Dear All,
You are receiving this email to introduce our "Dear
All" emails because of your interest in Calabria and your affiliation with
Parkside. I myself am a graduate of Parkside having received both my BS
and MBA degrees from there some years ago. Our "Dear All" series of
emails is intended to share a little of Calabria and direct our readers to
our website at http://Calabrianlife.com.
We offer dual language stories and Italian language
training online that can be read and used in their entirety for free.
We also offer PDF booklets, digital images and screen savers for a few
dollars that can be downloaded for reading at one's leisure or sharing with
family and friends. Our stories all have a Calabrian theme and range
from very simple to very difficult to suit the needs of students learning
Italian at all levels, and compliment our free online Italian
training.
Our objective is to inform and interest English
speaking individuals of Calabrian descent, Italian students and other
Italophiles in experiencing Calabria for themselves by describing
Calabria honestly in words and pictures. Calabria is on the grow, has great
natural beauty and wonderful people here who shouldn't be missed by those who's
parents and grandparents emigrated from here many years ago.
Here is an example from an earlier "Dear All"
note:
Now that the summer is behind us, and our thoughts are
turning to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'd like to suggest that some vacation
planning for next year is in order, and I'd like you to consider
Calabria! Why Not? For
sure we all have plenty of options when it comes to taking a vacation, but I ask
again.. Why not visit Calabria? I often tell people, "If your first visit
lasts a week, the next time it will probably be for a month, and
after that, perhaps for the season"!
Calabria, if nothing else is a kaleidoscope
of diversity. Each season brings new options and new reasons to be
with her. Her rainy winter mantel of rich deep green that glistens
like diamonds in the sunlight is followed by a cloak of pastel colors
as spring wild flowers gently blanket her hillsides, then as spring
warms the mountains and sea, millions of poppies explode in the fields
turning them to a bright red-orange, that gives way to the light tan of early
summer and finally burnt umber of late summer. It isn't an
accident that Calabria is becoming a favorite destination
for northern Europeans. Our local airport has connecting flights
from Milan and Rome with daily flights to London and weekly flights to Moscow in
season that bring an ever increasing number of new people and new ideas to an
age old land and style of living, that will all too soon be a memory as the
world discovers her, then consumes her.
Many, (Italians and non-Italians) like me find
something in Calabria that we perhaps don't quite understand, but none the
less, are drawn to her. For most, it is the warm climate,
relaxing beaches, beautiful vistas and investment opportunities. But
those things are simply lures to draw people to her. We come back,
and have even decided to stay to be among the warm and inviting Calabrian people
as much as possible. That is not to say that Calabria is not without her
faults. She, like the beautiful woman who keeps her lovers at
an arms length, teases us with her incredible beauty and at the same time
disappoints us with her whimsy and lack of refinement.
For myself, it started with a desire
to reconnect with my Italian heritage.. I return because in some way I
came to realize Calabria is the homeland I never new as a child,
the place that shaped me without my knowing it, and when I'm away from her I
miss her warm embrace. Now that I know her, I can't imagine life without
her. Here is a very personal story (in
English and Italian) about my own grandfather and his difficult decision to
leave Calabria to come to the states.. It must have been a heck of a
decision to make.. I sometimes wonder if he didn't somehow send me back to
here to live his dream of returning some day. Read the story on line
at: http://www.calabrianlife.com/Stories/History/Carmine_Eng.html
or, if you prefer knowing that Spring is just around the corner, might I
suggest: http://www.calabrianlife.com/Stories/Mythology/March_eng.html
Enjoy! Please share this email with friends and
family that might be interested in Calabria!
Martino
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