Articles by:

"We'll Take Care of You" is an Enron-esque exposee' of the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA and the US health care industry. Payoffs to prescribers, to FDA committee members, to politicians and to scientists seem to be common industry practices. Threats to scientists and FDA officials who try to warn patients of deadly drug side effects, albeit less common, happen nevertheless, and are well recounted in this very informative, eye opening documentary.

Ironically, despite the tragic impact that VIOXX had on the American people, this eye opening award-winning documentary is still awaiting distribution in the US. Interestingly, the US is the only country that allows direct consumer TV Advertising of prescription drugs.

Merck spent more than $500 million advertising Vioxx. Direct consumer TV advertising is one of the principal sources of income for  American TV Networks.

 

*Lattanzio Firmian is a Neurologist and Filmmaker.

**Alberto Baudo is a TV Journalist.

"WE'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU"

"CI PRENDEREMO CURA DI TE".

A Documentary Film

By Lattanzio Firmian* and Alberto Baudo*

 

Winner, BEST DOCUMENTARY. Swansea International Film Festival. UK

Winner, BEST DOCUMENTARY. LI International Film Expo. New York. USA

54" Colore. © 2007 CinemaSalute Srl.

The Ibla Foundation of New York will present their 2007 International Grand Prize Competition Winners in concert on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 6 PM at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, 154 West 57th Street in Manhattan.


  Ibla Foundation Prize-Winners who will perform on the concert include pianists, singers, and violin virtuosos as well as a cellist, a cimbalom virtuoso and a flute and guitar duo. These prize-winners are from Russia, the U.S., Croatia, Italy, Japan, Germany, Poland, Norway, Hungary and Montenegro.

Musical selections will include a presentation of Messiaen’ s l’Esprit de Joie  from Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus performed by Italian American pianist Salvatore Moltisanti the New York Premiere of Pulse for cello solo by contemporary Italian composer Gabriele Vanoni, a special presentation of an aria from the opera Maruzza by Sicilian composer Pietro Floridia, as well as works by Bach, Mozart, Grieg, Liszt, Schumann, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Piazzolla and others.


The Ibla Foundation in New York City organizes an annual music competition for pianists, singers, instrumentalists and composers which takes place during the first two weeks of July in Ragusa Ibla, in the southeastern corner of Sicily. Winners are presented the following year in such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Tokyo Opera City Hall and other prestigious venues in Canada, Europe and the U.S.

The 2008 Competition is scheduled to take place from July 3 to July 13 in the magnificent baroque quarters of Ragusa Ibla. Visit the Foundation online at http://www.ibla.org/.

Tickets for the April 29 concert are $200 and may be purchased by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, online at http://www.carnegiehall.org or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office. For press tickets or more information, please contact the Ibla Foundation at 212-387-0111 or visit them online at http://www.ibla.org.

*** *** ***

Monday, April 28 at 6pm

A preview at NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli_Marimò

IBLA GRAND PRIZE Winners Gala,  Lecture Monday, April 28 at 6pm

Dr. Salvatore Moltisanti, pianist, Music Director


Sopranos, pianists, violinists, flutists, guitarists, cimbalist from all over the world perform at Casa Italiana prior to their Carnegie Hall Debut.


They will perform music by Joan Sebastian Bach, W. Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederick Chopin, Pietro Floridia, Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Bela Bartok, Astor Piazzolla, Olivier Messiaen, Synne Skouen


Katsiarina Anokhina, cimbalist, Russia


Elesin Fedor, cellist, Russia

Martina Filjak, pianist, Croatia

Cara Hesse, pianist, South Africa

Masako Iwamoto-Ruiter, soprano, Japan

Alina Kabanova, pianist, Russia

Krzysztof Kaczka, flute, Poland

Elena Kawazu, violinist, USA

Kristian Lindberg, pianist, Norway

Adrienn Miks, soprano, Hungary

Esther Muradov, violinist, USA

Laura Pauna, pianist, South Africa

Vladana Perovic, pianist, Montenegro

Alessio Quaresima, pianist, Italy

Chie Sato Roden, pianist, Japan

Perry Schack, guitar, Germany

Anna Rutkowska Schock, pianist, Poland

Konstantin Soukhovetsky, pianist, Russia

Emrecan Yavuz, pianist, Turkey

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At NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò 24

West 12th Street

New York, NY 10011-8604


Telephone: (212) 998-8730




 

The original call for papers suggested topics of civil rights, cultural productions, dominant cultures, economics and class, educational accomplishments, identity construction, immigration patterns, interaction with diasporic communities, media portrayals, race issues, politics, religions, and social influences. The result is a collection of diverse narratives recounted by scholars from many and varied quarters. The work presented here illuminates questions and possibly some answers about the diasporic experiences of Italians and how they influenced the new world.

