(Note:I an equally conflicted about Senor Pimentel comments.)

'THE SOPRANOS ': GUILT TRIP, BUT ENLIGHTENING IMAGE 

O. Ricardo Pimentel, The Arizona Republic, 04/03/2001

I like the television show The Sopranos. And I'm feeling very, very guilty about this.

This show, an HBO series about a mobbed-up family, does not offer a very wholesome image of Italian-Americans. Some notable Italian - American groups have expressed outrage over the 
stereotype this show seemingly promotes....

Let's face it, if HBO produced a series revolving around a Mexican- American or African- American gang family there would likely be over- the-top denunciations. Perhaps even in this column. 

So, is this lack of outrage a sign of maturity? Is this an indication that Italian-Americans, formerly viewed as on the fringe just like minority groups of today, are now so accepted that a show like The Sopranos has only minor nuisance value on the stereotype front? 

Someday, will the public's perception of Latinos be so well rounded that a program depicting a mobbed-up dysfunctional Latino family on a popular television program not be viewed as a slam on all Latino families? And is this a good gauge of "progress." 

The Sopranos is hot. A recent Rolling Stone cover story on the show made the case that this was simply a family drama. Another cover story, this one in Newsweek, told us how the success of the show has the rest of television "running for its life." 

But these major stories didn't much dwell on the hard-to-miss stereotypes in the show. Tony Soprano is the head of the Soprano mob family. Last season, his mother put a hit out on him. He is a murderer, a misogynist and an adulterer. But he loves his wife and children. He is in therapy. His wife is loyal but not blind. 

The stories revolve around Tony -- a very complex man -- but all major characters are well developed and multidimensional....  But did I mention that the characters kill people?

The history of Latino civil rights is replete with protests about our depiction in media. In movies and on television, Latinos have grown weary of caricatures as drug dealers, hookers, gang members, bandidos with bad teeth, fraidy-cat peasants  -- or as sidekicks, sometimes heroic but more often buffoons....

And that might be the point here. I can watch The Sopranos and know from personal experience that there really aren't many Tony Sopranos among Italian-Americans. I don't think I can say the same thing about national perceptions about Latinos -- not when the national dialogue continues to center on Latinos as problems, as immigrant, unassimilating leeches who work for cheap. 

The National Italian American Foundation recently noted that Italian-Americans have never been much more than 5 percent of the fugitives on the FBI's most wanted list over the past 50 years. It noted that two-thirds of Italian-Americans, despite the portrayal in The Sopranos , are educated white-collar workers... 

So, while I will always welcome well-written, balanced portrayals of Latinos  -- as in Showtime's Resurrection Boulevard -- I will for the time being resent one-dimensional portrayals no matter how well written.... 
 

'THE SOPRANOS IS JUST GETTING 
MORE VIOLENT, MORE VULGAR

By Jack Mabley - Chicago Daily Herald - April 01, 2001 

I don't know anyone who watches "The Sopranos." Maybe I have strange friends.

But maybe they're not so strange. When "The Sopranos" is on the air, some 260 million Americans are not watching it. About 8 million are watching.

I saw half an hour of one of the new episodes. If anything, it is more profane, more violent and more insulting to Italian-Americans than it had been.

The current Newsweek glorifies "The Sopranos" with a cover picture and a long story with pictures inside.

The magazine slobbers with praise for this "cultural phenomenon."

I was surprised to read that the show's creator, David Chase, wrote one of my all-time favorite programs, "Northern Exposure."

He offered "The Sopranos" to the TV networks, without the profanity, nudity and shocking violence. No sale.

He turned to HBO and presumably figured if you use the foul-word 90 times per episode it is a genuine gangster show.

He also is making versions of the current episodes with the obscenities bleeped out, so they will be acceptable for reruns on respectable networks.

(Sample: "Bleep you. If you bleeping think I'm bleeping gonna take this bleeping" etc., etc., etc.)

Anything for a buck. The vulgarization of America grinds on.
 
 

WHY DOES URBANA DIS CHRIS?

Jim Dey - The News-Gazette Champaign, IL - 03/24/2001
 

Urbana school board President Tina Gunsalus cringes at the mention of the subject. "Do we not have more important things to talk about?" she said, a tone of resigned exasperation in her voice. Her school board colleague, John Dimit, expressed similar sentiments. "This is a story that should be allowed to die," said Dimit. 

Even Laura Haber, the Urbana school board member who authored the whole fuss, is somewhat surprised that the board's decision to turn its back on Christopher Columbus generated much public interest. "I think it's kind of interesting that there is so much comment about Urbana when Champaign's been doing it that way," she said. 

But the school board in Champaign actually hasn't done anything like that done recently in Urbana, where board members voted 5-2 to change the name of their annual Columbus Day Holiday to the Fall Holiday. The board took action on the holiday issue because Columbus, the adventurer credited with the discovery of the New World, was a despicable fellow. 

Since then, there have been letters, both pro and con, to the editor and a grass-roots movement to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Columbus led by Champaign City Council member Tom Bruno and Urbana city employee Pat Pioletti. The two are planning an Oct. 12 Italian-American Day dinner at the Urbana Civic Center to celebrate Columbus. Bruno, while acknowledging that he's "having fun" with the issue, said he was motivated by pride in his Italian heritage and his increasing impatience with those who believe that people who lived centuries ago and acted according to the mores of their times should be judged by modern standards. 

So what, he said, if Columbus discovered territory previously unknown to Europeans and then claimed it for his sponsors in Spain. "That's what people did back then. They jabbed a flag in the ground and said, 'This is mine,'" he noted. "The notion that Europeans were the only
people who did these things and that everyone else was saintly is just wrong."  That, of course, is a matter of opinion, and the Urbana school board's Columbus Day controversy is nothing new. For years now, Columbus has been pilloried once a year as an imperialist pig
who enslaved natives on the land he discovered, spread disease that killed thousands and was just, in general, not the kind of guy most people would want for a neighbor.  Any kind words about Columbus are characterized by his critics as naively symbolic of the generally loathsome nature of everything that went into the discovery of the Americas and, ultimately, the creation of the United States. 

The critics, like Macalster College anthropology Professor Jack Weatherford, contend that Columbus did not discover anything, didn't prove the world was round and was little more than a thief as he "raced from one Caribbean island to the next, stealing anything of value."  And those criticisms by Weatherford pale next to his claims that Columbus enslaved natives he discovered on his adventures and "launched one of the greatest waves of genocide known in history."  What does one make of such claims about an adventurer who repeatedly risked
his life and that of his crews by taking small ships out on large oceans to see just what was out there? 

Michael Berliner, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, sees more than just "politically correct" antipathy toward Columbus. "The attacks on Columbus are ominous because the actual target is Western Civilization," he writes. " ... It was Columbus' discovery for Western
Europe that led to the influx of ideas and people upon which this nation was founded and upon which it still rests. The opening of America brought the idea and achievements of Aristotle, Galileo, Newton and the thinkers, writers and inventors who followed."  Urbana board member Haber, who made the motion to change the school holiday's name, subscribes to the view that Columbus' arrival was mostly a disaster.  "Columbus did arrive here and enslave and kill people," she said. "It's become pretty obvious this isn't the person we should be celebrating with a holiday." 

Did nothing good come out of his discovery of America? 

"That would be hard to say," she said. "I'm not saying Europe coming to the new world was entirely disastrous for everybody. ... For Europe, it was a good thing. For the people who were here, it wasn't a good thing."  Haber did say she has no objection to the celebration dinner Bruno and Pioletti are planning, and that she has no animosity to Italian- Americans. But she suggested they could find better role models elsewhere.  "I guess perhaps they should look to other heroes," Haber said. "The school district needs to look to other heroes." 

That's not a view to which Dimit subscribes. Along with Joyce Hudon, Dimit voted against Haber's motion to oust Columbus from Urbana schools. Voting in favor were Haber, Gunsalus, Ruth Fisher, Mark Netter and Steve Summers. "I just don't buy into the fact that he needs to be denigrated. I'm not politically correct on this one," said Dimit, who indicated he's looking
forward to attending the Columbus Day dinner at the civic center.  Gunsalus explained her vote by saying it adds "symmetry" to the school calendar because the school district celebrates a Spring Holiday instead of what's traditionally been Good Friday. 

"I don't think anybody means any harm here," she said, somewhat sheepishly. "The Urbana school board was not attacking Western Civilization." But that's not how some people see it. So Bruno and company are moving ahead and asking "the help of anyone who wants to come forward." 

"It was the straw that broke the camel's back," he said, while carefully noting that "I don't want to be insulting to Arabs by bringing camels into this." 

Meanwhile, over in Champaign, school officials there enjoy being out of the limelight and quickly deny any suggestions they have ousted Columbus from their schools.  "It's never been an issue with us," said Superintendent Mike Cain. For the record, Columbus Day is not a holiday in Champaign. The school district has a waiver from the state to eliminate Columbus Day as a holiday and created a Fall Holiday to accommodate students and teachers who
celebrate Yom Kippur. This year, the Fall Holiday in Champaign will be Sept. 27, but school also will be dismissed on Columbus Day because of a teachers' institute. 

Jim Dey is a member of The News-Gazette staff. His column appears on Saturday.

ITALY LEFT RULES IN THE LAND CHRIST FORGOT

By Gideon Long

POTENZA, Italy, March 26 (Reuters) - Christ, according to southern Italian 
folklore, stopped at Eboli -- a jumble of concrete houses and peeling office 
blocks scattered across a hillside southeast of Naples. 

He did not venture further inland into the mountainous region of Basilicata. 

But in his absence, the Italian centre-left which dominates politics in the 
area and expects to win here again in the May 13 general election, claims to 
have performed miracles of its own. 

Unemployment is still high at 15.7 percent but is much lower than in the 
neighbouring regions of the impoverished south where it is stuck at a 
crippling 23 percent. 

The Mafia, still active in the urban blackspots of Sicily, Campania and 
Puglia, has been kept at bay in rural Basilicata. 

The car giant Fiat and energy group Eni have invested in the area and the 
European Commission has singled out the regional government for special 
praise for its prompt and frugal use of EU funds. 

The centre-left says Basilicata, once the poorest region in Italy, can serve 
as an example to the rest of the "Mezzogiorno" (southern Italy) of how to 
move away from the thoughtless state aid which has characterised investment 
in the area for 50 years. 

"What we need to do now is concentrate on targeting the internal areas of the 
region with infrastructure projects, improved roads and railways," says Carlo 
Petrone, regional coordinator for the Democrats of the Left (DS), the largest 
party in Italy's ruling coalition. 

"Our strategy is working -- I don't say perfectly -- but it is taking effect. 
We will win here again without a doubt, and we plan to press on in the same 
direction for the next five years." 

GOD-FORSAKEN LAND 

In "Christ stopped at Eboli," Carlo Levi's classic study of rural Basilicata 
in the 1930s, the author described a world which was, quite literally, 
god-forsaken. 

Everyone from the ancient Romans and Greeks had shied clear of its rugged 
mountains, which straddle the area between the heel and toe of boot-shaped 
Italy. 

The area was rife with malaria and mired in what Levi described as "a poverty 
so dismal and abject that it amounts to slavery without hope of 
emancipation." 

Self-esteem was in short supply. 

"We're not Christians," the peasants told Levi. "Christ stopped short of 
here, at Eboli." 

A visit to Basilicata's regional capital Potenza suggests how much things 
have changed. 

Fashion houses Giorgio Armani, Max Mara and Furla have opened along the 
town's cobbled central shopping street and Potenza gives off an air of modest 
prosperity not usually associated with the Italian south. 

"Last year we won the regional elections with 70 percent of the vote," said 
Petrone, whose party boasts nine of the region's 14 members of the national 
parliament. 

"If the centre-left wins the May election at a national level and puts its 
strategy into place, I think we can halve the unemployment level in 
Basilicata within the next two years." 

"TESTA, TERRA, TURISMO" 

There appears to be little to choose between the policies of the centre-left, 
led nationally by former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli, and the centre-right 
of Silvio Berlusconi. 

Both pledge to improve infrastructure by electrifying the railway network and 
building a motorway between Potenza and Matera, the only other town of any 
size in the region. 

Both say they want to encourage agriculture, both stress the region's 
potential for tourism and both say they want to encourage private investment. 

"As Berlusconi says, the south needs the three Ts -- testa, terra and turismo 
(head, land and tourism)," says Nicola Pagliuca, a deputy from Berlusconi's 
Forza Italia (FI) party. 

"By head he means ideas -- new economy initiatives which can give the whole 
Mezzogiorno, not just Basilicata, a boost." 

A boost is certainly what the south needs, as the plight of neighbouring 
Calabria and Sicily testifies. 

