaloniki, Greece   Sunset. Photo by Anthony Papagiannis The upper half of the face I could see behind the Covid-dictated mask did not tell me much, but the surname she gave rang a clear bell. I had seen several members of a family of the same name in the past, and looking into […]