The Ice Flow

By Red Sox Steve

I recently attended a program called the University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium, which took place in Kingston, RI. The subject of the colloquia this semester is Demistifying India, and the topic of last night's discussion was "Doing Business in India, With India". Follow this link to find out more about this presentation. I want to comment on what I saw and learned because I found this presentation extremely informative.

I've travelled to - and lived in - the developing world, but have not yet been to India. From all that I've read about the "BRIC" countries, these are the places that will lead the world in a half-century. Their massive size, massive population, and access to natural resources means that their standing in the world will dramatically improve between now and 2050. At the same time, these nations are still very much developing countries. I'm also afraid the average American doesn't understand the magnitude of this transformation. Pay attention and learn about India, China, Brazil and Russia at every opportunity to understand how life will unfold in the 21st century.

There were three speakers, two of which were alumni of URI, who presented in the order as listed below:

1) Mr. John Struck, alumnus of URI (undergraduate economics), managing director at venture capital firm Wand Partners and Director of SeedWorks India Private Limited
2) Mr. Tobias Leuhrig, alumnus of URI (undergraduate engineering, graduate MBA), head of strategy at German truck parts manufacturer
3) Mr. Shivan Subramaniam, CEO of FM Global, a global insurance company based in Johnston, RI.

Mr. Struck's presentation was on the development of an agricultural company in India called SeedWorks. Struck, having graduated from URI in the early 1970s, has travelled extensively around the world, visiting over 50 countries in the last 35 years. His perspective was well-rounded, highly experienced and well-informed. The agricultural company that his venture capital firm financed over 10 years ago has performed as one would expect, when considering the nearly 10% growth in Indian GDP over the last decade - amazing! They've seen revenue growth in the double digits year after year, climbing every year. Agriculture makes up about 19% of the Indian economy, and employs over 100 million people. In contrast, the IT outsourcing industry employs a mere 2 million. Unfortunately, because of poor infrastructure and other challenges, a whopping 40% of SeedWorks' product is lost on its way from the farm to the market.

The investment has worked well for investors, and SeedWorks employs about 300 people; but losing such a high percentage of crop on delivery seriously cuts into profits. In addition, SeedWorks owns no buildings in India - it rents every property it occupies because, according to Struck, getting a building permit is so difficult there. In addition, the electrical grid is so unreliable, SeedWorks runs its system of backup generators almost 6 months a year. This business has done a good job of taking advantage of human capital - one of their lead Indian scientists was educated in America and has experience working for an American multinational firm, prior to managing SeedWorks. This is no surprise: many in the Indian diaspora have returned to India to seek employment after receiving educations abroad.

Mr. Leuhrig's presentation was a bit more technical in nature. He described the differences in technology in the trucking industry between Germany and India - with the best automotive engineers in the world, Germany is second to none when it comes to innovations in transportation. India, being an emerging economy, faces a great deal of challenges in the transportation sector, including a lack of safe and reliable trucks and busses on its poorly maintained roads and highways. Where Struck was well-informed and easily able to understand the nuances and differences between doing business in his own (and many other) countries and India, Leuhrig, unfortunately was not.

Coming from a developed nation, going to a developing nation, I understand the temptation to want to inject superior technological knowledge in the interest of progress and development. After all, we are all looking for the best solutions to the problems we find aren't we? Well, it's not as simple outside the sphere of engineering. India is a developing nation, and things like technology, transportation, and infrastructure are not going to resemble what we see in the developed world most of the time. When they do, it's a small victory for progress, but when they don't there are a number of reasons why this would be the case. Here's the thing - Leuhrig is a highly skilled engineer, and, knowing a few other engineers myself, I know they instinctively apply formulae to problems, working out the solution as efficiently as possible. That works, but only in engineering. Yes, India has inferior trucking capacity and technology. Yes, in order to grow its economy it will need the best technology in the world, but it's the structure of the economy in its present form that prevents this from being the case.

Leuhrig made great points about the technological differences between trucks in Germany and trucks in India. Germany, though, has the human capital, infrastructure and technology to support a network of high-end, high-performance vehicles. India, with a delapidated road system, intermittent access to mechanics and even less access to the technology required to maintain a system of high-tech trucks, won't benefit from an investment in the trucks Leuhrig is selling. His presentation confirmed that despite the best efforts of those that espouse the virtues of technology, a more holistic analysis of the situation in India, as well as a much higher level of self-awareness, would help point Mr. Leuhrig and his firm in the right direction.

The last presenter was Mr. Subramaniam. His presentation was on the services that FM Global provides to Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 clients around the world. According to Subramaniam, it takes FM Global at least 3 years to develop and train an engineer for fieldwork. Unlike many other insurance companies, FM Global employs no actuaries, only engineers who contemplate and model outcomes with the intent of providing affordable insurance to clients around the world. He feels, as do most multi-national CEOs, that as the Indian economy grows, opportunities for companies like FM Global to increase market share there will grow as well. There is no stretch in that logic; however the only catch is that in India, in order to sell insurance, foreign ownership of an insurance firm can be no greater than 26%. In other words an FM Global insurance subsidiary must be at least 74% owned by an Indian-domiciled corporation. It is clear that India has little interest in allowing foreign financial firms to move insurance premiums or profits out of India.

