The problems with definition in our folk-family: Part 2

WHO IS A CISALPINE?

It should be clarified that there are many layers of "identity," from the individual, family, clan, close associations, district, province, nation, and so forth. Naturally this is in reference to our "folk family." Apart from the individual or family, pride of your heritage is partly based on living up to the best of what your ancestors accomplished or stood for, and it should evolve within the individual over time.

When thinking about our Cisalpine folk identity, from an American point of view, we should see that we are very much a small "numerical minority," especially for being descended from a people who dramatically affected the world in so many ways over time. When looking at the book 'Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 BC to 1950' (Murray; 2003), it's quite evident what the Cisalpine people are one of the greatest, if not THE greatest people in world history. Certain peoples were great for one period of time, but our people have been at the very top in every area of human endeavor for about six hundred years. I remember once as a child, I saw a coffee mug which had the words "Italian Mug" on it, in which the handle was on the inside. I know, big joke. "Can't you take a joke?" Yes, but it's only funny if there is at least one single ounce of realism attached to it. The mug joke simply wouldn't apply to the Cisalpines. Being able to laugh at oneself is a good thing individually, or in a group-concept, but it must be PURE.

Getting back to the Charlie Sheen roast, which was very funny, I was reminded of another more minor problem area as far as "definition" goes for our people. I wasn't really familiar with Kate Walsh. I was momentarily mesmerized by her combination of beauty, manner, wit, and humor. By today's standards as far as entertainment personalities go, she is a pretty upstanding women. Upon viewing her Wikipedia page, she is from San Jose, California, and she is of part "Italian" ancestry. In other words, she is very likely partly descended from Cisalpines. There are many examples of famous people who we are not certain of this fact.

I had originally wanted to place some entry on this blog, based on articles over many years, about what is usually referred to as "famous Italian baseball players from San Francisco." Of course today, there isn't a whole lot that is "Italian" in San Francisco anymore, but it is a part of our heritage. I'm guessing that many of those players were Sicilian or Southern Italian. For example, Joe DiMaggio was of Sicilian ancestry. I recall, not too long ago, seeing a mural in the Crocker-Amazon Park in San Francisco, of a baseball player from that era named Marino Pieretti. I have no idea of his family genealogy. He could be Genoese, Lucchesi, or Calabrian. I gave the example on the other blog of how common Italian suffixes had been added to local surnames, over the centuries, in regions in the north; and, of course, with so many common Italian first names, can make at least make many names sound so ambiguous.

Another individual, who fits this issue for us, is Mike Colalilo. He received the Medal of Honor in World War II, and seems to be very well-known even as far as the recipients of the medal are concerned, based on his bravery in battle. He is from Duluth, an area which had many immigrants from Lombardy, and is very likely a Cisalpine, but we're not 100% certain of that. Jon Volpe was a big star running back in the Canadian Football League. I can recall that he went to college at Stanford. Originally from Upper Michigan, and having a Lombardian/Tri-Veneto surname, is almost certainly a Cisalpine, but we really are not positive. Author and researcher Michael Cremo is someone whom I am familiar with. He co-authored the book 'Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race' (Cremo & Thompson; 1994). The surname "Cremo" is very rare, but seems to have origins in Piedmont, but again, we are not certain. Unless an individual is actually from "the homeland," we can only guess. Sometimes it's just obvious, sometimes not. These are just a few of the individual examples.

Now, again, as far as the history of famous Italian baseball players from San Francisco, there are articles which can be easily found online, including a new book on the larger subject of famous Italian-American baseball players. However, these resources are ripe with socialogical references which simply do not apply to our people. We are, comparatively, a very distinct people with very distinct inherent ways. We are certainly not some "transitional group" between Southern Italy and central Europe. Culturally yes, there is an element, from the era of Romanization, of being somewhat "culturally transitional." However, we are not "ethnically transitional." There is no basis for that. Even hard science can prove that now.

This paradigm just is what it is. From our standpoint, it has to be dealt with. I have a cousin, and a few years ago she learned standard Italian. She was likely the first member in the history of my family to speak Italian, which is distinctly the Tuscan language. They were from rural Alpine villages and spoke the Lombard language. This language is part of the Romance family of languages, but it is not a dialect of Italian. There is really no "Italian." That language is intrinsically Tuscan! It did gain a certain status in the Middle Ages, almost like Latin; and did migrate, among the better educated segment of society, into cities in places like Lombardy. To be Cisalpine is to have a genuine connection to the related cultures of the "northern nations" as they existed. There is little negative about the Cisalpines. There was some bad politics for a time, the Venetians had pushed a few people around, the traffic certainly isn't great. What else?

Many Italian-American organizations have complained about the MTV program 'Jersey Shore'. It's a fair enough grievance, but from our point of view, nobody from that program even looks or acts like a Cisalpine anyway. It's not our fight. However, I say that with acknowledgement that there are people whom we would consider "Padanian-Americans" who are partly Southern Italian or Sicilian. There is a point where you have to examine where your heart lies.

