| Chapter 7: | The Schools |
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to participate in a few of his programs. Miss DiPino would prepare us for each participation. Dr. Covello took me to a class he was conducting in teacher education at New York University. I spoke to his students in English and Italian. I found a sophisticated environment at the university, an environment I had never thought existed. Years later, Professor Francesco Cordasco told me Dr. Covello considered me a son.
One day in my Italian class Miss DiPino was drilling us in Italian vocabulary.
“Salvatore. How do you say ‘a little’ in Italian?”
“Tanticchia,” I said in Sicilian, without thinking.
“Salvatore!”
“Un poco.”
“Much better.”
Teachers at Benjamin Franklin, including Charles Calitri, were introducing me to American and English literature. I was allowed as a top student at Franklin to take Calitri’s course titled “American History and Social Problems in the Light of American Literature.” The aim of the course “is to acquaint students with the thoughts and attitudes of outstanding American authors on current problems of American democracy.” The course was intended to offer not only “literature but intercultural knowledge.” I remember how shocked we were when Charlie announced that he was an Italian Jew.
“You gotta be kidding,” Louie Russo replied. “There are no Jews in Italy.”