Yet our Editorial Board (Hannah Berman ’21, Cristina LoGiudice ’21, Emily McDougal ’22, and our Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ludovica Romano) did not despair: WeScrive is back for its fourth consecutive year – our first issue was in spring 2016 – as one of the very few Wesleyan publications not in English.
The pandemic has made its way into some of the articles presented in this issue: Anna Hauser ’23 reflects on how her perspective on studying Italian was affected by the news of the outbreaks in Italy and the disruptions in her own student life on campus; Camilla Zamboni shares a few thoughts on the power of class interactions, even if virtual; and Cristina LoGiudice compares her perspective on the pandemic with that of her Italian roommates (Cristina was studying abroad in Bologna when the pandemic hit, and had to come back to the United States in a hurry). All these pieces underscore the importance of a language, even one that might still be unfamiliar, to communicate and to feel part of a community.
Other articles focus more on personal experiences that become opportunities to analyze differences and similarities between Italian and American culture: Hannah Berman observes the Italian obsession with Hard Rock Café merchandise; Emma Distler ‘19 shares her experience as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Sicily; and Annika Shiffer-Delegard ’23 discusses the tradition of Santa Lucia in Italy and in her own Scandinavian family.
An article by Bobby Bourque ’23 focuses instead on musical analysis (in Italian!), as he takes us on a tour of one of his favorite new albums.
Finally, the last two articles touch on the themes of belonging and identity: Dan Petronella describes his experience of becoming an Italian citizen, and Ludovica Romano discusses her decision to write her Master’s Thesis on the Italian-American community of Middletown.
WeScrive is a chance to come together for the Italian community: all the articles are written, proofread, corrected, and published by students of Italian, and the magazine honors students who are graduating and those who have written Honors Theses in Italian Studies. WeScrive helps the Italian community at Wesleyan to stay in touch and feel connected, particularly in a moment when it’s easy to feel alone.
In the future, we will continue to create this space to shine a light on the enthusiasm of students of Italian, and to share the perspectives of current and previous students, as well as faculty and members of the community. We hope to be back in person in the fall, and we are eager to collect and read more stories from out Italian community.
We hope you will like WeScrive’s spring 2020 issue, and if you would like more, please check out our new website with all the previous issues: http://camillazamboni.wescreates.wesleyan.edu/wescrive/magazine-rivista/
— The Editorial Board of WeScrive