Month: June 2016

Ernesto Livorni’s book, “The Fathers’ America”

Umbra was excited to welcome Professor Ernesto Livorni to present his new book, “The Fathers’ America” to the Umbra Community. Professor Livorni currently teaches LIAH 370: Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Man and Modern Myth at the Umbra Institute.

At the beginning of his presentation, Professor Livorni explained that his poems, though they were written about personal and familial immigration to America, are meant to be identifiable across generations, and across nationalities. They are meant to be relatable to those who may have immigrated to Argentina, Australia, or any other country, as immigrants tend to share a special bond that is instantly understood by anyone who has chosen to leave their homeland, for any of a myriad of reasons, to work his/her way into the society and culture of a new, foreign, unknown location.

The poetry that comprises “The Fathers’ America” was written while Professor Livorni was a PhD student in America, during the mid-late 80s. He had just published his first collection of avant-garde work, in Italy, and wanted to experiment with more traditional poetry using hendecasyllabic and heptasyllabic meter. At this point, he wrote a number of sonnets and, throughout his work, insisted on using quotidian metaphors and ideas that might cross the mind of the average immigrant mine worker or field laborer.

Professor Livorni closed his presentation by reading a number of the poems published in “The Fathers’ America”, including:

Il giorno che saprò fare al tuo viso una statua trasparente d’avorio con l’acqua del fiume che bagna, con l’acqua del mare solcato, con l’acqua che sempre mi lava, con l’acqua e nulla piú che l’acqua, quel giorno alla luce piú chiara ti donerò non-ti-scordar-di-me.

The day that I will know how to make for your face a transparent ivory statue with the water from the river that washes, with the water from the furrowed sea, with the water that ever washes me, with the water and nothing other than the water, that day in the brightest light, to you I will give forgetmenot.

Should you be interested in purchasing Professor Livorni’s work, click here.

Students swear in for the SoloItaliano Challenge

Right hand raised high with the left relying on the wisdom of Dante, Kaydian Campbell lead her peers in the Intensive Italian & Culture Summer Program in kicking off the SoloItaliano Challenge. As part of the SoloItaliano Challenge, students swore to speak only Italian for a full two days in order to further immerse themselves into the culture. The challenge meant speaking Italian at school and at home, with their peers in the Intensive Italian & Culture Program, as well as with anyone else they came in contact with during the challenge. Kaydian shared, “Wanting to learn the language and retain it, that’s for me. That’s for my own enrichment and my love of the language…solo in Italia!”

On Tuesday night, those participating in SoloItaliano attended a Serata Film Night where they watched the popular film, Manuale d’Amore. On Wednesday night the students finished the event by attending their second Tandem Language Exchange where they spoke with Italian students and voted for the winners of the challenge.

Alexis McDonald and Ashley Weimar were selected by their peers for their commitment to the challenge and were awarded for their success. It was noted that both students went out of their way to send emails and texts in Italian, stretching their boundaries with the language; Ashley even recounted messaging “Tanti auguri!” (Happy birthday) to friends on Facebook who did not speak Italian.

Once the challenge was over, Ashley described SoloItaliano through her experiences, “It challenged me to start thinking in Italian, to be able to come up with the word that I was looking for by using words that I already knew. I realized a lot about myself and about how others feel and struggle when trying to speak a language they are not familiar with”. She then went on to say “The second day, I woke up thinking in Italian and, for the first time, I was making sense in my head, in Italian!”

Click here to learn more about the Umbra Institute’s Italian Language & Culture Initiatives.

Students pose with Nonna Marcella, author of Goretti’s famous recipe book

JCFS 380: Wine Journalism students, led by professor John Hartsock, of SUNY Cortland, visited Goretti Winery last Friday. Goretti is a family owned winery, in its fourth generation, located in the outskirts of Perugia. During the trip to Goretti, students were given a full tour of the winery, where they learned about the process of grape cultivation, wine production, and the significance of various Goretti wines in relation to the region.

The visit was intended to provide an introduction to the subtleties of wine tasting and wine journalism. By the end of the course, students will have written feature and opinion articles, as well as marketing press releases; all designed to share their experiences from site-visits, relative to Umbrian wine, thus giving them an introduction to various elements of wine journalism.

During the trip to Goretti, students were given a full tour of the winery, where they learned about the process of wine production and the significance of various Goretti wines in relation to the region. Students then participated in a wine tasting that was paired with a plentiful amount of food, including homemade torta al testo, local meats, and cheeses.

Click here to view more Communications and Journalism courses offered by Umbra.

Sawyer presenting the imagery portrayed by cultural symbols throughout time

This week, Professor Deborah Sawyer presented her work on “From Eve to Madonna: Sex, Gender, and Religion”; a lecture that sought to explore how gender roles are constructed and reinforced through literature, art, and popular culture by the use or manipulation of familiar images. 

Though the lecture touched on the difference between sex and gender, the main focus was on the Garden of Eden creation story and its influence on Western culture’s view of womanhood. Sawyer pointed out the dualistic view of womanhood often presented through the analysis of Eve and her famous encounter with the serpent and the apple: one often pictures Eve, the wicked temptress of man, but the alternative interpretation portrays the pure Eve who only sought to know the difference between good and evil, she desired wisdom. 

Sawyer then went on to present the concept of men and women living on a spectrum, and not polarities; sharing that both genders are meant to work together, and one is not meant to have power over the other. Then, after presenting the imagery often portrayed by Madonna, and other cultural symbols throughout time, Sawyer shared that the role of the contemporary woman is, in fact, in line with the original Eve. Despite the interpretation that time has imposed on women and their societal role, Eve took her identity not from being the “other” in relation to Adam, but rather, from being herself. In the same way, the modern woman seeks an independent interpretation of herself according to her personal goals and abilities, not those of a man or according to the preference of a man.

Click here to read more about Deborah Sawyer’s course that explores gender in Italy.