Election Time

It is time for local and EU elections, and the local race is heating up. Well, the weather is heating up as well, but there are also a lot of people running for office.

In the past, I have not known anyone who stood for elective office. This year, two friends are trying to be elected, and also several friends of friends are trying. I even went to my first political rally, where Fabrizio Ricotta, who is running for city counsel, was to make a speech with others from his party, Sciacca for the Center. It is the party of the incumbent mayor, and Fabrizio is one of the people running on that ticket in support of Mario Tuturicci.

Of course when Fabri got up to speak, I had to take his picture. I noticed that his son and daughter also had to take his picture, so I got a shot of Sergio and Michela taking his picture as he spoke as well.

I find that when I am sitting someplace listening to Italian being spoken quickly, I can follow everything, although as time goes by, I tend to drift off, as it does take a bit of effort on my part. So after the first forty five minutes, and certainly after Fabri spoke, I found myself drifting off, and just listening the the voices slowly increase in volume, as the hands made more and more and bigger and bigger gestures. It reminded me of the old time oratory of when I was small, and I also remember my mother reminding me whenever we saw people speaking while waving their arms that I should never do that, it was not polite to talk with your hands. She never did well with the deaf vote. (Joke) (Politically incorrect) (I apologize in advance to all mothers, deaf people, and deaf people who happen to be mothers, and mothers who happen to be deaf, if they were offended by that).

Meanwhile, it might be interesting to note, that in Sciacca, a city of about 40,000 people, with many thousands temporarily working in the north and in other parts of Europe, there are 30 city council spots up for election. The election is being contested by 10 parties. That means that there are 300 candidates in Sciacca for 30 seats. Is it any wonder that they use paper ballots. And by the way, write ins are also popular. Sometimes less than 500 votes has gotten one onto the city counsel.

As I have handed things to my friends in support of Fabri, they have all kindly taken them and smiled. The smile gets wider as I tell them that he is a friend, is hard working, honest, and sincere. Then they laugh and clap me on the shoulder when I tell them the I know that they have friends (maybe even relatives) that are hard working, honest, and sincere, but I had told Fabri I would do this for them.

By the way, the other person running for office is my old friend Dr. Gaspari (Rino) Marinello.

What is missing in this picture??

When someone in the states asked me what fruit I was getting fresh, I told them that the oranges were almost gone, the strawberries were in, and a few early cantaloupes were in. When I got back, I could not buy enough of the fresh varieties that had ripened up over the weekend, so I could not include the nespoli (medlars) (local), the lemons (local), the sweet dark cherries (lo9cal), the apples (granted, probably controlled atmosphere from the north). But we did have strawberries (local) and little strawberries known as fragolini (strawberries are fragoli), which are a specialty of Menfi(but probably local), Peaches (specialty of Bivona but probably local), Apricots (local), Cantaloupe (Mazara), Bananas (up from Africa) and a few left over Ribera Oranges. Oh yes.

The garlic braid in the back ground helps keep away vampires, and so far it has worked.

What's new in the news

An Italian newspaper (Giornale de Sicilia) captured how I have begun to feel when I return to the US. Each time it is getting better, as the dark forces or Mordor are slowly retreating to the bowels of the mountains around Denton, Texas. Now if they can clean out the ridiculous rear guard they seem to have left in Maryland. Can't they get him to go back to Wyoming and go hunting with himself, or maybe visit Texas and go hunting with his lawyer friend.

Liberty Has Been Found Again

I know I am home when

I must admit, the sights and sounds of Sicily help me to remember that I am back home again. Sometimes it is seeing the familiar coastline as the plane turns to line up with the runway. Sometimes it is feeling the light and the heat of the sun as I get off the airplane into the waiting bus to take me to the terminal. Sometimes it is the total lack of a line the way I think of line when it is time to line up for ANYTHING, baggage, a restroom, or a document check. Sometimes it is the styles I see on the street. And then again, and then again.

When Angelo picked me up at the airport, he said that the timing was perfect, as we could go to his house, where he and Franci were preparing a special seafood pranzo for me. Now they know that I have a dreadful fear of fish, but Angelo assured me it was all fish without bones.

Oh my, how to find out I am back in Sicily. Start out with shrimp cocktail in Russian Dressing sort of stuff. Eat this along with olives, perhaps a little salami, a little wine. Oh my.

But wait, there is more. Fresh pulpo. Angelo went down and bought it alive in the morning, and cooked it in boiling water until it was perfect. And perfect is sweet, tender, a little chewy, and really funny looking. They followed this with pasta in oil, garlic and clams, and then on to gamberoni, which are big, I mean really big, shrimp, which had been grilled. It was heavan, almost, except I was alive, and the freshness of everything reminded me I was in Sicily.

