New York, Love It or Leave It

By Miriam B. Medina

First and foremost, I am a New Yorker. That's right, born and raised in East Harlem, New York and proud of it. Although I have to agree, that there are some unpleasant pointers about the Big Apple there still are some excellent ones. So as a creative project for my blog I decided to write a short article on the city of New York. What better place to start than being in the right atmosphere amongst the crowding of people to set the mood. Determined to pursue my writing project, I grabbed my brief case and with pad and pen in hand, I took the bus into Manhattan's Port Authority and parked myself where ever a place could be found and started to scribble incessantly. Since New York is filled with so many creative people, some strange but mostly normal, seeing a woman writing away on a note pad and mumbling to herself was nothing out of the ordinary. My first step would be to interview whoever was willing to talk, getting their opinions on what they think of the Big Apple. After all, New Yorkers are known for telling it exactly as it is, so let's hear what they want to say regarding their home town.

Question: Hello, Can you tell me what you like about New York City?

RESPONSES:

Get atta my face!," "Oy Vey!," "It's cool," "eh!," " I hate living here it's very stressful," " The apartments are so expensive unless you live in a rat infested roach hotel," " There are lots of great theaters especially on Broadway, but watch out for the muggers and the pick-pockets," " Those pushcart peddlers will rob you blind and selling hot merchandise no less," " Thank God, my cousin Sheila lives in Queens, at least there's trees there," "There are lots of good ethnic restaurants," " Nobody ever sleeps!," "CLAUSTOPHOBIA!," " I hate the congestion of traffic especially during the rush hour," "I live on the fifth floor and that damn elevator never works, this rotten landlord with all the money he makes on us, you'd think he'd get it fixed!," "There's no place to park unless you pile the cars on top of each other," "Freedom of Expression," "Great paying jobs but what a hassle to get there", "Forget the subways, it's like being in a can of sardines," " I love it," " #%!&@ ," " Hic! I'll drink to that, can you spare a buck?," "It always looks dirty," " New York City has some real nice parks, you'll just have to deal with the pigeon crap," "Too many immigrants," "Some of the neighborhoods look like a war zone," " It's a great place for bargain hunting", "Those crooked Taxi-cab drivers will ride you around the same block three times and charge you an arm and a leg", " I'm afraid to go out at night," "Ya take ya life in ya hands when you cross the street, these crazy drivers don't believe in red lights or stop signs here!," " Awesome," "It's a marathon, they'll knock ya down if ya don't get atta their way," "Everyone's too hostile," "Oh how I love the annual parades they are such a beautiful sight," "I've got gates on my windows and three locks on my door doesn't that tell you something?," "I hate the summer, smells like last year's garbage is still out there,"--and the list of complaints and applause continues.

Ok! Ok! I get the picture. To my private list of both critical and laudatory responses (if nothing else, New York is a paradox), I would add Richard Swift's article ;"Life in the Shadows, the Underside of New York City," which describes the nervousness, tensions, hostilities, and the frustrations of living in crowded conditions in today's city. You can find this article at:

http://www.newint.org/issue178/keynote.htm

New York, New York: It's a hellava town. New York City has always had its share of growing pains, complete with political, social and economic upheavals galore. What are some of the recurring issues? Crime; accommodating masses of impoverished immigrants and migrants; the deterioration of neighborhoods; intolerable housing and extortionate rents; high taxes; unemployment; political and racial riots; police brutality and political corruption: and that's just the beginning. Yet, in spite of all the discomforts and miseries, miraculously, most of those who crowd the city streets choose to stay. New York, New York.

Its history of over 350 years deserves attention as one of the world's most magnificent cities, studied for its steady and rapid growth, its material prosperity and its generous representation of diverse ethnic groups and religion.

New York City has unmatched theaters and museums and architecture. It is the financial center of the United States-- some say the world--, as well as the hub of American advertising, fashion, publishing, and radio Television broadcasting. New York is definitely not one of the natural wonders of the world: Millions visit the city each year to see what humans, not nature, can achieve.

Walter Barrett, author of Old Merchants, in his second series Book (1863), captures New York City :

"New York City is the heart_____the seat of vitality. Stop her
beatings, and the prosperity, the liberty, aye, the existence of the United
States is ended. The Nation will die. . . . Her great strength cannot be
destroyed."

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net
.

Le immagini della Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano dalla fotografia al cinema e dalla televisione al web. Una emozione che non cambia.

