As we prepare to celebrate "Columbus Day", the most important date of the year for Italian Americans, we must prepare our kids and ourselves for the inevitable "counter attack", by Native Americans, and Latinos that will inevitably take place in the schools systems, and on the Parade Routes, that hysterically and recklessly charge Columbus with responsibility for every crime and malady ever committed in the Western Hemisphere.
You can combat this by reading these sites, and then spending "quality" time with your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, discussing material in the following web sites:
The
True Story of Christopher Columbus, Called the Great Admiral
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/BroTrue.html
OSIA-Columbus-
Fact vs Fiction
http://www.osia.org/public/culture/columbus.asp
Columbus on Trial: 1492v.1992 by Robert
Royal
http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/ROYAL-02.ART
Also, the Calandra Institute has an impressively
extensive site with a variety of
items for KIDS, under the following categories:
KITS, ACTIVITY BOOKS, AUDIO CASSETTES, VIDEO CASSETTES,
CD ROMs, PICTURE DICTIONARIES, CALENDARS, ITALIAN LANGUAGE, INSTRUCTION,
STORYBOOKS, NON FICTION
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CALANDRA INSTITUTE:
Now available
- to "Celebrate October ... Italian Heritage and Culture
Month" -
there is an on-line activity booklet for children and families as
well as students
and teachers entitled "Italian Explorers: Fun Activities
for the Home or
Classroom."
This booklet is free
and can be found on the Community Programs page of the
website of the John
D. Calandra Italian American Institute at :
www.qc.edu/calandra/community
[The NINTH item, under Community Programs]
The booklet contains
activities that include coloring, drawing, word search,
connect the dots,
a maze and more.
Children can have
fun as they learn about several famous Italian explorers
such as Cristoforo
Colombo (Christopher Columbus), Amerigo Vespucci,
Giovanni Caboto
(John Cabot), Giovanni da Verrazzano, and others.
Buon divertimento,
Geoffrey Claroni
Assistant Director
for Community Programs
John D. Calandra
Italian American Institute
John
D. Calandra Italian American Institute: Community Affairs
http://qcpages.qc.edu/calandra/community/commbam.html