L'Italo-Americano

italoamericano-digital-10-3-2019

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LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano A s the leaves begin to fall and the air becomes crisp, we begin to feel the excitement of a new season approaching and a fully packed month of Italian- themed events right around the corner: welcome to October, an entire month dedicated to cele- brating our Italian heritage! In this age of social media, one only has to type the word "Ital- ian" into a browser to be instant- ly connected to numerous items, events and organizations that are "Italian and Proud." Of course, Italian food recipes top the list, followed by our rich traditions and remarkable history, but one area is noticeably missing: who are the Italians of now and what will our Heritage look like in the future? Exploring this question leads me directly to a new endeavor coming to Los A ngeles this month and that I am honored to be p art of, the creation of LI LA A (Little Italy of Los Angeles Association), nestled in the waterfront community of San Pedro, a place now considered home to thousands of Italians from Ischia and Sicily, as well as a new location being cultivated to breathe new life and explo- ration of our cherished Italian culture. How will LILAA make an impact and contribution to the lives of local Italians and the greater community? In the earli- er years of our country, a Little Italy was established where the immigrants settled, serving as a safe haven for the community, where to celebrate traditions and worship as they once did in their home country. Since ours is no longer a new immigrant commu- nity in need of protection, a Lit- tle Italy is now viewed as a place of nostalgia and cultural promo- tion, such as in San Diego's Lit- tle Italy, which LILAA is look- ing to emulate as a community beacon for authentic Italian food, products and tradition. The kick- off event will be on the first Sat- urday of October, featuring Ital- ian restaurants, music, bocce and language. www.lilaa.org As a third-generation Italian American, I was raised with this same exposure to authentic food, music and tradition, which was instrumental in my love and pas- s ion for a country I w as a descendant of, but never lived in. However, I was not fortunate to grow up with Italian being spo- ken in my house, because as my grandparents as s imilated in America, Italian was spoken only when the adults didn't want us to understand what they were s aying. When I got to high school, I was very disappointed that Italian was not offered as a second language option, so I took Spanish instead and, as a result, I learned about Latino culture and the ways Latinos communicated with each other. Over the years, my love of their food, visits to their countries and working side by side with them has given me a respect for the Latino culture and made me a believer that their traditions are special and should be celebrated, just as my own. And now, it has come full circle: just as I learned to appre- ciate the Latino culture through education and experience, so now are the Latino s tudents studying Italian and learning about our culture in the local San Pedro High Schools: San Pedro High and Alliance Alice M. Baxter College-Ready High. Both schools have extremely high enrollment in their Italian language classes, yet only 25% of the students are of Italian descent, the majority being Lati- nos learning Italian as their third language. As these students dive deeper into Italian culture by learning our language, singing our songs, getting to know our recipes, visiting our museums and planning field trips to Italy, can w e als o look to them as active contributors to the sur- vival of our Italian culture? To be considered an Italian role model, does one need to be born and des cend from our home country, or does one need to just love and adopt its traditions? S ince thes e s tudents w ill be singing the traditional songs of Italy at our first LILAA Italian festival, in this case I will per- sonally celebrate them as con- tributors to our Italian Heritage. When Christopher Columbus set off to explore the unknown with courage and perseverance, we learned how one goes for- ward towards dreams and aspira- tions by facing fears and explor- ing uncharted waters. Maybe, then, October is our month to get out of our comfort zone, to venture to new terrain, to try new things, to explore the places that excite us and frighten us a little. Just as students learn a new language by facing their fears of the unknown, can our courage and perseverance in exploring ourselves set us on course to be the next Italian artist, musician, educator, chef, scientist, inventor? Many Italians before us flour- ished in these areas. Sofonisba Anguissola (painter), Adelmo Fornaciari (musician), Maria Montessori (educator), Gino D'Acampo (chef), Claudio Bor- dignon (scientist) and Alessan- dro Volta (inventor) may not be the well known names that we think of when celebrating Italian Heritage month, but their contri- butions to our culture are just as important as we may someday find our own to be. Perhaps in this month of celebration, we may want to dream of joining this list of contributors. If this is the month we set off on our own pursuits, if this is the month to start supporting those who have chosen to adopt our culture, perhaps someday our own names will deserve to be added to the list of those who have been making up the rich fabric of what Italian heritage means . "We wer e m eant to explore this earth like children do, unhindered by fear, pro- pelled by curiosity and a sense of discovery. Allow yourself to see the world through new eyes and know there are amazing adven- tures here for you." – Laurel Bleadon-Maffei Ann Potenza, one of the creators of LILAA C e l e b r a t i n g I t a l i a n h e r i t a ge – B y birth or adoption ANN POTENZA

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