MONTANI SEMPER LIBERI 

In the 1987 film Matewan, based on a true story in 1920s West Virginia, filmmaker John Sayles dramatizes the stand-off between corrupt factory bosses and the coal miners whom they exploited: poor whites (Appalachians, largely of Anglo or Scottish stock), African...

There from the Start

It isn’t often that I reminisce about this enterprise we call the Italic Institute.  Now in our 37th year with a modest following across the nation, I was recently surprised to learn of the passing of someone upon whose shoulders the Institute depended. ...

The Defaming Fathers

Someday there may be a monument to The Godfather, where the corpses of its founding fathers will be interred and worshipped.  Gone now are Mario Puzo, author of the original bestseller and co-screenwriter of the film; Marlon Brando (Don Vito Corleone), James Caan...

Michael Corleone, War Hero

The other day on the Laura Ingram Show (FOXNews), Ingram and comedian Jimmy Failla (Fail-la) mocked cable network AMC for putting what is called a ‘trigger warning’ on the Mob movie Goodfellas as it contains “language and/or cultural stereotypes” that may be offensive...

ESPRESSO BEAN TOWN

Boston’s late Mayor Thomas Menino Mayor Thomas Menino presided over what has been called the “Boston Renaissance” (1993-2013).  The state of Massachusetts itself also produced two Italian American governors: John Volpe, who later became...

A Saintly Controversy

This is a follow-up to last week’s blog on the movie Cabrini.  A few of our subscribers have seen the film and confirmed the fact the theaters averaged only a handful of viewers.  So, is Cabrini a financial success? If you try Googling the answer, you may...