The entire presentation was as interesting as it was diverse. The first presenter gave a great example of the success of aligned interests - a foreign financial firm made an investment completely appropriate for India's level of development, in a sector that will only increase with an improvement in India's developing economy AND skills and technical know-how were put to use in order to create a business that will contribute to economic growth in India. The second presenter provided an excellent analysis of the technological disparities that still exist between a high-tech nation and a low-tech nation in the trucking industry, while also confirming that cultural understanding is just as important as technical understanding. The third presenter gave a much more globally oriented presentation as he discussed the challenges facing a multi-national corporation trying to get into the Indian marketplace.

In their own way, each of the presenters confirmed that India will remain an attractive place for foreign investment and strong diplomatic ties for decades to come. While it retains many of the characteristics of a developing country, the economy is growing far faster than many other nations in the developing world. Because of this rate of growth, foreigners are advised to take advantage of opportunities for cultural and economic exchange. India is the largest democracy in the world, and borders some very dangerous nations - because of its geographic location and growing economy, India and the nations of the developed world must maintain and even strengthen their partnership, in the interest of mutual benefit.

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Mary Hannington

From Sybil Vane over at Bitch PhD:

Mr. Vane has this coworker who regularly sends out to a handful of coworkers emails that present her hyperbolic and hysterical fiscal conservatism in reductive bullet points. Copied and pasted from some mass email type thing. E.g. "The free market did not create massive budget shortfalls, big gov't did! The free market did not create ineffectual public schools, big gov't did!" The sort of thing that Mr. Vane generally ignores, because there's really only one confrontational type in the family, but the other day she sent one that was all about big gov't and the big banks and the Fed, etc. So Mr. Vane, who has just finished reading Ron Paul's End the Fed [which yes I know, is it's own thing], writes her and says, "You might be interested in reading this, I feel like you might be surprised to learn about the connections between the Fed and some of your favorite old timey free market capitalists." And so she writes back and says, "How could I take anything that guy says seriously, he doesn't even believe he is who god made him to be."

And so Mr. Vane thinks, ummmm, ok. I mean, Ron Paul is a Bible thumper, right? Whatever, this woman is clearly loony.

And then 2 hours later she emails him to say, "Oh man, I have to apologize, I was telling my husband about the book you recommended and he pointed out that I was thinking of Ru Paul."

And apparently poor “Tea Party Paul”, Ron not Ru, is being asked to leave the “party” by the anti-incumbent Tea Party movement.

This despite the fact that Paul’s fundraiser held on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party is said to have started the whole Tea Party movement in 2007, though others argue it was CNBC’s Rick Santelli’s rant calling for a “tea party” in Chicago.

Tim Graney, who is running against Paul in the next congressional election, is formerly of the Katy Tea Party Patriots said that the sentiment is false. Graney and another Republican candidate for congress, who sponsored a local tax day Tea Party rally last April said and that Paul had nothing to do with the Tea Party foundation and is not paying attention to his district and earmarking bills.

Paul shot back that the earmarks don’t matter because he votes against all appropriations bills anyways.

Still there is Tea Party favorite Paul’s son Rand, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin at the Tea Party Convention in Nashville. An event attended by a crowd of 600, who were described as white, older and mostly southern.

BUT all is not warm and tea-like in Tea Party town.

Outside of the Republican Party 42% of adults have never even heard of the Tea Party.

Still others cry “Amateurs!”

There is a 20 year old planning to run on the Tea Party ticket in 2010 in Boston and a math teacher, who organized “porkulus” (a combination of the word “pork” and “stimulus” coined by that clever drug addict and radio announcer Rush Limbaugh) protest in Seattle and Mark Meckler, a California attorney and now a national Tea Party figure, who felt that Rick Santelli “was speaking directly to me.”

His group, Tea Party Patriots, suggest “Stand up and shout and sit right back down.” as a way to disrupt your representative’s speeches.

According to Meckler they are a “non-partisan” group and are endorsed by other such non-partisan folks like Michelle Malkin, Parcbench, Freedom Works, Red State and Red County.

Despite the fact that liberals have argued that conservative PACs like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks were behind all these parties and used professional PR firms to create the feel of a grassroots movement Tim Philips of Americans for Prosperity assures us that the Republican party is too “disorganized” to pull that off.

Abundant groups of Tea Partiers have turned up like 9-12 Delaware Patriots, the Louisiana Tea Party Federation and Lewis & Clark Tea Party Patriots, who have recently called for their Democratic senator to be hung.

There is even a Tea Party Blog, where hilohaw is planting an avocado tree in Hawaii to honor of the Tea Party movement. She compares the ten years the tree will take to mature and the tens years it will take to tap oil resources and calls for us to start drilling now! She says it would be okay to put up some windmills and solar panels too.

Speaking of trees… Tea Partier Fred Neff says, “…liberals use Science to cut away at the Tree of Liberty.” He goes on to explain how Science manipulates us.

And mach1, who hopes the Tea Party will blossom like the tree says, “Go Tea Party Go!” He is clearly of the anti-incumbent Tea Party variety and suggests, ““Vote out the incumbent” should be the mantra - even if the other choice is a complete nut case. A nut case is better than the self-serving leaders we have now.”

The Northwest Side Tea Party of Cincinnati meets at Clippard Industries next to the Sunoco every month.

Tea Party Nation of Tennessee is expected to make a profit in the high “two figures.”

