The house my husband and I were lucky enough to buy in Carroll Gardens came with an Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; a large statue of Mary holding baby Jesus enclosed in a heavenly blue dome. It had been cemented to the ground because the first statue had been stolen during Carroll Gardens' more crime ridden days (God help you if you're going around stealing Madonnas). I hated everything about it. I am not religious.

I was not raised Catholic. I am a feminist. I am a new Italian-American. Even my grandmother Peppina from East New York, who briefly aspired to become a nun, didn't keep saints in her yard. Why on earth would I have one? To me, it looked like it belonged in a cemetery rather than a front yard. I associated front yard Madonnas with plastic-covered couches. 

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Source: http://themomtropolis.com/