Friday, October 19

NIAF Chairman Dr. A. Kenneth Ciongoli  Has Choice Words for Media!!!!!

The ANNOTICO Report

 

As overjoyed as NIAF Chairman Dr. A. Kenneth Ciongoli was with the success of the Annual Gala. he had pointed remarks:

 

1. He commented on, whenever the Press is around at an Italian affair, all they want to do is talk about Pasta, that trivializes the event.

2, He commented that "Italian Americans have risen to the top of every facet of American importance. How did it happen? We didn't choose

                    group interests; we chose American interests. We chose to become Americans and percolated to the top."

3. He Denounced the Media's  pandering to the lowest possible denominator by their avid association of Italian Americans with the HBO

               television show "The Sopranos" in the press. 
             "No one seems to notice that these supposed Italian Americans are all vulgar beyond belief. ... The show is about nothing that we

                    understand to be our experience," he said, to thunderous applause.

 

Bravo for Dr Canogoli. !!!!!



Italian Americans Salute Success

Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
Christina Ianzito
October 15, 2007


We promised not to mention the scrumptious food served at the National Italian American Foundation's 32nd anniversary awards dinner, held on Saturday night at the Hilton Washington and Towers. "The press wants to talk about pasta," NIAF Chairman Dr. A. Kenneth Ciongoli moaned as he hosted pre-dinner cocktails in a small VIP room crowded with reporters and photographers awaiting the evening's superstar guests: presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and film director Martin Scorsese.

"The message," Dr. Ciongoli insisted, is that "Italian Americans have risen to the top of every facet of American importance. How did it happen? We didn't choose group interests; we chose American interests. We chose to become Americans and percolated to the top." As evidence, he pointed toward Italian-American Supreme Court Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Antonin Scalia, mingling nearby along with actresses Ellen Pompeo and Susan Lucci, the latter in a strapless pink dress. Miss Lucci noted that she's only half-Italian, "but I think if you have any Italian in you, it becomes dominant, and happily so."

Mr. Giuliani and Mrs. Pelosi first appeared on a "red carpet" walk in the crowded foyer before dinner. Many at the black-tie party shoved for a spot to point their cell-phone cameras at them while Secret Service agents called for order....


The evening's message — that Italian Americans are a well-assimilated and powerful mainstream force — was amplified later in the cavernous ballroom where 3,000 guests (paying $400 apiece) cheered, sometimes wildly, as a long and eclectic list of big-name guests — Jerry Vale, Gen. Peter Pace,  Gina Lollobrigida, Dion, Yogi Berra, D.C.  Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano — made spotlighted entrances to their seats onstage. (When Mr. Giuliani appeared, the crowd chanted, "Ruuu-dy, Ruuu-dy.")

The meal that followed — Oh, how can we not? — featured antipasto with prosciutto and polenta, penne pasta with pesto and filet mignon with porcini wine sauce and was accompanied by an homage to the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti, and a speech by Dr. Ciongoli denouncing the association of Italian Americans with the HBO television show "The Sopranos" in the press.

"No one seems to notice that these supposed Italian Americans are all vulgar beyond belief. ... The show is about nothing that we understand to be our experience," he said, to thunderous applause.

This sentiment, of course, may explain why the celebrated director of movies like "Mean Streets" and "Casino" showed up this year (after finally getting an Academy Award) to accept accolades from NIAF and announce the organization's new Jack Valenti Institute to fund Hollywood internships for Italian Americans. In his speech, Mr. Scorsese lauded the late Motion Picture Association of America chieftain's creation of the ratings system, which, he said, "preserves artistic freedom."

William Novelli, CEO of AARP, was honored for his public advocacy work, and Connie Stevens, the self-described "little short blond Italian girl from Brooklyn," a ccepted an award for humanitarian service.

Mr. Giuliani, mayor of New York at the time of the September 11 attacks, was introduced with a short film showing the twin towers collapsing. "America's mayor," the narrator said, "took charge of his troops, barely escaping death himself." The Republican presidential contender's own remarks were less weighty: he noted that his Manhattan-bred father's revenge for having to live with his wife's family in Brooklyn "was to make me a Yankees' fan." The most "wonderful thing about America," he added, is that it "doesn't require you to give up your heritage."

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071015/
FAMILY/110150021/1004/metro

 

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