Il Bollettino INSTITUTE Dedicated to the History and Culture of Italians in America

CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN il Bollettino INSTITUTE dedicated to the history and culture of Italians in America

VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 1 • WINTER 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Dean’s Letter Personaggi: Rose Pascale 3 Thirtieth Anniversary 4 Italics CUNY News 5 Staff News IAFSAC Update 6-7 Counselor’s Report 8 Italianità alternativà 9 In Piazza: IAVANET Audience Profile From the Archives 10 Book Reviews 11 Conference: Terre Promesse

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The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute is a University Institute under the Aegis of Queens College/The City University of New York LETTER FROM THE DEAN instead, let others take possession of these issues— Italian Americans and non Italian Americans in the GRAMSCI AT LAGUARDIA Welcome to the fifth issue of the Calandra Institute media, for example—and we have been left to react. newsletter, il Bollettino! Since I last wrote, numerous We have rarely, as a community, had our own forums Who was Antonio Gramsci and things have occurred in these intervening months, and on this and other matters that have arisen in the past what is his legacy? This May a series you will read about many of them in this issue. once we have gone through that primary phase of of events at LaGuardia Community One of our best-attended events was, as expected, reacting to the issue, something valid by all means but College will investigate the influence the institute’s thirtieth anniversary this past November. only a first step. of the Italian political theorist. Celebrated in the law offices of John J. Calandra, son We have not, that is, engaged in any profound The Calandra Institute houses one of the late senator whose legacy the institute honors, examination and investigation of the “whys” and of the largest collections of writings by and about Gramsci (1891-1937), who there were close to 200 people in attendance. Two of “what-fors” of any of the hot-button issues that have endured long years of incarceration the previous five directors were present to share their troubled members of the Italian-American community. under Mussolini. It was generously memories of years past; and we bestowed upon three This is our task that lies ahead; and it is a donated by Professor John Cammett individuals the newly minted distinguished service long-term commitment that asks us to gather as a (John Jay College) in 2008. award, which will recognize those people who have community of Italian Americans at large (NIAF, Artists, academics, and activists will truly had a positive, indelible impact on society at large. NOIAW, OSIA, UNICO, other national Italian- work with students from LaGuardia You can read more about this event on the facing page. American organizations such as AATI and AIHA, Community College to expand our Among the many things you will read in this scholars, teachers, and writers) and investigate the understanding of Gramsci’s key concepts of culture and power. edition of il Bollettino is an entry dedicated to myriad of topics such as those mentioned above that Two acclaimed visual artists, “italianità alternativa,” or, loosely translated, alternative others have defined for us. Other ethnicities have done Thomas Hirschhorn and Hong-An Italian (read, Italian/American) culture. Most of us so; I especially have in mind the so-called “town-gown” Truong, will collaborate with the have surely recognized the diverse and multifaceted combination of, for instance, Bill Cosby and Professor LaGuardia community to realize nature of Italian America. For the most part, it is Alvin Poussaint. The Italian and Italian-American artworks that reactivate the questions indeed met with acceptance, if not, at the very least, communities here in the United States have not done that Gramsci posed in his seminal tolerance. One of our events, just this past January, so, and I would submit to you that, as much of a Prison Notebooks (Quaderni del carcere). a colloquium on “guido culture,” met with both stretch as it may seem in this context, the current An exhibition on Gramsci’s life and work, which includes materials from approbation on the part of many as well as disapproval situation of the Advanced Placement Exam in Italian is the Calandra Institute, will be curated on the part of a select few. It is this second minority symptomatic of such an absence of these practices. and displayed at LaGuardia. that articulated truculent and vituperative comments The Calandra nstituteI shall indeed continue to Two talks about Gramsci, culture, as well as calls for what we can only categorize engage with representatives of the above-mentioned and power will be held at the College as censorship, comments so vile that we found it organizations. So, keep your eyes and ears open for on May 21, 2010: necessary to have security present. The colloquium, future announcements. • 2:00–4:00 pm: Presentation by which was a response to the reactions to the pseudo- We continue to enjoy great support from all. Thomas Hirschhorn reality show “Jersey Shore,” was also oddly read as Our colleagues and friends within CUNY continue • 5:00–7:00 pm: Roundtable Discussion with CUNY faculty, support of the show, in spite of the fact that it was to be most helpful; many of the Italian-American including David Harvey (Graduate publicized as a presentation of a scholar’s research on community of the greater New York metropolitan Center), Vinay Gidwani (Graduate this subculture. The event, I am happy to say, went continue to be most encouraging. Much still needs Center), Benedetto Fontana (Baruch), off without a hitch, was attended by more than 120 to be done, and our future activities will continue and Kate Crehan (Staten Island). people, and was live cast on our Internet channel to explore the multifarious sectors of our extended This event is free and open to the (www.livestream.com/italics), where one can still view community as we move forward. So, be sure to join public. For more information, contact the colloquium in its entirety. All views on “guidoism” Professor Charity Scribner at charity. our electronic and postal mailing lists. [email protected]. were expressed, creating a dialog of the sort in which As I have stated before, we continue to benefit we should all engage, regardless of our differences of from the unyielding support from both Chancellor opinion. Namely, we witnessed a process of dialog Matthew Goldstein’s Office of CUNY and President and not, as we have seen often times in the past in our James Muysken’s Office of Queens College. They and il Bollettino is published by the community, denigration and dismissal. their staff have cleared many a path throughout these John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Problematic questions are what we as a first three and one-half years. QUEENS COLLEGE/CUNY community at large have not addressed. We have, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor New York, NY 10036 PERSONAGGI PHONE: 212-642-2094 FAX: 212-642-2030 EMAIL: [email protected] Rose Pascale (1916-2009) WEBSITE: qc.cuny.edu/calandra Rose Pascale was a community activist in New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood for sixty years, devoting her life to assisting mothers and children, securing housing for the homeless DEAN: Anthony Julian Tamburri and seniors, and guaranteeing that new immigrants received the social services they desperately MANAGING EDITOR: Lisa Cicchetti needed. Rose was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Elizabeth and Louis Capaldo, EDITOR: Maria LaRusso immigrants from Melfi, Potenza province, Basilicata. The family moved to East Harlem when Rose was three years old. While in the eighth grade, Rose was required to quit school in order CONTRIBUTORS: Rosangela Briscese, Dominick to work to contribute to the family finances. She later married civic leader Pete Pascale, whose Carielli, Donna Chirico, Fred Gardaphé, mentor was Congressman Vito Marcantonio. In 1949, Rose volunteered at Harlem House Lucia Grillo, Joseph Grosso, Gabrielle Pati, located on East 116th Street, a settlement house now known as SCAN/LaGuardia Memorial Joseph Sciorra, Pierre Tribaudi, Nancy Ziehler House. During her years of volunteer work, Rose created a Young Mother’s Club for East Harlem residents that provided parent education as well as opportunites to vist museums and theatrical productions. She worked closely with her Contact the Calandra Institute to be husband for the Fresh Air Fund, sending more than 50,000 inner-city youngsters on summer vacations in the country. included on the newsletter mailing list. From 1969 until her retirement in 1986, she served as community liaison for the Manhattan borough president’s office. Provide your email address to receive Pascale also worked for years with the Greenwich Village community board. In 1997, she received the Governor’s Award the newsletter via email or your mailing for Community Leadership, and in the following year, she was awarded a proclamation from Manhattan borough address to receive a printed copy. president C. Virginia Fields in recognition of six decades of community activism in East Harlem and the city at large.

