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The Christian Cross had become a tourist attraction at Ground Zero as will the Cordoba House Cultural Islamic Center and Mosque, he said hopefully. As did Yakov Smirnoff on his mural -- "The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act but by the size of the heart."

Racist toys such as this "Jolly N----- Dentist" mechanical bank were common in America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I keep it around with some more and less celebratory artifacts to remind myself of how far we have come... or perhaps not.

People protesting against their own interests somewhere (everywhere) in America.

Brooklyn pizzaioli in training

This is the depleted basket in which guests to our annual Christmas party have taken the small gifts collected by my wife Suzanne during our most memorable trip this year (quest' anno). This year the trip of note was to Sicily where I visited the village of Marineo near Palermo in which my roots are sunk. Therefore the "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" sign hanging from the basket handle is written in Sicilian. il insegno "Buon Natale ed il nuovo anno felice" scritto in siciliano

In June of 1998, I took the Eurostar from Rome to Perugia where I spent a pleasant afternoon after giving a lecture at the Istituto di Etnologia e Antropologia Culturale, Corso di Antroplogia Visuale, University of Perugia. It wasn't such a wild and crazy place then, but then again, neither was/am I.

This is a collage I assembled to represent the deluge of "Mike Bloomberg for Mayor" literature that has been delivered to our door. It is a tiny bit of the $100,000,000 spent in his campaign, best represented here by the city-wide blanket of newspaper endorsements from the Nowy Dziennik to The New York Times. If Berlusconi had such a love affair with the press, he'd have no need to change the Italian Constitution to keep himself out of jail.

In states like Montana and Wyoming diversity is most likely found in national parks such as Yellowstone, but even there 'they' are more likely to be foreign visitors than more and less indigenous Americans.

This memorial was created here on 9/11/ 2001. Perhaps a parent and child put this together. I read the twin tower candles, fire engine and maybe a lost loved one in the form of a doll.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born and raised in The Bronx, New York of parents who were born in Puerto Rico. This is a photo of a bakery in Rincon, Puerto Rico where my wife and I have gone several times with our children and grandchildren. It sells great empanadas. I thought it was the perfect image to celebrate the first Latina to join two Italians on the Supreme Court who share part of her Latin heritage.