The Debbie Nigro Show

Thanksgiving kicks off the annual bell ringing next to all those red Salvation Army donation kettles.  

This year's message. They need you more than ever.

The Salvation Army is going to be serving the needs this year of close to 24 million people here in the United States. In case you didn’t know it, the donations that you give in your area, stay in your area, to help the local people that really need help.

Kenneth Hodder, the National Commander of the Salvation Army, a dynamic guy with a Harvard education and a great personality, stopped by my radio show to bring us all up to speed on his organization, which is the largest social services organization in the United States. Roughly 5,000 Salvation Army officers, about 60,000 employees, and about 3 million volunteers are continuously working to help meet the needs of those in difficult situations. 

“The economic impact of the pandemic continues to be a key issue to which the Salvation Army is addressing itself”, say Kenneth. “Right now, about 92 million Americans have had difficulty paying their most basic household expenses in the past week. Homelessness has grown by double digits. The coming freezing weather of winter threatens all sorts of people on the street, and there are those that might lose their homes as a result of evictions or loss of utilities. So there are a lot of reasons to become involved in meeting the needs of your neighbors. Money put in the kettle is going to stay in that community. People should know that they are helping the people in need, in their area, whenever they give to the Salvation Army.”

If you or someone you know needs help and you see someone who's in a Salvation Army uniform, just tell them what you need! They’ll call the local Salvation Army who will do whatever they can to assist you. They’re always ready to help.

“We're seeing an increasing number of volunteers, says Commander Kenneth Hodder, “and I’m inviting all your listeners to volunteer this year for a kettle. Donating a couple of hours of your time, can buy several nights of shelter for someone. It can provide several dozen meals for a family. You can make a huge difference having a lot of fun standing out on the street corner ringing a bell, bring your spouse, bring your pet, bring your children, join your corporate group. It's a great thing to do in the holiday season. It will make you feel good, and you'll make a real difference.”

You can check out the volunteering options at SalvationArmyUSA.org, which are generally done in about two-hour segments.

82 cents of every dollar donated goes directly toward funding Salvation Army initiatives and it stays within the community in which it was given.

My personal suggestion to Kenneth, was that he hurry up and figure out how someone could just walk up to those red kettles and swipe a credit card across, because as we all know, people hardly carry cash anymore. He said he would get right ‘on it’!

Meanwhile you can donate in several ways online as well.

If you want more information, again, it's SalvationArmyUSA.org

We’re already into Christmas? Didn’t I just take off my Halloween Costume? 

If like me, you’ve been feeling that the holiday season has been arriving earlier and earlier each year, it’s not your imagination. It has in fact been speeding up, because the businesses and destinations that invest in holiday displays invest a lot, says Dan Casterella, the Chief Executive Officer of American Christmas, and they want to capitalize on their investments.

American Christmas is the company behind the scenes creating the breathtaking holiday displays in 6 states including the iconic locations in NYC, like Saks Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Macy's, and Radio City Music Hall.

I invited CEO Dan Casterella to stop by my radio show for a warm chat to give us all a peek behind the curtains in the world of American Christmas.

The Business of Christmas:

Located in Mount Vernon, New York, (my hometown) American Christmas is the company responsible for decorating some of the most famous holiday locations in the United States. But they're not just about tinsel and lights; they create immersive holiday experiences that enchant visitors and spread festive cheer. The feel-good power they have created there is undeniable. Anyone of any age who could use a lift should stop by.

From School to Christmas Wonderland:

Chief Executive Officer, Dan Castarella, has been part of this magical world for over two decades. His journey into the Christmas business began when he started decorating homes in high school and, after a short stint in college, decided to leave college and join American Christmas. His parents were honestly not thrilled with his choice, but his passion and talent for bringing the holiday spirit to life have paid off. (And now they get free Christmas Decorations) 

Creating the Magic:

American Christmas isn't just about decking the halls; it's a year-round operation. With a 15-month planning cycle for some clients, and two weeks for others depending on the type and scale of the job, the process is both meticulous and expansive. It takes hundreds of employees working across multiple states, including New York, Texas, California, Florida, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., to make these holiday displays a reality. The end goal is to help clients create a holiday brand identity and gift a spectacular experience to their communities.

Dan said, “For us, it’s Christmas 365. The day our takedown season is done, we start again refurbishing for the following year. Everyone thinks we see Santa Claus all year long, and it's anything but that. It’s mostly spreadsheets and a lot of marketing conversations.”

