VIAGGI DI VINCENZO

'History Vince' to Teach Course on the Two World Wars at Clifton Community School, BUT only if 6 or more people ask for the class during the registration period!

Were the two world wars—which some historians now see as a thirty-year "civil war of the west"—unavoidable?  Were they obligatory wars?  Were the most devastating, destructive, and genocidal conflicts in human history destined to take place?  Or were there other forces at work? 

It has been said by many that the first casualty in any war is the truth.  Even though it's been nearly sixty-five years since Admiral Doenitz of the German Navy signed the official unconditional terms of surrender, there are still atrociously dishonest lies of commission and omission when writing about or talking about what renowned British historian Norman Davies aptly referred to as "Europe in Torment".  If you'd like a fresh look at this "overly done" subject and if you enjoy surprising anecdotage, then join Vincent Traina in the Spring at Clifton High School for Part I of The Great Civil War of the West: 1914-1945. 

Be prepared to learn things they didn't teach you in High School about European and world events in this period. 

The first part will cover the period from roughly 1900-1925:

• Learn about the events in Europe leading up to the First World War, like how the carnage was brought about by people like Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill and a tiny cabal in the British Cabinet in 1906.

• Learn about the political, economic, & social effects on the European populations during the Great War.

• Learn about the drastic worldwide changes which came about as a result of the War.

• Learn about the Carthaginian peace treaties that cut up central and eastern Europe and set the stage for phase two.

IN‐PERSON REGISTRATION FOR EVENING CLASSES

Will be held in the Main Lobby of Clifton High School on

Monday and Thursday – February 8 and February 11, 2010 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM

MAIL IN REGISTRATION must be postmarked no later than February 24, 2010

FEE - $75    

MONDAYS: 6:00 - 8:00 PM, Ten Weeks

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT – Classes denoted with a * can be used for professional development. Certificates will be issued at the completion of the program.

CLASSES BEGIN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, AND MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010

PAYMENT – Clifton Community School accepts cash, personal checks, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.  Use the registration form on the back page.  Forms may be duplicated.  Credit cards may NOT be used for Senior Citizen Registration—only cash and/or checks will be accepted.

CLIFTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL

PO Box 1676

Clifton, NJ 07015

Clifton High School Main Office

333 Colfax Avenue

Clifton, NJ 07013

Office Phone 973.470.2438

Fax 866.203.0637

Office Hours

Monday  3:30-10:00PM

Thursday  3:30-10:00PM

When classes are in session

ADMINISTRATION

John P. Lopez, Director

Lola Carroll, Secretary to the Director

Sherylee Caramucci, Registrar

www.cliftoncommunityschool.com

Email: jlopez@cliftoncommunityschool.com

SEE ALSO:

Churchill, Hitler, and The Unnecessary War

Hitler's War and the War Path

Churchill's War, Volume I: The Struggle for Power

Churchill's War Volume II: Triumph in Adversity

Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944

Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives

The Struggle for Europe

The Origins of The Second World War

The Last European War: September 1939 - December 1941

Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?

Stalin's War of Extermination, 1941-1945: Planning, Realization and Documentation

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News Source: Clifton Community School

Attention all Italian American groups and citizens, we have an extremely important time sensitive MISSION! Our dear friend, Sgt. Michael Costanza of the MTA police has been diagnosed with Leukemia; he is a young man, only 34 years of age with a wife and two young children.

Sgt. Costanza needs to find a compatible bone marrow donor. Both of his siblings have already been tested but unfortunately they are not a match. He and his family need our help. We need to get the word out to the Italian American community, especially the Sicilian community since he is of Sicilian descent; if you are from the same region, there is a slightly better chance of being a match. We need to get as many people tested as we can to find a donor; we have less than 6 months to find a match.

Sgt. Costanza at that time a member in the NYPD is one of the many selfless individuals that spent months at Ground Zero immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks helping sort through the rubble for survivors and aide in the clean up process as well. Now it’s our turn to return the favor and be his family’s hero.

Please come to Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal on Saturday, February 27, 2010 from 11AM to 6PM Please partake in a simple, non painful check swab (saliva test).

The National Council of Columbia Associations of Civil Service, Brooklyn Staten Island 10-13, NYPD, MTAPD, and Columbus Citizens Foundation are reaching out to all of our friends and family in hope that we will be able to find a match for Sgt. Costanza.

Please pass this on to anyone that you know and let’s show what we already know, that the Italian American community can come together for a good cause and let’s make a miracle happen.

The PBA will be sponsoring the bone marrow recruitment drive for persons that can not afford the test, however it is only $26.00

News Source: Coalition of Italian American Associations, Inc.