And last time I checked the Tea Party Patriots (Official Home of the American Tea Party) had almost 30,000 members, who are all presumably standing up and shouting and sitting right back down all across this great nation of ours.

Posted by M. Hannington at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve

In February 2010, for the first time in my life, I'm going to take a trip to India. When I mention to people that I'm heading to India, one of the first things they want to know is, "why India?"

It's hard to pinpoint when contact or proximity to someone or something Indian first made an impression on me. Sure, there were a few Indian students in my class throughout my junior high and high school years in Rhode Island; by the time I went to college in Boston (where I earned my nickname rooting for the Boston Red Sox), it was evident that I had much to learn. One of my closest friends in college was Indian and introduced me to Indian food for the first time - it was an acquired taste I didn't have the first time I sat down ("how am I supposed to put this all together with my hands?").

In the early 2000s, I paid little attention to world affairs... I studied science after all, and never even thought of studying abroad. Yep, that WAS me... boy how things change! In 2002, I joined the Peace Corps and soon after my arrival in Guyana, consistently started to encounter a culture that was distinctly Indian for the first time. Chicken curry, Diwali, Ramadan (13% of India is Muslim, the world's largest Muslim minority population) and some of the history behind the British colonization of India came on to my radar as I adjusted to life in a foreign country. The world was a lot bigger than I ever imagined.

After returning to the US, life in New York exposed me to a multicultural world. My goals here were primarily economic and my first job was in finance. Although I wasn't exposing myself to India during my working day, there were plenty of learning opportunities available as I made decisions about my future. During the latter half of the 2000s, the idea of India as an emerging economic powerhouse became more widespread. As I started to learn more about India, the facts began to astound me: a nation of 1 billion people, a rapidly growing economy, a former British colony, layers of history and culture, massive cities, and the list goes on and on.

Which brings me to the present day. The amount of reading I've done on India and the numerous movies, documentaries and presentations I've watched only begin to scratch the surface of what I am about to learn. The immensity of this nation and the background of its people mean I could study India for the rest of my life and still only know a fraction of what is out there.

But now, I've got to wade away from a theoretical and academic perspective and into a more tangible one. My feet will be on the ground there very soon, and I've got to figure out where I'm going and what I'm doing.

First, I had to take care of vaccinations. I went to the travel clinic at Miriam Hospital in RI, and learned that the following were needed for India (for official information on vaccines for India or any other country visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov):

1) H1N1
2) Hep A
3) Hep B
4) Japenese encephalitis
5) Rabies
6) Seasonal flu
7) Typhoid
8) Measles (aka "MMR")
9) Polio
10) TDaP
11) Malaria

Traveling on a US Passport means you can't go to India without a visa, so I got a 10 year tourist visa in my passport. With my vaccines, visa and passport, a money belt, neck pillow, Lonely Planet (1200 pages!) and a few other items, I'm good to go!

I'm planning on spending 4 weeks in India, and here is the itinerary I'm working with, remembering to include flexibility at all points along the trip:

1) Days 1-4: Delhi - After a 25 hour flight which includes a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam, I land in Delhi. Delhi is a massive and very crowded city with a growing population and an urban renewal effort taking place ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Over the last 2500 years, at least eight cities have been founded in the area of Delhi, with New Delhi being the most recent, completed by the British in 1931. I'll be staying in Connaught Place, which is situated right between New Delhi and Old Delhi. Connaught Place was constructed during British rule, and was named after the title given to Queen Victoria's third son, Prince Arthur - Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. In Delhi, I'd like to visit a few different sites, some of which are a 15-20 minute walk from where I will be staying, and are listed here in no particular order:

- Gandhi Smirthi: the place where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. A memorial has been placed at the location, and there are numerous photos and other works of art there. Gandhi had been staying there for 144 consecutive days before he was shot by a Hindu extremist.

- National Gandhi Museum: After Gandhi's assassination, a number of his personal items were collected from around India and assembled in Mumbai. Eventually, Gandhi's effects were moved to their current location in Delhi. I also hope to see the Raj Ghat, a short walk away from the museum, where Gandhi was cremated.

- National Museum: The museum, the largest in India, has a collection that covers 5,000 years of Indian history. The wide range of items in the museum include Buddhist art, European coins, Mughal weaponry and Persian manuscripts. Wow!

- Nehru Memorial Museum: Jawaharlal Nehru, who died in 1964, was the first prime minister of India. The museum is located in the "Teen Murti Bhavan" ("House of Three Statues") on Teen Murti Road. Nehru occupied the house as the first prime minister of India, taking it over from the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in India. After Nehru's death, the house was converted into a national memorial. It also contains one of the four Nehru planetariums in the country.

2) Days 4-6: Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Agra is a 2 hour train ride from New Delhi, conveniently located just to the north of Connaught Place. According to my guide, a train leaves each day at 6:15 AM. The state of Uttar Pradesh is just east of Delhi, and I'll be visiting a few cities here, including Lucknow and Varanasi. Uttar Pradesh was the centerpiece of the Buddhist empire of Ashoka the Great, 2000 years ago. Agra was the first capital of Ashoka's empire, which stretched across the subcontinent from Afghanistan to Bangladesh. Agra sits right along a bend in the Yamuna River and is home to one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world, the Taj Mahal.

