In Praise of Puglia

In the latest episode of CNN’s Searching for Italy, actor Stanley Tucci continued his journey in southern Italy with a stop in Puglia (POOL-ya), located, as he says, “in the heel of Italy’s boot…with 500 miles of coastline and 60 million olive trees,...

With a Handshake

In 1864, during his invasion of the Confederate South, General Sherman famously wrote to President Abraham Lincoln: “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah …” Whether Sherman knew it or not he was mimicking a similar gesture performed four years...

Searching for Italy: Sardegna

Week Two of CNN’s Searching for Italy, hosted by the ambulatory actor Stanley Tucci, took us to Sardegna (aka Sardinia), the large island off Italy’s coast frequently described with adjectives like rugged, mountainous, and implacable. Or as, Tucci’s...

Caruso Confounds the Woke

The city of Los Angeles is in the middle of a mayoral election pitting two Democrats against each other.  One candidate is a Black woman, her opponent is a White man – or is he? During a televised debate last week, the moderator summed up the contest as between...

Don’t Throw Christopher Columbus Overboard

The never-ending battle over Columbus Day brings to mind the world’s second oldest profession. As Harry S. Truman noted: “My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference.”...