americabyscooter

e-mail and mobile

2006-04-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

There are two things that, when you’re looking for a job, are able to keep on your mind: mobile phone and e-mail. Every morning I wake up with a hope, and the first move is to turn the phone on: maybe somebody is going to call me for an interview, for a job, for a work. Usually nothing happens, the phone is silent.
But then there’s the second tool, the second trick: internet. A short breakfast, and the mind is already there: switching on the laptop, there’s this new hope: to find the great words “1 new message”. Wow. Great emotions, with the most thrilling time during the slow downloading: maybe there’s something up, maybe someone is looking for me..
Usually nothing happens, the mail is empty.
Oooook.. I just have to wait, I know.. anyway, it’s frustrating.
But every morning there’s always the same hope, and we’ll never give up, man!

I'm back...

2006-04-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last week, I got my final degree. So I’m sorry about this long absence from any blog (mine and yours), but I was a little busy for a while…
Anyway, I’m back, trying to keep it up, with my horrible English, my low-interesting papers, and, finally, my low-power scooter.
But this scooter, sometimes struggling, panting, gasping, will continue to ride the streets and the alleys of America. With a glimpse also to the rest of the World.

Sooooooo cute..

2006-03-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

When the front page of the Newspaper in Washington is a picture of a baby panda, something is wrong, and not in your mind, but in the editor’s one.
A couple of months ago, I was just arrived in DC, and I remember that one morning, taking a look at the Washington Post, I was surprised to find a cub giant Panda as first large imagine: no wars, no Presidents, no shooting Vice-Presidents... I mean, it was interesting, and also if I think a little over highlighted, anyway it was an original piece of niews.
And for this baby panda, there was a great show: thousands of free tickets sold in 1 day, to satisfy the curiosity of children, guys, men.
After few days, I forgot about it.
But last Monday, reading the Washington Post, I couldn’t believe to read a story about the fallen in love Panda: the paper started with “I was at the drugstore […] when I noticed another shopper intently pawing through the ‘For that Special One’ section. […] It was Tai Shan, the National Zoo’s giant panda.” And then the writer was reporting about this Panda in love, with a sort of moving tale because it was in love with a married woman.
The classic impossible love, with the classic Panda evolved.
Hehehe. Fuck the Panda! Yesterday was my last day in DC: I went to the zoo (I’ve never been in a real zoo before, so I was curious to see…) and I saw the baby Panda. Far away, it was sleeping on a tree, and it didn’t take a move.
After 10 seconds, it was really boring.

NYC

2006-03-16T10:18:00.000-08:00

Chinatown NYC. Noon. My bus, coming from Washington DC, stops there, getting off all the people arrived to look New York City.
And the first impact in Manhattan is pretty tough, specially if you’re coming from a country-city like DC uses to be, with all its opened spaces, small houses, grey monuments, quiet people.
In New York’s Chinatown you have been like thrown up in a anthill, with all its ants walking and running, buying peanuts and oranges at the market area with the speed of thieves.
And you’re in Manhattan, so you suppose to see something “American”, at least stores, markets, skyscrapers: nothing like that, you feel like a foreigner in your own country. Then you start to walk through Canal Street, with its large sidewalks, elbowing to pass through the crowding people that come from everywhere. And nobody speaks your language, neither Italian (but that’s right, you’re in US) nor English (and this is crap..), so the only way to speak is by hands..
Then, subway station: people everywhere, a crowd where everyone is alone, that is a paradox but is real. Black guys dancing hip-hop, musicians playing their instruments, and some old hobo alone, sitting on the floor. This is New York, crazy city with its wonderful spaces, skyscrapers, shops; and with its contradictory loneliness.

A steak is better than a burger. And a burger is better than a steak. But only with French fries.

