Stories From The Past

I found out a former university history professor of mine who was a commentator on television and writer for a major paper, will be contributing to one of those hard-left blog masking itself as progressive.

Not surprising given how liberal he was. Without a doubt he was entertaining and fair (I challenged him in a paper and he gave me an A) but his leftist take on everything was lame at times. So I basically evened-out the playing field - with facts. Nonetheless, I learned a lot from him.

I did, however, have a weird encounter with him.

One time, I went to see him after class to ask him where I could find some reliable sources for the internment of Italians during WWII in North America. He asked me if I was Italian. I was taken slightly aback. "I'm Canadian sir." "I know that but what's your heritage?" "My father is Italian Catholic and my mother was born in Montreal of Italian Protestant heritage." I wanted to add, "fucking happy?"

No big deal. Maybe he was just curious.

So what does he tell me?

"I hate Italian food."

That was not exploring who I was, that was an unsolicited statement.

I wasn't about to answer him. Not only did he have a greyish hue (he was Scottish and was proud to remind everyone about it), the guy looked like jaundice had taken over his body. Poor sap. I shuttered for a millisecond thinking about what his diet was like.

I don't think I answered him. I rarely do when someone says something odd. I just move on.   I kept him on track and asked again about the sources. He kindly pointed me into the direction of a historian/writer who is an authority on the subject. Bruno Ramirez remains a part of the Italian community in his studies. His body of work is really impressive.

It was strange given how politically correct liberals are. Yet, in private, he goes out and makes a comment that can be perceived as somewhat insulting. Personally, I didn't (and don't) care (fuck 'em all), I just find it interesting he would tell me that given his position.