Glory Archives - Chris Carosa

A European Tug Of War

By Chris Carosa on March 3, 2026

Long before a single settler felled a tree in Western New York, kings in Europe were dividing it with ink. There were claims or assertions. They could be real or imagined. They were put on parchment, whether it be maps, treaties, or edicts. Rarely, however, were they enforced. After all, you can’t police a territory where you have no police.

Why, then, would the powers of the day go through all the trouble of pretense?

Well, first, it was all pretend. Europeans did come to this New World. Some explored. Some conquered. Many settled. Still, their activities covered only a small fraction of their claims.

But it was the claim itself that rendered prestige. It was a symbol of potency, a symbol of Continue Reading “A European Tug Of War”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 1493, 1523, Acadia, African Coast, Age of Discovery, Age of Exploration, Albany, Algonquin, and Gold, Atlantic, Azores, British, Canada, Canary Islands, Canceau, Cape Fear, Cape Verde Islands, Castle Island, Christopher Columbus, Connecticut, Dutch, Dutch East India Company, English, Europe, Fort Detroit, Fort Duquesne, Fort Frontenac, Fort Nassau, Fort Niagara, Fort Orange, France, French Line, fur trade, Gaspe Peninsula, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Glory, God, Great Britain, Great Lakes, Henry Hudson, Huron, Iroquois, Jacques Cartier, Jesuit Relations, King Francis I, Kingston, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi River, New Brunswick, New England, New France, New World, Newfoundland, North America, North Carolina, Nova Gallia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Pacific Ocean, papal bull, Pilgrims, Pittsburgh, Pope Alexander VI, Portugal, pre-Columbian, Quebec, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Samuel de Champlain, San Salvador, Spain, St. Lawrence River, Treaty of Tordesillas, Treay of Alcacovas, Virginia, Western New York

The Italian-American Triumvirate: #1 – God

By Chris Carosa on October 5, 2021

Each October we celebrate Italian-American Heritage Month. The month is obviously chosen in honor of the Italian that most influenced America: Christopher Columbus. Of course, Columbus’ discovery of the New World predated the creation of the United States by about three centuries, but our country long ago adopted his journey as an inspiration for the nation.

Columbus has since been joined by many Italian immigrants who would become Italian-Americans.

That’s an important distinction: “Italian-American.” It recognizes that you are, in fact, an Continue Reading “The Italian-American Triumvirate: #1 – God”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged and Gold, Aristotle, Baptism, Catholic, Christian, Christopher Columbus, church, Confirmation, Crassius, diocese, Ethos, First Holy Communion, First Triumvirate, Fontecchio, Gaius Julius Caesar, Glory, God, Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Italian American, Italy, jesuit, John F. Kennedy, Ku Klux Klan, Logos, Marriage, Mass, Modes of Persuasion, New England, Pathos, Pompey, Protestant Ethic, rhetoric, Roman Republic, Rule of Three, Spain, SPanish, Three Kings, trium virorum, unification of Italy