VOTING IN THE ITALIAN ELECTIONS - After many years of fighting for Italians abroad to have the right to vote without having to go to Italy, the time has finally come.  The newly formed Ministry of "Italiani nel mondo" headed by the Honorable Mirko Tremaglia who has dedicated much of his lifetime to this goal is now busy coordinating Consular offices, CGIE, COMITES, and other agencies around the world trying to educate the new voters and develop the logistics necessary to carry out the job.  Those who are here on temporary work permits and who are well in tune with Italian politics will undoubtedly appreciate the convenience of not having to go back just to vote (unless fulfilling that civic duty was the break they indeed were looking forward to, in which case they may just say: "Thanks a lot, Mirko...") but how about those of us who have been here for 30, 40 or more years? 

What do we really know about Italian politics?  What do we know about the needs of our remote motherland and are we preoccupied that our vote may interfere with what our distant cousins who live there need or want?  Are we fair game for the more aggressive political parties who will try to recruit us in espousing their beliefs which may have little to do with anyone's well-being?  Who will oversee the logistics that are necessary to insure the widest and safest electorate participation?  The job was assigned to the Consulate offices who were already facing deep budget cuts and who are expected to carry out this mammoth job with the existing resources on a shoestring budget, resorting to Italian ingenuity and compromises, "alla garibaldina insomma"? Notices and mailers were already sent out and registrations keep pouring back by the thousands, but there is talk that some of it will have to be repeated because of misleading wording.  We will be voting on a variety of issues, general elections and referendums in Italy, COMITES, CGIE and who will represent us here in the US.   By the way, who will represent us in Italy? 

One might think that by our sheer size (number of eligible voters) we are entitled to 1 Senator and 2 House Representatives, for our own State, or region, or consular territory.  Think again, that's all we get for all of North America, not just USA, but Canada and Mexico as well.  Three people who will set up office in DC, or in New York, or in Toronto or in Mexico City or Vancouver or in Los Angeles, or in Guadalajara; I am pretty sure St. Louis is out....   How will we reach them, how will they report to us?  This may well be the beginning of a newer virtual relationship that only electronic media can fulfill.  Actually, it will be the continuation and conclusion of what we have already started.  In fact, only through the Internet and Portals like ours we can begin to educate ourselves and become the responsible voters we need to be, otherwise, why even bother? 

In the end, when we are fully informed we will welcome the opportunity to cast our vote, the responsible citizens that we are.  How do we get there, is the question.  Those of us who subscribe to RAI International already have a grasp of what's going on.  Newspaper and magazines will also contribute, but the Internet may well be the single most important means of communicating, back and forth.  Our Portal, ItalySTL.com, will dedicate a series of pages to Italian Voters Abroad which will be accessible through the Government section of our Favorite Links. 

There already is a wealth of information there by virtue of links to Italian government entities as well as the notices to voters which we were asked to post by our Consulate General.  We will institute a self administered bulleting board where voters and officials will be encouraged to post news items as well as answers to poignant questions such as: "Do I risk losing my American citizenship if I vote in the Italian elections?"  (The answer to that question, by the way, is "absolutely NOT", but we will have more details on that and everything else later on.)  Stay tuned as we educate ourselves and have fun doing it

TWO ITALIAN-AMERICAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ARE TOO MANY?  -  Hard as I try I find it impossible to comment on this while maintaining a decent and civil demeanor.  Let the two articles that appeared in the excellent Annotico Report speak for themselves:  "2 I-As US Supreme Justices too many?" and "Condemning Bush's Quota System"

WE CAN THANK HOLLYWOOD FOR OUR UNFLATTERING IMAGE - Another good post in the Annotico Report about Hollywood cashing in on stereotypes that are less than flattering to us, to say the least.  When will it end?  Click here to read the article and think what would happen if all of us would be just a little more sensitive and vocal about it.  Would our collective voices be heard?  Can we start in our own little world by refusing to accept stereotypical inferences by friends, relatives, acquaintances, etc?  We do not need to become belligerent about it, just politely say that we'd rather not be part of it and maybe it will rub off?  Worth trying!