2006-03-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a very simple post, no claims. Just to write something important but easy, because freedom is as great as steaks, at the right moment… What’s life without freedom? And what’s life without steaks? I mean, it doesn’t make sense.
The best steak? T-bone, of course.. medium-rare grilled, red and pulpy at the same time, awesome.
Or the rib-eye steak, as famous as the previous one, but without the bone: only with a bit of salt, nothing more. Wonderful, moving I guess..
But you know, sometimes the steak is huge, and as expensive as large. And I’ve personally tried that sometimes big burgers can give you a lot of satisfactions. If you had a nice day, a steak is perfect, but if for any kind of reason you’re a little tired, or sad, or upset, doesn’t matter why, a burger can be, for a little time, a great friend.
Santa Fe BBQ large Burger: that’s the best, that’s great. With French fries, of course, because a burger without fries is like a child without the mom. Burger needs fries, and beer.
And when you’re having the first bite to the Burger, you get that the reality is for you, and that you’re for the reality: you’re for the burger. I think this is part of what Giussani calls “realism”, but I don’t wanna go too far.
This “trip” was enough, I guess.

Fool's gold

2006-03-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

“Only medal for Bode is fool’s gold” This is the title of Washington Post after the Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. And the first rows are about the Nike advertisement “Join Bode.” Join him where? At the bar?
Poor Miller.. everybody teasing him, treating as a boozer only because during the races he got the gates on his legs, after a beer-friendly night. And also the Italian newspapers were having Bode on their front page, as the most gossiped VIP.
Someone says he was every night in a different pub, at a different party, with a different girl.
And then, tired of all his pains, he said, at an interview: “It’s been an awesome two weeks. I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level”.
To socialize at an Olympic level.. hehe what the hell does it mean?

Human Freedom vs. Academic Freedom

2006-02-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Maybe the most famous catholic university of America.
There’s a little bickering now, over a tough argument: is the “Vagina Monologues” moral, so to be ethically correct, and so to be played in the university, or not?
That’s the great question that is traveling the American university’s world, not only Notre Dame.
On one side, there’s the Church, that can’t agree about this subject, maybe too hot, maybe too immoral.
And on the other side, there’s that big cloudy word, so easily confused, or manipulated: FREEDOM.
And if the universities are free, if are a place of learning, a place of ideas, “a place where you can say what you want” (Washington Post, February 18th), and learn from what others say and what others think, would be perfectly right to show on the Vagina Monologues.
Poor freedom… if also here, in US, people are thinking that Freedom is “whatever you want”: so let’s yell “fuck the College!” or “fuck the president!”, that we are free.
And then, like happened in Italy last week, if a professor gives to her students a book about the national-socialism as a deepening instrument for history subject, she’ll be branded as a Nazi. So where’s freedom?
There’s no freedom without education. And there’s no education without a way. So, Vagina Monologues maybe is immoral, or moral, or whatever it is, but is unreasonable to show it on because universities are for freedom. With all due respect to Vagina Monologues, to ban it is not an un-free act, but is only reasonable and educating, so for freedom.

Proud to be italian

2006-02-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

Some weeks ago I read on an Italian famous newspaper that some guys stole the Olympic flame during the running of an Italian athlete, who was heading to Torin.
Today, the Wall Street Journal writes: “The last time the Winter Olympics came to Italy, in 1956 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the final runner bearing the Olympic flame tripped over some television cables and fell on the way to lighting the caldron.” (Friday, February 10, 2006, page 1)
The same article goes on saying that this year the Italian board for the Olympic games discovered, only one month ago, a gap of $95 millions: this didn’t happen in Salt Lake City, where the budget closed with a surplus of $100 millions. For Italy would be a luck to break even.
But the funny thing is the smart stratagem that has been thought up: short of funds for the Paralympics – the competition for disabled athletes that follows the Games – the organizing committee sold this year’s Paralympics for about $40 millions, to some private donators.
And because also this trick wasn’t enough to close the gap, the Government decided to launch a scratch-and-win lottery to allow the Olympic show going on.
Only in Italy these things may happen, and, smiling, I’m a little proud of it. Thanks a lot.

