Pericolo

This sign is right outside my front door.



It's a joke, right? I don't know whether to feel stupid for thinking it's a joke or for thinking that it could be real. Either way I will not be venturing past that fence.

Vale's cousin Roberto came over for dinner last night. He's a photographer and very cool person, teaches photography at the university here and also in New York. We had wine and good food--Roberto said this is the best kitchen in Bologna and I have no reason to doubt him--and then for the first time I got to hear a real, heated conversation about Italian politics. I was so happy that I was smiling widely despite their evident distress. G explained to me that Bersani, who's still leading in the polls, would be bad for his pharmacy because Bersani essentially wants to turn Italy into the U.S.--turn everything into shopping malls instead of Italy's traditional small family businesses. Any way you cut it though, his pharmacy is in danger like the rest of Italy. Usually quiet and reserved, G was making wild gestures, saying "fanculo, va fanculo," and calling for a revolution.

In addition to politics there was plenty of linguistic discussion, and there are a few English words that everyone has fixated upon rather inexplicably. These include “apple” and “scissors.” Okay fine, I kinda get that scissors is a strange word. But apple? They’re thinking about it too much, they're psyching themselves out. It’s just apple.

We watched Woody Allen's "Take the Money and Run," which I somehow had not seen, and which was wonderful, although the Italian subtitles were decidedly subpar and at times bewildering. Also, subtitles cannot keep up with Woody Allen's neurotic monologues.

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