Scampia, Napoli

the campo

Writing Assignment #10

Dear Group,

Your final writing assignment is about memory. What is your most striking visual image that is now attached to a memory about Rome (or Naples, Florence, Venice, Prato).

Here is a prompt to get you started:

Suppose you lost all your photos from Italy (!). What “image” would stay with you without a photo to reference. What do you want to remember about Italy and how would you share this "image" of Italy with others now that you are back in Seattle? Again, take your time with this assignment. Find a quiet moment to think back on your time in Rome, What is a specific memory that brings with it sensory images and sounds (it does not have to be a "dramatic" moment or experience; it can be a subtle thing that might tell you a lot about the depth and complexities of your experiences in Italy).

Remember the details of this memory and the nuisances of the images that come to you.

For example, I dropped and broke my camera midway during the program. I was reliant on others to take photos, and, now I am realiant on my memories of Rome to deconstruct the experiences and my discoveries. Now, that I am in Marrakech, I remember vividly the image of St. Peters from my apartment window. St. Peters is layered with the images of the mosques and the sounds of the "call to prayer" that I hear several times a day in this city. The memories of Italy are now combined with my current experiences in Marrakech. When I return to Seattle, there will be more layers to add.

This last assignment does not have to be a long assignment. Make it meaningful to you and dig deep, be honest, and reflective. What did you gain from your time away? What did you bring back with you and what will stick?? Are you different now? How is Seattle now that you are back in the "comfort zone"? Is it comfortable or does the familiar now seem foreign?

Again, take your time and sit with all of this, then write....

It was a pleasure sharing this experience in Rome with all of you. Please do come visit me in Seattle. Honors Suite, Mary Gates Hall. I will be there!

I will send comments on your writings when I am back in Seattle next week.

ciao, and salaam,

Julie

Writing #9

Writing assignment #9 asks that you contribute a chapter to a travel writing collection. This anthology* captures the theme of Italian identity and will illuminate the complicated and ongoing discussion of "what and who is Italian?"

Think through all that you have experienced here in Rome and other cities you have visited these past view months (both inside and outside of Italy). What is your take away and what do you want others to know about Italy and this topic? What have you discovered about the topic of identity and borders through the various components presented in the class: stories (Clash of Civilizations with author visit; Multicultural Literature short stories); theoretical readings on identity (South/North reading; "The Other"; etc.); films (Facing Windows and The Golden Door); presentations on border studies, contemporary art, Caritas and the migrant experience, Campo Nomadi and the Romas (Gypsies) in the city, Jewish presence/identity in Rome; excursions to discover street art, urban gentrification and the periphery, Riones and Rome communities; presentations from your AH course; independent research; and, as always, your own personal explorations and what you have seen through your perspective as an American in Italy.
Consider the questions with which we started the course:
•Where are the covert and overt borders in Rome? (Physical, psychological, cultural, and national borders).
•How is "insider" or "outsider" status determined?
•Borders are at the same time becoming more rigid and also more fluid. What are the dynamics behind this and how is this fluidity and ambiguity expressed.

Your chapter in this collection will give another glimpse into identity politics in Italy and will showcase your now more informed perspective on this moving target, this ambiguous, contradictory, paradoxical topic of identity. And, finally, show us the connections that this topic of identity has between the local, national, and global contexts.

From your reading in THE OTHER by Ryszard Kapuscinski, pages 91-92):

"Perhaps we are tending towards a world so completely new and different that the experience of history to date will prove inadequate for understanding it and being able to move about in it. In any case the world we are entering is the Planet of Great Opportunity--not an unconditional opportunity, but one that is only open to those who take their tasks seriously, proving by this token that they take themselves seriously....we shall constantly be encountering the new Other, who will gradually start to emerge from the chaos and confusion of modern life. It is possible that this Other will be born out of an encounter between two opposing trends that form the culture of the modern world--one that is globalising our reality, and another that is preserving our dissimilarity, our differences, our uniqueness....Who will this new Other be? What will our encounter be like?"


This writing assignment is due by Saturday, March 13.
* title suggestions welcome

Please note: Writing Assignment #10, your last writing for this course, will be posted on the blog by Thursday March 12. It will be due when you return to Seattle, but no later than March 27.

Writing Assignments #7 and #8

"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.

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

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.

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 Assignment #4

Many writers are compelled to write to make sense of the world and their place in the world. They write to seek answers to their questions about self and identity and the "other." Through historical, fictional, philosophical, and memoir writings, writers come to know themselves by getting outside of themselves. At their best, they illuminate a path for others to begin their travels to the self and "the Other" (recall our reading at Santa Croce in Florence). You can't know yourself until you get outside of yourself.

