"The most loathsome nest of human caterpillars I was ever forced to stay in--a hell with all the devils imbecile in it."
-John Ruskin
"...it reveals itself only to the simpatici." -Peter Gunn
"Like the twin masks of tragedy and comedy, Naples constantly shifts between splendour and misery, beauty and squalor" (2) In the Shadow of Vesuvius.
"Naples is in Southern Italy." - student
"Romantic guitar and mandolin originated in Naples." - student
"In Italia Naples is said 'Napoli'"- student
"Naples was the most bombed Italian city in WWII." -student
"Naples has 248 churches" -student
"Neapolitan ice cream flavor = chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry." - student
Yes, Naples gave the world pizza and spaghetti and ice cream (although not Neapolitan, that originated in the U.S.). The city, as you noticed as soon as you walked out of the train station on Friday morning, is Italy's best and Italy's worst, but the combination leads to a feeling that it is neither. It is hard to define. It is truly a city of ambiguity and contradiction.
The combination is dynamic and exhilarating . The combination is also exhausting and can be terrifying. It's one of the most densely populated cities in Italy (or the MOST densely populated in Europe even). It's the gateway to Southern Italy and showcases the many stereotypes that Italy's north has about the south. Yet, Naples is famous for its intellectuals, dramatists, and musicians. It also has the Camorra and Vesuvius.
For writing assignment #7, consider the Images of the South reading and the short readings from the Naples reading packet. Also, remember Greg Smith's discussion on Naples and the techniques of seeing a city, really observing the details. Consider also the images that are constantly being shown to you in Naples. It is a visual city. A city of the senses. Finally, consider the looming threat of an active volcano, the Camorra, and The Church. What is it like to live in a city that has all of these elements. What is it like to visit?
Write about Naples and the paradoxes and the contradictions. You will know Naples differently than just through the myths now that you have experienced it first hand.
Some ideas for your Napoli writing assignment:
Write about your arrival in Naples and how the images of arrival in Naples are different from the images of your arrival in Rome. Rome gates vs. Naples skyline. What borders do you see in Naples?
Write about the paradox of Naples. Is there anything you would call ethereal about being in Naples?
What about fear? What is it that you feared about your visit to Naples and entering into the unknown. Has the fear melted away now that you've seen so many aspects of the city, now that you have met the people of Naples?
People in Naples have their own dialect (just as Romans do). Learn a phrase that is distinctly Napoli. Write about the sounds in Naples. Language, cars, markets, etc.
Writing assignment #8--What did you feel when you arrived back in Rome? What did you notice about Rome that you didn't notice before (and how was it that being in Naples made you see Rome differently)? How do the Romans seem to you now that you have returned. Again, consider all the materials that you have to inform your writing assignment: course readings, discussions, excursions, your personal observations of the city.
Due by next Friday, March 5.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Immigrants or Foreign Residents--editorial
Immigrants or Foreign Residents--Editorial
On 1 March foreigners in Italy are organising a 24-hour strike to underline their role in the country and to protest against recent episodes of racism and discrimination. Inspired by a similar protest in France on the same day, the event is being coordinated by a network of local committees with the support of social networking sites such as Facebook. In early February the group “Primo marzo 2010 sciopero degli stranieri” had over 45,000 members.
There is currently much talk about how to integrate foreigners living and working in Italy and the language used to frame the debate is all-important. Many foreigners are referred to as immigrati, often with a negative connotation of people who live on the margins of the host society, performing menial jobs and finding themselves at the centre of social conflict of the kind that led to the race riots in Rosarno, Calabria, in January. The term straniero residente, foreign resident, with its more positive connotation of someone who plays an active part in the life of the country, is rarely used.