Bringing the Holiday To You:

For the second year in a row, American Christmas is offering the public a chance to experience their holiday magic with an event called "Holiday Lane." Located at 30 Warren Place in Mount Vernon, it's an immersive holiday experience that allows visitors to walk through a magical Christmas experience, pick up festive decorations, and even meet Santa Claus. It's open Wednesday to Sunday, making it accessible for families and anyone in need of a dose of holiday spirit. Santa will be there every Wednesday and Friday night at Holiday Lane from 6 to roughly 8pm.

Dan says, “We have a showroom for our commercial clients that’s about 4,000 square feet  and we open that up to the general public. You can buy tickets online to come and experience what we do at American Christmas. The tickets are inexpensive, because we’re trying to be family friendly and we’re donating 100% of the proceeds to three nonprofit charities in Mount Vernon, New York. The Mount Vernon Boys & Girls Club, Northeast STEM Starter Academy of Mt. Vernon, and Youth Community Outreach Program of Mount Vernon.

Year-Round Christmas:

The holiday season lasts for just a few weeks, but the work at American Christmas is a year-round endeavor. Planning, designing, and building take months, ensuring that the magic happens on time. Then it all boils down to a very hectic nine-week season when everything comes to life. 

Color Trends and Decorating Styles:

Each year, American Christmas helps its clients embrace various color themes and decorating styles. This year pink has been a popular choice, inspired by the Barbie. Trend.  But natural woodlands themes, traditional reds, and golds, and even New Orleans-style Mardi Gras displays have their place in the holiday lineup. Their Christmas store on premise is just fabulous and you’ll wish you knew about it sooner if you didn’t know about it already .

There’s Some New Christmas Technology: 

“The new thing”, says Dan, “is RGB technology where we can control the lights and build a show around the Christmas Lights. It’s not that popular in New York because New Yorkers like to keep Christmas traditional with ribbons, bows, and ornaments but it’s popular for us around the country. This year for example we have a 50-foot tree at the Tanger Outlet in Tennessee that’s an RGB show with programmable alights and we run a three-minute loop with a show on the tree.”

Holding the Holiday Line:

American Christmas does end for most of their clients by January 15th when the company finalizes their ‘take down’ portion of process for all the decorations they’ve put up. However, we all have seen some outdoor trees stay wrapped with white lights throughout the winter, bringing much needed warmth and joy to the dark months which is fine by me.

A Business That Spreads Joy:

The holiday season may start earlier each year, but the goal is to spread joy and create memorable experiences. Something we could all use a little more of these days for sure. The work of American Christmas brings a touch of magic to all of our lives.

American Christmas is more than just a company; it's a team of dedicated professionals who spend all year working to make the holiday season unforgettable. From design to installation and takedown, their business keeps the magic of Christmas alive year after year.

If you find yourself in Mount Vernon, N.Y., don't miss the chance to visit Holiday Lane and experience the enchantment for yourself.

I hope you enjoy this podcast of my live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show with Dan Casterella, the Chief Executive Officer of American Christmas. It's uplifting!

Kailen Rosenberg known to millions as Oprah’s love ambassador on the award-winning series Lovetown, USA (OWN and BBC Worldwide) joined me on Halloween to talk about finding real love.

So happens just before she joined me on the radio, I had read a story in the NY Post about the number of people who were wearing 'sexy' Halloween Costumes in the hope of getting lucky with a sweet treat of the human kind by nights end.

The results of a survey taken by a sex positive dating app named 'Pure' said 72 % women and 43% of men would be wearing 'sexy' Halloween costumes this year.

I’m sure for some that was fun, but most people are out there searching for a real connection, not a one night ‘boo’, and it takes more than a sexy costume to find real love. 

If you are looking for real love, Kailen Rosenberg might be your answer. 

What makes her such a love guru? Well, Kailen's been in the love, dating, and relationships industry for almost 30 years. She’s also had to follow her own advice and shares her own journey to finding love.

Kailen’s the author of the best-selling Simon & Schuster book "Real Love, Right Now: A Celebrity Love Architect's Thirty-Day Blueprint for Finding Your Soul Mate - and So Much More!” . The book is a guide for anyone seeking an authentic and meaningful connection in a world often characterized by superficiality and false closeness.

Honestly, ‘30 Days to Real Love’ sounded to me a little like a pitch to go on some kind of diet. We all do know, if you actually follow a diet for 30 days, results actually happen. I was wondering, is Kailen’s 30-day love strategy one that actually works, like a diet, if you follow it? 

“It's pretty identical”, she said. “I mean, it really, really is. It's about honing in on what you really want instead of just thinking about it and dreaming about it all the time and then looking at the reality of what has been blocking it”.