- Taj Mahal: Designated as a World Heritage Site in 1983 and over 300 years old, this is the top tourist destination in India. It is opened from dawn to dusk everyday except Friday to tourists, and on Fridays if you are attending prayer at the mosque.

- Agra Fort: The Taj is not the only World Heritage Site in Agra. Construction on this fort began in 1565 by Emperor Akbar, completed by his grandson who also built the Taj, Shah Jahan. The fort and the Taj are a little over a mile apart.

3) Days 7-9: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. To get from Agra City (AGA) train station to Lucknow Junction train station (LJN) takes about 4-6 hours. Lucknow is the capital of Uttar Pradesh, and was the site of the First War of Independence, in 1857. The Residency, a compound built by the British in 1800, was seized by Indian freedom fighters in 1857 and held for over 100 days. 2000 people died in an effort to defend the Residency. There are also Shia mosques and tombs in Lucknow, namely the Bara Imambara and the Hussainabad Imambara, which I will also try to see.

4) Days 9-11: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The train ride from Lucknow to Varanasi is about 6 hours. Varanasi is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities and has been a cultural and religious center in North India for a few thousand years. It lies right along the Ganges river and is thus a prime location for deceased Hindus to be cremated along the city's ghats. By being cremated along a sacred river like the Ganges, the dead can achieve "moksha", a release from the cycle of birth and death.

- The Durga Mandir (Temple) is situated in Ramnagar of Banaras (or Varanasi). It was built 500 years ago and is under the control of the royal family of Banaras State currently. This temple is devoted to Hindu deity Durga. The temple has a large stone built pond with it. The Durga Mandir boasts of its fine stone works, which is a fabulous example of north Indian stone work arts.
- Kashi Vishwanath Temple, also called Golden Temple, was built in 1780 by Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, located on the outskirts of the Ganga. This temple makes Varanasi a place of great religious importance to Hindus because Vishweshwara or Vishwanatha, the aforementioned Jyotirlinga of the Lord Shiva is enshrined here. A single view of Vishwanatha Jyotirlinga is considered to merit more than that of other jyotirlingas.

5) Days 12-16: Calcutta ("Kolkata"), West Bengal. The train from Varanasi to Calcutta is 14 hours. In Hindu lore, the God Shiva found his wife Sati's charred remains and vowed to do a "dance of destruction", which was only stopped by Vishnu, the supreme God of Hinduism. In Vishnu's effort, Sati's body was dismembered into 51 pieces, and one of her toes fell near Calcutta, in Kalighat, where a temple now stands. In 1686, British explorers arrived at the mouth of the Ganges and the area was signed over to the British East India Company.

- Victoria Memorial: The memorial is designed in what is known as an Indo-Saracenic style, and is referred to in the travel guide as a combination of the Taj Mahal and the White House. Inside it is both a memorial to the late Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee and a museum.
- Indian Musuem: Here, there are 1000 year old Hindu sculptures, minerals and even a whale skeleton.
- Mother Theresa's Mission: Here is where Mother Theresa lived from 1953 to 1997, and where she lay entombed, along with some of her personal effects.
- Sunderbans Tiger Reserve: I'll have to first visit the West Bengal Tourism office in the section of Kolkata called BBD Bagh to see if this is possible. It seems like any excursion is at least a full day, maybe two, to see one of the largest concentrations of tigers in the world.

6) city, days 16-18, cross country train trip to Mumbai

7) Days 18-22, Mumbai, Maharashtra: First occupied by Koli fishermen, then Hindus, then Muslims, then Portuguese, then annexed to the British via royal marriage, THEN leased to the British East India Company in 1668, Mumbai is the most populous city in India.

- Fort Area: The High Court's design is based on a German castle and a visitor can go inside and take pictures for free.
- Fort Area: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (aka "Victoria Terminus", "VT" or "CST") - this is the busiest train station in Asia and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Worli: Nehru Center. The Nehru Center contains a planetarium, as well as a history exhibition called "Discovery of India".
- There is a walking tour that starts in Fort, which takes about 3 hours to complete. It starts in Colaba at the Gateway of India and ends in Churchgate.

8) Days 23-26, Jaipur, Rajasthan: Jaipur is an 18 hour train ride from Mumbai, and is the capital of Rajasthan. The Rajputs are warrior clans who claim to have occupied Rajasthan for 1000 years prior to British arrival. After the British colonized India, Rajput maharajas regained much of their states' independence, which had been lost under the Mughal empire. Consequently, the maharajas were well compensated by the British in return for cooperation with their colonial rulers.

- Iswari Minar Sarga Sal: From this minaret, a viewer can see what is known as the "old city" of Jaipur.
- Amber Fort is located in Amber, 11 km from Jaipur. It was the ancient citadel of the ruling Kachhawa clan of Amber, before the capital was shifted to Jaipur. Amber Fort is known for blending both Hindu and Muslim (Mughal) architectural elements, and its ornate and breathtaking artistic mastery. The fort borders the Maota Lake.

9) Extra time: Udaipur, Rajasthan (between Mumbai and Jaipur): The train ride from Mumbai to Udaipur is 16 hours. Udaipur is in southern Rajasthan, and has been referred to as India's most romantic city. It was founded in 1559 and on the eastern side of Lake Pichola. The City Palace and City Palace Museum are on the eastern side of the lake, and, aside from the lake itself, seem like they are the most prominent attraction in Udaipur.

