America 1979

Chapter 2 Expensive Tuition

The layout of the uncle’s house is similar to that of most middle-class families. It is a two-story wooden house with bricks on the lower floor. The second floor has two bedrooms, a utility room and a bathroom. master bedroom.

Usually there are many people living in this house. The three Bill brothers and sisters, uncle and aunt, and uncle's son, Anthony Conti, have a family gathering today, and even more people come.

Bill pushed open the door, and the sixteen pairs of eyes around the dining table immediately turned to the door.

"Come on, I'll be waiting for you."

"Auntie specially left you noodles for two people."

With a quick glance, Bill knew that the relatives of his grandfather's family had basically arrived. There were five members of the second aunt's family, four members of the aunt's family, plus grandparents, three members of the uncle's family, and Bill's younger sister and younger brother. These sixteen people were waiting. He arrived and ate together.

According to the Italian custom, relatives who haven't seen for a long time want to kiss, so Bill, who walked to the dining table, kissed the cheeks of the eleven people who came to the uncle's house today.

He didn't say why he was late, Bill only told the uncle who was cooking that he had eaten outside, which meant that two bites were enough.

So the reasonable uncle got up silently, took the plate left for Bill, went to the kitchen to share most of it, and brought it back.

During this process, there were fifteen people around the dining table chatting about each other. After hearing a few words, Bill found that the main topic was two aunts and aunts criticizing his cousin Anthony Conte for being a gangster, as well as the second uncle and uncle. Scolding his daughters for their puppy love.

The matter of Bill's sister Dorothy going to school did not become the main topic, presumably it was because this group of people basically didn't know anything about college.

This is also a traditional skill of the Italians. Once we chat, we can change a few from the love letter Michelangelo sent to the ancestors to the woman who brought home from the neighbor's house. In short, it is nonsense.

"What do you know, I am now called Johnny the Bonebreaker. When I become a partner, the entire Bath Avenue will have to listen to me."

Perhaps because he was belittled by the female elders as useless, his cousin Anthony suddenly became agitated, waving his hands with chicken paw gestures, trying to brag about himself in front of his aunt and aunt.

Anthony is also a typical Italian-born New Yorker. When he was a child, he didn’t study hard. He spent all day hanging around with outside gangsters, buying newspapers, running errands to buy hot dogs, and helping deliver things. When he was old enough to play with guns, he was absorbed by gangsters. For the peripheral elements, do some township, deal with street disputes, and collect money from downlines.

During the handling of an accident last week, Anthony punched and broke the arm of the troublemaker in front of one of their partners (which can be understood as the peripheral leader of the society). The title of "Bonebreaker" Johnny.

Anthony himself thinks that mixed clubs are very promising, but although the Conti family has grown up a bit, they also know that mixed clubs are not a good way out, so they strongly oppose Anthony's choice.

"Look at Dorothy, she can do so well in a public school, and now she just got an offer from that university, look at you again..." The aunt was persistent.

Although she couldn't even name a well-known university, she didn't know that her niece Dorothy hadn't started applying yet.

Fortunately, the uncle's return stopped the quarrel in time. After waiting for Bill for a while, everyone was hungry, and the whole family prayed neatly before meals.

"...thank you, Christ my Lord, for this, Amen."

Sixteen people neatly crossed themselves on their chests. Although Bill didn't believe this, he crossed himself so that no one would see anything unusual.

Bickering was unavoidable during the meal. The two cousins ​​of the puppy love were attacked by the uncle and the second uncle. The aunts and aunts may think that Anthony is hopeless, and the disease of puppy love can still be cured, so they also criticize the daughter and niece Come on.

Sofia Conte, one of the cousins ​​who was scolded, was naturally reluctant, and she responded loudly: "Why don't you talk about Enzo's relationship with Enzo, who is still in junior high school, and just scold me and my sister."

Boys' puppy love is taking advantage of others, and girls' puppy love is being taken advantage of. Adults can naturally distinguish these things. Aunts and aunts are very wise not to mention this, and only blame the girls.

Sitting on Bill's left is a cousin, Vincent Conte, who is also one of the family's early lovers.

After all, the odds of finding a virgin in an American high school are lower than the odds of a black man having a father.

The elders' criticism of his cousins ​​also made Wen Sen a little nervous. He finished his noodles in a few mouthfuls, and then stared at the aunt with the most firepower, for fear that he would be called by name.

Bill's right hand is his sister, Dorothy Ferrari, a strong girl with a height of 1.7 meters [-]. Fortunately, Dorothy's facial features are still pretty, and a pair of oversized black-rimmed glasses finally gave her a hint of a student. temperament.

"What did you eat out? The family has been waiting for you for a long time."

Seeing that her brother didn't talk much, Dorothy took the initiative to stir up the topic.

"Hot dogs, Winter and I have a competition to see who eats the most, and the winner gets fifty dollars. You know that fat Winter, right? He ate twenty-five, what a pig!"

His stomach was still protesting, and Bill didn't want to talk, so he briefly told his sister the ins and outs.

"What's the matter with you, brother. We had no money, and you lost fifty dollars. That's fifty dollars!"

When Dorothy heard this, she stopped eating noodles and turned her head to stare at her brother, as if this would let the illiterate brother who had dropped out of school know how much money fifty dollars was.

Bill snorted coldly, took out the three bills from his trouser pocket, waved them in front of his sister, and said triumphantly:
"I ate 27."

Dorothy's expression suddenly became complicated, three points of surprise, three points of contempt, and five points of helplessness after being teased.

She glared at her brother and buried her head in eating the noodles.

The dishes on the dining table were cleaned up one after another, and the eating session ended amid the elders' criticism of the puppy love and the school teachers.

