Increased sperm count for kilt wearers

Kilts are not common apparel for American men, aside from Scottish Highland game festivals, Saint Patrick's Day parades, and law enforcement funerals. American men might want to reconsider. A study in the Scottish Medical Journal discusses the reproductive benefits to men who wear kilts. The claim is based on research showing that sperm counts are higher when scrotum temperatures are cooler.

Hispanic-Americans are the new Italian-Americans

Self-proclaimed diversity experts often speak of Latino immigration as if America has never seem immigrants before. A more accurate look a immigration patterns shows that today's immigrant influx pales in comparison to the period running from the late 1800's to the 1920's. A New York Times columnist compares the similarity of Hispanic immigration patterns to that of previous generations of Italian-Americans, and what this means for immigration reforms.

Boston's Polish Triangle

Change is inevitable in ethnic neighborhoods. New York's Little Italy is a fraction of what it used to be. Even Harlem, the spitiual heart of Black America, is experiencing broad demographic shifts that leave some wondering what the future holds.

Boston's Polish Triangle is no exception. The neighborhood is situated in a triangle between Boston Street and Dorchester Avenue, hence the name.

It once teemed with Polish immigrants. But younger Polish-Americans are moving to the suburbs, and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America are moving in their place. The neighborhood's population is now barely half Polish, and locals wonder about the future of the struggling Polish American Citizen Club.

We can't stop the impact of immigration, gentrification, and suburbanization. Each generation strives to do better than the one before it. Certainly the children of Polish immigrants worked hard to get an education, earn a decent living, and afford a nicer house with a yard in the suburbs. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Most people don't strive to remain in a multi family triple decker without a driveway if they can afford better.


It's possible for the ethnic flavor that made the Polish Triangle special to remain even if the identity of those moving in is different. Polish-Americans can continue to support the neighborhood's businesses, its' social club, and its Polish Catholic parish, even if they now live in places like Quincy and Braintree. The Polish Triangle remains the symbolic heart of a community that can't be duplicated in a suburban strip mall.

 Home of the Polish American Citizen Club

 Euromart, specializes in Polish and European groceries.

 DJ's Super Market, specializing in Polish food products

Storefront of the closed Boston Street Deli & Market, damaged from a fire in 2010.

Chechen-Americans fear retaliation

Ever since the Boston Marathon bombers were revealed to be ethnic Chechens, a fear of reprisals has ripped through Chechen immigrant communities. Some worry about revealing their ethnicity to Americans, others fear a crack down on immigration.

It probably doesn't help that Americans in general know little about their homeland. Few appreciate its history, the nationalist movement against Russian authority, and Putin's hard stance against Chechnyan separatists.  Evidently fewer can even locate Chechnya on a map.

Czech Republic is not Chechnya

Americans have never been known for awareness world affairs or geography. That extends to the media as well. In the frenzy that followed the Boston Marathon bombings, several American social media outlet users erroneously reported the ethnicity of the bombing suspects as Czech, when it is actually Chechen. The mistake happened enough that Petr Gandalovic, the Czech Ambassador to the United States, felt a need to speak out.

Museum openings coincide with Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Anniversary

Friday April 19 marked the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis. Two museum openings coincided with this date. One is the Bronx High School of Science's Holocaust Museum and Study Center. Its' holdings include an extensive collection of Holocaust artifacts. A former teacher began the collection hoping to teach tolerance to the school's students.

The second is Warsaw's Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich, or Museum of the History of the Polish Jews. The museum will honor 1,000 years of Jewish life in Poland. Friday was a  partial opening for educational and cultural workshop, the Museum's main exhibit should open early in 2014.

Poland was once home to the world's largest Jewish community, and in many ways Jewish life was centered in Poland. That community was decimated by the Nazis during World War II. The last 20 years have marked a change in the Polish national conscious in terms of its Jewish past. The influence of Pope John Paul II and the end of Communism has allowed Poland to acknowledge the extent of Jewish life in the country's history, the role of collaborators in the murder of Jews, as well as the extent to which ordinary Poles risked their lives to hide and save Jews from the Nazis.

Few Chechens reside in the US

The Boston Marathon bombings earlier this week have brought a spotlight to the Chechnyan community. The two suspects in the bombings, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Chechnya. A report shows how there are few Chechnyan immigrants to the United States, as most American cities refuse applicants from this region. One estimate has the number of Chechens in the US to be no more than 250 persons. Additionally, the majority of those immigrants granted asylum are women. Very few men are granted asylum due to American anti-terrorism policies.

Meanwhile the Chechan president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has blamed the acts of terror on the Tsarnaev brothers American upbringing. Compare that reaction with the humility of their uncle Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, who expressed shame for his nephews' actions.

Opa Opa! Greek culture is alive in Motown

Time has not been kind to Detroit, MIchigan. Especially hard hit have been the city's ethnic enclaves. The impact of urban decay and white flight is that ethnic communities abandoned their former neighborhoods in the city, moving to the blandness of suburbia.

This said, it's nice to see Greater Detroit's Greek-American returning to the city to celebrate.
Thousands turned out Sunday for the 12th Annual Detroit Greek Independence Day Parade down Monroe Street. Participants dressed in traditional military garb and traditional Greek costumes.

This weekend also marked the grand opening of the Hellenic History Museum of Michigan, located in a red brick mansion across from the Detroit Institute of the Arts in the Midtown section.There's a bittersweet irony to this: Greek history is making a comeback in Detroit at the same time the city considers to sell off its art collection due to bankruptcy.

(Cold War) Politics makes strange bedfellows, indeed

American essayist Charles Dudley Warner once said "Politics makes strange bedfellows". The United States government was quite ambivalent towards former Nazis in the period after World War II, as highlighted in the book "Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America's Open-Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals".

Author Richard Rashke contends that the government found former Nazis useful in the struggle against Communism. Among the war criminals is John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-American living in the Cleveland area who once worked as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Poland. Also discussed is German scientist Wernher von Braun, who helped produce V-2 rockets used against Great Britain during the War. Von Braun went on to receive the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service in 1959.

Albanians entering via Mexico

The Texas border with Mexico is a well known crossing for illegal immigrants trying to enter the United States. Just the mention of illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande to enter the U.S. conjures up images of impoverished Mexicans.  And yes, most detainees stopped by U.S. Border Patrol originate from Mexico and Central America. However a local reporter tells how Albanians are increasingly taking this same route to enter the United States illegally.

To find Albanians entering a third country to gain access into the US illegally shows how issues of immigration and border security are bigger than just a Latino concern. Too often, the plight of immigrants is framed as a Latino issue, instead of what it really is: a human issue. Perhaps immigrant advocates would see more results from our elected leaders if they would focus on how immigrant issues impact all groups, not just one particular linguistic group.

Growing Pains for New York's Italian American Museum

The Italian American Museum in New York's Little Italy has outgrown its current space in a restored 1800's brownstone. Plans include selling the building to a developer, and then relocating the museum into an expanded space inside the structure that replaces the brownstone. The museum's current location on the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets once housed “Banca Stabile”, which served newly arrived immigrants from Italy.