Or stated otherwise, six degrees of separation.
I found out that my director's sister is dating a boyhood friend of mine. We grew up in the same school system from kinderarten. A red-headed French-Canadian "legend" (who was in the English school system) to some of us Italian guys in the crew. The classic super smart kid screw up known for some of his "skateboard" parties living a dreamy Bohemian existence of sorts.
Maybe one day soon I'll tell the story of a little jam he and I found ourselves in high school. Reminded me of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny caught under the dish cover in Jack and the Beanstalk.
We always got along. Maybe because we didn't quite fit in scholastically. Who knows? We were in awe of each other's "talents." He once told me, when he decided to learn to play soccer (he's extremely talented and was always teaching himself something new), after observing all the players, he wanted to emulate my style and cerebral play. I was flattered considering I wasn't the best player. Maybe top five but not the best.
I wished I had his agile smarts. He's one of those guys who can write a poem, do a science experiment, perform 30 chin ups, and learn to play Italian cards without skipping a beat.
Of course, she told me some things he said. One that came up was, according to him, I was the "sharpest dresser" in school bar none.
I did put effort in the threads I have to admit.
More importantly, he put in a good word for me.
Anyway.
Small world.
You're too much into politics, economy etc. You should start to write more stuff like that. Maybe it is just my taste and phase of life. I have enough of politics, economy, even if I've been freelance journalist for a long time as for this stuff (international affairs whenever I could).
ReplyDeleteWas the red-headed French-Canadian "legend" a boy or a girl? Ah, I got it, it's your male friend.
Maybe one day soon I'll tell the story of a little jam he and I found ourselves in high school.
We are waiting for that.
...to some of us Italian guys in the crew”
Makes me daydream what kind of life Italians may have led in huge, immense (and so different) Canada.
Ciao Ale
Mor, politics and economics are intoxicating in that they are easy to post about.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, I don't really feel at ease with it anymore myself. The narrow prism of logic it lends itself to makes people crazy.
History is my bag but to sit, think and write about it takes too much time.
Stories like this? Sure. Why not? But even then, it takes some time.
A la prossima.
All prossima, but it takes also time to post 4 posts a day like you do lol Al, non riesco a tenerti dietro. Ma la realtà è che ora sono intrappolato nell'antica Britannia e i mie commenti mi tengono molto impegnato. E' un gioco affascinante, l'antica Britannia, come una soap, ma devo studiare tanto tanto senno' scrivo cazzate (che scrivo comunque).
ReplyDeleteSuggestion, try writing your thoughts about historical things in five or less paragraphs. Add links, pics from public domain sources, ask questions of your readers about what they think.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we will bite, other times not. But try to initiate conversations with a foundation and tone. You sort of do this already, but using material that you are tiring of working with at this point.
L'antica Britannia? Non a capito.
ReplyDeleteZeus, what is this "write" you speak of?
Seriously. How about the MOR topic of Italians living in Canada? During WWI? WWII? were they subject to discrimination and bigotry? Do they have to put up with the same stupid comments about all being mobsters? What kind of enterprises did they start up? Have the cultural and religious affiliations of these immigrant peoples been influenced by their move to Canada?
ReplyDeleteI don't know a single thing about these topics.
All excellent questions that have been addressed on and off here; maybe before you arrived. I've even written about it for Italian publications in Montreal.
ReplyDeleteI'll touch on a couple here briefly in point form:
1) Yes, they were subjected to bigotry but it's a little explored topic. One major historian - Bruno Ramirez - has tackled the story of Italians here. In fact, Italians were interned by the Liberals - often pegged with a racist tag - during WWII.
It has always befuddled me how whenever I read papers or articles about internment in North America only the Japaneses get mentioned but Italians are omitted. While it was not in the same magnitude but it happened and families were ruined and businesses destroyed. Ukranians and Germans were interned as well.
2) Yes, we still have to deal with mafia references and sometimes it find its way into serious mainstream article. If not that, "Guido" references as the one I linked to not too long ago from Yahoo.com.
3) They started off as working on docks, construction, rail work (depending on the era). Italians have been coming here since, well, 1492 technically. They were big traders behind the scenes despite not really taking part in the exploration boom; navigators notwithstanding. Italy wasn't even a country anyway but they still exerted great influence in North and South America through the centuries.
But the first real wave began in the 1890s (my mother's family was part of that one).
They worked, and then climbed the social and economic ladder becoming butchers, tailors, contractors, restaraunteurs and such. They were mostly tradesman and artisans. Godfather gave some glimpses into it.
Standard stuff. Now Italians own some of the biggest companies in Canada from Saputo to Catelli.
Not sure what you mean by the religion question. Do you mean if Canada nfluenced Italian Catholicism or vice-versa?
I just rattled this off the top of my head quickly but I think this is about the gist of it.
Part of the reason why the story of Italian internment is not discussed is because it hasn't been examined thoroughly. There isn't enough literature about it. Italians refused to talk about it after the war and chose to move on despite the humiliation.
ReplyDeleteIt is only now with the revival of Casa D'Italia is it hoped we can shed more light on the subject as private papers may be donated and archived for historical research.
See? All this stuff and I was just rattling questions off of the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteNow, on to a more important, metaphysical topic that you (looking at the Avatar and reading other postings of yours) might be uniquely positioned to tackle.
Does there exist an alternative universe in which the WKRP character of Jenifer the receptionist actually laid Less Nessman, and does such a reality give hope to nerdy guys everywhere?
I thought the Bailey Quarters character was hot myself.
Finally. A serious question!
ReplyDeleteHeck, why not Herb too?
I too found Bailey hot.
Herb and Jennifer is what does happen in real life. No intriguing anything there.
ReplyDeleteOur family never missed an episode of that sitcom.
Zeus, you are a wonderful mentor. You see? He immediately wrote from the tip of his tongue - forgot the exact phrase in English. Al has got what it takes. He just need to focus / choose some topic he only knows about, in other words specialise in something he can give to others that he knows better. I any case his blog (blogs) is a gold mine of ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe story of the italian internment of Canadians in Canada was recently highlighted at Montreal's Casa D'Italia's 74th anniversary annual fundraiser. Liberal MP Massimo Pacetti tabled a private members bill in Parliament to bring about awareness of the internment and for an ultimate official apology. See: http://massimopacetti.liberal.ca/media/massimo-pacetti’s-bill-a-victory-for-italian-canadians-as-house-of-commons-votes-in-favour-of-bill-c-302/
ReplyDeleteI will post the speech given by the banquet president which detailed some personal accounts of the internment. Paradiso in Riva al Fiume (Paradise By The River) is a recent play based on the internment of Canadian Italians during the Second World War who were imprisoned and held at a Petawawa camp in Ontario. The play tells the story of Romano, a recent immigrant who is arrested without charge and held against his will with hundreds of men of Italian descent at a prisoner of war camp, and his family's struggle to return to normalcy.
The production was written by Montreal playwright Vittorio Rossi who was honoured at the 74th for his contribution to Italo-Quebec. Stay tuned.
Ciao for now....
Zeus, same here. It was a great sitcom.
ReplyDeleteMOR, some would say copper mine of middling ideas.
Whoever Maria is, I saw that play.