Theresa Maggio

I went to what was supposed to be a demonstration and protest today at five, but only five people showed up, and three of them were forty minutes late because they were at the lawyer's office.
Loveth Edward, born in Efukpe, Nigeria in 1990, was a victim of the human trafficking trade between Nigeria and  Read More 

It is almost noon on a Monday morning. Here is my day so far: Last night, Sunday evening, I met up with a contact. I said I'd 'd like to talk to her. "Not tonight, tomorrow," she said. I said I could come "Tomorrow or the day after." She said she wouldn't be here Tuesday, so  Read More 

It was Valentine's Day and I took my talisman silver heart back to its maker to show him I still had it and told him I wanted it to be on the cover of my next book, about the heart of Palermo. He took it and tinkered with it, hammered on it some, then had it shined up in the workshop and handed it back to me, more shiny and beautiful than it has ever been. It sits beside my on my desk or writing table wherever I am. Write with heart, it says to me. Read More 

I treated myself to a show at the Teatro Biondo last night. I was up in the nosebleed seats but Mimmo Cuticchio was giving a new play -- O a Palermo o All'Inferno -- which translates roughly to Palermo or Bust, the story of Giuseppe Garibaldi's path to Palermo on the road to Italian unification. He was on the stage alone for 90 minutes, except for the faithful marionettes, to whom he also gave voice ( aided by his son, a nephew and two women behind the scenes) Full House and standing ovation. It was all in Sicilian so I understood some fraction of it, but got the gist all right.
By the way, one of my great -grandfathers was a Red Shirt, one of Garibaldi's followers and fighters. Read More 

I paid my two eurosat the Martorana Church door, got my audio-visual guide and sat down in a pew to stare at the starry vault I love so much.
The opening logo of the audio-visual guide said, "Beauty will save the world." Maybe they are right. I hope so.

This morning I walked to the Santa Chiara mission in Ballaro` to attend a funeral ceremony for Bose Uwadia , a brave, unstoppable, 37-year-old Nigerian immigrant, mother of twins, victim of the Nigeria-Italy sex trade, beaten in the streets of Trapani, where she woke up in hospital but died of her injuries.
Her body was still in Trapani at the time the funeral Mass was scheduled, so the priest and congregation skipped the Mass and the mourners met Bose at the Rotoli Cemetery a half-hour out of town. I walked instead to the Martorana, an incredible 12th -century Norman-Arab church, which I had not seen since its 2012 restoration. Read More 

An unfinished heart-shaped silver ex voto made by hand as a sample for me by the famous silversmith, Antonino Amato, of Piazza Meli, Palermo, about 20 years ago. Today I carried it around the city center with me. Usually it sits on my desk as a talisman to remind me to write with heart. Later I will take it to visit its maker. Read More 

Hearts of Palermo

The conquering Normans used Arab translators to save the Greek classics, Arab architects, Arab builders, Arab city administrators, and Arab harems and clothes and customs. They knew a good thing when they saw it.

Found a great apartment share with three women, at various university levels, in a 1940s apartment behind the Teatro Biondo at the center of the old town, just a few meters from my old digs at Palazzo Vannucci where I still have friends from my 2012 visit.
My first order of business was to enjoy  Read More 

Real Friends, someone these cats can count on.
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