Brava Jessica

So who is prouder, Jess or Dad??

I took (for me) a fairly sudden and very short trip to Boston on the weekend of the 17th of May. Jess, who finished up her coursework in December, decided to go back to Boston and see her friends and go through the graduation ceremony with the other Boston University graduates. I knew as soon as she told me, I had to be there.

Getting there was another story, being as I arrived on Thursday morning at the airport WITHOUT MY PASSPORT. Angelo, my friend from Palermo, was driving me, and he turned around and we came back to Sciacca to get it, and of course by the time we got back to the airport, the plane was gone. A fight to Rome, a night in Rome, a new ticket, and I was in Boston on Friday afternoon a few hours before Jess got there. Friday night I hung with Jon and his friends until Jess got there, and then we were up at 4 to drive Jon to the airport, where he and Steph were flying to Florida with three other couples for the annual foray into both Florida and Vacationland. But I did have some quality time to spend with him.

Saturday afternoon, Jess and I went shopping. We ate at a nice little place on Newberry Street, and we had a wonderful afternoon together. Saturday night, she had dinner with her father and then went out with some friends.

On Sunday, we drove to BU and I let her off near the entrance, and then followed the instructions to try to find a place to park. Eventually I wrote my own instructions, and everything was fine with the car.

I sat with Jess' God-mother Susan, along with Susan's daughet and her fianzato. Jess's father and his friend had settled into another section without noticing us.

It was a nice ceremony, and I am especially proud of Jess for doing this all on her own, from application to graduation, and I am doubly proud of her as she was able to find a job in her profession of Journalism. Brava Jess.




Susan (Jess' Godmother) Jess (Jess's Self) and Bob Collier (Jess's Dad)

Bienvenuto Alberto

Franci Lo Verde and Angelo Gambino have given 13 month old Alessio Gambino a new brother to play with. Welcome Alberto.

Stay offa my purple suede shoes

Sometimes when you land in Sicily, you just plain simply KNOW you are in Sicily. The dudes are indeed dudes, and check out thes purple suede shoes. I could almost hear a local Elvis impersonator doing an Italian version of Purple Sued Shoes. (Or are they violet? I am colorblind, so I am not sure, but they certainly were loud enough to hear over airplanes taking off.

TODARI

Maria, Paola's Daughter, and Paola

Maria, one of the women who works at the bakery I go to recently bought a computer. Before she bought it, she asked me if I would help her learn how to use it. Of course I would. I have gone over to her house many times, helped her get started with e mail, skype, facebook, word processing, etc etc. She is a fast learner, and right now I think the only thing that might be holding her back would be her typing speed.

Anyway, after going through some stuff on the computer with her, she would fix dinner, and her husband Mimo would come home from work, and we would sit down with their two children Alberto and Claudia. The two kids are cute, and Claudia uses her status as being younger along with her being female to try to get Alberto in trouble. He is catching on to her game, which sometimes infuriates Claudia.

Anyway, I went over there once and Maria said we were going to have a special meal of Todari.
Paula, her sister who lives next door, and also works at the bakery, along with her husband Fillipo who is the chief baker, were also going to join us for dinner. Then their parents showed up as well, so suddenly I was in the middle of a family feast. What great times they are!!

Calogero, Filippo, e Mimo

Anyway, we started off with shrimp cocktail (sicilian style, with russian dressing intstead of hot red cocktail sauce). Yum And then there was ensalata de pulpo - cotopus salad. While the octopus is boiled, it tastes more like a ceviche, because lemon juice is used to dress it. Sweet and not too chewey.

Then todari. It was sort of funny, because Filippo's last name is Todaro, which would be the singular of todari. However, he looks nothing like a squid.

We finished up with a baked fish dish, which I did not eat very much of due to my over riding fear of fish with spines. I just can not stand them.

I am, of course, saving the best for last. And that is the picture of the todari in a wonderful pizziola sauce. Brava Maria, complimenti e grazie.

Fifty Years and counting

Because I did not get a good picture of Paolo and Ignatzia together on their anniversary (they were too busy keeping up with all their guests) and because I have temporarily lost my favorite pictures of the two of them (although my step son Jon is revocering them from a disabled hard drive) this copy of a picture of the two of them with Giusy at the Women's Day festa will have to do.






Paolo Ficalora and Ignatzia Marchese celebrated fifty years of wedded bliss recently. What a fine occasion. First, there was a special service in the new church in the Perriera section of Sciacca, and then a wonderful recetpion at a recently opened Bed and Breakfast/restuarant around the corner from me.

