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 2 • ISSUE 2 • SUMMER 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Dean’s Letter Personaggi: Angela Bambace 3 Conference: The Land of Our Return 4 Italics Staff News From the Archives 5 Si, Parliamo Italiano! Faculty Fellows 6-7 Conference: Neapolitan Postcards 8 CUNY/Italy Exchange Program Hunter College Student Interview 9 Ad Memoriam 10 Book Reviews 11 IAFSAC Publications back Calendar of Events

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 Welcome to il Bollettino and news of College and Dr. Francesca Canadè Sautman increase in enrollment over the years and the exciting work the Calandra Institute has of Hunter College spent the spring semester the paradoxical suspension of the Advanced undertaken in recent months. working on their respective projects. This fall Placement Program in Italian. This spring we hosted two conferences, each professor will deliver a lecture reporting The latest “Affirmative Action Trends” each attended by an international lineup of on their research findings. report, prepared by Milione, Gambino, Itala scholars from Australia, Europe, Israel, and In June, the first nine interviews were Pelizzoli, and Carmine Pizzirusso, sheds North America. In March, the conference conducted for the Oral History Archive light on the position of Italian Americans “Neapolitan Postcards: The Canzone of Italian-American Legislators, beginning as a “protected class” within CUNY. The Napoletana as Transnational Subject” with state senators and assemblypersons. report indicates that nine of twenty CUNY presented a first in-depth look at this The project is coordinated by our visiting colleges have a lower percentage of Italian musical-cultural phenomenon. In April, this scholar, Dr. Ottorino Cappelli, Professor of Americans among total instructional staff year’s annual conference was dedicated to the Political Science at the Istituto Orientale of than 1978 tallies. One entity that safeguards theme of return: “The Land of Our Return: the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico accountability for Italian Americans within Diasporic Encounters with Italy.” II, who will present a lecture this fall on his CUNY is the Italian American Faculty These conferences complemented the work in developing the archive. and Staff Advisory Council, which has ongoing public programs that comprise Significant progress has been made reconstituted itself during the past five years. “Documented Italians,” “Philip V. in our vast library holdings. The original Much still needs to be done, and our Cannistraro Seminar Series,” and “Writers library, the Saraceno and Cannistraro staff continues to step up to the plate, Read.” In addition, we sponsored the collections, and the recently inherited steadily contributing to the institute’s overall premier U.S. screening of Ugo De Vita’s Cammet library, totaling more than 20,000 success. Please do not hesitate to call on us if film,Mussolini, l’ultima notte. We also hosted volumes, are now on shelves and in the we can be of assistance. And be sure to join a symposium, “Memoirs and Memories,” process of being cataloged. our electronic and postal mailing lists. dedicated to the Italian-Jewish presence in The institute is fortunate to welcome Dulcis in fundo: The generosity of the United States; this was part of a larger two new staff members: Rosangela Briscese colleagues, attendees, friends, and others in program commemorating the “Giorno as Coordinator for Academic and Cultural the Italian-American community, enables della Memoria” that included symposia and Programs, and Gabrielle Pati as Office us to accomplish our work. As always, we lectures hosted by Centro Primo Levi, the Assistant organizing the libray collections. are indebted to the invaluable support of Consulate General of Italy, Italian Cultural Dr. Vincenzo Milione and Christine Chancellor Matthew Goldstein’s Office Institute, New York University’s Casa Gambino authored Sì, Parliamo Italiano!, of CUNY and President James Muysken’s Italiana, and Columbia University’s Italian the first volume of a new publication Office of Queens College. Academy for Advanced Studies in America. series of the Calandra Institute entitled We hope to see you at one of our We are pleased to announce that the “Transactions.” The data presented are upcoming programs. Calandra Faculty Fellows Program was germane to the status of Italian language revived this year. Dr. Donna Chirco of York courses in the United States, given the — Anthony Julian Tamburri

PERSONAGGI il Bollettino is published by the Angela Bambace (1898-1975) John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Angela Bambace was a lifelong activist within labor, civil rights, and women’s QUEENS COLLEGE/CUNY 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor movements in the United States. Born in Santos, Brazil in 1898, to Sicilian and New York, NY 10036 Calabrese immigrants, she migrated to New York City with her family in 1904 and PHONE: 212-642-2094 FAX: 212-642-2030 settled in East Harlem. Like most Italian immigrant women in the city, she and EMAIL: [email protected] her sister Marie entered the garment industry as teenagers, working alongside their WEBSITE: qc.cuny.edu/calandra mother Giuseppina. There they became politicized by workers’ everyday struggles and began attending union meetings and the gatherings of anarchist and socialist DEAN: Anthony Julian Tamburri groups in their neighborhood. They did so with their mother’s blessing, and she MANAGING EDITOR: Lisa Cicchetti often accompanied them to meetings and the picket line with a rolling pin tucked under her arm, just in EDITOR: Maria LaRusso case they encountered trouble. Reflecting on her life, Angela would later note, “It was difficult to separate CONTRIBUTORS: Rosangela Briscese, the organization of workers from the attempt to reorganize society. The two went hand in hand.” Donna Chirico, Christine Gambino, Fred Gardaphé, Lucia Grillo, Jennifer Guglielmo, Angela gained the attention of the city’s labor leaders in 1919 for her bravery during the massive Joanna Clapps Herman, Anthony Tamburri garment strike that year, and was hired as an organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union. In the 1920s, she also gave birth to two sons, divorced her first husband, and fell in love with Luigi Quintiliano, an COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Landscape, Siena, Italy immigrant tailor and anarchist from Abruzzo, active in the defense of political prisoners and the antifascist ©Peter King Vaccino. www.pvaccino.com movement. They would be companions for the rest of her life. During the Great Depression, Angela accepted an organizing position with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) in Contact the Calandra Institute to be Baltimore. In the span of a decade, she brought more than 15,000 workers (mostly women) into the union, included on the newsletter mailing list. Provide your email address to receive and became more deeply committed to fighting racism and building the civil rights movement. In 1956, she the newsletter via email or your mailing was the first Italian-American woman elected to the General Executive Board of the ILGWU, a post she held address to receive a printed copy. until she retired in 1972.

