Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: This is the owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens.
Listen to the exciting story of the American community schools of Athens.
Check out what drives all the members of our international community of learners as we create the education of the future.
Here's Champapadakis.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Art and literature have long been the soul of human civilization, serving as a mirror to society and a vessel for expressing the inexpressible.
Their power ties not only in the beauty they create, but also their ability to bridge cultures, inspire reflection, and ignite change.
For Pandora Bethea, an alumna of ACS athens from the 70s and a celebrated author and educator, this truth has been a guiding principle throughout her life. During our interview that follows, she emphasizes how art and literature shape our understanding of the world and nurture our shared humanity. Her journey, beginning in the vibrant halls of ACS Athens, underscores the transformative power of these creative endeavors. In her reflections, Pandora highlights the profound influence of teachers like Mrs. Priles who instilled in her the belief that there's nothing more powerful than the word.
This realization unlocked her passion for poetry and literature, setting her on a path of self expression that would define her life. Through literature, she found not only a means to explore her identity, but also a way to connect with others. She reminds us that storytelling and poetry are not distant arts but deeply personal acts of creation accessible to anyone willing to embrace their inner voice.
The importance of inspiring younger generations to engage with writing and poetry cannot be overstated. As Pandora Bethea notes, creativity resides within all of us, waiting to be awakened in an age dominated by technology and rapid change. Art and literature offer a grounding force, reminding us of our shared human experiences. They teach us empathy, foster imagination, and equip us with the tools to navigate life's complexities.
Encouraging students to express themselves through writing is not just about nurturing future authors, but also about cultivating thoughtful, articulate individuals who can contribute meaningfully to society.
Pandora Bethia was born in Athens, Greece, and grew up in Iran until the age of 10. She received her high school diploma from the American Community Schools of Athens because she was surrounded by many cultures, languages and tradition. Multiculturalism is her comfort zone. At the age of 26, she flew to New York and traveled cross country with her friend Fanny to San Francisco. She received her degree in English Language and Literature from California State University, Sonoma and taught in California public schools for years, discovering young poets in her classrooms. As a world traveler, she has experienced many countries including Guatemala, Morocco, Vietnam, India, Iran, Dubai, South Africa, Denmark, the US and Europe. But her favorite spot is the family summer cottage on the Aegean in northern Evia. Pandora's own journey from a curious student to a published poet and author serves as a roadmap for aspiring writers. Her participation in the recent Arts and Authors Spotlight in December at ACS Athens exemplifies the enduring relevance of these creative forms in education and community life. She believes that every student holds a unique light within them, a potential to create and inspire that should be nurtured and celebrated. By sharing her work and experiences, she reminds us that art is not merely a pursuit of aesthetics, but a vital component of a well rounded and fulfilled life.
As ACS Athens celebrates its 80th anniversary, Pandora's message resonates strongly. Art and literature are the heartbeats of civilization and a definite highlight in the lives of the students of ACS Athens, which must be safeguarded and passed on. Inspiring younger generations to find their voice through poetry and storytelling ensures that the creative flame continues to burn brightly. Through this collective effort, we honor the legacy of the past while empowering the voices of the future. Here's our interview with Pandora Bethea.
[00:05:25] Speaker C: Welcome to the Outcast. It's another alumni edition of our podcast and thank you for being with us today. Pandora, of course you're one of many who are stopping by the school during the years and this year, of course, it's a very poignant one because it's the 80th anniversary of the founding of ACS Athens and every time someone comes in from any decade, past decade, you know, we are very interested to know how the school was back then because that is how it relates to the living history of the school. The students are coming in and they see a school which has some new facilities, some older facilities, but no one knows, for example, that there was a street going through the school all these years. So if we start with that, if we start with some school memories from your time, if you could tell us a few things, like what grades were you here for? What are some of the most vivid memories from your time? And how was the school in the 70s?
[00:06:34] Speaker D: Thank you so much for having me here. Well, ACS has always been an amazing school.
I attended ACS from third grade when my family and I returned to Greece from Tehran.
And my Greek wasn't very good in terms of writing and reading. So ACS was the choice of my parents, forever grateful to them for that.
I attended from third grade until I graduated.
And I remember the middle school locker area was the social scene. That's when we would meet between classes and joke around and talk and then Hurry into our classrooms.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Do you remember anything from the elementary school? Do you remember your first memories coming in?
[00:07:36] Speaker D: You know, I don't remember very much from grade school, but I do remember that in grade school one of my classmates was Dean Musaquiotis, who also was the class president in 1972 when we graduated. He's no longer with us. But I do remember certain students more than what I remember the teachers. And that's just to prove that when we're young, our peers are so important to us.
