This Is My New Jersey

I will fully admit, I’ve been off the wagon writing posts as of late. There’s been a lot going on and I would like to share the latest news.

October: Italian Heritage Month

October was Italian Heritage Month; a wonderful time of year that celebrates all that is wonderful about Italian Heritage! It gives us a special time to pay homage to our ancestors that risked everything to come to the United States and begin anew. I was honored to be the 2025 recipient of the Italian Heritage Award by the Nutley-Belleville Columbus Day Parade Committee. I truly appreciated their recognition and it is a wonderful memory I will forever cherish.

I also delivered the keynote at the Italian Flag Raising at Newark City Hall. It was another unexpected honor that meant so very much to me. After the event, we all went to the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart for a special mass in Italian. This is only the second time in decades an Italian mass was held at the Cathedral.

Finally, the month ended with the Feast of St. Gerard at St. Lucy’s in Newark. This feast has been an annual event for 126 years. It continues to celebrate the devotion to St. Gerard by the original Italian community, the Old First Ward, which was sadly decimated in the mid-1950s in the name of urban renewal. But generations continue to return to the neighborhood to celebrate and remember.

Then came November…

Like the flick of a light switch, the temperature dropped and the hard reality of the end of the summer was realized. Many people absolutely love autumn. I do, but only to a point. To quote one of my favorite movies, The Four Seasons…

Fall is about death. It’s too bad, so many people think it’s beautiful, but it’s really about things dying. You can just smell it in the air. ~Danny, The Four Seasons

Now, I am not quite that pessimistic, but pretty close. I love the colors of the leaves on the trees and hiking through the woods. But in the back of my mind, it is a constant reminder that winter is right around. The cold, the lack of sunlight, I absolutely hate it all. I count down the days until spring.

So making the switch from a warm and fun October to an instant freezing, well, it wasn’t good. But I am doing my best to kick myself out of my funk.

So… what’s up?

Next week is Thanksgiving. A time for family and friends to get together, enjoy each other’s company, and share a meal. It is one of the few holidays that do not include presents and commercialism. Sadly, many stores are open on the holiday. Growing up there were always a few stores open in the morning, mainly to send the husband or father to pick up a forgotten spice or an extra gallon of milk. After that, everything was closed. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

So as we transition to the holiday season, stay home with your family and friends on Thanksgiving. Enjoy each other’s company. Because in the blink of an eye, they will be gone. Your table of 18 or 20 will become a table of five at a restaurant. Enjoy each other while you can.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.