She went on to say, “And we know if we sit and we're silent enough for even a moment to get really raw and honest and real with ourselves, to look at how and where we are blocking love, whether it's from fear, from the past, past relationships, childhood, whatever, it is that has basically shown us or told us that love really isn't real. Or it can't happen. Or if it does it's only painful and it's only going to end in demise, which you know sadly too many people really end up believing that to a certain extent. Then we end up blocking it energetically and so we get in our own way and we end up through the way we dress, the faces that we have, the way we speak to others. “

“And so we're constantly out there either attracting love or repelling love, she said. “And so, in 30 days, it's really about getting centered, getting present, learning to really love yourself, to really understand and know your true value, to honor that. And then energetically, you're putting out a totally different vibe, and the next thing you know, people from all directions are seeing you differently and they're attracted to you, and you’re now also attracted to yourself in a very different way. So, it's a cool experience. It really is and yeah, it does work.”

Kailen is also the founder and CEO of the world's first holistic wellness, love, and social club platform for extraordinary singles: My LOVE DESIGN®.  There, Kailen provides exclusive invitations to expert-led events, covering a wide range of topics such as love, beauty, home design, spirituality, finances, and more. 

Her first of its kind, invite only, luxury dating, wellness experience is an in-person event with Modern Luxury magazine happening in Houston on November 14th, 2023. All singles attending have been vetted. Next stop for a Kailen Rosenberg event, will be New York City and then more events across the country.

Kailen’s really excited about it all because she says, “it's just time for a change. Dating and friends are just exhausting.”

As for age? Kailen says that becomes far more irrelevant and so her focus isn't on younger, older, or same age, it's just on finding the right one.

Finally, I did have to ask …how many people did this smarty pants love guru help find Real Love? Kailen said, she stopped counting after 500 marriages.

Feel free to share this podcast of my warm live radio conversation with Kailen Rosenberg about what she’s doing to help singles find genuine love. It might be of real interest to someone you know who is looking for real love.  

Will pets be able to tell you what their bodies need? What kind of toys they want? In a human voice? Soon apparently, if Founder Andy Gibbs vision for the very first company to bring ‘Generative AI’ to life in the $120B pet industry comes to fruition.  

 It all started the day Andy’s’ wife noticed his dog Roland’s water bowl was empty and hollered to him “Can’t you make a smart water bowl that tells me when it’s empty and needs to be refilled?”

 Andy was sparked and started researching why dogs need water and decided he needed to track their water intake. He found out there’s water in canned food, but there's no water in kibble. Then that train of thought took him into food, and then from there he learned of the global problem involving the number of pets who are overweight. Then he moved fast. 

 In 7 weeks, he had filed the first 10 patents. (Andy knows a thing or two about patents as that was his business for years and he already owns about 4 or 5 dozen patents but none till now in the pet industry.)

The Fidotek Founder is obviously excited about his current venture.

Andy says, “There's no single company in the pet industry that is taking the Apple approach to delivering the pet version of the Apple Watch, the iTunes, the software. So, in the same way Apple has created an entire new ecosystem around watch, or as they did around the iPhone, we're taking the same approach. It's a very holistic hardware, software, and content approach to the entire pet industry. So we're not selling a pet service, we're not selling software, we're selling the experience of a pet parent to know everything about their dog and give the dog the power to become a participating member of the family.”

You may have read that the world’s oldest dog passed away this week in Portugal at the age of 31. A Guinness Book Record age for a dog. His long life was attributed to fresh air, fresh food, and a calm environment. Could AI figure out how all dogs can live that long?

Fidotek Corp the Generative AI bioscience company focused on 120 million US pets will likely be figuring out how all pets can live longer and stay healthy and much more.

Andy said, “We are taking a scientific approach to that and helping dogs live happier, healthier and hopefully longer. When we look at the 59% that are obese, if we can bring those dogs down to healthy weight, they're going to live at least three years longer than their overweight peers. So, we're giving them three years and that's real debilitating conditions as they get older, diabetes, organ failure and so forth. Our artificial intelligence can identify the earliest onset from diabetes even before symptoms start to appear. So, if we can get that pet into the vet months or a year earlier for treatment, it might be as simple as changing their food. “

Its Next-Gen AI platform is poised to be the single-most consequential ecosystem digitally transforming multiple verticals in the burgeoning pet industry.