But I've never had a teacher at ACS that I didn't connect to. I remember being connected to all my teachers in grade school and middle school, in high school.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Any names you can drop?
[00:08:29] Speaker D: Let me think of grade school. I can't remember the grade school, but.
[00:08:34] Speaker C: But you remember middle school, you said.
[00:08:36] Speaker D: And some of my teachers in middle school, I think was Mrs. Carametru, one of them in middle school, I think she was. Or maybe high school, but I remember her. And I'll talk to you about the teachers that I do remember. Although, as I said, I connected with all of them.
I remember Bruce hunt. I remember Mr. Angelonides. I remember Mrs. Monclevera. I remember Mrs. Tertipis.
I remember our principals, Chip Ammerman, and before that, Mr. Ison. I remember how connected we all were as a community.
[00:09:29] Speaker C: Something specific about the school that sticks in your mind, something about the environment of the school.
[00:09:36] Speaker D: The environment of the school was unbelievable because it was during the dictatorship from 67 until 74, where I realized how important a value of freedom of speech and freedom of opinion and freedom of expression was for my teachers here at ACS and how they taught us the value of these things. One of the things that I remember was we used to go a little bit too far with the freedom as students, because we used to leave the school grounds and go to the taverna. We had a taverna which is not here anymore, but that taverna which was right next to the school, was the taverna where we would buy these huge sandwiches. Everybody remembers these sandwiches, the omelette sandwiches, the omelet sandwiches. But it was a loaf of bread.
It wasn't like, you know, the sandwiches that you buy today.
And, you know, that lasted for the whole day.
[00:10:55] Speaker C: So you mean you weren't supposed to go?
[00:10:58] Speaker D: No, no, no, we weren't supposed to go to the taverna. I mean, we were supposed to be.
[00:11:03] Speaker C: On the school grounds at that time. There were no gates, right?
[00:11:07] Speaker D: There were no gates.
The buildings were the middle school building, the grade school building. And the high school building. There was no incredible library that you have today. We had a library.
The library was always a very important thing for acs and we spent a lot of time in the library researching, but it was actual books that we had to look at. There was no such thing as going on Google and computers. And we had no computers in the classroom. We had no cell phones and it was volumes and volumes of books that were coming down from shelves.
[00:11:54] Speaker C: We still have one of largest English libraries in Greece.
[00:11:58] Speaker D: I am so happy to hear that.
[00:12:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, you describe the learning culture and I was wondering in general, the school culture, the school atmosphere during your years, how would you describe it? I'm pretty sure it was still an international community, but a little bit more American at that point, correct?
[00:12:21] Speaker D: It was at the time, from third grade until I graduated in. At acs, you could come to ACS if you had one of your two parents or if you yourself had a foreign nationality.
We had probably 90% of the students from 90% of the embassies and consulates in Athens.
So our classroom was very multicultural.
We had all the races, we had all the cultures, we had all the, I'd say, socioeconomic groups to a certain extent, of course, because it was. You had to be able to afford the tuition. Yeah, the tuition. Because the tuition was only accepted to be paid in dollars.
So if you only had a drachma account and you didn't have a dollar account, then you couldn't send your kid to.
But also you had to either either the student had to have a foreign nationality or one of the two parents.
So that in itself made the classroom a snapshot of the planet.
And that to me had a huge effect.
[00:13:47] Speaker C: Well, I was going to ask you about this because you know what they say, children does not see color and they see everybody like another human being. And the divisions come later. So at your end, you see this international community coming in. You said you had come from Iran or Persia. What was the name at that point?
[00:14:09] Speaker D: At that point it was Persia, the Shah.
[00:14:13] Speaker C: Right. So you coming into an international school, what that make you feel at that point? Did you feel included? Did you feel that you belonged?
[00:14:23] Speaker D: Actually, for me, having an American stepfather and a Greek mother, it was my comfort zone to come into an environment that was multicultural.
It was hard from the point of view that I left Tehran with my family and came here. And there was an adjustment period. But I have to tell you, the educators and the staff of ACS, even at that time were so wonderful in terms of making students feel that they are a part of this community. And for me, it was the beginning of my community because I had just come to Greece.
[00:15:12] Speaker C: You were young. Yes.
[00:15:14] Speaker D: And so it was really important. And of course, through the school, I made new friends outside the school and my family, my parents made also friends that had children that came to the school.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: You are listening to the owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: You are listening to a special alumni edition of the Owlcast, where we welcome Pandora Bethea, a distinguished alumni of ACS Athens and a celebrated author and poet.
She reflects on her years at ACS during a time of cultural and historical significance.
Stay tuned.