2 IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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

Italy have difficulty obtaining legal status. struggles and feelings of alienation. “I feel THE LAND OF OUR RETURN Excerpts from the documentary films excluded here,” one return migrant from Italian emigration was the largest Merica (2007) and Orizzonti e Frontiere the United States reported. The woman’s movement of free labor in world history, (2007) demonstrated the experiences of perception was that immigrants are treated with more than twenty-six million people immigrants and Italian nationals who have with greater respect in the United States; emigrating from the 1870s to the 1970s. moved to Italy from South America. In the for this and other reasons, she said she Close to half of the emigrants traveling to film Merica, an Italian citizen from Brazil felt more proud being American than the Americas returned to Italy between 1905 remarks that many Italians look down on being Italian. Ailhlin Clark examined the and 1920, and after World War II Italian him as they look down on immigrants. influence of return visits to Italy on religious Americans increasingly traveled to Italy as Friday’s closing panel addressed absence celebrations. Several cities have moved their tourists. The “return encounter” with Italy, and the emotions of separation across feast day celebrations to August, when there both actual and imagined, was the theme time and space. Loretta Baldassar explored are greater numbers of migrant visitors. of the Calandra Institute’s second annual long-distance caregiving between Italy and Clark also explained that feasts have become conference, “The Land of Our Return: Australia, noting the role of familial guilt more lavish in response to these visitors, as if Diasporic Encounters with Italy.” as a social emotion. She quoted interviews to demonstrate an improving economy. The conference was held April 23-25, with Italian grandmothers that reveal Italian The papers mentioned here form only 2009, with simultaneous presentations in notions of health as a “metaphysical state”— a sample of the excellent work presented the Institute’s conference room and galleria. the grandmothers gauged their own health throughout the conference. Author More than fifty scholars, authors, and by their closeness to their families. Sonia Michael Mirolla, who presented his story artists from throughout the United States Cancian provided an analysis of love letters “Of Death and the Immigrant” on Friday, and from Australia, Canada, Greece, Israel, between Italian men and women separated described “The Land of Our Return” as “all- Italy, and the United Kingdom gathered to by immigration to Canada, describing how encompassing and stimulating . . . I don’t explore the political, economic, social, and the letters establish an “emotional affective think there are too many Italian-American cultural impact of Italian emigrants’ and universe” that is considered necessary to or Italian-Canadian conferences where the their descendants’ communication with and ensure the survival and blossoming of the papers span hip-hop, gay issues within the travel to Italy. relationship. As one letter expresses, “one community, and Italian-Jewish concerns.” Dean Anthony Tamburri of the short letter is all we need but the flow must At the conclusion of the conference, Calandra Institute, President James be constant.” John Paul Arcia, Anna V. Balu, Francine Muyskens of Queens College, and Consul Saturday’s “Metaphors of Return” panel Cianflone, and Joseph Hicks presented General Francesco Maria Talò opened the included Gil Fagiani discussing fumetti, a donation to the Calandra Institute on event with welcoming remarks on Thursday Italian comics. Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox behalf of the Italian American Law Students evening. Consul General Talò emphasized analyzed parish cookbooks produced by Association of the Florida Coastal School the common ground shared by different the Italian-American community at Our of Law. The students raised funds for the waves of Italian immigrants to America, Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Niles, donation and to attend the conference. including the most recent wave of students, Ohio, as a route of return. She made the Cosmo Palmisano, retired Professor of scholars, and businesspeople from Italy. He case for archiving community cookbooks; Italian at William Paterson University and also suggested extending the boundaries to in addition to the recipes themselves being Vice President of the Hudson County include those who are not of Italian descent cultural artifacts, as a collection they are Retired Educators Association, also made but who have an interest in Italian or significant because they represent subjective a generous donation to the Institute. Italian-American culture. selections of what should be preserved. The Calandra Institute staff extends their The Consul General’s broad perspective Photographer Blaise Tobia and gratitude to these individuals and to all the was echoed in the diversity of presentations performance artist LuLu LoLo discussed conference participants and attendees whose that followed on Friday and Saturday, their experiences traveling to Italy in the hard work and support helped make the which approached the theme of return panel “Seeing and Performing Return.” In event a tremendous success. • from a variety of disciplines and viewpoints. Italy, LuLu LoLo felt she had been given the Christina Tortora participated in Friday’s freedom to be an artist in a way that she had panel on language and linguistics, discussing not in the United States. At the same time, the role of Italian dialects in the instruction she described feeling shame at not knowing of Italian and arguing that standard Italian the Italian language while living there, and dialect instruction can coexist. prompting her to reflect on the experiences In their presentation “Governing of her immigrant grandparents struggling to Diasporas: The Italian Case,” Guido Tintori learn English in the United States. and Francesco Ragazzi investigated the In the last panel of the conference, transnational effects of Italian nationality Laura E. Ruberto presented findings from laws. Many eligible individuals acquire interviews conducted with returning

Italian citizenship and never reside in Italy, emigrants and new immigrants in Italian American Law Students Association of the Florida Coastal while immigrants living and working in Campania, who described similar economic School of Law presents a donation to the Calandra Institute.

IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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 February’s episode featured NY Senator work at the Calandra Institute. April’s show ITALICS: THE ITALIAN- Diane Savino, recently inaugurated as documented the life and work of NY State AMERICAN TV MAGAZINE President of the New York Conference of Senator Joseph Addabbo. Italian-American State Legislators. Savino TheItalics team, Producer William Continues Creative Programming spoke passionately about her district and Schempp and Associate Producer/ Providing the Italian-American plans to enhance NYCIASL’s annual Correspondent Lucia Grillo, continued their community the best of its heritage and weekend conference, and discussed the ongoing coverage of significant events in the culture each month, Italics rang in 2009 impact of negative representations of Italian community throughout the spring, including with its 204th episode followed by a new Americans in the media. The show’s second two annual conferences sponsored by the year of innovative programming. In January, segment brought viewers to Montclair State Calandra Institute: “Neapolitan Postcards: Italics joined the National Organization University in New Jersey to celebrate the the Canzone Napoletana as Transnational of Italian-American Women (NOIAW) at announcement of the Theresa and Lawrence Subject” and “The Land of Our Return: their Epiphany 2009 celebration honoring R. Inserra Endowed Chair in Italian and Diasporic Encounters with Italy.” three wise women from our community: Italian-American Studies. Entire episodes of Italics can be seen Angelina Fiordellisi, Founder and Artistic Italics honored Women’s History via webstream in the archives at www.cuny. Director of the legendary Cherry Lane Month by dedicating its March program tv/series/italics. Selections can be viewed at Theatre; the Honorable Rosa DeLauro, U.S. to the achievements of outstanding Italian- http://www.i-italy.org/search/node/italics. Congresswoman; and Dr. Silvia Formenti, American women. The show highlighted Join us for another exciting season of all Meyer Professor of Radiation Oncology at three distinguished filmmakers who things Italian American on Italics! • NYU Medical Center. Also documented was participated in the Institute’s Festival of New Italian American Cinema: writer/ the Calandra Institute’s ongoing advocacy Italics: The Italian American TV Magazine of the Advanced Placement Program in directors Maria Maggenti, Nancy Savoca, Italian, the commitment by Dean Anthony and Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno. The CHANNEL 75 Tamburri to report on the College Board’s episode also explored the horrific reality of Last Wednesday of the month decision to suspend the program, and the “honor” killings, detailed in the book Unto 10 am, 3 pm, 11 pm measures being taken to ensure that this the Daughters: The Legacy of an Honor Killing Repeats invaluable contribution to Italian heritage in a Sicilian-American Family, by Karen Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 10 am remain available. Tintori, who presented her autobiographical

