http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gCRDDf5-_4
I've been trying to reason out for myself, if there is a difference in being Italian, being raised Italian or being born into an Italian family. Some may say that they are all the same...........but just think about it for a minute.
Being born Italian, simply means beginning ones life with two parents of Italian decent. With that in mind, is one born Italian if .....say, one parent is Italian, who lived his entire life in America and one parent is Albanian, but lived only 1 year of her life in Italy.......? For all intense purposes, I have selected to say I was born Italian simply by having 2 parents of Italian decent. Correctly, I guess that really makes me an Italian American. This is, of course, argumentative in the eyes of some................but I certainly believe that everyone must have some kind of beginning.......so......I was born into an Italian family......making me Italian. Being raised Italian is a little more difficult to show. Being raised, in my mind, means from birth forward to 18 years old . Nothing, during this period, brings to mind anything to establish why my being in a one child Italian family established me as an Italian.
I was not, in any sense of the word raised Italian, unless of course, one considers eating pasta every Sunday with a family that for one reason or another spoke Italian or Albanian 3/4 of the time is being raised Italian. I for one do not consider this as being raised Italian. I have had my share of pasta, pizza, cannelloni, ravioli, lazanna ,tortellini, fettachini or any other kind of inies along with all the Italian meats, veggies, and WINE, OVER MY LIFETIME, but .......did not have grease in my hair, a pencil mustache, gold chains around my neck or any of that sort of Italian stuff.................admittedly, I do have hair on my back, stomach, legs and so forth. I don't look good in bicycle speados and rode a bike with fat tires instead of skinny ones and I don't talk like........"yo.....know what I mean" " tink a bout it"
So........what makes an Italian,.......ITALIAN.........I haven't the slightest idea. Growing up, I did have some questions on my being .......truly ..........an Italian. Only child in the family just was to much for me to comprehend.......the Italian part, but here I am, an only Italian child. NOW, if this makes no sense to you......just think how I feel!. It's this rambling on that is most annoying and confusing. The one thing this constantly brings to mind is how VITO, this Italian seems to bring something into the room. It's funny how just having this name and with people having the knowledge that I am an Italian brings a certain feeling of uncertainty into any room. I remember, attending meetings, how........as soon as I entered the room a sense of..........I KNOW NOTHING hushness came over the participants...............oh, I would say until they actually knew it was safe to talk in front of me,.......guess they all wanted to hear me speak in this low soft voice like having cotton in my cheeks. In fact a certain reputation had followed me to Seattle and being such a small airport at the time I originally arrived from New York, Just the first name was enough to have people question whether or not I was a member of an "international organization." Well, I took advantage of this by never giving a definite yes or no but only shrugged my shoulders and not speaking. "If this is what you want to believe,.......far be it me to say any different. As the airport grew, so did the name of VITO. Being Italian is great!!!!!.............and intimidating.
Last night Margot and I went to a Jazz concert at the local high school to listen to the high school jazz band. In all honesty, we went primarily to listen to the guest artist they featured, a Latin jazz musician by the name of Bobby Medina. Bobby happens to be married to a gal that once worked for SAS in Seattle. Bobby had not only performed with some big musicians throughout his career but also for some functions held by SAS. The concert, last night was somewhat of a kickoff to an upcoming concert for him and his band. His tapes are fantastic and if you enjoy Latin jazz, I strongly suggest you pick one up. You might want to contact him at bobmedina@jps.net
Hope you checked out the video at the start of this page.
