August 2003

What’s in a Name: All-Too-Common Italian Baby Names

August 28, 2003

Having been saddled all my life with a name that no one can spell or pronounce, I am always curious about how people get their names – especially, of course, the unusual ones. In July, 2003, the New York Times ran an article about what people are naming their kids, based on the Social Security [...]

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Housing: How Italians Live

August 28, 2003

During my July trip to the US, I stayed with friends in different cities and types of homes, giving me fodder for reflection on differences in customs, styles, and expectations for housing in the US and Italy. As I have mentioned before, renting an unfurnished apartment in Italy means completely unfurnished, so for our new [...]

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Everyday Movies

August 28, 2003

I’m astonished at how regular a part of my life movies have become these days. When I was a kid in Bangkok, few English-language movies were shown, still fewer that were suitable for kids. I dimly remember Camelot (very long – I fell asleep before the depressing ending), being scared at Diamonds are Forever, and The Wizard of Oz - [...]

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That Old College Spirit

August 20, 2003

Everyone in the world finds it cool to have logos and words from other parts of the world on their T-shirts. Here in Italy, you’d be surprised at how many people seem to have attended American Ivy League universities, until you realize that there are university logo shirts are for sale at many shops that [...]

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Taking It All Off in the Caribbean

August 20, 2003

A couple of years ago, we were headed for a New Year’s party on St. Barth’s, an affair for which we had had to make reservations in April. As we got closer to the date, it turned out that I was in California and my family in Italy, and we’d be flying from opposite directions [...]

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Unattainable Knowledge

August 20, 2003

The Borders bookshop at Dulles airport carries a book called “What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World.” Placed on a shelf too high to reach.

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Fess Up: What Happens when a Name Can’t Be Translated into Italian?

August 7, 2003

During our US trip last year, Ross and I visited the Texas History Museum in Austin (new since I graduated from the University of Texas in 1986). They had a temporary exhibit on Davy Crockett, the near-mythical frontiersman who was a Senator from Tennessee before moving on to Texas, where he died at the Alamo. The exhibit included a [...]

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Fitting Bras

August 7, 2003

Men, you have no idea how important it is to have a bra fit well. (I suppose there might be something analogous in male attire, but probably not something that most of you have to wear every day.) Well, I’m here to tell you: it’s critical. It is extremely hard to get bras to fit [...]

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Cultural Assumptions

August 7, 2003

What You Think You Might Know About Somebody… Might Be Wrong Years ago, before we were even living in Italy, Enrico and I spent a night in Courmayeur, on the French side of Mont Blanc, on our way to somewhere. Our hotel included breakfast (most of them do), eaten at large, bare wooden tables with [...]

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Feeling the Seasons in Italy

August 7, 2003

First week in August, and most of Italy is shutting down, except the beaches and some mountain resorts, which are booming with Italian vacationers. The cities will be largely left to foreign tourists and those who serve them. Kids are off school from mid-June to mid-September, and many adults take off all or most of [...]

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