Despite modest successes in Basilicata, Molise and Puglia, there is still a 
yawning gap between the standard of living at opposite ends of the Italian 
peninsula. 

The average family in the Mezzogiorno has a disposable income of $1,604 a 
month compared to $2,135 in the north. The gap between the two figures has 
actually widened recently. 

Some 17 percent of families in the south own a dishwasher whereas the figure 
for the north is 35 percent. 

Sicily's official jobless rate of 23.4 percent compares to a level of just 
5.4 percent in northern Italy, which accounts for a massive 73.7 percent of 
all Italian exports compared to just 10.1 percent for the south. 

EU Commissioner Mario Monti recently estimated that over the past 50 years 
Brussels and Rome have ploughed 600 trillion lire ($279.8 billion) into the 
south with little tangible benefit. 

While Ireland, Greece and Portugal made huge strides in increasing their 
per-capita GDP during the 1990s, the Italian south fell further behind the EU 
average. 

The centre-right says this points to a failure of government policy and is 
vowing to open up the south to the free market. 

But the left says the economy of areas like Basilicata is still too fragile 
to be left to the kind of entrepreneurship for which Berlusconi is famous. 

"I know what the south's policy towards the Mezzogiorno is -- privatisation," 
the DS's Petrone said. "The south cannot survive on privatisation alone. It 
still needs state help, just not the kind we've seen in the past. 

"The idea of the south thrown totally on to the free market frightens us. The 
economic forces here are not ready for it." 

Basilicata is hardly going to swing May's general election one way or another 
-- the region has an electorate of just 520,000 or about a quarter that of 
Rome. 

And as FI's Pagliuca acknowledges, with a touch of the southern fatalism 
which struck Levi so forcefully 70 years ago, voting habits are unlikely to 
change quickly here. 

"Outside the two cities (Potenza and Matera), voting according to opinion 
doesn't exist," he says with a sigh. 

"People vote for friends, or out of loyalty, or out of patronage. There's 
always someone who did someone else's grandfather a favour 80 years ago and 
that's passed down to the father and then to the son. 

"Unfortunately, that's the way it is." 

TUNING IN TO 'THE SOPRANOS' IS TOTAL WASTE 
By Steve Corbett -  03/18/2001 - Associated Press Newswires

You watch The Sopranos?" I asked. 
"No," he said. "It's against my religion."

Mine, too. 
Nowadays, faith crumbles easily. 

The man I called is a well-respected member of Northeastern Pennsylvania's Italian-American community. But as a member of the law enforcement community, he declined to comment about America's love affair with the made-for-television Mafia. 

At least he's not watching this HBO junk that's infested prime time and turned us into a nation of chooches. 

That's Italian for knucklehead. 

So what's your excuse? 

Too many hard-working, law-abiding Italians and Sicilians occupy plots in local cemeteries while a new season of Soprano plots takes our minds off real crime - mob-inspired and otherwise. 

Still, a mob-obsessed nation applauds while a new generation becomes enamored with Mafia magnetism that once influenced this region in ways we can only hope to never see again. 

Organized crime infiltrated organized labor, politics, the cops and the church. I'm not even Italian and take offense to memories of our region's once powerful crime family that was populated by bullies and men of shame. 

Although my recollections are not that vivid, they're clear enough to know that our weakening popular culture is often shaped by make-believe. And make-believe North Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano has already successfully recruited an army of young wanabees to his cause. 

Most people have never seen a Mafia boss, let alone talked with one. Most people would never imagine a once dangerous don sitting in a wheelchair, struck silent by stroke and depression. 

But that afternoon a few years ago when I visited Russell Bufalino, he sat alone in the spring sunshine trying to come to grips with aging, sickness and loss. 

His grip was clammy and weak. Power had deserted him. No bodyguards watched his back. Nothing could save him now. 

All the old boss had left was his wife. After all these years, she exhibited a resolve that is difficult to accept but easy to understand. Now, she was his boss. 

That day in Kingston, Bufalino was just another lost old man getting ready to die. 

Nobody was afraid of him anymore. 

In the end, no mile-long funeral clogged the streets. No feds rousted the pinky-ring-wearing, double-breasted mourners or took down license plate numbers from the shadows. 

No obituary appeared in the newspapers. No viewing was held. 

To this day, no one has been able - or willing - to tell me the details of Bufalino's funeral or the location of his final resting place. 

Not even Tony Soprano. 

Yeah, I know it's just TV, and drama is precious expression and can be used to impart life's lessons. 

I also know that the average Soprano fan isn't watching Tony, Junior, Christopher, Carmela and Paulie Walnuts as a way to see good win over a cruel world getting crueler. 

In the season premiere - which I didn't watch - Tony held a wake and buried his mother. 

We should follow suit and bury our romance with the mob. The hard reality is that most mob guys are rats, dead or imprisoned. 

Because integrity thrives on truth, no La Cosa Nostra gangster ever qualified to call himself a man of honor. 

Except for a nest of East Coast punk leftovers, the Mafia is all but dead. 

Bury their illusions in an unmarked grave. 

Then forget about 'em. 

Now admit it, How many of you got the clever use of the Sopranos being a 
Total "Waste", since Tony is in the "Waste" Business? 
 

I found the Introduction to Eugene Miller and Gianna Sommi Panofsky's
"Struggling in Chicago: Italian Immigrants with a Socialist Agenda 1880-1990"
fascinating.

I was struck by certain similarities between the then Italian American
"Economic" struggle against exploitive Employers (varying hierarchal degrees
of Robber Barons) and today's Italian American "Pride/Dignity" struggle
against exploitive Mass Media (who also worship at the alter of money, and
have no social conscience, in their use of sex, violence, and defamation for
profit).

To put matters in perspective, in the historical and continuing saga of
"Man's Inhumanity to Man", one group/tribe/nation has too often used the
propaganda of "inferiority" of another group, as one of the justifications
for treating that "lesser" group in an "inhumane" way. 

Whether it be Genocide, Slavery, Subjugation, Exploitation, or merely 
rendering the "lessers" Politically Impotent.

I'll not go into the most recognized examples of any of the above, and not
even mention examples of the above that were perpetuated on inhabitants 
of the Italic Peninsula, but merely focus on the Italian American Experience.

I have found no widespread evidence of I-A Genocide, although there was
palpable loathing and revulsion toward I-As that resulted in innumerable
examples of killings of I-As merely because they were I-As.

Slavery, and Subjection is a different story. For what else is being an
"Indentured Servant", with or without the "padrone" system. Whether it be in
the Carolinas where I-As toiled as stoop laborers, guarded by black overseers
with shotguns, or the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania in company towns
where the "company" store charged I-As more for the "basics", than I-As were
able to earn in twelve + hour days, and were therefore "indentured" in
perpetuity, to cite just a few examples.
( I am NOT saying that I-As were the only one's, but perhaps the more
numerous, because of their great immigrant numbers)

Economic Exploitation of I-As, the basis of the subject Book is indisputable.

Social Exploitation of I-As, defined as the demeaning of a group, to "keep
them in their place", or to give the powerful, privileged, protected, or
politically correct, some vulnerable "target" to treat unfairly, or "feel"
superior to, should be obvious even to those "assimilated" or "in denial".

The Rendering of I-As as Politically Impotent, by the use of propaganda (Mass
Media use of Torrential Negative Stereotyping) to continually remind I-As of
their "inferiority" as a group, (Mafioso, Brutes, Buffoons, Illiterates,
Racists), which in turn is justification for treating that "lesser" group in
an "inhumane" way, achieves a desired result of discouraging I-As to
organize, or even speak up.

On an Individual basis, the use of "tying these tin cans to an I-As tail"
when used by a political opponent, competing coworker, or business competitor
can have devastating results.

The enormous detrimental effects, of all these "economic", "social", and
"political" consequences seems to escape the majority of Italian Americans.

Even many I-A  academics, many of whom "shy" away from "reformist/activists"
actions, actions that allowed their grand parents and parents to provide them
with a "better life" seem oblivious. Other I-A academics, even those who
justifiably admire, appreciate and write about the I-A "reformist/activist"
(more modern terms for radical) movement, appear to be strangely silent (or
worse, virulently opposed) regarding the  I-A "Pride/Dignity" struggle.

If it was not clearly the "academics", but merely the "educated" that led the
valiant effort for "I-A economic" reform, perhaps it is asking for too much
to expect the "I-A academics" to be writing, and speaking about " I-A
pride/dignity" reform.

Yet, in every other community, it has been the academic, that has provided
the written and spoken inspiration for that communities' activists.

Curiously in 1978, "Ethnic Images in American Film and Television", published
by the Balch Institute, included a Chapter on Italian Americans, with each of
three segments written by Joseph Papaleo, Richard N. Juliani, and Michael
Parenti, all who wrote persuasively about the damage the Negative I-A 
Stereotyping was inflicting on the I-A Community.

The complaints were very similar back then, but in those two decades, matters
have since gotten even worse.

What struck me as being very ironic is that  Joseph Papaleo expressed a great
misplaced optimism, when he stated, " The American Italian Historical
Association may signal the beginning of a voice".

Aside from a very few ''special" exceptions, who I dare not mention by name,
for concern of their being "associated" with me, and therefore "sullied"......

Where Is That Voice??????
 

