By Thomas Lewis
Every time we return to Paros, I am excited to see the island through the eyes of a new group of students. It is always enjoyable to point things out, even though I frequently reminisce about the past or comment on the increasing traffic.
After this trip, I will have spent approximately 175 days on Paros since we started this program—all in the same hotel room. Having visited so many times, it has become more challenging to recall my initial impressions from 2015. However, one persistent observation with each subsequent visit is how much the island evolves year after year. Businesses open and close. More high-end houses and resorts dot the landscape. Expensive boutiques replace establishments like butcher shops or barbershops. During our most recent visit two years ago, I photographed an elderly barber in his shop on Market Street. Sadly, I discovered that the unique barbershop is now just another boutique. I am grateful I captured those portraits and shared them with him after our visit.
As more tourists discover Paros due to overcrowding in Santorini and Mykonos, I guess the growing demand for boutique items can pay the increasingly expensive rent on Market Street better than a butcher shop or barbershop. That’s capitalism. So, out goes the old, the local, the interesting and in comes the new, the generic, and the expensive. However, each year, we engage in conversations with locals about their efforts to counter unchecked development, ensuring the island does not become solely a series of expensive houses, resorts, and homogeneous boutiques. This involves the municipal government standing up to the government in Athens, limiting the number of building permits granted, and preventing the loss of agricultural land to the endless demand of developers. I wish them all the power they need.
Enough about the inevitable changes on the island and the struggle to maintain the traditional alongside the new. We are here to make a bunch of fantastic films, learn a lot, give back to the community, and have a lot of fun doing it! It all starts in earnest tomorrow. How exciting! When it is all over, I know our students will return with great stories to share and memories of Greece that will last a lifetime.