STAFF NEWS FROM THE ARCHIVES

ROSANGELA BRISCESE joined the Institute’s staff in January as the Coordinator for Academic and Cultural Programs. She holds a B.A. in English from Rutgers University and an M.S.I.S. in Information Studies with a specialization in Preservation Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to organizing the Institute’s public programs, she will be curating exhibitions and serving as Managing Editor of the Italian American Review. Ms. Briscese comes to the Calandra Institute from the Ashbery Resource Center, a facility supporting research on poet John Ashbery. Prior to that, she processed collections at the Austin History Center and the New Jersey Historical Society. Ms. Briscese was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Folk Festival. FRED GARDAPHÉ presented a paper, “Rudy, Joe, Guido and the Boys: The Impact of Rudolph Valentino on the Performance of Italian American Masculinity” at the conference “Rodolfo Valentino: La Seduzione del Mito,” at the University of Torino. He also presented papers on the writing of Pietro di Donato at conferences of the Society for the Study of Multi- Ethnic Literature of the United States and the Working Class Studies Association.

GABRIELLE PATI is organizing the Saraceno collection in the Calandra Institute library. Ms. I have always treasured this photograph of my Pati earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Italian literature from Hunter College, Uncle Rocco as a young child on my grandparents’ where she will continue in the Italian Education Master’s program, and plans to eventually farm, where my mother’s family were all born and complete a Ph.D. in Italian Studies. She also works as a private tutor in English and Italian raised. That farm is still there—the last farm in language, translation, and writing. Waterbury, Connecticut. My ninety-year old uncle and his wife, my Aunt Bea, live there. In the kitchen JOSEPH SCIORRA presented his paper “Built with Faith: Place Making and the Religious they use the old stove, which is half wood-burning Imagination of Italian New York” at Western Michigan University, as part of the History and half electric with coiled burners. Typically there Department’s “Religion and the Uses of the Past” lecture series. In April, Dr. Sciorra presented are chestnuts roasting on the wood-burning section his papers “‘Why a Man Make the Shoes?’: Southern Italian Material Culture, Folk Aesthetics, in the cold weather. So many things continue to be lived in the old ways. Uncle Rocco was the only and the Philosophy of Work Done Well in Rodia’s Watts Towers” at the conference “Art and surviving son of my grandparents, and held the Migration: Sabato (Simon) Rodia and the Watts Towers of Los Angeles” at the University of privileged position of “primo figlio.” He was doted on Genoa, Italy, and “Imagined Places, Fragile Landscapes: Italian-American Presepi (Nativity by his mother and sisters, and the only child to own Crèches) in New York City” at the conference “Utopie et Nostalgie: Projections mémorielles a horse. What is not depicted here is the hard and en situations migratoires” at the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme in Aix- brutal work the children in the family were subject en-Provence, France. He also presented, at two Calandra Institute conferences, his papers to. In many ways, Uncle Rocco worked even harder “Mediated Renderings and Diasporic Musings: ‘Core ‘ngrato,’ a WOP Song” and “‘Took a Bird than his sisters, and they worked extremely hard. to the Boot’: Hip Wop and the Digital Diasporic Consciousness.” —Joanna Clapps Herman, Editor Our Roots Are Deep with Passion (2006)

4 IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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/ with Italian ancestry speak Italian as their to meet this demand. In public schools, SÌ, PARLIAMO ITALIANO! primary language at home (23%), only 60.8% of middle school (grades 7-8) Italian Globalization of the Italian Culture and the Increasing one in ten Italian Americans, age range 5 language students were located in New Demand for Italian Language Instruction to 17 years old, indicate speaking Italian York State, while 42.1% of Italian language Recently published by the Calandra at home. Similarly, in the tri-state area, students in public high schools (grades 9-12) Institute, Sì, Parliamo Italiano is the result where approximately one out of six people were located in New York State. of a research project which analyzes Italian reported having Italian ancestry, only 13% One factor that may be limiting language patterns in the United States of adult Italian Americans and only 4% increased numbers of Americans speaking with a special focus on New York City and of school-aged (5-17) Italian Americans Italian is the lack of available Italian the tri-state area. Using census data and report speaking Italian at home. For those language instruction in middle schools and statistics derived from the General Social Italian Americans who live in regions high schools outside the New York and Survey, the project describes patterns of outside New York City’s tri-state area, the tri-state areas. Locating Italian instruction Italian language use among various age decline of Italian as a language spoken at in regions of the country outside of the groups and geographical areas for Italians home is especially notable. Overall in the Northeast is problematic for high school and non-Italians. Recent data reveal that the United States, about one out of twelve students who wish to take the Advanced number of people in the United States who Italian-American adults over the age of 18 Placement exam in Italian, which, if speak Italian is approximately three million. still primarily speak Italian at home, and continued, is unlikely to be offered in areas This figure refers to individuals who can only about one out of fifty Italian-American where the density of Italian classes is low. speak Italian with varying degrees of fluency school-aged children speak Italian within The renewed interest in Italian and employ their oral skills in a variety their homes. language instruction in the United States of settings. It recognizes that most speak Despite research indicating a decline in is most likely due, in part, to decreasing English or another language (or multiple the use of the Italian language among opportunities to learn Italian at home, and languages), either with their families at Italian Americans in their homes, interest increasing multiple ancestries among later home or in professional and social settings. and use of Italian has in fact increased within generations of Italian Americans. The overall While the data reveal an increase in the larger population. Research data suggest increasing demand for Italian is a natural the number of individuals interested in that there is an emerging interest in learning extension of the globalization of Italian and utilizing the Italian language, there has Italian among Americans of different culture. Responding to this globalization, been a continual decline in the number backgrounds, and that greater numbers of new and creative vehicles that provide and of Italian Americans, especially those ages individuals are seeking language instruction. support the interest in Italian language 5-17, speaking Italian as the “primary The data also suggest strong regional instruction in formal and informal settings language” at home. Even in the New York differences across the United States with are needed across the United States. • area, where a high concentration of people respect to the availability of Italian classes See page 11 for more information and to order a copy of the report.