The uncle did the cooking, and the second aunt and aunt did the dishes. Dorothy also went to help.

After dinner, the atmosphere in the whole room became more lively. To be precise, there was no restraint of dishes and pots, and body movements became more abundant.

After all, binding the hands of the Italians is equivalent to blocking the mouths of the Italians.

What's more, there is Anthony, a rebellious and unfilial son. Uncles and uncles surround Anthony in front of the TV. Bill seems to see someone pulling a leather belt, as if he is going to give Anthony a complete childhood.

"Don't you know that gangsters can kill people?"

"How did I teach you, did I teach you to hang out with those gang members?"

"You can make a lot of money even if you don't follow them. You just need to concentrate on entering the factory, so whoever, went to the Japanese factory, and now it's a month..."

Bill listened to the words of this group of four, 50-year-old, second- and third-generation immigrants, and he knew that this group of people really did not have much education. The reason why they opposed Anthony's involvement in gangs was that it was easy to die, not that most of the gang's actions were illegal. And it's easy to get in and hard to get out.

Even if you don’t have the perspective of a time traveler, you should know that with the background of gangsters, it is not easy for future generations to get rid of the traces and enter the middle and upper class controlled by the “white rules”.

To give a very simple example of the rise of an Italian family: Rudy Giuliani, who was born in Brooklyn, studied all the way from high school to Manhattan College, then to New York University Law School, and then entered the prosecutorial profession.

There is no need to mention the brilliant achievements of this gentleman when he served as a federal prosecutor and a prosecutor in southern New York. Everyone only needs to know one concept. long.

If it weren't for extramarital affairs, vision, and mistakes in standing in the team later, Giuliani would have the possibility of attacking the commander-in-chief. After all, he slapped his face in the 911/[-] incident and was called the "Mayor of the United States."

Bill was still thinking about how to get on the road to success, but the noise in the room brought him back to reality, and seven or eight Italian chicken feet were waving in front of him.

He stared at the waving hands and decided it was time to say something.

"All right, all right, Anthony is just a bragging brat, why are you chasing him?" Bill pointed to his younger sister, Dorothy, who was cleaning the table, "We're not discussing how to go to college for Dorothy today. matter?"

Now it is September, to be reasonable, the first ten days of November is the deadline for ED (early decision). Simply put, ED is an early batch of schools, generally better schools, and early January is the deadline for ED2 and RD applications.

From the beginning of December to March and April of the next year, the admission results will be announced one after another. In the fall of the next year, the admitted students can go to school normally.

As far as Bill knew, although he was studying in a public high school, his sister's SAT (scholastic assessment test) scores were quite good. The SAT is simply understood as the American college entrance examination, which is a necessary score for applying to American universities.

She also has a lot of experience in the community, and the principal of the high school is also willing to write a letter of recommendation for Dorothy, who was born at the bottom. According to the admission practice of American universities, her sister can go to a very good university.

There are two Ivy League schools in New York State, Columbia University and Cornell University. Although both are private universities with super expensive tuition fees, Bill feels that he can go to them.

Or Princeton University in New Jersey next door is not out of the question.

As far as Bill knew, Princeton University's tuition fees reached $21 per year in the 20s, and the two Ivy League schools in New York State were also over $74230.

But this was the late 70s, and the dollar had not yet been poured in. He reckoned that the tuition fee of around $[-] a year would definitely be enough.

Several elders stopped attacking Anthony and sat down on the sofa to discuss this issue. The latter quietly stayed upstairs and cast a grateful look at Bill before disappearing.

"Dorothy, we don't know much about colleges, and you're talking about hundreds of dollars."

Grandpa of the highest rank, says Jussai Conte.

Dorothy, who was chatting and laughing with her aunts and aunts, walked from the chair near the dining table to the sofa where the men were sitting when she heard the male elders calling her.

"Grandpa, it's like this. I'm going to apply for a public university in New York State. The tuition of this kind of school is relatively cheap, such as Buffalo and Binghamton..."

Dorothy began to tell her grandfather and uncles about her initial plans.

State universities in the United States often give more tuition discounts to students in the state. The strengths of the schools listed by Dorothy are quite good.

For example, the State University of New York at Binghamton is known as the Public Ivy.

I will not mention the State University of New York system here. The State University of New York system is the largest higher education system in the world and the largest and most comprehensive state university education system in the United States. It has 64 member campuses and nearly 47 students. Students can provide students with various types of educational opportunities.

"...It's about two or three thousand dollars in tuition fees." When it came to tuition fees, Dorothy's voice dropped in decibels.

Don't blame her, who made this family basically the bottom one!
Seeing the elders looking at the thousands of dollars in tuition, the sensible girl immediately added: "But don't worry, I'm going to apply for a student loan. You don't have to worry about the tuition. You only need to pay for books, miscellaneous expenses, and accommodation and food."

"Loan? That's a lie. Those salesmen who don't tell the truth will only tell you the benefits, and won't tell you how the bank defrauded you of your property."

The second uncle was the first to object.

As an authentic Italian immigrant, he almost crazily rejects everything that is not Italian.

The other elders also meant the same thing, and they nodded while giving their own solutions.

"For such a large sum of money, I think it is better to find the godfather. I heard that he can find someone to borrow money from."

By default, an Italian is Catholic, so he must have a godfather.

The Catholic godfather refers to the person who gives the baby or young child his Christian name when he is baptized and guarantees his religious education.

In the Italian community in Brooklyn, the godfather often has a gang background, and the borrowers he recommends must be usurers.

PS: For newcomers and new books, ask for collections, recommendation tickets, and monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)