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2008

July 29, 2008

Watching Mob Movies with my Fourteen-Year-Old Son

Joseph Sciorra
Don Homer

A “teachable moment” about mafia realities and representations.

July 24, 2008

“Italians sunbathe as Gypsy girls drown.”

Joseph Sciorra
"Bimbe Rom annegate, l'indifferenza della spiaggia," were the succinct words many Italian news sources used in their feature on the story.

On vacation, Italy’s rightward turn haunts me.

July 15, 2008

Chi è Pete Panto?

Joseph Sciorra
Pete Panto (1911-1939)

An Italian-American worker who fought the mob that you never heard of.

July 11, 2008

Una malia contro il malocchio dei prominenti.

Joseph Sciorra
Eliza Putnam Heaton, "By-Paths in Sicily"
"Door Charms for the Evil Eye" (detail), Sicily, circa 1910.

Iettature, malie, & la lingua a strascinuni in the 21st century.

July 9, 2008

“O’ Giglio e Paradiso”: An Italian-American Musical Classic

Joseph Sciorra
(from left to right) Salvatore “Tutti” Ferrara, Antonio Rosalia, and Phil Caccavalle, giglio feast, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1950.

What the Brooklyn giglio feast and an obscure musician might tell us about Italian-American culture.

July 1, 2008

Watching “Serpico” with my Thirteen-Year-Old Son

Joseph Sciorra

Musings on heroes, role models, and the Italian-American imaginative.

June 22, 2008

Linking the Diaspora Musically

Joseph Sciorra

Hip hop is contributing to an expanding Italian diasporic consciousness, one that offers possibilities for an anti-racist politic.

June 14, 2008

"C'è la luna": Anatomy of an Italian-American "Folk" Song

Joseph Sciorra
Pete Seeger singing "C'è la luna" (1967).

An Italian-American standard turns out to have a convoluted history that belies the simplistic label “folk song.”

May 26, 2008

The Garden of Earthly Delights in Fresno

Joseph Sciorra
Joseph Sciorra
Baldassare Forestiere's "Underground Gardens," Fresno, 2008.

A Brief Visit to California’s Subterranean Marvel, Baldassare Forestiere’s “Underground Gardens.”

May 25, 2008

Brigand or Emigrant, but Ultimately Film Protagonist

Joseph Sciorra
Michelina De Cesare (1841-1868)

Representations of brigands have shaped and continue to reshape perceptions of Italy and its people throughout the world.