With a Pink RibbonLucio Battisti |
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| Inseguendo una libellula in un prato
un giorno che avevo rotto col passato quando già credevo di esserci riuscito son caduto. Una frase sciocca un volgare doppio senso mi hanno allarmato non è come io la penso ma il sentimento era già un po’ troppo denso e son restato Chissà , chissà chi sei chissà chissà che sarà di noi lo scopriremo solo vivendo Comunque adesso ho un po’ paura ora che quest’avventura sta diventando una storia vera spero tanto tu sia sincera! Un magazzino che contiene tante casse alcune nere alcune gialle alcune rosse dovendo scegliere e studiare le mie mosse sono alle impasse Mi sto accorgendo che son giunto dentro casa con la mia cassa ancora con il nastro rosa e non vorrei aver sbagliato la mia spesa Chissà chissà chi sei chissà chissà che sarà di noi lo scopriremo solo vivendo Comunque adesso ho un po’ paura ora che quest’avventura sta diventando una storia vera spero tanto tu sia sincera! |
Following a dragonfly in a meadow
one day when I had broken with the past when I believed I had already done it I fell. A stupid phrase, a vulgar double-entendre Alarmed me, it’s not the way I think but the feeling was already a bit too thick and I stayed Who knows, who knows who you are, who knows what you will be Who knows what will become of us We’ll learn it only by living In any case now I’m a bit afraid now that this adventure is becoming a true [love] story I very much hope that you’re sincere! A warehouse that contains many cases Some black, some yellow, some red Having to choose and study my moves I’m at an impasse I’m realizing that I have arrived at home with my box still with its pink ribbon on and I don’t want to bought the wrong thing or married the wrong bride Who knows, who knows who you are, who knows what you will be Who knows what will become of us We’ll learn it only by living In any case now I’m a bit afraid now that this adventure is becoming a true [love] story I very much hope that you’re sincere! |
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Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 20
Clamorous: Videocameras and ZTL [zona traffico limitato – “limited traffic zone”]: the justice of the peace annuls the [traffic] fines
Molests a girl: band leader arrested (the photo)
Parking: Mayor Faggi “We’ll do the Serpentino” [?]
Scandal: young girl has sex at school in exchange for cell phone recharges
Albanian severely beats the owner of Bar Roma
The marathon crowns the Lecchesi: problems for the course signage
Veltroni [a presidential candidate] in Lecco
Turn of the screw on parking in the city
Zero tolerance against beggars
Arrested at school teacher accused of molestation
“My husband ran into me” [with the car]
Lecco – Azouz Marzouk under house arrest, city in revolt
Housing for foreigners; [city] council divided
Azouz arrested at Santo Stefano: protests
Politics, the earnings of parliament
Garbage sting, here’s what we’ll pay
Aggiungi un Posto a Tavola: Una Formica
An Ant is Only an Ant
God has decreed that no strangers can come along on the new ark. The only solution is for Toto to marry Consolazione. They are both delighted about this, but the rest of the villagers are not, and roundly declare that they will not help build the ark nor travel on it if Consolazione does. Don Silvestro, having appealed in vain to God (who doesn’t seem to be listening) to change their minds, in despair says: “I’ll do it myself.”
Continue reading Aggiungi un Posto a Tavola: Una Formica
Leaving Italy
Once again, I’m doing something unusual: leaving my husband behind in Italy while I move (mostly) to the US for work.
And, as usual, I’m struggling to explain to people what I’m doing and why. (The story of my life is that there is almost no question about me to which a simple answer can be given.)
So…. what am I doing?
I have accepted a job with Sun Microsystems, which comes with a requirement that I be based in the US. I’ll have an office at Sun’s Broomfield, Colorado campus (though I’ll also travel a lot); I’ll have a home within easy commuting distance of that office.
My husband Enrico will remain in Italy, where he has a good job as a university professor, and we will maintain our home in Lecco as it is today. We will travel as much as we can to see each other – fortunately, both our jobs allow for flexibility. But the cold fact of the matter is that we will mostly be living apart. No, I’m not happy about that.
So why am I doing this?
Because I aspire to challenging work in which I can make a real difference to at least some small corner of the world. I want the possibility of growth in my profession, commensurate with the skills and hard work that I bring to it. And I need to make a dignified living, to help provide a secure future for myself and my family (not least: our daughter has just been accepted to college in the US!).
I have tried for seventeen years to achieve all this in Italy, in my industry (high tech). For part of that time I have made progress along my chosen road. But it’s never been easy, and it’s only getting harder. Italy is in a zero-growth slump from which neither I nor anyone else sees much hope of near-term recovery. As much as they love their country and the lifestyle they have historically had here, many Italians despair of the future, for themselves and especially for their children. (More on that, too, in a future article.)
Most Italians don’t have or would never make the choice to leave Italy – they are deeply rooted (which has its upsides, of course). Some foreigners, too, have chosen to make lives for themselves in Italy, and are far more emotionally invested in living here than I ever was. For many years I chose to be here for my family, and that was the right thing to do at the time. Now that Rossella is grown up and gone from home, probably for good, I have more scope to make choices that are right for me. And I’m very excited about that.
So I have a chance to get out, and I’m taking it. Better yet, I have a chance to do something new and exciting with a great company. There are risks, and there may be costs. But, weighed against the certain costs (both financial and emotional) of not taking the risks, this is the best choice I can make right now.
Wish me luck!
ps. For those who come here for my articles and info about Italy, don’t worry – there is still plenty to say about it, and I’ll be travelling back often enough to keep plenty of ink in that particular well.
Photo Gallery: OpenCamp, Rome, March 2008
I attended OpenCamp in Rome, which was held in a mostly recovered public space, the former slaughterhouses of Rome, parts of which are interestingly decorated with graffiti.
