Archive for the ‘current events’ Category
Inauguration Day and Birthday Wishes
Just two quick notes today:
Be sure to go to My Bella Vita and wish Cherrye a happy, happy birthday!
And to everyone excited for a new administration in America:
It’s finally here! Wheeeeeeeee!
Are you going? Will you be watching?
Americans to Surpass Italians in Wine Purchases
When economic times are tough, apparently Americans turn to the bottle. The wine bottle, that is.
According to a report released by Vinexpo, which is based in Bordeaux, France and runs international wine exhibitions, the United States is poised to overtake Italy as the world’s number one non-sparkling wine consumer by 2012.
USA! USA!
Italy has held the title since 2007 when it surpassed France; that year the Bel Paese bought 299 million cases of wine. Vinexpo predicts US wine drinkers will buy 313 million cases in 2012.
So should Italy, the country of Barolo, Brunello, and Chianti, be ashamed at this showing?
Hardly.
Remember, we only have 58 million people over here while the United States has a population of about 300 million. That means we’re buying about five cases of wine for every man, woman, and child in Italia–and that doesn’t count all the homemade wine stashed away in cantine from Piemonte to Calabria.
Not too shabby, Italy. Not too shabby at all.
Forza Italia!
Salute and buon weekend!
What’s your favorite vino?
eh cumpà, auguri on that cia thing!
President-elect Obama recently named Leon Panetta, former Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, as the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Panetta, 70, is a former Congressman from California, prominent attorney, First Lieutenant in the US Army, and founder of the Panetta Institute, a nonpartisan public policy center that operates out of California State University.
But most importantly to us in southern Italy, he’s Calabrese!
Panetta’s parents were born in Calabria before they emigrated to the United States. His father worked in a copper mine in Wyoming before moving to Monterey, California (Panetta’s hometown) and opening up a restaurant.
So how close is Panetta to his Calabrese roots?
He reportedly doesn’t get back here as often as he’d like, but he does speak Calabrese according to his cousin Domenico Panetta, former mayor of Siderno, which is about 50 km from me.
Of course Panetta’s nomination wasn’t without its detractors, but things now seem to be going smoother on his road to lead la CIA (pronounced “CHEE-ah” in Italy by the way).
And here in Calabria, we couldn’t be prouder. So in honor of Direttore Panetta, please join us in a traditional Calabrese tarantella:
Veniti tutti ‘cca e ‘mparativi abballari!
Capiscisti?
In bocca al lupo, cumpà!
Buon weekend a tutti!
step right up! bailout line starts here
I wish I had more time and energy to sit down and write a well-reasoned, well-researched opinion piece on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) or, as we know it, The Bailout (cue scary music). Aside from not having the time, though, I’ll also admit I’m no expert on this and really have no business writing such a thing–although, to be clear, I do like to think I have slightly more than a John McCain-like comprehension of the economic system.
So instead of getting into the details of who deserves to be bailed out and why or why not, I want to point your attention to The End of Wall Street’s Boom by Michael Lewis on Portfolio.com. In this piece (and apparently in his book Liar’s Poker: Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street), Lewis exposes something that amazed me when I was a college senior 11 years ago and that is: at that time, one of the most desired and lucrative jobs available to me fresh out of college (with degrees in English and history) was a position at an investment banking firm–a job path that many of my fellow graduates took.
In short, whahuh?
Now I’m certainly not blaming fresh-from-college kids on Wall Street for the economic mess, but I did find Lewis’ piece rather enlightening about the system as a whole, and I strongly encourage you to read it. It’s long and can get tedious in parts if you’re not used to all the terminology, so if you find yourself drifting, take a break, do something else, and come back to the article. Seriously. This is worth reading.
Right now, all I can muster in terms of an Op-Ed is this:
More suggested reading:
- Paul of The Clue by Four‘s Third Cluesday in November: Where Did All the Money Go?
- Obama lays out general terms for auto bailout
- Enough with those bailout lines by Joan Vennochi at The Boston Globe
- Many line up for cash but bailout plan falters by Michael J. de la Merced at The New York Times
- Pull away blanket of secrecy on federal bailout
- States want their own federal financial bailout
- Canada considers joint bailout of carmakers with US, CP says
- Obama to tweak bail-out plan
So what do *you* think about the bailout?
as california burns, calabria asks what the hail?
Over the weekend, as we were thinking about those caught in the line of wildfires in California, here in Calabria we also had some nasty weather. Quite ironically, ours came in the form of torrential downpours.
And so, right around noon on Saturday, thunder and lightning meant that we unplugged everything electric.
But the hail? Well that meant it was time for the camera:
P said he’d never seen anything like this in his nearly 30 years, as perhaps you can tell from his excitement in the video. Here’s where the video left off:
Stay safe, my friends.*
*Gah! I can’t stop saying it!
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
