Guidos Love Paparazzi

Lindsey Lohan goes through some crazy shit with the paparazzi...15 are camped out wherever she goes.

Interesting excerpt in the Sunday Inquirer from the new book The Mafia in the Mind of America. It was interesting reading a pretty fresh perspective about Italians in the American mind, and why people always think of the mafia, even though crime is committed by all peoples, and has been throughout our nation's history. Also, it's interesting to note that Italians themselves play these roles in TV shows and movies...the author went so far as to compare them to black minstrelsy. I'll be interested to read the book. Here's an excerpt:

De Stefano rightly observes that "some Italian Americans are ready and willing to perpetuate unflattering and even belittling images of themselves. If the Mafia image is a kind of minstrelsy, as anthropologist Micaela di Leonardo claims... Italian Americans have done their part to keep the minstrel show running." The self-stereotyping doesn't end with the mob - De Stefano reminds us of the Fonz, Rocky Balboa, Tony Manero, and more.

Now, of course there are American Italians who still use Italian phrases, who still make their own gravy/sauce, who do 'know someone'. But there are fewer and farther inbetween, and I assume the book is going to explore why both the American public and American Italians hold onto these ideas, which are increasingly becoming purely stereotype without any evidence to back them up. BTW, the Sopranos started back up last night...