ITALIAN TRAVEL OBSERVATIONS
Credit to Jacqui Suker and PIE

1.   Italy is NOT like the USA
2.   The Italian language is a relative term (read "dialects")
3.   Each region or city you visit is the most beautiful place in the whole country.  It also has the best food.  Just ask them.
4.   Driving in Naples is indeed lunacy (see LA Times article by Susan Spano at http://www.latimes.com/travel/otherdest/lat_naples010304.htm )
5.   You know those quaint photos of tiny narrow streets with tall buildings on both sides?  They're not quaint.  They're the norm.
6.   Stop signs are optional.
7.   Those Motorini (scooters and Motor cycles) zipping along the side of your car and cutting front of you don't count.  Treat them as pedestrians.  Ignore them.  They will take care of themselves.
8.   The pedestrians walking out in front of your car even when you are driving 50 km/h don't count either.  They can take care of themselves. Ignore them.  You won't hit them.
9.   Remember that the cars darting out from the side streets will stop before they broadside you.  They're just trying to get a better view.
10.  One way streets are only one way if you don't need to go that way.
11.  Remember to fold in your mirrors when you park the car, so they don't get taken off by the other passing cars.
12.  Parking is acceptable anywhere.  If it fits there, park it.  Even on the sidewalks or on the island in the middle of the road. 
13.  Exit your car on the non-traffic side, unless you had to park touching a building on that side.
14.  Check your side mirror before opening your door.
15.  He who hesitates at unmarked intersections will have to wait a long time before he gets another chance. 
16.  When they blow their horn at you either ignore it, or consider it a rite of passage.  They will use their horns before their brakes.
17.  The extra insurance you buy on your rental car to cover the deductible is the best money you will ever spend in Italy.
18.  Via del Corso (Main Street) in any big city may be only 10 feet wide. 
19.  Via del Corso in Rome is a great place to have Ferrari races at night.  The later the better.
20.  Don't worry when all the stores close at 6:00pm.  They are just taking a dinner break.  They'll all be back open at 8:00pm.  The ones that close at 7:30, however, stay closed.
21.  Being in a hurry doesn't work, especially in the morning.
22.  Stores and hotel reception desks open when they feel like it.
23.  Those fountains all over the city really are ok to drink out of.
24.  Paying extra to park your car in the courtyard of the hotel in Naples is well worth the money.  Cars on the street may be dismantled in ten minutes or less.
25.  The car insurance does not cover theft of tires or windows.
26.  It is OK that pigeons used your car as target practice in the night.  The man you paid extra money to so you could park in his courtyard will wash your car before you leave.  Even if you don't have time for him to do so.
27.  When the men clean your windshield while you pause in traffic, happily hand them a coin.  You will now be able to see the cars before they hit you.
28.  If the hotel decides to close for the night before you get there, they will leave you a note, and you can pick up your room keys at the bar down the street.
29.  The man who owns the bar will not allow you to eat anywhere except his establishment, or his son-in-law's. 
30.  He will close the bar and go with you in your car to be sure you eat at his son-in-law's restaurant.
31.  The police will close the only street which provides access to your hotel.  This will happen a few minutes before you arrive.
32.  Maps of the cities in Italy are worthless, but they are fun to look at.
33.  Street names change every two blocks.
34.  Street "signs" are high on the sides of the buildings about two inches from your car, so it is impossible for the driver to ever see them.
35.  If you happen to catch a glimpse of a street sign which is similar to the one your hotel is on, TURN!  It is not an alley.  It is the main road.
36.  Entering big cities at night is preferable.  You can't find anything anyway, and at night there a fewer cars to fight with.
37.  the Chiesa di Santa Maria di Grazie in Milan is closed on Monday (housing the Last Supper)
38.  You cannot wear shorts or sleeveless shirts in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, and in many of the other main cathedrals.
39.  Assisi is a gem.  Get off the freeway and drive up the hill to see it.  Wear sturdy walking shoes.
40.  Assisi closes down completely between 6:00pm and 8:00pm.  Adjust your schedule accordingly.
41.  The Italian obsession with anything sensual is nothing new. 
42.  The modern billboards are a little less obscene than the murals in the houses in Pompeii.
43.  The little churches you find every two blocks are every bit as fascinating as the big cathedrals.
44.  Credit card machines usually do not work in Italy, but Bancomats (ATM's) do.
45.  There is a bancomat about every four blocks.
46.  The ground floor in the elevator is either 0 or T (terre).
47.  Below ground floors are -1, -2, etc.
48.  You have to "buzz" someone's apartment to get into the building.
49.  If the hotel or apartment building hallway is dark, find the light  switch.
50.  Take a voltage converter.  They not only have different voltage, the plugs are a different shape.
51.  If your hotel has a hair dryer, use it instead of yours.  This will prevent overheating your voltage converter and almost starting a fire.
52.  Don't follow the buses and taxis down the restricted traffic lane unless you really can't find any other way to get to where you are going.
53.  Nothing is more "old-world" than waking to the sound of the bells ringing in the bell tower of "il Duomo" in Firenze (Florence).
54.  Go early to the Vatican Museum in Rome.  They open at 8:30, but the line starts forming at 7:45 even in the off season.
55.  Take all the time you want touring the Vatican Museum.  When you finally get to the Sistine Chapel at the end, they allow to linger as long as you like.
56.  Buy the guide books, and rent the audio tours.  You will enjoy the museums much more that way.
57.  Keep track of how many different colors of "habits" you can spot on the nuns.
58.  Watch for the open-air markets on the side streets.  You will really experience Italy in them.
59.  Buy fresh fruit from the street vendors for breakfast.
60.  Eat as much Gelato as you can.  Try all the odd flavors.
61.  Enjoy the colors.
62.  Be sure to eat Buffalo Mozzarella. 
63.  Bathrooms at McDonald's are free, but not always clean.
64.  If you can't find the bathroom, look for the stairs to the basement.
65.  Men and women often use the same bathrooms.
66.  Wear mostly black between September and June.
67.  Wear garish pastels during the summer.
68.  The little "sinks" next to the toilets in the hotel are not sinks.
69.  Towels in northern Italy and Switzerland are simply pieces of cotton fabric.  In the south they are big thick blankets.
70.  On the Autostrade stay out of the left lane unless you are willing to drive 140-200 km/h. 
71.  Keep an eye on your rear-view mirror.  Those cars come up behind you really, really fast.
72.  The Swiss/Italians are experts on building roads and cities on the faces of cliffs.
73.  Swiss chocolate really is the best.
74.  Monday morning the grocery stores are closed.
75.  Thursday afternoon the clothing and hardware stores are closed.
76.  In small towns everything is closed on Sunday.
77.  You don't really need a clock.  The church bells will call you to mass on Sunday morning.
78.  Italian cemeteries look like miniature cities with their own tall buildings.
79.  When you visit people they will insist that next time you have to stay with them.
80.  Take little gifts for people.
81.  Bring pictures of your family and your home town.
82.  Watch your valuables like a hawk.
83.  Don't trust anyone.
84.  Assume you will "taken" a few times.  Laugh at how naive you were.
85.  If you do anything with the main motivation to save money, it will ALWAYS cost you more in the long run.
86.  Talk walks in the morning and get a feel for life there. 
87.  Buy lots of postcards.  The pictures are better than the ones you take, and if you lose your film you will still have the postcards.
88.  When you finish a roll of film, put it in your suitcae, not your camera bag.
89.  Use public transportation as often as possible.  Their buses, trains, and Metro's work great.
90.  Italians do not like rules.
91.  Swiss take their rules very seriously.
92.  Always at least carry a jacket, even if you never wear it. 
93.  Total strangers will stop to warn you about health risks of cold weather if you are wearing short sleeves in 65 degree weather.
94.  Enjoy the incredible beauty.  It is everywhere.
95.  Keep your passport, credit cards, and cash in a money belt.
96.  Towns belong on hills.  The steeper the better. 
97.  If it is too steep to put a road or house on, plant a vineyard or an olive grove.  Terracing works great.
98.  Italians love building things out of cement.
99.  Italians might build a high freeway just to play with more cement.
100. Italians and Swiss are both great at building tunnels.
101. Just becuase it looks old does not necessarily mean it is old.
102. Italians are very good at faking "old." 
103. Take an occasional opportunity to stop in a non-tourist city to really experience Italy at it's best. 
104. Take your own translator along if you have one.
105. Use your dictionary and phrase book.  They get a kick our of your attempts to speak the language.
106. Every family will have a child who "speaks English."  Don't expect to be able to understand their English.
105. Laugh a lot.
106. Switch to their meal times immediately to minimize jet lag.
107. Don't drink carbonation, caffeine, or alcohol on the plane, to minimize puffiness and jet lag.
108. Get up and walk around a bit on the airplane to improve circulation.
109. Remember to ask them to stamp your passport at every airport and border crossing.
110. Keep saving your money because shortly after you get home you will want to go right back.
 

One can not expect to win every battle, but neither do we lose them all. IAOV has just keep trying, and savoring these small victories, continues to be Perservering, Persistent, and Tenacious.

Congratulations to IAOV, and thanks to Rosalie Calie.

FIRST: In response to an Emailing campaign from IAOV, Red Lobster has agreed to pull the "breaking legs commercial", that reflected badly on Italian Americans. Their response is appreciated. 

SECOND: A few weeks ago... (IAOV initiated an Emailing campaign) to the Port Authority regarding the Soprano ads on PATH. 

..(Below is the) letter from Michael P. DePallo the Director/General Manager of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation which  is a subsidiary of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey:

"Your Internet letter to Inspector General Robert Van Etten has been 
forwarded to me for reply.  As Director and General Manager of the Port 
Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH), I am responsible for the operation 
of the PATH system.  I welcome the opportunity to address your concerns.

I regret that you were offended by the Advertisements for the fictional 
television program, "The Sopranos."  While I am sensitive to your objections, 
the advertisements do not violate Port Authority policy and we would have no 
legal grounds to reject them.  Please be advised that I have informed TDI, 
our contractor responsible for placement of these advertisements, of the 
views that you and others share.

You will be pleased to know that, notwithstanding the above, TDI will be 
removing these advertisements very shortly.

Thank you for your letter of concern.

Sincerely,

Michael P. DePallo
Director/General Manager
Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation

Gender Discrimination, World Wide, was also equally overlooked.

I have therefore taken the liberty to bold and underline a certain portion of 
the following press release.

Sons of Italy and Commission for Social Justice Support International Day
for Elimination of Racial Discrimination
* * *
Largest Italian-American/Anti-defamation Organization Reminds Americans to
Embrace Differences

Washington, D.C., March 21, 2001 - The Order Sons of Italy in America
(OSIA), the largest and longest established organization of Italian-American
men and women in the world, and its anti-defamation arm the Commission for
Social Justice (CSJ) released a joint statement today supporting the ideals
of the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination, Mar. 21, and urged all Americans to embrace the differences
between cultures and races.

“Our differences are what make us, as Americans, unique. We should embrace
these differences and view them as ways to branch out, discover new things,
learn appreciation and tolerance, and mostly, enjoy the diversity of life
that we share in this great country,” said Philip R. Boncore, OSIA national
president and CSJ chairman.

“OSIA and the CSJ support this day designated by the United Nations because 
we understand discrimination and intolerance. We know that many of our 
nation’s minorities, including Italian Americans, are subject to
discrimination in its many ugly forms and we fight every day to end it,”
Boncore continued. “We must make a conscious choice to look upon our
differences, the color of our skin, the various traditions, the many
countries from where our forefathers came, and know their value. We must
lead the world by example.”

The Order Sons of Italy in America has more than 700 chapters and more 
than 575,000 members in all 50 U.S. states. OSIA members have been 
dedicated to providing educational opportunities, improving the lives of all 
Americans, and preserving the Italian heritage since the organization’s 
founding in1905. The Commission for Social Justice was founded with the 
purpose of ensuring equal treatment, concern, respect, and freedom for all 
people regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, age, or sex. 

The CSJ is particularly dedicated to: ELIMINATING FALSE, NEGATIVE PORTRAYALS 
OF ITALIAN AMERICANS IN THE MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRIES AND REPLACING 
THEM WITH TRUE, POSITIVE, AND AFFIRMING PORTRAYALS.

For more information contact:

Diane E. Crespy 
OSIA and CSJ, National Office 
219 E St., NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 547-2900, phone
(202) 547-0121, fax
dcrespy@osia.org, email
www.osia.org, website

I'd like to briefly comment (on your post: "A Most Unlikely Hero"). 

Though his story is certainly inspirational, Perlasca's Fascist background did not make him an "unlikely hero" at all.  Many soldiers & officers of the Royal Italian Army, which was, of course, the very military vehicle of Italian Fascism, did their utmost to shelter or rescue local Jews from the Nazis (the military, not moral allies of Italy).  Especially in the Balkans. 

Very, very few Italians, Fascist or not, accepted, supported or participated in Nazi anti-Semitism.

Cordially,

D.Fiore

To: D. Fiore,

You are of course absolutely right!

In my own defense, I was copying the title, and I have also unwittingly fallen victim to the brainwashing that I have repeatedly warned others to guard against. 

The propaganda is insidious!

Thank you for calling me on that point, and correcting the Record.

Appreciatively,
Richard Annotico

A MOST UNLIKELY HERO 
A Fascist who saved Jews.(Giorgio Prelasca)

Author/s: Gregory Conti - Issue: Dec 3, 1999

December 1944. A bitter cold day in Budapest. A tall handsome man in a dignified but tattered suit, his eyes alert and searching, is peering down the loading dock as long lines of men, women, and children are being pushed toward waiting freight cars by German soldiers and Hungarian police. Behind the man is a black Buick sedan with a Spanish flag flying from its aerial.

Suddenly the man rushes forward, grabs two young boys by the collar, drags them back down the platform, and throws them into the back seat of his car. A German soldier runs over and pulls his revolver, gesturing to the man to put the boys back in line. The man refuses. "This car is foreign territory," he shouts at the soldier. "The boys are under Spanish jurisdiction and you'll be violating international law if you so much as touch them." The two men begin to scuffle and a German lieutenant colonel comes over to investigate. He tells the soldier to leave the man and the boys alone. "Go ahead and take them," he says to the man, barely glancing toward the back seat of the car. "Their time will come."

Just a few steps away, another man stands in front of a car bearing a Swedish flag. He is Raoul Wallenberg, sent to Budapest by the king of Sweden on a mission to buy safe passage out of Hungary for as many Jews as possible. After the scuffle, Wallenberg walks over and, with mixed concern and irritation, says to the Spaniard, "You realize who that was, don't you?"

"No, who was it?"

"That was Adolf Eichmann."

Wallenberg thought he was speaking to Jorge Perlasca, the Spanish consul in Budapest. But in fact, the man who had pulled the two boys out of line was not Jorge but Giorgio Perlasca; not Spanish but Italian; and not a diplomat but a buyer for an Italian livestock importing company, recently escaped from a German internment camp. Perlasca had named himself Spanish consul, without any authorization whatsoever, on December 1, 1944, when the real Spanish ambassador fled to Switzerland. For the next two months, Perlasca would be in charge of the embassy, and his management of Spain's protection program for Hungarian Jews would save some five thousand of them from certain death in the gas chambers.

In many ways, Giorgio Perlasca was an unlikely candidate for heroism in the Holocaust. A dedicated Fascist, he fought for Mussolini during Italy's invasion of Ethiopia and again in the Spanish Civil War in support of Francisco Franco. He dissented a bit too vocally, however, from the Fascist anti-Jewish racial laws of 1938, and when the war with the Allies broke out, he was given an exemption from military service. In September 1943, when Italy signed its separate peace with the Allies, Perlasca was in Hungary, where he was promptly arrested by the German SS and sent to an internment camp. He escaped, found his way to the Spanish embassy, and, in recognition for his service to Franco, was given Spanish citizenship and a passport. Unable to get back to Italy, Perlasca signed on as a volunteer in the Spanish effort to protect Hungarian Jews and, when Spanish ambassador Angel Sanz-Briz fled to Switzerland, Perlasca announced that he was the new Spanish consul.