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve

This is the third and final part of the series I am writing, regarding my desire to obtain Italian citizenship. The first piece I wrote was in March 2009, the second piece in November, and here we are in early December, and I have my Italian passport!

In March, I was still waiting for the most critical document to come in - the Certificate of Naturalization, which was originally given to my great grandfather in 1926. It arrived in June, and at that point I finally had all the documents I needed. I gave myself the summer off, and by late August and early September, put the final pieces of the application in place.

As I discussed last time, I needed to get apostilles and translations for all the birth, marriage and death ("BMD") certificates related to those events which took place in America, and I needed to complete Forms 1 through 4 of the application, which can be found at the very bottom of this page.

To get the apostilles, I sent the BMD documents to the RI Secretary of State's office, with a check in the amount of $5/request, a letter stating my request, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. I had the documents back in about 10 days with the apostille (a 1 page letter signed by the Acting Deputy Secretary of State, in my case). For the official translations, I used the extremely reliable translators I found on the internet - www.italiandualcitizenship.com. I paid the company through paypal ($75/page), sent them scanned copies of the certificates, and had the documents back via email in about 2 weeks.

At this point, it was about mid-September, and the appointment date in mid-October was in sight. After making the appointment 10 months ago, it was finally getting close. I had some concerns - what if the consultants I had spoken to were all wrong about my eligibility?

They weren't, after helpfully reviewing my documents with me.

What if I made a mistake with the documents, and either didn't have something or missed a piece of information?

Not to worry, apparently the policy at the NY consulate is that you have about 2 months after your appointment to transmit all the necessary documents. The consular officer will advise you as to what is needed, and provide you with instructions for transmitting the documents.

Because it had taken me almost 2 years to get all the documents, I really wanted the appointment to be the end of the process. Further, I was in the most extensive of the 5 categories eligible for citizenship (from the website www.italiandualcitizenship.com): "Your paternal or maternal grandfather was born in your native country, your paternal great grandfather was an Italian citizen at the time of his birth, neither you nor your father nor your grandfather ever renounced your right to Italian citizenship" AND "A woman born before 01/01/1948 can claim the Italian citizenship only from her father and can transfer it to descendants after 01/01/1948."

The rules at the NY consulate are that you have to show up at least 15 minutes before your appointment, bring your passport, a copy of your passport, your application, a copy of your application, and a utility bill to show you live in the consulate's jurisdiction. Oh, and you can only bring a small bag with you to carry these things. Getting in went pretty smoothly - they let me in through a metal detector and shuffled me right upstairs to the citizenship/visa section. There I waited for about 20 minutes before I was finally called to meet with the consular officer.

We sat down, and the first thing he wanted to know was what category I was in. He was gruff, but professional as I mentioned I was getting citizenship through my grandmother's father. He called up a spreadsheet template on his computer, and began to ask to see my documents so he could keep them and record relevant information in the spreadsheet. I passed page after page across the desk while he recorded the information and kept all documentation.

By the end of the appointment, he was able to confirm that I had all necessary documents, I was eligible for citizenship and - here is the most important part - I would be contacted by the Italian government via letter; at which time, they would notify me that I was registered in Itri (where my grandparents came from) as an Italian citizen living abroad. My appointment was on Oct. 15 - on Nov. 10, I had received an email with the subject line: "Riconoscimento cittadinanza italiana". I had been registered as an Italian citizen! From here, it's a piece of cake...

About a week after I got the email, I returned to the consulate with a printed copy of it, a completed passport application, 2 passport photos, and the application fee of $120. I waited around for about 30 minutes, handed in the application and was told that my passport would be ready in 10 working days. I paid, kept the receipt and left. I returned on the appointed day, waited for a few minutes, picked up my passport and left!

My biggest piece of advice to anyone interested in this is to do your best to get the documents beforehand to determine whether you are eligible. There are 5 different categories of eligibility, so if you aren't eligible in one, you may be in another. Of course, do your best to keep everything organized because it takes time to obtain documents and then to obtain translations and apostilles. Further, I recommend that the applicant make it as easy as possible for the people receiving your requests for documents or information to assist you. I was very intimidated by the process at first, especially because I was in the most difficult category. I also had many relatives who have either passed away or simply don't remember dates, locations or specific events from so long ago. Therefore, it is hard to get certificates stating that these events have taken place without a great deal of searching. In other words, I had my work cut out for me, and felt like I was "flying blind" about 80% of the time. On the positive side, I gave myself plenty of time to get documents, felt as though I had good fortune because I got all the documents I needed, and did my best to keep everything in order.

In the process of investigating my family's history, I learned a great deal about what my ancestors' lives were like, as well as the challenges they faced both in Italy and the US. I was able to assemble a great deal of facts about my family's background - where they departed from in Italy, where they arrived in the US, how long it took, what time of year they endured the North Atlantic (January and February! Brrr....!), where they lived upon arrival in the US, where they worked, and when they passed away. Being a dual citizen makes me feel as though my ties to both countries are stronger than ever before - I often joke with friends that in getting my Italian citizenship, I am "undoing" what my ancestors did nearly a century ago by trying to get citizenship to the country they left behind.

