Cultural Interview

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Counseling 50 online

October 22 , 2007

Interview

Giovanni Antonio (Tony ) Napoli is an Italian-American who immigrated to the United States in 1989 . He has been a long-time friend of a family member , and he was interviewed via telephone at his family 's home in St Louis , Missouri . He is 53 years old , married , has two children , and is self-employed . He has a fascinating cultural background and is a very out-going and pleasant man

Mr . Napoli describes his cultural background as the greatest in the world . He was born

in Castelvetrano , Sicily , the youngest son of a Sicilian father and French mother . He has a Greek grandmother on his father 's side and a Spanish grandmother and French Jewish grandfather on his mother 's side . He jokes that this combination has allowed him to enjoy Kosher pastrami , Sicilian pastas , Greek olive oil , Spanish tomatoes and French wines . He is very proud of his varied ethnic background , and because of it he is very fluent in those languages . His family is wealthy and he was sent to Rome as a teenager for preparatory school and college . While in school he was subjected to a lot of prejudice because he was born in Sicily . He states he was well-prepared for it by his multi-cultural background and his parent 's attitude of acceptance of everyone . He recalls his childhood as having a million cousins ' as his parents often took in children of all backgrounds who were impoverished or abandoned and were wards of the Catholic charities or state . Although his mother was devoutly Catholic , he claims his only religion is that of his father , to provide for his family and those who need help and to live by the Golden Rule

He was raised in a family where it was expected he would always do his best in school and at work . He knows his family 's wealth gave him opportunities few others had and because of that he worked even harder to be successful because of his personal effort and not because of family money or influence . He feels that the traditional values he was raised with - hard work , honesty , importance of family , necessity of charity - has helped him in America but he feels these values are more important in Italy than in America . He describes America as an incredible but dangerous ' culture . He believes his children have as much or more opportunities than he had but is constantly worried about the terrible influences ' he sees around his children . Although he describes himself as lucky ' to be able to afford private Catholic schooling for his children , he is still worried about his children getting the wrong messages ' from friends , films and music

Mr . Napoli believes he is , by American and Italian standards , very successful and believes he is an important ' person in his community He laughingly says he must be important for all the damn taxes I pay . He is active in his neighborhood organization , Scouting , various charities and the Republican Party...