Perlasca's diary of his two-month consulship, contained in Enrico Deaglio's The Banality of Goodness (University of Notre Dame Press, 1998), recounts the extraordinary exploits of Perlasca and a small group of collaborators on the embassy staff: churning out thousands of false documents, setting up and defending eight "safe houses"under Spanish jurisdiction, finding food and medicine on the black market, negotiating with the Hungarian authorities, and, together with Wallenberg and representatives of other neutral countries (Portugal, Switzerland, and the Vatican), pulling innocent victims from freight cars bound for the death camps. Through it all, Perlasca showed himself to be an ingenious organizer, a convincing "diplomat,"and a truly magnificent impostor.

At war's end came the long trip home and more than forty years of silence- until 1987, when he was discovered by a group of Hungarian Jewish women (young girls in 1944) who owed their lives to him. Perlasca was then a seventy-seven-year-old man living a modest life in Padua. In 1989, the first time Deaglio went to visit the rescuer at his home, Perlasca didn't even have a telephone:

To communicate with him you had to go through his sister, who lived next door. When someone called for Giorgio, his sister would hang a newspaper out on the terrace with a clothespin, so when Giorgio went out for a walk he could look up and see the signal. Then he would ring the doorbell and his sister would come out on the terrace and yell down to him that someone had called. It wasn't long, however, before so many people were calling that this makeshift system was no longer able to handle the phone traffic. Over the next four years, Perlasca would be decorated with honors by Israel, Hungary, Spain, the United States, and, finally...by Italy as well.

When Perlasca was asked what episode he remembered most, he always cited "the case of the twin boys" he had snatched from Eichmann. "I took them over to one of our safe houses and, once we were there, I realized that they weren't two boys after all. They were brother and sister. They had those little differences that begin in the development phase; the boy a little bit of hair on his upper lip and the girl just the first signs of breasts. We kept them for a few days and then we handed them over to the Red Cross. I never saw them again. I don't know what finally became of them, although I think they made it. But I'll always remember when I saw them walking forward together in that line. I think I'll remember them rather than so many others because they were so strikingly alike, because they were alone, and because they were so beautiful."

Giorgio Perlasca died of a sudden heart attack at his home in Padua, on August 15, 1992, just before publication of the fourth Italian edition of the Deaglio book.

Perlasca's dramatic contribution to the rescue effort raises a number of compelling questions. The most obvious, of course, is why did he do it? "Because I couldn't stand the sight of people being branded like animals," he told Deaglio. "Because I couldn't stand seeing children being killed. That's what I think it was. I don't think I was a hero."

Perlasca's answer may seem deceptively simple. After all, at one time he had been a committed Fascist. Further illumination on his choice comes from his response to another question: Why did he break with the Fascist party over the 1938 racial laws? "I couldn't understand the discrimination against the Jews. So many of my friends were Jews, in Fiume, Trieste, and Como. In Spain, the commander of a battery in my artillery regiment was a Jew from Rome...." Unlike Hitler's "willing executioners," Perlasca retained the ability to think for himself, to respond not only to the dictates of ideology but to the evidence of his personal experience and his own perception of reality. Like others among the minority of his fellow Italian Christians who helped both Italian and foreign Jews, Perlasca shared what Susan Zuccotti has called an "amiable inclination to ignore the rules" and a "traditional peasant contempt for the authorities. In the face of an obviously contrasting reality, no one could tell them that...Jews were their enemy" (The Italians and the Holocaust, University of Nebraska Press, 1996).

The tendency of ideology to obscure reality is also part of the answer to another question asked by Dr. Eveline Blitstein Willinger, the woman who led efforts in 1987 to find Perlasca and to have him recognized for what he had done. "How is it possible," she inquired, "that a person like that is living somewhere in Italy and nobody has ever even heard his name?" Part of the postwar silence about Perlasca stemmed from a general desire to forget the Holocaust and the war. Another reason was the guilt of individuals involved in recognizing their own failure to act.

One more factor, however, was the ideological polarization of postwar Italian politics. In a country whose new constitution defined it as an "anti-Fascist"republic, it was not likely that a Fascist like Perlasca would be recognized as a hero. Compare Perlasca's treatment with that afforded his colleague in Budapest, Raoul Wallenberg. The Swedish envoy disappeared immediately following the entry of Soviet troops into Budapest, and his disappearance was later used as a means of attacking the Soviet Union. The recognition Wallenberg received for his work in Budapest was due in part to its usefulness as a weapon in the cold war. Perlasca, the Fascist who had returned safely to Italy, could not be used in the same way.

The most extraordinary aspect of Perlasca's rescue operation, however, is not why he did it but how. As Deaglio points out, there were a lot of Italians who helped Jews or delayed or deflected the course of events by refusing to commit brutalities, or merely by hiding a file or making a phone call to warn intended victims. But what Perlasca accomplished is unique and astounding. He didn't have a role, it must be remembered; he created it himself. Nor was his virtuous action exhausted in a single gesture. During the nearly two months Perlasca directed the Spanish embassy, he was engaged in an enormous act of make-believe. In creating the identity of "Jorge," Perlasca succeeded in fooling not only the Hungarian authorities but also his colleagues at the other neutral embassies. They all believed that he was someone he was not: an official functionary and diplomatic representative, with duties for which he had neither professional training nor experience. To be sure, Perlasca had some attributes for the role that not everyone has-good looks, an imposing physical stature, and, thanks to his service in Spain, a good command of Spanish-but it was his imaginative capacity to draw upon those resources in playing the role of Jorge that made him so convincing.

Perlasca's own account of the events (presented in chapter 6 of Deaglio's book) has the narrative intensity of a thriller whose protagonist is completely caught up in a challenge that demands every resource he can muster. As the story unfolds it becomes clear that Perlasca's theatrical imagination was in fact the key to his success. First, his new identity enabled him to distance himself from the horror, from the scenes of cruelty and brutality that, witnessed and lived first hand, might have been so overwhelming as to be paralyzing. And second, theatrical distance enhanced his ability to see and understand the motivations of his Hungarian counterparts, and to develop and carry out a diplomatic strategy that responded to their needs and fears. While holding out the promise of Spanish recognition and assistance in the event of an Allied victory, Perlasca threatened the Hungarian authorities with retaliation against Hungarian citizens in Spain, should their government go forward with its plans to exterminate the Jews. Both the promise and the threat, of course, were complete fabrications, since Perlasca never had any communication with his "superiors" in Madrid. But the strategy succeeded in delaying the Final Solution in Hungary until the Soviet army occupied Budapest and put an end to the deportations.

Enrico Deaglio concludes his book by paraphrasing Hannah Arendt in describing Perlasca as "proof that, even in the most impenetrable darkness, there exists-because it is part of the human spirit-the temptation of the irreducible, fabulous, word-and-thought-defying 'banality of goodness.'" Perlasca's story also reminds us, however, that the expression of human goodness in the struggle against human evil is an enterprise whose success requires not only courage and perseverance but also skill, craft, art, and imagination.

Gregory Conti is an English teacher at the University of Perugia and the Foreign Language School of the Italian army, and the translator of The Banality of Goodness. 

COPYRIGHT 1999 Commonweal Foundation

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

The third season of the widely acclaimed series begins tonight amid a storm of publicity and an almost equal flood of protest from the Italian - American antidefamation movement. 

Yes, New Jersey's biggest cultural export -- about six million viewers are expected to tune in -- is a lightning rod for controversy. And nowhere do emotions run stronger than here on the show's turf. 

On the one hand there are the fans -- O.K., a bit daft -- who treat ''The Sopranos'' like the home team. 

Then there are the others, for whom the geographic closeness to television's favorite mob family has the opposite effect. These are the Italian - Americans who are tired of hearing the ''F word,'' who have spent all their lives cringing at the notion that neighbors think that just because they are Italian, they have mob connections. For them, the local scenery just adds
insult to injury. These are the people who will show up today at St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church in Bloomfield, where Emanuele Alfano of Unico National, a service organization for Americans of Italian descent, will present the Mille Grazie Award to the Essex County Executive, James W. Treffinger, who last December banned filming in the South Mountain
Reservation, a sprawling public park with lots of places to dispose of a body in a ravine or under dead leaves. 
Oddly enough, Mr. Chase hinted at this controversy several times in the first season. In one episode, Tony's daughter asks if he's in the Mafia . ''There's no such thing,'' the mobster huffs. ''That's a stereotype. And it's offensive.'' 

He could have been writing the script for Mr. Alfano, who lately has been gaining some momentum in his campaign to use the blockbuster HBO series as an object lesson in the way Italian - Americans are portrayed in the media.

But it is a skirmish in which the show does not have to pack a 9 millimeterto win. 

Last month, for instance, no less than the Museum of Modern Art in New York screened the first two seasons' episodes and invited Ken Auletta of The New Yorker magazine to interview Mr. Chase.

HBO, which has kept a Mob-like grip on the show's publicity, has meted out coveted interviews with Mr. Chase like drops of holy water. 

As the cameras keep rolling, Dr. Alfano, a retired chiropractor, runs his campaign from an office in Bloomfield, where a statue of Venus de Milo offers a different statement on Italian culture. He contends the entertainment industry offers stereotypes of Italian - Americans as violent or uncouth -- either toting guns or shoveling down pasta -- in a way it would not dare to portray other ethnic groups. 

''People look at that and say, yes, that's what Italians are,'' Dr. Alfano said.  Although Dr. Alfano says he does not know anyone in the mob, he says he has heard even they find the show offensive. ''They were upset by how they were being portrayed,'' he said. ''A mob person would never have tolerated foul language at the table from the kids. And a mother trying to kill her son? Never in a million years!'' 

But as much as Dr. Alfano excoriates ''The Sopranos'' for perpetuating negative stereotypes, the show from hell is also the gift that keeps on giving. After all, along with e-mail messages, it is the best thing that ever happened to his media sensitivity campaign. Just two weeks ago, the show's latest advertising campaign gave Dr. Alfano a new opportunity to protest; he sent a letter to the general counsel of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey complaining about the ''Sopranos'' posters on PATH trains. 

''A friend of mine said, 'It should go on for 18 years,' '' Dr. Alfano admitted with a smile. ''He said, 'Manny, we never got this much coverage.'

Although initially the county cited a deer hunt as the reason for turning down the permit, Mr. Treffinger soon went on record saying that future permits would not be given for a show that demeaned an ethnic minority. 

So just what is ''The Sopranos,'' which many consider to be the best television series ever -- New Jersey's chief cultural export or ethnic embarrassment? 

But for politicians, who work both sides of the political street, the question is murkier, and they are not leaping at the opportunity to go on the record about it. Mr. Treffinger declined to be interviewed, but did speak through his director of policy and planning, Joanna Noonan. ''He says this is not a First Amendment issue because filming on county property is not a right,'' Ms. Noonan relayed.

The state's acting governor, Donald DiFrancesco, also turned down an opportunity to be interviewed about the ''Sopranos.'' He did say through spokeswoman, Jayne O'Conner, that he had never seen the show.  ''Based on what he's heard and read, his preference would be that it would be more accurate about its portrayal of New Jersey and not perpetuate some of the stereotypes about New Jersey and the Italians,'' Ms. O'Conner said. Nervousness about ''The Sopranos'' extends to other institutions as well. William Paterson University in Wayne revoked a permit to shoot a scene there last year about the same time a professor was to deliver a lecture on Italian stereotypes in the media. And Seton Hall University in South Orange was reportedly embarrassed last month when a clip from ''The Sopranos'' was played during a basketball game at the Continental Airlines Arena.  UNICO National, the group most vocally opposed to ''The Sopranos,'' is a donor to Seton Hall's Italian studies program, and its first vice president,

John Alati, a Seton Hall alumnus, was at the game. 

Another group walking a tightrope over the ''Sopranos'' is the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith. Although the group is sympathic to the Italian - American group's outrage, it is being careful about getting into a gang war over a television show. 

'' 'The Sopranos' feeds into stereotyping,'' said Charles Goldstein, director of the league's New Jersey chapter. ''A false negative stereotype, which can feed into bigotry.'' 

But Mr. Goldstein added: ''It is not a focus of the A.D.L. to object to entertainment. We live in a market economy. This is what the market will bear, and it's not illegal. People have to have freedom of choice.'' 

(RAA Note:However the B'nai B'rith uses it's enormous clout to prevent presentation's of Shakespeare's, "The Merchant of Venice", because of the undesirable "Shylock")

Mr. Treffinger may have deemed ''The Sopranos'' politically incorrect, but that will not stop Essex County prosecutors from tuning in to the newest adventures of Tony and Carmela tonight.