Fidotek is planning things like; Personalized Web3 Retail, Pet Diagnostics, Pet Health Insurance, Advanced Telemedicine, and Drug Development. His planned pet veterinary ca re insurance he says, is going to change the entire pet industry as we know it.And as an industry patent leader, no single company currently offers a comparable solution. None, says Andy Gibbs, Founder & CEO who joined me from Arizona to share his excitement about what’s coming with Fidotek.

Enjoy this lively podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show.

You can listen to show weekdays 11-12noon ET in the NY/CT area at 1490 WGCH or just go to WGCH.com and hit ‘listen live’ from anywhere. No Poltics, Always Relevant ...smart, warm and fun.

 Halloween is the big showcase moment for the candy and confection industry. Kind of like their Super Bowl. The industry generates $42 billion in retail sales every year and employs 58,000 people working in 1600 manufacturing facilities across all 50 states, with another 635,000 jobs in related fields. Sweet!

 I invited Carly Schildhaus from the National Confectioners Association, to join me for a conversation about some sweet insights from a survey they just took about all things Halloween, including the list of the top three candies this year, and how much candy you’re supposed to give out to each kid who stops by trick or treating.

 Carly said, “It’s special for the confectionery industry to see what an important part chocolate and candy play in this holiday season for generations and generations.”

The National Confectioners Association (NCA) conducted a survey to get a better understanding of current consumer attitudes and behaviors related to Halloween around the country.

 Here’s what they found:

 *60% of Parents Steal Halloween Candy from Their Kids Stash!

   I thought the # would be higher myself. Lol

 *98 % of Americans will welcome trick-or-treaters with chocolate and candy this year.

 *2/3 of people give out 2 or 3 pieces of candy to each trick or treater.

 *The Top Three Most Popular Candies this year are: 

  1) Chocolate  

  2) Gummy’s  

  3) Candy Corn

The NCA encourages parents and caretakers to check the candy before any kids eat any they’ve brought home. They have a page about safety all parents and caretakers should review.

Good insights in this fun podcast of the live conversation with Carly Schildhaus of the NCA on The Debbie Nigro Show. 

PS: I personally think the National Confectioners Association should talk with the United States School System to make the day after Halloween a day off. I'll vote for that idea! 

Music Industry Executive Grace Harry wants to show you how to break through whatever creative or emotional rut is keeping you from tapping into your ability to feel true joy in your life. 

She knows how to guide creative people because that’s what she did for 30 years while guiding musicians and artists at Island Def Jam and Jive Records. 

Now Grace Harry is “The Joy Strategist’ - sharing her authentic self and what she learned to help you get you to where she had to get herself… back to center, dismantling your ego and culturally conditioned limiting beliefs. 

Grace said, 

 “I realized I had to get off the ride. And it wasn't the ride to penalize anyone else, it was more where I wasn't taking full responsibility for my own, you know, being the chief energy officer of my own life. And so if I have gotten this place in life where I've achieved all these things from other people's version of success, why did I feel so joyless? And what kind of strategy could I put in place to change that? Because I believe very clearly that your children do as you do, not as you say, and I would never want them to have even more crap in their family karma backpack than I'd already given them.”

I thought Grace’s comment about ‘family crap in the backpack ‘ was a loud one. Giving yourself permission to see yourself in a new way is what Grace is trying to get at. I think we all have struggled with this at some point, We have preconceived notions of who our parents want us to grow up to be, our friends expect us to be, and who we expect ourselves to be. When in fact it may not be who we are supposed to be, and at what point do you realize you have permission to change…and can you? Because there are always relationships involved, finances involved, other people involved that your choices will affect. Which is exactly why I don't own a Tiki Bar on some island!...Yet. LOL

Good thought provoking book and conversation you might want to explore.

Meet Grace Harry in this podcast of our live conversation on  The Debbie Nigro Show on  WGCH Radio. If you want to catch the show it airs Weekdays 11-12noon ET in the NY/CT area on 1490 on the dial. But you can listen from anywhere, just hit the ‘Listen Live’ button on WGCH.com

Liver cancer cases are rising dramatically across the United States.

It's  more important than ever to raise awareness about the potentially deadly disease and encourage screening. But seems you have to ASK your Dr. for a liver cancer screening test. Especially if youre at risk.

Dr. Nadine Abi-Jaoudeh, Chief of Interventional Radiology and Director of Clinical Research at the University of California, Irvine, is spreading the word about the importance of understanding your liver cancer risk and asking your doctor about screening. 

Please listen to this important information in this podcast interview that she shared when she joined me Live on "The Debbie Nigro Show.

Visit Against LiverCancer.com to learn more.

Hearing Negative Information About Someone You Thought Was Cool Is Always a Bummer. 