They desired a better life and in doing so, felt they had to leave their country and the only home they had ever known, in the interest of giving themselves and their children something greater, yet unknown and unfamiliar. By having 2 passports, I think I am linking their past with my present. Italy and the rest of the EU nations are vastly different than they were even decades ago, as is America. Advances in technology put to use in areas like commerce and warfare mean that humanity is now bound closer than ever been before to events which take place thousands of miles away in unfamiliar places. Through this process, I have attached myself to a different and unfamiliar part of the world, which is something I have in common with what my ancestors were attempting nearly a century ago. Buongiorno!

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve

This is a follow up to the first piece I wrote back in March 2009 about my desire to obtain Italian citizenship.

At the time, I was in the process of obtaining one of the most important documents needed to determine my eligibility for Italian citizenship: The Certificate of Naturalization for my great-grandfather.

Based on what I have found about my ancestors, they left Naples on January 6, 1920, and arrived in New York, February 15, 1920. This information is found on the Petition For Naturalization, a document completed by my father's mother's father... my great grandfather. He presented himself to the Providence (RI) County Superior Court on November 21, 1925 with a petition that he had lived in the US for 5 years, had fathered three children here and desired US citizenship. This was witnessed by two people, and the Petition for Naturalization was accepted by the court that same day.

On April 5, 1926, he was awarded a Certificate of Naturalization by the US Department of Labor. He was handed the original document, which I haven't located, and the US government retained a copy. This document was awarded in the days before the Social Security Administration (founded in 1935 with the signing of the Social Security Act that same year), therefore, he was given a file number. According to the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services), his Certificate of Naturalization was in the "C-File" Series, presumably one of the ways they kept track of documents. According to the Freedom of Information Act, I am able to complete a request, pay a fee and obtain a copy of the Certificate, if they have it. Lucky for me, they did!

Along with my great-grandfather's Certificate of Naturalization, USCIS also had the completed "Petition for Naturalization" which was originally filed in RI State Court and another document called the "Declaration of Intention" which he completed in 1921. The RI State Court system provided certified (with a nifty red stamp!) copies of the Petition and Declaration, while the USCIS provided a copy of the much coveted Certificate of Naturalization.

So, as of early June 2009, I had all the documents I needed: birth, marriage and even death certificates for me, my parents (both born in the US, married once and still alive), my father's parents (born in the US, married once, and grandma is still alive), and my father's mother's parents (born in Itri, Italy, married there, and both died in the US). I also had the (certified copy) Petition for Naturalization and (a copy of) the Certificate of Naturalization.

I needed to do a few things with the birth, marriage and death ("BMD") certificates relating to my ancestry which were acquired during my family's time in the United States. These documents came from the RI Office of Vital Records. Each of the 10 or so documents cost about $20 to obtain. In order to present them as legal documents to a foreign government, I needed to attach a document called an apostille to each one. An apostille is an internationally recognized legal certification as per the Hague (International Court) Convention of October 5, 1961. The function of the apostille is to certify that within the US state the document is issued, it has legal effect and is accepted as a legal document. In this way, getting the apostille from the RI Secretary of State allows an American birth certificate to be accepted and used by a foreign government. I needed to get apostilles (which were attached to each of the American BMD certificates with a grommet by the Secretary of State's Office and returned to me) for each of the BMD certificates I was using at a cost of $5 each. Furthermore, I had to provide officially translated copies of each of the American BMD certificates into Italian... at a cost of $75 each.

So, I was able to obtain the following for my application:

- a court-certified copy of the Petition for Naturalization
- a photocopy of the Certificate of Naturalization
- BMD certificates for me, my parents, my dad's parents, and his mom's parents all with translations and apostilles

But, that's not all...

The next set of documents I put together were Forms 1 through 4 of the application. These forms can be found at the very bottom of this page.

Form 1 is an overview of the application - they are asking for my ancestor's file number, dates of birth, marriage and death, and locations where these all took place. The applicant signs at the bottom, stating that all the information is true and accurate and indicates the Italian ancestor through which they will obtain citizenship. Form 2 is my declaration that I, as the applicant, have never renounced my Italian citizenship. Form 3 is the declaration of every living ascendant (mother, father, father's mother) that each has never renounced his or her Italian citizenship, and Form 4 is a declaration, signed by the applicant, that any deceased ascendant (my grandfather) has never renounced Italian citizenship. Each document must be signed by the attestee and notarized.

So, add Forms 1 through 4 to the list I provided above of documents that must be presented to obtain Italian citizenship. In addition, a photocopy of all these documents is needed as well as a copy of the US passport and a utility bill (or other appropriate document) indicating you are a resident of the jurisdiction that Italian consulate presides over. Consulates are located in California, Florida, New York and Boston. A complete list can be found here.

In part I, I gave a general overview of the process as I understood it at that time. Part II is an update - obtaining all necessary documents and finalizing the application. In Part III, I will discuss the appointment and subsequent steps. As of today, Nov. 2, 2009, I still don't have citizenship, and we will discuss this further next time.

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Red Sox Steve

In talking to a few people, I've learned that there is an interest in my pursuit of Dual Citizenship - Americans with Italian heritage MAY be eligible to become Italian citizens, which is effectively a gateway to the rest of the EU. I'm going to write what I know so far here, in the hopes that others will take up their own efforts if they are so inclined. My own appointment at the Italian Consulate (the LAST step in the process) is in October 2009, so even I am not an Italian citizen yet.

