With the Italians in New York

Actually to be more specific I should say the Romans.  Italy is a very diverse country because of its history.  It was for many years divided between the French, the Papal States, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and the individual city states.  Even to this day many Italians see themselves as distinct from other parts of the country and from other Italians.  To be Roman is different from being Milanese, as being a New Yorker is different from being Texan.  
He and his sister, Claudia, were born in Rome but their family comes from a small town north of Rome in the center of the country, near the site of the recent earthquake.  The family maintains a home there and visit it in the summer, because Rome is even more humid then NY in the summertime.  They landed at 2:05 and they were out and finished with customs by 2:45.  After checking in at their hotel, the Park central at 56th Street and 7th Ave., we all went down to Gene's, 11th Street and 6th Ave., for dinner.
The next day, Tuesday, Lynn arrived from San Francisco, and everyone decided to go to the High Line, around 2ish.  Lynn was staying at a place on 15th Street, so it was decided that we would all meet there.  I'm not Italian.  I like schedules.  I really like to know what time dinner is and where.  We sort of decided to meet on the corner.  I'm not quite sure how we decided because we couldn't connect with the Italian cell phones.  Most of us did make it by 3ish.  Long story, short, we got to the high line.

House of Worship & Police Work

St. Stanislaus, Roman Catholic Church is located on 7th Street between 1st Ave. and Ave. A.  It could also be called St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church because it was built by and serves the Polish-American community of the east village.  There are a number of commemorative plaques for Polish-American War Veterans and for those of Polish descent who died in the World Trade Center bombing.   St. Stanislaus church was built in 1900 and has 900 registered members.  It is under the pastoral care of the Pauline Fathers who were founded in the 13th century in Krakow, Poland.
As the Bishop of Krakow Saint Stanislaus excommunicated the king because of immorality.  So the King had him "hacked to pieces"  in 1079.  The pieces were thrown into a moat and quickly came together; so naturally he was canonized, but that wasn't until 1253.
A famous parishioner for a time was Helena Modjeska, 1840-1909.  She was a Polish actress and the "diva" of the Polish stage when her and her husband immigrated to California in 1876 for political reasons.  She starred in Ibsen's "A Doll's House" in Louisville, Kentucky, the first staging in America of an Ibsen play.  She was considered the greatest Shakespearean actress of her time and was the godmother of Ethel Barrymore.  Susan Sontag based her award winning book "In America" on her life.  She is also one of the personages in Willa Cather's "My Mortal Enemy".  She was very well known and loved.  There is a plaque to her in the church.  The church seems to believe that Polish-Americans need plaques and more recognition, and they are probably right.
There were polish immigrants in Virginia in 1608.  A great number immigrated in 1795 with the collapse of the Polish constitutional Monarchy and the division of Poland between Austria, Russia, and Prussia.  The peak migration occurred between 1901-1910 with an estimated 8.7 million immigrating.  A large number of them going to Chicago, like my army buddy Mike Konkol's family.
In this weeks East Villager:
A Parks Enforcement Patrol officer, trying to break up a fight, was slashed with a broken bottle by a man in Washington Square Park.  The suspect Charles Graham has a record of 51 arrests.  Two plainclothes Police Officers breaking up an assault on a victim at 13th Street and 9th Ave. were themselves assaulted after showing their badges and announcing "Police, stop".  All suspects were apprehended and all the officers are in good condition and all are back at work.  No, wait, that's the police that are back to work.  The suspects I hope are incarcerated, especially Charlie with his 51 arrests.