Italic Gravitas

As my blog goes to press, our news media relates that a possible new strain of a COVID-like virus has been spreading across China. To quote that immortal baseball bard Yogi Berra: “It’s deja-vu all over again!”All respect to the great Berra but I...

The Patriotic Generation

The Second World War is rightly eulogized as America’s greatest moment.  Few of that generation remain with us, but we share histories of the contributions and sacrifice our own families made toward that victory. It’s been said that Italian Americans made up the...

Sunday Gravy in the ‘Hood

I’m about as “down home” as any professing Italian American.  I was born in Brooklyn and the first in the family to go to college.  My Mezzogiorno pedigree is mutt-worthy.  But for the life of me I’m still stumped by the low-class mentality that still...

A New Latin Pope

Leo XIV, an all-Latin combo It only took four ballots to elect the first American pope.  As proud as we are for that achievement, we should acknowledge that Robert (“Bob”) Prevost also has an all-Latin pedigree. His maternal side is ‘white’ Hispanic (Martinez) of...

Columbus Day and the Hunchback

The good news is President Trump has announced that the Federal government will no longer conflate Indigenous Peoples Day with Columbus Day. The great visionary who joined two worlds in 1492 will be restored to his noble station in Federal observance.  The bad news is...

What’s the Plan?

Back in the 1980s when I began to get active in Italian American affairs, I wrote a letter to Newsday, the regional newspaper of Long Island, critiquing an op-ed on Italian history.  A few days later my letter was published.  Shortly after, I received a...