ITALIAN AMERICAN LUMINARIES SERIES:   The Saint and the Gunfighter - 
In the year 1860 a seminarian by the name of Gabriel Possenti was attending a seminary located by the mountain village of Isola, Italy.  The town of Isola was the center of bitter fighting involving the soldiers of Garibaldi, with the town burned and pillaged.  Possenti, unarmed, went to the rescue of the town and encountered one of the soldiers abducting a young woman the soldier intended to rape.  Possenti protested and demanded the soldier cease and desist from his intentions.  The soldier derided Possenti that he, Possenti, was alone and couldn't possibly back up his demand.  Possenti quickly disarmed the soldier by grabbing the soldier's revolver from his belt, as well as quickly grabbing another revolver from the belt of another soldier.  More soldiers appeared with the intention of overwhelming Possenti.  A small lizard suddenly darted between Possenti and the soldiers at about that time and Possenti determined to show the soldiers that they tampered with him at their own peril dispatched the lizard with one shot... You will enjoy Paul Bernard's full article in http://www.italystl.com/ialum5.htm 

MESSAGIO DI FINE ANNO DEL PRESIDENTE CARLO AZEGLIO CIAMPI - 
For the Italian speaking, see the message in Miscellanea.  Nice, gentle, honest and believable.  This President may well go down in history as the best one ever. 

JANUARY IN ST. LOUIS-     January was a busy month, closing the previous year, tax deadlines and all, and for "Green Card" holders time to re-register with the INS :Immigration and Naturalization Service).  We published in Miscellanea and on our CGIE web site a reminder from our friend in Detroit, Domenico Mancini: CGIE elected Representative for the Midwest. Also from the same organization Consiglio Generale Italiani all'Estero Dr. Gastone Ortona Orefice from New York came to Chicago to enlighten us on the preparations for the Italian Vote Abroad whereas Italian citizen or those holding dual citizenship will be able to vote in the Italian election right here in St. Louis for the first time ever, in polling places yet to be determined.  While in Chicago, at the Italian Institute of Culture, we saw a very enlightening documentary entitled "The Righteous Enemy" depicting the monumental efforts that Italians made to save persecuted Jews during WWII.  We will bring the documentary to St. Louis for a future showing.  The Chicago events were organized by the Consul General Enrico Granara who, unfortunately, will be winding down his tenure in the USA this coming summer.  We hope to get him to come to St. Louis at least one more time to thank him for all that he has done for our communities.  Also while in Chicago I had the opportunity to sit in on COMITES meeting of their executive board as well as one of their full membership.  The Midwest COMITES Comitato Italiani all'Estero headquartered in Chicago, of which our Antonino Lombardo is Vice President and his brother Michael is also a member, promises to reorganize itself and show more vigor in undertaking projects that are beneficial to the community.  The COMITES, by the way, are also spearheading the dinner/dance on February 9  with proceeds to benefit the earthquake victims in Southern Italy.  Earlier in the month, our FIAO Federation of Italian-American Organization in St. Louis) conducted a soul-searching meeting to ascertain its purpose within the community and discovered that the consensus was to better represent, organize and assist the member associations.  One may argue that this was its intended purpose all along...     The key event of the month, though, was by far the start of the Winter Term for our Italian Language program at the Shaw Community Center on the Hill.  A program that was non-existent a year ago will cater to some 150 students, adults and children, with 9 classes in the evenings and 2 classes on Saturday morning and a staff of 8 teachers.  And to think that not too long ago critics said that there is no interest in Italian and that it is a dying language... The Italian Language program is operating with a matching grant from the Italian Government and is administered by the St. Louis School District under the auspices of FIAO

NEW COMMUNITY CALENDAR ON OUR PORTAL - A new very valuable service on our Portal, the St. Louis Community Calendar.  Accessible from the "HIGHLIGHTS" column of the Main Page, look for the banner shown here. We have contracted with one of our suppliers to maintain our community calendar.  Easy to use with any month of the year accessible with a simple click.  All of our special events as well as the routine monthly meetings by the various associations will be listed; most already are listed, for the entire year.  Avoiding conflicts and scheduling important community events so that the entire community may participate.  Use it, try it, you will like it.  There are opportunities for not only listing but also "marketing" your event with pop-up windows describing the event, time of day, details, who to call for reservations, hyperlinks to email and pertinent web sites.  Please contact us if you are interested in this additional service, or email calendar@ItalySTL.com.  Use this same email for submitting any event of interest for our community.

