Poems (2)

An Old Man's Winter Night by: Robert Frost

All out of doors looked darkly in at him Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars, That gathers on the pane in empty rooms. What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand. What kept him from remembering what it was That brought him to that creaking room was age. He stood with barrels round him -- at a loss. And having scared the cellar under him In clomping there, he scared it once again In clomping off; -- and scared the outer night, Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar Of trees and crack of branches, common things, But nothing so like beating on a box. A light he was to no one but himself Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what, A quiet light, and then not even that. He consigned to the moon, such as she was, So late-arising, to the broken moon As better than the sun in any case For such a charge, his snow upon the roof, His icicles along the wall to keep; And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted, And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept. One aged man -- one man -- can't keep a house, A farm, a countryside, or if he can, It's thus he does it of a winter night.

Fun time!

Poems

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

I miss Boston

Evaluation of the activities and improvements done in this second semester

(picture from flickr)

The exchange with the Dickinson college was very important to me and because it stimulated my curiosity and interest towards the US. I’ve always been fascinated by the US and last February I decided to apply for an exchange program with the Boston University. I was asked to provide a long list of application papers and to do an interview in English. Finally, despite the huge number of students from every faculty of the University of Padova competing, I was accepted for the exchange.
Therefore I started looking on the web for information about the BU and I asked also to my tandem learning Abby and my peer Allyson to give me suggestions. Both Abby and Allyson explained me the basic differences between the Italian and the American educational systems. We discussed about some Italian habits that sound quite odd to them, and we talked about some prejudices about Italians which aren’t completely groundless.
In particular, I learnt a new word from Abby: jingoism. Jingoism is a strong and unreasonable belief in the superiority of your own country. In my opinion, Italians are sometimes so proud of their origins and traditions that seem to be affected by some sort of jingoism or, as we say in Italy, ‘campanilismo’.
These issues made me reconsider my own culture and I reflect upon the way Americans perceive Italians. I think it’s fundamental to criticise our behaviour and reflect upon our defaults or weaknesses because it helps people to become more open and tolerant towards foreign cultures.

Actually I never felt uncomfortable when working with my American peers or Italian peers. Maybe some topics we discussed about were quite delicate. When we talked about elections everyone in the group expressed freely his or her own opinion. Even though I strongly state my opinions I tried not to offend people who have opposite political views.
As regards the final project, I experienced the problems connected with working as a group. In my opinion, the most important thing while working in group is to respect other opinions, to be responsible with my own work and to respect deadlines.
I think that in my group Allyson gave us important contributions. I think it was difficult for her to interact with us, because not only she met us on skype only once a week but also because she wasn’t very stimulated. I think that Italian students were very prepared and interested in the project. Our American peers weren’t much interested in working with us but I’m not sure about the reasons of this low interest. Maybe it’s due to the fact that the Italian culture isn’t as attractive as the American culture, or maybe we couldn’t stimulate their interest enough, or they weren’t expect to participate very actively in the work. Maybe they simply are younger than us and so they are less trained and motivated to work in group.

Allyson told us that she had much work to do in other classes and so she couldn't send us her part, at the beginning. Anyway, a few days ago she sent us a brilliant report on her film and she actively contributed to build up our page and revise all the work done. Overall, I think this experience was really satisfying and to me it was very important to work with Allyson and the other American peers because I honestly think they tried to do their best and I hope they found this experience very helpful, as well.

While, working on the final project, while speaking on skype, while discussing in class about our topics I felt very satisfied with the work done. One of the best experiences was our meeting with Chiara Olivi. She is very nice and out-going and we enjoyed a relaxing and interesting conversation. Maybe we asked her too many questions and it seems we were doing an interview. Anyway, I think we clearly displayed our interests towards her culture and her country.

Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

• words, expressions I learned in English:
  I learnt many words, mainly about politics, abilities and feelings.
  Jingoism: is a strong and unreasonable belief in the superiority of your own country.
  Warmonger: someone who encourage people to start or to join a war (I leant this word while speaking about Bush).
  Stutter: to have difficulty in speaking.
  Tycoon: a tycoon is a person who is successful in business and so has become rich or powerful.
  Grumpy: irritable.
  Laid-back: someone who never worries about anything.
  Fussy: someone who keeps everything in the correct space.
  Neat: tidy and smart.
  To sulk: if you sulk you are silent and bad-tempered for a while because you are annoyed about something.
  To creep round the boss: to be pleasant with someone and criticise him behind his back.
  Driven: ambitious, determined.
  To nag: keep asking to do something.

• improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation:
  I tried to abandon the typical flat intonation of Italians and assume an American-like intonation.

• improvements in my listening:
  I manage to understand most of the words my teacher and my peer Allyson say. If I don’t know a word a try to work out its meaning from the context or I ask them for an explanation.

• changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers:
  I speak slowly and spell words clearly. I try to use an accurate range of words but I try to express myself with short and well-built sentences. I prefer short clauses to long sentences.

