Spaghetti Sissies Queering Italian American Media

Preface, “Split Tomato Sauce” by Tommi Avicolli Mecca, writer, singer/songwriter, activist, and editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation.-  Introduction by Sole Anatrone and Julia Heim.-  “Coming Out and Leaving Home: Cultural Friction in the Italian American Kitchen” by Eilis Kierans, PhD candidate in Italian Studies at Rutgers University, USA.-  “Passion and Pulp: Impossible Families” by Clarissa Clò, PhD, Professor and Chair, and Director of the Italian Studies Program, in the Department of European Studies at San Diego State University, USA.-  “Queer Categorical Miscegenation: Sexuality, Race, Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Victor Bumbalo’s Niagara Falls and Questa ”  by John Champagne, PhD, Professor of English at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, USA.-  “I would like to be a spoiled rich white girl” by Nick Boston,PhD,   associate professor of media sociology at Lehman College, USA.-  “Lifestyles of the Gay and Mobster” by Julia Heim, PhD, Lecturer in Italian at University of Pennsylvania, USA.-  “Queering the Guido or Guidoing the Queer? Performing Gender and Identity on Comedy Television” by Carmelo Galati, PhD, Associate Professor of Instruction and Co-Director of the Italian Studies Program at Temple University, USA.-  “Time to come out, girl!”: Queering Italian American Sexuality on TV Land’s Younger by Aria Cabot, PhD,   Director of the World Languages and Literatures Teaching and Technology Center at Southern Methodist University, USA.-  Spotlights: These “spotlights” are short, autobiographical pieces that appear throughout the book, interspersed between the chapters, serving as both a break from the more scholarly work, and a look at what it means to live as a queer Italian American media-maker. The authors–whoare all involved in media in a variety of ways–reflect on how their identities as Italian Americans, and as LGBTQIA+ identified peoples influence each other and their work. Contributors:.-  Rita Houston & Laura Fedele (radio personality and producer).-  Annie Lanzilotto (author, playwright).-   Dana Piccoli (entertainment writer and pop culture critic).-  Katelynn Cusanelli (reality TV star).-  Norman Korpi (reality TV star).-  Mitch del Monico (director).-  Julio Gambuto (director and author).