ITALIAN LANGUAGE AT SHAW SCHOOL ON THE HILL - Those of us who worked at the Open House on January 21 were overwhelmed by the size and resolve of the audience.  Hoping for some 60 or so attendees we kept unfolding chairs until every one of the 135 people who showed up to learn more and to sign up for our courses were accommodated.  Our teachers were on hand to consult with the prospective students, the staff handled speeches, registrations and the sale of books and there was even enough of the good food catered by Lo Russo's Cucina. After all was said and done we wound up with some 150 students in 11 classes with 8 teachers.  Our efforts did not go unnoticed and our earlier broadcast was picked up by News Italia Press, an international news agency, who took our notice, translated it into Italian and published to millions of readers.  See it in "Miscellanea". For those who thought Italian is a dying language let it be known that it is currently the 4th most popular foreign language in the world and as published by 9 Colonne (another news agency) is "..la lingua del piacere" .

NEW ITALIAN RESTAURANT GUIDE FOR ST. LOUIS - With 100,000 plus hits every month (actually 114,000 for January, not yet published) where else should somebody looking for a good Italian Restaurant turn to?  Our restaurant guide, of course, accessible from our Main Page, first banner under "HIGHLIGHTS" (upper right hand corner), or simply click here to view it.  Still under construction, its official release date will be March 1, 2003.  However, some of the better restaurants are highlighted already. Help us by telling your favorite restaurateur to support this effort and the "Italian Portal for the Midwest"

SEND THIS NEWSLETTER TO A FRIEND? - If you know of somebody who would like to receive this newsletter please give us his/her email address and we will gladly add it to our mailing list.  Thank you.  Mail to: freenewsletter@ItalyStl.com 

FROM THE "ANNOTICO REPORT" (Distributed directly to Italian American Leaders Nationally, and included as a feature on our Web Publication) 

100,000 PLUS "HITS" FOR "ITALY AT ST.LOUIS":

For the second Month in a row, "Italy at St. Louis" Portal has enjoyed more than 100,000 "hits" per month!!!!! It wasn't too long ago that that Franco Giannotti's site was doing a respectable 5,000 hits per month.  Franco's success has been his willingness to "Listen" to the Needs of the Italian American Community, "Respond", and Keep his Finger on the "Pulse". 

Giannotti is a "visionary" who early on realized how the Internet could effectively serve the I-A St. Louis Community. The amazing part is that even though he not only provided the "template", and has been enormously successful, no one else has replicated the Same type of Service in their own Community. Hmmm... 

Triple Plaudits Franco! For your Vision, your Success, and your Service!!!!

Richard Annotico, Esq. - Los Angeles, CA

NEW IN ST. LOUIS - Don't forget to check regularly the portal feature by the same name for the latest in the community.  See [Main Page -> New in St.Louis] 
 

The E-Newsletter is a free service and an extension of the www.ItalyStl.com "Italian portal for the Midwest" Internet site.  We highlight new items within the Portal and point out newsworthy events around town and elsewhere.  "Your Comments" features specific inquiries and comments on the part of our readers.  Needless to say your contributions will be cherished.  If you wish to comment and do not want your comment published just indicate "not for publication" anywhere in the body of the message. This newsletter will be published ...here and there, until an optimal frequency can be established. We hope you will find this service useful and we would love to hear from you about it. Just drop me a line: franco@ItalyStl.com.  Grazie. 

Con amicizia, 
Franco Giannotti, Publisher 

Underlined blue entries are direct links.  The descriptions in square brackets [...] show path from Main Page of www.ItalyStl.com