Changes how you feel about them for sure. 

Which is why I needed to talk about Christopher Columbus. 

I've always celebrated my Italian American Heritage on Columbus Day. That one day a year, to have fun with and honor all my fellow Italian Americans here in the U.S. and honor all the Italian Immigrants who came over and worked so hard with their hands to help build this country.

I'm aware Italian immigrants were persecuted badly, but I'm not sure everybody knows just how bad. Bad.

Growing up people took the liberty of making fun of my being 'Italian" more times than I can count. And there were many oportunities closed off to me along the way, because of my ethicity that I just came to accept.  

But I am proud of my heritage, as we all should be proud of our heritage, and I loved the whole big Italian family thing growing up and all the big Italian food. Italians by the way think food is love, so there was hummungous love which led to bigger sized clothes, but oh well.

Anyway recently I felt needed a better education about Christopher Columbus. I was thinking if he was that bad a guy, I want nothing to do with him. I was also thinking OK, maybe we just change the name of Columbus Day to 'Italian Heritage Day' and not 'Indigenous Peoples Day' because even though I love Indigenous people and didnt want to hurt their feelings, I found out Indigenous People already have a day, so I figured ... we could just work it out and call it a day.

Not that simple.

I decided I'd better educate myself more on all fronts. Good thing I did!

I had a fabulous conversation with Andre D'Amino, a successful business leader from N.J. and President of The Italian American One Voice Coalition (IAOVC), the largest independent Italian American anti-bias educational organization.  

He's not in favor of changing 'Columbus Day' to anything else and he shared some FACTS why we shoudn't. He was clear many of the negative things people have heard recently about Christopher Columbus are not true.

He said one of the the most important reasons we should keep Columbus Day as is, is because Columbus was the one who opened up the connection between the western world and  this part of the world, uniting it all together. That was big.

Enjoy this podcast of our interesting Live conversaton on 'The Debbie Nigro Show'.  I think you'll enjoy learning some things I learned.

If you'd rather listen  to the transcript it is below.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

 0:00:00 And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show!

0:00:32 Rock and roll back to the Debbie Nigro show Hi guys, how are you doing today? Happy Columbus Day… Although I used to be happier on Columbus Day before all the conversation about… like Okay, this wasn't the best guy in the world… And maybe we should topple over statues of him… But we're still gonna have a parade. I'm a proud Italian American girl, daughter, family girl. Italians have always been about family. And I’m just really am confused.  So I want to understand more. And there's this amazing organization called the Italian American One Voice Coalition, the only national organization solely dedicated to defending Italian-American heritage and culture through education. And there's a terrific guy who is their president who's come from a unique family of inventors, Italian American inventors, and just very interesting. Andre D'Amino is joining me. Hey, Andre, how are you?

1 0:01:29 Hi, Debbie. Good to be with you today.

2 0:01:31 You know, I was wavering on whether I wanted to get into a discussion about Columbus on my radio show because I don't do politics, I don't do controversy, but I am wanting to understand more about what's going on. And I know this is what you do all day long in terms of defending the heritage and I'm such a proud Italian American girl, but when did this start going wrong about Columbus? Can you just tell me that? When was he

1 0:01:57 no longer cool?

Well yeah, in fact I can tell you there was a very big uh... real start to this was when as a guy by the name of Howard is in who's a self-declared marxist an anarchist they wanted to destroy America and he did it by fabricating facts about our history and his history book which believe it or not is still being used in schools starts with Columbus where he made up false accusations and incorrect information and editor all kinds of things and he's been totally debunked by scholars and primary sources. But you know you want to attack America and you know he started with Columbus and now of course they're going after Jefferson Washington and others, but it did all start with Columbus amendment and unfortunately, it's been indoctrinated now in the past generation, because that book came out in nineteen early nineteen eighties and uh...

there's even a Howards in the kit education project which continues the work of Howards and be against our country.

 So listen, Columbus Day in Columbus is an important, iconic symbol to Italian-Americans, which has a great history, not only for Italian-Americans, but actually the world, because of what he accomplished by uniting the continents and bringing the world together. So, I do really wish you a happy Columbus Day. That's what today is.

2 0:03:09 I'm like, well, he did it for Spain. Didn't Spain say, okay, go here, here's the money and go. And I'm joking to myself driving up, of course they'd ask an Italian to get it done. But yeah, so he didn't really come to the United States. You're a fact guy. You're here to give us facts today, right? He went, where did he go, to the Bahamas?

