What You Don't Understand About The Italian American Family..

Today is one of those days where I have to express what I'm feeling when it comes to family. Many people or maybe I should say non-Italians might not understand the bond or understand why we do certain things or sacrifice a lot of our selves for our family members.

I grew up with the belief that you always help or support your family. In my family we aren't one of these units that each family member lives across the country or in another country, but rather we live close in proximity and at times are sometimes up each other's a@@. I admit --I do complain that in my family we lack boundries, but really do boundries exist in Italian families? For example, if I'm in my sister's neighborhood, nine times out of ten I don't call before I show up, I just knock on her door and she opens it. Then we have coffee, even if she was busy.

Lately, more than one of my family members have been going through some tough times, and I have to say rather than just going about my business, we all come together and form a strong support system for each other. If you ask anyone outside of my family, they might say you should each do your own thing and not worry about what the other is doing, unfortunately (and I say this sarcastically) that does not exist.

I love my family, and no matter what -- we are here for each other, a strong support system on all ends. No outside influences can throw us off track from the real love and support we give each other. I know this to be true of our Italian family, perhaps it may exist with other cultural families as well, but I know for certain this is our Italian cultural and traditional belief. - family is everything.

Copyright 2011 - PHOTO of Italian American Girl ItalianAmericanGirl.com -2011 = you must ask permission for reuse of any and all photos on this site.

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CANZONIERE GRECANICO SALENTINO- Performing North American Tour 9/15-10/6/2011

Leading Italian Musical Group
CANZONIERE GRECANICO SALENTINO
bring the power of Taranta to North America for the first time
11 city debut concert tour of the US and Canada announced for September 15 – October 6, 2011

Italy’s fascinating dichotomy of tradition and modernity come together in the music of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. ( http://www.canzonieregrecanicosalentino.net/ )

Hailing from the Puglia region, the seven piece band and dancer are the leading exponents in a new wave of young performers re-inventing Southern Italy’s Pizzica Taranta musical and dance traditions for today’s global audience. Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino’s North American tour brings the concert experience of The Notte Della Taranta festival to US and Canadian populations for the first time.

This music is so meaningful to me, I basically grew up listening to this in my house. Every time we would go to Italy, we ended up going to festivals where these types of musical groups played this one of a kind music. It's true it's a genre of music that has become a lost tradition. When we do see the bands play my mother, father and aunts would join in with other people in the groups and start dancing, and playing the tambourines. I may be a modern Italian American in the tri-state area but I am a true Calabrese with hard core traditions. Thank God..

Not to mention, they still blast this music at home occasionally and in the car. I'm so excited for this unknown genre here in the states to have a chance at being exposed to Italian Americans. It truly is history.

Here is list of concert dates:

Thu, 09/15/11 New York, NY New York Gypsy Festival
http://www.nygypsyfest.com/

Fri, 09/16/11 Madison, WI Madison World Music Festival
http://www.uniontheater.wisc.edu/worldmusicfest/

Sun, 09/18/11 Chicago, IL Chicago World Music Festival
Mon, 09/19/11 Chicago, IL Chicago World Music Festival
http://worldmusicfestivalchicago.org/

Wed, 09/21/11 Cedar Rapids, IA Landfall 2011
http://legionarts.org/

Thu, 09/22/11 St. Louis, MO Washington University
http://rll.wustl.edu/italian

Fri, 09/23/11 Bloomington, IN Lotus World Music & Arts Festival
Sat, 09/24/11 Bloomington, IN Lotus World Music & Arts Festival
http://lotusfest.org/

Sun, 09/25/11 Boston, MA Club Passim (Cambridge)
http://www.clubpassim.org/

Wed, 09/28/11 Toronto, ON Small World Music Festival
http://www.smallworldmusic.com/

Fri, 09/30/11 Montreal, PQ Maison de la Culture Frontenac
http://www.accesculture.com/emplacement/maisondelaculturefrontenac

Sat, 10/01/11 Montreal, PQ Maison de la Culture Ahunstic
http://mcahuntsic.com/

Sun, 10/02/11 Montreal, PQ Maison de la Culture Rivieres des Prairies (Cégep Marie-Victorin Salle Désilets)
http://salledesilets.collegemv.qc.ca/accueil/index.shtml

Wed, 10/05/11 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
http://tickets.worldcafelive.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=4047

Thu, 10/06/11 Washington, DC National Geographic
http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/

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Italian American Girl: Making Giambotta- Vegetable Stew

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Traveling to Europe? Clark Howard's "Living Large In Lean Times" - Get Insider Secrets: Traveling On A Budget

Traveling can be tough especially when you don't know what to do or how to do it. If you're traveling to Europe or even domestically: I have just the book for you that can give you insider tips on how to book: airline tickets, car rentals, hotels and travel cell phones.

My good friend and a fellow Greek American, Theo Thimou who co-authored this book with Clark Howard brought this extremely informative book to my attention. On the Italian American Girl site we are usually talking about Italy or travel to and from, so when I received this book- I was delighted to read a great chapter just on travel. In these economic times, every penny counts. So, if you're finally taking a trip of a lifetime and need information that could possibly save you some money, this is the book.

If you know Clark Howard, you know he's the money guru and has been on many television shows as a guest or host talking about finances and giving the most sound advice on how to get the most for your money.

This book covers a variety of financial topics but of course we know travel is very important to the IAG audience, so let me share with you.

Here are some topics covered on travel in the book:

• Check message boards before you bid on Priceline or Hotwire
• Find cheap vacation rentals by owners
• Use social media to resolve hotel issues
• Use hard discounter airlines to travel around Europe
• Ditch the frequent-flyer miles credit card

These topics/tips are just a taste of what you can find out on travel. A great book not just for travel, but for your overall financial health.

I read the entire book and will implement many points Clark Howard advises when it comes to finances. Now a days, all the help you can get is very welcomed. I highly recommend this book.

To purchase this book:

http://www.clarkhoward.com/book-countdown/

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Italian American Girl: Making Fritelle

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Italian American Garden - A Video Tour

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Like it or Not- "Jersey Shore" Cast Is In Italy Filming Another Season

The cast of "Jersey Shore" is officially now in Italy. Like it or not, they have an Italian following. What Italian Americans think is so horrifying, Italians are seeing Americans who happen to have an Italian background. So, it asks the bigger question... how bad is this really?

I'm telling you right now, Italians will not see this in the same negative light as many Italian Americans here who feel they're being portrayed by a bunch of degenerates. Instead, the Italians will view them as Americans and if you've been to Italy, you know that Italians love Americans. Most of them anyway. They love everything about America, which includes mainstream television and shows that are broadcast on MTV.

I mentioned in a previous post about this, that I don't think this show is about being Italian American, its more about an American culture or actually a tri-state culture. The guido culture is a real thing in New Jersey, so for those people who are in denial about it, its time to accept it because its now on television. Granted, we have to maintain some kind of boundary on the language and references to Italian Americans, because not all American sub-cultures are the same or the people within them.

Here is a recent article in People magazine with the recent pictures of the cast in Italy upon arrival. Should be interesting to see how this pans out and which Italian American organizations raise hell about it.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20489684,00.html

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