To Patricia, Maria and my long ago friend "Tree". This is exerpted from Camille Paglia's column in the Feb 28 Salon.com.

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Here's my kind of role model: Antoinette Cannuli, the Sicilian matriarch of Cannuli's House of Pork in Philadelphia's Italian Market. She was profiled by Rita Giordano in the Jan. 31 Philadelphia Inquirer under this headline: "Vendor is a tough customer: At age 91, South Ninth Street's oldest merchant stays busy. And she still takes no guff." Celeste Morello, an expert on South Philadelphia, says of Antoinette, who goes to work in her white coat every day at the family butcher shop, "She is the boss, and the most macho guy in the place shakes when she starts in."

During the Depression, Cannuli was helping out at her husband's butcher shop when a customer wouldn't pay the full price for an order of chopped goat. "The man told her what she could do with the meat. It wasn't nice. 'I had a leg of lamb,' Antoinette recalled. 'I went boof! Right over the counter. He was bleeding.'" When she was 14, she insisted on getting a paying job and began work at a Philadelphia tailor shop: "Her first day, the boss came by -- and gave her a pat on the bottom. 'I went Pow, right in the face! I said, "You touch me again and I'll poke your eyes out!"'"

The energy and ferocity of Italian women, whose power came from the land itself, are the ultimate source of my take-charge philosophy of sexual harassment, which emphasizes personal responsibility rather than external regulation and paternalistic oversight. Too many women have confused feminism, which should be about equal opportunity, with the preservation of bourgeois niceties. Antoinette Cannuli's code of life has infinitely more wisdom than what American students are getting from their politicized textbooks. Her prescription for longevity: "Keep straight. Be true. That's the main thing. Be honest."

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 28, 2001

Answers

Here is the whole link. Paglia

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 28, 2001.

If any of you ever get a chance to visit Philly you owe yourself a trip to South Philly's markets. Truly a feast for eyes and nose.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), February 28, 2001.

I'm hungry just thinking about it. There used to be a corner shop that sold roast pork. Wow what a treat!

'I went Pow, right in the face! I said, "You touch me again and I'll poke your eyes out!"' Yeah, I guess I don't take no abuse needer from yous guys.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), February 28, 2001.

I FINALLY found a deli in this town that smells like my old Italian deli back in Brooklyn. Only took a damn year. And the food is almost as good (the meatballs are the closest to my Grandma's that I've ever tasted).

I'm going to BE Antoinette in years to come. Hell, I'm probably her right now. Reminds me of the time I was on the subway on my way to work one day back in the 1980s. It was the Lexington Avenue line (for non-NYers: it's the most crowded subway lines in the City) and it was packed. But I rode the subways for years; and if you've ridden the subway that much, you can tell the difference between someone brushing up against you, and someone brushing up against you.

So I waited for the train to (invariably) get stuck between stations "due to congestion up ahead". I grabbed the guy's wrist and held his arm up over my head; I yelled as LOUD as I could, "WHO'S HAND IS THIS? I FOUND IT UP MY ASS!".

The guy bolted off the train at the next stop.

Antoinette is my hero(ine). I didn't know my Grandma very well, but I know she lived most of her life on a farm. She was probably just like Antoinette.

Thanks, Lars. Great story.

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), February 28, 2001.

Patricia--

LOL, funny anecdote. So that was you?!

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), March 01, 2001.

Patricia, do you like your meatballs spicy? (After typing that, it almost sounds lewd :) That's how I learned how to make them.

Besides the pork sandwiches, I really miss good Italian sausage. I used to fry it up with potatoes, onions, and pepper. Hmmmm The potatoes would soak up the fat and get crisp. Unfortunately, my SO thought it wasn't healthy, so I don't make it as often. The only thing I make any more (that my family loves) is mouglan (spelling?), eggplant parmesan.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), March 01, 2001.

It does sound lewd :-) (Either that or we're doing an old Alka- Seltzer commercial.)

I like them medium-spicy, but the old body kind of doesn't like spicy at all. I ignore it sometimes (and then I pay for it). Groan.

I don't remember Grandma's being that spicy, but when I was a kid, I could eat just about anything (I was a favorite with Grandma).

I miss good Italian sausage -- I haven't found it home-made here yet, but I suspect it's there somewhere. What I mostly miss is fresh seafood (fat chance of finding that in the desert).

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), March 01, 2001.

Pat, again, you got me lmao.

-- sumer (shh@aol.con), March 04, 2001.

Good morning.

-- (good@morn.ing), March 04, 2001.

Need another cup-o-joe.

-- (good@morn.ing), March 04, 2001.

LMAO -- that's the old Alka-Seltzer commercial!! I think it's still listed as one of the best/funniest ever made. I can still see that poor guy's face.....

(BTW, Lars: That was YOU?!?!)

-- (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), March 04, 2001.

I was so embarrassed, so frightened of this bold, kick-ass woman, that I jumped off the train at the next station and didn't stop running til I reached Naptown.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), March 04, 2001.

OK... I've watched this "Tribute to Italian women" thread jumpin' up now and again for the last 5 or 6 days. Now I appreciate Italian women as much as the next guy. In fact, some of my very best memories from high school revolve around a lil' vixon with the last name of "Gianti". Never-the-less, this thread has dragged on for nearly a week. My point is... Isn't it about time for someone to start a thread entitled; "Tribute to men of German stock"!?

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), March 04, 2001.