But what makes a person one rather than the other? It seems that the answer often depends on country of origin and skin colour. This magazine’s readers from the United States, Canada and Australia, like their counterparts from western Europe, have probably always considered themselves – and been treated as – foreign residents and may feel that most immigration issues don’t really apply to them. But what about the people labelled as immigrants? The domestic workers from Romania, who are in fact members of the European Union? The factory workers and small-scale entrepreneurs from Ghana? The pizza chefs from Egypt? The retailers from China? All may have lived in Italy for years, put down solid roots and have families. What must it take to call these people foreign residents too?
for full text go here
On 1 March foreigners in Italy are organising a 24-hour strike to underline their role in the country and to protest against recent episodes of racism and discrimination. Inspired by a similar protest in France on the same day, the event is being coordinated by a network of local committees with the support of social networking sites such as Facebook. In early February the group “Primo marzo 2010 sciopero degli stranieri” had over 45,000 members.
There is currently much talk about how to integrate foreigners living and working in Italy and the language used to frame the debate is all-important. Many foreigners are referred to as immigrati, often with a negative connotation of people who live on the margins of the host society, performing menial jobs and finding themselves at the centre of social conflict of the kind that led to the race riots in Rosarno, Calabria, in January. The term straniero residente, foreign resident, with its more positive connotation of someone who plays an active part in the life of the country, is rarely used.
But what makes a person one rather than the other? It seems that the answer often depends on country of origin and skin colour. This magazine’s readers from the United States, Canada and Australia, like their counterparts from western Europe, have probably always considered themselves – and been treated as – foreign residents and may feel that most immigration issues don’t really apply to them. But what about the people labelled as immigrants? The domestic workers from Romania, who are in fact members of the European Union? The factory workers and small-scale entrepreneurs from Ghana? The pizza chefs from Egypt? The retailers from China? All may have lived in Italy for years, put down solid roots and have families. What must it take to call these people foreign residents too?
for full text go here
Friday, February 12, 2010
Writing Assignment #6 and more
First, I'd like to share a passage I received from a favorite Honors professor who was inspired to send this reference after reading through the Borders' blog and seeing the work in which we are engaged.
This passage below is from Herman Sinaiko's Reclaiming the Canon: Essays in Philosophy, Poetry, and History (University of Chicago):
"In *The Human Condition*, Hannah Arendt proposes a distinction between behavior and action, a distinction rooted in the classical thought of Plato and Aristotle but almost extinct in the modern world. Most of the time, in the ordinary course of our lives, we are engaged in behavior. The things we do are predictable and in character. But once in a while, Arendt thinks, we stop behaving and begin to act. From the point of view of the neutral observer or the objective scientist, the difference may be hard to see. But to those of us who undertake to act, the difference is clear. We act when we cease to be determined by the past, when habit no longer defines what we do in the present and no longer reliably predicts what we will do in the future. We act, Arendt thinks, when we initiate, when we break the chain of causation that binds the present and the future to the past; when we start a new line of causation, create a situation that is inherent *un*predictable.
"Behavior is fundamentally repetitive; action, by contrast, is original and unique and individual. Animals behave; humans can act. Action, the occasion of creating something new, carries with it the possibility of greatness. That is why we celebrate actions in song and story and record them in history and not the everyday behavior of people who do today and will do tomorrow what they did yesterday. In both poetry and history we celebrate those unique initiating events that somehow make our world different."
Your assignment for this coming week is to #1) review the Rione assignment guidelines (posted on Jan. 11) and #2) write what you have learned so far about your Rione; write your initial observations. You may use the Rione guidelines to help you structure this writing assignment.
Things to consider:
-For this assignment, you need only focus on one street, or even one street corner, of your Rione.
-As you get to know your neighborhood and its community, utilize and weave in your insights gained from the program thus far. See your Rione as a text and, like a text, engage it, and insert yourself into the pages of the neighborhood. Think about what you don't understand as you go out and observe, engage, and interact with your Rione. Be humble and let the place and people, sounds and rhythms of the area, tell you its story. Listen, look, and be open to discovery, and to the unpredictable and predictable reactions that the neighborhood evokes.
