moments in time... life in a changing city

Started to take pictures of Athens as of september 2009 and have a renewed interest in the grimy streets and the changing faces of down town athens. This just before another election where promises have been made but as we very well know from the past are seldom if never delivered. There are more and more immigrants living in our streets and neighborhoods, more and more people with out representation or hope of citizenship. As a citizen of this city and of the world I find that disturbing at best and infuriating for the cultural diversity that is being formed without any help or assistance. Chinese, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Africans.... just an amazing array of people who are hungry, tired and poor. Yet they manage to get by somehow... barely. There will be some change forced or necessary to acknowledge these new faces of Greece and Athens, I just don't know when....

Athens and not Athens

Took a walk last night to visit a friend who lives near by. Made my way to a small square where old men drank their afternoon coffee, and young hip Athenians were sipping their early evening cocktails. Despite the smoking ban in bars and clubs as of July 1st, everyone is sitting outside with their cigaretts out in the open. There seems to be a shift in the air.
Summer is our time of year. Athens comes alive in the summer,more than any other time in the year. Yesterday evening was a rare gem in the Athenian album. The light breeze made it more pleasant than days before when the heat was stifling, and it was almost quiet which never happens in Athens. As I walked along, I realized I had to remind myself I was in Athens. The breeze and the quiet and the smell of jasmine flowers nearby almost transported me to a quiet island village in the Mediterranean sea.
From time to time Athens, still has traces of the village life, in the Anafiotika houses under the acropolis to the hidden gardens behind bland grey buildings to the small houses near Philopapou Hill. Even after all the cement and the development parts of old Athens remain... to my great surprise and joy.