The church service was a special service, but it was not just for Paolo and Ignatzia. It was also the baptism ceremony for a young baby of another family (unrelated). So all of Paolo's family and friends sat patiently through the baptism, and then all of the baby's family and their friends sat patiently through the renewal of vows.

Finally, the priest did a masterful job of tying the two together, saying the usual sorts of stuff, but saying it well.

Then in was off to Torre Tabia for a wonderful reception. Of course Paolo's children and grand - children were there, as well as several of their friends that I only see occasionally. Friends from Sigonella have stayed at Torre Tabia from time to time, and I knew the folks there, but had never eaten there before.

Needless to say, it was a great meal.

Congratulations Paolo and Ignatzia. I look forward to attending your 100th anniversary celebration!!

Labor fDay Picnic

Please note that both Nadja and Ralfe are wearing their special Anarchist Store (from Berkeley) T Shirts that I got for them just for this holiday. I even was able to guess correctly on the sizes.

After the labor day march, we headed back to Maintal on Rhine, where Ralfe and Nadja live, for their traditional post march, labor day picnic/bar b que. On the way back, we stopped at the Ice House (where the ice hockey team plays) and picked up posters for their current exhibit. They did this as a favor to me, as it was the second year in a row that I was in Germany and in the right city for the largest pornography trade show in Germany. The last time was in Mannhiem, and I was waiting for my friend Klaus to pick me up in front of the train station when a van pulled up and 7 drop dead gorgeous sex industry workers got out. I found myself wondering what would happen if they had the trade show at the Syracuse War Memorial, or maybe even at the Fulton hockey rink. Oh well. Probably would never happen.

At any rate, Ralfe took care of the cooking, including wurstel and fillets, and Nadja had prepared some side dishes. We ate and drank, and I switched from beer to water to apple wine to beer and back again. Tomas and Kirsten, who had visited me in Sicily shortly after I met Nadja on the train, were also there, as was a doctoral student who had been born in Iran, and who was studying in Frankfort, but unable to return home.

Later on, we walked down to the Rhine River. There is a strip of seemingly unused land (I am told it is not a park), and there were many families having picnics there. There was also a sad little luna park at one end of the open area, and it reminded me of so many memorial day salutes, with the parade, the picnic, and then the kids going to the overnight set up and tear down amusement ride.

May Day, May Day

With the concorso out of the way, I got ready for a quick weekend trip to visit my friends in Frankfort, and attend a real European May Day / Labor Day celebration and manifestation. My friends, both professors in the Frankfort Area, and both active with the intellectual side of left politics in the area, were planning on going to the march in Frankfort. Another friend there had thought about going to Mainz, just because he heard that the neo-Nazis might be there to have a counter march against the mainly Marxist (of some stripe or other) labor day parade. He wanted to go to get his licks in, however, like my far leftist friends in college, if there was going to be a revolution, they would all sleep through it. So, missing the train, he had to make do with the peaceful march in Frankfort.

Nadja did not feel well on the day of the march, so only Ralfe and I went. Well, only Ralfe and I and about 5,000 other people. My first surprise of the day was that the Sparticist League was there trying to sell their papers, subscriptions to their papers, and trying to tell everyone what the correct view of political events and opportunities was. I had had a flirtation with them when I was in college, and they were far too heavy handed for me then, and more so now. However, I did talk with the sparts who were there, and it seems that one of the people I knew way back when is still with that movement. I got to wondering about how many splinters there are in the 4th international, and as I read the most recent paper, I noted that there had been one more recent splinter.

Anyway, it was neat for me to be marching with this diverse group of radicals and lefties. There were representatives from Nepal, Turkey, India, Sri Lanka, as well as the majority in the march from the left labor party. I was most interested in the Sri Lankan group, as they represented the Tamil workers, who were then being crushed by the Sri Lankan government. Their street theater was interesting, as they carried a portable (bottomless) jail cell, and inside were several children, and a man in an army uniform would come and pretend to beat them with a big whip made of sponges. It was fun watching the kids try to be the next one whipped, and smiling and screaming and running away each time the soldier swung at them.

The Indian group also was fun to see, as one of the marchers was a double for Ghandi, and another for Mother Teresa.

The march was fairly short, about 3 kilometers, and when they cut off at the last minute to march in front of the major European banks (Frankfort is the seat of the Eurozone, and has branches of MANY foreign banks), I watched them go by, and then cut around a corner to great the head of the march as they arrived at the plaza in downtown Frankfort where the non marchers waited for them to hear speeches and singers celebrate the international day of labor.

