About Me — Diane Helentjaris. Writer, photographer and lover of the…
By: Diane Helentjaris
Tags: Introduction, About Me, Writers On Medium

About Me — Diane Helentjaris

Photo compliments of author

What would you like to know? I’m guessing you would like to know my slant, my background, what I bring to the party, what makes me tick. Not too much information, just enough. So here goes –

First, my last name is Greek. My grandfather immigrated from Greece in the early 1900s. A fellow immigrant helpfully translated our last name into (sort of) English. “Helentjaris” looks more complicated than it is: the “t” is silent, and, like most Greek names, the accent is on the next to last syllable. Helen — JAR — Us. As a result of the unique translation, only my grandfather’s progeny claim the name. Being the sole Diane, no one else in the world has my name. If you’re interested in my work, you can readily find it.

I’m from the Midwest, southwestern Ohio to be exact. It’s a land of white and red barns, the birthplace of aviation and comedians, the last stop before the terrain gets ironed totally flat. Born in Dayton, I moved out to the country as a child. We lived one house down from what I believe might be the largest cornfield in the world, or so it seemed. I left at eighteen to bounce around a few metropolitan areas (San Francisco, metro NYC aka New Jersey) with a three-year stint as a Landed Immigrant in Montreal, Quebec. For the last long while I’ve lived in metro Washington, DC, in the piedmont of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. The landscape is gorgeous. I have a nuclear family. Very nuclear. I have traveled a bit, in a sort of off-beat style.

Photo compliments of author

As a child, I ached to be an artist or a ballet dancer. Mine was the first generation in our family to go to college. Michigan State boasted over 40,000 students. My first day there I was astounded to see students greeting each other as they walked to class. I could not imagine ever crossing paths with a person I recognized amidst the heaving mass. Unable to narrow down a major, I graduated cum laude in Interdisciplinary Humanities. English, cultural anthropology, history — I loved them all and managed to get most of my pre-med courses done as well. Yes, after all that writing and reading and philosophizing and artsy stuff, I ended up a physician.

I practiced clinical medicine and then went back to school for my Master’s in public health, which dovetailed well with my interest in the humanities. I devoted years to serving as a public health physician and administrator.

Photo compliments of author

Now I write and photograph. I’ve hung out in libraries since I was three and written since kindergarten. I toted a book with me often and read for hours in my bedroom. Bored in school, I read novels in class. I grew up with a father who incessantly shot photographs. He took wonderful black and white shots of us from our earliest days, developing and printing them in the kitchen. I grew up a doodler, painter, drawer, and child photographer. Starting out with a plastic Girl Scout camera at about age ten, I’ve always taken photos. I’ve exhibited and published my work internationally, regionally, and locally. My favorites usually have a bit of abstractness to them and quite likely feature shadows. Composition and color are important. I often use my own photographs to illustrate articles. I find doing so reinforces the message I am trying to convey. You can see a selection of my photographs ifyou’re interested.

I write non-fiction and fiction and am particularly interested in people who’ve been overlooked. As a physician, I had the privilege to be part of the lives of men, women, and children from all social strata and I value those relationships. Compassion and understanding are ideals for me. Like most writers, I am “writing my book.” I hope you read it when it comes out and, in the meantime, enjoy my articles on Medium. Now that you know my name, you can find me on social media and on my writing website.