LORETO, BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR (MEXICO) – Versatile celebrity Maria Menounos (TV star, journalist, producer, and one-time professional wrestler), whose reality show Chasing Maria Menounos ran a ten-episode season last year seems to be happily reveling in her big, fat Greek life with parents Costas and Litsa in tow as she vacationed in Loreto with her significant other of 17 years, Italian-American Kevin Undergaro, the Daily Mail reported.

The show centered on her life as a nonstop TV industry dynamo, all the while balancing the demands (marriage, family) of her old-world Greek parents and Undergaro’s more laid back approach to life.

The four of them are seen gallivanting around Baja California Sur, with the younger couple partaking in water sports.

One of Menounos’ and Undergaro’s most successful recent projects is AfterBuzz TV, which involves video chats following the episode of numerous hit TV shows.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Greek Chamber Music Project (GCMP) has launched its own record label celebrating chamber music from Greece. It’s debut CD, Hellenic Song: a Musical Migration, scheduled to be released on May 25. It features a collection of sonatas, suites, and popular songs by contemporary Greek composers, such as Mary-Victoria Voutsas (piano and vocals), Ellie Falaris Ganelin (flute), and Anna Matijasic Hennessy (violin).

“We’re so thrilled to be launching this label under the Greek Chamber Music Project,” says Ellie Falaris Ganelin, flutist and GCMP founder. “Our goal is to release recordings of this music so that people around the world can enjoy the rich, musical repertoire coming out of Greece and the Greek Diaspora.”

The CD features a mix of Western classical works by Greek composers, as well as some popular songs by Manos Hadjidakis. But no work purely fits into a particular style — the popular songs take on a modern twist with arrangements for Wurlitzer piano, prepared piano, violin, and voice. Many of the classical selections are influenced by distinctly Greek scales, modes, and dance rhythms.

The artists will hold a special performance at The John F. Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on May 25.

SEATTLE, WA – Sharon Chang wrote in the Seattle Globalist about the frustration of forms that ask for demographics – namely, race and ethnicity. “One, they never fit anyone and everyone just right,” she wrote. “Two, they are generally and perpetually confusing. Three, they are almost always deeply racializing — they make us feel our bodies are “raced” whether we want to or not. And four, they are pretty suspect in their intentions.” Using the specific example of the Seattle Public schools, Greek/Cypriot-American mom Nicole Gupte, whose husband is Indian-American, said “This is the first time I’ve seen a form that’s so specific and yet not specific enough. My reaction at first was amused — as in, ‘Oh, Seattle!’ — and then kind of offended.”

She was surprised and then upset by Seattle Public Schools race/ethnicity question when enrolling for the 2015/2016 school year, the Globalist reported.

Further finding fault with the form, Gupte added: “If we’re going to list separate countries, why not also list Bangladesh and Sri Lanka?” She also pointed out that “African American/Black” being designated as a single category “given that our region represents large communities of Ethiopians, Eritreans, and Somalis.

“That’s a head scratcher isn’t it?” she said. “How on earth did anyone come up with these categories, and what purpose are these intended to serve?”