The term "Padanian-American" is used to describe the extremely marginalized Northern Italian-descended people of Northern California and other small pockets of the United States of America. The proper term for "Padanian" in Italian is "Padano." The proper term for "Italian-American" in Italian is Italoamericano. Therefore, clearly "Padanoamericano" would be the coined Italian term in reference to anything Padanian-American.
I have communicated with people in Northern Italy, and they seem totally unaware of over one million Northern Italian-descended Californians. There is a small portion who have heard of North Beach. When Italy was competing in the World Cup in 2006, there were a sizable number of Italian nationals in North Beach. A lot of local Italians mingled with them for those weeks. Very interesting.
I've noticed that a few groups claim certain small areas as their neighborhoods, often in now unpleasant environments. I think the bar needs to be raised. Since we've been so geographically deconstructed, I think that we should just consider the entire Bay Area as our "hood." It's time to think on a bigger scale. There are some who I believe have a hold on us, and unintentionally are holding us back now. You know what I mean. You look at the board of directors and every one is male, white haired, and unapproachable. As a friend of mine once told me in reference to them: "They think they're old bad-asses," which pretty much hits the nail right on the head. Often the "young guy" of the group is 50. That's what we have leading us, and it's not working anymore. Unique and changing problems cannot be addressed in this manner.
There needs to be a complete paradigm shift soon. It's perfectly fine to have a "men's club," but that should be a completely separate endeavor. And to finish this entry, and it bears repeating, if people are a cross in heritage between the historically northern peoples (Ligurians, Tuscans, Piemontese, Lombardians, Venetians, etc.) and those of Sicily and Southern Italy, they may consider themselves Padanian-Americans.
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