Ritratti Portraits
Misunderstanding General Giáp
Amy Bernstein was over and under and into the moon, and I was, by chance, the only boy within reach of her voracious lips. I was a ninth-grader in a [...]
How deep is the wound?
David Amory remembers his grandfather, a German Jew who was involved in the French Resistance, and contemplates the Israel-Palestine situation.
Barbie: beginning to become
Barbie has had many names throughout the years. Twist and Turn Barbie tells what she’s capable of. Astronaut Barbie identifies what she does. Barbie by any other name might still [...]
The kidnapped bucket
It was on a hot and sad Monday morning that I discovered the disappearance of my wet waste “poubelle agréée,” as I call, à la française (and after the title [...]
Vengeance unleashed
Israel makes war under the cover of a legacy of victimhood. With impunity and at times indiscriminately, it attacks all that its Palestinian enemies possess with a relentless ardor that [...]
23. Father Knows Best: Misunderstandings
With my mother now a resident of Neverland, camped out in Europe by choice and what she might do next as ambiguous as the suggestive endings attached to “The Twilight [...]
Divorce or un-divorce?
An old friend recently filled me in on the details of a circle of friends and acquaintances that goes back a few decades. It was what you’d expect from people [...]
22. Female Trouble: Samantha the Wise
After I interrupted Tony and Sarah in their anatomical machinations in my garage, and was humiliated as a result, I worked hard for Sarah’s forgiveness. The female trouble all around [...]
The taste of mustard
As I was sitting at the table, someone said, “Have I ever steered you wrong?” I looked up to see my father tottering in the entrance way. I gazed at [...]
21. Female Trouble: A Post-mother life
The surge of female trouble that culminated, at least for me, in my mother’s decision that she would not be returning from a vacation she had taken in Rome was [...]
The lunatic
I am the madman of my apartment block. I have this propensity that is entirely un-Italian: I leave my front door open wide. To be more precise, when I know [...]
Author
Tina Marisa Rocchio grew up in Vermont but has spent her adult life in Italy. She is fascinated by place, identity, and belonging.