2 IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ First, Matilda Raffa Cuomo, creator of Closing comments by Dean Tamburri CALANDRA INSTITUTE Mentoring USA, was honored for launching expressed heartfelt gratitude to recent and CELEBRATES THIRTY YEAR the New York State Mentoring Program and long-standing members of the institute’s a collaborative initiative with the Calandra staff. Tamburri also pledged his continuing JOURNEY OF COUNSELING, Institute, entitled AMICI, designed to effort and leadership in helping guide the RESEARCH, AND SERVICE address the psychoeducational needs of at- institute to a new and more comprehensive risk Italian-American high school students. mission in years to come. • It was thirty years ago that Senator The second honoree, Diane Savino, New John Calandra took the lead role as York State Senator and community affairs chairman of the Italian American Legislative and education advocate, addressed the Caucus. Working together with Italian- need for educators to provide effective American elected representatives in the educational opportunities for all students. New York State Senate and Assembly, and The final recipient, former Governor Mario then Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo, Cuomo, was recognized for his unwavering Senator Calandra was the chief architect and support and, most notably, for his role in principal organizer of the Italian American signing a bill into law which renamed the Institute to Foster Higher Education which Italian American Institute to the John D. The Honorable Mario Cuomo and Matilda Raffa Cuomo was established in 1979. Three decades Calandra Italian American Institute (July later, on November 12, 2009, elected 7, 1987). In doing so, he established the officials, CUNY administration, staff, and Calandra Institute as a permanent feature friends of the Calandra Institute gathered of the university system. The Governor to pay homage to those individuals whose congratulated the institute on its continued collective efforts over time inspired and success in promoting student achievement nurtured its growth and development. and cultural programs. He shared poignant Opening the program, Dean Anthony reflections of growing up Italian, the son Tamburri’s initial greetings highlighted the of immigrants, and the values engendered journey of the institute, which he noted to be the best he could be, especially in his Queens College President James Muyskens, CUNY Chancellor “gives testimony to the true spirit of the career in the service to others. Matthew Goldstein, New York State Senator Diane Savino, university’s will to acknowledge and respect As part of the celebration of the Calandra Institute Dean Anthony Tamburri multicultural diversity.” Dean Tamburri institute’s thirty years of accomplishment, acknowledged the continued support of previous directors, including the Honorable CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein Judge Joseph Giamboi and Dr. Joseph and Queens College President James V. Scelsa, were each recognized for their Muyskens and subsequently introduced leadership contributions. Giamboi thanked John J. Calandra, Esq., son of the late Dean Tamburri for the recognition and senator. Speaking at this occasion, Calandra expressed gratitude in having “played a expressed pride in hosting the anniversary role in the emerging development of the gathering at his law office and recalling the institute.” Scelsa provided the audience advocacy work begun by his father to create with a historical perspective, recounting the Dr. Fred Gardaphé, Distinguished Professor of Italian an institute supportive of CUNY students evolution of the institute and the struggle to American Studies and faculty. He stated, “My dad would be “define our place at the City University.” proud knowing that the institute, named The celebratory program would not especially in his honor, continues some have been complete without remarks from three decades later to enrich and benefit the Dr. Fred Gardaphé, Distinguished Professor Italian-American community.” of Italian American Studies. Dr. Gardaphé, Congratulatory greetings were also scholar and educator, spoke passionately offered by Chancellor Goldstein, President about his commitment to expanding Muyskens, and Tony Avella, Chair of the the Italian American Studies program Italian American Caucus, New York City at Queens College and concentrating Council, each of whom acknowledged the additional efforts to bring such coursework Tony Avella, New York City Council value of and appreciation for the pioneering to other CUNY colleges. work and long-standing accomplishments Throughout the evening’s program, of the institute. To celebrate thirty years guests were offered a constant visual of documenting and preserving Italian reminder of the institute’s history. The staff experiences in America, the institute of Italics, the institute’s cable television recognized three outstanding Italian program, under the direction of William Americans, as examples of the spirit of Schempp, assembled a montage of video active involvement in public service, with and photographs of the myriad activities Distinguished Service Awards. that have taken place over the years. Maria Tamburri and Anthony Julian Tamburri

IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ 3 Sicily, who discussed the first Italo-American Tony Avella, Chair of the Italian American ITALICS DOCUMENTS police agent sent on mission to Italy to Caucus. Service awards were presented to ITALIAN HERITAGE AND investigate mafia crime between Sicily Matilda Raffa Cuomo for her mentoring and New York. In addition, the Calandra initiatives, as well as New York State Senator CULTURE MONTH AND THE Institute, in collaboration with Giovanni Diane Savino and former Governor Mario CALANDRA INSTITUTE’S 30TH Avanti, President of the Regional Provincial Cuomo, for their continuing commitment Administration, Palermo, Italy, mounted to Italian Americans throughout the state ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION a pictorial exhibit with full historical of New York. The evening concluded with Throughout the fall 2009 season, the documentation regarding Petrosino’s special recognition of former institute Italics team covered several significant events brief stay in Palermo and the complex directors, Judge Joseph Giamboi and Dr. in the Italian-American community in New investigation into his assassination. Joseph V. Scelsa. York City and Washington, D.C. Early Also in October, Italics documented Concluding coverage of fall events, season coverage highlighted Dean Anthony a presentation by author Suze Rotolo, the Italics traveled back to Washington, D.C., Tamburri’s presentation at a conference on legendary muse and girlfriend of Bob Dylan, to capture highlights of the National Italian the status of Italian language studies (grades who read excerpts from her autobiography, American Foundation’s annual conference K-16), convened at the Italian Embassy in A Freewheelin Time: A Memoir of Greenwich and gala dinner. Special honorees included Washington, D.C. The conference, hosted by Village in the Sixties. Featured in this segment Lidia Mattichio Bastianich, Massimo F. the Honorable Giovanni Castellaneta, Italian were Cav. John Cavelli, Secretary of the D’Amore, Carla Gugino, Janet Napolitano, Ambassador to the U.S., expounded on the National Italian American Foundation, who and Antonello Venditti, each cited for their proactive work of the Italian government, the had the special honor of Grand Marshall in commitment in helping to preserve and Italian Embassy in Washington, and various the Bronx Columbus Day Parade, and New document Italian culture and heritage. consulates and institutes that foster Italian York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Archival episodes of Italics can be viewed language studies in the United States. renowned for his more than twenty years of at www.cuny.tv/series/italics and selections Italics viewers were treated to an in- support of Italian heritage and culture. from the program on www.i-italy.org. depth interview with Cav. Joseph Sciame, Italics was on hand to document the Subscribe to ItalicsTV via YouTube at www. Chairman of the Italian Heritage and thirtieth anniversary celebration of the youtube.com, and become an Italics fan on Culture Month Committee, N.Y. Sciame Calandra Institute’s founding and long- Facebook at www.facebook.com/ItalicsTV. invited Italics viewers to partake of, and standing contributions to CUNY students, This past season, Italics inaugurated live participate in, the numerous activities offered faculty staff, and the Italian-American streaming versions of the show: Italics 2.0 throughout October. Many events celebrated community. It was especially fitting that the and the Italian language edition Italics TU. the work of the two great men chosen event took place at the law offices of John J. Both can be viewed at www.livestream.com/ for this year’s dual theme, Galileo Galilei: Calandra, Esq., son of the late senator John italics. Italics premieres the last Wednesday Father of Modern Astronomy and Giuseppe D. Calandra (Bronx, N.Y.) who dedicated of every month at 10 am, 3 pm, and 11 pm, Petrosiono: Saluting an Italian American his career to public service and for whom and repeats Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at Crime Fighter. A symposium held at John Jay the institute is named. Attendees included 10 am on CUNY-TV, cable channel 75 in College, Joseph Petrosino and the New Sicily, institute staff and distinguished guests the New York City area. co-sponsored with the Honorable Francesco CUNY Chancellor Dr. Matthew Goldstein, Be sure to join us for an exciting new Maria Talò, Consul General of Italy in New Queens College President Dr. James season of Italian-American cultural events York, included panelists from Palermo, Muyskens, and New York City Councilman and academic inquiry on Italics. •

CUNY NEWS

Antonietta D’Amelio, Italian Professor at Provost James McCarthy, selected Professor Alyssa Amatulli Receives NIAF Grant Baruch College Receives the Presidential D’Amelio to receive this prestigious award to Study in Italy Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching at the 2009 commencement ceremony held at Madison Square Garden. Professor Alyssa Amatulli, who graduated from Each year two Baruch College D’Amelio holds a B.A. and M.A. in Italian Baruch College in May 2009, was the faculty members are selected to receive from Hunter College with post-graduate recipient of a grant from the National the Presidential Excellence Award for work at New York University. She teaches Italian American Foundation (NIAF). Distinguished Teaching. In May 2009, elementary to advanced Italian language The generous grant helped facilitate Ms. Antonietta D’Amelio, a native-born Italian courses as well as contemporary Italian Amatulli’s participation in a summer from Lioni, in the Campania region of literature of the nineteenth and twentieth program of study at the Università degli Italy, was one recipient. She was nominated century. Her research interests include Studi di Siena, with a focus on Europe in a by her peers for her Italian language the Italian Renaissance, the works of Italo changing world. Ms. Amatulli majored in instruction in the Department of Modern Calvino, Italian-American immigrant business administration and international Languages and Comparative Literature literature, and foreign language pedagogy. marketing and is currently a research during the 2008-2009 academic year. Congratulations to Professor D’Amelio for associate at Argyle Executive Forum in The selection committee, convened by her outstanding accomplishment. New York City.

4 IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ STAFF NEWS ITALIAN AMERICAN FACULTY STAFF ADVISORY COUNCIL Fred Gardaphé recently published “Importato dall’Italia e alre storie,” a The talianI American Faculty Staff Advisory Council works to ensure that Italian collection of his short stories translated Americans are treated fairly in accordance with their affirmative action status at CUNY. into the Italian by Silvana Mangione The Council raises awareness about the position of Italian Americans through its presence and produced by Idea Graphics. He also on each campus in the work of its campus delegates. Additionally, delegates and alternates presented a paper at the Italian Association attend monthly meetings to discuss issues of concern to the Italian American community, of North American Studies (AISNA) in plan campus events and, working with the Dean, solidify a network of colleagues and Torino, and delivered lectures at various students to pursue the mission of the Council and the goals of the institute. colleges including Seton Hall University, To learn more about the council, or if you are interested in becoming a campus Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, St. Johns University, College of Staten Island, delegate, contact Dr. Donna Chirico, Chair of the Italian American Faculty Staff and Drew University. Advisory Council, by telephone at 718-262-2687 or by email at [email protected]. Joseph Sciorra was invited to lecture on “Built with Faith: Place Making and IAFSAC Campus Delegate Spotlight: LaGuardia Community College the Religious Imagination of Italian New York” on September 23, 2009 as part of the Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture Series at the American Folklife Center, Library Patricia (Tamburino) Dillon Pauline M. Spatafora of Congress, Washington, D.C. He also DELEGATE ALTERNATE DELEGATE presented this paper at the Associazione Internazionale per gli Studi di Lingua e di Letteratura Italiana conference in Philadelphia. Dr. Sciorra presented “‘Why Professor Patricia M. Dillon is the Deputy Professor Pauline M. Spatafora is a a Man Make the Shoes?’: Southern Italian Chair of Nursing Programs. She is a longtime faculty member of the English Material Culture, Folk Aesthetics, and the graduate of Lehman College, has licensure department and has extensive experience in Philosophy of Work in Rodia’s Watts Towers” as a registered nurse, and a masters degree the corporate world, public speaking, and at the American Folklore Society’s annual in nursing from NYU. Professor Dillon has theater including music and dance, as well conference in Boise, Idaho, and “Mediated taught nursing and health science courses as education. She has designed and taught Renderings and Diasporic Musings: ‘Core at LaGuardia Community College for specialized programs in communication ‘ngrato,’ a WOP Song” at the American Italian Historical Association annual twenty years. She received two prestigious skills, and speech and accent correction, conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. awards from the New York State Nurses and has developed workshops for Association, the 2001 Distinguished Service healthcare professionals. Professor Spatafora Award for Excellence and Leadership was a founder and partner of the Adult CALANDRA INSTITUTE SPONSORS and the 2004 Student Choice Award. Learning Center, Inc., and president She also developed the web pages for the of P.S. Communications. For the past Thank you to all the people and organizations college nursing program and natural and twenty-three years, Professor Spatafora has whose generous support extends the reach of the applied science department. In addition, been a CUNY faculty member teaching important work produced by the Calandra Institute. Professor Dillon is a founding member of communications, literature, and writing Contributions from the following sponsors, in the the LaGuardia Theater Ensemble, and sang courses. In 1996, Professor Spatafora years 2006-2009, totaled in excess of $125,000. “The Star Spangled Banner” at Madison was appointed by President Raymond • Agnus Noster Foundation Square Garden’s Paramount Theater C. Bowen to serve as liaison between • American Italian Historical Association for a LaGuardia Community College the Calandra Institute and LaGuardia • American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit commencement. Pat and her husband Community College. After working with Patrick have been executive producers the institute for several years, Professor • Atlantic Philanthropies of their daughter Katie’s film company, Spatafora devoted time and energy to the • Hon. Michael Benedetto Beautiful Lady Productions, Inc. She and craft of writing, and recently completed • Eusic/i-Italy her daughter co-wrote the award-winning two books, A Psycholiterary Study of Virginia • Hon. Ginny Fields short film How to Ride a Train, directed Woolf and Pronunciation Made Easy. Her • Florida College School of Law and edited by Katie. Ms. Dillon’s daughter third book, Dear Sister, is soon to be (Italian American Law Students) Leigh Ann also plays a part in the film published. This latest endeavor provides • Elizabeth Fray company and, as an accomplished graphic unique insight into the lives of Italians and • Italian Language Intercultural Alliance designer, maintains the company web Italian Americans during the tumultuous • Hon. Joseph R. Lentol site at http://www.bladyp.com/. Professor years of World War II, and is based on • National Italian American Foundation Dillon has been the LaGuardia campus letters written by her mother to her aunt in delegate to the council since 1998 and Sicily. Professor Spatafora’s son, Nicholas, • Hon. Frank Padavan served on the executive board from 2005 to is also a faculty member of LaGuardia and • Hon. Serphin Maltese 2008. Her grandparents were immigrants has just completed his first novel, Hurt. • Cosmo L. Palmisano from Naples and Sicily. Professor Dillon is Pauline is pleased to be reconnected to the • Aldo Tambellini proud to say she is Italian American. Calandra Institute as a council member.

