Stories and News

Stories and News No. 712 I could play. For example with the automatic generator of presidential settlement speeches . A joke. Kids stuff , if you let me use a self-referential reference. Yes, self-referential. Very appropriate adjective, since we are talking about modern governments. I will be everybody’s president , could have been the most popular among phrases erupted by that generator. With deep and sincere emotion , the opening words. There is need for trust and hope in the country , the expected omen. No more room for divisions and controversies , the inevitable warning. Ours is a great nation, rich in history and culture , yet another chorus. The challenges ahead are difficult , the obvious prediction. Jobs for young people and care of the elderly , the usual mentions. And so on. Without surprise. You have just read the book backwards and remember. A power that does not believe that the flowing futures might really lead to the sea, will hardly find voice. To ...

Stories and News No. 711 Strange time in France, these days. I read that in Nice a son of Muslim parents 8-year-old boy was detained by police for the crime of 'backing terrorism'. It seems that he refused to say in chorus with his teammates the famous phrase Je suis Charlie (I am Charlie). Then he declared to 'stand on the side of the terrorists'. Despite the disappointment of the parents, the school has sued him. Violating a sacred children’s right... Eight years. Eight year old I can. Eight years old I cannot be Spiderman . Because I do not like spiders and cobwebs. Or just because I woke up so. Eight years old I can accuse the Fantastic Four to be cowards. Because it is easy to make the braggarts. As Four . The same for the Avengers . By the way, avengers of what? We should first understand who began. The war. Eight years old I can feel unsuitable in a school of magic where all is already decided. A presumptuous hat comes and a moment after ...

Stories and News No. 710 Italy, a 55 year old woman found imprisoned and starved, twenty pounds, died today at a hospital in Pavia. Her husband, accused of kidnapping and abandonment, was arrested. This news will dissolve quickly, you'll see. Especially because of current trends: there is no trace of bad religions and exotic origins in the protagonists. However, the stories, more than ever the small ones, don’t understand the word discrimination. They tell everything they find... Imagine. Imagine that. Imagine that this woman is something else. As her remains, because of an extremely avoidable sacrifice, were a metaphor for something else. Unable to give sense to the ignoble narrative. But still leaving something. To eyes that they really wanted to watch. And to ears that would find time to listen seriously. Imagine. Imagine that. Imagine that all ripped pounds, devoured cells, shreds of longings and disappointed aspirations were not gone too far. Watch with m...

Stories and News No. 709 Crazy climate change and dangers arising from nuclear weapons has moved two minutes forward  the Doomsday Clock. According to scientists we are three minutes to midnight... Three minutes . Three minutes to die. Three minutes... Why am I losing time here, writing? Come on, maybe I am still in time. Time… We pollute and we don’t pay attention, this is the problem. I shut down everything, pc, the fridge, yes, who care about the frozen food? I will think about later. Later… When later?! Now, I have to do something now, immediately. I must turn off the air conditioner. I do not have it, such a stupid I am... However, I stop entire electrical stuff, so I remember it was written in that pamphlet that my girlfriend gave me. Two minutes . What? Is it already passed a minute? What else can I do... but yes, the differentiated waste collection! Where are those bags with baskets on... I said that sooner or later I started with. However, beg...

Stories and News No. 708 I read that in Corigliano Calabro, in the province of Cosenza, a pregnant woman and a doctor have simulated a car accident. Once at the emergency room, the lady claimed to be injured, causing the death of the baby born prematurely, to get the insurance price and share it with the doctor. Another life joins the reign of before. Another story too... Premature. Call me so, from now. Forever premature. In other words, forever young. Better, right? In other words is the best, I ever said. In other words, I ever dreamed, because in our country we do not speak. No need of that. In other words, there is no time. Because the rest of us live there, back there, in the reign of before . Where everything happens too soon. Yes, let’s blame the rush. It is a bad advisor, so they say. For example, it leads us to cry with felt anger watching the barbarism of the so-called uncivilized peoples, associating them with our exotic fellow citizens. Shortly after ...

Stories and News No. 707 Catholics shouldn't breed like rabbits . Yes, I read this news. Okay… I cannot read, since I'm a rabbit. I found out, somebody told me. The mandrill did. He is always thinking about that . You know what it feels like, right? Anyway, I will absolutely not disrespecting anyone. However, since this thing of not to have children as we do is out, all eyes are on us. Not just you, people. The other night my wife and I got out the den and found a blind mole selling pirated copies of our making out. Pirate copies? Is there also the original?! Mole, I said, you're blind, you did not even see the video! Of course I'm blind, he replied, because I watch this things and I touch myself... What do you say? You were born like this! Words to the wind, this is the problem. Wind bring words and spread them everywhere, getting inside, invading you and who pay the price? Those who even ignored you were talking about them. Like us. The rabbits....

Stories and News No. 706 I read that Ioan Popa, a 52 years old homeless, was beaten to death by a 22 years old guy from Milan, Italy. In according to the police, October 14 night, the man was murdered in front of a pub because he wanted to pet the Italian’s dog, then helped by his friends to hide the homicide. All this and much more, happens and continues to happen on the general silence. Silence. Silence of the last people of this world, who have no voice… As the dog. I am the dog, now. The dog of the failure caress. I am the one who saw everything and, unlike you, free to drop the stolen blood, I feel all weight on my back. It's my fault. I make it mine. Indeed, if I had not been there, the man would not have violated the border. For a dog’s pet. And if people die for such a fleeting contact with equally insignificant creatures, you know how does obsession for distances is vain? Between us? Yes, I'm the dog. And I'll take the blame. Just because I was ...

Story published on the collection: Italian short stories, a dual language book : True short stories collection to understand contemporary Italy (2017)

Stories and News No. 704 You can explain it with a definition : The deliberate commission of an act of violence to create an emotional response through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda. Or, maybe, you could tell it with a story… Once upon a time there was a planet. A small one, nothing exceptional. But it was all there. Water, food, animals. Nature, in brief. However, there were also four human beings. Without specifying between male or female, high or little, white, black, yellow or red. So no one might feel excluded. Most importantly, accused. I will not tell even the name, for the same reason. To distinguish, I will call them One , Two , Three and Four . By tacit agreement, they had divided the planet into equal parts. On each side there was everything and everybody live in peace and gladness. Look at them now, at this very moment, I wish you remember them well, because people from this planet were easy to forget. ...

Stories and News No. 703 These are hard days to write. No complaints, believe me, because the real problems are others. There are people suffering out there. There are people dying out there, before the Tragedy with a capital t on all screens and, even the next day. The following one and so one. That’s life, I will not repeat again. Silence, I chose silence and part of me still believes is the best side where to look at things. To hear and understand. Nevertheless, looking at the design around the principal facts, or rather, their representation, I felt something else growing inside. The duty to write, beyond the mere needs. But, forgive me, what I will tell you will be not a proper speak. Rather a not speaking. I will tell something about you, like myself sitting in the audience to witness the awful show. Well, imagine us, all sitting on the more or less comfortable seats in a huge movie theater with an enormous screen that glows with life, death, and more than ever wor...