1 0:03:33 Well, he went to an island called Hispaniola, which is actually where the Dominican Republic is in Haiti okay that's really that he never landed in what we call the United States now or even in uh... you know the middle part of uh... the the the continent it was down that area in the islands uh... he made a total of four voyages there and what was important I know they say well Leif Erikson and others were here before but the most important thing was that after Columbus arrived he opened up the connection between the western world in this part of the world. And that's why he's, it's really a seminal act of our world, uniting it all together, bringing Western culture to this part of the world.

2 0:04:10 Okay, cool. So, now we have this controversy where people are knocking over statues, and there's a lot of statues that have been knocked over around the world, not just Columbus. So, we're smart, you and I, we're smart people, we appreciate education, and so we know a decent person will know that he did some indecent things, but so did many people in history and at what point do you say, okay, now we don't like him anymore, we're smarter, this never would work in our day and age we have to knock over that statue, I mean, to what do you say about that?

1 0:04:42 Well, first off, let's talk about that era this was no Garden of Eden when Columbus got to this part of the world there was slavery child mutilations sacrifices cannibalism uh... and you know of course Columbus was a man of his times. You know we can't put five hundred years ago to today's standards we can't do it to the indigenous people and we can't do it to columbus but the things are saying about Columbus are just not true i'll give you a great example okay they claim that he attacked the tiny no tribes totally false as a matter of fact he protected the tiny milk tribe who was being hunted down by the carib tribe were cannibals and to prove that point is actually an indigenous person by the name of rafael ortiz who traces his lineage back to the tiny no tribe and he wrote four books defending columbus to correct that falsehood that howard's input out there and there's many other things like that you know for example he brought slavery to this part of the world. Totally not true. The indigenous people had plenty of slavery before he got here. Another one was that he brought disease and pestilence. He brought germs over. They didn't know what germs were back 500 years ago. So that's totally not true. And we could go fact for fact for fact of the things they're claiming Columbus did that he just did not do.

2 0:06:00 It's so exhausting trying to control the information that flows that's not correct in the world. Correct. Right. And it happens in multiple areas every day these days and it's exacerbated by the internet and the ability for information to flow so quickly. But I want to just take a minute on the indigenous people. I was here talking earlier in the show before you got on. I love the indigenous people. I want to celebrate them. I feel so bad about everything that happened to them that was wrong. And I'm an empath. I feel bad about things that happen bad to anybody, right? But why do you think they, or whoever they is, decided to take Columbus Day and say, okay, forget that. It's going to be Indigenous Peoples Day. Why couldn't they just say, fine, we'll have Italian Heritage Day, and then we'll also have Indigenous Peoples Day. What was the smasharoo?

1 0:06:49 Well, first off, let me tell you that i agree with you about celebrating indigenous people i i want to be right along with them celebrating but did you know Debbie that they've already got August ninth it is International uh... Indigenous Peoples day declared by United Nations great the day of the Thanksgiving which is called Native American Day and the whole month of November is for Native Americans right and I can tell you that since it's International Indigenous Peoples day on August ninth why take away a celebration for Italian Americans for indigenous people. Let's celebrate separately don't pick right against the other right and that's a little like a good mother an example that just occurred in a pop cup Florida they were considering eliminating Columbus Day they make an Indigenous Peoples Day and just like you're doing they listen to me I wrote to all the county commissioners are wrote to the to come to the uh... council people and explain to them that there is an international indigenous people's day on August 9th. And two weeks ago, that town did the right thing and preserved Columbus Day and declared August 9th as Indigenous Peoples Day. And that's the way we can join together. And don't forget also, Debbie, don't forget, Columbus Day is still a federal holiday. Indigenous Peoples Day is not. But we've got nothing against indigenous people, but don't pit one group against the other.

2 0:08:00 I agree, I agree, I agree. I want to point out that Columbus Day was dedicated by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892 and that was following the lynching in New Orleans of 11 Italian Americans. They were accused of a crime they did not commit and the day was made a federally recognized holiday by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 to honor the contributions of Italian Americans

It’s incredible how persecuted Italian-Americans were. And it was really a tough time when they came here for a better life, like most people do, and they're still doing, hoping for a better chance. And you know, it always breaks your heart wondering how brave people had to be to leave their country, to go to another country to try and find a new life. That's, you know, amazing. But yeah, the Italians were not treated very well. I read the story of the Kensico Dam. You know, Italians built dams. They came here because they were industrious and they were masons and they could build but they were the like the low low low on the totem pole yes low low low like there was no lower than Italians and they were paid I remember this reading the story I have one guy conned them all to come and he said they were gonna pay him $25 a week or whatever and then he took the money back and they were like just trying to like figure it out you know.  So here we are Columbus all right you know I wouldn't hang around with him now knowing he had some faults. Let's face it, you're telling me the facts of the... he didn't do bad things, but he didn't sound like the guy I wanted to invite to my dinner party. But anyway, why can't we change Columbus Day to Italian Heritage Day, or is that off the

5 0:09:26 table?

