January 2007

Il Muro di Sormano: Where Bicycle Racers Hit THE WALL

January 31, 2007

On a sunny Sunday in January, we drove up to the triangolo Lariano – the peninsula jutting into y-shaped Lake Como, whose tip is Bellagio. It’s an area famous in Italian bike racing history (there’s even a church dedicated to cycling, with relics of famous racers – including their bikes) As we drove, part of [...]

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barCamp Roma: January, 2007

January 30, 2007

The full gallery of photos from my attendance at barCamp in Rome.

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Immigration and Identity in Europe

January 28, 2007

(originally published in 2002) The assassination of Pim Fortuyn, a Dutch politician, provides food for thought. Fortuyn was “a politician who rejected multiculturalism, called for an end to immigration and excoriated Islam as a ‘backward culture’ for its intolerance of homosexuals, attitude to women and more” and “argue[d] fiercely that immigrants should integrate more wholeheartedly [...]

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Oh, My Darling Clementine

January 26, 2007

The fresh fruits and vegetables section of a standard American supermarket looks much the same all year round. There is no seasonal variance in the availability of any common foodstuff: you see the same tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli etc., even when they have to be imported from someplace far away where the weather is right for [...]

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The Boys of barCamp

January 22, 2007

For me, it started with a comment on Pandemia. Luca Conti (one of Italy’s most influential bloggers) reported the quizzical complaint of Marina Bellini: why were there practically no females signed up for barCamp Rome? Luca Mascaro, Federico, Diego Bianchi, Luca Conti I’d been reading more and more Italian blogs lately, especially since I met [...]

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A Woman’s Work…

January 19, 2007

When somebody asks “How are you?” my usual response is “Tired”. And that’s been my usual response for as long as I can remember. How did I get to this state? Let us review my typical day: 6:45 wake up, wake Rossella, turn on my computer, take a shower. 7:00 if it’s Monday or Friday [...]

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Close Neighbors: Living Cheek-by-Jowl in Italy

January 15, 2007

The vast majority of Italians live in villages, towns, and cities – very few have ever experienced the American “norm” of living in a single-family dwelling surrounded by its own plot of land. The ancient Romans invented the apartment building, an urban space-saving solution which has remained popular throughout Italian history and across the country. [...]

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Requesting Reader Reviews and Input

January 12, 2007

I’m thinking about writing a(nother) book, based on or at least related to (at least some of) what I already write about on my site. However, that covers a lot of ground, from Italy to India to the Internet, and I’m trying to figure out where to focus. And, in order to persuade a publisher [...]

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Family Portraits

January 10, 2007

Americans may be the most-photographed people in the world. Many American families, especially those who have children, sit for a formal photographic portrait every year, documenting the stages of their lives as the children are born and grow. (For holiday portraits, some families even dress in matching clothing, which may be taking things a little [...]

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Coming Out

January 5, 2007

Dec 27, 2006 – revised and expanded Jan 12, 2008 I grew up in a household without homophobia: one of my dad’s childhood friends was gay (and had known he was since age seven), a fact which never bothered Dad, who had other gay and lesbian friends in high school and college. No one ever [...]

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Everyday Italian: Learn from Newspaper Headlines 2

January 3, 2007

At the wedding lunch, [he] betrays his wife with his [male] friend. Fell in acid, Lecchese dies after three months. Terrible accident: a woman run over and killed in the crosswalk. Alarm on the Grigna (a local mountain) – six hikers lost. left: It’s a long story, read it here. right: Marconi Cinema closes Old [...]

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Everyday Italian: Learn from Newspaper Headlines

January 2, 2007

The local newspapers in Italy’s smaller cities and towns advertise with eye-catching headline boards, designed to be as sensational as possible. Usually one board reports two headlines of the day or week, and sometimes the juxtaposition is unintentionally funny. Struck by a toilet seat thrown from the train – Priest collapses at mass! (Okay, I [...]

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Italian Dictionary

January 1, 2007

Italian words and their definitions are scattered throughout this site, but up til now there has been no easy way to find them all. This page will begin to fix that. Click on a link to visit the page where a word or phrase is explained in more detail. Note: I am by no means [...]

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