At Queens College, students attended placement and institution. Their primary STUDENTS AND COUNSELORS a study abroad workshop given by Roberto focus, however, has involved outreach to CELEBRATE ITALIAN HERITAGE Dolci, Associate Professor of Educational Italian-American students at CUNY and in Linguistics at the Università per Stranieri New York City high schools. In keeping with AND CULTURE MONTH di Perugia, and enjoyed a festival of Italian the Calandra Institute’s 30th anniversary, films. In addition, Queens and Baruch we highlight the work and continuity of In observance of the 33rd annual students collaborated on two occasions, the counseling program, which has been Italian Heritage and Culture Month, to march in New York City’s Columbus uniquely active since the institute’s inception. CUNY students celebrated their pride and Day Parade and attend the National Italian acknowledged Italy’s place in history with a American Foundation’s Youth Gala in Baruch College wide range of cultural activities. Washington, D.C. Dr. Nancy Ziehler is a counselor at Italian-American students hosted various These student organizations have been Baruch College Counseling Center where events with the support and guidance of five in existence since the 1970s when counselors she provides ongoing psychotherapy to Calandra Institute counselors who work with were appointed to work with the large influx students. She also serves as advisor to the students on their campuses throughout the of Italian and Italian-American students student organization Società Italiana. As year providing counseling, career guidance, during an era of open admissions at CUNY. club advisor, Dr. Ziehler has emphasized and academic and study abroad advisement. The institute opened its doors in leadership development, coordination of Student-counselor connections culminated 1979 as the Italian American Institute to cultural activities, and ongoing recruitment during the month of October with an array of Foster Higher Education, Inc. It’s primary of new members. In addition, she offers cultural, academic, and social programming. mission was to provide counseling services outreach services to Italian-American high At Brooklyn College, more than fifty to Italian-American students in order to school students on Staten Island. Dr. Ziehler attendees gathered at an open house to help them achieve higher levels of retention is currently editing an anthology, to be learn about the Center for Italian American at CUNY, academic integration, and career published by the Calandra Institute, entitled Studies, its activities throughout the year, success. In January 1980, nine counselors Italian American Students in New York and the two student clubs that thrive on were appointed and placed under the Italian City: A Research Anthology. Dr. Ziehler is a campus. Students also coordinated an Studies Program funded by the New York licensed mental health counselor in N.Y. and annual dinner to conclude the month’s State Legislature, spearheaded by the late N.J. and an adjunct professor of counselor festivities. Società Italiana at Baruch College Senator John D. Calandra for whom the education at New York University. hosted several events, including a slideshow institute was later renamed. In 1985, five presentation of Italian-American feast counselors were hired to provide college Brooklyn College day celebrations in the tri-state area, and and career counseling to select New York Dr. Dominick Carielli is Director of Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1988 film Cinema City high schools, and articulation for the Center for Italian American Studies at Paradiso. The Italian Club at Hunter College students moving from CUNY’s community Brooklyn College. Dr. Carielli has a Ph.D. continued its long tradition of literary studies colleges to its senior colleges. The counselors in counseling psychology, and is a N.Y.S. with a lecture by Dr. Paola Baseotto, visiting work was both novel and pioneering in its Licensed Mental Health Counselor. The professor from the Università degli Studi dell’ application of counseling interventions such center conducts and supports research on Insubria, who discussed Queen Elizabeth I’s as ethnotherapy, as well as outreach services, the Italian-American population, sponsors contradictory use of Niccolò Machiavelli’s which preceded the profession’s awareness of symposia and cultural events that focus “mirrors for princes.” Hunter students also the multicultural counseling movement and on the Italian-American experience, and enjoyed Federico Fellini’s 1954 film classic, ethnic identity development. maintains a collection of scholarly books, La Strada, and engaged in a lively post- Today the counselors are housed journals, and other materials. The center screening discussion regarding issues of at various colleges throughout CUNY, works closely with the Italian American gender and power. engaged in responsibilities specific to their Studies program, a minor course of study at

Student members of Società Italiana, Baruch College Professor Paola Baseotto, Università degli Studi dell’ Insubria, Christine Bonanni, President of Società Italiana at Baruch Como, Italy, and Gabrielle Pati, President of the Hunter College, and Tommaso Cuccia, reportage photographer and College Italian Club former intern at the Calandra Institute