FACULTY FELLOWS

Dr. Donna Chirico is Associate Professor of Psychology at York College Francesca Canadé Sautman is Professor of French, Medieval and CUNY and the newly elected Chair of the Department of Behavioral Renaissance Studies, and Women’s Studies, at Hunter College and The Sciences. Her field research in Ladakh, northern India, studying moral and Graduate Center, CUNY. She is the author of La Religion du quotidien: spiritual development, constitutes the foundation for her ongoing research Rites et croyances de la fin du Moyen Age (1995), co-editor of Same-Sex program exploring the nature of imagination as it relates to aspects of Love and Desire Among Women in the Middle Ages, with Pamela Sheingorn psychological development. One connection is the role of the imaginative (2001), and Telling Tales: Medieval Narratives and the Folk Tradition, with process in educational attainment among Americans of Italian decent. The Diana Conchado and Giuseppe Di Scipio (1998), and was a member of central objective of this work is to understand the function of esoteric or the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender (2007). Her work transcendent imagination in personal development, attainment of valued in Italian American Studies has focused on issues of race and gender, with goals, and general well being. In a secondary project, Dr. Chirico looks two essays on cinema: “Women of the Shadows: Italian American Women, at identity psychology as this relates to a reflection upon her personal Ethnicity and Racism in American Cinema” in Differentia: Review of Italian experience as an American of Italian decent. Matters of personal identity Thought, #6-7, and “Grey Shades and Black Tones: Italian Americans, Race, formation are being explored to achieve a better understanding of how and Racism in American Film” in Screening Ethnicity: Cinematographic ethnic identity contributes to overall development. This past spring semester Representations of Italian Americans in the United States. A current project Dr. Chirico was awarded a Faculty Fellowship by the Calandra Institute, examines Italian-American women and identity formation in the crucial providing an invaluable opportunity to pursue her research program, set up years of 1910-1950. This spring Dr. Sautman was a Calandra Institute and conduct interviews, and engage in data analysis. The fellowship enabled Faculty Fellow, working on a monograph entitled Dark Passages: Italian Dr. Chirico to look at uses of technology in the classroom and develop American Artists of the Interwar Period and the Search for Community. This ways to integrate technologies to better serve students, including podcasting project takes the life of her late grandfather, the artist Vincent Canadé, as a through iUniversity and webcasting. Dr. Chirico also serves as the Chair of point of departure for the recovery and interpretation of the oeuvre of artists the Italian American Faculty Staff Advisory Council at CUNY. of Italian descent working in the New York area during that period.

CONGRATULATIONS! Dr. Maria K. DiBenedetto, Director of Graduate Student Services for the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, CUNY, recently earned a Ph.D. from the Graduate Center, CUNY, in Educational Psychology: Learning Development and Instruction. Her dissertation, entitled A Microanalytic Study of Self-Regulated Learning Processes of Expert, Non-Expert, And At-Risk Science Students, examined individual and gender differences in students of varying levels of science expertise. Participants were fifty-one eleventh graders and each was given a passage on tornados to read, study and be tested on. A microanalytic methodology was employed which consists of asking questions aimed at assessing psychological behaviors, feelings, and thoughts in Zimmerman’s three phases of self-regulated learning: forethought, performance, and reflection. A teacher’s scale and self-efficacy for self-regulated learning scale were also obtained. Results showed significant expertise differences, large effect sizes, and positive linear trends on most measures. Regarding gender, there were significant differences on only two measures.

On March 19–21, 2009, the Calandra Neapolitan Sheet Music from New York” in evoked New York City’s once-thriving Institute and the International Centre for its gallery space. Thirty-one items—sheet Neapolitan music scene and suggested the Music Studies (Newcastle University, UK), music, sceneggiata scripts, and concert need to recognize and remember this history. in collaboration with l’Archivio Storico programs—provided a sampling of New Over the following two days, lectures della Canzone Napoletana (RAI, Italy), York City’s vibrant Neapolitan music and discussions, held at the CUNY presented a conference dedicated to the scene during the first half of the twentieth Graduate Center’s Elebash Hall, addressed transnational aspects of the Neapolitan century, from Eduardo “Farfariello” many relatively unexplored topics. The song. One of the first international popular Migliaccio’s comical “’Na Serenata A first conference panel of the conference musics of the modern era, the success of Mulbere Avenuta” to Francesco Pennino’s featured Giuliana Muscio, Simona Frasca, the canzone napoletana was due largely love song “Quando Canta Posillipo.” The and Giulia Guarnieri discussing the work to the Italian emigrants who composed, exhibit featured items from several New of Francesco Pennino, Enrico Caruso, performed, recorded, sold, and consumed York-based publishers who drove much and Aurelio Fierro, respectively. Professor the music in the United States, Argentina, of the Neapolitan music-making in the Muscio presented her research on the and elsewhere. city, including the Italian Book Company, authorship of Senza Mamma, a sceneggiata Edizione Pennino, and Edizione E. Rossi. written by Armando Cennerazzo for The conference and exhibition opened Pennino’s song of the same name. with welcoming comments from Dean A recital by singer Rita Berti Anthony Julian Tamburri of the Calandra showcased popular Neapolitan songs Institute, Queens College President James such as “’Na Canzuncella Doce Doce” Muyskens, Maurizio Antonini of the and “Palomma ’e Notte.” In an interview Consulate General of Italy in New York, with Dr. Sciorra, Ms. Berti recounted her Joseph Sciorra of the Calandra Institute, experiences as an international performer Goffredo Plastino of the International of Neapolitan music. Born in “Napoli