Ralfe wore the Revolutionary Glee Club shirt that I had gotten for him at the Anarchist Store in San Francisco, and he and I and some of his friends stood together for about an hour of speechifying, and then we headed to Ralfe's house for their traditional Labor Day Bar-b-que.

Concorso "DescoSicano"

As soon as I got back from my trip to the states, I had to prepare for a concorso for tourism high schools that would take place in Sciacca at the high school that specializes in getting students ready for jobs in the hotel and tourist industries. My good friend Fabrizio Ricotta, who teaches hotel management at the high school (he calls it Front Desk, but his courses go far beyond the duties of the front desk clerks) had invited me to come and be a judge of how well the students used the English language in presentations on tourism.

Non appena tornato dal mio viaggio dagli Stati Uniti, ho partecipato ad un concorso presso la Scuola Alberghiera di Sciacca e rivolta alle Scuole Alberghiere e di Turismo della Sicilia che preparano e specializzano studenti pronti per ottenere posti di lavoro nel settore. Il mio buon amico Fabrizio Ricotta, che insegna presso l'Istituto Alberghiero di Sciacca, Tecnica e discipline di Accoglienza e Ospitalità (lo chiama Front Desk, ma i suoi corsi vanno ben oltre le funzioni di Addetto al Ricevimento) mi aveva invitato a partecipare come Giudice per le presentazioni turistiche e relazioni in Inglese.

There were several high schools for tourism from Sicily that were represented, and this was one of several concorsi that would take place during the year, culminating in a national contest for the students. Fabrizio had organized the local contest, and was busy the entire time getting things ready, and making sure that everything went smoothly.

Diverse le Scuole Superiori Alberghiere e per il Turismo della Sicilia che sono state rappresentate, e questo è stato uno dei numerosi concorsi che si svolgono durante l'anno, sia in Sicilia che nel resto d'Italia. Fabrizio ha organizzato il concorso locale; si è impegnato a fondo per fare in modo che tutto sia andato senza problemi.

I must admit that I was most surprised when I came in and found a table stocked with a wonderful array of alcoholic beverages. The only things that seemed to be missing were wines and beers. It turns out the students had two contests regarding bar tending. One was inventing and presenting a new drink recipe, and the other was making drinks that are often called for at bars in hotels that cater to tourists. I looked at some of the drinks that had to be made, and then of course sampled by the judges, and almost wished that I were a judge in that area.

Devo ammettere che sono rimasto sorpreso quando mi sono ritrovato un grande tavolo ricco con una splendida gamma di bevande alcoliche. L'unica cosa che sembrava mancare erano Vini e Birre. Due i concorsi per quanto riguarda la Gara di Cocktail (per interni ed esterni) con l'obiettivo di creare e presentare dei Cocktail graditi ai turisti. Ho assistito ad alcune esibizioni di come di prepara un Cocktail, e poi sono stato quasi invitato a fungere da giudice.

However, I did have to go and watch the students prepare their presentations. Most of the students worked on a script with pictures, and provided English language translations of everything that was on screen. One student used French as her second language, instead of English, and so there was a second language judge who graded her ability in the use of a second language. Each presentation was wonderfully done, and I learned more about several parts of Sicily that I had visited before, and thought I knew fairly well.

La maggior parte degli studenti ha lavorato su un copione con le foto, e hanno tradotto in lingua inglese tutte le informazioni presenti sulla presentazione. Uno studente ha utilizzato il Francese come sua seconda lingua, invece di inglese, e vi è stata, quindi, una seconda lingua e di conseguenza anche una Giudice insegnante di Lingua Francese. Ogni presentazione è stata mirabilmente fatta, e ho imparato di più sulle diverse zone della Sicilia che avevo visitato in precedenza.

Before the pranzo was served, I stepped outside the school for a minute, and was amused by the student parking lot. I wonder if the US could get the students to use motos instead of cars if there could be a nice fuel savings!!

Prima che il pranzo fosse servito, sono uscito fuori dalla scuola per un minuto, e mi sono divertito a vedere il parcheggio degli studenti. Mi chiedo se gli Stati Uniti gli studenti potrebbero ottenere di utilizzare moto al posto di auto; ci potrebbe essere un bel risparmio di carburante!

I also loved the fact that one of the students who placed high in the drink mixing category of the contest was awarded not only a certificate and a trophy, but also a bottle of Vermouth. I am not sure how well that would have gone over in the high schools I worked with when I was a teacher in the US. It would be interesting to see the head lines!!

