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Sicily for My Father with Snow in Rome

Car Parked Sideways Overnight

Catania   When I returned from various countries where he had never been, my father used to ask me to tell him what he would like to know about what I might have seen or done.  I still keep an eye out for him and here’s some of what I would have [...]

Strong Civic Movements around Catania

Being Introduced by Father Salvatore Resca at Santi Pietro e Paolo Church

Catania    After a great farewell on Friday night from my new friends (I better warn my family that I’ve invited them all to New Orleans – and they’re coming!) and colleagues with La Citta in Paterno (sausage pizza and a dessert that [...]

Hard Choices, Right Process: Deal Making in Paterno, Cairo, & New Orleans

Everyone is Happy with the Decision and Crowds around Candidate Vittorio Lo Presti (middle/blue sweater)

Paterno     After days of discussion sometimes heated and dramatic, the leadership of the La Citta civic movement in Paterno had come to the crossroads where they had to make decisions.  The right-leaning party had chosen a candidate for mayor and attracted [...]

Citizen Participation in Paterno and Banks Settle for Billions On Small Foreclosure Aid

Paterno    Every place is different whether town or country, but there’s something about waiting for a meeting to start in many countries that always feels the same.  My presentation in Paterno before the members of La Citta civic movement and many others who had been invited was scheduled for 7 pm.  I had been warned [...]

Comcast CYA Doesn’t Mask Contradictions and Poor Outreach

New Orleans  The combined meetings and negotiations with Comcast representatives about their “internet essentials” program to provide low cost access and computers to lower income families seems to have finally provoked the company into putting out some numbers on their performance.  That’s the good news.   Reading the numbers is the bad news.

More Heat on Comcast without Much Light from FCC

New Orleans    When a delegation of members from ACTION United showed up with baloney sandwiches at the Pittsburgh City Council meeting, the Council asked them to address the body and expressed concern with them about the difficulty that low income families are having making Comcast’s promises of greater access to the Internet a reality.  The [...]