Una grande parte della patologia attuale della nostra società può essere correttamente attribuita al suo femminizzazione durante il secolo passato, alla sua perdita del suo spirito maschile e al carattere.  Uno ha bisogno di un equilibrio sano tra le caratteristiche maschili e femminili.

da Rudyard Kipling

IN ENGLISH

Se riuscirai a non perdere la testa quando tutti
la perdono intorno a te, dandone a te la colpa;
se riuscirai ad aver fede in te quando tutti dubitano,
e mettendo in conto anche il loro dubitare;
se riuscirai ad attendere senza stancarti nell'attesa,
se, calunniato, non perderai tempo con le calunnie,
o se, odiato, non ti farai prendere dall'odio,
senza apparir però troppo buono o troppo saggio;

se riuscirai a sognare senza che il sogno sia il padrone;
se riuscirai a pensare senza che pensare sia il tuo scopo,
se riuscirai ad affrontare il successo e l'insuccesso
trattando quei due impostori allo stesso modo;
se riuscirai a riascoltare la verità da te espressa
distorta da furfanti per intrappolarvi gli ingenui,
o a veder crollare le cose per cui dai la tua vita
e a chinarti per rimetterle insieme con mezzi di ripiego;

se riuscirai ad ammucchiare tutte le tue vincite
e a giocartele in un sol colpo a testa-e-croce,
e a perdere ed a ricominciar tutto daccapo,
senza mai fiatare e dir nulla delle perdite;
se riuscirai a costringere cuore, nervi e muscoli,
benché sfiniti da un pezzo, a servire ai tuoi scopi,
e a tener duro quando niente più resta in te
tranne la volontà che ingiunge: «Tieni duro!»;

se riuscirai a parlare alle folle serbando le tue virtù,
o a passeggiar coi re e non perdere il tuo fare ordinario;
se né i nemici né i cari amici riusciranno a colpirti,
se tutti contano per te, ma nessuno mai troppo;
se riuscirai a riempire l'attimo inesorabile
e a dar valore ad ognuno dei suoi sessanta secondi,
il mondo sarà tuo allora, con quanto contiene,
e - quel che è più - tu sarai un Uomo, ragazzo mio!

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Fonte Notizie: AmicoDeiSogni

Much of our society's current pathologies can be attributed to its feminization over the past century, to its loss of its masculine spirit and character.  One needs a healthy balance between masculine and feminine characteristics.

by Rudyard Kipling

IN ITALIANO

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

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News Source: AmicoDeiSogni

Only in New York -- as the state goes flat broke.

A New York City-funded guidebook for heroin users offers information on how to prepare drugs carefully and how to care for veins to avoid infection.

The state's top official with the Drug Enforcement Administration calls it a "step-by-step instruction on how to inject a poison."

DEA Special Agent-In-Charge John Gilbride says the handout is "very disturbing."

View the Guidebook Here (PDF)

But Mayor Bloomberg defends the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's decision to print the pamphlets.

"I would certainly not reccomend to anyone that they use hard drugs or soft drugs," he said. "But our health department does have an interest in if you're going to do certain things to get you to do it as healthily as you possibly can."

The department printed about 70,000 copies of the handout.

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News Source: CBS News

If Michelangelo created the template for the artist as stormy rebel, Bernini was the artist so at peace with society that he could express its deepest fantasies.

Note from contributor:  Art Historians are notorious for never wanting to agree with another scholar's research and conclusions.  While I find many of these points to be historical half-truths, I leave you with a new perspective, perhaps a comical one, about the personal struggles of one of Italy's most beloved artists.  -A. Maglio

Artist: While other 17th-century Italian artists languished in the shadow of the late, "divine" Michelangelo, who died in 1564, Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) shone, even beneath the dome of St. Peter's. You would think that nothing could flourish in that withering void. Yet Bernini's Baldacchino, with its coiling colonnades, is a warm bronze shelter against the vastness.

If Michelangelo created the template for the artist as stormy rebel, Bernini was the artist so at peace with society that he could express its deepest fantasies. Of Angels: his sculpted angels for the Ponte Sant' Angelo in Sant' Andrea delle Frate, Rome, are disturbingly life-like. Of erotic encounters with God: as in what is his most renowned work, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. And of joyous communal city life: his Roman fountains.

Bernini expressed the pleasure of the collective, the sensuality of the pious, the ecstasy of obedience. The individual's desires are not subsumed, but are at one with those of the social order. This is the art of the church at its most powerful, when Jesuits were strutting their stuff in the new world: Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, Rome, includes the figure of the Rio de la Plata, shielding his face interror of the blazing light of Christianity. 

