Cardinal and... GOLD!

Trojans in Rio are ready to capture the top of the podium

2016 is a leap year, and for sports fans around the world this automatically translates into one thing, the Olympic Games. And if you are in a way related to the Trojan Family, this should be even more interesting to you. For the last 104 years, USC has been the only University to have at least one athlete compete in summer Olympics and bring home gold every time. The streak hopefully won't be broken in Rio, and here some events to look carefully, where Trojans will try to make "The Star-Spangled Banner" play out loud in front of the world.

Volleyball

Played in the Maracanizinho Arena, both teams have Trojans in their squads. The men's team qualified after winning the World Cup in Japan last September. They previously got gold in Beijing, but fell to Italy in the quarterfinals in London. Among the favorites, they will have the hard task to prevent home team Brazil to win a long-time missing gold medal (Athens 2004, win over Italy) in front of the home crowd. The women's team qualified at the beginning of the year after winning the North American qualifier in Lincoln, NE. After two back to back silver medals (both times loss to Brazil in the final) they will be haunting for their first Olympic gold in Rio.

Micah Christenson

The Hawaiian setter will be a crucial point for the team coached by John Speraw. Graduating class of 2015, Christenson started to play with the senior national team well before the end of his college career, when he was called to play at the NORCECA Championships. A year later he conquered gold in the World League Finals in Florence, Italy. He helped team USA winning the World Cup in 2015, where he was voted as best setter in the tournament. After he graduation he moved across the ocean where he's playing pro for the Italian team Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova, where he's currently in 1st place in regular season and competing in the European Champions League.

Murphy Troy

From St. Louis, MI, the opposite graduated from USC in 2011. He was also part of the squad that won gold in the World League Finals in Italy and the World Cup in Japan. After graduation he started playing pro in Europe, starting in Italy playing for Top Volley Latina for two seasons. He then moved to France and Poland, where he currently plays for the Lotos Trefl Gdansk, competing in the European Champions League as well.

Natalie Hagglund

Class of 2013, the 5' 10" libero from Encinitas, CA took gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Mexico and fell short to directly qualify for the Olympics in Japan, finishing third. After graduation she started playing pro in Europe for Volero Zurich, winning both the Swiss championships and Swiss Cup in 2015. She competed in the Club World Championships and is currently playing the European Champions League

Swimming
Coached by Dave Salo, both swimming teams have produced a great number of champions who will try to step on top of the Olympic podium in Rio.

Katinka Hosszu
First competed at the Olympics in 2004, when she was 15, the Hungarian star will haunt her first gold medal at her fourth attempt, after reaching a fourth place in the 400 meters medley in 2012. Nicknamed Iron Lady due to her incredible abilities in all the styles, she currently holds five world records. Her palmares includes 5 gold medals at the world championships and 9 at the European championships. A gold medal in Rio will definitely qualify her for a spot in the history of this sport. She graduated from USC in 2012 with a degree in psychology.

Haley Anderson
Class of 2013, she qualified at the World Championships in Kazan last summer. In Rio she will try to take revenge of her British silver medal, after falling short in the end of the 10 kilometers open water to Eva Ristov from Hungary for less than a second. Her palmares also includes medals from the world championships. In 2013 she won the 5 kilometers in Barcelona.

USC, if treated as a country, would rank 12th for number of gold medals. These five are not the only ones with a chance for gold. Less than 200 days separate us from the opening ceremony. We'll see who is going to show the Trojan pride to the Cariocas and the whole world.

Growing a farmer Final Thoughts

As a finally finished the book "Growing a Farmer" by Kurt Timmermeister I can post my final thoughts about it.

The book definitely taught me something I'm going to remember later in my life. Sometimes we're afraid to change something just because it's giving as success and wealth, even if we don't really like what we're doing. By leaving its successful business, the author shows us that change to better is possible at any point in life. Transitions, of course, are never easy, and they require time and willingness to stand up every time we fall. Kurt took time to figure out how and what to sell, but - quoting Journey - he never stopped believing. He always kept a positive attitude in what he was doing and that turned out to be the successful plan. Once reminded I was reminded to never stop at the first obstacle, but rather try to take every challenge as a way to confront yourself and improve.