Contributo di dott Antonio Castaldo, Sociologo e giornalista, Brusciano, Italia 15 Luglio 2011

La prima immagine che traduce per i posteri il prodigioso evento del 13 giugno 1875 a Brusciano, ricordato come il “Miracolo di Sant’Antonio di Padova” , è quella riprodotta nell’edicola in maioliche di Vico Tre Santi che rispetta la memoria orale e quanto fissato, allora, nella forma colta della scrittura poetica da Don Francesco Monda parroco della Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie. Zì Cecca De Falco, impossibilitata a rispettare l’ex voto, dal suo balcone, le ostie lanciate al vento, la statua di Sant’Antonio in processione, il prodigio e l’inizio del comunitario ringraziamento con la Ballata dei Gigli di Brusciano: tutto fedelmente citato.

L’avvento tecnologico fotografico e cinematografico incrocia la Festa dei Gigli di Sant’Antonio di Padova per le prime documentazioni storiche nel corso dell’esperienza migratoria dei bruscianesi nel “Nuovo Mondo”.

Le prime fotografie in merito, che in questi ultimi anni stiamo con certezza raccogliendo ed analizzando, giungono da New York. Una di esse riprende East Harlem sulla 106th Street nel 1928 dove si riconosce la base del Giglio di Sant’Antonio di Padova con la scritta: “Viva la 10^ Festa dei Bruscianesi”. Poi altre fotografie mostrano il nucleo familiare di Gioacchino Vivolo, l’iniziatore del Giglio bruscianese in America emigrato da Brusciano, nei primi anni del Novecento come testimoniato da Phil Bruno discendente di quella famiglia. Le prime tracce le raccolsi nel febbraio 2003 grazie all’antropologo Joseph Sciorra dell’Italian American Institute dell’Università di New York. Nel luglio 2010 le ottenni poi direttamente, via email, da Phil Bruno, discendente della famiglia Vivolo, dal New Jersey. Lo stesso continua oggi l’impegno nella Giglio Society di East Harlem a New York insieme a Bob Maida. Nel 2003 ho personalmente rilevato e documentato la continuità di questa festa a New York.

Dal versante nordamericano preziosissima è l’opera di Miriam Medina, fondatrice e ricercatrice di storia sociale del sito web americano www.thehistorybox.com che ci sta dando un grande aiuto, in piena gratuità, sia per diffondere in America le notizie da Brusciano e sia per fare studi e ricerche sulla comunità degli italoamericani compresi i bruscianesi di origine. A lei va la nostra immensa riconoscenza.

Da noi le prime immagini fisse della Festa a Brusciano ci presentano i Gigli degli anni ’30 dello scorso secolo calzanti l’estetica fascista rigorosamente riprodotta nelle vestizioni degli obelischi. Conservo volentieri una serie di queste foto frutto della riproduzione e diffusione dall’Associazione “Pro Loco Brusciano” in una interessante operazione culturale di circa un decennio addietro.

Per quanto riguarda le prime immagini in movimento bisogna fare un passaggio sudamericano. Il Giglio a Quilmes, nella provincia di Buenos Aires in Argentina, costruito e ballato dalla numerosa comunità bruscianese nei primi anni ’60 venne registrato all’epoca in superotto qualche anno in una riunione familiare proiettato e commentato contemporaneamente riprendendo registrando il sonoro del commento domestico su videocassetta vhs infine riversata su supporto elettronico cd e giunto fino a noi. Per questo ringrazio la Comunità Bruscianese a Quilmes ed Elisabeth Di Maio vicepresidente della “Asociacion Napoles Viva” in Argentina.

Nel campo cinematografico professionale troviamo delle scene ambientate all’interno della Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano e montate in uno dei tre episodi di “Libera”, l’opera di esordio di Pappi Corsicato del 1993.

In televisione la Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano è protagonista di un servizio di Filippo Marmo, con la mia collaborazione, per il programma ''Gentes'', ideato e curato da Giuseppe Feyles e condotto dalla giornalista Elena Guarnieri, nella sua quarta edizione nell’anno 2004.

Il primo lavoro multimediale è del 1999 in CD rom dell’Associazione Giglio della Croce, a cura di Fernando Di Maiolo, contenente un mio contributo: La Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano, con un mio contributo Uno sguardo di visual socio-anthropology. A fine anni ’90 nasce anche il primo sito web in assoluto che dedica grande spazio alla alla storia ed alle immagini della Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano grazie alla creatività di Fernando Di Maiolo, il papà del rinomato musicista Rocco Di Maiolo, che in campo musicale ha studiato la tradizione dei Gigli e l’ha riproposta con interessanti contaminazioni dal respiro internazionale.

