In the last entry, I discussed the value of the many regional and provincial sub-groups around the world. I mentioned that I would probably be too busy with the PAL to do this myself, but I changed my mind. I plan on founding "Bresciani nel Mondo."
You almost have to do a little research online to see what the status is for whatever it is that you want to be a part of in this area. Some areas are largely represented, and this even includes provincial heritages! For example, Bergamo and Brescia sit sit by side in Lombardia, have similar historties, yet there is a large Bergamaschi nel Mondo, yet no Bresciani nel Mondo. In other words, you may have to just go ahead and "found" something if it doesn't exist. Also, some Italians are hard-asses about Italian-Americans. They have this belief that we are "Italian wannabees," which usually isn't true.
In the previous entry, I mentioned not really knowing if there was a local presence of heritage of Liguria, Genoa, Tuscany, or Lucca. I still don't really know. If not, someone is really missing out. The root stock Italian-Americans of the Bay Area still don't really understand that this area was really the only one with this type of Northern Italian heritage. It's unique here in America. Maybe you could point to parts of Michigan or Pennsylvania, but nothing like here. I know Lucca in northern Tuscany, and South San Francisco, are "Sister Cities." This is due to the many Lucchesi who settled there long ago.
I have mentioned, more than once, of how Italian-Americans, especially around here, have completely lost their sense of heritage. I was at my parents home during last years World Cup. This is the exact same location where I was in 1982 during Italy's world cup victory then. I can recall very clearly that there was a lot of noise as the clock ticked down then! When I say noice, I mean noise outside! It was eerie in 2006, in the same location, that there was NO noise at all. Am I expected to believe that we have disappeared? Obviously the demographics in that neighborhood have changed in those 24 years, but that doesn't explain everything.
As you may have noticed, the website was ruined due to a glitch in angelfire's system. This was a big disappointment, because it was being redone and was between a save. Even if it was saved, all the code would be lost. Seems we're all just one virus or glitch away from humility in terms of this electronic communication we depend on so much. The link for the new PAL website is at the upper left hand corner of this blog. I'll just put it here.
Before I close out here, I just wanted to mention one more time, how fun it can be to start this type of local group. You have a reason to contact many people all over, as you could have a website, are writing and doing research. I remember I called someone once and said that I was writing an article, before I asked a few questions. If the person knows that you're writing a newsletter or something, they will respond a little better. It's not just that, it may foster a little more connection between the two of you.