Another issue that I saw presented in the book was ethics around food. Being Italian we always brag to have the best food in the world (we actually do). For what I've seen in my international experience is that we don't have secret recipes impossible to replicate. Many emigrants brought Italian traditions all around the globe. What they couldn't bring with themselves were fresh and quality ingredients. It's not hard to make a pizza, but the quality of ingredients will make the difference in the final product. I really appreciated the way the author put his pride in the food, not feeding animals with something that would have reduced the quality of the meat and eventually be harmful for humans. German philosopher Feurbach once said "We are what we eat". By choosing to treat his animals the same way he would treat himself the author made a great choice, the same we should use every day when we choose what to eat, preferring local, fresh food to industrialized products.

This book was really pleasant to read, and I would advise it to everybody who is interested in knowing more about how you can have a successful life selling cheese and being happy with what he does.

A Paradise in the middle of nowhere

A guide to the capital of the Italian Renassaince, Ferrara

Via delle Volte, typical street in downtown.
Photo courtesy of Panoramio.com

The sound of silence of a small, hundreds years of age, street, where you can barely see the end, surrounded by ancient palaces that make you feel like you stepped outside of the XXI century for a second. Bikes, a lot of them parked somehow on the side. Feet are probably aching after the long walk on the cobblestones. This is Ferrara, the city where I was born and grew up. A small city in northern Italy, tourists often skip it to visit bigger and more famous cities nearby, like Venice and Bologna. Many people place it “in the middle of nowhere”, but I think it has a lot to offer to people who are willing to explore a different side of the boot.

City of bicycles

Last city that the Po River (the longest in Italy) touches before projecting into the Adriatic Sea, the walled city of Ferrara lies in between Bologna (with whom there is an intense rivalry) and Venice. It’s probably for this reason that many tourists, short of time, don’t stop here (Dunant). Although its name, Ferraris are not produced here; we rather ride on our beautiful bicycles and, trust me, sometimes they can go pretty fast, depending on how late you are. There are three things I wouldn’t want to skip in your visit:

• The castle
• Palazzo dei Diamanti
• The Cathedral

The castle at night.
Photo courtesy of castelloestense.it

Castle

It’s probably the iconic symbol of this city. Built at the end of the XIV century to defend the House of Este, reigning family at that time, this moated castle is a large block of four towers. At the inside there are many rooms which attract tourists on a daily basis. Among the most popular we have the dungeons, the kitchens and the Lion Tower. On the outside tourists can enjoy the Garden of the Oranges. A terrace with a panoramic view of the main street in downtown Ferrara used to host a small greenhouse back in Middle Age. Today the atmosphere is accompanied by Orange trees, which name this place. In this building lived many famous authors of the Italian literature; they would get paid just to write and glorify the house of the Este, and their works of art were published and then sent to different families in Europe. The most famous author is Ludovico Ariosto. Outside the castle starts one of the longest streets in Europe, Corso Ercole I d’Este. Constructed in 1492 under the Erculean addition, it is one of the main axes of the massive expansion plan that aimed to make the city of the most important places in Europe. This street stretches for more than a mile, but it’s halfway through where many people stop (Unesco).

Palazzo dei Diamanti
Photo courtesy of Commons Wikimedia

Palazzo dei Diamanti

It’s here where many people are struck by this weird palace. The exterior facade is made up by over 8500 pink marble blocks, each one carved in a diamond shape - naming the palace (Diamanti means diamonds) (The Italian ways). The legend says that underneath one of those blocks there’s hidden an actual diamond. Many people tried to verify it and broke some of the points, but unfortunately for them they found nothing but trouble. I can’t say whether this is truth or just a myth, but I would stay on the safe side and just admire the beauty. It hosts every year art shows, with paintings of famous artists like Picasso, Matisse, and Degas.

The Cathedral

Not far from the Castle is the Cathedral. Built at the end of XII century, it is dedicated to Saint George, the Saint Patron of the city. The exterior is in marble and the facade is decorated with loggias, small arcades and rose windows, statues and numerous bas-reliefs. The interior is much more modern - relatively speaking - and was remade after a fire in the XVII century and it follows a Baroque style. It has a nave and two aisles. The chapels are painted with scenes from the Bible. On the side the market square is still as vibrant as it was in the past; there are even shops built into its side, where tourists (and locals) can find and taste delicious local products

Food

You may wonder what to eat after a tour in this beautiful place. Of course you can easily get “classic” Italian food, like pizza or pasta, but there’s something else really traditional that’s worth giving a try. If you want to eat something traditional, I suggest you get one, or all, if you’re really hungry, of these dishes:

• Stuffed pasta
• Salama da sugo
• Desserts

Pasta

Salama da sugo
Photo courtesy of bloggiallozafferano.it

Pumpkin cappellacci are a traditional dish - consumed throughout the year - that consists of a kind of pasta similar to ravioli filled with pumpkin and Parmesan cheese. They’re usually served hot with butter and sage. Similar to cappellacci are cappelletti; although they are a traditional meal around Christmas time, they can be easily found throughout the year. Instead of pumpkin, they are filled with meat and served with chicken broth, cream or truffles.

Salama da sugo

Together with cappelletti the typical Salama da sugo is served during the lunch. It consists of a salami made of different meats, spice and a little of wine. There are two different types. One is long and it’s served cut like a regular salami, the other one is eaten with a spoon and it’s spherical. They’re both boiled for a long time, from four to six hours. It’s served with mashed potatoes and is accompanied by red wine. If you go to a restaurant, they will probably serve you a coppia of bread, a type of sourdough bread with a twisted shape (Accademia Barilla).

Desserts

The menu for desserts could be really long, especially because many desserts were brought and modified from nearby cities. Here I selected two traditional recipes from Ferrara.

Pampepato Photo courtesy of lanuovaferrara.it

Signature dessert from the city is pampepato, a chocolate pie with almonds, hazelnuts, and zest of oranges. Typical of Christmas lunch, today it’s produced throughout the year. If you’re really craving for dessert you can ask for whipped cream on the side. Zuppa inglese is a layer cake with cream, sponge cake, alkermes (a liquor), and whipped cream. Although the name means English soup, it’s neither from Britain nor liquid. Weird these Italians, right?

Next time you visit the boot I would suggest to explore more country side places. They are definitely less crowded and can offer a better experience and a real taste of Italy.

References:

• Accademia Barilla. The Italian food academy http://www.academiabarilla.com/the-italian-food-academy/meats-charcuterie/salama-sugo-ferrarese.aspx
• Dunant, Sarah. “As fabulous as Florence – and not a coach party in sight” The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/jun/28/florence-italy-medieval-convents-holiday
• The Italian Ways. “The Brilliant Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara” http://www.italianways.com/the-brilliant-palazzo-dei-diamanti-in-ferrara/
• Unesco Website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/733

Growing a Farmer - Part 1... Off the beaten path

"Growing a farmer" by Kurt Timmermeister is definitely promising to be an interesting book, at least after going through the first half. More than ever, the idiom "don't judge a book by its cover" is true. With its bright green cover, it's easy to mistake it for a farming manual. But digging through pages, you soon start to realize that it's much more than that. The author tells us how everything began, how his life suddenly changed when he decided to move away from the chaos of a growing city like Seattle and move to the nearby island of Vashon. Only a 15 minutes boat ride apart, these two places are described as being more distant than that. The river between the city and the island is not different from those we can find in literature. By crossing the Acheron, Dante and Virgil reached the inferno, as we can read in the pages of the most notorious work of arts in Italian literature, Dante's "Divina Commedia". In the XIX century, Renzo, one of the main characters in Alessandro Manzoni's novel "I Promessi Sposi", crosses the river Adda in Northern Italy and he's save, after escaping from the mass tumult in Milan,  where the police accused him of being the cause of the rebellious movement. In a similar way, the daily journey across the river was the continuos switch of two different identities. On the island, the author could dream and wonder about his future life as a farmer, while in the city he was grounded back to business and profit making.

I started feeling an empathy toward the author right from the first pages. Being brave enough to "cross the rivers" that keeps us away from our dreams is something not many people are capable of doing. In my case the river is even longer. It's an ocean, and then a land people defined it as "of the free". My beaten path is not any different than the driveway of Tim's new farm driveway, barely reached by the life of the main street. I wish more people followed this example, actually chasing their dreams no matter what, shaping their lives the way they want. Of course it's not easy, but everybody knows that "Rome wasn't built in a day". As the author mentions in the book, the process that lead him into this farm wasn't easy nor planned. I definitely admire him, being able to shape his life and being happy with what he has done by himself.

We'll see in the second part how this worked in details, in the meanwhile, we can just appreciate how brave he was leaving a profitable business for the beaten path in Vashon island.