The Boredom of the Church

2006-02-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

Last week monsignor Albacete, coming from New York city to Washington D.C. kept a wonderful meeting about a book titled “The Religious Sense”. I already knew the book, the author is Italian, founder of an important catholic movement which I comply to, but I decided to go because a friend of mine was going there too.
During the lesson, father Albacete, a little mumbling, said a very smart thing: “Today the Church is answering to questions that nobody is asking, and the result is boredom” [this phrase has been reported by memory, it has never been written or reviewed by the speaker].The boredom of the Church is not a problem of the Church itself, but is a problem of the man: only at the human level the Church can be interesting, and bring something to the life.

A thought from a book..

2006-02-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

Last week I read the book titled the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Like his foreword explains, it’s a book both for children and for adults, I personally think very deep.
I don’t want now to write about the story, that I think everybody knows, maybe also because of the movie, but there was a character that stroke me a lot: the professor. He’s not the protagonist, I mean, but he’s anyway a key-man for the story.
When Lucy sees for the first time Narnia, her brothers think she’s crazy, also when she tells to have seen Edmund, who negates everything.
Peter and Susan, the oldest brothers, fear that Lucy is mentally sick, and speak with the old professor, character always presented in the book as a mysterious man.
And the professor is very “logic”: why can’t be true what Lucy is saying? Lucy has always said the truth, so why can’t Narnia be really a world, behind the wardrobe? Only because it’s out of mind, or out of all the human criteria of knowledge? There are no other signs of madness, so the reason brings to believe about what she’s saying.
This is a great way to use the reason: nothing is a priori impossible, and everything can happen: the signs of the reality are to help you to judge and to decide.

One more step.

2006-02-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, let’s try to get one more step: all the first papers were very easy, without any kind of judgment, also if bare and simple. The reason is first of all my fragile language, always improving, but yet not able to adequately sustain any kind of deep thesis, but for an embryonic level.
Maybe my few lectors will say that it’s only because I chose a scooter, too slow for running over the hills of the US, and if I would have ridden a truck I could have the claim at least to run faster…
Anyway, I’ll try to make this jump: to judge something that is (or has been, or maybe will be) interesting for me. I hope my few lectors will have the patience to read my poor papers, and the will to write what they think about.
With the hope that writing I’ll learn, and with the certainty that judging I’ll grow.
Of course, with a scooter.

Disney & Pixar: a good deal for both

2006-01-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

This seems to be the brightest acquisition in the movies’ business, at least in this times, when the animation sector is growing up.

California, January 2006: the Mickey Mouse’s Corporation is since the last 5 years losing shares on the large screens, and also the kids maybe know better the title “Finding Nemo” that “The Treasure Island”, and wonderful cartoons as “Robin Hood” or “The Sword in the Stone” are more a parents’ myth than funny movies. Fresh air was necessary.

California, January 2006: Mr Jobs, owner with 50.6% of the total shares of the Pixar Co., is arriving from a chain of successes that are crowing his business in this sector: starting with Toy Story, Pixar goes up with Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and gets the peak with The Incredibles on 2004. A great climb in a sector where failure is considered an inevitability. But Mr Jobs can do more, and so looks to take a seat on board and to play a key role in the hugest movies’ company.

With $7.4 billion the deal is done, and the acquisition is over: Mr Jobs becomes Disney’s largest individual shareholder, with the 6.5% of the total value, and Disney can benefit from Pixar’s success by co-financing and distributing its movies.
Furthermore, Mr Jobs is the lucky Apple’s principal shareholder: a partnership between Apple and cartoons, in the digital era, is a bomb: Disney is thinking to use digital technologies both for create the movies and to distribute them, using Apple brand and its products (iPods above all), and Apple is hoping to grow its cash flows with all the resulting advertising.
Anyway, a great matter.

