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Commentary – Who am I to Speak to You of Italy
This article is the promised commentary on: “Who am I to Speak to You of Italy“, which I wrote in April. In part a commentary recognises that our words never really leave us. They travel along with us and reveal new unimagined meanings and inspire new departures as they speak to us from memory. Much is communicated in Who am I to Speak … by allusion; and many unwritten and written words lie under those that were set down, and a commentary may enrich communication. However, it is not necessary to read the commentary and you may choose not to do so, as commentary (even by writer) may also confine…
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Who Am I to Speak to You of Italy?
Who am I to speak to you of Italy? Chi sono io, per parlarvi dell’Italia? Who, for more than 50 years have lived in silence, far beyond her shores. Chi sono io, per parlarvi dell’Italia? Chi, per più di cinquant’anni ha vissuto in silenzio, lontano dalle sue sponde. Yet, such words do not belong to me alone. “Italian Americans are invisible people.” Fred Gardaphé writes, “Not because people refuse to see them, but because, for the most part, they refuse to be seen.” Even here, across an ocean, truth resonates in his words. And as he knows, being forgotten has a price. A price paid with the coins of self-forgetting.…
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Italian Stories: From the Godfather to the Fortunate Pilgrim
This story is written from Australia: far from Italy. Yet for me these two places will always be connected, for I was born in one and have grown up and lived in the other. It takes some making sense of – this life spread across half a globe. Somehow the neat boxes that society creates – this country here – that country there – find no place in my heart. How can I apportion my left ventricle to one land and my right to another? There is a problem with this tale which parcels out the world in separate lands; for inside my one human body I carry stories from…
