Hey Little Italy - TJ Griggs and Olivia Kirke
Summary of each verse
Verse 1
Confetti for Gino is a realist novel, written in the third person of a fishing community of San Diego in the 1950’s. The story also talks about the conflict between your ethnic identity and the American dream, specifically mentioning that the “The melting pot begins to cool”. The book reeks with gossip as it retains its pulp identify which helps with its appeal. The catholic faith plays a very prominent role in Gino’s identity, as he is expected to follow all of their traditional rituals – especially marrying an Italian woman. The pressure to follow the standards set by his mother pushes him to rebel from the Italian culture. We see this most notably when he begins to use “wop” as a derogatory term rather than playful. Throughout the novel, Gino still has reactions that show his attachment to the Italian community even in his state of confusion. Marco did try and bring Gino to his senses, telling him that “you’re nothing but a Whop fisherman… the sooner you admit it, the better” (Madalena, 250). This was the ultimate push that lead to Gino leaving Vicky.
Our Lady of the Rosary was a church funded by the town of Little Italy. The fisherman put a tax on their catches in order to help build the church. In less than 2 years, enough money was raised to build the church which still stands today.
Verse 2
In our Honors class, we were lucky enough to have Jim Bregante speak to our class about his life as a child in historic Little Italy. Jim shared his experience of growing up in Little Italy, near all the vibrant waterfront life. Jim attended Washington Elementary and lived in the iconic yellow bungalows on India street. Those bungalows were purchased by wealthy fisherman so that they could move their family to America. They are also known as honeymoon cottages since many people lived there after they first get married. In the presentation, Jim mentioned that his nickname for his entire life was the Reverend because he was an alter boy at Our Lady of the Rosary.
Verse 3
The amazing opportunity to have a tour of Little Italy brought us inspiration for this final verse. The walking tour gave us insights to the changes Little Italy has faced since its has become a tourist destination rather than a community. This tour made our past readings and lectures come to life as we saw the scenes in real life.
Mockumentary
Inspiration for Mockumentary:
https://genius.com/videos/Billie-eilish-breaks-down-idontwannabeyouanymore
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- How is the project/topic related to the books/ films/ guests/ trips in the course? (Did you make those connections explicit by citing the works/texts?)
Our project is clearly related to three portions of the that were related to Little Italy and presented in the class. First, we wrote a verse about Confetti for Gino, a novel we read that takes place in Little Italy. Second, we wrote a verse about Jim Bregante filled with information from his presentation in our class. Finally, our last verse was about Little Italy in general, using information from our Little Italy tour. These connections are clear in the song, as we directly mention Gino and Jim Bregante in the song.
- Level of creativity/ artistic vision of the project as legitimate forms and types of arguments - In other words, I will consider "how" the project is constructed/envisioned as much as "what" (or "who") it is about. Effort, thoughtfulness, meaningfulness and fun will be noted. (More traditional essays will not be penalized)
Our project contains creativity/ an artistic vision as it was a song. The song was mixed with an interview becoming a mockumentary. Both aspects of this project, the song and the mockumentary, included a strong amount of artistic vision. We spent a lot of time writing the song and had a lot of fun practicing and recording it.
-Reflection on the project: why did you choose it; what was the process of working on it like; what did you get our of it?
We chose a song and mockumentary because they would be something that require a strong artistic vision. It would require us to step outside of our comfort zone to present it, and ended up being a lot of fun. To work on the song we would sit together, rhyme words and play chords on the guitar repeatedly until we heard something we liked. We maybe even had a little wine to get the creativity flowing :). This required us to grow and become more comfortable with our classmates by working on a project that is in no way similar to any traditional project we tend to complete in school.
- Though we did not discuss it explicitly in class, I will also take into consideration whether outside research was conducted (and cited) to contextualize historically/geographically/ socially/ politically the topic of your choice. (This will depend on the project)
All the research for the song was through class materials, since it was about our understanding of Little Italy through the eyes of our class.
-Bibliography/ Works Cites/ References (using MLA or Chicago Styles). Make sure you write down the names of your interviewees and when interviews where conducted.
Madalena, Lorenzo. Confetti for Gino. 1959.
Bregante, Jim. 6 Oct. 2018, San Diego, San Diego State University.
