9/16/2007

Just Think of It-World War II Revived

I am not a big fan of the media in recent years. It tends to overexpose and sensationalize much of what it reports , on the one hand, and not follow through on news that was once overexposed, on the other. Clearly, the media can shape our thoughts and force our attentions. But, the media can also bring a subject to our attention that would not otherwise be there and help us to understand something that we might not otherwise understand. Such has been the case for me, regarding the subject of World War II, specifically those who fought the war, the Veterans. My media sources were television and a book. Now that I think about it I am not sure that literature can be considered as"the media". If not, excuse my mistake in so considering it.

I happened to recently pick up the book (audio book, in this case), Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg. It is not high literature, but it kept my attention and seriously increased my interest in the "story" of the WW II Vets, as well as what life was like on the home front. This has not been something I've been interested in the course of my life. My focus regarding WW II has been almost exclusively on the Holocaust. I have never liked reading novels or non-fiction about the war and have mostly stayed away from war movies, with the major exception of Saving Private Ryan. For my own edification, I did a search of the
Top 50 World War Two Movies in order to see what I had missed. The following is just a handful of them, those movies whose names I recognized, but have not seen:
Stalag 17, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Battle of the Bulge , Twelve O'clock High, Guns of Navarone, Mister Roberts, Where Eagles Dare, The Devil's Brigade , Mrs Miniver , Sands of Iwo Jima , The Dirty Dozen , A Walk in the Sun,

One can not have watched TV during these past summer months and not heard about the upcoming seven part series,
The War, a Ken Burns’s Film about World War II , scheduled to start on Sunday, September 23, 2007 . I have seen some of the Sneak Preview on my local PBS station, Channel 13, and found Ken Burn's explanations about how and why he wanted to do the series alluring, but I remained unsure of wanting to watch it. I remembered that, though beautifully done, I found watching Burn's documentary, The Civil Wars, a bit boring (of course, I was extremely sick in bed at the time, which may have had something to do with it). In any case, I put it on the back burner of my mind.

The clincher came this morning while watching, Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood. Bill Geist's did a segment that he called,
In Their Honor. It was about a group of "World War II vets from North Carolina, aged 79 to 102, who journeyed to see the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. They were there because Jeff Miller, a local businessman in Hendersonville, N.C., started a campaign in March to send every World War II veteran in the country who wanted to see it". "Sixteen million served in World War II. Now there's probably just a little more than 3 million alive," he said. "They're dying at a rate of anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 a day". The project grew quickly, as did the number of vets wanting to go and the amount of money it was going to take to see it through. The entire community got involved and money was raised, to the tune of $133,000. Two-hundred and twenty Hendersonville vets signed up for the first of what have come to be called honorflights. They arrived in Washington to a hero's welcome and were escorted to the memorial. There was one story of a vet who died just days before the event was to take place. The family still attended. It was a moving piece of journalism. Bill Geist ended the segment saying, "But the veterans who attended were feeling the appreciation so long overdue in this, a final tribute to the men-boys then, really, in their teens and twenties-who answered the call and saved the world. Think of it.

And think of it I did, so much so that I posted a comment on the CBS website. Apparently this segment was a repeat, originally broadcast in September of 2006. Perhaps they will show it yearly in September. They should. I was moved by the tens of comments I read from today and from those written after last year's broadcast. So many people of my generation talking about how their fathers never really spoke to them about the war they fought and about how proud they were of their fathers and how, in so many cases, they wished that their fathers had lived to be able to participate in this honor. I am moved by all of this, but I can't really relate to it personally. My father served in some medical capacity at an army base stateside. He was in Medical School at the time. I don't think he was considered a vet. I have never really known any vets, at least not of American wars. My parents did not talk much about those years.

All of the comments I read were about the men, but there was one that said this:

I am a WW11 vet still alive. I served as a member of the Womens Army Corps assigned to the Army Air Corps. I want to continue my efforts to fill the gap in history about women in the military. 400,000 women served in all branches of the service during WW11. Though we were not allowed to serve in combat positions, those combat positions would not have been possible were it not for the women,and some men,who supported those in combat. I enabled the training of bombardiers who flew in both war theatres. Women served as aircraft mechanics, spys, drivers, interpreters, nurses, transcribers, etc. both here and abroad. Five women were on a troop ship which was bombed and all five survived, 80 some nurses were taken captive the South Pacific and survived. Members of the Womens Army Corps served in Algeria, North Africa, England, Southeast Asia, Italy, Egypt, the,Pacific, and Australia . Therefore, I was distressed not to see/hear mention of women serving in the military in the "greatest war with the greatest generation". Lynn Ashley, EdD

These comments, that moved me as much as Bill Geist's segment, can be found at the bottom of the article about In Their Honor. I highly recommend taking a look.