''There's a lot of people in our office that watch it,'' said Bob Laurino, the prosecutor in charge of Essex County's sex crimes unit. ''I know a lot of people who got HBO to watch it.'' One of six million people expected to watch tonight will undoubtedly be Mr.Laurino, who said he had a ''love-hate'' relationship with the show. Sure,Mr. Laurino, who grew up in an Italian - 
American home in Short Hills, knows that it offends many people. And as a prosecutor, he acknowledged that ''anything that glamorizes organized crime is unfortunate.'' Still, he added, 
''it's pretty compelling viewing.''

In addition to the Monday-morning water cooler conversation at the prosecutor's office, one of the people Mr. Laurino discusses the show with is his sister, Maria Laurino, who wrote the memoir ''Were You Always an Italian?'' (W. W. Norton, $23.95). Ms. Laurino, who admits being a ''Sopranos'' fan, said she admired the show for its subtle handling of issues of ethnicity in suburbia, and for its accurate use of dialect.

Another Italian - American who is an unrepentant ''Sopranos'' fan is David Bonanno, editor of The American Poetry Review, who grew up in Caldwell and now lives in Philadelphia. 
''I think the show is so well written that it's not a stretch to talk about it as being Shakespearean,'' said Mr. Bonanno'' It's pretend tough guys in North Jersey,'' he said. ''It's like cowboys and Indians.''

Mr. Chase made almost the same point last month at the Museum of Modern Art.

Although the inspiration for the series was his own problematic relationship with his mother, Mr. Chase decided that setting that conflict against a mob story was inherently more interesting. 

''They didn't do stories about chicken farmers,'' he said. ''They focused on gun slingers.'' 

It has become a truism that the Mafia story has become the latest incarnation of the western. Everybody immediately understands the format, so the creativity comes with each new spin. 
But some Italian - Americans are quick to point out that the western is now considered politically incorrect too. 

''It's doing the same thing to Italian - Americans that the western did to Native Americans,'' said Maria Mazziotti Gillan, executive director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson. 
 

NEW YORK, March 5,2001/PRNewswire
The following release was issued by the Italic Studies Institute.

"The commercial media, including HBO 's The Sopranos , now has full control
of our Italian heritage," asserts the Chairman John Mancini of the Italic
Studies Institute, a New York-based educational nonprofit. "We no longer
have the ability to protect our children from the pernicious propaganda that
distorts our 500-year legacy in America." 

"It is impossible to gauge the economic consequences of these images to
Italian American adults but as a teacher, I have seen the direct effects of
this negative stereotyping," declares Bill Dal Cerro, the Institute's
Chicago media officer. "My students, both Italian and non-Italian, mimic the
speech patterns and crude mannerisms of the fictional characters on The
Sopranos . These are the dominant images that the American public is given
of a diverse community of 20 million citizens. There was certainly more
balance in the 1950's and 1960's, as many can recall. Unbalanced propaganda
absolutely affects our youngsters' self-esteem as well as the perception of
them by others, Italian surnames make them easy marks -- just ask some
political candidates who have run the media gauntlet." 

"We realize that the media holds all the cards," continued Mancini, "but we
intend to get to the heart of our concerns -- how demonizing media affects
America's youth." The Institute is commissioning a sociological study to
measure the propaganda effects on pre-teens and teens, the first of its kind
for the Italian American community. 

The much ballyhooed third season of the HBO series The Sopranos , with its
seductive blend of Italian American culture and degenerate gangsters, sends
the message that average Italian Americans , even their children, are not
really what they seem. It is the oldest form of propaganda that demonizes a
minority using repeated visual images that linger long after in the minds of
viewers. "This series rates with Birth of Nation and the Protocols of the
Elders of Zion in inculcating a compelling negative image of a people," says
Rosario Iaconis, the Institute's Director of The Italic Way Magazine. 
The recent aggressive advertising and promotion behind the series through
provocative posters, broadcast television ads, and publicity stunts have
bombarded even non- HBO subscribers, including children, with a menacing
image of Italian Americans as murderers and thieves. "Those who claim that
the Italian-ness of the characters is no reflection on the Italian American
culture or community would probably also deny the power of Madison Avenue to
sell fantasies," says Mancini, "When the show held an audition for new
characters recently, the only requirement was to 'look Italian.' It is time
to end this charade." 

"The Sopranos is the logical culmination of over 30 years of unbalanced film
and television portrayals of Italian Americans as gangsters and buffoons.
Led, in part, by misguided Italian American filmmakers and actors, these
works have given America an ethnic scapegoat onto which all the woes of
society can be cast. It has influenced newspapers and even police
authorities to focus on Italian American criminals rather than the more
lucrative and heinous crimes of other ethnic groups. Italian American
racists, criminals, dummies, and clowns have become easy stock characters
for lazy scriptwriters," says Bill Dal Cerro.

The Institute's Report on U.S. Films since 1928 has revealed that of 1,200
feature films 69% have been unquestionably negative to the Italian American
image. Of these, fully 58% bear the genetic markings of The Godfather I
produced in 1972. Of the 487 films which feature Italian Americans as
gangsters 88% are fictionized stereotypes. (a copy of the report is
available upon request.) 

"Replace the Italian-ness of The Sopranos with any other ethnicity, fleshed
out with their own stereotypes and cultural traits, and you will easily see
how unacceptable such propaganda is," says Iaconis. "Why should our children
bear the burden? Either let every ethnic and social group join us in
defamation or allow us the right of an 'American' standard. Hiding
propaganda behind the guise of art or free expression is hypocrisy at its
best, especially if FCC or local cable licensing requires a 'benefit' to the
public." 

The Italic Studies Institute was founded in 1987 and publishes a national
magazine called The Italic Way. The Institute also produces educational
videos and conducts an Italian language program known as Aurora, which is
offered free to 5th & 6th graders in the Metro New York area at 15
locations. Preliminary sampling has revealed that some 10 year olds view The
Sopranos with their parents and are influenced by the show. 

CONTACT: Italic Studies Institute, 516-488-7400, or fax, 516-488-4889, or
ItalicOne@aol.com/ 07:05 EST 
Contact: /CONTACT: Italic Studies Institute, 516-488-7400, or fax,
516-488-4889, or ItalicOne@aol.com/ 07:05 EST 

Washington, D.C., Mar. 1, 2001 - The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA),
the longest-established and largest organization of American men and women
of Italian heritage, blasted David Chase and his HBO series “The Sopranos”
for promoting falsely negative images of Italian Americans, as the show gets
set to start its third season on Mar. 4.

“The fact that Mr. Chase sees nothing wrong with what he is doing makes what
he is doing a greater offense to the Italian-American community,” said OSIA
President Philip R. Boncore, Esq. “He blatantly exploits our community for
his personal benefit, sensationalizing the mythological notion of an
all-encompassing organized crime element and completely discarding all
positive aspects from his fictional characters and story lines. Where is the
balance? Where are the positive role models?”

The anti-Sopranos movement, led by the Commission for Social Justice (CSJ),
OSIA’s anti-defamation arm, has been fueled recently by quotes from Chase in
the March 5 edition of Newsweek. In an interview in that issue Chase
responded to his critics by saying, “This is a story about America. Anybody
who watches it with any degree of intelligence understands that right away.”

“It wasn’t enough for him to stereotype an entire ethnic population as
criminals. He is now insulting us, calling us unintelligent because we don’t
approve of his discrimination,” remarked Boncore. “The story is not about
America. It is about categorizing all Italian-Americans as one type of
person, the low-class, dim-witted hoodlum. Any self-respecting
Italian-American will understand that.”

Over the two years that “The Sopranos” has aired, OSIA and the CSJ have
encountered more allies than obstacles in their fight.

Providence, R.I., Mayor Vincent Cianci refused to let HBO hold an event in
his city, despite a promise that HBO would donate some proceeds to his
scholarship fund for Providence youth. Essex County, N.J., officials denied
“The Sopranos” a permit to film there, as did William Paterson College in
New Jersey. Last October, the show’s cast members were not permitted to
march in the Columbus Day Parade in New York city, which is also a
celebration of all Italian and Italian-American accomplishments and the
Italian heritage.

But those that support “The Sopranos” are taking heat from OSIA and other
Italian-American groups.

In February the Museum of Modern Art in New York City held a one-week
program highlighting Chase and “The Sopranos.” The CSJ’s request for equal
time during the program was met with no response by the MoMA.

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has also been a topic of discussion for
his participation in HBO’s promotions and for giving the cast keys to the
city. OSIA National Executive Director Philip Piccigallo, Ph.D., addressed
the concerns about Giuliani in a radio interview with WOR-AM’s (New York) Ed
Walsh on Mar. 1.

“…When they are given keys to the city this raises them to heroic status,”
Piccigallo said. “And that should be reserved for real heroes.”

The CSJ works to ensure equal concern, treatment, respect, freedom, and
opportunity for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, or
age. The CSJ is particularly dedicated to eradicating negative portrayals of
Italian Americans and replacing them with positive, affirming images. For
more information about OSIA or the CSJ, write to 219 E St., NE, Washington,
DC 20002 or email nationaloffice@osia.org, and visit www.osia.org.

consists of 32 members - five U.S. senators and 27 U.S. representatives. The dean of the delegation is Rep. John J. LaFalce (D-NY).

Serving in the U.S. Senate are Pete V. Domenici (R-NM), Michael B. Enzi (R-WY), Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Rick Santorum (R-PA), and Robert G. Torricelli (D-NJ).

The veteran members of the U.S. House of Representatives are John Baldacci (D-ME), Robert Brady (D-PA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Vito Fossella (R-NY), Nicholas V. Lampson (D-TX), Frank A. LoBiondo (R-NJ), Donald Manzullo (R-IL), Frank Mascara (D-PA), John Mica (R-FL), Joe Moakley (D-MA), Connie A. Morella (R-MD), James L. Oberstar (D-MN), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), William J. Pascrell (D-NJ), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Marge Roukema (R-NJ), Mike Thompson (D-CA),
James A. Traficant (D-OH), and David Weldon (R-FL).

For more information on the Italian-American Delegation or to write to your congressional representatives, visit http://www.osia.org/public/legresources.htm.

Thanks to Diana Crespy of OSIA
 

Mr Busso, 

Your antidotal experiences were interesting, but I am at a loss as to what 
RELEVANCE much of your comments had regarding either the "social redeeming 
value" of the Sopranos, or on the other hand the "damaging effect" that such 
a relentless continuum of "trash" has on the Italian American Community.

I attribute this partially to your own statement, "So maybe I am not that 
Italian, and you would not peg me as an Italian.  I am basically American". 

That may be why you appear not to be very being "informed" on the topic, 
since EVERY Major Italian American Organization, countless academics, 
respected studies, and esteemed journalists (some of the most eloquent, being 
Jewish, such as Haberman, and Rosenberg) decry the Continuum of Italian 
American Negative Stereotyping as the last refuge of permissible Bigotry.

Many other politically savvy formerly targeted racial, ethnic, and religious 
groups have vigorously, actively, persistently, and successfully diminished 
such prejudicial, bigoted, and biased Negative Stereotyping.

I am disappointed not only by your indifference, apathy, and unawareness of 
the extent of the problem, but your vigorous defense of those who would 
continue to spew venomous, virulent vituperation on the Italian American 
Community. 

Further, your waving the First Amendment flag of Right of Free Speech, is not 
very persuasive, since you must of course realize that Right is NOT Absolute! 
Neither Hate Speech or Defamation is Protected (among many others).

I am willing to send you offline articles, and studies that support my 
position, if you have an open mind. But if Tony Soprano and Howard Stern are 
your heroes I despair. 

I say this all only in the spirit of open honest discourse, and none is said 
with personal animus, and I therefore sign myself,

Most Respectfully,
Richard Annotico
trimtantre@aol.com

============================================================
From: Johnny Busso
Subject: The Sopranos

My fellow Italian-Americans,

I would just like to say that, people have to judge what they are watching, 
and make intelligent decisions.  I am a New Jersey-born Italian American.  I 
now live in NY and I am married to a Russian Jew.

It is unfortunate that uneducated, prejudiced people will watch the Sopranos 
and perpetuate their ideas.  However I must admit that I love the show.  It 
reminds me of many people that I experienced while growing up.

Many of these people were Italian-American or Italian/Irish American, etc. 
They were and are very much like the people you see on HBO.  They come from 
Newark, Belleville, Bloomfield, Jersey City, Hoboken, Union City and have 
emmigrated to Bergen, Morris and Essex counties and even beyond.  It does not 
mean that all people in this demographic behave in this way.

