Tag: Italian language

Language, Identity, and the Italian American Experience: “Fresh Mozz” versus Mozzarella

Language, Identity, and the Italian American Experience: “Fresh Mozz” versus Mozzarella

I’ve always been interested in language and partly because I grew up speaking two languages at home. Specifically, I speak a southern Italian dialect from the Bagnara Calabra region of Calabria and, of course, English.  My mother tells an interesting story of the local kindergarten teacher in New Jersey wanting to send me back home on the first day of […]

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On What it Means to Be and Live As An Italian American Today

On What it Means to Be and Live As An Italian American Today

The year was 1997 and I was a college junior applying for a prestigious fellowship for first generation college students.  The fellowship provided funds and a mentor to guide and prepare students for graduate work in the humanities and sciences.  The fellowship had strict academic and social-economic requirements.  On the socio-economic side, students were expected to be first generation college […]

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