Per l’assunzione di coscienza storica e culturale ricordiamoci di “Trenta Anni della Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano 1971-2000”, documentario curato da me e proiettato per la prima volta sotto la Casa Comunale di Brusciano in apertura della Festa dei Gigli del 2011 in collaborazione con Raffaele Vitale e “La Tua Immagine”.(Cfr. Anita Capasso, Brusciano domenica “balla” coi Gigli, “Il Mattino”, Napoli 24 Agosto 2001; “La Repubblica”, Che si fa stasera, Brusciano, Napoli 23 Agosto 2001).

Una galleria fotografica in bianco e nero degli anni ’50 e ’60 la ritroviamo in “Storia e Volti della Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano”, una ricerca scritta a quattro mani dal sottoscritto e da Antonio Ruggiero dell’Associazione Giglio Ortolano 1875 e pubblicata nel 2004.

Il primo documentario video professionale è quello prodotto per lo speciale TV “Brusciano e la Festa dei Gigli”, con Giuseppe Ragosta ed il sottoscritto per le emittenti televisive “Teleoggi”, “Canale 9” e “Stream News” nell’anno 2001.

Nel 2003 avviene l’esordio in assoluto, nella grafica istituzionale nazionale delle Poste Italiane, della silhouette del giglio. Nasce, su mia ideazione, il primo annullo filatelico per promuovere la “Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano”, con pubblica apposizione a cura di Poste Italiane avvenuta a Brusciano il 31 agosto 2003.

Spostandoci fisicamente fuori regione, da Sud al Nord dell’Italia, dalla Campania in Veneto, di risonanza nazionale è l’evento “Scambio Religioso e Culturale con la Ballata del Giglio di Brusciano a Padova” che ritroviamo nelle migliaia di immagini complessivamente riprese nel corso dell’evento dai numerosi fotoreporter presenti a Padova e dalle testate giornalistiche televisive. Un documentario curato da me per le attività dell’Ufficio Stampa del Comune di Brusciano a favore del gruppo di lavoro guidato a Padova dal Presidente della Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano, Consigliere comunale Nicola Di Maio e dal Presidente del Consiglio Comunale Antonio Di Palma. Su You Tube sono visibili numerosi momenti di questa strepitosa esperienza ripresi dai tanti giovani bruscianesi presenti all’evento.

Ricordo con piacere anche la prima diretta televisiva sulla Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano fatta Primo Kanale diretto da Sebastiano Giardino, l’anno scorso con la mia collaborazione come Ufficio Stampa del Comune di Brusciano. Lo stesso vale per le originali puntate di presentazione con i rappresentanti dei Comitati e delle Associazioni dei Gigli: Croce, Gioventù, Ortolano 1875, Parulano, Passo veloce e Sant’Antonio. Anche in questo caso con la preziosa assistenza della redazione dell’Ambasciatore: Antonio Francesco Martignetti, Felice Marotta, Teresa Iannelli e Marilena Castaldo.

Infine ultima in ordine di tempo, a sostegno della promozione della 136esima edizione della Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano, la trasmissione televisiva del 6 luglio, con diverse repliche, su Tele Club, canale 619 del digitale terrestre. Nel programma “Tutto incluso” ideato e condotto da Roberto Esse. Ho avuto il piacere di collaborarvi insieme al direttore dell’Ambasciatore, Antonio Francesco Martignetti con l’assistenza in studio di Marilena Castaldo ed Annunziata Menna.

A chiusura di questo articolo voglio ricordare, per l’opera di fotografo e per le numerose testimonianze rilasciate, di Carmine Crispo nella seconda metà del Novecento a Brusciano. Sano tanti i mezzi tecnologici a disposizione, numerosi gli approcci e diverse le possibilità di trattamento del tema “Festa dei Gigli di Brusciano”. Unica è l’emozione di chi la prepara e la vive ogni anno passando il testimone di generazione in generazione. Unica è l’emozione di chi la prepara e la vive ogni anno passando il testimone di generazione in generazione.

Brusciano, 15 luglio 2011 dott. Antonio Castaldo

.

Images of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano. An emotion that does not change.

Contributed by Dr. Antonio Castaldo, Sociologist and Journalist, Brusciano, Italy July 15, 2011

The first image that renders for future generations the miraculous event of June 13, 1875 at Brusciano, remembered as the "Miracle of Saint Anthony of Padova," is the one reproduced in the newsstands of majolica in Vico Tre Santi. It respects the verbal memory and how fixed, then, the cultured style of writing poetry by Don Francesco pastor of the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie. Cecca Zi De Falco unable to comply with her first promise, launches to the wind from her balcony a wafer, while the statue of St. Anthony is in procession. The wonders and the beginnings of communitarian thanks together with the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano: are all faithfully cited.