Perhaps, then, you can't know a city until you leave it. You must leave your home and your community to then come back and know that home and see it in a different light, from a different perspective, through new eyes.

We have all left our homes and, through travel, you will come to know it in a different way. You will come to know yourself in a different way. Don't expect things to be the same when you return.

You left Rome and returned. You left Florence and returned. Do you know the cities better now? Do you know them differently?Do you see the cities, and also perhaps yourself, differently through "new" eyes?

Your task for writing assignment #4 is to reflect on Rome, Florence (and consider Prato). What did you see, what were your impressions, how did you see the cities differently (leaving and returning). What about your personal discoveries in the cities. We are now almost half way into the program. What are you thinking about in terms of your travels, your home, your time here in Italy? Write assignment #4 and see where it takes you. Use your memories of the places you have been to and your memories of home and community (both in Seattle and here in Roma) to inform your writing. Utilize readings, talks, excursions, your research and rione investigations, and conversations with people. Be ready to see connections. They are there.

Finally, take chances when you write. Be "imperfect". Sit and be still with your thoughts. Writing can be a form of meditation. Good writing can't be hurried. Focus and enjoy the process.

One more thought to take with you (a thought in the form of a list)...
The Odyssey
Canterbury Tales
Augustine's Confessions
The Inferno
The Wizard of Oz
The Catcher in the Rye
The Accidental Tourist
The Lord of the Rings
Enders Game
Clash of Civilization Over an Elevator in Piazzo Vittorio

"There are no new answers, only new questions" (Barbara Grazzuti Harrison, Italian Days, p. 180).

Richard Meier's Rome

Richard Meier is a contemporary architect discussed in class last week. He is a Jewish New York-based architect creating modern buildings in a city proud of its antiquity, and a city always shadowed by "the Church". What questions do you have as you learn more about his buildings (see below) and as you explore the architecture of ancient Rome?

See images of Richard Meier's buildings

Articles and news about Meier:

Rome Mayor Aims to Tear Down Richard Meier Museum

Richard Meier's Jubilee Church in Rome

More on the Jubilee Church

Pigneto

`Pasolini needed to live dangerously in every sense, this passionate, contradictory man. He didn't slum it in the slums - he lived there to learn the vital language of the poor, in order to remind Italian literature of its existence.' Paul Bailey

Pigneto is a small rione in the northwest side of Rome. It has been working class and called "gritty." Artists, immigrants, and also some extremist groups live in Pigneto. It's not far from the center, but it's a bit off the main track (and public transport). It is starting to become gentrified, no surprise.

The poet, novelist, and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini loved this area. Many of his movies were filmed here.

We will visit Pigneto and learn more about this area. The fringe is becoming the center. We'll visit an artists' collective and perhaps tour the Grauco cinema.

Here is the poem Greg Smith mentioned in class last week:

The Tears of the Excavator (Section II)

Poor as a cat in the Coliseum
I lived in a slum of limestone
and dust clouds, far from the city

and from the country, wedged each day
in a wheezing bus:
and every going, every return

was an ordeal of sweat and anxiety.
Long walks in the hot haze,
long dusks in front of my papers

piled on the table, amidst muddy streets,
low walls, small whitewashed shanties,
windowless, with curtains for doors...

The olive seller and ragman passed by,
coming from some other slum,
with dusty goods that seemed

the fruits of theft; and the cruel faces
of youths aged among the vices
of those with hardened and hungry mothers

Renewed by the new world,
free--a blast of heat, an indescribable
breath, gave a sense of serene piety

to that humble and squalid,
confused and immense reality,
swarming in the southern slums.

A soul within me, not merely my own.

a small soul in that boundless world,
grew, fed with the joy

of one who loved, though the love be unrequited.
And everything filled with the light of his love,
perhaps still the heroic love of a young boy.

yet matured by experience,
born at the foot of history.
It was the center of the world, in that world

of sad Bedouin slums,
of yellow prairies scoured
by a relentless, unquiet wind,

that came up form the warm sea of Fiumicino,
or from the plains, where the city
disintegrated amidst the hovels; in that world

that could be dominated only by the square sallow specter
in the sallow haze

of the Penitentiary, punched in by a thousand
identical rows of barred windows,
amidst old fields and sleepy farmhouses.

trash and dust were blindly tossed about by the breeze,
the poor echoless voices

of women come down from the Sabine
hills and the Adriatic, and here
encamped with swarms

of underfed, hardened and shrieking
children in tattered undershirts
and gray, sun-bleached shorts,

in the African sun, the restless rains

that turned the streets into muddy
torrents, the buses mired

at the end of the line in a corner
between a last strip of whitened grass
and some heap of rancid, fermenting garbage...

