March 2004

Born into It: Why You Can’t Become Italian

March 28, 2004

Most of the world’s major religions proselytize (for some, it’s a major facet of the faith), and eagerly accept converts. Except Hinduism. Hare Krishnas notwithstanding, you really can’t convert to Hinduism, because it is much more than a set of beliefs and practices. Hinduism is a system that you are born into, a fixed hierarchy [...]

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You Want Me to Put that Where?!?

March 28, 2004

Cultural Differences in Medication Methods, US and Italy There are cultural differences between Italy and the US even in seemingly small things, such as how medicines are administered. I got through a childhood of many, many medicines without ever using a suppository – except once. That once is still imprinted on my mind as one [...]

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Est, Est, Est

March 19, 2004

“A policeman called the deaths of six females and three males, all believed to be children of Marcus Wesson, the largest mass killing in the history of Fresno, Calif.” NYT I should certainly hope so. Just how many mass killings have there been in Fresno? The media’s obsession with superlatives has infected us all. We [...]

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The Fanvid Phenomenon

March 19, 2004

I wrote some time ago about the phenomenon of fan fiction , where fans make up their own stories set in particular fictional universes. Although publishers and copyright guardians are uneasy about the phenomenon (especially because many of the stories are sexy), I feel that the creators of these fictional worlds should feel highly complimented. [...]

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Holiday Treats – Italian Seasonal Goodies

March 19, 2004

Any excuse is good for eating sweets, but seasonal treats that are only available during certain holidays are the best excuse of all. (No, I’m not talking about pumpkin-flavored coffee from Starbucks.) Italy has one or more special sweets for every holiday. For Christmas, it’s panettone (a leavened cake with canditi – candied fruit – and raisins) [...]

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Crotasc – A Winery Restaurant Specializing in Wild Game

March 15, 2004

We’ve discovered a new treasure, Crotasc, a restaurant attached to the Mamete Prevostini winery in Mese, just outside Chiavenna (a town north of the northern tip of Lake Como). Their specialties are salumi and insaccati (dried meats) and wild game (including salumi made from wild game), and of course their own wines.   The house [...]

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Fitting Clothes

March 11, 2004

An article in the Christian Science Monitor confirms what I have long suspected: clothing size has nothing to do with body size, and indeed is not uniform even from manufacturer to manufacturer. I began to wonder about this years ago, when shopping for shorts in a mall. Much to my surprise, I ended up buying a pair [...]

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Italian Winter Weather

March 11, 2004

The first time we visited Milan, in January of 1991, there were about four inches of snow on the ground. It melted the next day, and in the 12 years we lived in Milan after that I only saw snow falling once or twice a year, some years not at all, and rarely enough to [...]

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Randy Newman in Milan

March 4, 2004

Monday night we went to hear Randy Newman in Milan, on the last date of his European tour. I didn’t realize it was the last til I looked at his site just now – he certainly didn’t look any worse for the wear of 22 shows in 30 days. This was the Songbook tour, just Randy and [...]

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The Bride’s Bouquet

March 4, 2004

A year after we met, Enrico and I attended the wedding of two high school friends of mine (I was a bridesmaid). At the end, I stood among the other unmarried women while the bouquet was thrown. I wasn’t particularly keen to catch it, and am no good at catching things, so I didn’t even [...]

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