Lit/Pub #IV - The Wake Up Issue - Spring2024
The magazine of Professor Andrea di Robilant literary class at The American University of Rome. "Last year’s issue of Lit/Pub was about the slow return to a post-Covid world. This year, the initial theme was dreams – time to get on with it and think about the future. But the more we discussed what to put in the issue, the more it became apparent that a lingering wariness was still in the air, even a certain complacency. Hence the exhortatory title – The Wake Up Issue – which Isabella Klepikoff has deftly captured in the design of this year’s cover: a wolf resting by a Roman fountain. He looks to be resting, but his lively green eyes tell us he is stirring back to action."
The magazine of Professor Andrea di Robilant literary class at The American University of Rome.
"Last year’s issue of Lit/Pub was about the slow return to a post-Covid world. This year, the initial theme was dreams – time to get on with it and think about the future. But the more we discussed what to put in the issue, the more it became apparent that a lingering wariness was still in the air, even a certain complacency. Hence the exhortatory title – The Wake Up Issue – which Isabella Klepikoff has deftly captured in the design of this year’s cover: a wolf resting by a Roman fountain. He looks to be resting, but his lively green eyes tell us he is stirring back to action."
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Sidetracks<br />
Articles Lainage.’ But the firm was forced to close anyway during the war because manufacture and<br />
prices collapsed.<br />
On the wall is a framed newspaper clipping describing the jubilant reopening. An old blacand-white<br />
photograph shows a packed crowd in front of the store. A sign says: “We open Jan. 2. All<br />
goods at prewar prices until we are sold out. Please buy as little as you can – think of others.” <strong>The</strong> mob<br />
of shoppers in the photograph bought the entire stock within hours.<br />
“Do you want your shirt monogrammed?” Shirley asks, pointing to the other side of the store,<br />
where a woman with a needle and thread is expertly branding a set of shirts. We sift through several<br />
dozen colors of thread in a small box and settle on deep red.<br />
I walk over to Caffè Ciampini to eat a sandwich while I wait for my shirt to be ready. An hour<br />
later I return to the store and pick up my purchases: the monogrammed shirt, a flannel shirt, a sweater,<br />
boxer shorts, and socks.<br />
On the way home, I think of the red initials on the chest pocket of my new shirt, set against<br />
the olive green and white stripes. <strong>The</strong> combination of colors reminds me of the Italian flag.<br />
Home Bred<br />
By Tommy Camp<br />
My first week in Rome I was a nervous wreck. Nothing here is the same as it is in South Carolina,<br />
where I grew up. Nothing could have prepared me for the chaos, the traffic, the hustle and bustle<br />
of the Eternal City. Here I was in this foreign land where they speak a foreign language, living with<br />
random people I had just met. I missed my normal life back home. My stomach was always in a knot.<br />
School started and I made a vow to myself to try all the lunch spots near the American University<br />
campus, where I would be spending the next few months. After trying a couple of cafes and<br />
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