Page 1 - Italian American Herald - March 2021

HISTORY
Remembering Italy’s long journey toward unity
PAGE 3
THE CHEF’S PERSPECTIVE
In world of chaos, the kitchen is his happy place
PAGE 8
ACHIEVER
Charles Messina: Boxer/promoter’s lasting legacy
PAGE 11 MARCH 2021
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ThetownsquareinParma,normallyteemingwithtourists,isalmostdesertedexceptforafewpeoplewearingfacemasks. | PHOTOCREDIT:GabriellaClareMarinoviaUnsplash.
By Richard A. DiLiberto Jr.
The year 2020, with its COVID virus, taught us abundant patience, adaptability, resilience, faith, and the value of home and family. Not since the Spanish Flu of 1918 has every American citizen, regardless of age, vim, vigor or somatotype, been suddenly summoned into service, to throw down against an invisible enemy, and preserve our very survival. The most basic tactile human expressions of affection, hugs and kisses were
cruelly forbidden by the virus.
Still, 2021 has brought renewed hope,
positivity, the bumpy rollout of several vaccines, and continued counting of our blessings.
Throughout 2020, sadly, most of our cherished Italian-American customs and traditions were suspended. Birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, sharing St. Joseph’s Day zeppole and coffee, extended family Sunday pasta dinners and vino, Easter Mass, first holy communions, spring weddings,
graduations (with nonnos surreptitiously slipping currency into the graduates’ hands), Mothers’ Day brunches, Fathers’ Day baseball games, Independence Day picnics and handshakes, vacations, Columbus Day parades and receptions, Vendemmia, St. Anthony’s Italian Festival, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes, Midnight mass, Christmas Day with family, New Year’s Eve midnight kisses, and New Year’s Day dinner all were very limited, or missed all together. Many in our community
lost jobs, became ill (with some hospitalized), experienced serious clinical depression, or were just plain lonely.
These losses seemed comparatively small when juxtaposed with suffering and deaths of family members and friends (some to
ˇ
the coronavirus), without the catharsis of
our being able to hold their hands and say goodbye, or the closure provided by a public mass, eulogy, funeral and burial.
Some members of the Delaware
continued on page 4
Things we lost and found in 2020
As virus pulled people apart, hope and determination grew strong
Vol. 8 / No. 3