As we prepare to honor Three Wise Women in each of our four regions this January at our Epiphany celebrations, we’re thrilled to give you the opportunity to get to know these inspiring and accomplished Italian American ladies a little better.

Keep your eyes on our blog over the next twelve days to meet our Wise Women during the #12DaysofWiseWomen series!

Rita Esposito Watson
Journalist and Educator

Rita will be honored at our Rhode Island Region Epiphany on January 10, 2016. Buy tickets here.

The Gift of Italian

When my grandparents talked of “the old country” they referred to their village in Italy.  Yet, when I asked them to explain the differences, I realized that they brought “the old country” with them to America. Our grandparents’ home was characterized by family and friends who shared cooking, eating, gardening, praying, wine-making, the opera, and laughter.

My mother’s parents came from large families with fascinating stories. Great-Grandma visited America for her 90^th birthday and she requested gifts of “French lace nightgowns.”  A dashing great-uncle made frequent trips to Italy in search of a woman he believed to be the padre’s comare.

I have been keeping journal notes for nearly 40 years writing about family and the Italian culture.  However, in my early career at the New York Times, I wrote about health and medicine.  Eventually I went to Yale and focused on work with mothers and children helping to design policies and draft legislation to strengthen families.  This was my mother’s influence.  Senator Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) was a strong supporter.  Setting goals beyond my dreams came from my father.  He was an Army Air Force pilot and engineer who later became a sound consultant to Frank Sinatra on his world tours.

Since 2006 I have lived in both Providence and on Boston’s Beacon Hill, just steps from the North End. When our parents became ill, in their 90s, my sister Lois began putting together photos of family history and I began documenting more diligently. These vignettes became my column for the Providence Journal, “Italian Kisses: Grandma’s Wisdom.”

My grandmother influenced another important aspect of my work — writing “With Love and Gratitude” for PsychologyToday.com.  She reminded us often, “Never let the sun set on your anger” and “Always remember to say ‘Grazie.’”

Now that I am teaching English composition at Suffolk University, I am thrilled to see students from many countries writing about their own culture.  They inspire me to continue compiling “Italian Kisses” for my children, my grandchildren, our family and friends everywhere who treasure the gift — an Italian heritage.

About Rita

Rita Esposito Watson is a journalist, educator, and policy specialist.  She is the author of “Italian Kisses: Gram’s Wisdom” for the Providence Journal, and for PsychologyToday.com, she writes “With Love and Gratitude.”  Currently a member of the adjunct faculty at Suffolk University in Boston, she is teaching English composition to freshman.  An associate fellow at Yale’s Ezra Stiles College, it was at Yale that she received her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. It was during her 10 years with the New York Times, writing about health and medicine for the Sunday regional sections, that she decided to seek an MPH and focus on patient advocacy.

While studying public health she also attended the Yale Law School for studies with Dean Guido Calabresi and the late Dr. Jay Katz, a specialist in medicine and ethics.

Ms. Watson then remained at Yale as a public policy advocate for children and families.  She was spokesperson for child care through Yale’s Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy and later Director of Policy and Education for the Department of Psychiatry.  Ms. Watson was one of the architects of landmark state legislation that provided for childcare services at treatment centers and a continuum of care model that was adapted nationally. She was a member of the State Commission on Children.

After relocating to Boston, she worked with CIMIT, a Harvard consortium of teaching hospitals.

She has written books on women’s issues, is author of “A Serenity Journal: 52 Weeks of Prayer and Gratitude” through Paulist Press and is compiling “Italian Kisses: Gram’s Wisdom” into a book.  It focuses on her grandparents and parents, Clara and Vincent Esposito. Her father was Frank Sinatra’s sound consultant on special tours.