Joseph Sciorra, Calandra Institute Centre for Music Studies, and Paquito Del città,” she moved to New York in the 1950s Bosco of l’Archivio Storico della Canzone after Gennaro Cardenia saw her perform In conjunction with the conference, Napoletana. A screening of Veronica and invited her to sing in his productions. the Calandra Institute presented the Diaferia’s documentary film Closing Time, Paquito Del Bosco presented Ms. Berti opening of the exhibition “Chist’è New about the closing of the historical location with a plaque from l’Archivio Storica della York: The Mark Pezzano Collection of of the E. Rossi & Co. store in Little Italy, Canzone Napoletana in recognition of her

6 IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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/ The Canzone Napoletana as Transnational Subject role as an ambassador of the Neapolitan that this music is responsible for inducting Goffredo Plastino delivered the keynote song and the Neapolitan spirit. Neapolitan youth into the Camorra lifestyle. address, “Tutta n’ata storia: Authenticity Paquito Del Bosco traced the and Otherness in the Neapolitan Song international appeal of Neapolitan music Canon,” in which he discussed connections and presented selections of Neapolitan between Neapolitan song and African- songs performed by recording artists from American music forms; for example, around the world. The recordings were George Washington Johnson’s “Laughing culled from l’Archivio Storico della Canzone Song” (1894) as the inspiration for Berardo Napoletana, which has collected over Cantalamessa’s “’A risa” (1895). “Tutta 40,000 vocal performances of Neapolitan n’ata storia” (a whole other story) is the title songs. A montage of twelve different of a 1982 song by Pino Daniele, who is

Rita Berti, Singer of the Neapolitan song versions of “Funiculì Funiculà” included himself considered a musician with classic interpretations by Arnold Schoenberg, the Neapolitan and American blues influences. Joseph Sciorra, Samuel Patti, and Red Army Choir, and Frank Zappa. The conference has generated interest Jennifer Caputo each focused on a single In the panel “Performing/Screening in Neapolitan music, with numerous people song in the panel “Temporal/Spatial Identities,” Reba Alaina Wissner and contacting the Calandra Institute seeking Considerations of the Song.” “Core Giorgio Bertellini discussed sceneggiate and and offering information on Clara Stella, ‘ngrato,” the subject of Sciorra’s talk, was films that depict the immigrant’s longing Joseph Gioè, and others. The organizers examined as a symbol of Italian-American for home. Professor Bertellini pointed to intend to publish an anthology of essays identity increasingly shorn of its substance. the sense of home in the film Santa Lucia based on the theme of the conference. • Mark Pezzano, John La Barbera, and Luntana, where it is overdetermined by Jason Pine constituted the panel “Cultural the migrant experience. Ana Cara and Politics and the Economics of Culture.” Jim De Fazio looked at music influenced Professor Pine discussed the complicated by the Italian diaspora and the resultant aesthetics of neomelodica, a music style that dissemination of Neapolitan song. Professor he described as a contemporary revision Cara noted the Argentine tango musician of classic Neapolitan song. He showed Carlos Gardel, who admired and imitated original footage of neomelodica performers opera singers like Enrico Caruso as well as in Naples and argued against the notion Argentine country singers. Goffredo Plastino, Newcastle University

IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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 CUNY/ITALY EXCHANGE PROGRAM educational institutions increasingly by exposing them to a wider understanding available. For CUNY students, many of of the world and its people. Educators have long extolled the whom have never traveled much beyond For more information, contact Joan virtues of educational programs that foster the borders of the tri-state area, the value of Migliori at 212-642-2094 or joan.migliori@ student cultural exchange. Academic course such an experience is immeasurable. qc.cuny.edu, or visit http://qcpages.qc.cuny. work combined with cultural contact The CUNY/Italy Exchange Program edu/calandra/italyex/index.html. invariably heightens student academic sponsored by the Calandra Institute offers Participating Italian universities include: interest, language acquisition and cultural students the opportunity to study at select • Università degli Studi di Catania, www.unict.it understanding. What was once a privilege Italian universities. The exchange between • Università degli Studi di G.d’Annuzio reserved for a handful of elite students, two host nations produces a kaleidoscope of Chieti-Pescara, www.unch.it • Università degli studi di Pavia, www.unipv.it study abroad and student exchange learning opportunities in the classroom and • Università per Stranieri di Perugia, www.unistrapg.it programs have proliferated American through meaningful cultural assimilation. • Università delgi Studi di Siena, www.unis.it campuses, making attendance at overseas This program has influenced many students • Università degli Studi di Trento, www.unitn.it

Reflections from Hunter College Student Joann Vultaggio, CUNY/Italy Exchange Program 2008

