By

Andrew DeMarco

 Today we celebrate Columbus Day a day which in the past was a way to celebrate Italian American pride and accomplishments. This however has changed since I was youngster. It seems that revisionist historians have a different interpretation of Columbus’ place in history. Today he is looked upon as the “Scourge of The New World.”  All the ills that have affected us since his accidental discovery of the Americas seem to be traced back to him. At first this bothered me, not so much that they try to pin it all on him, but rather that they are changing history. This became even clearer recently when a group led by Mr. Felix Cepeda started a petition to remove the last remaining statue of Columbus in The Bronx located on Arthur Ave. (See the link below) Also, some states have already changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Here are my thoughts. The only thing that Columbus was guilty of was being a con man. How you might ask? It’s simple. He conned a Spanish King and Queen out of enough money to find a new route to the far east and failed. He was so good with his con job that he got them to support his misadventures not once but four times. He never on any of his four journeys made land fall or set foot in what is now the continental United States. He was allegedly guilty of enslavement and bringing “European Diseases” to the new world which greatly harmed the native populations. For this he was removed as governor and punished. However, the greed of the Spanish King and Queen continued and they sent their Conquistadors, such as DeLeon, Cortez, de Balboa, de Soto, Coronado, Pizzaro  and others who raped, pillaged, plundered and enslaved what is now the Southern United States as well as Central and South America and caused great harm to the indigenous people of these areas. Add to that the fact that the British and French did the same in the northern parts of the Americas, one can see that Columbus had little to do with the plight of the indigenous people here.  In reality, this one man who was Italian, who sailed under the flag of Spain is now vilified, and yet the King and Queen of Spain and their minions remain immune to the same criticism.

With that said, let me get to the point of this Rosy Glow. I am a proud American of Italian descent and I cannot understand why you would change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day because of the misadventures of one man. If you want to remove Columbus from that day that is fine with me, but why not call it Italian American Day. I have an idea; we keep Columbus Day where it is in October and call it Italian American Day and we will magnanimously designate February 9^th as Indigenous People’s Day. How is that magnanimous on the part of American Italians? Well February 9^th is National Pizza Day. We have enough ethnic pride and other days to go around and so why not give the Indigenous People their own day and not take a day away from American Italians?

But then I realized something, we are not making a big enough stink because we Americans of Italian descent have assimilated and become part of that American fabric, so keep your stupid ethnic days. Here is what I want, E` Pluribus Unum Day. That is right from the many one. Let us call it  Melting Pot Day / Independence Day and once we do this and get rid of National Pizza Day, National Pet Day, Puerto Rican Day, India Day Parade and any other “Day” and become one, this country and all of us will be better for it. Plus it would give us that feeling that Cousin Bob would call that….. Rosy Glow.

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/08/27/bronx-resident-wants-columbus-statue-removed

N.B. Shortly after Mr. Cepeda’s petition made the news a group claiming to be Antifa, who want to defund the police, showed up on Arthur Ave. to remove the Columbus statue. They were met by older and angry local Italian and Albanian residents of the area. Ironically, when confronted members of Antifa then called the police claiming to fear for their lives. Thus far the statue remains and the story continues.

I cannot take credit for this Rosy Glow, credit goes to Cousin Bob LaTorre and Alyssa Ahlgren who I learned about through a post on Facebook. Also a shout out goes to Stephen Rooney who re-posted Alyssa’s work.

This Rosy Glow is to show us how some things never change. I have re-posted a Rosy Glow by Cousin Bob which is about 35 years old. Alyssa’s is recent but I am sure you will all see the comparisons. The fact that some young people see today what Cousin Bob did 35 years ago gives me and I am positive it would give Cousin Bob that feeling that he would call that …..Rosy Glow!

Enjoy!

Rosy Glow

by

Bob LaTorre & Alyssa Ahlgreen

 

Link to Cousin Bob’s Ros Glow which I re-posted 5 years ago

Rosy Glow – The Freest Nation

Allyssa’s Take:

By

Andrew DeMarco

Before reading this Rosy Glow, please take a moment to view this short video with Morgan Freeman and Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes in 2005. I promise the video is just about a minute long and is interesting.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=morgan+freeman+60+minute+interview&docid=607994793011839398&mid=0CA878E6FABE8C7A8C630CA878E6FABE8C7A8C63&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

It was this video that got me thinking that the problems we are having today might be able to be summed up in one word, adjectives.

That is right I said adjectives. Words that modify nouns by amplifying them or by creating distinctions. Let me give you some examples that will make this a little clearer.

The adjectives black, blue, police and all are the first examples. None of these adjectives should be used with lives in combination with matters. Simply put, life matters. Take away the modifiers that give lives a distinction and we have what truly matters, life, which is something I am sure we can all agree upon  and that ends that debate.

The next examples of adjectives that in my opinion are unnecessary are Latino, Native, Italian, Irish, Korean or any other nationality used before American. Using these adjectives creates distinctions in something which we all have in common whether by right of birth or naturalization and that is being American. It does not matter where you come from because we are all Americans and part of that great melting pot. ‘E pluribus Unum.’

One example which I really do not quite understand is the adjective hate when used in front of crime. What is a hate crime?  If I am bashing you over the head with a bat, stabbing you, assaulting you or killing you, I am quite sure it is not out of love. Murder is murder and assault is assault and they are crimes period. Using the adjective hate only exacerbates the crime and leads to further resentments and divisions.

Then there is the adjective systemic which is usually used with racism. In my opinion systemic is not necessary at all when discussing racism. No one is born a racist it usually comes from one’s environment or is subtlety ingrained into one’s nature. In a sense, all racism is systemic so there is no need for it other than to create the appearance that racism is worse than it really is and further fosters division. It seems that the very people and organizations that use these adjectives are the reason for the systematic indoctrination of racism. For instance, how many government forms have you filled out that did not ask for one’s ethnic background, I would say very few. Then there are all those groups which further fuel the flames of racism by using the adjectives black, white and any ethnic adjective. They are the ones truly responsible for racism by creating a system to instill it in others.

