"The Sopranos" in a Bakhtinian dialogical text
Fordham University in New York City just played host to a symposium focused upon the HBO television series "The Sopranos". The conference included a four-hour bus trip to visit series locations as well as a guest appearance by actor Dominic Chianese, who portrayed Uncle Junior.From The New Yorker article embedded above...
"The most compelling presentations were not by the theorists but by other kinds of expert. Dianna Rivers, a professor of nursing from Texas, discussed the financial difficulties that Tony’s men, not employed by the kind of organization that offers Blue Cross, faced as a result of their frequent hospitalizations. Philip Scala, a retired F.B.I. agent, said that the ritual by which Christopher was “made” was entirely accurate, down to the burning of the saint’s picture, but that, as part of the lowering of standards so often deplored by Tony, the DeCa-valcante family, said to be the model for Tony’s crew, had abandoned the ceremony: “They would just have a pizza party and say, ‘You’re made.’ ” (This caused other families to disrespect them.) Two brave men involved in Mafia cleanups in Sicily—Fabio Licata, a judge, and Antonio Ingroia, a prosecutor—reported that “The Sopranos” never caught on with Italians. “They didn’t understand how a Mafia boss could have psychological problems,” Ingroia said.
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The Ten-pin shuffle: I jinxed it. The same month I made passing reference to the International Bowling Hall of Fame, the semi-popular tourist attraction located in downtown St. Louis, the museum's board announces that it's relocating to Arlington, Texas. It would appear another casualty of the baseball Cardinals' "Ballpark Village" boondoggle surrounding Busch Stadium III. Simultaneously, the Milwaukee, WI suburbs are losing the United States Bowling Congress to the same Dallas suburb. When did Texas supplant the American Midwest as the hub of the bowling world? I blame Barack Obama.
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The National Park Service is contemplating the return of part of Badlands National Park in western South Dakota to the Oglala Sioux tribe. There are delicate issues here involving tribal rights and environmental concerns. I wish I had the answers. The park is extraordinarily beautiful and worth the best of our federal conservation efforts, but having driven through the described southern part of the park and Pine Ridge Reservation last summer, the poverty coupled with the carelessly discarded refuse on the Indian land was alarming. There's hopefully-- and quite likely-- a lot of truth to the tribe activist's words in the linked article-- "The people took better care of it when it was theirs," but I'm not so militant as to buy into his claim that "the whole park service is environmental racism" against Indian peoples.
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People on the street are speaking out about Hillary Clinton's suspended presidential bid.
posted by CM @ 3:48 PM
3 Comments:
Bowling is as Midwestern as Iggy Pop. I am serously ticked about this. You cannot get anymore pretentious than Dallas.
Bowling is as Midwestern as "Happy Days" and Hall-of-Famer Dick Weber-- Indianapolis native and long-time St. Louisan. I defy anyone to go to the Bowling Museum (regardless of its location), look at the pictures of the greatest bowlers of all time in their plaid sport coats and not think of the Midwest.
I remember Jim Zabel hosting "Keglar's Korner" It had everything I love about bowling. "Millie is 68 from Estherville...look at that control!, she really is taking no prisoners today"
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