Columbus day? I’m having my own “F*ck Howard Zinn” day here. (Don’t get me started.)
“Back in the day” (when I was a kid in Pennsylvania in the ‘50s) we knew who all the I-Talians, Krauts, Yids, Hunkys, Pollacks, etc. were. They told you - they were damn proud of it! And they were proud of being Americans, too.
Cross cultural outreach? With us kids, hearts were won through our stomachs. “Manga, manga - you no eat; you looka funny” was serious business. [insert the German, Yiddish, Hungarian, and Polish equivalents here]
When you went to Bobby’s - or Jack’s, or Joe’s house - you ate, especially at Sunday dinner. All the special stuff was brought out: Panzanella, pasta carbonara, risotto, salsa caponata.
And if Nonna was there, the big guns came out: Homemade Cannoli, biscotti, pandoro. After that, you went home with a care package: “Mama, look at the boy; he’s so skinny!” I don’t think his parents feed him enough”.
The winning of the hearts and minds of the next generation was serious business.
Happy Columbus day, my dear brothers and sisters - from where ere ye came. May G0d bless America; may America bless G0d.
Oh, yeah - and to my FReeper brothers and sisters in The Tribe, check this out:
http://www.aish.com/jw/s/Christopher-Columbus-Secret-Jew.html