Il Bollettino: Please tell us a little about yourself. independence. I was able to separate from Germany, and France. I met students and Joann Vultaggio: I grew up in Staten Island my Sicilian family and survive. The Florence others from all over the world. I came in in a home where only Sicilian dialect was program made me feel certain that I was on contact with diverse ideas and discovered that spoken. My mother died when I was eight the right path. Italy is a wonderful place full of people with emotions, likes and dislikes, personalities and years old. My father, an immigrant from Joann Vultaggio in Orvieto, Umbria, Italy Trapani, Sicily, raised me and my three older beliefs—just like me. I enrolled in academic siblings as a single working parent. I am proud offerings where fluency in Italian was expected. that my father, at the age of 52 and with very I benefited from the total immersion and limited English language skills, attended the emphasis on “Italian only.” It forced me to Fashion Institute of Technology to study speak in class and also helped me develop my patternmaking and eventually opened his own writing skills. I had to be able to follow lectures tailor shop. From him I learned the value of and take examinations with native students. perseverance and the importance of doing It was challenging! Sometimes difficult. I felt work you feel proud of. During high school I that living for a year in Siena was a valuable studied Italian and learned very quickly that IB: That path being . . . experience both academically and personally. my knowledge of dialect was significantly JV: A desire to read and comprehend Italian I held a part-time job in a local coffee bar, different from the traditional Italian being literature and poetry. I think that it is very meeting people where I was often asked if I taught! After graduating high school I, too, unfortunate that more young people do not was a native or American. Personal contact attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, speak or read Italian. Today, the language is with other people—sharing myself with the with the intention of working in international not passed down from parent to child, the host culture—heightened my awareness of self merchandizing. Subsequently, I worked for way my father did in our family. During my and others. When I returned to my studies Kenneth Cole—and hated it! I wanted out studies, I became aware that I wanted to share at Hunter, I felt more confident. Also, my of the business world and, although I felt my passion for language and literature through writing abilities improved as evidenced by the confused about my career path, the only thing teaching. I spoke with Professor Giuseppe Di significant increase in my grade point average. I felt certain about was that I wanted to speak, Scipio to explore the possibility and reality of What the Siena experience did for me was to read, and write Italian. I decided to apply to doing so. He encouraged me and the following make me feel that I want to share the Italian the undergraduate Italian Studies program at year my career goal became crystallized. I language and culture with others. In fact, I Hunter and was accepted. applied to the Master’s program in Secondary hope that someday I may be in a position to Education and Italian. While taking graduate work in a college helping students considering IB: That was some career leap you took leaving courses, my speaking skills were improving—I study abroad/exchange programs. your job to return to college. was losing my dialect!—but I was very IB: Final thoughts you would like to share? JV: I knew that I had to make a change. I aware that I needed to further develop my JV: I am grateful for the two opportunities that desired to speak fluent Italian rather than writing and reading skills. I thought about I was able to participate in. Both experiences Sicilian dialect. I was prepared to go back to participating in a second study abroad helped me discover and appreciate my identity undergraduate studies and do the prerequisite experience and decided upon a program at the and learn more about the world in which work necessary to develop my skills. While Università degli Studi di Siena because of its I live. They helped me to be a more open- taking language courses, I decided to study reputation, location, and emphasis on language minded and well-rounded woman, feel more in Florence for the summer. The Florence and literature. program was a life-altering experience! I confident about myself and become a more learned so much. Italian of course, but other IB: Please tell us about your experience as a rigorous student. As importantly, I have come things too—art and history and mostly student in Siena. to value learning about others and hope that about people and how they work and live. JV: As a visitor living in a foreign community others equally benefited learning from me. This The experience required responsibility, I participated directly and intensely in the reciprocity was a remarkable encounter. I hope self-sufficiency and open-mindedness. I also culture around me. I met native Italian to be able to infuse my learning and respect for needed to learn what to do with my new found students as well as students from England, diversity in my future teaching experiences.

8 IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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/ AD MEMORIAM

Giovanni Marchi 1921-2009 New York State Senator Giovanni institutions stand today as important of the press back to their high school and (John) Marchi died at the age of 87, on landmarks for the borough of Staten Island. college textbooks. Saturday, April 25, 2009, less than a month He was also instrumental in co-drafting A truly passionate leader who served shy of his 88th birthday while on a family legislation that helped save bankrupt New his district for fifty years, Senator Marchi trip in Italy. Senator Marchi represented York City in the mid-1970s. was equally dedicated to his Italian and New York’s 24th Senate District for fifty In addition, Marchi was genuinely Italian-American culture. In addition to his years, from 1956 to 2006. In June 1969, concerned for his brethren’s well being. In love for the Classics, he dedicated personal Marchi made national headlines when 1996 he managed to get the Fresh Kills time to the study and translation of Italian he defeated Mayor John Lindsay in the landfill closed, at that time the world’s manuscripts. He also challenged those, such primary election. Wide-ranging, genteel, largest garbage dump. He also sponsored a as the infamous Joe Colombo, who used and observant, Marchi was an exceptional law to make it easier for CUNY students to their Italian ethnicity for dubious reasons. elected official, a throw-back to the receive public assistance, thus increasing the Italy and all its glory were for him of primary politician of old, whose concern was first opporunities for first-generation, working- importance. It is thus indeed poignant that and foremost for his constituency. class students to attend the university. he spent his last days with his family in his As an elected official, John Marchi Senator Marchi was a rare breed of parents’ home town of Lucca. was dedicated to preserving Staten Island’s politician. Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, and Our deepest sympathy goes out to his cultural institutions, providing critical Ovid were often reference points in his family, especially his daughter Joan Migliori, assistance in the development of CUNY’s private and public life. In citing them, in our friend and colleague at the Calandra College of Staten Island and sponsoring his legislative discussions and speeches, he Institute, who serves as Assistant Director of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Both ultimately sent his colleagues and members Community and International Programs. •

Felix N. Stefanile 1920-2009 Italian America has lost one of its was their “idiosyncratic odyssey.” Over the a bountiful and integral human being. greatest poets and thinkers. In exhorting years, Sparrow steered itself toward form, For those of us who came to know him his Italian-American sisters and brothers specifically the sonnet. In explaining such a well, we are forever the beneficiaries of his to learn of their history, Felix Stefanile move, Felix responded to Gloria G. Brame munificence and magnanimity. once stated, ”There is no ontology without in a 1994 interview: “I love the sonnet; An American of Italian origins, Felix archaeology!” Felix always knew how to say I’m devoted to it . . . It’s also an air-tight was equally and fiercely proud of his Italian what had to be said. editorial alibi . . . Furthermore, it’s a form heritage and his American being. He Felix N. Stefanile died on Tuesday, that is a paradigm of the genuine writing negotiated the U.S. literary scene like very January 27, 2009, at the age of 88, in experience: closure, constraint, contrast, few before him. In like fashion, he distinctly Lafayette, Indiana, where he spent twenty- accuracy of expression, focus, architectonics negotiated the U.S. ethnic landscape. six years as a member of the professoriate at of syntax.” Two poems that might best exemplify Purdue University. Felix won numerous awards for his such sentiments of his are “Hubie” (a long Felix was born April 13, 1920, in Long poetry, essays, and teaching. In 1966 he poem that sings the necessity of racial Island City, NY, to the late Frank Stefanile penned an essay entitled “The Imagination integration) and “The Americanization of and Genevieve Lauri Giannicchi. Educated of the Amateur”; it earned him a National The Immigrant,” both of which appeared in in the New York City school system in the Endowment for the Arts prize in 1967. his last collection, The Country of Absence. • 1920s and 1930s, he received his bachelor’s In 1973, he was awarded the prestigious degree from the College of the City of New Standard Oil of Indiana Prize for best * The Americanization of the Immigrant York, CUNY, in 1944. teacher; and in 1997 he was the first A veteran of World War II, Felix served recipient of the John Ciardi Award for Your words, Genoveffa, as an interpreter for the U.S. Army and lifetime achievement in poetry, presented by through the open window, went on to co-author a manual on how the journal Italian Americana. Author of a telling me once again what to buy at the store– to fight malaria in Southern Italy. After multitude of essays and reviews in the best don’t forget, don’t forget– the war, he worked at various jobs until journals in the United States and abroad, aroma of fresh bread almost a halo. 1950, when he took a position with the he authored numerous books of poetry and That was a long time ago. New York State Department of Labor until translated some of Italy’s finest poets, from I never forgot. 1961. During that time, he and his wife the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Like Dante Selma (nee Epstein, whom he married in Possessive of profound intelligence, I have pondered and pondered 1953, and who now survives him), a poet affable wit, and a wonderful gift of the speech I was born to, in her own right, started Sparrow (1954), language, Felix proved ever generous in lost now, mother gone, which remained one of the oldest poetry spirit and consul. His wisdom was infinite, the whole neighborhood bull-dozed, journals in the United States until they and he dispensed it charitably; his erudition and no one to say it on the TV, stopped publication in 2000. They founded was extensive, and he shared it willingly. that words are dreams. the journal “to lead the life of poetry”; it One could not expect any more from such * IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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/ 9 BOOK REVIEWS

