After the Earthquake: Italians Recover Their Pets

There is an article on the front page of ANSA.com that caught my attention today about pets that have been found alive and well in the rubble a full week after the tragic earthquake. The local authorities are having difficulty locating the owners of the fortunate animals because the citizens are so dispersed because of the disaster. Dog collars or even implanted tracking microchips don't really help when the address and phone number provided no longer exists.

The article ended with a first hand story told by a couple from Rome who lost their dog on the day of the earthquake and were just reunited with him. It really is a touching story. Here is the portion of the article:

"One such story emerged on Easter Sunday, when a tiny grey dog was pulled alive and well from the remains of a hotel after spending eight days trapped beneath rubble. Nicknamed "Pasqualina", meaning Little Easter, by rescue workers, the dog was staying in a L'Aquila hotel with her owners from Rome when the quake struck. The couple only realized their beloved pet was trapped inside after fleeing the hotel. "At that point it was too late - the stairs had collapsed and when I tried to get back in, the floor gave way as well," explained Marcello Luciolimoli, who had to be held back by firefighters as he struggled to get in. The couple eventually gave up and returned to Rome. But on Easter Sunday, they rushed back to L'Aquila for an emotional reunion with Pasqualina, after rescue workers tracked them down through her microchip."

In all of the journalism classes I have taken so far, I have been taught to write "people stories." This term means to lead the article with a news worthy individual and their particular situation or perspective on a broad issue. The purpose is write with the intention to immediately relate to the reader and hook them in with the first paragraph and then explain the broader perspective and end off with the technical aspect. This article did the exact opposite. I thought that was interesting to see; maybe it shows a different way that Italian news consumers read information or what journalists deem as most crucial to their article.

Russell Peters on Italy

Russell Peters is a stand-up comedian from Canada. This is part of his latest DVD called Red, White, and Brown. It was released in Canada in September 2008 and in the U.S. on January 27, 2009. He talks about his visit to Italy and the language and people there. It's pretty funny. Check it out!

Guess I probably should warn you that he says the "F" word a couple of times towards the end.. but it is for a good joke!

Adnkronos International as a "bridge" to the Arab World

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/hp/#

This link connects to the main page of the AKI website. There is a video there titled "Adnkronos Multimedia Platform" that is about how the reporters for AKI cover news and information in the Arab world. The founder of AKI is in the video and he explains why he feels it is important for Italy to be connected to their neighbors in the Middle East. Very interesting video clip that explains why this site offers news in Arabic over many other languages and goes into detail about how and why they cover the issues and geographic locations that they do.

Culture of Romance

Rome - February 10, 2009 - You can take inspiration from the 'country of romance' by learning some lovely Italian phrases to say to your sweetheart on Valentine's Day. This will cost you nothing but a bit of time and effort and will sound sexy when whispered into your lover's ear.

Italians are in love with love and romance. They revel in the news of any engagement, marriage or birth of a baby. As you stroll through any town in Italy, you will see lovers intertwined and oblivious to anything going on around them. Romance and passion are a necessity for Italians.

This has always been true in Italy: think of Romeo and Juliet, Casanova, Marcello Mastroianni, and Sofia Loren or Raoul Bova and Diane Lane in "Under the Tuscan Sun ".

Consider the songs of Andrea Bocelli; while the music is beautiful, so much of the emotion has to do with the passionate words he is emoting.

What of the many romantic movies filmed in Italy such as Room With a View, Under The Tuscan Sun, Respiro, Summertime and many, many more?

You can be as romantic as any Italian by using a few simple phrases listed below:

Ti amo-I love you
Ti adoro-I adore you
Mi manchi-I miss you
Ti penso sempre-I always think about you
Sei sempre nel mio cuore- You are always in my heart
Voglio baciarti-I want to kiss you
Sei molto bella/bello-You are very beautiful/handsome
Mi manchi come l'aria che respiro-I miss you like the air that I breathe
Vaffanculo!-Happy Valentine's Day!

This is an article taken from OnlyInItaly.com. I know Valentine's Day was a while ago but I was in a romantic mood when I saw this article and I thought it was sweet! Italian is such a beautiful language, it only seems fit that the culture is one that values love and romance.

April Fools Day!!!!!

This video is absolutely hilarious. Prank #3 is what I did to my mom for about seven consecutive years. Had to put it on here.

Happy April Fools!!

Italy: Human Trafficking gang busted

Italian police in the northeastern city of Udine carried out a successful operation titled "Goldfish-2" dismantling a major human trafficking gang in the area.This criminal gang has allegedly trafficked hundreds of illegal immigrants from India and Pakistan into Europe. A majority of the illegal immigrants end up in Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, via countries such as the Ukraine and Russia.

For another assignment in this class, I am looking into human trafficking issues in the United States and abroad. I found an article today on AKI website about the gang bust and after reading it I can see how big of a problem human trafficking is. There is the obvious problem of illegal immigrants entering countries and the effects on the security of their borders. But an additional issue is the standard of living of the immigrants during and after they are illegally transported. This article discussed immigrants entering the European Union coming particularly from Pakistan and India. This issue seems to be on a larger scale than most people realize.

Could their living situation really be so horrible in their homeland that they subject themselves to these dangerous gang members?
Where would the international community even begin to minimize this problem?

In this article, it was mentioned that this gang had headquarters in Moscow, Italy and Slovakia and people working together between the three locations. This is scary to me because this issue is on an international scale. Criminals in different regions, with different laws and different governments, are collaborating to move these people illegally in and out of countries. When I look further into this issue for my project I'm sure I will discover that human trafficking is even worse and bigger than what I can see now.

SOCCER: Impossible Goal of Mascara from Center Field