Nonna Francesca Gangemi
5/12/1918-18/8/2019 In Loving Memory of Her Nonna my love, why did you leave so soon? It makes me sad that I can’t hug you one more time Or see you smile. I missed you every day since after I left you. Now you left me and there is no end to my mancanza. The love that makes me sad that makes me miss that makes me know Somewhere in heaven Your smile, just for me your laugh, you know the one you saved for me And all your other ones for everyone else Beam now Like the sun sets behind Palinudo’s verde hills full of bright lights and celestial colors that remain long after the end of the day. As certain as I am our eyes are brown I know your soul, your spirit became forever parts of the village we all love. And when my feet first arrive in Calabria next, I will breathe in your love and feel your spirit catch my hair with the wind. And that missing of you will become sacred in your ethereal presence. Together we will walk on dirt roads. Pick perfect apricots from the tree up the street. Keenly clean each corner of your home and kneel close to the kitchen fire and cry. I miss you forever. Now our family mourns, devastated by our loss. I mourn you with my heart in my eyes and tears dripping down a face that hates to cry. I need to cry, for you my nonna. You know I love you so much. I know you held on so long for us. Thank you. Ti voglio tanto tanto tanto bene I love you like the air in Palinudo- Reviving, refreshing, restoring. Death frees in ways we alive can never understand. Be free in love and peace. Be free sweet nonna and please will you make me minestra when I get to heaven first thing? I Love you forever, Jessica
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Before I wrote this blog post, I felt a need to think carefully about the gun control debate and to speak with a pro-gun person. Luckily, an old friend since childhood stopped by my sister’s house and gave me that opportunity. Tommy, an enthusiastic hunter, spoke with me about the gun debate and what he said helped me better understand the issue at hand. He said, “Gun control is a voting topic.” I added, “but which way do you vote?” The more we talked about gun control, the more I began to understand his point of view- that a bad person who wants a gun will do anything they can to get that gun. I have to admit that he is right, although the strong hate I feel for guns keeps flaming inside me.
After I thought closely about this conversation, I concluded that the power is the real culprit of the recent epidemic of mass shootings and not gun laws. Since Donald Trump became president, the number of mass shootings that have occurred in the United States has exponentially increased although I cannot locate the exact statistic. I want the accurate statistic, but I’m not sure that it will be possible to obtain. Based upon a usually accurate memory, I would say that we have experienced more mass shootings and/or attempts at mass shootings during Donald Trump’s presidency than the combined total of the five previous presidents. However, in the past 35 years not much has changed about gun laws. If gun laws have not undergone significant changes then why are we experiencing an extreme increase in mass shootings? As mentioned previously, I blame power, which has the ability to do extensive harm when given to the wrong person who cares little for most others. Any form of power is just as likely to damage society, as it is to help. I quote Marie Antoinette in this title because she reminds me a lot of our current president. When her country was starving, Marie Antoinette famously said, “Let them eat cake,” which demonstrated her profound ignorance of life outside of a palace. Trump is a rich man who is ignorant of life outside of a mansion. Neither could understand their people, being so removed from reality without wealth. Although Donald Trump has never said ‘feed them with hate’, his words and actions suggest that he believes this. During his short presidency, he has exaggerated divides to the detriment of us all. Potential nuclear warfare with North Kore, a missile scare crisis with Iran, the trade war, the detention of immigrants, demeaning remarks about different racial and ethnic groups, a full reversal of women’s rights, the end of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), withdraw from the United Nation’s human rights council, and finally the funding of his mostly symbolic wall. I am sure there are more examples, but these are the first that came to mind. Every one of these illustrations demonstrate the current President’s stance on divides and it is dangerous. When everyday people witness a president, whose actions and words insinuate ‘feed them with hate’, then people are filled with hate and/or fear. Trump normalizes violence, hate, divides and now people are copying him without understanding that life is not a game. No one gets more than one life, unlike video games. “Actions speak louder than words,” and we are all experiencing the turmoil caused by a President whose actions are fueled by greed, violence, ignorance, and selfishness. When he does speak, it is either to promote divisions or minimize his part in the tragedies we have to deal with, like two mass shootings in one week. This is not to excuse the actions of the shooters; there are no good reasons to murder ever. This point of this blog is to highlight the danger associated with a President waging war on the world and within the United States itself. Gun control is not the only voting topic, and we should all keep this in mind when we vote in the upcoming presidential race. I hope that the consequences of ‘feed them hate’ gives us a different president. I know that money can buy a lot of things. What it cannot buy is life after someone dies. Money cannot buy a return to health for people or land after missiles or nuclear bombs get dropped. Money cannot buy a lot of things and I hope a presidential election becomes one of those things. I am deeply sorry for all who were directly affected by the recent mass shootings and hope this blog inspires others to stop breeding hate and dangerous divides. “Let them eat Peace. Feed them with Love.” – Dr. Jess Nobile Discrimination is the season winter: it causes death, isolation, frigid feelings, and covers the earth with a blanket of white supremacy. White supremacists emerge themselves in an extreme ethnocentric view, which causes many disadvantages to all parties involved. These disadvantages motivate across all aspects of society: health care, labor, housing, education, and etc.
My education began in the Woodland Hills School District: a district created to combat the segregation between the former Rankin (predominantly black), Turtle Creek (predominantly white), and Churchill (predominantly white) and a few other school districts. The discrimination that created Woodland Hills School District has greatly influenced my life and the way I view society. My early schooling challenged the disadvantages created by discrimination. It created a learning environment where both blacks and whites viewed each other as equals. Racial tensions rarely surfaced because we were all united through the love of Woodland Hills: we were not white, black or other; we were Wolverines. There were many differences between individual wolverines and their upbringing due to the vast area covered by the school district, but this did not impede progress. Progress, education, and the appreciation of differences characterized my early schooling. The disadvantages created by segregated school districts was removed and then replaced with an educational environment that supported integration. That integration removed racial barriers and granted the same opportunities to all children and young adults involved in the school district. Children, young adults, teachers, and staff all profited from the racially diverse school district. Although things have changed with the times (loss of funds, charter schools, white flight), the school district I attended instilled and still instills equality as a value to be upheld and cherished by all students there. In closing, I am extremely thankful that I attended Woodland Hills School District; it made me the woman I am today. I have never learned to view anyone as different or wrong because of their race. My early schooling taught me to view everyone as the same and equal, regardless of race. I will forever be grateful to Woodland Hills for teaching me to admire differences rather than shun them. Woodland Hills School District is the season spring: it causes renewal of life, fresh attitudes, symphonic and spiritual senses, and illuminates the world in vibrant colors. |
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