A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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Dear members and friends:
We began 2019 in very good fashion. Our general meeting, held on January 27, drew approximately 100 members and guests — clearly one of our more popular events. Those in attendance were not disappointed, as our featured speaker (Professor Anna Harwell Celenza of Georgetown University) and our caterer (Osteria da Nino) lived up to the high expectations.
Professor Harwell Celenza’s presentation on her book “Jazz Italian Style” was both very informative and extremely interesting, as she wove together strands of Italian and Italian-American history, music and culture — all endlessly fascinating on their own and even more riveting together. Two of our special guests included Maria Fusco, the Director of Education at the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Julia Paola, a freshman at George Washington University.
Professor Fusco spoke briefly about the important work that the Embassy is carrying out in the promotion of the Italian language and culture. Ms. Paola will be the Society’s first formal intern when she begins assisting us later this year, so the meeting provided a good opportunity for her and some members of the Executive Committee (EC) to get to know each other. Prior to the lunch and presentation, we took care of two very important items of business.
AMHS members in attendance, representing our membership at large, unanimously approved by secret ballot an Executive Committee (EC) decision to have our Society become a member of the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center (CISC) Capital Founders Fund. The Capital Founders Fund consists of a group of donors and supporters committed to the future success of CISC as it begins a new phase in its history. You can find out more about this significant and exciting development in a separate article of this Notiziario. The second item of business was the swearing in of three new EC members: Andrea Balzano, Alfred Del Grosso and Helina Zewdu Nega.
I thank them again for their willingness to serve on the Board and make their skills available to the running of the society. I also thank again the members they are replacing (Sarah Scott, Jonathan Stern and Lourdes Tinajero) for their commitment and past contributions and look forward to working with them again. Our next general meeting will be on March 24th. It will take place at Alfio’s La Trattoria, in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
This location will be a change for us as our general meetings outside of Casa Italiana have routinely taken place in the recent past at Carmine’s. For some background on the decision to alter what has been our recent choice of venue away from Casa Italiana, see the article in this Notiziario. The March meeting will feature AMHS member, videographer and filmmaker Kirsten Keppel, who will present her film on the St. Joseph’s Day Table. Kirsten’s film on this ancient tradition was a finalist in the Russo Brothers Italian American Film Forum and will be an appropriate topic for the month of March.
In addition, spring will have officially sprung by the time Kirsten shows her film, so there will be an additional reason to celebrate. Those who have seen the film have been consistently effusive in their praise. So please mark your calendars for what will undoubtedly be another excellent presentation. The turnout for our January meeting was indeed gratifying. I encourage you to continue to attend our general meetings, which offer a great way for us to get together, get to know each other, learn something new, and be entertained, while also enjoying a good meal.
I apologize to those members who were turned away from the January meeting. We did not order extra meals in advance when we gave our final number to the caterer, so there was some concern about not having enough for everyone. We regret that omission and ask for your understanding. We will build in flexibility with our caterers going forward. That said, please try to register for the meetings before the deadline, which makes things easier for those lending a hand in hospitality. We understand that plans sometimes change, so some last-minute registration is inevitable. However, a late surge of interest the day before a meeting can be hard to manage, as most caterers expect a final count to be final. Enjoy the Spring!
Best regards,
Ray LaVerghetta