Scaramucci & Stereotypes
I don't want to laugh too much at the jokes about DT's new White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci. I know if I do, I'll wind up laughing at something that is making fun of more than just this (kind of gross) guy: a lot of these jokes aren't about Scaramucci so much as they're the same old stereotypes about Italian-Americans no one in America minds using. Some of the reflex Italian-American identity industry have already tried to distance themselves from him,
Watermelon Love
Today I talked to my mother on Skype—she is getting ready to visit me, something that hasn't happened in two years—and behind her, on a calendar, was an image of a watermelon, and the significance of this simple combination nearly overcame with wonder. It took me a long time to get to this point, but now that I am here, I want to dwell in it for a moment. I've been full of watermelon lately. I recently rode my bike on a trail alongside a watermelon patch, on a trail that was
