Plainview Resident Publishes Fifth Book

By Denise Nash

Mario Macaluso, now a resident of Plainview, first emigrated to the United States with his mother and sister when he was 18 years old. At that time, he didn't speak a word of English. After learning the language by watching television and other self-taught methods, Macaluso decided to continue his studies in the United States and attend school.

He received a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Niagara University, a master's in French language and literature from Hunter College, a PhD in French literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a specialist diploma in School Administration and Supervision from Queens College.

The cover of Sicilian Wisdom, which was designed by Evan Nosowitz.

He then moved to Plainview with his wife and they have lived there for over 30 years. During his professional career, Dr. Macaluso taught romance and classical languages and was also the department chairperson of foreign languages at Syosset High School for 30 years. He retired from Syosset High School in 1996. He also taught liberal arts courses at various colleges and taught and supervised the foreign language student-teaching program at the State University at Stony Brook.

Dr. Macaluso has written five books since 1999, his most recent book entitled Sicilian Wisdom. His other books include My Mother: Memoir of a Sicilian Woman, Prickly Pears and Oleanders and Sunday Spiritual Bouquets and Dr. Mario Macaluso's Practical Guide to AP Italian Language and Culture.

The book is written in Sicilian with English commentary and translations and Evan Nosowitz set up the cover. The book contains a general introduction on the nature of proverbs, a commentary on Sicilian as being a true language, a brief outline of Sicilian structures, grammar, linguistic influences and diction, a few pages on the town of Polizzi Generosa, Sicilian proverbs and linguistic expressions as they were used by people in Polizzi Generosa, sample poems and religious compositions and a commentary and English translation of eight Carnival Poems by Domenico Russo Alesi, which reveal the mores and traditions of a gone-by era in Polizzi Generosa, and which form a great historical document of the town's life and conditions in the past.

"The purpose of this collection is to reserve in writing many linguistic and cultural aspects of the Sicilian language, which are now slowly disappearing, as young Sicilians choose to communicate more in Italian than in the language of their parents and grandparents," said Macaluso. "Today's evolution and progress are seriously weakening the identity of Sicily and Sicilians by bringing to an end what was, for centuries, sacred and most cherished, namely their language, culture and traditions."

Macaluso's hopes are to preserve the Sicilian language. "I really do not know how long the Sicilian language, culture and traditions will survive. I am certain, however, that when language begins to disappear, culture and traditions also tend to fade away, and the identity of those who call themselves Sicilians will be lost forever," he said. "In this collection I plan to record and preserve, first-hand, the cultural richness of the Sicilian language as I learned it as a child, and as it is reflected in linguistic expressions, sayings, curses, proverbs and poetry, which my forefathers often quoted or recited in my hometown of Polizzi Generosa, a medieval village, three thousand feet above sea level, southeast of Palermo, Sicily."

For more information or to order the book, email Dr. Mario Macaluso at DrMacPress@aol.com. (From the Plainview-Old Bethpage Herald, 17 November 2006)