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We would like to share the following essay by Italian American student, Sophia Alloggiamento, which is a compelling explanation of why it is important for this generation to retain their heritage.
I was scared of my culture for longer than I like to admit. I think my parents were too. And my grandparents, and certainly, their parents. I cherished my bright blond hair; I wanted to look like a "typical" California girl with her long locks and tan skin. I wanted to fit in, blend in, match with the girls and the world around me. My brother cut his hair short to keep his curls from coming in for the majority of his childhood.
To my frustration, our name, our beautiful family name, never fit on the back of our sports jerseys. I wanted to change my name: Sophia Isabella Alloggiamento. Translations into Wisdom, Serenity from God, and Home, none of those meanings meant anything to me. And that hurts, even to recount now. There was no language to be shared, because my parents' parents and their parents before them were striving for assimilation, never recognition. Fly under the radar, conform, do not stand out or draw attention for the wrong reasons-this was always the goal. A coalescent culture created out of trauma of war and limited to the confines of the home, because in the home, in the kitchen, that was the only place to be free. Free to laugh loudly, free to cheat at card games, free to throw in as many spices and salts as our ancestors demanded and our measuring hands could figure. And briefly, in this home of homes, there was peace. There was connection. There was love, undeniable love, for all things us.
It took a long time for the love to burst past the kitchen doors. It took time, maybe for the world to change, maybe for our minds to change, probably time for the both of them. It took self-respect and self-appreciation and a joy of self just to correct other's pronunciation. It took patience and pursuit and passion to find a community in Monday afternoon bocce tournaments and Wednesday morning card games. It took work and knowledge and frustration to practice a language, to return to a language, to share and laugh in our fumbles of syllables softly settling back onto our tongue. It took a vow to never accept less than that and never disrespect our heritage like that ever again. lt took love.
I carry this love with me everywhere now. I carry it in the charm on my neck, the rings on my keys, the voice in my throat, the music in my head, and the passion in my heart. I carry it in my pursuit of higher education, one of creativity and vulnerability and courage as I take on Film Production at Chapman University. I want to carry these stories of love and light onto the big screen, encouraging the younger generation to be the truest self and the older generation to share their truest self with the youth. We will only find a stronger, more active Italian- American community if we share both our former and current anxieties with each other. Vulnerability breeds vitality just as empathy breeds engagement.
Children need to listen, really listen, to the stories of their parents and grandparents and parents before them, to truly understand the value of the name they carry. I know I did.
I was taught the value of education, the privilege to go to school and the discipline that was expected, all enforced with deep love and care for me to have a better life. Get a hundred. Keep on keeping on. Fai la campionessa. Yet in between hours of arithmetic and pages of book reports, there were just as valuable lessons about how to hold your hand (and your grin) in cards, how to get a wine stain out of a tablecloth, how to measure ingredients with your eyes and your nose, how to get a second wine stain out of the same tablecloth, and how to laugh, heartily, with your stomach full of food and your wallet empty from losing cards. These are the lessons of generations, the cultural education and familial teachings that accompanied me throughout my pursuit of my scholarly education.
We have worked hard. We have worked in fields and railroads and offices and restaurants. We have changed music and baseball and physics. We have built a community and will continue to support and uplift our community as the generations pass us by. We are all that we have. We have got a hundred, and we have kept on. Siamo campioni.
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