Higher learning is such an empty phrase these days. A recent lecture at my local community college should have billed the event as “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” Instead, it was “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.” Jesus would have ...

The late, great African American comedian Richard Pryor had a bit where he related that one of his ex-wives once caught him in flagrante delicto with another woman. Unfazed, Pryor looked at his enraged wife and said, "Now who you ...

U.S. Ambassador to Rome, Tilman J. Fertitta, has got nothing on me. Having sojourned last year to Calabria’s majestic Costa degli Dei—the Coast of the Gods—where the pristinely transparent sea meets the vast cerulean sky, I found myself, one year ...

Frank Sinatra lived to 82, Connie Francis to 87 and Tony Bennett to 96. Like many other Italian-American singers they were blessed with longevity. At least three, however, were not. They apparently were under a maledizione (Italian curse). Russ Columbo ...

Alfred E. Smith Who were the pioneer U.S. government officials with Italian roots? The answers are more than names that belong in history books. In a tangible way they provide a measure of how far Italian-Americans have come in the ...