it was the center of the world,
as my love for it was at the center
of history: and in this

maturity, still growing, there was
love all the same, and everything was
on the verge of becoming clear--it was

clear! That slum, naked in the winds,
not Roman, not southern,
not working class, was life

in its clearest light:
life, and the light of life, full
in the chaos not yet proleterian,

as the rough newspaper of the
cell or the latest waving
of magazine would have it: bone

of daily existence,
pure, because so
close absolute because

all too miserably human.

translated by Patrick Barron, taken from An Anthology of Italian Environmental Literature (and Pier Paolo Pasolini: Selected Poetry), Italica Press: New York, 2003.

Prato, Italy--textile center

Facts about Prato:
-located just outside Florence
-population of 180,000 with 8,000 factories employing 40,000 workers
-famous for its wool textile industry (since the Middle Ages) and Italian fabrics
-it has the highest percentage of Chinese immigrants in Italy
-the Emperor's castle (we passed this mighty fortress on the way to the Duomo) is the only example of Swabian architecture in north-central Italy (built by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II)
-during Meideval times the city was a sought after area between the rival towns of Florence and Pistoia. There were fights for ownership of the castles. The city was owned by the Barchi family until 1797. You can read more here: PRATO
-the Cathedral (or Duomo) is of great interest and showcases the art of Fra' Filippino Lippi (1452-1466 approx). Those frescoes in the apse--wow.
-Prato has lots of contemporary art (lots of open air art)
-Theatre is big in Prato. It is home to the prestigious Contemporary Art Centre 'Luigi Pecci' and to the highly acclaimed avant-garde theatre 'Metastasio'
-The Museum of the Textile, located near the Emperor's Castle, is the only museum in Italy dedicated to the textile art technology.

Berlusconi in the news

Read the story here:
Berlusconi Moves to Impose Internet Regulation

Writing Assignment #3-Rome marketplace: the borderlands

“I think of an author as somebody who goes into the marketplace and puts down his rug and says, 'I will tell you a story,' and then he passes the hat.” Robertson Davies

"Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome." Maximas (from GLADIATOR)


The market at Esquilino illustrates the multi-ethnic vibrant community in Rome. The area of Esquilino and Vittorio Emmanuele is an example of a "borderland" in that it is a mix of high economic and lower economic populations. The urban gentrification process and immigration movements have resulted in a dynamic and you can see this at the marketplace.

The documentary film “The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio” begins with this introduction:

The making of this film diary began shortly after September 11th when the Italian Prime Minister spoke of “inferior civilizations.” It was completed in 2006, a few months after a Minister appeared on TV with a shirt depicting an anti-Muslim cartoon, and the Senate president declared that we must defend ourselves from “half-breeds”.

While many on the Italian left chose to oppose the “war on terror” and the concomitant xenophobia by organizing rallies and demonstrations, Mario Tronco, a keyboard player for the group Avion Travel, was inspired to organize an orchestra made up of recent immigrants to the Esquilino neighborhood in Rome. As the film begins, we learn that Esquilino had begun to become more and more ethnically diverse, much to the chagrin of native Italians who regularly took to the streets to demand “Italy for the Italians”.

We will watch this documentary later in the quarter. In the meantime, think about the information above, and the ethnically diverse Esquilino and, specifically, marketplaces.

The Esquilino marketplace, and all marketplaces, both ancient and contemporary, are community centers. Consider both ancient and contemporary market places for your writing assignment #3. Write about the activities of the marketplaces. Write about the marketplace as a "borderland". What are borderlands? Why do they exist. Think about the theoretical readings you've done so far.

Also, consider the short stories you have read in Multicultural Literature in Italy along with the articles about assimilation and the migrant experience. What identity (ies) do you see in the market places? What is the Italian identity. How does Italy express its "identity" through marketplaces, in both ancient and contemporary times. What has been your experience in the market places?

As always, your writing should be image driven, descriptive, and tell the stories you see as you explore the marketplaces. Take risks in your writing, but always be respectful of the stories of the people you are writing about.

Due next Thursday.

Rome Borders Office Hours

Rome Borders Office hours:
Thursdays 12:30-1:30/2:00;
Cafe Biscione's, right across from the Rome Center main doors.

Or you can always email to schedule an appointment if you need to meet outside of these hours.

Tuesday's "on-site" freewrite

On Tuesday, we were educated about the Jewish Ghetto and community through several mediums. You now have the opportunity to write your interpretation and show the connections you made. Connect readings, walking tour, museum, and the images you took from the day.

