Early morning message to RI Radio host, Gene Valicenti:
Gene, I appreciate your not infrequent speaking up for the dignity of Italo-Americans when mass media associate them with disreputable images...Too much Godfather- Sopranos cult, still too much stereotyping.
Most Italo-Americans of the third and fourth generation, in fact, have a mixed ethnic heritage-much like American Jews. But again your last name invariably carries with it your ethnic "baggage" . . .
Let me get quickly to my point here: Unlike the Latinos and the Jews, Italo-Americans are, in fact, super-Americanized in this sense: they have neglected and ignored their own beautiful Italian language heritage.
Only rather late in life did I start paying attention to the language of my father's ancestors (my mother was an "Engley")
After a while I found a near sensuous delight in the sounds of this most musical of languages. "We must not lose this jewel of a language", I thought.
The Internet now makes learning ANY language a lot less duller than it was in my high school days- when I learned the connection between ancient Latin and modern Italian. We have lost our Latin connection -after Vatican II. Do Rhode Island high schools like Hope High or Central High or Mount Pleasant still offer a course in First Year Italian? All it takes is ONE year to get back the soul of Italy-the wonderful Italian language.
You can use your considerable influence for Italo-American cultural preservation. To be sure, Italian restaurants are in no danger of disappearing in Rhode Island. But Atwells Avenue is all that remains of Old Federal Hill. Even Holy Ghost Church once had a daily mass in Italian. Now there is a daily mass in Spanish- which like Italian had its linguistic roots in the empire of ancient Rome.
It is indeed a blessing to be bilingual in modern America. This is wholesome "political correctness". In contrast to Columbus Day hostility.
Ciao !
Ron from Knightsville, Cranston
Let me get quickly to my point here: Unlike the Latinos and the Jews, Italo-Americans are, in fact, super-Americanized in this sense: they have neglected and ignored their own beautiful Italian language heritage.
Only rather late in life did I start paying attention to the language of my father's ancestors (my mother was an "Engley")
After a while I found a near sensuous delight in the sounds of this most musical of languages. "We must not lose this jewel of a language", I thought.
The Internet now makes learning ANY language a lot less duller than it was in my high school days- when I learned the connection between ancient Latin and modern Italian. We have lost our Latin connection -after Vatican II. Do Rhode Island high schools like Hope High or Central High or Mount Pleasant still offer a course in First Year Italian? All it takes is ONE year to get back the soul of Italy-the wonderful Italian language.
You can use your considerable influence for Italo-American cultural preservation. To be sure, Italian restaurants are in no danger of disappearing in Rhode Island. But Atwells Avenue is all that remains of Old Federal Hill. Even Holy Ghost Church once had a daily mass in Italian. Now there is a daily mass in Spanish- which like Italian had its linguistic roots in the empire of ancient Rome.
It is indeed a blessing to be bilingual in modern America. This is wholesome "political correctness". In contrast to Columbus Day hostility.
Ciao !
Ron from Knightsville, Cranston
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Radical Ron's "Federal Hill Roots" – pictured here in this composite image are his paternal grandparents,
Ludovico and Andreana (Napoletano) Ruggieri– both Italian immigrants who arrived in America in 1905.
They rented a humble apartment on 62 Gesler Street for over 50 years and attended Mass
(often daily) at Holy Ghost Church.
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Ron