I lived in many of those places.  I never killed anyone, I was never abusive, 
I do not cheat on my wife, et al.  But there are alot of people who do these 
abhorrant things.  I saw Jackie Mason a few weeks back and he says "I never 
generalize, I don't like to stereotype, BUT..."  He went on talk about all 
the idiosyncrasies of Jewish people, he also spoke of Greek, Irish, Black, 
Chinese, and many others.

I was happy that Italians were second on his list of ribbing.  His comments 
had Italians pegged as hard working, tough, and romantic.  And his jokes 
could be taken as jokes or taken offensively, depending on your stance and 
comfort level.

I for one am proud to be Italian and I am proud to have the reputation that 
he put forth.  My own family has brought up the topic of negative 
stereotyping of Italians.  They sited examples of how Jews are portrayed as 
itelligent and business-wise professionals while we (Italians) are portrayed 
as goons and bufoons.
 

Their comments wer like "...how many time do you see Jews portrayed as cheap 
or pushy on TV."  Honestly I do see it.  I also see them portrayed as 
lawyers, doctors, pawn brokers, yentas, and just about everything else.

Let's be honest Italians that are doctors and lawyers do not speak like Tony 
Soprano or Vinnie Barberino or Louie DePalma.  These likeable characters are 
brash and sometimes ignorant, but America loves them.  If we do not see 
people like the family in Moonstruck, they don't seem Italian.

My Grandparents and Great Grandparents were spit on and called nasty names 
when the came here.  Because of this they worked hard to assimilate.  We do 
not speak Italian, I do not have any bumper stickers, I do not drive a 
Camaro, and I do not eat animals heads on holidays.  So maybe I am not that 
Italian, and you would not peg me as an Italian.  I am basically American. 
But I am Italian and proud, period.

When people look different and talk different it is easy to pigeon-hole them. 
 TV pigeon-holes most people.  Are all New Yorkers like Felix and Oscar, 
Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer.  But do we know people like that, absolutely.  Is 
everyone in Queens like Archie Bunker?  Thank God no, but we still love him,
despite himself.

Everytime I watch the Sopranos and I watch it religiously, I leave with a bad 
feeling.  I do not beleive that the show glorifies these miscreants.  On the 
contrary, although entertaining,  it paints a very pathetic picture of people 
that really do exist in that underworld.

If you watch "Oz", or "The Corner", or "Sex In The City", all HBO 
productions, you will see stereo types of prisoners, Blacks, and New York 
singles.  I think all of these shows use hyperbole freely and that is their
right granted by the constitution.

I am also a supporter of Howard Stern.  He is very New York and seemingly
very Jewish, although I have recently found out he is only half Jewish (is he 
half Italian?)  Anyway he is a self proclaimed loser and idiot, he is a 
misogynist, and a oppinionated wind bag.
After saying this; he has a right to do what he does, and you as an 
individual have a right to turn it off.

People should fight for what they beleive.  Many Jewish people fight for the 
rights of the KKK and Neo-Nazis.  These groups despise Jews.  So why, because 
in America we have freedom of speech, freedom to organize, and freedom to 
state our opinions no matter how wrong or prejudiced.  This protects us from 
a society in which another holocaust could occur, bacause peoples' voices ARE 
heard because of these inalienable rights.

Johnny Busso

Italian-American anti-defamation activists detest  HBO's ... Mafia drama "The Sopranos," which they view as a blight on the image of their people. 

But every cloud has a silver lining: In the two years since the show went on the air, it has done more to organize anti-defamation activists than any work of pop culture since "The Godfather" back in 1971. 

"It roused the sleeping giant," says Bloomfield chiropractor and activist Emanuele "Manny" Alfano. 

Though tens of millions of viewers -...admire the HBO drama, which begins its third season next March, it has been the object of intense criticism since its debut. 

Early on, creator David Chase and his actors acknowledged the complaints and politely argued against them.. (they felt) the "Sopranos" objections would fade after a while. 

But the complaints haven't faded; they've intensified. And now the complainants - increasingly well-organized, thanks to the Internet -- seem to be affecting how the show is perceived.  Alfano and other local organizers have staged numerous protests against HBO, including one decrying the channel's disastrous July 22 casting call in Harrison, which drew 14,000 hopefuls and nearly degenerated into a riot.

This year, the organizers of the Columbus Day parade in New York City refused to permit "Sopranos"-related floats. 

Two weeks ago, William Paterson University cultural studies professor Susan Tardi was scheduled to give a lecture about defamatory images of Italian-Americans, using "The Sopranos" as an example, around the same time the university had agreed to let the show film a scene in its campus library. 

A few days before the shoot, the university withdrew permission, citing scheduling conflicts. 

HBO doesn't comment on location decisions, and most of the people involved with the physical production of the show have long grown tired of talking about anti-defamation issues. Chase's last public comments ... on the topic came in January..."it's just really tiresome." 

Tiresome or not, activists think their phone campaigns and e-mail bombardments might have been a factor in some of the recent "Sopranos" fracases. At the very least, they believe they've united a segment of the Italian-American population against a show they find offensive. 

"You punch a button and you can send out messages to 20, 30, 40, even 100 people instantly," says Joe Russo, an attorney who is president of the San Diego chapter of UNICO National, an Italian-American organization. "Lord knows how many people Manny e-mails in a day." 

Nobody involved with the Italian-American anti-defamation groups knows exactly how many people are out there protesting and sending e-mails. 

But Frank Cannata, a business analyst and anti-defamation activist based in Galstonbury, Conn., says, "I do know we get more people joining us every day... people from all different walks of life and all areas of the country.

>From New York to Colorado and California. It's really started to heat up since Columbus Day."  Well-known actors have also weighed in with negative comments about "The Sopranos," including Paul Sorvino (star of CBS' "That's  Life," and no stranger to Mafiosi parts) and Edward James Olmos (husband of Lorraine Bracco, Sopranos's psychiatrist). 

 "Just by getting this issue discussed in the media, I'd like to think we encourage people who might otherwise be silent to speak up," says Alfano...... 

Anti-defamation activists are split on the issue of whether "The Sopranos" should be praised for its artistry even as it is condemned for its content. And some would prefer to avoid that issue entirely.

The real issue, they say, isn't gangster imagery, but the lack of an alternative. "That's Life," a CBS sitcom about a law-abiding, working-class family of New Jersey Italian-Americans, is the exception that proves the rule, Alfano says.

"Usually, if the movie or TV show specifically lets you know a character is Italian, chances are he's a buffoon or a criminal," says Alfano. "Who's the dumbest friend on 'Friends'? Joey -- who, you guessed it, is Italian." (Who is the most pitiful character, along with his parents on Sienfeld --who you guessed it George Costanza)....

November 17, 2000 - By Shu Shi Luh, Chicago Sun Staff Reporter 

For decades, Italian immigrant families who lived through World War II in the United States did not want to talk about curfews, confiscation of fishing boats, forced moves from coast towns, police searches of their homes and internment at Fort Missoula, Mont.

They kept their stories to themselves, hoping that one day the unpleasant memories would just vanish. But this month a traveling exhibition on the Italian-American internment experience unlocks a chest of American history unknown to most people and untold in most history books.

The exhibit at the Daley Center, appropriately named "Una Storia Segreta" (A Secret Story), is a collection of tattered photographs, newspaper clippings and stacks of tear-stained letters that has been traveling around the country since 1993.

Over the years, researchers have been fleshing out the footnote to American history: the treatment of 600,000 Italian citizens in the United States who were classified as "enemy aliens" after World War II began.

"Italian Americans are only asking for an acknowledgment," said Tony LaPiana, the Chicago host of the exhibit and an Italian-American activist who helped start a national awareness campaign.

Legislation was introduced in Congress for years without much success--until last week, when President Clinton signed into law a bill mandating the formation of an advisory committee to investigate and review the treatment of Italian Americans.

The internment and discrimination against Italian Americans started after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

An estimated 1,000 Italian citizens were interned at Fort Missoula. Another 10,000 were forced to move from their houses in California coastal communities to inland homes. Dozens lost their fishing boats along the Pacific coast, including the fisherman father of baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.

LaPiana estimates that fewer than 100 internees are still living.

"That's why we need to give them the acknowledgment that they deserve."

"Una Storia Segreta" will be on display at the Daley Center at Dearborn and Randolph throughout the month of November.

Prof. Di Stasi writes:

"YESTERDAY, SOMETIME LATE IN THE EVENING, PRESIDENT CLINTON SIGNED THE 
WARTIME VIOLATION OF ITALIAN AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES ACT INTO LAW. 

   There is some speculation that he signed it after learning that Hillary had won the New York Senate race over the bill's sponsor, Rick Lazio. I repeat that this is speculation, but it sounds right. 

    Nonetheless, this is a major victory for the original sponsors of the bill, Reps Eliot Engel and Rick Lazio; the sentate sponsor, Robert Torricelli; the person who really wrote and worked the bill, John Calvelli; the activist in chicago, Tony La Piana, who persuaded both chairmen of the judiciary committees--Henry Hyde in the House and Orrin Hatch in the senate--to support the bill; and the traveling exhibit, <italic>una storia segreta</italic>, created by the Western Chapter of the American Italian Historical Association, which brought this issue to public consciousness seven years ago, and kept it there with showings such as the current one at the Daley Center in Chicago. "

Special Thanks and Congratulations to those mentioned above, and  appreciation to all others who contributed in their own way.

Cheers to us all!!!
 

Largest Italian-American Organization Calls Negative 
Stereotypes A Continuing Problem for Italian Americans

Washington, D.C., Oct. 26, 2000 - The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the largest, longest-established, and most demographically diverse organization of men and women of Italian heritage representing the approximately 24 million Americans of Italian descent, has commended Vice President Albert Gore for statements he made in a letter to OSIA denouncing ethnic stereotyping by the media and entertainment industries, particularly
that of Italian Americans.

“Not unlike many racial and ethnic communities in America, Italian Americans have suffered stereotyping and discrimination in a number of areas of life. Ethnic stereotyping is deeply painful and offensive and breeds contempt among different groups in our society,” Gore said. “I am aware that Italian Americans are often stereotyped in television and movies. The entertainment industry often portrays Italian Americans as law-breaking members of the
mafia. Such portrayal is not only deeply disturbing but, over the long term, damaging to our country’s moral and cultural fabric.”

OSIA National President Philip R. Boncore Esq. (Boston, Mass.), John B. Dabbene (Long Island, N.Y.), president of OSIA’s anti-defamation arm the Commission for Social Justice (CSJ), Paul S. Polo, Sr. (Manchester, Conn.), president of OSIA’s philanthropic arm the Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF), and National Executive Director Philip R. Piccigallo, Ph.D., immediately announced their support of Gore’s statements and applaud his decision to
bring to national attention the continuing, detrimental pattern of negative stereotyping in the media. The four represent more than 565,000 members of OSIA organized in more than 760 chapters nationwide.

“We are extremely pleased that Vice President Gore has publicly condemned the seemingly endless and egregiously unfair assault on the cumulative character of 24 million Italian Americans and has made it a national issue,” Piccigallo said.

“He is the highest ranking elected official to publicly and specifically denounce ethnic stereotyping and defamation of Italian Americans, and this powerful action represents a hallmark for all Americans. No issue is of greater concern to Italian Americans, or galvanizes them more, than the matter of widespread and nearly continuous ethnic defamation and
stereotyping by the media and entertainment industry,” Piccigallo added.

 “In July 1999, the New York Times wrote that ‘Italian Americans are the Stereotype Hollywood Can’t Refuse,’ and certainly the Times is correct. Such stereotyping and defamation is everywhere in our society, and is most prevalent in the media and entertainment industries,” Piccigallo said.

“These and other wrongful misrepresentations hurt, impede, stigmatize, damage reputations and obstruct opportunities.”

“Negative stereotyping didn’t start with HBO and ‘The Sopranos,’” Dabbene said, referring to the cable network’s widely viewed hit series about putative Italian-American mobsters in New Jersey. “We have been countering negative stereotypes for many decades. “The Sopranos” certainly has exacerbated the problem. We appreciate the Vice President’s enlightened and
supportive remarks.”

OSIA and the CSJ have launched a campaign to combat the ongoing defamation of Italian Americans, and have particularly taken aim at “The Sopranos.” One of the organization’s main tactics in fighting this problem has been to counter the negative with positive images. The CSJ’s Positive Image Program consists of informational brochures, posters, bookmarks, displays, campaigns, and other programs that focus on the positive contributions of
Italian Americans to our country and the world.

“Unfortunately,” explains Dabbene, “the media doesn’t want to listen to our positive message. They are much more fascinated with the negative, yet false, representations, despite a Department of Justice study that says a small percentage of Italian Americans are involved in organized crime.”

