L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 L 'Italo-Americano is getting ready to blow out 108 candles to close out yet another challenging year of publishing. Even these last 12 months were filled with great changes. Since 2011, a series of changes have periodically modified our newspaper whose only purpose has always been very simple: to be the voice of the Italian-American community. Despite great financial difficulties that have forced us to reduce our objectives, we have tried to restructure a necessary evolution. Everything we have done has been made possible through the generous contributions of you loyal readers who have continuously supported the work of a publication that is giving its all to offer a richer, more interesting newspaper, capable of reporting who we are here in the West Coast and what our Italian-American roots are. Why is our newspaper changing? First of all, to acknowledge those who continue to subscribe, whether to our actual newspaper or online. Reporting to our readers ever week in the best way possible, is the least we can do to give back the affection that the community has for L'Italo- Americano, which is not only just a simple bilingual newspaper, but also the choice that each of us makes in order to preserve that extraordinary cultural richness that each of us carries, so as not to erase our great heritage. To preserve this heritage, we constantly strive to broaden our perspectives, to classify content, to increase the publications, to extend the range of observation, to strengthen the web access, online or social, L'Italo-Americano focuses on its "work in progress" to "stay young" From the director and to accommodate the evolution of the society in which we live. For it would be foolish not to. L'Italo-Americano is a wonderful "work in progress" where we try to give recognition to all the ways in which Italian-Americans express themselves. By increasing the space that we give to our community within our network, we will continue with a portal that now has daily news updates and continue with a paper version of the newspaper in a smaller format with a new design, in hopes to have rendered it more pleasing to the reader. In 2016, we will continue to "listen" to the community, follow changes, meet your needs and most of all, tell the stories. Before we close this Christmas edition, in which we want to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your families, I want to leave you with this thought. A few days ago, Emma Morano, "Italy's Grandmother", celebrated her 116th birthday. Born November 29, 1899, she is the second oldest person in the world behind the American, Susannah Mushatt Jones, born 4 months before in Alabama. Try to imagine all of the many changes these two women that represent our Italian and American heritages, have endured. Just think about how people moved around with steam engines and on ships at the end of the 1800's and look at the image that these two women, who today come up with tablets and laptops and talk about the three centuries in which they lived. L'Italo-Americano was born 9 years before Emma and Susannah. It has a sacred past which cannot be lost because its pages have told the story of how it came to be and how it has grown and evolved in our community. It has a future that needs to be written and a present with a great task so as to not interrupt its publications. This is our main objective because without L'Italo-Americano, a little bit of us will disappear. Wishing you Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo! Simone Schiavinato, Director NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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