Italians in the Americas

24-26 April 2008

Program

Thursday, April 24, 2008

6:00-9:00 PM, 17th Floor

Welcome

James Muyskens

President, Queens College

Anthony Julian Tamburri

Dean, Calandra Institute

Keynote Lecture

“Beyond the Immigrant Paradigm: Identities and the Future of Italian American Studies”

Fred L. Gardaphè Distinguished Professor of Italian American Studies

Reception

Friday, April 25, 2008,
18th Floor 8:30-9:45

Contested Identities in Italian America

Chair: Maria Grace LaRusso, Calandra Institute Joseph LoGiudice, New York University. “The Construction of a Dual Identity: A Social Work Perspective of Rejection and Acceptance of the Gay & Italian-American Selves” Michael Carosone, New York, NY. “Disgracing the Family?: A History/Non-History of Queer Italian Americans” Angela D. Danzi and Marilyn Blumenthal, Farmingdale State College. “Family Disconnection: The Causes and Consequences of Estrangement and its Relationship to Ethnicity”

10-11:15
Working Aesthetics

Chair: Joseph Sciorra, Calandra Institute Javier Grossutti, The Italian Academy of Columbia University. “Beyond the ‘Pick and Shovel’ Laborers: Italian Mosaic and Terrazzo Workers in New York City” Christine Francis Zinni, SUNY Brockport. “Writings in Stone and Textile” Anna Maria Carlevaris, Concordia University. “Italian Artists in the North

America: Proposal for a History without Borders”

11:30-12:45
“Italians” in the “Americas”

Chair: Robert Viscusi, Brooklyn College/CUNY David Aliano, College of Mount Saint Vincent. “Responses to Fascism from the Italian Community in Argentina (1922-1945)” Stefano Luconi, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. “The Political Mobilization of Italian Immigrants to Argentina and the United States: A Comparison” Vincenzo Milione, Calandra Italian American Institute & Maddalena Tirabassi, Centro Altreitalie, Fondazione Giovanni Agnellli. “Inventory of the Italian Diaspora in the Americas”

12:45-2:15

LUNCH

2:15-3:30
Reflections in Psychology

Chair: Donna Chirico, York College/CUNY

Organizer: Elizabeth G. Messina, Lenox Hill Hospital Donna H. DiCello, University of Hartford. “Contra genio: The Experience of the Italian American Female Psychologist” Elizabeth G. Messina, Lenox Hill Hospital, Dept. of Psychology. “Stereotyping of Italian Americans, 1-Reflections on the History of Racism in Psychology toward Italian Americans” Antonio Terracciano, National Institute on Aging. “Stereotyping of Italian Americans, 2-Historical Perspectives on the Stereotypes of Northern and Southern Italians”

3:45-5:00
Re-imagining/Re-presenting

Chair: Joseph Sciorra, Calandra Institute Marion S. Jacobson, Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. “Italian Dance Hall Culture: Italian Americans, Accordions, and a Pluralistic Vision of Ethnicity in Manhattan, 1938-1961” Simona Frasca, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” & Università di Napoli “Frederico II”. “Representations of the Italian American Community through its Music” Jacqueline Maggio-May, Florida Atlantic University. “‘Americans All!’:

“Re-Imaging Ethnicity, Italians in America, 1939-1945”

5:15-6:30
Is There an Italian/American Body Politic?

Chair: Anthony Julian Tamburri, Calandra Institute

Organizer: Ottorino Cappelli, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale” Rodrigo Praino, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”. “The Italian Vote Abroad: Electing from Afar” Ottorino Cappelli, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”. “The Black Hole: Italian/American Studies and Political Science” Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College, Emeritus. “Italian-American Politics: A Worm’s Eye View”

Respondent: Doug Muzzio, Baruch College

Saturday, April 26, 2008, 18th Floor

8:30-9:45
Personal Readings of Key Cultural Texts

Chair: Anthony Julian Tamburri, Calandra Institute Rosanna Micelotta-Battigelli, Sudbury, Canada. “It all Started With My Mother Tongue: The Impact of Language on my Identity as a Teacher and Writer” Frances Gendimenco Kaufmann, Academic Library & Research Solutions. “Unlocking My Italian-American History: Reading Pietro Di Donato and Richard Gambino” John Calabro, Quattro Books. “The Children of Immigrants; Who Speaks for Them?”