Boncore hopes that Gore’s message will reach not only offending organizations, but also the consumers that support them. “Hopefully Gore’s message will hit home with American citizens, who should realize that they are also targets of such stereotyping, and often bear the negative consequences of such misdeeds. And hopefully the media and entertainment
industries will take the step towards more responsible programming, across the board.”

For more information on OSIA, the CSJ, or the SIF, please visit http://www.osia.org, or contact the National Office at nationaloffice@osia.org or (202) 547-2900.

Bob, 

Regarding your comment "If we must put forth an Italian hero to substitute for Columbus , why not St Francis of Asissi " 

My response: I haven't seen sufficient proof that we NEED to!!!!!

Plus, Italian Americans in NY, Chicago,  and so many other cities would likely  justifiably skin you alive. 

It ain't broke, so no reason to fix it. 

You really believe few Hypocritical Historically Hysterically "Misguided" Publicity Hounds in One City should cause us to consider changing  our 100 year Tradition? 

Do you always have a tendency to WILT  before ANY warm breeze? [;-)  No. You're Quite Stubborn (as I). Now's the time to put it to good use.

You going to get a Federal Holiday for SF/A? 

If the Irish can't get St. Patrick a Federal Holiday,  what chance does Assisi or any one else have? Don't you realize how important a Federal Holiday is? How difficult it is to get. And you want to "wantonly" dispose of it? 

This Sicilian will go on the "Warpath" FIRST!!!!!

Besides, How are Italian Protestants, Jewish, Non Committed, Disenchanted, Atheists to get excited about SF/A?

Besides I vote for DaVinci if we were to get way off base and go strictly Italian. Then maybe Garibaldi, although Michaelangelo is hard to ignore, and Galileo, oh hell. I'm still am stuck on Columbus Day.

Plus you keep forgetting we NEED, and it is ADVANTAGEOUS to have an Italian who Bridges the TWO WORLDS, that is NOT solely of Either.

COLUMBUS Suits us FINE!

We don't need any unnecessary divisive fights. We fought and won that war. All we do is stand together on this one, and prepare to fight others important battles.

End of Subject!

Respectfully,
with Warm Regards,

Richard Annotico

What Columbus Started

It has been more than 500 years since Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus) traveled to the Americas. Considering that he was, in a way, the "first" Italian immigrant to these shores, what kind of an influence have his Italian brothers and sisters had on the U.S. ever since? Let's consider a typical "American" day ...

Brring! Your alarm clock radio goes off. (Guglielmo Marconi perfected wireless transmission.) The first thing you do is turn on the lights. (The three-way light bulb was invented by Alessandro Dandini.) As you wash yourself in the shower (plumbing a concept perfected by the Romans), you sing a few songs to yourself. "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" (written by Salvatore Guaragna, aka Harry Warren), or "Moon River" (Henry Mancini). Or maybe you
prefer a Bruce Springsteen song (his maternal family name is Zirilli) or something by Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone).

At the breakfast table, you usually opt for an espresso or cappuccino (Italian coffees), but today you're in a hurry and make some good, old-fashioned American instant coffee. (Vince Marotta invented the "Mr. Coffee" machines, which were popularized by their famous spokesman, baseball great Joe DiMaggio.) Your throat feels a little scratchy, so on your way out the door you pop a small lozenge in your mouth. (The cough drop was created by Vincent R. Ciccone.)

As you sprint to your car, you nearly trip over the Radio Flyer red wagon left in your driveway by a neighbor's kid. (Antonio Pasin invented that wagon in 1917.) You hop into your Chrysler (businessman Lee Iacocca saved the company in the '80s), and turn your radio on again (Marconi). There is talk of diplomatic peace efforts in the Middle East. (Anthony Zinni is the
current, four-star general overseeing U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf.)

You make a quick call to work on your cell phone. (Antonio Meucci invented an early-model telephone years before Alexander Graham Bell). You tell them you'll be a little late, since you remembered to pick up an office report from a print shop in a mall. (The American shopping mall was created by two developers: William Cafaro and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr.)

While at the mall, you make a quick visit to Barnes and Noble (built by CEO Leonard Riggio into the nation's largest upscale bookstore). You're a fan of Ed McBain's mystery novels (McBain's real name is Salvatore Lombino), so you decide to buy one to read while flying out for a business meeting next week in Detroit (city founded by explorer Enrico Tonti). 

You run to the print shop to pay for your report; however, all you have is change, so you have to use a few U.S. "peace dollar" coins. (Theresa De Francisci served as the model for Miss Liberty's face). You remind yourself that you need to get to the bank. (Banking was codified in Renaissance Italy; also, A.P. Giannini created the Bank of America).

While at work, you pound away on your computer. (Entrepreneur Frank Sordello created the tachometer, the device that speeds up information). Lunch finally arrives. Some co-workers choose to run outside to a Subway store (created by Frank De Luca). Others prefer going to McDonald's for a Big Mac (created by franchise owner Jim Delligatti). You, however, are
going the diet route: broccoli (developed by the Broccoli family of Italy), some peanuts (Planters company founded by Amedeo Obici), and maybe a low-fat ice cream cone (Italo Marcioni). You eat light so you can use your remaining lunchtime to work out at the company's health facility. (The Romans started the concept of health clubs; also, fitness expert Charles Atlas was born Angelo Siciliano).

Time to go home! You drive down well-paved roads (the Romans set thestandard). You pass by a federal office building with an American flag displayed outside, recalling those famous words from the Declaration of Independence, "all men are created equal" (words suggested to Thomas Jefferson by his best friend and neighbor, Italian political writer Filippo Mazzei). 

There is nothing but junk mail when you get home, though some of the letters do feature a stamp honoring World War II's famous "Rosie the Riveter" (Rosie Bonavita). There is a telephone message from your little niece, asking you to buy her a videotape of "Snow White" for her birthday (featuring Adriana Caselotti's voice as the heroine). 

It has been a long, hard day, so you just want to relax in your Jacuzzi (courtesy of the Jacuzzi family). You might complement the experience by drinking Italian wine, from Italy or California, or by listening to some jazz (Nick LaRocca and his New Orleans band played the first "jass"
record). Before going to bed, you pay a few outstanding bills, making sure your checkbook balances. (Luca Pacioli invented double-entry bookkeeping.)

Your television drones on quietly, featuring footage of Congress debating a new initiative. (America's Founding Fathers borrowed the concept of a Senate from the Romans.) A commercial promotes travel to the Midwestern states (which were purchased for the U.S. by fur trader Francesco Vigo).

You turn off the television and climb into bed, feeling safe and secure in living in one of the greatest nations on earth, America (named after explorer Amerigo Vespucci). 
 

"Apparently the Italians are catching this disease from the French who think 
they can keep English out of their language and have attempted to do so for 
many years now. These kinds of mandates almost always fail to achieve their 
desired ends."

ENGLISH INFILTRATION
Desmond O'Grady, Rome, Saturday 23 September 2000 

A hundred Italian scholars have blown the whistle on English infiltration of their language. Basta! That's enough! 

They have issued a manifesto proclaiming the need for "active resistance against linguistic contamination". Their concern may have been reinforced by the new edition of the prestige Devoto-Oli dictionary, 4000 of whose 100,000 words are foreign, and 60 per cent of them English. This is double the number listed by its competitor, the Zanichelli dictionary, which appeared some months earlier. 

English words are adopted partly for snob value, but also because they are attached to new technologies or trends arriving mainly from the United States. 

The newest imports are from the world of Internet, such as chat-line, e-commerce and netiquette, or reflect trends such as blockbuster, pet therapy, acquagym, piercing, new age, fusion and infotainment. Fly and drive, bed and breakfast, gay, outing, new economy, greenkeeper and millennium round have also been adopted recently. Purists ask why hobby,
container and smog are used when there are perfectly good Italian equivalents. 

Vittorio Sermonti, a Dante scholar who signed the Linguistic Manifesto, says: "It would be ridiculous to insist that topo be used instead of (computer) mouse. But it is ridiculous also to see shop signs for gloves rather than guanti, or hairdresser rather than parrucchiere." The Manifesto claims linguistic globalisation forces some to resort to dialects, and Italian, being caught between these two tendencies, suffers. It is not solely a right-wing concern. Greens and Communists are among those campaigning not so much for linguistic purity as for vigorous Italian. Although comparatively poor in words, Italian has a complex
syntax. 

A very erudite Response by Mr Bob Mariani to Mr Allemang's Article 
regarding the "Sopranos" in the The Globe and Mail-- 9/15/2000 

Dear Mr. Allemang:

    I read with interest your article in The Globe and Mail, Friday, 
September 15, 2000, entitled "Breasts, blood and brilliance," as regards the
television show The Sopranos, which is about to make its debut in Canada. 

    My overall impression of your opinions in the above mentioned article is 
that you are trapped in the Delta brainwave.  Unfortunately, while one would 
not normally cause another harm while in such an "unconscious" state, you, 
sir, are indeed doing a great deal of harm by your cultural somnambulism as 
regards both Italian-Americans and Italian-Canadians and to Canadians in 
general.

    You begin your article by saying The Sopranos "...is the best news for 
Canadian TV viewers in a long time."  Evidently Canada must have very poor 
television shows for The Sopranos to be considered good news CTVwise; 
although, there is always the possibility that you are a person of low taste 
when it comes to television shows.

    You go on to say there are "...universal truths waiting to be uncovered 
in the life of Tony Soprano."  I would advise that one does not find 
"universal truths" in garbage and to advise your audience they will find such 
"universal truths" in "the breasts and the blood and bad words," you are so 
impressed with, is equally garbage.  The only "universal truth" your audience 
is going to get from watching The Sopranos is that even dysfunctional 
families don't behave like the fictitious characters in The Sopranos, and 
definitely Italian-Americans and Italian-Canadians do not.  As regards 
reality, the show, The Sopranos, does not reflect how those who belong to the 
Mafia live, and if you had done your research by talking with law enforcement 
officers who have come to know Mafia members and how they live and speak, you 
would have come to realize this before sharing your "universal truths" with 
your audience.  Thus, your "universal truth" that the CTV audience will find 
"universal truths" by watching The Sopranos is pure GIGO:  Garbage in; 
garbage out.

    Your statement that "Chase ended up making a modern epic for HBO," as 
regards The Sopranos, probably has such writers of epics as Sophocles, 
Shakespeare, Dante, James Joyce, Steven Benet, Joseph Campbell, et al roaring 
with laughter at your literary taste or lack thereof.  The Sopranos is about 
as much of an epic portrayal of life as myth is a reflection of reality. 

    I really loved your statement, "...there has never been a greater 
celebration of the Italian experience in the New World than we get from Chase 
and his brilliant team of writers."  With taste like you exhibit, you 
probably would not think much "of the Italian experience in the New World" of 
Giovanni da Verrazzano, who explored the east coast, as in New York Harbor, 
of what is now the United States, in 1525, or the two voyages of Amerigo 
Vespucci to the continent which bears his name:  America!
Now, I'd say the experiences of da Verrazzano and Vespucci were a much 
"greater celebration of the Italian experience in the New World" than we get 
from "Chase and his brilliant team of writers."  Too, just for the sake of 
passing along information, there were a few more moments "of the Italian 
experience in the New World" which just might eclipse "Chase and his 
brilliant team of writers."  Such as, when Maryland's William Paca and 
Delaware's Caesar Rodney, both of Italian descent, signed our Declaration of 
Independence, and when John Basilone, U.S. Marine Sergeant, won both the Navy 
Cross and the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor, only to die later at the 
landing on Iwo Jima.  Now those were epics and The Sopranos and "Chase and 
his brilliant team of writers" aren't good enough to be entrusted to go out 
for coffee for such men of Italian descent as listed above.  Nor should it be 
forgotten that there could also be a possibility that "there has never been a 
greater celebration of the Italian experience in the New World" than when 
"three Italian regiments, totaling some 1,500 men, fought for American 
independence," or when in World War II "an estimated 1.2 million Americans of 
Italian descent served in the U.S. military, constituting one of the largest 
segments of the U.S. combat forces of about 12 million."  For you to say of 
"Chase and his brilliant team of writers," and The Sopranos, that "there has 
never been a greater celebration of the Italian experience in the New World" 
is not only dumb and ignorant but also blasphemy as regards the many 
sacrifices and contributions of Italian-Americans and Italian-Canadians who 
have been true to their adopted countries, the United States and Canada. 
"Chase and his brilliant team of writers" aren't even significant enough, in 
my opinion, to occupy a place of prominence in Dante's River Styx, although I 
believe that is what their writing resembles and where their spurious writing 
belongs. 