Where Michelangelo was married to his art, Bernini was - as one history of the baroque puts it- "a good husband and father"; where Michelangelo rowed bitterly with Julius II, Bernini played perfect courtier to a succession of popes.  Michelangelo's stress was inherited by Bernini's rival, Francesco Borromini (1599-1667), who committed suicide. Bernini was only once diverted from his happy, successful path.

Subject: The one time Bernini went off the rails, the Pope himself intervened. It was about Costanza Bonarelli, with whom he fell in love when her husband was working as Bernini's assistant in 1636. Bernini, normally so polite, openly insulted the cuckolded husband. Pope Urban VIII stepped in before anyone got killed, advising Bernini to get married.  He did, in 1639, to Caterina Tezio. Their marriage lasted 34 years, they had 11 children and Bernini remained professional and, increasingly, religious to the last, when another Pope blessed him on his deathbed.

Distinguishing features: As apparently spontaneous as a portrait by Monet or Hogarth, this bust invites anachronistic descriptions: Impressionist, Romantic, Rococo. It is as light as air. Or desire. Bernini has made more than a "speaking likeness". He has made an intimate monument to secret moments, a sculpted memento of his lover, whose marble reality dissolves, when you chance on her among the stony dead, into breath, life. Bernini's genius for motion is dedicated to making his lover live for ever. Her wildhair and loose clothes speak of energy and passion. He has caught her mid-glance, mid-conversation, perhaps before or after sex.

It would be tempting to contrast the life of Costanza - so modern, so recognisable - with the cold absolutism of official art. But Bernini brings the same passionate truth to his commissioned portraits of world rulers. If Louis XIV looks away from us disdainfully, Bernini makes it part of an irresistible animation of swirling locks and drapery.

Bernini's theme is the vitality of power. Sex is at the heart of his aesthetic, as epitomised by St Teresa. Costanza is his angel, transfixing him with ecstasy.

Inspirations and influences: Rembrandt and Rubens shared Bernini's baroque cocktail of heroism and intimacy. Both left portraits of 17th-century love.

Where is it?

Bargello, Florence.

Amanda Maglio, a museum professional and writer of childrens' literature, has had an appreciation for all things Italian since she was born.  In addition to receiving a BA in Art History at Skidmore College in New York and an MA at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, she has also studied abroad at SACI in Florence.  Amanda's greatest career-passions are in developing interactive and accessible programs for children and families, as well as leading inquiry-based tours which ask the visitors to "see" through more senses than sight alone.  One of Amanda's earliest memories is hearing her grandmother's beautiful voice singing "C'e la Luna".  If you are ever in the New York City area, have Amanda take you on a tour of her favorite "oggetti d'arte".

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News Source: Guardian.co.uk

The Italian American Committee on Education (IACE) in collaboration with Studio Arcobaleno is sponsoring an educational and cultural trip to Italy.

Two options are offered:

• Option A, March 25-April 2, 2010.

• Option B, March 25-April 6, 2010.

Participants (mainly school/district administrators, university professors, and teachers) will have the opportunity to learn about the Italian school system.

They will visit preschools, elementary and intermediate schools in the northern part of the country. Formal and informal discussions with local teachers and administrators (equipment will be provided for simultaneous translation) will follow each visit. The educational program will be enriched by cultural excursions.

Detailed information on the itinerary and a registration form are provided in the links below.

• Educational and Cultural Trip Program

• Registration Form

Italian American Committee on Education IACE

686 Park Avenue, LL

New York, NY

10065

212 772 8755 (ext 302)

Is your child learning Italian?  Need some help?

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News Source: Italian American Committee on Education

The cycle of history, which is like a living organism, shows time after time that all it takes is one little spark to ignite the flames of change, for better or for worse.  Where will you be, and will you be prepared?

by Gerald Celente

The first decade of the 21st century is going out the way it came in, with a bust and a bang.  The Great Recession is not over.  There is no recovery.  It's a cover up.  Expect another wave of terrorism.  Possibly of 9/11 magnitude.  As well as challenges, also expect profitable and transformational social, health, environmental, entertainment, cultural, business and consumer trends to emerge in 2010.

• The Crash of 2010: The Bailout Bubble is about to burst. Be prepared for the onset of the Greatest Depression.
  

• Depression Uplift: The pursuit of elegance and affordable sophistication will raise spirits and profits. 

• Terrorism 2010: Years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq ¬ and now Pakistan ¬ have intensified anti-American sentiment. 2010 will be the year of the lone-wolf, self-radicalized gunman. 

• Neo-Survivalism: A new breed of survivalist is devising ingenious stratagems to beat the crumbling system. And, they're not all heading for the hills with AK-47's and pork & beans. 