6 IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ COUNSELOR’S REPORT ITALIAN AMERICAN STUDIES COURSES recently offered at CUNY campuses: the college. Dr. Carielli serves as advisor to Pierre Tribaudi is a Licensed Clinical two Italian-American student clubs, which Social Worker who provides academic, AT QUEENS COLLLEGE are housed at the center. career, and personal counseling, as well as ITALIAN AMERICANS: AN INTERPRETATION stress management services, to students in OF A PEOPLE • An introduction to Italian Hunter College the Center for Worker Education at Queens American Studies that explores the phenomenon Dr. Maria La Russo is a pioneering College and two Brooklyn high schools. He of Italian-American experiences from member of the Calandra Institute and serves as co-advisor to the Italian American immigration to ethnicity and beyond. Studies in provides counseling services at Hunter Student Club, is a co-founder of ARIA, anthropology, history, sociology, literature, film, College under the aegis of the Department and conducts research exploring stress and culture provide historical and theoretical of Romance Languages. Dr. La Russo also patterns from a multicultural perspective. backgrounds of the experience of Italians in North provides guidance services to Holy Cross Special interests include stress management, and South America and their contributions to High School and is the liaison to John Jay wellness, and integrating counseling and American culture. College of Criminal Justice. Dr. La Russo, psychotherapy with spirituality. Pierre is also THE HISTORY OF ITALY’S SOUTH • An analysis a certified School Psychologist and Family a musician and composer, and is currently of the contribution that the Mezzogiorno has Therapist (NY), has implemented research developing a recording of contemporary made to Italian culture since the mid-thirteenth regarding Italian-American parents and their instrumental music. century, and an exploration of the ways in which parenting roles. She is a parent educator at an awareness of such a contribution affects New York University, and is the mother of Italian Americans’ search for identity. twin sons attending medical school. For more information about the counseling services or student clubs on ITALIAN AMERICAN FILM/TV STUDIES • Queens College each campus, contact: Introduction to how Italian Americans are Joseph Grosso works in conjunction Baruch College portrayed in the media, and analysis of major with the Education Abroad Office, where he Dr. Nancy Ziehler themes in film and TV programming relating to coordinates Queens College’s summer study (646) 312-2164 Italian Americans. program in Perugia. He also created and [email protected] THE GANGSTER IN AMERICAN LITERATURE • publishes Il Giornalino: The Italian Journal, an Brooklyn College This course uses the figure of the gangster to annual publication showcasing the writings Dr. Dominick Carielli explore the interactions of gender and ethnicity of college and high school students studying (718) 951-5000 ext. 6264 in the literature of U.S. American writers. Authors Italian, and ciao-queens college, a monthly [email protected] considered include F. Scott Fitzgerald, William newsletter highlighting Italian and Italian- http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/ Kennedy, Mario Puzo, Louisa Ermelino, Anthony American activities of interest to college iacenter Valerio, Richard Vetere and others. students, faculty, and staff, and communities Hunter College in Queens and Nassau County. Mr. Grosso is Dr. Maria LaRusso AT BROOKLYN COLLLEGE advisor to the Italian American Student Club (212) 772-5127 ITALIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND FILM • on campus, plans and coordinates Italian [email protected] Exploration of the possibilities for storytelling in Heritage and Culture Month activities, and Queens College the genres of Italian American literature and film. is co-founder of the Association to Reunite Joseph Grosso The focus of discussion is character development, Italian Americans (ARIA), an Italian- (718) 997-5769 structure, and point of view, as well as the conflict American faculty, staff and student advisory [email protected] between stereotype and anti-stereotype. committee at Queens College. He also assists Pierre Tribaudi the Education Abroad director in planning INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN AMERICAN (718) 997-3079 LITERATURE • Italian American tradition overseas and domestic short-term, semester, [email protected] and year-long programs. in literature. Discussion of language, class, assimilation, gender, literary form, and the search for a usable past. MODERN ITALY • Major economic, social, political, and cultural events of Italian history from the Risorgimento to the present. Emphasis on Italian cultural heritage and contributions. Eighteenth and nineteenth century background to unification. Italy as a national state. Italy and the Great War, Fascism, and the new Italy. INTERNSHIP IN ITALIAN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES • A three credit internship requiring 126 Counselor Dominick Carielli and student members of the Dean Anthony Tamburri and Salvatore Inzerillo, past Italian American Student Union and Italian Culture Club, president of Società Italiana, at the Columbus Day Parade hours of fieldwork. Brooklyn College

IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ 7 Giorno—whose ancestors came from Vegas show-girl routines, 1960s go-go ITALIANITÀ ALTERNATIVA Aliano (Potenza province) and Genoa— dancing, and other forms in a post-modern engages with his italianità in life and art. He mélange. The Philadelphia Weekly described Author George DeStefano began a 2001 appeared in Antonello Farretta’s 2007 film the World Famous Pontani Sisters as book review in the institute’s social-science Nine Poems in Basilicata, reading poems in “curvaceous punk rock Rockettes,” while journal, the Italian American Review (vol. 8, various regional towns. the Village Voice proclaimed the group no. 2), with a rhetorical question: “Who, or Performance artist Penny Arcade is “glamorous Italian Stallions that live up to more precisely, what is an Italian American? another Italian American associated with the ‘World Famous’ part of their name.” To some self-appointed arbiters of italianità, New York’s downtown art scene. Born Knowledgeable about striptease’s history, the answer is: Roman Catholic, conservative, Susana Ventura in New Britain, Connecticut, they present the eroticized female body and indisputably heterosexual.” If we have Arcade will present her book Bad Reputation: within the conventions of this historically learned anything from the ongoing scrutiny Performances, Essays, Interviews (MIT Press, “low art” form with an ironic sensibility. of the Italian-American “experience” it is that 2009) at the institute on May 10, 2010. John Giorno, Penny Arcade, and the it is any thing but singular. Italian-American Arcade’s long involvement with avant-garde World Famous Pontani Sisters are among experiences, histories, and cultures are performance began at age seventeen, when the many artists offering provocative and diverse, multifaceted, and ever open to new she debuted with John Vaccaro’s Playhouse sometimes disconcerting readings of interpretations and revisions. The institute’s of the Ridiculous and later appeared in the Italian-American experiences through public programs offer an opportunity Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey movie the themes and genres of their work. By to recognize and represent the diverse Women in Revolt (1971). including the perspectives of an italianità expressions of an italianità alternativa. Arcade delves into the restrictive and alternativa in the institute’s programs, space On October 6, 2009, John Giorno read stifling aspects of her Italian-American family is made for the creative and intellectual from his selected works Subduing Demons in her tour-de-force “La Miseria.” Named engagement of identity within various in America (Soft Skull Press, 2008) as part for the extreme poverty that was the impetus Italian-American communities. • of the institute’s Writers Read series. Giorno for millions of Italians leaving their homes founded the artist collective Giorno Poetry in search of work, the 1991 production Systems in 1968, which used technology to centered around an Easter dinner table and make poetry accessible to new audiences and involved thirty-three performers. Arcade’s influenced spoken word and slam poetry. He family members were not “Americans” but helped pioneer the exploration of “queer” “peasant working class Southern Italians.” As sexuality in poetry during the 1960s. His a teenager who snacked on focaccia stuffed AIDS Treatment Project, begun in 1984, with pickled eggplants, she realizes that she set the bar for direct, compassionate action is not the “all-American girl” but the “other in the AIDS crisis. A practicing Buddhist American girl.” When Arcade’s child-self since the early 1970s, Giorno has been expresses her desire to be a dancer and an instrumental in advancing Buddhism in John Giorno reading from his book “Subduing Demons actress, she is chastised for being a puttana North America, and in the cross-fertilization in America.” (whore). Characterizing her pugnacious of Buddhist and poetic practice. Basilicata immigrant mother, who makes Among the many poems Giorno an appearance in a projected video as the performed at the institute was “La Saggezza “Marlon Brando of mothers,” Arcade Delle Streghe (Wisdom of the Witches),” set acknowledges her mother’s lasting influence in Castelmezzano, a town in Basilicata with on her life. mountain peaks resembling “big, broken, Women’s sexuality and conventional splintered teeth spiked into the sky.” roles are themes found in Arcade’s work as well as that of the World Famous Pontani Ugly and beautiful witches, Sisters, a dance trio at the forefront of Peaceful and wrathful witches, the neo-burlesque movement. This new Increasing and magnanimous witches, performance genre revives older forms Penny Arcade Are the outer displays of wisdom, of popular entertainment to reframe Witches of water, witches of earth, women’s bodies within a post-feminist era. Witches of fire, witches of air, Rebecca Shapiro’s documentary film about Witches of space the Pontani Sisters, Showy and 5'2'': The Are the inner wisdoms, World Famous Pontani Sisters (2004), will Witches of fabulous sex in the union be featured in the institute’s Documented of great bliss Italians film and video series on Wednesday, Are the secret wisdoms, February 3, 2010. With their tattooed And witches of great compassion bodies and heavy makeup, the trio—third- and emptiness generation Angie and Tara, and “adopted Are the innermost wisdoms. sister” Helen Burkett—combine tap, Las The World Famous Pontani Sisters