    You end your article with, "And yet as creatively ambitious as The 
Sopranos is, unlike The Godfather it is firmly rooted in a world we inhabit 
and one we can recognize as our own."  The people of Canada should feel 
greatly insulted at this bizarre statement as it indicates that "the breasts 
and the blood and the bad words" and all the other aberrations on The 
Sopranos are part of their normal family happenings.  I can only say that you 
must know very different Canadians than I know, for none of the Canadians I 
know, would recognize or assent that the happenings on The Sopranos are 
"firmly rooted in a world we inhabit and one we can recognize as our own."

    In closing, I'd advise you to "Wake Up!" for you are truly asleep, as 
your view of the world through the eyes of "Chase and his team of brilliant 
writers" and The Sopranos, which you term an "epic," is pure balderdash! 

                                            With little respect, 
                                            Bob Miriani
                                            Pentwater, Michigan

By Ben Giliberti - Wednesday, September 6, 2000 - Washinton Post

If you think Italian wines should only be served with Italian food, it's
time to reconsider. Regardless of whether your budget is $10 or $50, or
whether the dish is French, American, fusion or other exotica, there is
almost certainly an Italian wine that will complement it superbly. To rule
out Italian wines with non-Italian dishes is to needlessly deny oneself some
the finest wines in the world today, and many of the best bargains as well.

The affinity of Italian wines for great food comes about naturally--
Italians love to eat. Although many Americans still associate Italian food
exclusively with pizza and spaghetti and meatballs (both of which I happen
to love), those in the know recognize that Italy--and only Italy-- equals
Francein its mastery of the fine art of cuisine. In fact, the cuisines of
the two countries are growing closer all the time as modern communication
and travel make Europe an ever-smaller place. Chefs in France and Italy read
the same books, revere the same culinary icons and increasingly serve the
same wealthy, elite clientele. Diners in Florence or Milan must still
realize that they are not in a Paris three-star, but the tip-off is more
likely to be the typically spare Italian decor than the food poised on the
tines their forks.

Ironically, the Italian food so many Americans think of as "Italian" is an
American anomaly, a frozen-in-time artifact of late-19th- century southern
Italian cooking brought here by early immigrants. Though still immensely
appealing in the right context, it resembles modern Italian regional cooking
only incidentally. This will be immediately obvious to anyone who walks into
an American outpost of cutting-edge Italian cuisine, such as Valentino in
Santa Monica, Teatro Goldoni or Galileo in Washington or Felidia Ristorante
in Manhattan, and tries to order the veal Parmigiana.

Italian wines have matured along with Italian food. The wines are
sophisticated and bold, fruity and aromatic, incorporating the best
influences of France and of the New World, but at heart, always Italian.
Like the French, the Italians are capable of making poor wines, but never
boring ones. More to the point, the best Italian wines are an oenophile's
delight.

The following wines, listed in order of preference based on the rapport
between quality and price, are state-of-the-art examples of Italian wine
craftsmanship. Prices are approximate; wholesale distributors are listed in
parentheses.

Begali 1998 Valpolicella Classico Superiore "Vigneto la Cengia" ($10;
Italy): Lorenzo Begali and his son Giordano make this graceful Valpolicella
exclusively from grapes grown on their tiny six-acre estate. The wine is
made in the traditional manner, which eschews the ripasso method of adding
the lees (yeasty sediment) from the Amarone (a late harvest version of
Valpolicella) to beef up the wine. The resulting wine is deeply fruity, with
pronounced berry and violet aromas, a silky palate and a wonderful
aftertaste of subtle tar/licorice. Exceptional value. (Siema LLC,
703-455-1200)

Castello Banfi 1997 Mandrielle Merlot ($29; Italy): Talk about French
influence? This gorgeously seductive Merlot could easily pass for a Grand
Cru Classe St. Emilion, save that it's priced about a third less than
comparable French wine. Aged for 12 months in French barriques, this wine
has a deep red/purple robe, with an exotic bouquet of cherries, violets and
a hint of truffles. The complex, layered palate shows the lush, "sweet"
fruit and tannins of the great 1997 Tuscan vintage. This could age well, but
it's just too good to resist drinking now. If you want to impress your
guests without breaking the bank, this is it. (Banfi, 516-626-9200; National
Distributing, 202-388-8200)

Foffani Merlot 1998 "Friuli" ($15-$16; Italy): The northeastern Italian
region of Friuli has a long history of making elegant, understated
Merlot-based wines. This is a particularly nice example of Friuli
winemaking, with a medium ruby color, a lightly herbal Bordeaux-like bouquet
and soft but authoritative Merlot fruit. Serve this finesse- oriented wine
with grilled meats, game birds or roast lamb. (Gemmex Intertrade America,
703-893-9601; distributed in Virginia by Dionysos, 703-550-2250)

Fabrizio Bianchi (Castello di Monsanto) 1997 Sangiovese ($33; Italy): Owner
Fabrizio Bianchi produced his first 100 percent Sangiovese wine in 1974 from
the small (8.25-acre) Scanni vineyard in the heart of the Chianti Classico
zone. At the time, the wine was considered revolutionary (because the
existing Chianti regulations outlawed all-Sangiovese wines), but what is
striking now is how wonderfully retro in style the wine seems now. This is
not one of those tannic, Cabernet wannabees, but is instead a beautifully
supple wine with a piquant bouquet of new earth, violets and wild herbs.
(Clicquot, Inc., 212-888-7575; Bacchus, 410-633-0400)

Questions or comments? E-mail them to washpostwine@netzero.net.

When I last saw Garry Shandling, he was playing a sniveling space alien trying to conquer the world.

But first, he had to use alien hydraulics to seduce Annette Bening and produce a child.

Unfortunately, every time Shandling's blood pressure rose, his otherworldly mechanisms would emit obnoxiously loud beeps and whoops. How embarrassing.

Too bad I fell asleep on the couch during their spectacularly loud honeymoon, though I'm sure he was triumphant.

And this weekend, he returns to Earth, hosting the Emmy Awards on TV.

That's the awards ceremony where TV types give each other little trophies for being so creative.

"We've never had a host put so much effort and commitment into hosting the Emmys," a suit from the Emmy show told the Associated Press.

Actually, Shandling doesn't have to prepare too much.

All he has to do is hand out awards to two of the most sickening programs in the history of bad TV:

The critically acclaimed "The West Wing" and "The Sopranos."

I'm going to save "The West Wing" for another column closer to the presidential election.

But let's just say it should be properly titled "The Left Wing." It's designed to cause voters to yearn for the never-born Mario Cuomo presidency, while lowering resistance to the caress of Al  "I'm not balding, really" Gore.

"The Sopranos," though, deserves special attention, again, because I really can't stand the show.

The program perpetuates an ugly stereotype of Italians as mobsters. And since my wife is Sicilian ("I'm Sicilian, not Italian!" she told me on our first date), and since we have kids, I admit it, I'm prejudiced about the way Italian-Americans are depicted.

Paul Basile, the editor of the Italian-American newspaper Fra Noi (which means "among us"), agrees that Hollywood should portray Italians as more than Mafia thugs or simple-minded guys with gold chains and earthy mannerisms.

Strange, though, not everyone agrees with me.

"For God's sake, Kass, relax!" said the guy on the phone on Wednesday. "It's fiction. It's fake. It's a TV show. You're acting like a prude, and I know you're not a prude. Take your own advice. Understand that it's not real life, it's only TV. You want real life, watch `60 Minutes.'
This is fiction. It's make-believe"

The caller was a friend and former colleague, Joe Cosentino, who is now a public relations consultant. And he's a former editor of Fra Noi.

"The actors are Italian, the scripts are written by Italians, created by Italians," said Cosentino. "Let's stop all the crying about discrimination. If you don't like it, don't watch it. But let's stop waving the flag. We've got to get over it. Al Capone is dead.

"Instead of beating up a TV show, Italian Americans should be worried about scholarships for students and jobs for graduates," Cosentino said. "That's the important thing. Why beat up a TV show?

"If it's so anti-Italian, explain to me why so many Italians watch the show? And explain why so many Italians have all "The Godfather" tapes in their homes, and how so many Italians know the lines from `The Godfather,'" Cosentino said. "It's fiction, that's why. They're fantasies, that's why. It's not real life. Nobody thinks it's real life. Relax, OK?"

Talking to Cosentino, I couldn't help but remember. We worked together years ago, as sportswriters, at the Red, White and Green, the newspaper of the Italian American Hall of Fame run by George Randazzo. That organization has provided more than $3 million in scholarshipsto students, regardless of race or ethnicity or creed.

George gave me my first newspaper job, and I got the job I always wanted: boxing writer. Because the Hall of Fame was located then in Elmwood Park, we'd have our editorial meetings at Gene's Deli on Harlem on Saturday mornings.

Joe was one of the senior writers. And Dan Pompei was the top writer at the paper. Dan later covered the Bears for the Sun-Times and now works at the Sporting News.

There was Dominic Scianna, who became the sports information director at St. John's University, and Mark Farina, who works as a public information officer at City Hall. Randazzo was the boss, and there were many other folks involved too.

We didn't get upset about politics and we didn't talk about protesting Hollywood perpetuations of ethnic stereotypes, and the last time I checked at the Red, White and Green, they still don't.

Sports was what we were interested in.

"What happened to your sense of humor?" Joe asked. "Relax about `The Sopranos.' And get one of the anti-`Soprano' people to explain why so many Italians like and watch the show."

Bill Del Cerro, of the Italic Studies Institute, acknowledged that many Italian Americans enjoy "The Sopranos" and know many of the lines from "The Godfather" movies.

"It's difficult to explain, perhaps too difficult," he said. "I agree with Paul Basile. Hollywood takes all the good things about our culture, love of family, and pastes it onto a romanticized criminal and sells that as an Italian.

"It becomes set in the American mind. That's how Hollywood steals our souls."

Get the Italian American Community connected to the Internet.

It is the FUTURE for the Young, 
It is a RESOURCE for Adults,
It is SALVATION for the Seniors.

The Last Statistics I saw, indicated the following Internet connectivity. Asians 60 %, General Poulace 34%, Hispanic 33%, Black 24%, Italian American 24%.

It looks like we as a Community will be as slow to embrace the Internet, as we did Book buying.

COMPUTERS FILL ELDERLY'S AGE OLD NEEDS
Technology: Seniors embrace new tools to keep in touch with 
family and maintain their way of life. 

By: Karen Alexander - Los Angeles Times - Thursday, August 3, 2000

On a hilltop in Laguna Woods, hundreds of gray-haired seniors head straight past the sparkling swimming pool and meandering golf courses for Leisure World's hippest and liveliest scene: the computer center. 

Six days a week, this white stucco bungalow is abuzz with people compiling family histories, entering sweepstakes, e-mailing far-flung grandchildren. On rows of terminals that display large print, they trade stocks, play games, download jokes and surf the Internet with as much verve as teenagers. Electronic greeting cards with their cheerful tunes are wildly popular here. 

Computer labs already occupy three rec rooms in Leisure World, and a fourth will be added as soon as the card club, with its dwindling membership, finds a new place to meet. 

"A lot of people who had absolutely no interest in getting up in the morning find value in getting up and learning something here," says Joe Schwarz, president of the Leisure World PC Users Group. His and another computer club boast about 3,000 members--about one of every six who live in this active retirement community.

The enthusiasm for personal computing is palpable at senior centers and retirement communities around the country, where those who came of age before there were electric typewriters are now clamoring for computer classes.

Increasingly, elderly Americans are embracing technology as an elixir for their ills and a treasured link to the outside world they refuse to leave behind. And computer companies are courting them as never before.

Harry West lived without a computer for nine decades. But these days, the 97-year-old former garment business owner spends three hours a day on a high-end computer in his flat in Leisure World. He's learning to manage his finances on the computer... (and) keeps in touch with his friends there and around the world by e-mail.Computers are "a tremendous window that's been 
opened" for seniors, West says.

It's no wonder that senior centers have waiting lists for their computer classes. "Computers started out with this image of being highly technical and too much for older persons," says David Peterson, professor of education and aging at USC's Andrus Gerontology Center. "But older people are taking to computers very well. They seem to learn as rapidly as other adults."...

More than other groups, seniors often describe their use of computers in intimate terms, belying the notion that the online world is impersonal and unfeeling....

...once they learn the basics and get over their initial fears, many seniors find that computing can be loads of fun. Indeed, at Leisure World's PC club, computing is as much a social affair as it is a way to play solitaire without having to reshuffle the cards....

Virginia Payne needed no such prodding. The 73-year-old former accountant and her husband, Bob, operate four computers between them. With digital imaging software, she designs scenery for Bob's model train set....

 With seniors in mind, Compaq, EMachines and others will soon be marketing low-cost, non-computing devices with easy-to-use e-mail and Internet capabilities....