• Not Welcome Here: Fueled by fear and resentment, a global anti-immigration trend will gather force and serve as a major plank in building a new political party in the US. 

• TB or Not TB: With two-thirds of Americans Too Big (TB) for their own good (and everyone else's), 2010 will mark the outbreak of a "War on Fat," providing a ton of business opportunities. 

• Mothers of Invention: Taking off with the speed of the Internet revolution, "Technology for the Poor" will be a major trend in 2010, providing products and services for newly downscaled Western consumers and impoverished consumers everywhere.
  

• Not Made In China: A "Buy Local," "My Country First" protectionist backlash will deliver a big "No" to unrestrained globalism and open solid niches for local and domestic manufacturers.

• The Next Big Thing: Just as the traditional print media (newspapers/magazines) were scooped by Internet competition, so too will new communication technologies herald the end of the TV networks as we know them. The Trends Research Institute has a 30-year unparalleled track record of accurate forecasts.
  

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News Source: Trends Research Institute

On this ultimate day of rest, even the mighty Sun stands momentarily still in the sky.

The word solstice literally means "sun standing still." At the moment of the winter solstice, the path of the sun in the sky over the past six months has reached its furthest southern position and now turns northward.

Today at noon, the sun will stand directly overhead at latitude 23.5 degrees South, the Tropic of Capricorn. For residents of the Southern Hemisphere, it will be the longest day of the year, but for us in the Northern, the day will be the shortest. Indeed, for regions north of 66.5 degrees latitude, the Arctic Circle, the sun will not rise on this day. At best on this date, those near the Circle will see a twilight glow in the noontime sky. And at the North Pole, the day will signify "Midnight."

Although for northern latitudes, the deepest cold is still a month or more away, the winter solstice has been used as the starting point for the winter season. This definition is based on the position of the sun in the sky between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The period has little to do with the weather, even though it does encompass some of the coldest months of the year in northern middle and high latitudes.

In pre-historic times, winter was a very difficult time for the people in the northern European latitudes. The growing season had ended and the tribe had to live off of stored food and whatever animals they could catch. The people would be troubled as the life-giving sun sank lower in the sky each noon. They feared that it would eventually disappear and leave them in permanent darkness and extreme cold.

After the winter solstice, they would have reason to celebrate as they saw the sun rising and strengthening once more. Although many months of cold weather remained before spring, they took heart that the return of the warm season was inevitable. The concept of birth and or death/rebirth became associated with the winter solstice. The Aboriginal people had no elaborate instruments to detect the solstice. But they were able to notice a slight elevation of the sun's path within a few days after the solstice -- perhaps by December 25. Celebrations were often timed for about the 25th.

As the human species moved further away from its tropical birthplace, the impacts of the short winter days became important and the event woven into the social, cultural and religious fabric as well as the species' biology.

Festivals, rituals and celebrations appear throughout human cultures, beginning at least in the Neolithic Period of 10,000 years ago. We all have heard of Stonehenge and its function as a megalithic solar observatory. We now know that it has a contemporary counterpart in Ireland called Newgrange, which is estimated to be 5000 years old. Newgrange is also a solar observatory designed to funnel a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on the day of the Winter Solstice. Around the world, many such sites, including medieval churches, incorporate elements to determine and mark the important day of the Winter Solstice.

The best known celebration/festival during late December is Christmas, but it is a recent festival added to the list. Its date was set by the Roman Emperor during the Fourth Century to coincide with pagan rituals and celebrations surrounding the Winter Solstice. There are great similarities to the "Birth of the Son" and the "Rebirth of the Sun" beyond the obvious similarity of words.

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News Source: WVWNews

Jesus was not born on December 25th but a whole bunch of pagan gods were.

Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25th?  Many people assume that it has always been a Christian holiday and that it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus.  But it turns out that Jesus was not born on December 25th.  However, a whole bunch of pagan gods were born on that day.  In fact, pagans celebrated a festival involving a heroic supernatural figure that visits an evergreen tree and leaves gifts on December 25th long before Jesus was ever born. 

From its early Babylonian roots, the celebration of the birth or "rebirth" of the sun god on December 25th came to be celebrated under various names all over the ancient world.  You see, the winter solstice occurs a few days before December 25th each year. The winter solstice is the day of the year when daylight is the shortest.  In ancient times, December 25th was the day each year when the day started to become noticeably longer.  Thus it was fitting for the early pagans to designate December 25th as the date of the birth or the "rebirth" of the sun.

The truth is that thousands of years before there was a "Santa Claus", there was another supernatural figure who would supposedly visit a tree and leave gifts every December 25th.  His name was Nimrod. 

The celebration of December 25th goes all the way back to ancient Babylon.

Continue...

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News Source: Mysteries Of The World