good schools, giving them a better start on It is as if Scibona created this world The Bookmaker adulthood than he might have had, despite and then simply recorded what happened. Michael J. Agovino putting them through the ups and downs of While the author is at work, he is never in $24.95 hardcover his own gambling, which he stops after his the way, prodding us along, guiding us to ISBN 978-0-06-1151139-2 business peters out. “understanding.” Quite the contrary, this Harper Collins, 2009 What makes The Bookmaker good reading is a novel with pages that invite lingering Michael Agovino will read from his book is not the very ordinary story of the Agovinos and inspire daydreaming. I had to read this at the Calandra Institute Writers Read but Michael’s extraordinary way of telling it. book twice, just to do this review, something Series on September 14, 2009 at 6 p.m. Style trumps substance here, and when he does that I have not had to do for a long time. I not maintain the beat and pace of the early would get so caught up in the perspective Don’t let the title of Michael J. Agovino’s chapters, Agovino risks losing readers through being presented that I would let go of the first book distort your thinking. While The occasional litanies of what he did during school plot thread, and find myself wandering back Bookmaker does contain a running account of trips and summer days in the projects during as though I had lost my way. But that can his father’s avocation as a bet taker and maker, the 1970s and 80s. Fortunately these sections be a way of life—to follow what takes your it is not an inside look at organized crime that are more lapses than lacunae. By the time you attention and forget what you were doing. The you might expect. This memoir is more about are finished with the book you find yourself End prompts and rewards rereading. how a kid like Agovino, who grew up in Co-op rooting for the family and feel good that while The central event that excites entry into City housing in the Bronx, became a journalist they never achieved that American dream of private lives is the public procession of a festa and made the book his father never could. owning their own home, the Agovinos have through the neighborhood streets that is This is the story of how an Italian- accomplished the rare goal of having shaped a halted after a group of African Americans start American family lived a pretty normal life in unique history full of interesting stories. dancing behind the marching band. Not aware a very abnormal environment. Ugo Agovino, Made of memories, research, and family of the religious nature of the music, they dance Michael’s father, was born in Italian Harlem. interviews, The Bookmaker is a testament to how because they believe it is a party. This event, After a time of hiding out, for forgetting to an atypical Italian-American upbringing can like a communal trauma, triggers a variety of make a bet that would have won its maker lead to the creation of a typical American story. responses that Scibona weaves into conflicts of thousands, Ugo returns to the neighborhood, abortion, war, death, and personal philosophy. finds a Sicilian wife, and together they become It is presented in a complicated structure one of the first (and the few Italian) families to and intricate style that reminds us of Virgina move into the city’s post-Cold War answer to The End Woolf’s sophistication, Joyce’s retrospection, working-class housing. Salvatore Scibona and Bellow’s determination. Co-op City, a large development of $24.00 hardcover Reviewers have compared Scibona to such high-rises and town homes built on landfill ISBN 978-1-55597-498-5 great authors as Faulkner and Didion; what we was home to the Agovinos for twenty-four Graywolf Press, 2009 have here is someone who has extracted what years, and throughout that time there was not Salvatore Scibona will read from his book he needed from his lessons of the greats, and a day when his mother didn’t wish she lived at the Calandra Institute Writers Read is beginning to fashion his own substance and elsewhere. The move begins in optimism: Series on November 4, 2009 at 6 p.m. style. The End displays considerable writing “This is a land of promise. A new start, a new talent that needs to be realized again and again beginning, a tabula rasa, a future, a salvation,” Salvatore Scibona might seem like the before we can start placing his name among and ends with car thefts, muggings, and new kid on the literary block, but he has been the greats. Certainly we can see aspects of those beatings. Here is a story of struggle, survival, writing for over ten years, and has published writers in his work. The imitation is sometimes and hopes for a better life—father and mother stories in places like “The Threepenny Review,” too obvious—especially in some of his place try to build on the inside of their kids’ lives in and been republished in “The Pushcart Review descriptions, such as “Eleventh Avenue was spite of the failure of urban renewal. of Short Stories.” Now, his rookie novel a throng of fruit vendors, nut vendors; the Ugo maintains a city job that alone does brought him a nomination for a National Book armies of the retired, the lame, the blown out not provide for the family, and so he resorts to Award, and for good reasons. The Italian- and wasted . . . ” That can be irksome to those one of his early jobs as a private bookmaker who American immigrant experience was never who have studied these writers carefully. But, takes care of those gentlemen gamblers who more intricately represented than in Salvatore let’s face it, not many have that kind of reading can afford to lose a little bit here and there. The Scibona’s novel, The End. pedigree anymore, so most of his influences problem is not in the bet taking, but the bad bet Ambitious in its approach and demanding will go undetected. making that Ugo does. When times are good, of its reader’s patience, the story centers on The End, an impressive debut from a Ugo is an avid reader and dedicated consumer a 1953 event that occurs and unravels in the promising writer, will frustrate those who are of classy stuff like music, fine wines, and great lives and minds of the inhabitants of Elephant not familiar with the modernist greats, remind works of art and literature. Before he is twenty Park, a Little Italy of sorts in Cleveland, Ohio. those who are that writing is made out of years old, Michael and his family have traveled Through slow, methodical descriptions, the reading, and will please all who believe that throughout Europe, to the Caribbean and Latin author bring us deep into the lives and minds great stories are not simply told—they can America—sometimes with enough money to of Rocco the baker, Mrs. Marini, a type of be complexly written. Scibona is a writer to afford a “good bottle of Bordeaux,” often with beneficient anti-midwife who also helps girls watch, one I believe will come up with more not enough money to pay the hotel bill. terminate pregnancies, and a few others like good writing. If not always on time, Ugo manages Enzo Mazzone and his son Ciccio, who fill out —Fred Gardaphé to pay the bills that put his kids through an interesting cast of characters. These reviews will appear in the July and October issues of Fra Noi.

