Anarchists Among Us

The cowardly assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson can be convincingly classified as the work of an anarchist.  The suspect, Luigi Mangione, was found to have writings and documents evidencing that nihilistic philosophy.  Mangione allegedly...

‘Tis the Seasons

Thanksgiving is gone and Christmas is on its way.  But before I get to the main theme of my blog—Italian Christmas traditions—let’s not forget that another season is also upon us: Movie season. Hollywood rolls out its “big movies” for potential...

Master of the Ether

As Columbus unified the globe, Marconi connected it. I’ve written about Guglielmo Marconi a number of times.  He was truly the father of Wi-Fi (wireless-fidelity) which made possible radio, television, cellphones, and radar.  This year is the 150th...

The Mafia Movie Business

This Irish Catholic family is an arbiter of the Italian American image. We often note how Mafia movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas, and Casino seem to run on cable television in a continuous loop.  At times, you can watch any of these movies any day of the...

Mistaken Identity

The other day while watching a History Channel documentary on ancient Rome the narrator recounted how the emperors Caligula and Nero were “Italians” as opposed to the more enlightened ones such as Trajan and Hadrian who came from Spain.  True enough, but both Trajan...

You Don’t Say!  

You’ve heard the phrase “the Irish gift of gab” but Italians run them a close second. The Italic people not only express themselves passionately via words, too, but help their thoughts along with arm-and-hand-gestures. In fact, some gestures are so...