Tips:
-Find a quiet spot (this is your "on-site"--you alone with your journal)
-Review the Jewish Ghetto tour, review what you learned at the museum, review the images from the synagogue
-Think slowly, take time for memory to awaken
-Reflect on the contradictions and reflect on the ambiguities of these "contradictions"
-Consider the "gates" we had to go through to enter the site
-Consider why these gates exist now and also what gates and walls surrounded the area in the past, and why.
-Always consider both the man made, natural boundaries, and mental boundaries.
-How have these gates been crossed and where are the borders now?

Freewrite first, then post rewrite/edit and post to your blog by Tuesday, January 26.

Make the posting as long as you need it to be. You will know if its too short.

Use active voice
Be specific
Use image driven writing
Use all your senses in your descriptions

Think about the "hour glass" structure:
1. Broad connections
2. Specific experiences and images that create details (stories are always more engaging)
3. Then back to broad. What are your questions? Why do you care?

Two quotes in honor of MLK Day

Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

A human being is a part of the whole called by us "the universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
--Albert Einstein

Assignment #2 -Due Thursday 1/21

For writing assignment #2 you will actually need to talk to Italians in order to find out what people know about the riots in the south. This is a more involved assignment than #1, so it should be longer. Make it as long as you need it to be (3 pages minimum).

You can choose to talk to one person, if that person gives you enough to work with, or you can talk to several people. Variety is always good. You can talk to the doorman, the office staff (only nonAmericans), the waiter at your favorite cafe, the person in the bookstore, people you might meet at museums, galleries, cafes. See how it goes and be persistent. Don't get destroyed if a mean postal worker refuses to talk to you. She is grumpy, so go on and talk to someone who has a friendlier disposition.

It is helpful to approach people with some Italian words and a smile. These two things can open doors and bring new friends.

You can do the investigative aspect of this assignment with a partner, but the write up should be yours only.

Suggestions to get you started...you can ask:
What do they know of the recent riots?
How did they first hear of the recent riots? Where did they get their information? Overall, how interested are they in what's been happening?
How serious an issue do they consider illegal immigration to be? Is the problem more serious for some groups than for others? What should government policy be?
Why do you feel this way?
How long have you lived in Rome? Where did your parents grow up?
What are the most pressing issues in Italy today?

Listen carefully and represent their narrative in your writing with respect and accuracy. Let them tell you what they want to tell you. They may digress into other topics related to immigration, politics, or their own stories.

Be an active listener. Try not to judge, stay open, and gather information. Most likely you will be surprised. Don't tell them that their opinions are wrong or right, and don't try to change their opinions. Don't get into arguments. Share your thoughts if you are asked. You don't need to NOT have an opinion. Just try and let them do most of the talking.

It would be useful to make sure you are informed about the situation so make sure you read the current news about the recent riots and any news related to the riots (both local, national, and world).

Other things to consider:
--Think about how you will introduce the topic, i.e. "Buongiorno, I am a student from Seattle studying in Rome this winter, and I am gathering information about the recent riots in southern Italy. It would be so helpful to learn more. Would you mind telling me what you know about the riots and your thoughts about this situation?"
You can adapt this to your style and to the person you are talking to, but keep it open ended and polite.

--Bring your journal for note taking and reflection. It may be that it is best to wait to write down your notes and reflections about the conversations (i.e. field notes), or you might be comfortable taking notes while you are listening. Feel this out and do what is appropriate for the situation. If you are with a partner, it might work to have your partner be your notetaker.

--For your write up, narrate what you learned by listening to their opinions and stories. Describe the people you talked to. Who are they, where did you meet them, why did you choose them. What about the process. Did you hear more than you thought you would? Write all the stories you heard and also consider: how did it feel to ask Italians about the riots? How do you think they felt being asked this question by an American student? Would they have answered differently if asked by a fellow Italian? How did you feel about this assignment in general? What was your comfort level and what borders/boundaries did you experience while engaged in this assignment. What walls did you cross?

--Think about what you have learned so far in the readings and discussions and feel free use to inform your writing.

--Always consider your subject position and discuss your bias' and your position in this process.

Ok, more writing tips coming soon, but this should get you started. Let me know if any questions.