8 IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ IN PIAZZA

: Italian-American Visual constructive feedback among national and through interviews and documentary film. IAVANET international artistic communities. The ambitious collective also plans to create Artists Form Supportive Collective Membership is comprised of artists, a U.S.–Italy exchange program with a IAVANET was founded in 2007 to several of whom are based in New York live-work studio facility in Italy. Founder provide a supportive network for artists of City, working in a range of media including Laurenzi states that it is “critical to support Italian heritage. This grassroots collective design, installation, paint, photography, the efforts of Italian-American artists and was conceived by artist Richard Laurenzi, sculpture, and textiles. The works vary from establish relationships with Italian artistic who recruited artists to comprise its initial pure abstraction to visual narratives of life in communities.” The group plans to develop membership. Lorenzi helped formulate America. Membership is open to applicants a much-needed mentoring program for the organization’s mission to promote and who identify as Italian American. Italian-American art students. For more exhibit the work of contemporary artists, Future projects include an archive, information visit http://iavanet.com/. To collaborate with Italian and Italian-American Portrait of the Artist and Italian American, learn about upcoming exhibitions visit organizations, and promote collegiality and to document the work of member artists Richard Laurenzi’s blog at: www.i-italy.us.

Sculpture, Richard Laurenzi Sculpture, B Amore Photography, Peter Vaccino Painting, Rita Passeri Installation, Karen Guancione

AUDIENCE PROFILE FROM THE ARCHIVES

Tom Colicino, Jr., attends the Calandra Institute’s monthly lecture, film, and book events to hear the narratives of Italian Americans that often go untold. “While it is good to remember people from Italian history,” he says, “it is also important to honor and celebrate people in the here-and-now.” The Astoria, Queens, native has been a regular audience member for the past five years. His ancestors emigrated from southern Italy—his maternal grandparents from the Sicilian towns of Mussomeli and Villarosa, and his paternal grandparents from Sarno in Campania In 1969, I was fourteen years old when I took this photograph in the living room and Carolei in Calabria. Tom met his wife, Barbara, while of our house on St. Raymond’s Avenue in the Bronx. My brother Charles, a Marine, pursuing graduate studies in Italian Language and Literature at had recently returned from Vietnam, and my mother Rachel is serving coffee to San Francisco State University. They reside in the house where he was raised and have two children attending college, Thomas him and his future wife Vivian. Look at the grip of my mother’s strong, Barese at Queensborough Community College, CUNY, and Chiara hand holding that full pot of coffee! The photo captures a time—with the heavy at Chapman University in Orange, California. Tom describes drapes and plastic slipcovers on the couch—when people visited and stopped in his interests as “eclectic” and enjoys the wide range of topics for coffee, when people still brewed coffee in the house. I selected this photo for presented at the Institute. He was particularly interested in the the postcard advertising of my one-man show entitled “Bless Them All” which film screening of Louie Prima: The Wildest (April 15, 2008) chronicles a drug addict’s journey to freedom and the affect of war on family life. and Andrew Alpern’s lecture on the life and work of architect My father, Joseph Rocco, a Marine who fought on Okinawa during World War II, Rosario Candela (September 10, 2009). Tom shared with us hovered like a spirit in my show, and hovers in this photo as well. that there is “so much talent and genius in the Italian American community—and the Institute helps to heighten our awareness — JOHNNY LANZILLOTTO is a New York-based actor, author, and poet who of such.” wrote the screenplay “Bless Them All” (www.blessthemall.com)

