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  • Facts & Stories

    Italian Americans in the Trap of Television. An Interview with Maria Laurino

    Ottorino Cappelli(January 18, 2010)
    Italian Americans should put an end to their obsession with their image in the television media. Television, in general, tends to caricature reality; it likes showing things that are over the top. This is not about Italian Americans—it is about the media, it's about "reality show." The controversy about MTV's Jersey Shore and the Calandra Institute's colloquium on the "Guido lifestyle" should not be resolved by censorship. It is only through dialogue that you are going to better understand these complex issues of ethnic identity and the media, and further the discussion. Censoring dialogue is always a dangerous act. It reveals a kind of ethnic nationalism that is only about pride and doesn’t allow for any kind of questioning or dissent.
  • Op-Eds

    Keyword: Different. What Guidos Are, and Are Not

    Johnny DeCarlo*(January 17, 2010)
    The "Guido/Goomba/Cugine" is a very distinctive-looking, working-class East Coast Italian-American. The whole lifestyle may seem shallow or strange to some, but “authentic” Italian-American life does not have to revolve around formal language, Renaissance art or the opera. This is indeed a subculture that is very complex and needs exploration—not shunning and shame. There can be civil discussions about all these differences, but there should never be any mean-spirited debates on which is right or wrong.
  • Life & People

    Guido: Stereotype, Caricature, or Lifestyle?

    Chiara and Franco Montalto(January 16, 2010)
    What is this guido thing? Is it pure caricature put on us by the outside world, or do we have an active part in it? Is it lifestyle or demeaning stereotype? A (former guido) brother who now teaches environmental engineering, and a (longtime anti-guido) sister who is now an actress, writer and filmmaker, look back.
  • Op-Eds

    Guidos and Negros

    Jerry Krase(January 14, 2010)
    The Italian and Italian American traditions share many common practices, the most important of which for the case at hand is the knack for rhetorical and other displays. It is the "others," such as Wasps, who are supposed to be tight-lipped and up-tight when it comes to potentially embarrassing issues. In my opinion, the term "Guido" and its associated youth style deserves a cool headed discussion, as well as the heated conversation it now enjoys.
  • Op-Eds

    Dialogue and Debate, Part two: An Italian-American Controversy

    Fred Gardaphe(January 09, 2010)
    Editorial Note: On January 21 (10am) the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute will host a colloquium entitled "Guido: An Italian-American Youth Style." Guest speakers include Professor Donald Tricarico, a sociologist who has been studying the "guido culture" for a number of years, and Mr. Jonny DeCarlo, a self-professed guido and a freelance writer. Born out of the MTV reality show “Jersey Shore” and the subsequent anti-defamation charges by national Italian-American organizations, the colloquium proposes an objective, intellectual investigation of this component of Italian-American youth, which is often ignored or misunderstood. Some exponents of the Italian-American community have objected to the Calandra Institute holding such colloquium at all, seeing it as a "legitimation" of the guido lifestyle, ultimately playing into the hands of MTV and those whe defame Italian Americans. Critics have singled out, among others, Fred Gardaphe, Distinguised Professor of Italian American Studies, for supporting the Calandra Institue's initiative and stating in a Time Magazine interview that the wave of negative response to Jersey Shore come from what he calls "irony deficiency" in the Italian-American community. Here are Professor Gardaphe's responses to his critics and all those who believe in boycotting intellectual investigations.

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