1 0:09:27 No, we totally disagree with that, Debbie. I have to tell you candidly, is that Columbus really is someone that did something that no one else really did. He united the world together and of course let's look specifically at columbus day specifically in the united states you said in eighteen ninety two president harrison declared the first quorum to stand before him to anniversary columbus arrival in this part of world but he did that to quell the problems that were occurring because italian americans were treated so poorly in fact it was almost going to be a war between italy in the united states because of all the lynchings of italian americans around the country and that's why this side of tab columbus day look at you know my own family my grandfather who had owned fishing boats when he was in sicily we keep a cold in the streets were paid with gold in the united states he came here in the early nineteen hundreds we got here he couldn't get any work ended up working on the docks of new york and he was paid less than the chinese less than the african-americans and he he told me that you know he used to be spit upon by the others, but when Columbus Day rolled around, he felt that that was a very proud day for Italian-Americans. Our ancestors, our heritage is there with Columbus Day. We shouldn't capitulate and give in just because there's this false stuff going up about Columbus Day.

2 0:10:40 We shouldn't do it. Okay, okay, that's why you're here. I needed some education. I was reading about the documentary, which I have not seen, The Italian-Americans, that was on PBS, and it was 150 years of history and what they mentioned as I was doing my kind of background homework this morning is something that happened in my life I don't know about yours we didn't speak Italian it was sort of like no no no you got to blend in that is not cool and I was very annoyed and I'm more annoyed now that I'm older that I don't have a second language because it was like keep that quiet how about your family well actually I'm actually a

1 0:11:12 combination of both because what I was born in Brooklyn and not only was everybody in my area from Sicily But they wrote from Argento the same place where parents came from so I actually didn't speak English as a kid Really folks Sicily Sicily. It's my first language However, just like you when my parents moved into New Jersey and when I was about six years old They wanted to assimilate and be American My father was so proud to be an American citizen and that's why they told me don't speak Italian out of the house So I thought it was something wrong about being Italian later on I realized it was just them wanting to be put me to be part of American society And I got my patriotism from my father, but I still do speak Italian. Oh you do. I'm a little jealous

2 0:11:52 I speak Italian food like I can speak a lot you know which nobody knows what I'm saying unless they go what I go calamari Italians um Italian American have their own language when it comes to food, right? What do you call it? Ricotta or ricotta?

1 0:12:06 It's ricotta if you say it properly in Italian, but I know a lot of people say ricotta.

2 0:12:10 Ricotta, right. And the calamar, you say that? Calamard, yep. It's good to laugh. You know, Italians can make fun of themselves, you know that, right? Sure.

6 0:12:20 But nobody else can make fun of us.

1 0:12:21 Well, you know, unfortunately, like our organization, the Italian American One Voice Coalition, we have to really do stand up against the stereotyping that's up there because unfortunately italian-americans are the last ethnicity that it's okay to bash you know we see so much stereotyping that still occurs every time you see an italian-american on a movie or tv show he's either a mobster, a mafioso, or a bimbo, or a buffoon and you know i challenge you debbie and your audience to come up with a positive portrayal of an italian-american in a popular tv show or movie you just can't do it I know.

2 0:12:50 I need a new show.

5 0:12:51 I was just invited.

1 0:12:52 I'm very proud to share this with you and also my audience.

2 0:12:53 I just got an invitation from the Italian consulate in New York City to come be a speaker

4 0:12:54 in November of Italian American Women's Success Stories.

2 0:12:55 I was really, really flattered. I'm like, how did you find me? I want to do my part to keep the heritage and culture going, as we all do from time to time. I'm going to be a speaker in November of Italian American Women's Success Stories Women's Success Stories.

I want to do my part to keep the heritage and culture going, as we all do from wherever we have come. Right? I mean, we all have our family pride. But yeah, the whole Godfather story, it always blows my head that that's what keeps being shown. And you know who loves it more than anything else? The Italians, even though they know that's not how they want to be perceived.

