Writa Writes and Reads with Rita Mattia

Are there things you once enjoyed that are now lost to you? Perhaps forever?  Rita Mattia explores how these transitions can serve to enrich, not deplete us.  

Rita Mattia shares her home in Virginia — and the treasures within — with her listeners, bringing to life the incredible artistry of her family and her friends.

Losing her advertising copywriter job in Virginia nearly takes Rita Mattia around the world to find fame and fortune. Nearly. But. Not quite.  

What podcast created by an Italian-American girl growing up in New Jersey in the 1940s and 1950s would be complete without a few run-ins with the Roman Catholic Church ... and a place called Our Lady Queen of Peace High School? Rita Mattia assures us it cannot. 

This very, very short bonus episode came about after an advertising business associate/friend from long, long ago had some very nice things to say about Rita Mattia. It felt really, really good.  

A laughable misunderstanding of the reason for an overnight trip to Pennsylvania leaves Rita Mattia both confused and amused... and out of yet another short-lived 1960s relationship. A mild expletive is spoken by a character in the story. 

In the 1870s, Rita Mattia’s great grandfather arrived in the United States from Southern Italy and then figured out that New Jersey might be more hospitable than New York city. In the early 21st century, Rita and her son went to explore the country their ancestors had  left forever.  

Will her dinner guests prove to be her future in-laws? Is that really Stonewall Jackson looking in the window? It's the 1970s, and Rita Mattia and her son are settling into life in Richmond, Virginia. Explosively so. 

Though not exactly in season ... Rita Mattia muses on Halloweens past, including a terrified toddler and Rita's gift for creating clever last-minute costume designs.  One of those get-ups was spectacularly, regrettably insensitive.  

Is a tendency to say – and perhaps write — exactly what pops into her mind a valuable asset?  Or is it a liability?  In this story from Rita Mattia's life in Richmond in the 1980s, it proves to be both.