No longer a WOP!

Growing up with the term WOP was completely in the realm of my experience.  I didn’t know what it meant or why that term applied to my family, my culture – but it felt bad.  As of today, I’m not a WOP and now I’m feeling the grief…weird!  Recently, I’ve been in passport hell.  Amelia and I have plans to visit Italy in May – Northern Italy – the birthplace of espresso bars, the local food movement, my father’s origins and the location of my family’s bakery.  The craziness of 9/11 has caused some irrationality and thus my experience of trying to obtain a new passport.  Turns out my original birth certificate did not have the names of my parents.  I had to file for a new birth certificate.  This process has cost me a lot of cash, time and complete frustration with the folks who are employed by our government to service these kinds of services.  And for those of you who don’t know what WOP means – my grandfather(s)/grandmother(s) arrived in Ellis Island, NY  – their paperwork was inadequate or incomplete, early 1900’s -the influx of Italians, so their admission into the U.S.  was stamped “WOP” on their documents –  meaning WithOut Papers!  And through my process of getting a new passport, the experience of searching my parents’  birth certificates and witnessing the documents of my immigrant grandparents into this country leads me to being extremely proud of what they have accomplished and being “WOPS”!   (And given the events of the last few days or even the last several years –  maybe it’s not about  the WOP’s…just sayin!)  We are so excited to experience the coffee, culture and community of Italian espresso bars!