Ho amato anche il fatto che ad uno degli studenti del concorso di Cocktail è stato assegnato non solo un diploma di partecipazione e un trofeo, ma anche una bottiglia di Vermouth. Non so quanto bene sarebbe stato nelle scuole superiori in cui ho lavorato quando ero un insegnante negli Stati Uniti. Sarebbe interessante vedere le linee di testa!!!!

California

Okay, after a week in Mexico (one hour different from California when we got there) as a sort of April Fool's joke, it was two hours different when we flew back. Don't ask me, I did not make the rules regarding Daylight Savings Time.

Carl and I wasted no time in getting ready for passover. We headed up to wine country as soon as we could. We found some good although a bit pricey Cabernets, and because they were not Kosher for passover, we had to try to drink them fairly quickly. It was a tough go of it, but we did what we could.

Carl and his wife Claudia (or Claudia and her husband Carl) are conservative Jews, and I had never been in a conservative Jewish household as people prepared for passover. While they said that they really did not do a good job of it, the preparations were amazing to my goyish eyes. Everything had to be cleaned, non Kosher food had to be put away, and the special passover plates and silverware and cooking utensils and pots and pans had to be gotten out so that they could be used during the passover period. In addition, Carl decided to study a book about passover so that he could be prepared for the first Seder, where family and friends got together to recound the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt toward the promised land.

Unfortunately (Carl said fortunately) I missed the first seder so that I could attend a concert by Rory Block at the 60's style coffee house Freight and Salvage with my friends Spence and Cathy Burton, who are relatives of one of the Sacco families here in Sciacca. We dined at a great Indian Restuarant around the corner from the coffee house, and enjoyed a great blues concert afterward. It was so nice of the Burtons to drive down from Petaluma to join me. According to Carl, I missed a marathon Seder, where the meaning of the story was discussed until the wee hours in the morning.

However, I was able to go to the second Seder at the house friends of theirs the next night, and it was interesting and a lot of fun. I was even furnished with an Italian version of the Haggadah so that I could follow along in a different language, and it came in handy when it was unclear as to what area was being referred to in the English translation that people were using. It was also wonderful that Carl and Claudia's daughter Kyla came home to spend some of passover with the family, and of course Josh and his wife were there as well, and Josh is taking his Judiaism more seriously now, so he was really prepared to
talk about the meaning of passover.

Carl and I also spent time on Treasure Island, which provided Fran with some of her favorite views of the San Francisco Bay, and the weather was wonderful to look out of the sparkling blue waters of the bay.

Of course we also headed over to San Francisco to visit City Lights bookstore, and we took the ferry from Oakland over so that we did not have to worry about traffic or parking. The views from the ferry are also spectactular, and if I lived in the area and worked in San Francisco (or lived in San Francisco and worked in Oakland) I might take the ferry on a daily basis.

The rest of the time was spent listening to music, writing a bit of poetry, lieing about our mutual past in high school, and dreaming of our future plans. It was a magical time for me, and had a wonderful time.

Just before leaving, we had another dinner with friends. We ate with two couples who had both adopted children with some very special needs, and it was fun for me to share the meal with them, and to see how much the children were loved and were thriving in their adoptive homes. It can not be easy to take on such a task, however the parents may be complimented for doing a fine job.

So I want to thank Carl and Claudia for once again putting up with me, and providing me with another great experience, and another great memory of life in California. It almost makes me wish I lived there, however, writing this next to my terrace door, looking out on the Mediterranean Sea, I guess I am just as happy living here, and being able to visit my dear friends in California when the urge strikes me.

Mexico

Okay, my body had almost gotten used to Maryland time. I was no longer falling asleep at the dinner table, so it was time to move on. Back to California for a few days, just to play another trick on my body, and then off to the time share that Fran and I bought with Jane and Woody Manzer in Tulum, Mexico, on the Yucatan pennisula. Carl and his wife Claudia came along, as did my friend Donna Besaw, and we of course met Jane and Woody there.
We had wonderful weather, and I was able to sit out and watch the restless Caribbean as I used to do with Fran. The memories it brought back were bittersweet, but I was with five wonderful friends, who certainly helped a lot.









Of course we went into Tulum to buy souvenirs, and so that Carl and Claudia could get to see the ruins there. We also took a side trip to Coba one day. It is much more settled now, and there are loads of tourist shops there now as well. I remembered the first few times I went, when the only tourist shop also sold tickets, and if you bought some trinkets they did not care if they sold you a ticket or not, you could go right in. Of course that was years ago, when I was also able to climb both of the very tall pyramids in a single morning.









It was truly an enchanted week for me, with wonderful food, good weather, and most of all, great friends to share it with.