The New York Times Bestseller, Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond, reconfigures how various peoples evolved as they had.  How it was that the Inca emperor was slain by soldiers sent across the ocean by the King of Spain and not the other way around?

While the Taylor Street Archives is galaxies short of Jared Diamond’s revelation on the Fates of Societies and how various peoples and their particular circumstances had evolved, the sounds reflecting the games we played and the things we did in the legendary Taylor Street’s Little Italy shed some light on how and to what our culture evolved.  Read more…

Growing up in Taylor Street’s Little Italy

By Luke Capuano

Supporting contributor: Vince Romano

“A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark.”

Elsewhere in these Taylor Street Archives is a story that begins as follows:  In India, they have a saying reserved for those individuals who had influenced and shaped our lives.  That saying is, “You are my Gemma.” The Gemma is a tributary to the Ganges River.  From the point at which the Gemma flows into the Ganges, the Ganges is no longer the same river.  Its course is forever influenced by the Gemma as it winds its way down to the ocean ultimately influencing and shaping the landscape of distant shores.  “You are my Gemma.”  A tribute reserved for those who had become our Gemmas during our personal journeys through life.  A tribute reserved for those who made us something different than we would have been had we not met them.

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