Club Newsletters
Club Newsletters
Mission/Vision Statement
Opportunity Passed Down
Literature and Language Awards
for Students of Italian Heritage
3659 Green Road, Suite 124
Beachwood OH 44122
www.iacfcleveland.org
November 2013
Connie Sancetta, President
Charlie Manno, Vice-President
Our Sponsors!
• Americans of Italian Heritage
• Solon Italian Club
• Italian American Brotherhood Club
• Sante Catholic Union
• Southwest Italian-American Club
• Wickliffe Italian-American Club
• Circolo Italo Americano Corenese
• Rionero Sannitico Recreational Club
• Kalena Club of Cleveland
• Italian American Business
and Professional Mens Club
• The Spitalieri Family
36
Thomas (TJ) Zingalis won the senior first place award at St. Edward High
School in spring for this essay on Fred Gardaphe’s “Moustache Pete Is Dead!”
Imagine being in a place far from home where most of what you think and say is no longer understood
by fellow people. Where traditions and customs you have grown up with are now hundreds of miles away
and you are left to try and understand and adapt to the new surroundings. In the book I read, “Moustache
Pete Is Dead!”, this is what “Moustache Pete” is going through. Moustache Pete was a column in the
newspaper “Fra Noi” which basically talked about the life of an average Italian immigrant in the US in
the 1980’s. Reading this collection really helped me deepen my own Italian heritage because it shows me
how my ancestors were treated when coming into this country, the difficulties of adjusting to a new culture
and the strength that the first generation immigrants needed in order to make a living here in America.
This book was very interesting for me to read because my father’s side of the family came to America just
about one hundred years ago. All my great-grandparents and grandparents were full-blooded Italians and
while I cannot remember ever meeting my grandmother I remember my grandpa and I can definitely relate
this story to him. My great-grandparents came to the US in the early nineteen hundreds and “Americanized”
their name, just as Moustache Pete does; they changed the Italian name Zingale into Zingalis. Also I know
that my great-grandparents and grandfather owned and worked at a fruit stand in the beginning to earn
money for their family. I was reminded of many things about my ancestors while reading this book just
because of how similar their start in this country was. This helps me appreciate my culture because I now
realize that this was not just the journey of my great-grandparents or Moustache Pete but also all of the
Italian immigrants who came to this country and have given me the great opportunities that I have now.
However, as this country repeatedly reminds us, nothing is free. The opportunities I have today
were earned by the hard work of my ancestors and the perseverance they had to stay here. The
columns collected in this book are just about thirty years old and yet even in more modern times Italian
immigrants had a difficult time adjusting. In the book it is obvious how Moustache Pete does not
know much of how to act in this country but the part that I think is interesting is that there was never
anyone that helped him, only people who ridiculed him for being different. The reason that this bothers
me is because this was in the 1980’s and about a guy who at least had somewhat of an idea of how
to communicate; however my ancestors came in the early twentieth century and I can only imagine
how difficult it must have been for them. Between being ridiculed for how they talked and probably
how they looked, being from the southern part of Italy, I imagine it was very hard for them. But this
gives me an immense sense of appreciation because if they allowed the struggles to send them back to
where they came from or prevent them from coming in the first place I would not be where I am today.
I would think that one of their biggest struggles was finding work that could provide for them and
their family. My grandfather was one of five children and I am sure that running a fruit stand was not
enough for the whole family. As Moustache Pete says throughout the book he had to do a lot of different
jobs just in order to earn enough money for him and his family. I can imagine that my grandfather and
his siblings may not have had great childhoods based on a Moustache Pete quote, “They was days we
wasa luck to have had bread. But we work hard and our kids doan have it so bad as we did.” Well,
Moustache Pete was right, my grandfather worked hard so that he could have a much better life in
America. He inspires me because even though he was just a second generation American he was able
to open and operate a great business in the city of Cleveland. My father learned from my grandfather
and worked hard to get a job doing something he loved which was building custom computers for
businesses. So now as a fourth generation American I have a great life and have role models to look
up to that show me no matter what the circumstances are anything can be achieved if it is worked for.
BUON
NATALE e
BUON ANNO
LA GAZZETTA ITALIANA | DECEMBER 2013
President: Kay Corsaro
1st Vice President: Pat Di Lullo
Treasurer: Giovanni Catalano
Secretary: : Virginia Cruickshank
Sergeant-at-Arms: Domenic Cornacchione
Trustees: Joe Motta, Ed Altieri, John Petzker
Parliamentarian: : Marie Chiarappa
FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Dear Friends,
The holiday season again will be celebrated all over the world.
Especially Christmas is celebrated many different ways in any
region of any country.
The holiday season is one of the best times to visit Southern
Italy. You can see many shoppers going from store to store for
gifts and foods to prepare for their traditional dinners.
The traditional Christmas Eve dinner is the Feast of the Seven
Fishes, any fish works but traditionally, Calamari, Baccala,