10 IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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/ institute, under the aegis of Queens College, within the University. Pursuant to multiple CALANDRA’S EYES AND EARS devoted to documenting and preserving the court decisions and recommendations ON THE CAMPUSES: The Italian Italian-American experience. The Italian about the affirmative action status of Italian American Faculty and Staff Advisory Council Americans, the Council is a critical observer of American Faculty Staff Advisory Council has its origin with Chancellor Kibbee’s the treatment of Italian Americans. Campus directive appointing chairpersons of Italian- delegates articulate the needs and interests of In 1978, New York State Senator John American advisory committees at each students, faculty and staff at the individual D. Calandra, then chairperson of the Italian CUNY college to facilitate the oversight campuses and deliberate ways in which the Legislative Caucus, called for the creation of Italian-American interests. Chancellor Institute can address them. The Council works of an Italian American institute to address Joseph Murphy later upheld Kibbee’s historic to ensure that Italian Americans are treated historical, sociological, political, and cultural decree establishing Italian Americans as an fairly in accordance with their affirmative issues. The New York conference of Italian affirmative action category at CUNY and action status. The Council also raises awareness American State Legislators initially funded the widened the scope of the initial mandate to about the status of Italian Americans through Institute in 1979 to confront the educational include faculty and staff. its presence on each campus. needs and concerns expressed by Italian- The Council objectives are to advise To learn more about the Council, or to American students, faculty and staff at CUNY. the college presidents and the Chancellor express your interest in becoming a campus After his death, the Institute was renamed through the work of the Institute and its delegate, contact Dr. Donna Chirico, Chair in honor of Senator Calandra. In 1995, the Dean on matters affecting the University’s of the Italian American Faculty Staff Advisory CUNY Board of Trustees officially designated Italian-American community and to safeguard Council, by telephone at 718-262-2687 or by the Institute as a university-wide research accountability for Italian-American personnel email at [email protected]. •

NEW FROM THE CALANDRA INSTITUTE! PUBLICATIONS

VOLUME ONE OF THE STUDIES IN ITALIAN AMERICANA SERIES > Uncertainty and Insecurity in the New Age, Uncertainty and Insecurity in the New Age Vincent Parrillo, 384 pages, softcover, $32 Vincent N. Parrillo, Editor > Si, Parliamo Italiano!, Vincenzo Milione and This collection of twenty-eight essays by Italian and Christine Gambino, 88 pages, softcover, $10 Italian-American scholars explores the impact of globalization on individuals’ lives in both Italy and the United States. > The Autobiography of Carlo Tresca, Nunzio Examined are such concerns as the preservation of local Pernicone, Ed., 265 pages, softcover, $10 cultures; the conflicting values resulting from social change; the maintenance of one’s social identity and heritage; our > Freeing the Angel From the Stone: A Guide to resulting perceptions and political actions; and the effects on Piccirilli Sculpture in New York City, Jerry and employment stability and workplace environment. Eleanor Koffler, 122 pages, softcover, $12

> The Italians of New York: Five Centuries VOLUME ONE OF THE TRANSACTIONS SERIES of Struggle and Achievement, Philip V. Cannistraro, Ed., 177 pages, hardcover, $35 Si, Parliamo Italiano! Globalization of the Italian Culture and the Increasing > I Vote My Conscience: Debates, Speeches, Demand for Italian Language Instruction and Writings of Vito Marcantonio, Annette Vincenzo Milione and Christine Gambino Rubenstein, Editor, 515 pages, softcover, $15

Milione and Gambino’s study on the diffusion of speakers ADD SHIPPING COST: of Italian in the United States reveals that three million people $3 for first book, $1 for each additional book. speak Italian, and that if Italian language programs had the same penetration in the educational systems as those of French and German, the number would be double. It also confirms TO ORDER send a check or money order what every teacher of Italian has been observing in the last payable to: two decades: the number of students of the language is on John D. Calandra Italian American Institute the increase, and nothing suggests the trend will slow down Attn: Book Orders anytime soon. The Little Italys of our collective recent past 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor are disappearing, but instead of a weakening of the identity, New York, NY 10036 paradoxically this has led to a renaissance of cultural and ethnic interest. Milione and Gambino’s acute analysis of complex governmental data gives us hope for an even brighter future.

IL BOLLETTINO • SUMMER 2009 • 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 Monday, September 14, 2009 at 6 p.m. MICHAEL J. AGOVINO reads from The Bookmaker: A Monday, September 21, 2009 at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 6 p.m. Memoir of Money, Luck, and Family from the Utopian Chippers (2008), 52 min. Rosario Candela: An Immigrant Architect in New York Outskirts of New York City (HarperCollins, 2008) Nino Tropiano, dir. ANDREW ALPERN Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 6 p.m. Monday, October 26, 2009 at 6 p.m. Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 6 p.m. JOHN GIORNO reads from Subduing Demons in Competing Understandings of Media in the History The Tree of Life (2008), 76 min. America: The Selected Poems of John Giorno, Hava Volterra, dir. of Anti-defamation 1962-2008 (Soft Skull Press, 2008) LAURA COOK KENNA (George Washington University) Monday, November 9, 2009 at 6 p.m. Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 6 p.m. Le Cirque: A Table In Heaven (2009), 74 min. Monday, November 16, 2009 at 6 p.m. SALVATORE SCIBONA reads from The End: A Novel Lost Boys, Recovered Memories: (Graywolf Press, 2008) Andrew Rossi, dir. Lorenzo Carcaterra’s Sleepers Monday, December 14, 2009 at 6 p.m. CHRISTOPHER WILSON (Boston College) Wednesday, December 9 at 6 p.m. MARIA LAURINO reads from Old World Daughter, Neapolitan Heart (2002), 92 min. Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 6 p.m. New World Mother: An Education in Love and Paolo Santoni, dir. Cesare Lombroso and the Science of Criminology Freedom (W.W. Norton, 2009) MARY GIBSON (John Jay College)

> 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.

1979-2009: THE JOHN D. CALANDRA ITALIAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE CELEBRATES 30 YEARS