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The problems with definition in our folk-family: Part 1

GUILT BY PERCEIVED ASSOCIATION

Last evening, I was viewing the Comedy Central roast of Charlie Sheen. It's what I would consider an acceptable swim in the waters of modern America's "trash culture." Certainly a roast is no place for thin skin; and the "thin-skin issue" is one of debate. My general definition of acceptable disagreement is when someone says something that is either entirely out of proportion, or is simply not true. It's somewhat rare that a stereotype simply IS NOT TRUE, but it does happen.

One of the roasters was Anthony Jeselnik. His surname, although sort've Polish-sounding, might be of Prussian/Silesian (north German) origin. His appearance and demeanor were somewhat of what some would occasionally perceive as a negative German stereotype: tall, lean, muscular, strong blue eyes, a touch of seriousness or self-importance, short brown/blonde hair not quite short enough to call a crew cut; all of which mixed with the playful "chop-busting" attack-mode of the roast, only added to this concept. Of course, sometimes a comedian cultivates a certain persona for their act, and this could be misinterpreted. Later, Amy Schumer, who seemed to be a German-American, playfully poked fun at Jeselnik, saying that he looked like "Hitler Youth," and he responded with a Roman salute. All in good fun, no one or nothing got a break, etc., etc. However, it occurred to me that, although funny, the lines of a politic and the general character of a "folk-group" were certainly blurred.

For whatever it's worth, there were as could be expected, certain jokes of Charlie Sheen's real name of "Carlos Estevez"; and while funny, if really looked at, were based on the fact that he had a grandfather from Spain. He was even called "a Mexican." Too thin skinned? Well, if one was of literal Spanish heritage, would endless false-perceptions and misidentifications with people of a different racial and/or ethnic background always be such a laughing matter? I mean it's almost to the point, in some areas, where a people are denied an identity as a people. In a world where these false-perceptions didn't exist, and someone lets say made fun of me for "being a Fascist" or "being a Anarchist," or even if they disliked me personally and stated it in a more negative way; well, at least it would be based on some fact, as opposed to "organized crime," which would be entirely based on falsehood. I suppose, since I'm a "white person," then "my people were slave owners." I mean, it can just get wilder and wilder. There's a lot of this type of thing around. I remember a certain fast-food restaurant that I frequented at one time. Working there was a very young women with a Spanish accent. Much more of a authentic Spanish accent. She was beautiful, maybe 5'4", somewhat slight of build, somewhat long dark hair, basic brown eyes, a straight nose, ivory skin, with a certain energy and charm, like a Barcelonian! What I'm driving at is that if someone considered her a "non-white" based on her accent, that would be almost.... evil. I would venture to guess that she was probably from the cone of South America. I recall a young woman that I took a college course with who was from Argentina. She might not have even been a Spaniard, but maybe German or French, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but she had the thickest accent of anyone of any language that I ever met I think. Yet, despite that, she was part of our Western family of people.

Although German-Americans are very rarely discriminated against, specifically, there exists at least subtle prejudice against them. I recall working for a company which was owned by two Jewish guys who were very easy to get along with. However, I remember a young guy, the same age as myself at that time, who was hired out've a temp agency. He was a hard worker, and a positive addition to the company. He said that he was a rugby player, although I never got to know him very well. He, I suppose, had a very distinct "north German look"; somewhat tall, lean, muscular, short light blonde hair, and just generally a very north German face (distinctly not Anglo or Scandinavian), although he said that he was "German-Irish." The point is that he was "let go" for no apparent reason. I know, the sword cuts both ways, we all have our problems in life, subtle unfair treatment, blah, blah, blah. I honestly believe that he "looked too German" for them. They did have a guy with a very German-sounding name in a high position, a tall blonde fellow, but he somehow didn't exemplify that stereotype.

"German heritage" pays a certain price today for the past existence of "National Socialism"; while, for example, "Italian heritage" today pays no price whatsoever for "Fascism." Fascism, in its original form, was not invented by Southern Italians, it was invented by some our Cisalpine people. Mussolini was an Emilian. Also, "Jewish heritage" only very marginally pays a price for Communism, which was the invention, originally, of "some Jewish people," although they seemed to have been atheists. Communism murdered, very literally, tens times as many people as National Socialism. Okay, I don't want to got off too much on all that now, but the "subtle prejudice" against "us"---the Cisalpines---in America, is the same basic idea at what might be aimed at Germans. That being: we are tied to a negative concept of organized crime. However, unlike the Germans, who largely (at that time in Germany) went along with National Socialism, we have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do whatsoever with organized crime as it has existed in communities of Southern Italians, Irish, Jews, Russians, or Albanians in the European world.

Black market activity exists in all societies. Always has, always will, but what I am referring to is gangland on a massive scale; and which could never possibly be merely chalked up to "a few bad guys." The fact that these crime figures represent only a very small percentage of those communities doesn't quite always erase the PR damage. There is a subtle overlap between the negative and the positive. So, as with the negative political milieus, there exists this overlap. If anything, some of the bad politics could be somewhat of a blight on our heritage (Fascism, Communism, Anarchism). These negatives, as always, overlap some positive areas... I'm aware of that. It should also be noted that there were regions of Europe where the poverty was more extreme than what existed in Southern Italy, Ireland, Albania, etc. Poverty was as bad, or worse, in Andalucia or Greece, than it was in Sicily or Ireland; yet, there has never been any gangland problem on those places, and many other areas of Europe or elsewhere.

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