1 0:13:39 Well of course the Godfather movies, you know, great cinema, we can't take away the fact of what they are as cinema, but it did really start in 1972, start this kind of craze about Italian American mobsters and mafiosi. You know, one thing, that was back in history, the one that actually hurts us more is The Sopranos because it took, it takes that and puts it in modern day suburbia. And that's what's really unfortunate. And you know, when they look at Italian Americans, they look at those shows and there's so much more accomplishment by Italian Americans.

2 0:14:06 Yeah, I gotta just continue this conversation some other time with you. But boy, oh boy, did you come at the right time to this show today. I can't thank you enough, Andre. Domino, I'm saying your name correctly, right? The president of the Italian American One Voice Coalition. Really nice to meet you. I'd like to have you back another time to talk about your family's company and all the inventions along the way that we've run out of time for now. But continued great success to you and have a great Columbus Day.

1 0:14:32 Thank you, Debbie. Happy Columbus Day.

2 0:14:34 Pleasure. Nice to meet you. All right, when we come back here on the show, I think we should talk about more of what Italians have invented. I got you through the Castro convertible sofa, Mr. Coffee in the Jacuzzi. Can you imagine what I'm going to tell you about next. Oh, you have to come back and that'll be in just a moment here on the Debbie Nigro show.

Transcribed with Cockatoo

 Repurposing Sterile IVF Needles is how now Mom of twins, Jamie Kushner Blicher coped with her infertility journey.

 Jamie an artist, who was emotionally struggling with what seemed like a never-ending process, took those one of those damn IVF needles one day, pumped it full of ink, and pushed out all her emotions onto a canvas! She then shared her art on social media without explaining. And that was how her company 'Glitter Enthusiast' was born. When she did share the heavy secret backstory of her art, a large and incredibly encouraging community cheered her on.

 Today, Jamie is proud to report that she is a mother of two incredible twin boys. This Glitter Enthusiast’s mission is to educate, support, and empower all women, but especially the 1 in 4 who are going through their own infertility journey.

 A portion of every sale of Jamie's art which is INCREDIBLE, is donated to RESOLVE, a national non-profit organization providing free/low-cost support and educational programs to meet the needs of women and men diagnosed with infertility.

 A self-taught artist, Jamie is using IVF tools to make art and conversation. Since 2016, she's been using her art to help bring calm and happiness to others who have gone through or are still going through their infertility journeys. In 2017, her work was exhibited in Washington, D.C. through The ART of Infertility, a non-profit group striving to break the silence around the experience of infertility through art and storytelling.

 Jamie also has made several prints available exclusively to lifestyle brand Oliver Gal. You can purchase these prints through various major retailers from Amazon to Neiman Marcus or directly through Oliver Gal. Or you can commission her to make something special for you. Many Fertility Clinics are commissioning her work!

 Jamie lives with her husband, her twin boys, and their labradoodle named Gem in their very noisy house in Rockville, Maryland.

 Meet Jamie Kushner Blicher in this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show

Did You Catch National Lobster Day? The people at GOLDBELLY reminded me in an email.  GOLDBELLY ships Americas Most Iconic Foods Nationwide.

When I saw my friend Andrea Anthony's Restaurant pop up in the email, the famous LUNCH Lobster Roll, in the Hamptons, I was curious to know how her new expansion into shipping Lobster Roll's to people all over the country through GOLDBELLY was going.

She'll tell you herself in this fun podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show.

Andrea is the most hands on businesswoman I've ever met. Refreshing to know in this day and age of virtual communication, where messages and emails often go unanswered for a while if not forever.

If you try and get in touch directly with Andrea with a question or a problem, she's going to get back to you asap.

Someone even left a review about just that point about her on GOLDBELLY. These kind of reviews matter to a company’s success.

  "Everything about it was excellent. I had a question about freezing the lobster and I left a message and Andrea called me back, which is unbelievable these days. I would definitely do business with this company again.

Margaret P.

from Tarpon Springs, FL12/26/22

Verified Purchase

Andrea Anthony is all about sincerity and quality in all she does. She’s sets a fabulous example for how business owners and brands should be communicating with customers. 

Terrific woman. And her Lobster Rolls are... 'to die for'.

BTW LUNCH Lobster Roll restaurant was the first to introduce the lobster roll to Long Island and the New York City Area. Over the years, The Lobster Roll and its neon sign (which proudly proclaims “LUNCH”) became Amagansett landmarks, and regulars began affectionately referring to it as simply Lunch. They now have a second location in Southampton, NY.

Though you may have missed National Lobster Day it’s still a fun idea to order a Lobster Roll Kit through GOLDBELLY for yourself or as a gift for someone you want to make smile.

Meet Andrea Anthony in this podcast of our live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show.