- Sauteed Broccoli Rabe - Olive Oil, Pinch of Salt over pasta.
Friday, November 1, 2019
Saturday, October 5, 2019
October is National Italian American Heritage Month - 'Why Some Italian-Americans Still Fiercely Defend Columbus Day' - NYTIMES
October is National Italian American Heritage Month where an legal order was always signed by the standing President, I just researched to see if our current president has signed anything and did not find it, maybe you will find it or maybe we will never see it again.
It goes without saying our cultural history in America goes back to the 1800's where over 5.4 million Italian immigrated to the US to find a better life, We were vilified then as many Mexican Americans are now a days. Granted in my case, my parents came to the USA with all the proper paperwork and protocol. They did come here from a war torn Italy and my father created a foundation for my mother's arrival years later. Today over 26 million Americans are of Italian descent making us the largest ethnic group. Stats from Italian American Foundation
With evolution comes controversy, and as many of us grew thinking, Columbus day signified a day to celebrate our heritage here in the USA, as we were all taught in elementary school that Christopher Columbus discovered America, I mean he was Italian. Well as we've become a more sensitive society to ethnicity and social awareness's, it has been deemed incorrect to celebrate Christopher Columbus because according to history he slayed and murdered Indigenous people in his quest to colonize the USA. Last time I checked this was called Thanksgiving a national and huge economic engine of a holiday where we are basically celebrating the slaughter of native Americans, but there is no argument there, instead we focus on Columbus Day and the so called heinous acts of the explorer. Instead in elementary school you were taught how the colonists had a dinner with the Indians and they were all so happy, were they?
In all honesty, we don't need Columbus Day or Thanksgiving they are both if you want to break it down celebrating the same thing. Its not about Italians at all. This country before you and I was built on explorers from the 'Old World' coming to the "New World" and yes, according to history did in fact use heinous acts to colonize or so they say, you and I the person who is about 100 years old would NOT know either. All we have is supposed history books. The moral of the story, we are here in America, we have contributed to the history of this country along with many other ethnicities and cultures. You can't deny history and label one person or one culture. This is America.
This was an article published in the NY TIMES; Take a look, a lot of great points. What do you think?
Why Some Italian-Americans Still Fiercely Defend Columbus Day
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I'm Italian and Yes, I Have Curly Hair -- Part 2
In that post found HERE I talk about my feelings around how people perceive and treat people with curly hair in and around work environments or just anywhere. This is a real topic and real instances of discrimination do occur from what seems to be very a light topic or comment usually of "wow, I love your hair, how do you get it that way, or wow, that's a lot of hair.. how do you manage it...?" as if my hair is an issue or it makes someone else feel uncomfortable or even opens up the door for some people to cross my boundaries and assume because my hair is big and curly its associated to some sort of stereotype. No women with naturally ethnic curly hair are not more wild, or put forth a vibe of more sexual energy.
As humans we obviously perceive and absorb what ever feelings we have naturally, but when we are programmed by the media and cultural stereotypes we are in fact discriminating and maybe against other people for even more different qualities than curly hair. If you look at more ethnic men and women who are in the public eye they tend to keep their rather ethnic naturally curly hair straight because that's more widely accepted and I believe makes people feel more comfortable because its more common. Different scares people.
More recently over the summer, I read this amazingly interesting story out of NYC, "This year, the New York City Commission on Human Rights received seven complaints detailing similar incidents, in which employees were told that their tresses had to be straightened in order to comply with business standards. In February, the agency stepped in and officially banned “hair discrimination” in the city, granting victims of this kind of racial bias grounds to take legal action. (The cases that prompted the move are still under investigation.)" READ THE FULL STORY HERE
I love my curly hair, I do straighten it once in a while, but guess what? That's not me: the picture above is me, I don't think everyone is OK and or ready for the ethnicity of real curly hair and there continues to be stereotyping and discrimination, we must do a better job at educating our children and communities about acceptance and equality. Also, the reason why I'm writing this blog post is because I've been asked a million times by my readers to talk more about this topic, and believe it or not the article was read over 20,000 times and counting. I may do more on this topic, talk to someone for podcast and even do a video on how to do my curly hair. If you have thoughts on this topic or want to add something for me to talk about, send me an email: margaret@italianamericangirl.com Tweet
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Italian Summer Salad and DIshes
Summer is always the time of year for the best summer salads, especially summer salad. A variation of a well prepared dish is fresh tomato with mozzarella and basil from the garden. Easy to make, slice the tomatoes downward to get the full circumference and shape of the presentation. Cut your mozzarella and lay on top of the tomaotoes and then add the basil. I drizzle olive oil and a pinch salt all over the dish. We eat well but very healthy. What's your favorite summer salad?
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