Irene’s Diary: a personal project
On April 3, 2020, I was laid off from my longtime position as editor of The Tri-City News due to what I was told were the financial effects on business of the global COVID-19 pandemic — a layoff that would later become permanent. Aiming to keep my fingers moving and my writing brain active in weeks after my layoff, I embarked on this personal project, Irene’s Diary, an 11-part series — writing and laying out one page a day for 11 weekdays — based on a daily diary my mom, Irene, kept throughout a four-month trip to Europe in 1953, when she was 22. I’ve had the diary since my brother and I cleaned out the family house after our dad, Giuseppe, died in 2009 but, until now, hadn’t read it all the way through. It was an eye opener, allowing me to see my mom at a hopeful and promising time in a life that had already been marked by tragedy. I present this on Sunday, May 10, 2020, which is Mother’s Day and 67 years to the day from the start of her European adventure — it is, also, a date remarkable for another reason, which you will learn if you read on. (all articles © Richard Dal Monte)
ONE: A RED BOOK, BLUE INK & THE BEGINNING OF A GRAND JOURNEY
TWO: WOW! THE WIND & WHITECAPS OF CHICAGO; TRAVELLING LIGHT TO N.Y.C.
THREE: IN NEW YORK CITY, LONG DAYS, LATE NIGHTS, COCKTAILS & CONFESSION
FOUR: SINGING & DANCING, CHAMPAGNE & PIZZA, NEW FRIENDS & NEW HORIZONS
FIVE: ACROSS THE OCEAN TO THE HOMELAND; THE RICH, THE POOR & THE DEAD
SIX: NAPLES, POMPEII, CAPRI, FLORENCE & ROME; FINALLY, MEETING CESCO
[THE LETTER: ‘HE SAID HE COUNTED THE DAYS AND HE EVEN STARTED COUNTING THE HOURS’]
SEVEN: CHURCHES & PALACES & PAINTINGS; HAM SANDWICHES & CHAMPAGNE & DANCING
EIGHT: AFTER COLOURFUL CORONATION, A GREY LIST OF SIGHTS SEEN IN OLD LONDON
NINE: AL FROM ONTARIO, A MOTORCYCLE RIDE, WINE, WEINER SCHNITZEL & WHAT IF
TEN: AMONGST FAMILY IN SAN MARTINO; THE END OF THE JOURNEY; THE LONG TRIP HOME