[00:16:10] Speaker C: So you're an accomplished and published author.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: You have written books.
[00:16:14] Speaker C: You have written poetry. Let's go back to the time where you were getting inspiration. You were getting your first instances of inspiration.
Who would you say was a teacher or a book? Was a book or a moment during your school years that you would say that it sparked your passion for literature, for poetry?
[00:16:37] Speaker D: My mentor and my inspiration in poetry was Mrs. Priles.
Mrs. Priles was very strict in terms of us doing our homework and us doing our projects and us doing our reading.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: What grade was that?
[00:17:00] Speaker D: That was probably in eighth grade, middle school. Okay, eighth grade. Eighth or ninth. I'm not sure. But Mrs. Price, Maria Priles was her name.
[00:17:11] Speaker C: In what way was she inspirational?
[00:17:13] Speaker D: Well, first of all, she opened this world of literature for me.
Literature that I didn't know. And the way that she brought me into the stories and the myths and the creativity of being able to write similar things that it wasn't. Literature wasn't something that was out there on a pedestal. Literature was something that was inside me, she said, and inside everybody. It was just a matter of having the desire and the ability to express it.
Mrs. Priles said to us in our classroom that there's nothing more powerful than the word.
And that stuck to me because sometimes, you know, we hear about arms being powerful or guns being powerful, or all of these things that were not something that spoke to my heart and to my soul. And when Mrs. Pryles said that there's nothing more powerful than the word, I thought to myself, that's a different level of the human being. That's the level where we differentiate ourselves from animals and we become the human beings that can have dialogue and can, through dialogue, be able to solve any kind of conflict.
[00:19:01] Speaker C: So from this inspiration, from this encounter with this teacher, what came about, I mean, do you remember what was your first piece that you say, I'm proud that I've written That even at that.
[00:19:13] Speaker D: Age, what came about, of course, was poetry and my love of the word and my love of poetry and literature and language. Language was always something very special for me. That's why I speak three languages. And I think that feeling was expressed through my poetry. But then I also became a member of the Sophist. The Sophist?
[00:19:45] Speaker C: The magazine back then.
[00:19:47] Speaker D: The magazine back then, yeah. And the newspaper, actually.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: Was it the literary magazine or was.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: It just the news?
[00:19:54] Speaker D: It was just news, but we were the writers, the students were the writers. So that's where, you know, I went on the one side, I went into writing where, you know, through the word, you can express yourself and your school and your fellow students and your teachers and, you know, whatever's happening in your life. And on the other hand, it was the poetry, which is the music of writing.
[00:20:24] Speaker C: That's a very good definition.
[00:20:26] Speaker D: Thank you. Yeah.
Poetry is the music of writing. It's not an easy thing because when you're writing a novel or you're writing a short story, you've got time and you've got space.
And with poetry, it is.
You've got to give that message or that feeling in a condensed form.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: So you are participating in the latest exhibition that we have. Actually, it's the first exhibition that we have in the community with authors and artists exhibiting their work in the campus. And you are coming as an author. You've written books, you've written, as you said, poetry. What do you think is your contribution? What is the meaning of your contribution to this exhibit? I mean, you are an accomplished and published authority. Why come to a school, a K12 school, that probably the students haven't read your books, they don't know who you are, but the community knows you, and you're coming to exhibit. What is the meaning for you? What does that tell you?
[00:21:41] Speaker D: For me, it is my message to the students.
Today, life is not complete without artistic expression.
All of us, all of us, regardless if we study business in university or economics or become doctors or become lawyers or whatever it is that we become, we have the artistic flame inside our hearts.
There is a difference between just using our brain and using our brain together with our heart.
There have been atrocities that have happened in the history of mankind when people just used the brain. For example, in Second World War with the Nazis, their brain was incredible in terms of the technology of the time, but they were missing the heart part. And so I believe that it's really important for someone to be happy, because what is the goal of our life? The goal of our life is to be happy. And there are very many ways to become happy. One of the most wonderful ways to become happy is to contribute to the world, and I believe in world peace through individual happiness.
Imagine if every single human being on this planet was happy. There'd be no need for wars or conflict or anything like that. But part of that is also our individual expression.
We don't all have to be poets. We don't all have to be musicians. But we do have something that's inside us that is so important, and that's called creativity. And I want to thank my school for making this first conference, this first exhibit. I want to thank my school for making this first exhibit that is focused on art.
Because there is no civilization without art.
There can be a lot of things without art, but not civilization. We look back 3,000 years ago and we see the art that ancestors here in Greece have created and around the world.