Art Exhibits of Interest

Museum of Contemporary Art
Urs Lüthi – Just Another Story About Leaving
The first exhibition in Rome dedicated to Swiss artist Urs Lüthi, who is known for her photographic depictions of ambiguities in individuals and objects. For this exhibition, the artist has developed a complex site-specific project based on the concept of departure and distance. With no fixed boundaries to respect, Urs Lüthi is free to explore spaces in the city where an encounter between the present and many histories are a source of inspiration, informing the artist of converging paths.
MACRO – Museo D’Arte Contemporary, Roma Via Reggio Emilia 54 (Flaminio)
Tuesday-Sunday 9am-7pm; 16 through April 5 tel 06 671 070400

Via Libera - Viva la libertà and Apocalypse Wow!
Presented contemporaneously at MACRO Future and Ex-Mattioli, in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, the exhibitions relate art and society to that historic occasion through multi-media production, paintings, sculptures, installations, documents and television news segments.
"Via Libera - Viva la Libertà" is divided into two sections. The first presents an eight-minute audio-video retrospective of the actual collapse of the Berlin wall. The second, a three-screen installation showing simultaneous broadcasts of the event being transmitted over East and West Berlin television networks and networks throughout the world. Lastly, a series of television screens transmit flashback and commentary of the occasion 20 years later, reported by Italian journalists who covered the story at the time. The exhibitions also celebrate the fall of a system that stifled artistic expression and exchange between the East and West. "Apocalypse Wow!" unveils the form and color of pop surrealism, neo pop and urban art, currents that were suppressed for three generations. A group exhibition of 80 works across a broad range of genres in sculpture, painting and installation links generations, which in the past 20 years have constructed the so called, globalized era. Works by an international roster of artists, including Shepard Fairey, Keith Herring, Jan Michel Basquiat, Daniel Richter, Nicola Verlato, Doze Green, Barry McGee, the Clayton Brothers and others. The painting shown here is by Italian artist Nicola Verlato.
Macro Future – Ex Mattatoio, Piazza Orazio Giustiniani (Testaccio)
Tuesday-Sunday 4 pm - midnight; though January 31, 2010

Riones (neighborhoods) of Rome

A rione (pl. rioni) is an Italian term used since the Middle Ages to name the districts of central Rome, according to the political divisions of that time. It comes from the Latin regio (pl. regiones, meaning region); during the Middle Ages the Latin word became rejones, from which rione.


Augustus first divided Rome into fourteen regiones to organize the growing city. The Riones have remained to this day, but with many transformations. Changes continue. Rione are similar to the arrondissements of Paris in that they were first known only by their number. They then came to be named by a landmark in the area.

Currently, there are 22 Riones. The Vatican is an area, a "neighborhood", all to its own.

Rione's selected

Trastevere: Natalia and Lauren
Testaccio: Alexis and Teo
Regola: Derek and Giulia
Ponte: Nick and Sijia
Monte: Mick and Carisa
Trevi: Stephanie and Tim
Vatican: Conner and Erika (again, not officially rione)

Requirements for this assignment:
-Presentation during week 9 (3/2 and 3/4). 30 minutes on site
-Write up a one page handout to give to students as a guide as you present
-You must take charge and lead us to your Rione where the presentation will begin (walk or bus)
-Write up final presentation and post to blog by your scheduled day (include photos and even voice, video and music. Be creative and have fun with this)

Things to cover in your presentation:
-History of the rione and "coat of arms" of the rione
-Who are the residents of the rione; who are the visitors
-Economy of the neighborhood
-Social communities and activities
-Monuments and memorials of the area
-"Borders" in the rione, consider also"insiders" and "outsiders"
-Art in the area
-Graffiti
-your reflections on the process
-discussion of your specific interpretation and your place within your interpretation

Use an ethnographic approach and consider your subject position and reflect on how your position influences your observations and reflections. What biases and assumptions do you bring?

Read the area as "text", do "close reading" and notice the subtle details of the area. Look at signs, listen to the language, talk to people, sit and observe the area and people's behaviors. Write in your journal. Go to different parts of your rione and observe difference, contradictions, similarities, and entries, walls, borders, etc.

You will be going back to your rione many times in the next 9 weeks. Do most of your research on-site. Take TIME to get to know it. Stroll through it on a busy weekday morning and also on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Have lunch at one of the most crowded pizzerias. Eat a gelato while walking. Let the area come to you as much as you go to it. Go with your partner, and also go alone at times. Walk, saunter, enjoy the slow pace of your travels through the neighborhood.

You and your partner should work together to craft a cohesive presentation of the area, but you should also include your unique observations and reflections. Discuss this unique aspects of your observations in your presentation and in your write up. You will have some different observations and interpretations. Note these, and discuss with your partner.

Also, discuss the process of this assignment. What were the difficulties and struggles you might have had. What about any "ah ha" moments and shifts that might have happened after visiting the site again and again. Include these kinds of reflections in your presentation.

For inspiration see the urban archives project:

Urban Archives (a Seattle project)