I was once walking down South University with a tall, dark and handsome friend who remarked what it must look like, what would people say, what if my family found out.
We were just walking, but after we parted ways on the corner of South University and Forest, I realized that danger was much closer than he realized. My Greek American brother Evan worked right there, two doors down. (Of course, I confessed instantly the next time I saw my Greek American brother Evan, who guessed the restaurant we had had lunch and then explained in brotherly fashion what my friend’s real intentions had been. “Really?”)
My children are one-eighth Greek, and when I first met Evan and his family, I had a lot of questions about Greek culture and language. I was also trying to decide whether to enroll the children in Greek School in addition to Chinese School. Evan told me stories about how empowering it was to learn Greek dance at Greek School, and I told him stories about what a bad student I was at Chinese School. We quickly realized that our experiences at Greek School and Chinese School were basically the same, just a different language. We started joking that we were family, and it was always a good feeling when Evan would defend me anytime he caught anyone giving me grief, “Hey, that’s my sister.”
When I inadvertently gave my son the same name as Evan’s father, “You named him after my dad?” the bond was complete. (click on link for more)
Learning across ethnic lines from my Greek-American brother and Miss USA Rima Fakih - AnnArbor.com
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