With English-born director Sam Mendes’s film “1917” landing on movie screens the world over, I’ve been hearing variations on the same refrain from people who know my interest and family connection to World War I: “You must be happy to see your great uncle’s experience in the trenches on the screen.” I sigh. Because if there is one thing we won’t be seeing in “1917” it is … Continue reading Getting Beyond the “British” War

Godwin’s law, also known as “Godwin’s rule of Hitler analogies,” has this to say about the Nazi dictator’s role in public conversation: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” This principle, formulated by American lawyer and author Mike Godwin in 1990, has gained widespread application only now, as people see apparent similarities between today’s America … Continue reading Hitler Was Then, Not Now

The detail that seemed to most often excite my friends when I told them I’d once lived in Italy was that I also spoke the language. “You’re so lucky!” they’d say. “Italian is so beautiful; so poetic and romantic.” In fact, all languages are beautiful and poetic. And the only romance I sensed in Italian was its romance language, or Latin, roots. Mostly, knowing Italian … Continue reading A Personal Lexicon

One of the losses I’ve had to compensate for since moving from Milan to New Hampshire two years ago is the effortless fitness I picked up as a side effect of riding my bicycle through the Italian city. Though there’s plenty of cycling in the American northeast, most of it involves climbs that demand shifting gears. Plus, much of that cycling culture is nerdy, equipment-focused, … Continue reading Out of the Moment

What often struck me when I lived in Italy was the way people identified themselves as from Tuscany, the Veneto or Sicily even though they had never lived there. For the descendants of people who had left those regions for better lives in Milan or Rome, the regional origins of their parents and grandparents remained important to their identities. Except when Italy competes in soccer’s … Continue reading When Capricorn Equals Naples

My childhood home was a hotbed of the conservative movement. Free-market economist Milton Friedman, who presided over conservative economics from nearby Chicago, was a household deity. My father touted Ronald Reagan and George Romney (governor of Michigan and father of Mitch) even before they entered national politics. He was a fellow traveler of associations that led the charge against the lying “liberal press.” For him, … Continue reading One Man’s “Socialism”

I made an interesting discovery a few weeks ago while searching for photos of my father to share on Facebook for Father’s Day. Images of Dad, bare chested in his Navy medical corps helmet in the South Pacific during World War II, on a Vespa in Vietnam in 1968, and in Moscow’s Red Square in the 1970s demonstrated the extent to which the U.S. government … Continue reading My Father, Tis of Thee

Uno tira l’altro, or “One pulls another.” While this Italian expression may sound like an Iron Curtain slogan —“One pulls another; the proletariat brings the nation to prosperity” — it’s in fact an Italian phrase used to describe compulsive (and unstoppable) urges, like gorging on snacks. It’s no surprise “One pulls another” was an Italian snack-food company’s advertising slogan for years, much like Jay’s potato chips’ … Continue reading The Roots of the Matter

I’m still moved by D-Day, the June 6, 1944, Normandy Beach landings, and their annual commendation rites. I’m humbled by the sacrifices, whether made by a president’s son, Brigadier Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (who died that day), or the lowliest of conscripts, who fought their way to the bloodied shore by the thousands. I’m inspired by the daring it took to make the landing, by … Continue reading D-Day’s Many Lessons