Return to Naples: My Italian Bar immersed in Naples yet with one eye on the Shadowline/Image Comics got wind Mitzvah and other Discoveries life I had left in New York.” of Act-i-vate’s web artist Mike Cavallaro’s Robert Zweig $23.95 hardcover A very funny segment comes in “Peeling family-based webcomic Parade (with ISBN 978-1-56980-351-6 Grapes and Other Mealtime Rituals” which, fireworks) and they brought it to print as www.stmartins.com among other accounts, explains how much a graphic novel in a beautiful paperback time is allotted before one is allowed to go edition. The publication was nominated for Robert Zweig will read from his book at the Calandra Institute into the water after eating or drinking— the industry’s top recognition, a 2008 Eisner Writers Read Series on depending on what you ate: “Chocolate Award for “Best Limited Series.” March 2, 2010 at 6 p.m. required eight minutes, peaches eleven The novel tells the story of Italians minutes, nectarines ten minutes, and grapes caught in the struggle between socialism Robert Zweig is an Italian-American one minute per four . . . ” and fascism in 1923 Italy as Mussolini’s Jew whose memoir, Return to Naples: My There is humor in the little things that Blackshirts begin to assert (and insert) Italian Bar Mitzvah and other Discoveries, loom large as when an Italian printer adds themselves into all levels of Italian society was the basis for the talk he gave at the the image of Jesus to Zweig’s Bar Mitzvah and culture. A young Paolo is introduced, Calandra Institute’s “Land of Our Return” invitations thinking he is doing something who comes from the country where his conference last spring which had many extra for the Jewish boy’s special day. One family runs an olive farm and exports oil to people chortling. Born to a German-Jewish of the great lessons he learns throughout the United States. After military service in father and Italian mother, Zweig spent most his experiences is how people can survive World War I, Paolo is sent to the U.S. to of his childhood summers in Naples, where just about anything, and he was aware that tend to family business in New York and his mother was born and where his father “back in the Bronx, I knew I would have Chicago, and the violence he experiences convalesced after he was liberated from more explaining to do about what kind of a sends him running back to an Italy that has a Nazi concentration camp. The memoir Jew I was.” changed. When he and his friends happen recounts Zweig’s experiences in Naples In what was to be his last trip to Italy upon a parade that is terrorized by thugs, from the time he was a young boy to the by sea he “ran to the back of the ship to see Paolo defends himself and in the process present. “Nothing in Naples is bad, even for the landscape slowly fading, and I listened ends up in the justice system into which children, as long as it is diluted enough,” to the muffled sounds from the port, the Fascism has entered. Justice is delayed and this pertains to life experiences as well as city’s lungs, expanding and contracting, until the resulting tale combines history and story wine, and for Zweig, the Naples he recalls Naples too its last breath. That summer, to create a strong sense of the injustices today is distilled through memories. leaving Naples, I had become a different encountered by Italians during Fascism. The stories covering people and places person, having learned of a past that changed Not the usual fare for cartoons, comics are well written and tenderly recalled my concept of who I really was.” or even traditional fiction, Cavallaro’s story, through wit and humor. The opening story, Return to Naples may make you laugh enhanced from family tellings (much to “Walking with Nono,” is a wonderful entre more than most memoirs, but it will also some family members’ dismay as the author into the world of 1960s Italy, a time when have you thinking about more than this notes in his “acknowledgements”), is a part the country is rapidly rebuilding itself into a young boy’s life. of history that rarely sees the light of print, world power. We see a growing Italy through let alone the luminescence of comic art. the eyes of a growing boy. Zweig’s Naples is Cavallaro’s images are strong and stable, and that strange intersection of the old and new, his words keep the story moving and the Parade (with fireworks) past and present. The walk is filled with street reader wondering “did that really happen?” characters including cashiers, the bombola Michael Cavallaro $12.99 softcover Cavallaro knows when to pull the (gas) man, a brothel madame, a professor ISBN 978-1-58240-995-5 punches with language and let the images turned beggar, relatives and neighbors. Other www.imagecomics.com carry the story. There’s a great tension characters, like Pasquale the porter to his between image and narrative, and with the grandparent’s building, figure prominently in Michael Cavallaro will read from his book at the Calandra Institute fine detail included in even the broadest this coming-of-age in Italy story. Writers Read Series on scenes, the artist makes it possible to get In “Revelation in Ischia” the boy learns March 18, 2010 at 6 p.m. by without any of the words, as though the that his father is a Holocaust survivor who book was the storyboard for a silent movie. lost most of his family in a concentration They are not just for kids anymore, The image sequence reminded me of the camp. “I Never Knew Gabriella Fabretti” those things we used to call comics have edgy shots and quirky editing that came presents what he learned about his mother made their way into what is now being upon the scene through the television series and the reason he returned to Italy every called graphic literature, and with such Hill Street Blues and NYPD: Blue challenging summer. In Naples, he is the “Americano”, references they have no trouble walking into understanding through perspective and and like an ambassador, he is the lightning the front door of academia. But long before content. Sometimes the explanation for rod for complaints about the U.S. and the they received scholarly attention, literary action is in the words, sometimes in the translator for national events like Kennedy’s comics made their way across the web and images, and all this makes the kind of story assassination and the lunar landing. “All into the minds and hearts of thousands of you want to read over and over again. summer I lived in a purgatorial world, readers young and old. —Fred Gardaphé

10 IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ ANNUAL CONFERENCE: TERRE PROMESSE: EXCURSIONS TOWARD ITALIAN TOPOGRAPHIES, APRIL 22-24, 2010

