You might find family members you don’t know exist: half-brothers, half–sisters living not too far away to visit. Might I find a better...
All Posts By Joan Mazza
Numbered and lettered genes listed in thousands of pages. Increased or decreased risk for this or that cancer, bone strength. Three genes...
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Another conversation with my aunt, who tells me about her father’s trip who made his crossing to America when he was fifteen. Alone, he...
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My grandparents are all from Sicily, brave, unschooled souls who came through Ellis Island in their twenties, married paisans who did the...
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An Italian heart is an artichoke,prickly-petaled, not inviting to eat. Every leaf ends in a little nail, a claw that forces you to navigate...
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My godmother tells me stories of my mother’s mother, her aunt, called Pepina. In her forties, she climbed into a dumpster in the Bronx to...