This passage below is from Herman Sinaiko's Reclaiming the Canon: Essays in Philosophy, Poetry, and History (University of Chicago):
"In *The Human Condition*, Hannah Arendt proposes a distinction between behavior and action, a distinction rooted in the classical thought of Plato and Aristotle but almost extinct in the modern world. Most of the time, in the ordinary course of our lives, we are engaged in behavior. The things we do are predictable and in character. But once in a while, Arendt thinks, we stop behaving and begin to act. From the point of view of the neutral observer or the objective scientist, the difference may be hard to see. But to those of us who undertake to act, the difference is clear. We act when we cease to be determined by the past, when habit no longer defines what we do in the present and no longer reliably predicts what we will do in the future. We act, Arendt thinks, when we initiate, when we break the chain of causation that binds the present and the future to the past; when we start a new line of causation, create a situation that is inherent *un*predictable.
"Behavior is fundamentally repetitive; action, by contrast, is original and unique and individual. Animals behave; humans can act. Action, the occasion of creating something new, carries with it the possibility of greatness. That is why we celebrate actions in song and story and record them in history and not the everyday behavior of people who do today and will do tomorrow what they did yesterday. In both poetry and history we celebrate those unique initiating events that somehow make our world different."
Your assignment for this coming week is to #1) review the Rione assignment guidelines (posted on Jan. 11) and #2) write what you have learned so far about your Rione; write your initial observations. You may use the Rione guidelines to help you structure this writing assignment.
Things to consider:
-For this assignment, you need only focus on one street, or even one street corner, of your Rione.
-As you get to know your neighborhood and its community, utilize and weave in your insights gained from the program thus far. See your Rione as a text and, like a text, engage it, and insert yourself into the pages of the neighborhood. Think about what you don't understand as you go out and observe, engage, and interact with your Rione. Be humble and let the place and people, sounds and rhythms of the area, tell you its story. Listen, look, and be open to discovery, and to the unpredictable and predictable reactions that the neighborhood evokes.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Writing Assignment #5
"If a teacher told me to revise, I thought that meant my writing was a broken-down car that needed to go to the repair shop. I felt insulted. I didn't realize the teacher was saying, 'Make it shine. It's worth it.' Now I see revision as a beautiful word of hope. It's a new vision of something. It means you don't have to be perfect the first time." Naomi Shihab Nye
"Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees. Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove, you eliminate in order to make the work visible. Even those pages you remove somehow remain." Elie Wiesel
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." Anton Chekhov
Writing assignment #5 is to edit and revise and nurture Writing Assignment #4. Include any new experiences of leaving and returning.
For example, many of you went to Venice this weekend. Rewrite your assignment with Venice as another point of departure and return. Does Venice enrich last week's assignment? Do you feel differently now that you have experienced another side of Italy?
Tell us about Venice. What was carnival? What did you expect the city to be before you left, and what were the realities of the city--a city that has been called "the masque of Italy" (Byron) and what "Leonardo da Vinci called the reflection in the mirror 'the true painting.' In this case, all of Venice is a painting--which is how it exists in memory. Memory turns the wheel again. In memory Venice is always magic" (ITALIAN DAYS 92).
And, always, consider Rome and the topics of the course. How then does Rome seem to you now that you have returned again?
Finally, care about your writing. It shows.
Grazie.
"Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees. Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove, you eliminate in order to make the work visible. Even those pages you remove somehow remain." Elie Wiesel
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." Anton Chekhov
Writing assignment #5 is to edit and revise and nurture Writing Assignment #4. Include any new experiences of leaving and returning.
For example, many of you went to Venice this weekend. Rewrite your assignment with Venice as another point of departure and return. Does Venice enrich last week's assignment? Do you feel differently now that you have experienced another side of Italy?
Tell us about Venice. What was carnival? What did you expect the city to be before you left, and what were the realities of the city--a city that has been called "the masque of Italy" (Byron) and what "Leonardo da Vinci called the reflection in the mirror 'the true painting.' In this case, all of Venice is a painting--which is how it exists in memory. Memory turns the wheel again. In memory Venice is always magic" (ITALIAN DAYS 92).
And, always, consider Rome and the topics of the course. How then does Rome seem to you now that you have returned again?
Finally, care about your writing. It shows.
Grazie.
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