News - 24 Giugno 2020 Public Monuments and Indro Montanelli: A Case of Misdirected Reverence? Although the issue of public monuments has been thoroughly examined in the wake of the recent anti-racism protests, the case of Indro Montanelli--and specifically of the defense of his statue in a park in Milan--bears a closer look. The unmitigated arrogance, hubris, and smugness with which Montanelli himself addressed the issue, once in 1969 and again in 2000, must lead us to question the limits of acceptable human behavior.
People - 11 Aprile 2020 Joseph Tusiani, Poet First and Foremost, Prose Writer, Essayist, Translator, Professor Joseph Tusiani, San Marco in Lamis (FG) 1924 - New York 2020: in addition to his loving family (Michael, Bea, and their children), Joseph Tusiani leaves behind a plethora of friends and former students whose lives were influenced to various degrees by his mentoring, friendship, and kindness.
People - 20 Gennaio 2020 Remembering Robert Viscusi: Erudition, Largesse, Beneficence Professor and Executive Officer for the Wolfe Institute for Humanities at Brooklyn College, Viscusi wrote many books and we shall surely remember especially his award-winning novel, "Astoria" (1994), and his critical magnum opus, "Buried Caesars and Other Secrets of Italian American Writing" (2006), considered by some to be “the best book written on any ethnic group in America or anywhere else.…"
People - 14 Dicembre 2019 Danny Aiello Did Much More Than the Right Thing The New York Times opens its obituary of Danny Aiello as follows (December 13, 2019): “A memorable character actor on both stage and screen, Mr. Aiello won an Academy Award nomination for his role in Spike Lee’s 1989 film.” A “memorable” actor worthy of “an Academy Award nomination,” for sure. That he was only a […]
People - 3 Agosto 2019 The Unexpected Passing of Francesco Durante, Cultural Broker for Italy-America We, at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute and at La Voce di New York, deeply mourn the unexpected passing of Francesco Durante, journalist, essayist, literary historian, translator, editor and cultural broker. Francesco passed away earlier today on his island home of Capri at 66 years of age. A most adroit literary historian and a brilliant […]
EXPAT - 1 Novembre 2018 In Memory of Louise DeSalvo, a Ground-breaking Scholar and Biographer Louise DeSalvo has succeeded in furrowing new paths for the Italian-American woman writer who, through oppressive, historical restrictions, has remained silent much too long.
New York - 27 Gennaio 2018 The Making of America; and Italians Need Apply! Just Ask Carnegie Hall What about Jazz ? Louis Prima? The Neapolitan Song? Joseph Sciorra’s thoughts: “4 million people left Italy and migrated to the United States between 1880s and 1924 and another 665,000 from 1945 to present, and you could not find or invite one performer working in a host of genres (e.g., folk music, Neapolitan song the American song book) long associated with Italian Americans? That's negligent and shameful.”
New York - 17 Dicembre 2017 The Columbus Controversy and the Politics of Omission In this case, Anthony Tamburri discusses the Calandra Institute’s stated policy of neutrality and how the Institute’s neutral position was mis-represented by the phrase, “Calandra is not supporting Columbus,” and nothing more. Hence the politics of omission!
News - 21 Agosto 2017 “…And There Was No One Left to Speak for Me” Since Charlottesville, there has been an inordinate amount of talking heads debating the issue. Indeed I have been especially intrigued by those who continue to support Trump and his comments, many of them engaging in all sorts of rhetorical somersaults in order not to condemn explicitly neither the violence of the white supremacist nor the lacking comments of President Trump.
Primo Piano - 1 Agosto 2017 “Dove sei andato, Joe DiMaggio?” Di italo-americani ne è pieno il mondo, ma la figura di Anthony Scaramucci (responsabile della comunicazione per la Casa Bianca per 10 giorni) non ne ha ripercorso le caratteristiche migliori. Lo ricorderemo per la sua conversazione telefonica con Ryan Lizza dove è sembrato uno di quei bizzarri, volgari, maleducati “wannabe"