Starbucks: a great idea (and way) to get business.

2006-01-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

Solo, espresso! Cinnamon Dolce Latte! Doppio!
Italian names for American coffees. This is the great idea of one of the most famous American companies: Howard Shultz, the founder, grew up in Brooklyn, on the edge of New York city during the 60ies, part of a generation of families who dreamed in the American dream.
One day this guy went to Italy, walking through the streets and the alleys of Milan. He saw the bars, he saw people getting coffees, without sitting, without staying for a long time, but just ordering, getting the cup, and than going away. All day long, also during the work-time.
So he got this breakthrough idea: to bring the same business in US, with a different way. American coffee, to take away. That’s fast, that’s easy. And than, also Italian coffees: he didn’t change the name, he just used a different adjective: solo espresso, or doppio espresso: these words are now part of the American background. The strange thing is that this brand is so famous having never had a great advertisement campaign. The power, the strength of Starbucks is in its employees: they are called “partners”, and they are paid with money and stock options. So they’re part of a firm, of a community, of a group, and this is the key for a good job.
After the employee, the client. The client is the second key for the growth of the brand, and he has to be respected, honored, he has to feel himself like at home.
From his own words: “Think about all our experiences every day. How often does anybody honor us as a consumer? Rarely. But when it does happen, the power of the human spirit really does come through. At the end of the day, when business is really good, it's not about building a brand or making money. That's a means to an end. It's about honoring the human spirit, honoring the people who work in the business and honoring the customer.”
Today Starbucks counts more than 3.500 stores in US, and it’s becoming to grow up in Japan, France, Germany.

Metro Station

2006-01-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

If you ask to anybody here in DC where’s the underground, they don’t understand, and they look at you as a weird one. Here underground is named Metro. But is the same thing.
300 miles more on the East Coast, New York. If you ask for the Metro station, maybe they’ll tell you “I don’t know any place named like that”. New Yorkers call it “Subway”. But is the same thing.
And if you are in London, there’s no Subway and no Metro: there’s the Underground. Always the same thing.
Anyway, I’m in Washington, so I’ll call it “Metro”.
My stop is East Falls Church, orange line, in Virginia: every morning I buy a ticket, and I evaluate it at the gate, that opens up. There’s a security man for every station, mine is a black, gray-haired old man, sometimes lazy: he checks if people are going to stamp the ticket.

I live with another Italian guy, as young as me: well, we’re Italians, so sometimes if we don’t have the coins we try to get over the gate without the ticket. The black man gets up, and usually call “Sir! Sir!”: he got you. Shit. There’s nothing that you can do to make him changing of mind, maybe just speak Italian and say “I didn’t know” with a awful accent. Sometimes it works.
Americans don’t try to get to the train without ticket, it’s unthinkable: there’s the black man, maybe he’ll get you… I thought they were fool. After the black man got me three times, I think they are right.

Riding a scooter

2006-01-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

America by scooter.
Why? Why the idea to start with a blog? I’m not a journalist, I’m not a liberal critic, I don’t have claim to be “linked” by anyone..
I was taking a look at some friends’ blogs, and I was thinking that sounds good… why can’t I grab the same think up? I won’t be as good as them, I won’t be as interesting as them, but I get the opportunity to write something, to tell something. I don’t care about any kind of outcome, I’m free (from this point of view). And I hope to get fun with this blog.
I live in US, Washington DC, since a while. I’m Italian, so it’s the best union for a man in a foreign country: and because no one is still writing about an Italian-American in Washington, I’ll try.
The idea for the blog’s title is very simple, anyway: US is so huge, broad, full of greatnesses and, of course, of miseries, that judging everything maybe is more than a claim. But if you’re riding a scooter it becomes possible: a very easy way, with ironic humble eyes to look at the US. Let’s wait.

Trial/1

2006-01-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

Trial number 1: just to get what's going to appear..