Finally, there is the one adjective that should be used and used frequently and that is human when used with race or being as it is the only adjective that matters. When we all take Mr. Freeman’s advice and stop calling one another black, white, Italian, Native, Korean, etc. and start using human being or human race then maybe we can do away with all the other adjectives. I am sure with less hate, color and ethnic distinctions, it will give us all that feeling that Cousin Bob would call that…..Rosy Glow!

 

By

Andrew DeMarco

 

A few days ago, while waiting on line with my wife to get into the local market we ran into a longtime friend, Mark Capone, who we hadn’t seen in a few years. Mark was one of a group of about 5 to 6 couples who would go to dinner every Friday evening. We did this for about 10 years and then it stopped. Probably because we were under doctor’s orders to cut back on our food and alcohol intake. I guess we all needed to give our livers a rest. But I digress. Since we were all masked up it took a moment to recognize one another and then the dance began. You must understand since both of us are Italian, we think it is perfectly natural to give one another a hug. But wait a minute, there were others on that line and who knew what trouble awaited us. So, there we were doing this weird kind of dance trying to figure out how to greet one another. Taking a step forward then back then to the side, you get the idea. Well we finally just elbowed one another which just wasn’t the same.

This got me thinking about a family wedding that we had missed earlier in June, a road trip wedding to Niagara Falls for Cousin Jessi and her new husband Matt. We got to watch it being live streamed which by no means was anything like being there in person. What was missing? Something very simple, the hugs. We missed giving that beautiful bride a hug and a hug for her husband to welcome him to the family. I know not being able to give them a hug literally killed my Cousin Mike. You see if hugging were a chess match Cousin Mike would be a Grand Master.

This also got me thinking about our annual visit to Uncle Bob where I get to see him and some of my Capozzola Cousins as well as  what has  become a new tradition over the last few years an annual get together with the DeMarco / Fata Cousins. Each time there are hugs all around. Both of these events are on hold right now.

So, some of you must be asking, “What’s with all the hugs?” Well that leads me to two trendy oxymorons which if I never hear again would suit me just fine, the “new normal” and “social distancing.”

NEW: not existing before; made, introduced, or discovered recently or now for the first time.

NORMAL: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected

SOCIAL: needing companionship and therefore best suited to living in communities.

DISTANCING:  make (someone or something) far off or remote in position or nature.

It’s easy to see how oxymoronic these two terms are. If something is new and never existed before how can it possibly be normal, standard or typical?  We are all social animals and we all require contact with others, so how can we distance ourselves from those we need?

Then I thought of my family. A few years back I wrote a Rosy Glow about Family and the Holidays and I mentioned that although we do not see one another as much as we should, we still enjoy each other’s company when we do. This pandemic has only made me look forward to our next social gathering even more than ever. I also know that there is the need for that social contact whether with family or good friends, that is sorely missing right now, that is giving optimism during these times. I am sure that once this is all over and we can throw away these oxymorons, hopefully to never be heard of again, and get together and share those hugs or have that Friday Evening dinner that group of friends like we used to, all of which will definitely give me that feeling that Cousin Bob would call that…..Rosy Glow.

 

 

 

By

Andrew DeMarco

 

Recently, a friend of mine posted the following on Facebook and it really got my attention:

I say we close down the national media for 30 days and watch 80% of the world’s problems go away

Even before this pandemic hit us this statement is much more fact than fiction. If you ever watch any of the network nightly news broadcasts you would know this immediately. You would notice that all the newscasters drone on about all the ills in this world and everything is gloom and doom. This would be true except maybe for the last five minutes. For example, on ABC David Muir dedicates about 5 minutes every night for a segment called America Strong where he takes that night’s feel good story and runs with it. On the CBS network every Friday you can expect to see Steve Hartman doing his “On the Road” segment which usually causes a misty moment and sometimes with my wife, a tissue or two story but she makes sure to never miss it.

We all have heard the expression,” do you want the good news or the bad news,” but in this age of Coronavirus it seems that there is nothing but bad news. This is probably why people want to close the media for 30 days in order to get a reprieve from all the bad news. I have another idea which I think at this time would give us all a better feeling or a different glow about things.

It is really quite simple. Instead of giving the good news / bad news how about giving us a newscast dedicated to nothing but good news. I am sure in every, city state and town in this country there is a story about people getting together to help someone in need. It could be something as simple as helping all the elderly with their shopping maybe a town coming together to keep a local merchant afloat or a group coming together to supply meals to all the first responders and hospital workers during this pandemic.

I am also sure you will find is that this happens all the time in this country, not only when there is a crisis. Afterall if David Muir can find something to report nightly imagine just how many feel-good stories go unreported.

Perhaps the networks should consider a news program after the nightly news dedicated only to good news, the one stipulation these stories must be about the average American’s deeds. I don’t need to know how some self-absorbed Hollywood type feels or what he or she thinks or how they can resolve a problem which they usually can’t do. I don’t need some meaningless hashtag movement and most of all I don’t need some big-name musician streaming a concert from his or her lavish basement and asking me for money to help the cause, donate your own money.

If this Good News Network (GNN) cannot be done maybe, we should start our own. Let’s share those good deeds among ourselves and spread the word. Maybe we will not need to close down the media for 30 days and help ease the world’s problems by saying, “do you want the good news, because we don’t have bad news.”  This I am sure would give us all that feeling that Cousin Bob would call that…..Rosy Glow.

 

N.B. I would like to thank Steve Rooney for that posting that on Facebook.