Cat Got My Tongue

According to the fun calendar I received last Christmas, March 28th is “Respect Your Cat Day.” Anyone who has visited Rome the past 20 years has noticed how its cat population overtook Torre di Largo Argentino, the square which also boasts the remains of...

Our Symbolic Heritage

House of Representative In March of 1919, newspaper editor Benito Mussolini founded the Partito Nazionale Fascista with a group of fellow veterans.  They took as their symbol the Roman fasces. That bundle of rods with an axe attached was created on the Italian...

A Ten-Foot Pole

Back in the day, Italian Americans were justifiably excited when one of their own achieved stardom.  In the 1930s, the elections of Fiorello LaGuardia and Angelo Rossi as mayors of New York City and San Francisco announced our arrival in the dominant Anglo/Celtic...

Rays of Light

The idiom “Ray of Light” doesn’t just refer to an expression of hope in challenging times; it’s also the title of singer Madonna’s last big album, which took home a Grammy Award in 1998. I bring this up in defense of the rather brutal...

The Uncurious Irish

Irish Americans will soon regale us with their ethnic pride, celebrating the saint that converted them to Christianity.  They concede that St. Patrick was a Roman, but they wince at the suggestion that Paddy’s paesans also trampled on the Old Sod.  Since...