The advent of photography and film technology intersects with the Feast of the Gigli of Sant'Antonio di Padova in its first recorded documentation of the Bruscianesi migration experience to the "New World."

The first photograph, one of several that merits attention, which we have recently acquired and evaluated from New York are the base of the Giglio di Sant'Antonio di Padova with the inscription: "Long live the 10th year of the Feast of the Bruscianesi. The other photos show the family of Gioacchino Vivolo, author of the Bruscianese Giglio in America who emigrated from Brusciano, at the turn of the twentieth century as confirmed by Phil Bruno, a descendant of that family. The first track I came across was in February of 2003, thanks to the Anthropologist Joseph Sciorra of the Italian American Institute at the University of New York. Then in July 2010, I received an email from Phil Bruno, a descendant of the Vivolo family, from New York. This same commitment continues today in the Giglio Society of East Harlem, New York with Bob Maida. In 2003, I personally observed and documented the continuance of this feast in New York.

From the American side is the invaluable work of Miriam Medina, founder and researcher of social history of American website, www.thehistorybox.com. She has been giving us gratuitously a large amount of her time and space on her website in spreading the message of Brusciano in America, undertaking studies and research on the Italian, American people which includes Bruscianesi origins, as well. To her we owe our immense gratitude.

From our side, the first still image, which we will, present is that of the Feast at Brusciano in 1930. An image fitting the fascist aesthetics rigorously reproduced in the investitures of the obelisks. I have preserved with joy a series of these photos which are a result from the printing and distribution by the Association of "Pro Loco Brusciano," in a fascinating cultural activity about a decade ago. (Pro local is the local services in Brusciano which organizes cultural and sporting events).

With regard to the first moving pictures, it is necessary to travel to South America. The Giglio at Quilmes, a province of Buenos Aires in Argentina, was built and danced by the numerous Bruscianese communities in the early sixties which at the time was recorded on super eight of that year in a family reunion. These captured images and sound, which were recorded on videocassette (VHS) was passed over to a CD and sent to us. Therefore, we express our gratitude to the Bruscianese community at Quilmes and to Elisabeth Di Maio vice-president of the "Asociacion Napoles Viva" in Argentina for this remarkable contribution.

In the professional cinematographic area, we get scenes that take place inside the Feast of the Gigli in Brusciano which are mounted in one of three episodes of "Libera," a work in the debut of Pappi Corsicato in 1993.

On television, the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano is the promoter of a service of Filippo Marmo, with my collaboration, for the program "Gentes," conceived and looked after by Giuseppe Feyles and carried on by journalist Elena Guarnieri, in its fourth edition of the year 2004.

The first multimedia work is in 1999 in the CD-Rom of the "Associazione Giglio della Croce," under the care of Fernando Di Maiolo, containing my contribution: The Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano, with a contribution of mine gives an impression of socio- Anthropology. At the end, of the 90s also was born the first website which has dedicated a large section devoted to the background and images of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano. Thanks to the creativity of Fernando Di Maiolo, the father of the renowned musician, Rocco Di Maiolo, who in the music field has studied the lore of the Gigli and has presented it again with an interesting contamination of International breath.

For the acceptance of historical and cultural consciousness let's remember the "Thirty years of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano 1971-2000." This is a film which was edited by me and shown for the first time by the Communal House of Brusciano in the opening of the Feast of the Gigli of 2011. It was also in collaboration with Raffaele Vitale and "La Tua Immagine." (Anita Capasso, Sunday Brusciano "dances" with Gigli, "Il Mattino," Naples, August 24, 2001; "La Repubblica," Che si fa stasera , Brusciano, Naples August 23, 2001.)

A photographic gallery in black and white of the '50s and '60s found in "History and Faces of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano,' a research co-written by myself and by Antonio Ruggiero of the Association Giglio Ortolano 1875 and published in 2004.

The first professional documentary video is produced for the TV special " Brusciano and the Feast of the Gigli," with Giuseppe Ragosta and the undersigned with the television station "Teleoggi," Channel 9 and "Stream News" in 2001.

In 2003, the launch undeniably takes place, in the national, institutional graphics of the Italian Postal service, of the silhouette of the Giglio. Originating from my idea, the first cancelled stamp collector to promote the "Feast of the Gigli in Brusciano, with published consistency under the care of the Italian Postal Service which occurred in Brusciano on August 31, 2003.