• words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project:
  close-knit: closely linked
  padded cheeks: fairly thick cheeks
  raspy: a voice which makes rough sounds
  to stroke: move your hands slowly and gently over a pet (in this case)
  stiffly: it does not bend easily
  to wield: to have powers and to be able to use them.
  to shrug: if someone shrugs, he raises his shoulders to show that he is not interested in something
  boor: rough, uneducated and rude.
  buffoon: foolish
  bigot: fanatic, racist
  bimbo: although he is pretty, he is rather stupid.

• improvements in my reading doing the wiki project:
  I manage to scan and skim information easily. I don’t read all the articles but I focus on the parts that interest me most.

• improvements in my writing doing the wiki project:
  I learnt to melt together the information I found on the web and my own reflections on a specific subject. I remember to quote everything I copy from another source and I quote also the words which I paraphrase. I learnt to write smoothly and to express myself in a clear, concise, and effective way.

A Special thanks to Sarah, group 5 in the 1st semester and group 2 in the 2nd semester, my Italian and American peers and all the people who help me to improve my English!

Thank you very much for this wonderful year together! Enjoy your summer and have a relaxing holiday!!! =)

A vision of students today!

The Godfather or Il padrino

(photo source)

THE GODFATHER

Materials I've found so far:

• The Godfather: Stereotype or Reality?
• Italia Living Blog
• That's Italian? Mass Media Stereotypy
  By Michael Parenti
  'Due to ignorance and lack of knowledge stereotypes cause people to have false information about others. Stereotyping is used to type cast of a certain group people, even though many stereotypes are wrong and disrespectful to those being stereotyped. Organized crime, buffoonery and illegal activities are some of the stereotypes that are associated with Italian-Americans. This causes the public to be afraid or intimidated by Italians. A great example of negative stereotypes is in the television drama are The Sopranos. Although Italians portrayed in the mob is not a new stereotype in the entertainment industry, it is believed that is does portray false images of the Italian community and promotes the acceptance of violence in today’s society. Italian-Americans who actually participated in organize crime is a small percentage of the Italian population. One of the main factors that lead to stereotypes is the media. '
• Beyond The godfather : Italian American writers on the real Italian American experience / A. Kenneth Ciongoli and Jay Parini, editors.
  'Beyond The Godfather, Italian American Writers Writing about the Real Italian American experience is a collection of stories from various Italian authors who offer an intimate and unique insight into what there lives were like completely disconnected from the experiences depticted in a movie like “The Godfather”. This work is not so mucha response to the film “The Godfather” as it is a reaction to those that have seen the film and can not distinguish between reality and fiction or are simply content to place stereotypical
  The first story in the book is that of Louise Desalvo called “Finding My Way” and his experiences as a young boy growing up in Hoboken, New Jersey and going to grammar school. This interesting little story shows how important education was this Italian American family and the pride that they felt to become integrated into American society as opposed to the extra legal activities that you would experience in “The Godfather.” Moreover, his real-life experiences at school prove him to be quite astute and polite. This quaint story ends as it had began ground in the real experience of family, one that has no connection to the mafia.
  This book takes a step back from the stereotypes that one might decide to adopt from the portrayals of Italian Americans in The Godfather. Understanding the distinction is important not only because stereotyping a group of people is ignorant, but because in realizing that the book or the movie are a work of fiction should increase one’s appreciation of the work. '
• Beyond The godfather : Italian American writers on the real Italian American experience / A. Kenneth Ciongoli and Jay Parini, editors. 'The book Beyond the Godfather: Italian American Writers on the Real Italian American Experience, is a collection of essays written by writers of Italian descent. The book is in response to the wide popularity of The Godfather. The popularity of this book and movie has overshadowed the culture of Italians. As a result, these essays were compiled in order to give an overview of the styles of writing of the Italian Americans.
  There are three main sections of the book: Memories and Memoirs, Italian American Literature and Identity Politics. Memories and Memoirs are full of anecdotes from Italian American everyday lives. In Louise DeSalvo’s story, “Finding My Way,” he discusses his education experience growing up. From this essay, it is apparent the importance of family as well as education in the life of this Italian American. The Italian American Literature section mainly discussed the different types of styles of writing. This is used to show the diversity in terms of its culture. Lastly, Identity Politics discusses the role that Italian Americans have in the United States. In the essay, “Italian Americans and American Politics,” Michael Barone discusses the influential role of Italians in the U.S. government, and the prominent figures, such as Fiorello LaGuardia, that were present in society.
  The purpose of this book was to respond to the stereotypes of Italian Americans that was created by The Godfather. Although Mafia is an aspect of Italian Americans, the book highlights other aspects of their culture. Most notably, it shows the power that Italian Americans have in America. However, this power is through respectable positions in government and not through illegal ways. In addition to this, the importance of family is evident through the essays written, which is mirrored in the movie.'