clutter

Really, I’m sort of a Euro-mutt, with a little Sioux thrown in a few generations back. My maternal grandfather was born a British subject. In Korea, because his parents were missionaries. He was eventually naturalized. But the rest of my grandparents, and most of my great-grandparents, were Americans.

To the extent that I identify with a culture other than “American,” I suppose it’s Italian, because that’s the majority of my grandmother’s heritage and it was her family I grew up around. 

But I don’t speak Italian, am not Catholic, etc. Mostly what I get from my Italian heritage is:

- A talent for dramatic overstatement of emotional reactions, including lots of gesticulating

- The ability to cook for triple the actual number of guests and still feel like I haven’t made enough food

- An enduring love for the Godfather movies

- The structure of my chin, which is visible on pretty much all the women on that side of the family, and which I call my “Italian Grandma chin.”