[00:24:25] Speaker C: It's extraordinary that I was listening to this classicist talk a few days ago in a documentary, and she was saying that I'm a classicist because I believe that everything comes from Homer. And why it comes from Homer because it covered the entire human experience.
And that tells all. I mean, this is something that even in company, in corporations, in organizations, sometimes I think that it might be better, instead of a cv, to ask someone to write a piece, either a literary piece or a poetry piece, and say, oh, okay, that makes sense. This person fits.
[00:25:08] Speaker D: That is a wonderful thought. And I'm with you.
I have to tell you that my most favorite piece of literature.
And I've taught literature, I've taught world literature as well as, you know, US Literature and European literature. And so. But my favorite piece is the Odyssey by Homer. And when I was teaching in California in the San Francisco Bay area, you know, the state of California gives you a curriculum, and the curriculum did not have the Odyssey in it. But all my students studied the Odyssey, and they loved it and they enjoyed it. I mean, we did everything else that was required from the state curriculum. It's not that we did, but that.
[00:25:54] Speaker C: Was an added bonus.
[00:25:56] Speaker D: But that was an added bonus. And the Odyssey is a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece because it has so much symbolism in it. It has so much fight between the urge to go out and go into the unknown and be able to overcome obstacles in life. I mean, this man, Odysseus, I mean, he was able, with his goal and objective to return to his home, was able to overcome so many obstacles. And what if all of us did the same thing? What if all of us thought of ourselves as Odysseus, that we begin our life and we look at our life as a huge adventure that's gonna have its ups and downs, but that we have that godly ability inside us of just like the twelve gods of Olympus did, to overcome every single obstacle that comes up into our life and to get to our final goal and destination and become happy.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: So you talked about what you were trying to instill to your students when you were teaching literature. Now you write literature and you write poetry. What kind of themes or genres in literature move you more and inspire you? And I was wondering if you have something to read to us.
[00:27:38] Speaker D: Well, thank you for the offer and I will read something to you, but I have to tell you again, my mentor was Homer and my poetry is Surprise, surprise, about the adventures of traveling and also the comfort of home.
So I would like to read to you the comfort of home poem. I was in California for approximately 25 years and I came home eight years ago. And so I'd like to read you this poem that I've written about my family's summer cottage, which is on the island of Evia on the Aegean side. Across from the island of Skopelis.
Sun dried Aegean linen.
The Greek tribe arrives on Evia island, their wagons filled to the brink.
Strollers, playpens, beach bags, suitcases, toys, books, flippers, snorkeling masks, Exhausted mothers parking their babies under the shade of the ancient olive tree. Proud fathers playing with their car keys as if they were counting worry beads.
Threats in the air of who will win the card game tonight. Plus promises of fresh fish to be caught for a barbecue dinner.
Old crone, Aunt Calliope or Poppy for the modern world. Matriarch of the cottage welcomes all her nieces.
Pandora, Jacqueline, Dighoni, their spouses and offspring, Calos il Zate. Welcome.
We meet you in health.
The turquoise Aegean complements her white long hair, the official Greek colors in total harmony.
We scatter around the beach cottage, finding our own little corner, dreaming of Popi's handmade Domates Yemi tomatoes stuffed with rice, pine nuts and feta cheese.
We make our own bed with sun dried linen, pungent with the smell of Evia's wild thyme.
Ah, Aegean island summer.
[00:30:29] Speaker C: Beautiful. It brings out not only the sight, but also the smell.
[00:30:35] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:30:38] Speaker C: So, wrapping up our discussion, which I have to admit is, is very colorful and thank you for coming.
[00:30:46] Speaker D: Thank you for having me.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: If you see a group of students, today's students, class of 20, 25, they're ready to go out into the world in June and they're coming out the year that the school becomes 80. Now, 80 years ago, going out studying different fields is way different than today. Today most of the kids are going out towards a business or engineering or other areas that are modern.
If you had students that want to go towards a writing profession or a literary profession, what advice would you give them to spark their passion for art and literature?
[00:31:38] Speaker D: Never forget that you are unique.
There is no one else on this planet that is you. You are the expression of life, of the future.
You are entitled to happiness.
Bring out your light. You have a light within you that nobody else on this planet has.
Bring it out. Share it with the world. Express yourself. And never forget that the most powerful weapon for humanity is the word. Just like Mrs. Priles used to say.
Love you all.
[00:32:28] Speaker C: Pandora Bethia thank you so much for being with us and looking forward to the exhibition on Wednesday.
[00:32:34] Speaker D: Thank you very, very much for having me. It has been my honor and my pleasure.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: You are listening to the Owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. Make sure you subscribe to the Owlcast on Google Podcasts, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This has been a production of the ACS Athens Media Studio.
