This is the first post of a new series: Tuesdays with Tina. Tina, for those of you who do not know, is my mother. Her name, Tina, is actually short for Immacolata, a popular Italian name, after the virgin Mary’s immaculate birth. She has such an interesting story that I want to record it here… Read More

If you missed the first part of this story, you can catch up here. I left off last week promising that I would tell you the story about my grandfather’s sister making him eat the same thing for three days. Nonno (‘grandfather’ in Italian) was a relatively picky eater, and one dish he really did… Read More

If you are new to this series, catch up first and then come back and read. Part 1 Part 2 Me: How did nonno come to do the job he did? Was he apprenticed to someone? Tina: When he was 20 years old, he went into the military for compulsory service. They selected him for… Read More

If you are new to this series, catch up first and then come back and read. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Tina: I found out from Uncle Tonino that the single aunts favored the two nieces by letting my father think that the Maestro didn’t want him…and they made him believe that he had… Read More

  If you are new to this series, catch up first and then come back and read. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 For today’s story, I interviewed my aunt, my mother’s older sister. She had to climb three flights of stairs to get to her daughter, Angela’s apartment in order to Skype… Read More