I have written here previously about Paul Paolicelli, a television journalist and writer whose amazing book, Under the Southern Sun, was pretty much a life-changer for me. It turns out that Mr. Paolicelli relocated to North Carolina several years ago, and has most recently been a news director at one of the TV stations in Wilmington. I have had the privilege of getting to know him.
Paul was involved in organizing the first-ever Italian festival down east this year. I was unable to attend, but the festival boasted one fairly prominent visitor of Italian descent-- Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Paul was justifiably "honored" that Alito became a part of the festivities; and it seems clear that Alito came partially because of his admiration of Paul's work.
The details are here.
One ting I wish more then anything else. We are NOT ITALO/AMERICANS. We are AMERICANS of Italian descent. Our grand-parents did not come here because Italy was such a wonderful place to riase a family. No it was not. That's why most of the Southern Italians left. And thank God they did. Or we'd be no better off then they are right now. TODAY. Visit what we call a Hospital They call it a CLINIC. It is rat infested. Dirty and the attendants don't give a damn if your dying. We are not Italalians. We are Americans and we proved that in two wars. One Police Action and Vietnam and Iraq and Afganistan. Tony
Posted by: Tony Mangiaracina | September 28, 2009 at 09:14 PM
Thanks, Tony. I agree, we ARE Americans. And some pretty courageous ancestors earned us that status for our benefit, as someone like Alito could testify.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | September 28, 2009 at 10:37 PM