Rita Mattia thanks a few folks ... and bids farewell to her listeners (for now, at least) with a tale about the ancestors who first came to these shores from the Campania region of Italy.  The story is from her book, "Trying Stuff," available from her publisher, www.marinermedia.com. If you've enjoyed this podcast, you'll love the book. If  you wonder if there will be more from Rita  in the future, please send a note to [email protected] and you'll be among the first to know. There should be another book soon.

Greek tragedy? Or comedy? You decide! Rita Mattia's tale of motherhood, lawlessness, and what may or may not have been a B+ average takes place in the early 1970s in Baltimore, Maryland.

In her far-too-brief heyday during the 1940s, Rita Mattia's mother Teeny was one heck of a seamstress. During those same years in New Jersey, Teeny's daughter Rita emerged as a doll surgeon and troublemaker.

Camping was never one of Rita Mattia's favorite activities. But stories of camping in Maryland in the 1950s and then in the 1970s combine to make an amusing story.  

Rita Mattia's great grandfather Petrino B. Mattia was an extraordinary artist. But not all of his paintings were on canvas or paper. This story of her Italian-American family in mid-century New Jersey includes some good eating and good music as well.

A sort of mini-autobiography, taking Rita Mattia and her listeners on brief visits to all the places she has lived ... and why on earth she chose them.

In the mid 1960s, Rita Mattia was a tiny person working in a huge city (Manhattan, NYC) in which she could not quite afford to shop.  This did not stop her from trying.

Rita Mattia ponders what we do and do not remember or know about the  past ... and which loved ones we might have asked about those things while we still could.

A timely story about the early days of labor unions in the United States — and particularly in Northern New Jersey in the 20thcentury.  Rita Mattia’s father was deeply committed ... and far more shrewd than she usually gave him credit for being.  

A tale of tails ... and of married life in an elegant antebellum home in Richmond, Virginia. This story appears in Rita Mattia’s book, “Trying Stuff.”  Copies are available from her publisher, www.marinermedia.com