Save Columbus Day in Norwich, CT Public Schools
On behalf of the Italian-American Defense League, I am writing this petition in response to the decision of the Norwich, CT Board of Education on January 12, 2021 to adopt a 2021-2022 School Year Calendar that replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Italian-American Defense League (IADL) supports education, portrays positive stereot...
March 2 election: Columbus Day vs. Indigenous Peoples Day
For years, the celebration of Columbus Day went on without protest in Wellesley, which has a substantial population of people of Italian-American descent. But more recently, there has been a hard-fought battle to replace it with Indigenous Peoples Day. The March 2 ballot contains a referendum on the issue. "The referendum results are to inform the...
BOOKS: Exploring Italy through its food
In our culture we have lost our connection to cooking,” says Teresa Lust, author of "A Blissful Feast, Culinary Adventures in Italy’s Piedmont, Maremma, and Le Marche" ( Pegasus Books 2020; $19.19 Amazon hardcover price). The book was The Readable Feast’s 2020 winner for Best of Food Memoir. Lust, who teaches Italian at Dartmouth University in New...
That's Amore: Italian weddings in Portsmouth's North End, preserving the history
Michael Fiandaca married Mary Vinciguerra at Portsmouth's Immaculate Conception Church the day after Valentine's Day in 1942 while on leave from the military. The couple looks hopeful and happy in their wedding portrait. They were in the middle of a world war, but their close-knit family connections would sustain them, as is evidenced by their cont...
Committee recommends sale of Columbus statue in Providence
The recommendation by a city of Providence committee: the Christopher Columbus statue must go. For good. The statue had stood next to Elmwood Avenue in South Providence until last Summer. That's when the mayor had it temporarily removed and put in storage after it became a lightning rod for the social unrest sweeping the country. The at-first tempo...
Rename the Columbus School? Medford officials urge community discussion
The question of whether or not to rename the Columbus Elementary School had many residents tuning in the most recent School Committee meeting. The discussion, however, was pushed back to early March. “Clearly people thought we might be changing it,” member Pauline Van der Kloot said during the Feb. 8 meeting, in reference to e-mails and letters she...
In Frank Stella’s Constellation of Stars, a Perpetual Evolution
For Carl Jung, a name was not just a name. In his 1960 book “Synchronicity,” the Swiss psychiatrist proposed that what you’re called may have a determining effect on your whole life, structuring your behaviors and your outlook in ways that resemble a secret compulsion. Someone called Herr Gross (“Mr. Tall,” in German) probably “suffers from delusio...
Bridgeport's Bishop Caggiano named next Legatus head chaplain
Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport has been named the next chaplain of Legatus International, a Catholic business leaders’ association with over 100 chapters in the U.S. and Canada. “Legatus is blessed to have Bishop Caggiano as International Chaplain, empowering our chapters and members with Christian ethics and values as they navigate the missio...
Legislators introduce bill to make pizza the official food of Connecticut
For fans of New Haven-style apizza, the perfectly-charred delicacy is as "Connecticut" as apple pie is American. The love for apizza in Connecticut is so grand that two New Haven legislators are looking at adopting pizza as the official food of the state. Proposed House Bill 5656 - drafted by Rep. Patricia Dillon, 92nd District and Sen. Gary Winfie...
Melrose adds Indigenous Peoples Day, removes Columbus Day from the calendar
Check your calendar. Melrose won't be celebrating Columbus Day in October. The city of Melrose will now officially recognize the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples Day, instead of Columbus Day. The School Committee voted to eliminate the controversial holiday from the district's calendar at a virtual meeting on Jan. 26. “We did it!,” He...
"It isn't a selfish thing": 96-year-old WWII Veteran gets vaccinated for COVID-19
A chilly morning in Maine is no match for 96-year-old Carmine Pecorelli's spunk. "It's just another day," he said as he used an old brush to sweep the snow from his car. But this day he is on a mission--one that pales in comparison to those he completed in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Carmine served in the Army, Navy, and Air F...
NFA changes Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day
The newly approved 2021-22 Norwich Free Academy calendar will change the second Monday in October from Columbus Day to Indigenous People Day. The board of trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the calendar with the change, with board Chairman DeVol Joyner thanking Head of School Brian Kelly for the proposed change. The Norwich Board of Educ...