I am not a flag waving American until there is something that reminds me of the importance of that flag. I am not an admirer of wars and so often believe that there must be alternatives to fighting them. I am patriotic. My view of patriotism is not of the flag-waving, rah rah for our country, right or wrong variety. I have always thought of patriotism as honoring and appreciating one's country, while at the same time speaking out and protesting the things that one sees as wrong in order to make the country more like it is supposed to be regarding freedom, equality and justice for all. War is certainly not always the answer to conflicts; in fact is should rarely be the answer. Perhaps I have avoided learning more about WW II because in my life time, I have not seen a war that I thought was justified to fight. I am pretty certain that I would have thought otherwise had I been alive in the 1940's.

I have no doubt anymore that I will watch Ken Burn's documentary, The War.
The congruity of these recent events, reading Elizabeth Berg's new novel, Dream When You're Feeling Blue, the anticipation of seeing Ken Burn's upcoming PBS documentary, The War and experiencing Bill Geist's segment on CBS' Sunday Morning, In Their Honor, has truly set in motion for me an enthusiastic desire to learn more about World War II, it's veterans and the home front at the time. If not now, when?

9/09/2007

To Hell & Back With Dante: My Trip to Italy May 2007

Life is Language. Language is Life.
These were just a few of the words that made up my days in Italy from May 13th through the 23rd, 2007.


GUELPHS...GIBBLINES..ITALIAN CONSCIOUSNESS...DANTE......IDEAL CITY STATES...TUSCANY...THE DIVINE COMEDY...FIRENZE......VIRGIL...FEUDAL WORLD...THE MEDICI FAMILY... SIN...JOHN THE BAPTIST ...HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE...BEATRICE...CICERO...GLUTTONY...ARISTOTLE...INFERNO...PRAGMATICS...MIDDLE AGES...ETHICS...ENVY...SIENNA...ANALYTICS...SOUL....VIRGIL...AUGUSTAN...
ROME....JERUSALEM....ITALIAN COMMUNES...REASON...REVALATION...SORTAE VIRGILIANAE (BIBLE DIPPING)...SEVEN LEVELS OF HELL...FREE WILL...SLOTH...THE DEEP DESIGN of God ...RED=LOVE...GREEN=HOPE...WHITE=FAITH...DANTE ALIGHIERI...ALLEN MANDELBAUM...AVARICE...CANTO ...ANGER...EXILE...PRIDE...HEAVEN...PURGATORIO

St. Francis of Assisi....Middle Ages...The Castles...Tuscany...the Feudal world...Plato
......GIOTTO...ROME...PARADISO...LUST... DETERMINISM...LIMBO...THE HOUSE OF ANJOU......THE APENNINES ...Exile



DISCOURSE ON DANTE'S THE DIVINE COMEDY






We travelled through the Inferno passed along Purgatorio and ended in Paradiso. Virgil helped us along the way and Beatrice was also our guide. We highlighted and underlined our texts and compared and contrasted the many translations from the original Italian into English. We even shared some pastry and champagne as we sang Happy Birthday to Dante on the 21st of May.




Our First Discourse...Under the Tuscan Sun




And we studied here, there and everywhere.



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In 1972 I was a Junior at Syracuse University and I had the good fortune to spend my second semester abroad in Florence. I lived with two different Italian families and learned the language well enough to impress my parents when they came to visit. It was definitely one of those defining times of my life. The Duomo, from the start was my anchor in Florence. No matter where I was, I would eventually find my way by sighting the great Duomo of the Florence Cathedral. I viewed it from afar and up close and explored it inside and out. I stood upon it's steps.......



Standing on the Duomo steps with my father and my mother............

1972




1972




And then, there's the one the day I was leaving Florence for Greece and a stint on a Kibbutz in Israel.....

1972





Little did I know that it would be 35 years before I would return to Florence, but return I did.....


2007




THE UBIQUITOUS DUOMO



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We not only studied about Dante, The Divine Comedy and Medieval Italy, but we walked it's streets and saw much of what Dante wrote about and the places that made up his life in Florence. As we walked his streets we saw where the petty family battles took place, petty battles that ended with death and bloodshed and we read Dante's poetic words in Italian and English.

In 1215 in Florence Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti is betrothed to Miss Amidei but breaks his commitment in order to marry the daughter of another family, Donati.


Breaking the commitment so enraged the Amidie Family and those alligned with them, they concluded the only vengence equal to the betrayal was to murder Buondelmonti and thus it was done. This murder divided the whole city and essentially became the cause and beginning of the Guelf (Buondelmonte) and the Ghibellines (Uberti and Amidei and others) and the warring between the two factions.
“But Florence in her final peace was fated to offer up - unto that mutilated stone guardian upon her bridge -- a victim.” Paradisio Canto 26 Lines 143-147.

























“I answered: Where the lovely Arno flows, there I was born and raised, in the great city.” Inferno Canto 23, lines 94-95.





