PROGRAM (subject to change) 3–4:15 PM and M. GABRIELLA GASBARRE, The Italian SACRED SPACES American Community Club of Rochester ______FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2010 To Struggle for a Place at the Table: Italian-American The Place and the Action: The Metaphor of the 9:30–10:45 AM Protestants in Italy, DENNIS BARONE, St. Joseph Square According to the Social Enterprise, PAOLA PUBLIC SPACES College MELONE, Institute of the National Research Council Architettura Sonora/Applied Acoustics, LORENZO Preserving History in the Old Neighborhood: Vernacular Architecture of the Alto Molise, JOHN BRUSCI, Sound and Experience Design Saving the Our Lady of Loreto Church, East New CASERTA, The Design Office York, Brooklyn, MARILYN ANN VERNA, St. TRAVEL WRITING Social Justice and Democracy: The Significance Francis College, and MARIO TOGLIA, Calitri of a Commons, CHRISTINE F. ZINNI, State American Cultural Group “The Dead Sang with Dirt in Their Mouths,” University of New York at Brockport JOSEPH P. COSCO, Old Dominion University Vernacular Exegesis of the Gentrifying Gaze: Another Corleone: Another Sicily (film), ANTHONY Hipsters, Saints, and Public Space in Williamsburg, The Re-enchantment of the Everyday: Late- FRAGOLA, Greensboro University Brooklyn, JOSEPH SCIORRA, John D. Calandra Twentieth-Century Expatriate Memories and the 11–12:15 PM Italian American Institute New Arcadian Dream “Made in Italy,” LYNN MASTELLOTTO, University of East Anglia THE TRANSNATIONALIZED NATION NAVIGATING NOSTALGIA Italian America: Beyond the Imagined Nation, Click to Enlarge: Connecting Memories, Places, “Eyes Like The Ocean,” NICOLA BATTIGELLI, and Cultures in the Virtual Paese, ROBERT OTTORINO CAPPELLI, Università degli Studi di author Napoli “L’Orientale” OPPEDISANO, Editor/Writer Between Memory and Nostalgia: Italian Jewish 1:30–2:45 Continental Drift: Mapping a European Italy, Emigration to the United States During and After VINCENT DELLA SALA, Università degli Studi CONTESTED LANDSCAPES/ World War II, CRISTINA BETTINA, Ben Gurion CONTESTED READINGS di Trento University, and VINCENZO PASCALE, Rutgers Reflected Republics: Reinterpreting Italian University Speaking of Place: Campanilismo as Linguistic Nationalism through Peru’s Guano Boom, Practice in Northern Italy, JILLIAN R. Performing Nostalgia in Caterina Edwards’ Homeground CAVANAUGH, Brooklyn College/CUNY CHRISTOPHER J. PARISANO, Instituto and Marco Micone’s Deja’ l’agonie, SIMONE Nacional de Cultura del Perú LOMARTIRE, Leeds Metropolitan University Re-imagining the Colonial Landscape: Notions of Faith, Healing, and Prestige in Goffredo POINTS SOUTH AND WEST I 4:30–5:45 PM Alessandrini’s Abuna Messias, ANNEMARIE LITTLE ITALIES Here Come the Sicilians: Another Puzzle Piece TAMIS, New York University in the Making of New Orleans, GERALD T. Imagined Little Italies, STEFANO LUCONI, The Confiscation of Mafia Lands MCNEILL, Southern Louisiana University, and Università degli Studi di Padova MELISSA PUGLIA MCNEILL, Stuart Hall ANTHONY FRAGOLA, Greensboro University School for Boys America’s Little Italies as Visually Contested Terrains LAND IN LITERATURE JERRY KRASE, Brooklyn College/CUNY The Italians of the Jamestown and Virginia The Transnational Origins of Antonio Stoppani’s Il Colonies, GIUSEPPE DI SCIPIO, Hunter Re-Membering the Neighborhood: Creating bel paese, ERICA MORETTI, Brown University College/CUNY Community with Food Exchange, DANA DAVID, Pace University Paradise from Mud and Stone: Visions of Italy in The Making of Little Italies in the Appalachian Hill the Work of Ignazio Silone and Iris Origo, FRED Towns of West Virginia, VICTOR A. BASILE, MISURELLA, East Stroudsburg University ______SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010 Independent Scholar Place and Narrative as Real and Metaphysical 9–9:30 AM 1:30–2:45 PM Catalysts in Fiction, GIOIA TIMPANELLI, RE-MAPPING ITALY/NORTH AMERICA GARDENING AND FORAGING Author The Complexity of Canadian Space: Two Films: Les Memories of Repasts (film), KARINA S. RAMIREZ, 3–4:15 PM Enfants de la Loi 101 and Sons and Daughters: The The New School Media Studies Program POINTS SOUTH AND WEST II Italians of Schreiber, FRANCESCA L’ORFANO, Fright or Delight: The Cultural Implications of Wild School of Canadian Studies A Northern Southern Italian of the Eastern Fungi as Food, SUSAN M. ROSSI-WILCOX, Western United States: A Topographical Analysis America as Garden of Plenty and Hell on Earth: Pre- Independent Scholar of John Fante’s Fiction, JIM COCOLA, Worcester and Post-Immigration Images of the Promised Land Polytechnic Institute Gardens of the Mind: Memory, Ecology, and and their Relation to Italians of the Great Migration, Justice in the Story of Tullio Inglese, PATRICIA JOSEPH J. INGUANTI, Southern Connecticut Piedmont on the Pacific: Labor, Race, and Place and KLINDIENST, Independent Scholar State University the Origins of Italian Winemaking in California, SIMONE CINOTTO, Università degli Studi di NARRATED LANDSCAPES From the Nostalgia of Origins to Creating Home: Torino “U Bizz’ di Creanza: A Piece of Politeness,” Making Place at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, JOANNA CLAPPS HERMAN, Manhattanville New York City, 1923-1940, FRANCESCA “Il Fuoco di Minonga”: The 1907 Mine Disaster, the College CANADÉ SAUTMAN, Hunter College/CUNY Landscape of Coal, and the Making of Transnational Italian Identity in West Virginia, JOAN 11–12:15 PM “Mirage,” PAOLA CORSO, Western Connecticut SAVERINO, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania State University ARCHITECTURE ABANDONED, RECLAIMED, RE-IMAGINED “La Brigantessa: The Life of a Female Brigand,” 4:30–5:45 PM ROSANNA MICELOTTA-BATTIGELLI, Il Borgo Fortificato: Culture, Traditions, Life, KEYNOTE: LUISA DEL GIUDICE, Author JOHN C. RUSSOTTO, Independent Scholar, “Gastronomic Utopias, Promised Land”

IL BOLLETTINO • WINTER 2010 • JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE • 25 WEST 43RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036 • 212-642-2094 • [email protected] • HTTP://QCPAGES.QC.CUNY.EDU/CALANDRA/ 11 CALANDRA John D. Calandra ITALIAN Italian American Institute AMERICAN Queens College CUNY INSTITUTE 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor New York, NY 10036

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

PHILIP V. CANNISTRARO DOCUMENTED ITALIANS SEMINAR SERIES WRITERS READ SERIES FILM SERIES IN ITALIAN AMERICAN STUDIES Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 6 p.m. ROBERT ZWEIG reads from Return to Naples: My Italian Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 6 p.m. Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 6 p.m. Bar Mitzvah and Other Discoveries (Barricade Books, 2008) Showy and 5’2”: The World Famous Pontani Sisters Diva: Defiance and Passion in Early Italian Cinema (2004), 55 min. ANGELA DALLE VACCHE, Georgia Institute of Technology Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 6 p.m. Rebecca Shapiro, dir. MIKE CAVALLARO reads from Parade (with fireworks) Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 6 p.m. (Image Comics, 2008) Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 6 p.m. The Migrant in/and the City Merica (2007), 65 min. GRAZIELLA PARATI, Dartmouth University Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 6 p.m. Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini, and CANCELLED STEVEN J. BELLUSCIO reads from The Grand Gennaro by Francesco Ragazzi, dirs. Garibaldi M. Lapolla (Rutgers University Press, 2009) Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 6 p.m. Entering Through the Golden Door: Cinematic Monday, May 10, 2010 at 6 p.m. Le Ragazze di Trieste (2008), 45 min. Representations of a Mythical Moment PENNY ARCADE reads from Bad Reputation: Chiara Barbo and Andrea Magnani, dirs. YIORGOS KALOGERAS, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Performances, Essays, Interviews (MIT Press, 2009) Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 6 p.m. Ricordati di noi! (2007), 26 min. From Gangsters to Gangstas: Blacks, Italian Americans Paul Tana, dir. and the Culture of Crime Ho fatto il mio coraggio (2009), 50 min. KIMBERLY SIMS, American University Giovanni Princigalli, dir.

> All SEMINARS, READINGS, and FILMS take place at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, Manhattan All events are free and open to the public. Pre-register by calling 212-642-2094. Photo ID requested by building concierge.