Episode Details

First on ITALICS we’ll explore Issues of Ethnicity, Race and Identity, as we take you to the Calandra Institute, for our annual conference, whose theme this year is, “Re-Imagining White Ethnicity: Expressivity, Identity, Race” . The Conference was held at The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute/Queens College/CUNY in Mid-town Manhattan, on April 26th through April 28th, and drew scholars of many and varied disciplines, from Academic Institutions from around the globe. “Re-Imagining White Ethnicity”, was co-sponsored by The Center for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, at Queens College/CUNY.

Next ITALICS takes you to a recent reading of excerpts from, “Celluloid Activist, The Life and Times of Vito Russo”, a new biography by Professor Michael Schiavi. “Celluloid Activist”, explores the life of this Gay, Italian American Hero And Iconoclast, from his East Harlem, N.Y. childhood, before Stonewall, before he was a Founding Member of GLAAD and Act-up, his writing and opening of “The Celluloid Closet”, through his death from AIDS in 1990 and beyond. Vito Russo wrote “The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in The Movies” in 1981, and its revised edition 1987, remains as a foundational work in Gay and Lesbian Film Studies. Professor Schiavi wrote “Celluloid Activist” with the permission and participation of Vito Russo’s Family, Friends and Colleagues, and appears in the new HBO Documentary, “Vito”, which premieres nationally on July 23rd. Professor Michael Schiavi’s lecture was part of The Calandra Institute’s Writer’s Read Series.

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