I am Italian-American, 3rd generation born here in the US, which means that it was my great-grandparents that came over here, back in 1920.

I first learned that I may be eligible through a former coworker - he simply stated the possibility that I could apply for Italian citizenship, so with the help of google, I confirmed this to be the case. Essentially, the "right to citizenship" is passed down through the paternal line, from the last of your ancestors to be born there. My great grandfather, Francesco, was born in Italy in 1892, married in a small town there, and, before having any children there, immigrated here with his wife and his parents.

What the Italian government calls this is "Italian Citizenship jure sanguinis", which means Italian citizenship, through blood relations.

The application process can be quite long, and, since I was unsure if I was actually eligible, I took it upon myself to obtain all the needed documents - birth, marriage and death certificates going back to my great grandparents. Even with all that (took about 6 months), there was still one key piece of information missing, which is essentially the lynchpin to eligibility:

If the person who came over here was naturalized as a US citizen before giving birth to his or her progeny, then no one down the line is eligible through that person. I don't want to give wrong information here, so I urge you to check out your own situation based on the documentation available at the website for the Italian Consulate. Here is the link to the Consulate in New York (where I live), but you must use the consulate that covers the state that you live in: http://www.consnewyork.esteri.it/Consolato_NewYork

To give you a bigger picture of the process, you have to 1) prove, through the marriage, birth and death certificates of your ancestors, that you are related to the person born in Italy, 2) prove that the first generation born here was born BEFORE the immigrant parents were naturalized, 3) obtain birth and, if applicable, marriage certificates from Italy (may take a while) for the folks who immigrated here, and 4) translate all the english documents into Italian using an official translation service.

There are notaries and apostilles and such which are part of the process, but the key is obtaining all the documentation which proves you are eligible. Currently, I have all needed birth, marriage and death certificates (even the ones from Italy!), AND the naturalization papers issued by the court system in 1925 (my grandmother was born in 1921, so this proves her father was naturalized AFTER she was born, passing down the eligibility for citizenship). What I am waiting for at this point is the USCIS (part of the Department of Homeland Security) to send documentation also related to the naturalization. It should only take another few weeks to get them, but I sent the request just before Christmas; obviously, I wish I sent it sooner.

Oh, and then, I made my appointment at the Italian Consulate here in December 2008... the earliest available appointment was October 2009! Like I said, the process takes a little while...

Furthermore, I highly recommend using a business/consulting service that will assist you in the process - there are businesses that are set up solely to assist individuals in obtaining their Dual/Italian citizenship. In total, the process is going to take me 2 years and probably cost almost $1500. That being said, because the consulting services have experience with the process, they are in a good position to guide you, and help you work as efficiently as possible. I did not start using a consulting service until I was about 10 months into the process, and highly regret not employing them earlier. I recommend this one: http://www.italiandualcitizenship.com/index.htm. You do have to pay them through paypal before they will assist you, however. So far the people I've been working with have been extremely helpful, and, without them, I wouldn't have figured out how to obtain the naturalization documents.

All in all, I'm happy to answer any specific questions, am not an authority on this process, and highly recommend that you do your own investigations within your own family or on the internet, and, if you are serious about getting your citizenship, enlisting a consulting business to help you with the process.

Posted by Red Sox Steve at 07:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By Matthew Storey

I took Scout for a walk this morning, a Saturday, a little before 7AM. It came as no surprise to see the black garbage bags out front of our building, torn open and rummaged through - that has been a reality on East 89th Street for longandlong, but it is still sobering...

In some respects, this actually reflects an improvement in conditions in this part of Manhattan, an area (between 86th Street and 96th Street, East of Lexington Avenue on the upper East Side) that was a buffer zone between moneyed Manhattanites south of 86th and poor residents of Spanish Harlem, north of 96th, when I was growing up. In those days, violent crime was prevalent in the projects that line 1st Avenue going North and homeless encampments littered the area that Jimmy Cagney had grown up in some 100 years earlier. Its an odd mix, gritty urban elements and block after block of newbie New Yorkers who spill out of America's Universities every Summer for their chance at the NYC dream, the first job, the nightlife, the freedom to wear what you wish, fuck who you want, party like a rock star and do it all unjudged - as long as you show up at work, and pay your rent.

The college kids have a little boost from mom and dad back home and quickly gravitate to the bars in the neighborhood, bars that illustrate how diverse an American cross section actually lives here - around the corner is 'Elaine's', the legendary saloon and meeting place for lions of literature, media and entertainment, next door to that is a place that calls itself the 'Largest New England Bar in the Area' (an area 30 miles south of New England), across the street from that is a place that caters to fans of Ohio State AND the Pittsburgh Steelers, an unthinkable combination to the bar another block away that goes with the traditional OSU/Cleveland Browns mix.

The Homeless who are working their way through the garbage bags are from all over as well. They know the Sanitation schedule and jockey for position in the wee hours to get first shot at the goodies in the bags. They know that these kids have yet to really worry about the cost of things or the value, and can find stuff that is relatively new but boring to its owner. They can collect cans and bottles for deposit of course, and there are always those who go for the high end score - financial records that can be sold to Identity theft outfits who empower homeless efforts just as much as the recycling centers do.

