If there’s a silver lining to a pandemic, it’s that it forces people to pause, take a breath and perhaps truly listen to each other. This definitely should be the case with respect to the annual “Is-he-a-saint-or-a-sinner?” rancor triggered by Columbus Day.
So how about a different approach? Let’s consider instead how the achievements of Italians and Italian American weave so fully through the quilt of American culture that their threads are nearly invisible. Imagine a typical “American” day, post-pandemic ... BRRing! Your alarm clock radio goes off. (Guglielmo Marconi perfected wireless transmission.) You turn on the lights. (The three-way light bulb was invented by Alessandro Dandini.)
