La Gazzetta Italiana 2013 Volume 20 | Page 36

Club Newsletters Club Newsletters Mission/Vision Statement Opportunity Passed Down Literature and Language Awards for Students of Italian Heritage 3659 Green Road, Suite 124 Beachwood OH 44122 www.iacfcleveland.org November 2013 Connie Sancetta, President Charlie Manno, Vice-President Our Sponsors! • Americans of Italian Heritage • Solon Italian Club • Italian American Brotherhood Club • Sante Catholic Union • Southwest Italian-American Club • Wickliffe Italian-American Club • Circolo Italo Americano Corenese • Rionero Sannitico Recreational Club • Kalena Club of Cleveland • Italian American Business and Professional Mens Club • The Spitalieri Family ­36 Thomas (TJ) Zingalis won the senior first place award at St. Edward High School in spring for this essay on Fred Gardaphe’s “Moustache Pete Is Dead!” Imagine being in a place far from home where most of what you think and say is no longer understood by fellow people. Where traditions and customs you have grown up with are now hundreds of miles away and you are left to try and understand and adapt to the new surroundings. In the book I read, “Moustache Pete Is Dead!”, this is what “Moustache Pete” is going through. Moustache Pete was a column in the newspaper “Fra Noi” which basically talked about the life of an average Italian immigrant in the US in the 1980’s. Reading this collection really helped me deepen my own Italian heritage because it shows me how my ancestors were treated when coming into this country, the difficulties of adjusting to a new culture and the strength that the first generation immigrants needed in order to make a living here in America. This book was very interesting for me to read because my father’s side of the family came to America just about one hundred years ago. All my great-grandparents and grandparents were full-blooded Italians and while I cannot remember ever meeting my grandmother I remember my grandpa and I can definitely relate this story to him. My great-grandparents came to the US in the early nineteen hundreds and “Americanized” their name, just as Moustache Pete does; they changed the Italian name Zingale into Zingalis. Also I know that my great-grandparents and grandfather owned and worked at a fruit stand in the beginning to earn money for their family. I was reminded of many things about my ancestors while reading this book just because of how similar their start in this country was. This helps me appreciate my culture because I now realize that this was not just the journey of my great-grandparents or Moustache Pete but also all of the Italian immigrants who came to this country and have given me the great opportunities that I have now. However, as this country repeatedly reminds us, nothing is free. The opportunities I have today were earned by the hard work of my ancestors and the perseverance they had to stay here. The columns collected in this book are just about thirty years old and yet even in more modern times Italian immigrants had a difficult time adjusting. In the book it is obvious how Moustache Pete does not know much of how to act in this country but the part that I think is interesting is that there was never anyone that helped him, only people who ridiculed him for being different. The reason that this bothers me is because this was in the 1980’s and about a guy who at least had somewhat of an idea of how to communicate; however my ancestors came in the early twentieth century and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for them. Between being ridiculed for how they talked and probably how they looked, being from the southern part of Italy, I imagine it was very hard for them. But this gives me an immense sense of appreciation because if they allowed the struggles to send them back to where they came from or prevent them from coming in the first place I would not be where I am today. I would think that one of their biggest struggles was finding work that could provide for them and their family. My grandfather was one of five children and I am sure that running a fruit stand was not enough for the whole family. As Moustache Pete says throughout the book he had to do a lot of different jobs just in order to earn enough money for him and his family. I can imagine that my grandfather and his siblings may not have had great childhoods based on a Moustache Pete quote, “They was days we wasa luck to have had bread. But we work hard and our kids doan have it so bad as we did.” Well, Moustache Pete was right, my grandfather worked hard so that he could have a much better life in America. He inspires me because even though he was just a second generation American he was able to open and operate a great business in the city of Cleveland. My father learned from my grandfather and worked hard to get a job doing something he loved which was building custom computers for businesses. So now as a fourth generation American I have a great life and have role models to look up to that show me no matter what the circumstances are anything can be achieved if it is worked for. BUON NATALE e BUON ANNO LA GAZZETTA ITALIANA | DECEMBER 2013 President: Kay Corsaro 1st Vice President: Pat Di Lullo Treasurer: Giovanni Catalano Secretary: : Virginia Cruickshank Sergeant-at-Arms: Domenic Cornacchione Trustees: Joe Motta, Ed Altieri, John Petzker Parliamentarian: : Marie Chiarappa FROM OUR PRESIDENT Dear Friends, The holiday season again will be celebrated all over the world. Especially Christmas is celebrated many different ways in any region of any country. The holiday season is one of the best times to visit Southern Italy. You can see many shoppers going from store to store for gifts and foods to prepare for their traditional dinners. The traditional Christmas Eve dinner is the Feast of the Seven Fishes, any fish works but traditionally, Calamari, Baccala,