Lately, however, Scout and I have noticed a new group amongst the mostly minority, mostly drug addled denizens of the streets. Where mumbling and odor have become familiar, we find occasional isolated individuals sitting on a stoop, poring over the newspaper, reading a discarded book, sipping not a bottle of rotgut, or a generic cup of coffee from some bodega but one from Starbucks. Brand identity not typically being a concern to the downtrodden, but still registering in the value system of these new homeless, those college kids from a few crops past who came to town, learned the neighborhood, got the job, started to party, found they needed the party more than the job, lost the job, kept the 'party' and ended up on the street. I've seen still fresh faced versions, late '20s to mid '30s. The only NYC place they really know is this transitory one they first came to, and so, when the gravy train ended and the gut craving took over - they remained here. Home.

Its only one of the signs of a Manhattan that has, in some respects, been at the epicenter of the Financial crisis as home to Wall Street and the center of Finance and, in others, has been immune to some of the pernicious impact that has rippled out to what we arrogant New Yorkers like to call 'The Provinces'. Construction jobs, evaporated all over America, have been everywhere in Manhattan, as tax incentivized projects planned during the time of plenty are forced to completion before the tax break ends. Where once these developments dreamed of selling off multi-million dollar apartments to bonus stuffed kids from Wall Street, their projects spring up on seemingly every corner to vast emptiness or as mid level rentals. It is just another example of how the 'crisis' impacts differently on folks who have made different choices.

At the high end, in Manhattan's wealthiest precincts, is where the bulk of the money has always resided and it is there that the bulk of damage has occurred. Real Estate values have plummeted across the board but that has a drastically different impact upon a former Bond Trader who has seen his multi-million dollar condo drop down below the value of his mortgage than it has on a working class person happy to see rent controlled apartments in good neighborhoods readily available, sans broker fees, with free months tacked on, at prices 30% below what was available just two years ago.

Businesses that are built upon 'luxury' sales to the moneyed classes, or services to these elite cash machines have shuttered or had to downsize their expectations, but well run businesses that serve a more egalitarian mix, and do it well, continue to thrive. As always, the upper east side retail indicates the working woman heavy mix of residents, as nail salons, dry cleaners, spas, eyebrow threaders, boutiques, chain clothing outlets and user friendly (read:affordable) restaurants and bars continue to thrive and propagate.

I'm a Dogwalker and a Catsitter, which places me in a crawl space between the 'Upstairs' clients and the 'Downstairs' building staffs of doormen, porters and superintendents and the army of service people (like me!) who care for cleanliness (maids), repair (contractors), apartment look (interior designers). personal look (stylists)., transport (drivers)..even the creatures themselves, blissfully unaware of the stratifying impact of greenery, have their own levels of care beyond the walker/sitter who writes to you today...the groomer, the vet, the vet-tech, the vet receptionist, the vet physical therapist, the vet chauffeur...and because I have a huge mouth, have been in one place or another all along this spectrum at some time in my life and am endlessly curious...

I talk to them.

*Phyllis, is 45, she's a designer at an auction house, married with a kid and a dog (where I come in). She lives across the street from Madoff's place in mid-level luxury (for Manhattan). In 2006, she made $250,000, working 9 months of that year and vacationing/traveling all over the world. In 2008, she made $41,000 and is desperate to sell her condo before she has to tap savings. Her daughter is in an expensive private school that costs almost as much per year as she made last year, which is more than she will this year. Her life was built upon assumptions that no longer exist. By any measure, she has 'enough' and is unworthy of sympathy, but simply of note, she will have to adjust and I suspect she will. But the private school tuition seems likely to evaporate and tough choices about where to live and where to school await.

*Marco is 34. He has an MBA from Wharton, the first in his family to go to college, let alone the most prestigious B-School in the land. He took a job right out of grad school that paid him $180,000 his first year, by his 4th year (2006) his income bordered on seven figures. He met a woman, who had an MFA and a taste for fine living and they purchased a condominium apartment in a top tier new high rise and appointed it in style, she decided not to work - preferring to focus on their lifestyle and travel for new art and design elements while her man plugged away at the Bank. They occupied their new 58th floor paradise on January 19, 2007, his companies stock, where most of their wealth was concentrated was trading above $170 per share - making them multi-millionaires.

On St, Patricks Day, 2008. Marco was barred from entering his office at Bear Stearns. The shares he had stubbornly held onto, after conferring with senior executives at his firm and others, was essentially worthless and was sold the next day to JP Morgan for $2 per share. He was out of work, wiped out in his investment account and overextended for art, rugs, travel, clothes in his bank account. Within 3 months, he was unable to make the $8,000 per month 'Maintenance' payments on his condo and his lady left him. 3 months after that, he'd been evicted from his residence by the board and his possessions were sent to auction. He moved in with his brother, a doorman. Since February of 2009, he has been working part-time as a porter in the building his brother tends door. He remains a brilliant, innovative guy and will recover, in time. But right now, he is lucky to have a family who love him, a place to sleep and a job that keeps him fed. His wife divorced him and remarried a 62 year old Mexican millionaire who made his money in ceramic tiles, the sort that can be found in the jacuzzi of the apartment Marco used to call home.

These are the first tales, the 'Upstairs' snapshots...next time we'll look at the other side of the coin, at some New Yorkers who are doing BETTER than before.

Until then...

Posted by Matthew at 05:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)