Stella Partheniou Grasso

FAMREF010

Interview Details
Categories and Themes
Content
Media
Participants
Stella Partheniou Grasso
Intervieweer(s)
Theo Xenophontos
Date and Location
June 30, 2023
Niagara Falls, ON
Languages
English with some Cypriot Greek interspersed throughout
Permalink
Project
Film as Mediator: Cultivating a Cypriot Canadian Community Audiovisual Media Archive
Reference ID
FAMREF010
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Categories
Associational Life
Canadian Society
Culture and Tradition
Economy
Education
Historical Events
Migration
Rites
Tags
AHEPA
Australia
Baptism
Cypriot Canadian Identity
Cypriot Community of Toronto Inc.
Cyprus 1974
Dance
Discrimination
Engagement
Entrepreneurship
EOKA
GOYA
Greek Community
Greek Coup
Greek School
Intercommunal Violence
Junta
Language
Marriage
Military Service
Music
Ocean Liner
Post-1974 Migration
Postsecondary Education
Pre-1974 Migration
Religion
Restaurant Work
Soccer
Sponsorship
Traditions
UK
WW2
Decades Referenced
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Locations Referenced
Cyprus; Nicosia; Argaki (Nicosia District); St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church (Argaki); Morphou (Nicosia District); Paliometocho (Nicosia District); Gerakies (Nicosia District); Home for Cooperation (in the UN Buffer Zone); the UN Buffer Zone; Kyperounda (Limassol District); Kykkos Monastery; Stavrovouni Monastery (Larnaca District); Kyrenia; Famagusta; Skala (Larnaca District); Limassol; Dhekelia (British Base in Cyprus); Northern Cyprus; Greece; Athens; Thessaloniki; Larissa; Lyssarea; Sparta; Mitilini; Lesbos; Smyrna; Canada; Niagara Falls; St. Catharines; Peterborough; Oshawa; Ajax; Crystal Beach; Toronto; Wychwood Library; Pape and Coxwell; Danforth; Centennial College; Humber College; York Univeristy; Trent University; Simon Fraser University; British Columbia; Pier 21 (Halifax); Italy; Sicily; Venice; Rome; Naples; Benevento; Castelvetere; Baselice; Israel; Haifa; Australia; The United Kingdom; Germany; Belgium; Vietnam; The United States; Texas; Atlanta; Turkey
Occupation(s)
Her first job was as a busgirl at a Cypriot and Greek run restaurant in Niagara Falls. As a teen and young adult, she worked various service industry and tourist jobs in Niagara Falls. As an adult, she worked various jobs in the publishing industry. These include working as an executive and editorial assistant for CDG Books; at the copyright clearance centre at York University; as a publications coordinator at Scholastic Canada; as a publications project manager at Scholastic Canada; as an author of children's novels; and as an oral storyteller for Storytellers of Canada.
Parents Occupation(s)
Her mother worked as a draftswoman for the Cypriot government. As a teenager, her father worked in Dhekelia. Her father then served in the Cypriot military and was a machinist (both in Cyprus and Canada). Her father was about to open his own machine shop in Cyprus until the Greek coup and Turkish invasion prevented that from happening.
Names Referenced
Ovid; Hesiod; William Shakespeare; Theodoros Xenophontos; Helen Power (née Xenophontos), Anna Ellinas; Andreas and Cleo Frantzeskos; Vasilis (Bill) Molos; Alexander the Great; Makarios III; Georgios Grivas; Nikos Sampson; Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Queen Elizabeth II; Lyndon Johnson; Richard Nixon; Gerald Ford; Orson Welles; Robertson Davies; Dennis Lee; Guy Vanderhaeghe; Ethel Wilson; Timothy Findley; Cynthia Good; George Dalaras; Mikis Theodorakis

[00:00:19] The standardization of Cypriot last names

[00:06:04] Stories about Argaki

[00:12:02] Turkish Cypriots preventing looting in 1974

[00:14:54] Stories from the British colonial era

[00:23:24] Her father’s experience in Dhekelia

[00:27:08] Her father’s life in Canada, 1964 - 1972

[00:30:07] Her father’s life back in Cyprus, 1972 - 1974

[00:36:15] Memories of 1974

[00:59:56] Discussing the historical amnesia around the coup

[01:07:25] Discrimination she experienced from Greeks

[01:22:17] The reason her father initially chose Canada

[01:24:14] The sponsored migration of her family after 1974

[01:28:13] Global familial migration patterns

[01:30:25] Summer jobs & why her father chose Niagara Falls

[01:34:13] 1974 as a time capsule for Cypriot immigrants

[01:37:13] Greek school and dance in the Niagara region

[01:41:04] Her father’s involvement with GOYA & AHEPA

[01:43:17] Pride in seeing the Cypriot dance group perform

[01:46:18] Background on her writing career

[02:02:15] The importance of oral storytelling to her career

[02:10:14] The concept of 'hiraeth' in relation to Cyprus

[02:14:53] Discussing the post-invasion population exchange

[02:22:00] The Cyprus Project’s version of Othello

[02:29:51] The anglicization of Cypriot first names

[02:33:34] How her children embraced the Cypriot culture

[02:43:04] The directive of 'den xehno'

[02:53:49] Generational differences, re: ethnic conflict

[02:57:24] The importance of stamps and photographs

[03:03:30] Photographs as a catalyst for storytelling

[03:05:23]  The importance of music and handicrafts

[03:10:49] Talking about Cypriot films

[03:14:25] Photographs aiding the remembering of the past

[03:17:31] Feeling equally Cypriot and equally Canadian

[03:23:35] The importance of oral history in Cypriot culture

[03:28:43] Hopes for the future of Cyprus

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