Moving physically outside the region, from Northern to Southern Italy, from Campania in Vento, from national sonority is the event of the "Religious and Cultural exchange with the Dance of the Gigli of Brusciano at Padova" in which we get thousands of pictures that were taken during the course of the event by several reporters that were present at Padova, and from the television journalistic heads. A film which I took care of on behalf of the Press Office of the City of Brusciano in favor of the working group at Padua directed by the President of the Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano, City councilman, Nicola Di Maio and by the President of the City Council Antonio Di Palma. On You Tube, there are several moments of this electrifying experience picked up by so many Bruscianesi youth attending the event.

I also remember with pleasure the first Direct TV appearance of the Feast of the Gigli in Brusciano, "Primo Kanale," directed by Sebastiano Giardino, last year with a joint effort on my part as Head of the Press Office in the city of Brusciano. The same applies to the original episodes of presentation with the representatives of the Committees and Associations of the Gigli: Croce, Gioventù, Ortolano 1875, Parulano, Passo veloce and Sant’Antonio. Also in this case with the precious assistance of the editorial staff of "Ambasciatore: Antonio Francesco Martignetti, Felice Marotta, Teresa Iannelli and Marilena Castaldo.

Finally, in this listing of chronological events, in support of promoting the 136 edition of the Festivity of the Gigli of Brusciano, is the telecast of July 6, with different reruns, on "Tele Club," Channel 619 of Digital TV. In the program, "Tutto Incluso" conceived and conducted by Roberto Esse I had the pleasure of working together with the Editor of the newspaper "L'Ambasciatore", Antonio Francesco Martignetti in the studio with the assistance of Marilena Castaldo and Annunziata Menna.

So in conclusion, I would like to remember the work of the photographers and the various released testimonies, from Carmine Crispo in the second half of the twentieth century in Brusciano. There are a lot of technological resources available, and several approaches and options that have to do with the theme "Feast of the Gigli of Brusciano." What matters most is the immense emotion that is experienced by those who prepare for it and live it year after year, passing the baton from generation to generation.

Dr. Antonio Castaldo, Brusciano, Italy July 15, 2011

Translated by Miriam Medina, Associate Member of the American Translators Association

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net

From Modesty To Bare Nothings: Ditching The Undies Revolution part 4 (b)

By Miriam B. Medina

(Continued from Page: 4 (a)

One other trend that the sexual evolution of lingerie has started is an absence of undies altogether. Not wearing undies in America is known as "freebuffing" or "going commando."

Although "going commando" is practiced by both sexes, my focus is on the female body. As to the reason why women prefer not to use underwear, there could be several: they experience a non-restrictive, awesome feeling of freedom when they air it all out. Some find that tight-fitting clothes look better without panty outlines. There are also women that find it sexually arousing when they feel the seam of their tight jeans making contact with their genitals. The only problem with this is that you have to be careful of the zipper. Going bare, at least for young ladies and slightly older women, is an invite called "ready for action." Simply telling a guy that you are not wearing panties will sexually arouse him to no end because there won't be any hurdles for him to jump over to get where he wants to go.

So for all those liberated ladies who choose to go bare and let it all air out, in respect of those of us who are still desperately clinging to their modesty from the Victorian era, I strongly recommend the following:

1. First and foremost, maintain a daily rigorous program of sanitary cleansing. Shaving makes this easier.

2. If you are wearing a dress or skirt at work, the edge should be no higher than 3 inches above the knee, or when you sit at your desk, at least remember to cross your legs. We don't all want a show.

3. When you want to pick up something from the floor, please bend at the knees so you do not provide too much of an eyeful.

4. Last and most importantly, remember to bring a pair of panties just in case you should have a lactose problem, discharge when you cough, or mostly when it is that time of the month.

By the way, with all this talk about immodesty and sexy lingerie, I wonder if I should mull over a newer version of my own naughty apparel. Some of them are looking quite shabby lately. But then again, maybe that's a turn on in this day and age in itself, so I think I'll pass.

History is Miriam B. Medina's passion. History can be exciting, sexy, informative and humorous, and Miriam wants you to experience the wonders of history, not just READ about it. She loves nothing more than sharing that passion and her 13 years of research with everyone. So sit back, enjoy the ride and LEARN. For fashion pictures, articles and you-tube viewings of fashion shows from the 19th century through the 21st century, please visit: FASHION CENTER The History Box is a one-stop resource center for writers, journalists, historians, teachers and students.

To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net