America the Beautiful

Working with my students, I see the beauty that is New York. WOW, but as my students pronounce it, woaaaaaaaaow!! I love my students, and oddly enough, I love New York again. Not love-hate, but love. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

It has been long coming. There are many things I love about Italy--the food, the culture, the people, the art, the plethora of book stores, the palm trees, Frederico Moccia films. I could go on and on. But I realize the way I look at things--the way I like differences, the way I like doing things alone sometimes, my sense of humor, I feel very American.

My revelation on one hand had been a long time coming, but on the other hand I felt a boom. Well, two booms: the first came when I was talking with one class at Sraffa about how New York is so diverse and how nice it is and how normal it feels in New York that everyone is something different.

The second boom came at the Liceo Artistico on my last lesson on The Jersey Shore, when one of my students said that she thought people (Americans) liked Jersey Shore because they could say that they were better than the "Guidos." I asked her to elaborate and she said because the characters were different, that they were not American. And I said, well, in America, it is different. Every one is something different, it doesn't make you any less American. They (the Jersey Shore cast) are just as American as I am. They are Italian American, I am Jewish American, but we are all American.

I said that in my opinion, to be considered Italian it seems that you must be catholic, and that you must be born in Italy to an Italian family. And one (non-"Italian") student said she agreed.

I hate PC stuff, coming from Smith it's hardly a surprise why. But now I am appreciative of it, of why it exists. I don't like how in Italy, mentioning points of difference--ethnicity, non-Catholic religions--seems to be a point of tension, if it's even on the radar. It makes me miss New York.

HETNORM

One of the most thought-provoking things I have told my classes is that the stereotypical "American Male" spends very little time dedicated to grooming himself, perhaps because there is a social stigma against it (in one class, never fear, I did mention the metrosexual).

Many Italian men (well, my male students in any case) openly love cocktails and window shopping and giving each other piggyback rides/ ear rubs/ cheek kisses, all of which are stigmatized in the grand old US and A. My students called this--and the comparative lack of general affection Americans show--"triste."

As if there weren't enough reasons, this settles it. In my next life, I am going to come back as an Italian male.