L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 40 L'Italo-Americano SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY M a r y L o u S a n e l l i h a s b e e n w r i t i n g d o w n h e r thoughts as long as she can remember. As a young girl, she would race home after school to jot down her fears, doubts and worries in a pale pink diary her mother had p u r c h a s e d b e c a u s e s h e thought it was pretty. From there, Sanelli moved on to keeping a journal and t h e n w r i t e r ' s n o t e b o o k s . Today, she is the author of four works of nonfiction, seven books of poetry, scores of columns in area newspa- pers, and one novel, The S t a r S t r u c k D a n c e Studio of Yucca Springs, which came out in 2019. Her first children's book, Bella Likes To Try, will be pub- lished next year – in English as well as in Italian. She is also a master dance teacher, choreographer and popular public speaker. Sanelli's parents are from southern Italy – her father from outside Naples and her mother from Bari, Puglia. The family lived in New York City at first. When her father was offered a job as an elec- t r i c i a n i n a c o n s t r u c t i o n company in New England, Sanelli, her two older sisters and her parents moved to Connecticut. On the surface, they might have been living the American dream, but the reality was more complex, as she writes in her new book, Every Little Thing, pub- lished in 2021 by Chatwin Books. I n a n e s s a y e n t i t l e d Different Time, Same Story, Sanelli tells of the discrimi- nation her family felt after they left New York. Three w e e k s a f t e r m o v i n g t o Connecticut, their car was vandalized. Someone had painted "Wops go home" on the side of her father's sedan. She writes of her father's e f f o r t s t o s c r u b a w a y t h e insult with a brush and gar- den hose, and how she heard him cry later that night. The incident made her anxious as a child and nothing seemed safe anymore. "It is hard to explain to people today," she writes, "when it seems like everyone wants to visit Italy, that our neighbors once tar- geted our family because we are Italian." Sanelli credits that little pink diary with helping her get through that incident and o t h e r s d u r i n g h e r s c h o o l years. She knew as soon as s h e p i c k e d u p h e r p e n t o write, her fears about being different and looking differ- ent as the daughter of newly arrived immigrants would melt away. "It was hard to relocate to C o n n e c t i c u t w h e n I w a s young," she said. "I didn't know how I was going to fit in. But as long as I could write about it at the end of the day, I immediately felt calmer." To Sanelli, being a first- generation Italian American meant she grew up with her feet in both worlds. "I had to balance two different ways of being," said Sanelli "It was l i k e l i v i n g i n t w o u n i q u e worlds – one, American and one, European." As a child she was brim- ming with energy. To chan- nel that liveliness into some- thing positive, her mother signed her up for movement classes like dance and gym- nastics, even skating lessons. She continued dancing while attending a small women's c o l l e g e i n B o s t o n – " m y mom thought an all-girls col- lege would keep me safer" – and after graduation, she went to Italy and France for about a year. When she returned to the U S , S a n e l l i d e c i d e d s h e wanted to teach dance. As with most artists, New York was the dream but studio space was extremely hard to find and just too expensive. Sanelli ended up moving to the Pacific Northwest where she founded the Moving Arts D a n c e S t u d i o i n P o r t Townsend, Wash., which she m a n a g e d f o r a b o u t t w o decades. Sanelli believes that blogs and video posts are a great way for kids today to express themselves but notes there is an inherent dishonesty to them. "When I was young, I wrote only for myself," she said. "Today's young people know others will read what they write, often within min- utes. Many write what they want others to know about them. It's more about curat- ing your image. I think kids need to express themselves without monitoring them- selves so carefully." Sanelli continues to teach dance and choreograph, spe- cializing in ballet jazz. She has taught dance workshops throughout the Hawaiian I s l a n d s , c i t i e s o n b o t h B a i n b r i d g e a n d W h i d b e y i s l a n d s , t h r o u g h o u t t h e Western US, in the Bahamas, and on Turks & Caicos. In 2014, she was the resident instructor at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts i n S t . C r o i x , U S V i r g i n Islands. She has received an A r t i s t T r u s t a w a r d a n d a 2021 Bainbridge island indi- vidual artist award. A n d s h e c o n t i n u e s t o w r i t e , i n c l u d i n g f o u r columns regularly for vari- o u s o u t l e t s . I n f a c t , t h e source material for Every Little Thing was culled from the scores of columns she has written over the years. M o r e t h a n 7 5 e s s a y s a r e included in the publication; most of them are just a few pages long. The book was n o m i n a t e d f o r b o t h W a s h i n g t o n S t a t e a n d P a c i f i c N o r t h w e s t b o o k awards and a Pushcart Prize, and joins her three other published works of non-fic- t i o n : A W o m a n W r i t i n g , Among Friends, and Falling Awake. She also is the author of several volumes of poetry. She turned one of her poetry c o m p i l a t i o n s , c a l l e d T h e Immigrant's Table, into a o n e - w o m a n p e r f o r m a n c e piece which she premiered about a decade ago at the Market Theater in Seattle. " W h e n y o u ' r e a w r i t e r , you have to know your histo- ry," said Sanelli. "You need to know your past. Often a w r i t e r h a s t o g o h o m e i n order to find her true voice." Northwest resident Mary Lou Sanelli is the author of about a dozen publications ranging from books of essays to poetry and fiction (Photo: Mary Lou Sanelli) Writer Mary Lou Sanelli takes the ordinary and makes it shine RITA CIPALLA

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