A NEW CHILDREN'S CORNER!

We'll keep you posted, but we had a great visit from our friend Giovanni from Rome who is our reference person for the sustaining funds we receive for the Paolo Bearz American Corner library. Among the exciting news is that the American government will sponsor a brand new Children's Corner where we will have very cute little people furniture, more wonderful books in English, a puppet theater, puppets, props for our Saturday morning Storytime program and children's dvds for a video series we hope to implement this year (starring some of our favorites like Dora the Explorer and the Muppets!) 

IT'S SO EXCITING! Now we are REALLY getting psyched about the new school year. 

More to come!

SUMMER HOURS

July 5-August 1
Monday, Tuesday 4-8pm

August 2-22
CLOSED

August 23-August 31
Monday, Tuesday 4-8pm

New Summer Hours to be Posted Soon

I will post our new Summer Schedule tomorrow. We are reducing our hours to give our wonderful volunteers a break and time to study for exams! We will stay open 2 days a week in July (4-8pm) and close for most of August. In July we will NOT be open in the mornings.

Details tomorrow.

Good News Coming Soon

We should know by Friday if we will stay at Via Roma, 15. If you've been following our heart-wrenching announcements and of course reading the Piccolo, you probably know that we've had a difficult Spring and Summer at the Association. We're doing our best to get back in shape financially by reducing costs and maximizing everything else. It has not been easy but we really appreciate your continued support.

To update you, thanks to the article in the Piccolo a couple of weeks ago, our landlord has reconsidered and is helping us keep our library right where it is. We are greatful for this chance, and are taking this week to really examine our economic situation and the status of our co-renters to make sure that staying is a sustainable decision.

This year it will be very important to show your support in any way you can, and the easiest way is by renewing your membership to the Association. Besides allowing you to see films at the Ariston and attend any of our other Very Exciting Events, it is also a wonderful way to help keep the Italian-American-Triestino link alive.

TESSERA FOR 2010-11 are already on sale! Stop in!

Thanks again for your continued support.

Thank you to our Skype Guest American Lawyers!!

Today was our last skype date for the Legal English class. For those of you who don't know, this year the Association offered a Legal English class for practicing and aspiring lawyers. Besides the normal class time with their teacher, Dana, there was a skype component so that American lawyers were guest speakers and talked to the class about their jobs, the American legal system, etc.

I have to say that I was incredibly proud and amazed at how awesome these American lawyers are... They were such talented and interesting people and I was so humbled at their kindness. Organizing the dates with the added problem of a time difference meant that they also had to give up their lunch hours to talk to us, but none of them seemed to mind.

Eleanor is our law professor (and great friend and supporter of the Association) who talked to the students about the American constitution and wowed all of us with her amazing presentation.
Our friend, D, practices international law in Paris and, since he also lived in Italy for some time, was really helpful when it came to law terminology and putting real situations into their international contexts. Plus, he really made Americans look great with his super international CV!
Jill was our public defender and was so eloquent when talking about the American Legal system and it's strengths and weaknesses. I think we were all moved by her reasons for becoming a public defender, especially when she said she never says no to someone who asks for her help.

Thank you, guest lawyers, for helping us out and sharing what you know with us!

Did you know?

Your AIA tessera is worth more than just the film series, you know! You can also check out books and DVDs at our library, AND get travel discounts from our long-time sponsors and good friends at UVEC VIAGGI. They're over in Viale 20 Settembre.

We're thinking of doing some organizing with them, perhaps a nice group trip to the States? We will see what we can come up with for our members, but in the meantime, talk to them if you're looking to travel before that. They have been great supporters of the Italian American Association over the years, supporting the film series, selling tessera for us and donating trips for our Thanksgiving raffle!

Let's show them our support.

Summer School Registrations

Tomorrow is your last day to sign up kids for the first session of AIA Immersion Summer School (starts Monday)! There are still spots in the second session which begins on June 28.

Stop by today!!!!

The Topilow Concert Fundraiser was a Success!

Thanks to all of you who contributed your time and money to make our first fundraiser so much fun! The music was EXCELLENT (and the Topilows even took requests).

We would especially like to thank our sponsors:

ZIDARICH for the WINE!

PRINCIPE for the HAM!

PRIMO AROMA for the COFFEE that we drank and the cans that we sold!

Also, if you haven't seen them, you MUST check out the new Library BOOK BAGS that DENISE TECCHIO designed and DONATED to the Association. YOU can have one TOO for a 7 euro donation (cheap!!)

But our work is not finished! There is more fundraising to be done!!

Welcome to the AIA blog!

We thought this would be a nice and easy way to let  you know what's happening at the Italian American Association. Check in often or sign up for email updates when news is posted to the blog.