“The house of Amidei, with which your sorrows began--by reason of its just resentment, which ruined you and ended years of gladness--was honored then, as were its close companions.” Paradioio Canto 16, Lines 136-139





DANTE'S FLORENCE



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Of course one can't be in Italy for a day, no less ten days, without eating and drinking and drinking and eating and did I mention eating and drinking??




Eating and drinking in Italy is an art form and must be taken very seriously.



MANGIA ! CIN CIN !






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On our way to San Miniato al Monte we passed through beautiful gardens and climbed up to the magnificent cathedral where we heard the Gregorian Chanting of the Benedictine Monks. There were views of the Duomo and other sections of the city that were all picture perfect








San Miniato










The green dome is the Florence Synagogue


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We spent a day in Sienna





Our American guide, getting her PH.D. in Italian in Italy, was Kristin, bright, perky, pretty and the perfect person to explain to us all about the Siennese custom around the event called Il Palio.




"Piazza del Campo" is still used today for the well known Palio horse race which is one of the most famous popular Italian manifestations. It takes place every year on July 2 and August 16. The Palio is run to celebrate the miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary near the old houses that belonged to Provenzano Salvani. The holy apparition was therefore called "Madonna di Provenzano" in whose honour the very first Palio was run on August 16, 1656. The Palio was run for the first time in 1701 in honour of the "Madonna dell'Assunta" the patroness and Advocate of Sienna through all the tragic events since she protected the Sienese militia at the famous battle of Monteaperti on September 4, 1260, against the Florentines.




















The Palio is a historical secular tradition strictly connected with the origin of the Contradas of Siena (districts into which the town is divided). The Contradas are spectacular agonistic institutions each having their own government, oratory, coat of arms, appellations, sometimes titles of nobility, emblems and colours, official representatives, festivities, patron Saints, with protectors, delimited territories and population which consist of all those people who were born or live within the topographic limits of the district, according to the proclamation issued by Violante Beatrice of Bavaria on January 7, 1730, at that time, Governess of the town.Originally, there were about fifty-nine "Contrade"; now only seventeen remain, ten of which take part in the historical pageant and in the race at each Palio (seven by right and three drawn by lots).Here is a list of their names, emblems and colours grouped into "Terzi" or "Terzieri" (in olden times the town was divided into three sections called: "Terziere di Città", "Terziere di San Martino" and "Terziere di Camollia"


Kristin, our guide, though American, is actually a full fledged member of one of the 17 remaining Contradas and hers is called ONDA (Wave) a swimming dolphin wearing a crown. White and blue. Kristin is totally serious about this. She is in Sienna when Il Palio takes place and she is as fully consumed by it as any full blooded Italian. It happened that the day we were there in Sienna, a baby was born to one of the families in the ONDA Contrada. This is not a small event in Sienna. Everything stopped. Kristin and the "keeper of the ONDA church" hung a banner, rang the bells and produced a lovely certificate in the baby and family's honor. Take a look. It was crazy!






And Another Day in Assisi







"A Simple Prayer"



Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.


Where there is hatred...let me sow love.


Where there is injury...pardon.


Where there is discord...unity.


Where there is doubt...faith.


Where there is error...truth.


Where there is despair...hope.


Where there is sadness...joy.


Where there is darkness...light!



Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek:


To be consoled...as to console.


To be understood...as to understand.


To be loved...as to love.



For:


It is in giving...that we receive.


It is in pardoning...that we are pardoned.


It is in dying...that we are born to eternal life.

st. francis of assisi







WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE






Ann, Sherril, Suzanne, Mary Jane, Ruth, Paul, Lois, Jan, Steve, Tom, Sean....Kristin, Lucca, Fabrizio...Chula...Donato, Gianni, Sister Agnese Hatchison
























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There's just one more thing I must mention. If you are familiar with my blog, you may remember my particular affinity for the movie, The Enchanted April and that in fact it is also a fantasy of mine. Well, this adventure, though not exactly the manifestation of Enchanted April, it came very close.


After our 7 days in Florence, with our stints to Assisi and Sienna, we spent the last four nights in Fiesole, which is in the hills above Florence. We stayed at Pensione Bencista. The pensione and its environs were for me, what I believe was the closest I will ever get to my Enchanted April fantasy. As I sat on the terrace and looked out, I saw the gradually sloping Tuscan hills with Cedars of Lebanon and olive trees lining the valley from Fiesole to Florence. I heard bells chiming in the distance that were in concert with the birdsong, not to be outdone by the distant barking of a dog. Dotted in amongst the trees and myriad of greens, from deep forest to a pale yellow-green, were the villas with their Tuscan yellow and red tile roofs. And best of all was the occasional wind which brought with it the scent of jasmine from the terrace below. White jasminde clinging to the walls and purple Wysteria hanging from the vines, both perfuming the sun drenched air, what more could I ask for?


















Did I mention we had our very own Geiko?



























































If this was not Enchanted April, it was, at the very least, the Paradiso of May.
If you are interested in seeing all the pictures from my Paradiso of May, I invite you to click on this link to view the slideshow.