10-11:15
First Encounters, First Conflicts

Chair: Donna Chirico, York College/CUNY

Teresa Fava Thomas, Fitchburg State College. “Arresting the Padrone Problem in America 1881-1901: Italian Diplomats, Immigration Restrictionists and the Italian Bureau of Ellis Island” Peter Oliva, Calgary, Canada. “Constructing Emilio Picariello: Small-town Conception and Big City Media in Canada’s Notorious 1922 Murder Trial” Geoffrey G. Drutchas, Taylor, Michigan. “Italians in the Americas: An Artist’s Story, Tommaso Juglaris”

11:30-12:45
Mapping and Visualizing Italians

Chair: Joseph Sciorra, Calandra Institute Esther Romeyn, University of Florida. “I Misteri di New York: Urban Mysteries and Miseries of Italian Immigrants” Joan Saverino, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. “Paradoxical Pasts: Diverse Interpretations of a Local Landscape” Vincenzo Pascale, CUNY. “Writing of Visions: Dreams of Visions”

12:45-2:15

LUNCH

2:15-3:30
Women as Authors, Women as Subjects

Chair: Fred Gardaphè, Queens College/Calandra Institute Licia Canton, Accenti Magazine. “Literary Women: From Italian Daughters to Canadian Authors” Venera Fazio, Association of Italian Canadian Writers. “Reclaiming Our Magdalenes: The Case Histories, Angelina Napolitano and Filomena Losandro” Nancy Caronia, SUNY Brockport. “Omertà: Writing in Code; Reading Between the Lines”

3:45-5:00
Italian Americans after World War II

Chair: Joseph Sciorra, Calandra Institute Francesca L’Orfano, Carleton University. “Identitià, Three Films: Straniera Come Donna (2002), Enigmatico (1995), and In bocca al lupo (1995)” Danielle Battisti, University of Buffalo. “The Edward Corsi Affair and Postwar Italian Immigration” James Pasto, Boston University. “Immigrants are not ‘Us’: Conflicts between

First- and Second-generation Italian Americans and New Italian Immigrants in Boston’s North End during the 1960s and 1970s”

5:15-6:30
Imagining Italians

Chair: Steven J. Belluscio, Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY Jana Vizmuller-Zocco, York University. “Italianità on Facebook: Towards a Cognitive Ethnicity” Patrizia La Trecchia, University of South Florida. “Being and Becoming: Notes on Subjects and Narratives in Transition” Daniela Gioseffi, ItalianAmericanWriters.com. “Why the Stereotyping of Italian Americans Works, Is Exploited and Persists”

Conference Committee

Steven J. Belluscio

Donna Chirico

Maria Grace LaRusso

Vincenzo Milione

Carmine Pizzirusso

Joseph Sciorra

Anthony Julian Tamburri

Peter Vellon

All activities of the conference are free and open to the public!

RSVP at 212.642.2094

Photo by flickr

Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi won a third term as Italy's premier on Monday with a stronger-than-expected mandate to govern.


Centre-left challenger Walter Veltroni conceded defeat in a phone call to 71-year-old Berlusconi after projections based on vote results showed the centre-right chief had gained a solid majority in both the House and the Senate.


Turnout in the vote, which ended at 15:00, was just over 80%. While the figure was high, it was 3.5% down on that posted in the previous.

The election yielded another surprise with the disastrous performance of the Left-Rainbow (SA), a federation of hard-left parties and Greens led by premier hopeful Fausto Bertinotti. The SA has been kicked out of parliament all together after failing to pass the thresholds needed for representation in either the Senate or the House.


It will be the first time that Communist deputies would be absent from Italy's postwar parliament.


Ironically for a system of proportional representation, the election appeared to have eliminated from the scene most of the small parties criticised for creating instability and wielding power that was disproportionate to their size.


Among the movements which failed to gain representation was The Right, a new party led by Francesco Storace which had hoped to win substantial votes from the National Alliance (AN) after the latter's decision to merge into Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL).


The once-mighty Socialist wing will also disappear from the scene after the failure of Socialist Party leader Enrico Boselli to win enough votes.


Apparently only six parties will take up seats in the House this time round: the PDL; the PD; the Northern League, a populist, devolutionist party which is allied to Berlusconi; the tiny Sicilian-based party, Movement for Autonomy (MpA) which is also allied to Berlusconi; Veltroni ally Italy of Values (IDV) led by former anti-graft prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro; and the centrist, Catholic UDC, a former Berlusconi ally.

(Based on ANSA, Rome, April 14)