Last year, I proposed that Columbus Day be changed to Garibaldi Day because Columbus was pretty much an awful person while Garibaldi was a paragon of liberalism and national self-determination on both sides of the Atlantic. As if that weren't enough, he was a Noo Yawkah for a brief time. Even though my dad's dad's parents emigrated from a small town near Genoa, I'd rather celebrate Garibaldi's achievements than those of the Genoese Columbus. To tell the truth, I'd rather celebrate Rocco Granata's legacy than Columbus'- as far as I know, Rocco didn't destroy an entire culture, as long as you ignore this unfortunate misstep.
So, do I celebrate my Italian heritage by memorializing a grand hero of Italian unification, who was also associated with revolutionary movements in South America, or do I memorialize the guy who wrote an accordion-driven classic which is played wherever drunk Europeans congregate? Should I even have to choose?
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5 comments:
Columbus Day is big here, surprise!
But I had to put up something for War in Afghanistan's B-Day.
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In honor of Columbus, I am moving into thunder's place in West Virginia and saying I discovered it.
I recognize it has nothing to do with Columbus, Italian heritage or Garibaldi, but personally I'd like a day set aside to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Henry Berry Lowrie.
Or at least a movie....
I need to move back to thunder's place in West Virginia.
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TOO.
LATE.
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