Happy Birthday Spike Lee and Bobby Orr!

Today is my birthday. My 49th to be exact. And while I'm long past the age of eager anticipation of the day ahead – parties, gifts, cards from relatives, cake, well-wishers – I still look forward to celebrating my anniversary in any way that may present itself. In fact, I may even decide to celebrate throughout the week. I most definitely will be celebrating with my godson, Eric, who's very first birthday was yesterday and with whom we will be celebrating tomorrow in a huge 1st birthday blowout. I heard Lady Gaga might be making an appearance. I hope Beyoncé comes too.

I was born on March 20, 1961, the 5th child to a couple of native New Yorkers from Brooklyn, who like many, moved west in search of their own American Dream, traveling across the country in a station wagon to Seattle, Washington.

Stopping in Montana on the way to Seattle, 1960. Right to left, my brother Dan, my sister Gina and my mother. Guess where I am in this pic.

I was born at Ft. Lawton, an army post located on Magnolia Hill in Seattle. The fort first opened in 1900 and was most active during WWII, when it stationed 20,000 US troops with a million more passing through its gates during and after the war. The fort was also used as a POW camp as both German and Italian troops passing through on their way to Hawaii for imprisonment.

Fort Lawton's Post Exchange and Gymnasium

Did I say imprisonment? Many of the Italians imprisoned at Ft. Lawton were given much leeway on the post, in some cases even being allowed off the base. On the evening of August 14, 1944 a riot on-base ensued between the Italian prisoners and African-American soldiers resulting in the hanging death of prisoner, Guglielmo Olivotto. And while the ensuing trial was anything but hasty (5 weeks), it was anything but fair. A 9 member all-caucasian officer court martial trial found out of the 43 soldiers charged, 28 guilty of rioting and 2 guilty of manslaughter.

True justice did not come until 60 years later, when the case was reopened, and in 2007 the US Army Board for Correction of Military Records ruling the trial had been “fundamentally unfair”, overturned the convictions and gave honorable discharges to all who were wrongly accused.

Ft. Lawton still functions to this day, albeit on a much smaller scale. It is slated to be permanently closed in 2011.

Except for perhaps some periodic visits to a pediatrist in my infancy and passing by on my way to look at the view from Magnolia Hill, I've never returned to Ft. Lawton. I sometimes think about making a pilgrimage to visit the land on which I was born, but it's never been a priority. My fondness for history – whether global or personal – has never included seeing my exact birthplace.

But on my birthday, I do like to reminisce. The days I spent with my mother, when I was too young to go to school, watching her work around the house, occasionally going with her to visit her friends and play with their kids. That's how I met my best friend, Tim, when we were about three years old. The tears I shed having to leave my mother the first day of kindergarten at Medina Elementary School. The eight years I spent at Sacred Heart School were not always the easiest for me, but the sometimes bumpy ride was made smoother by the kindness of teachers such as Sister Marcia, Sisters Angie and Margaret and my 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Sullivan.

Hockey was a huge part of my growing up. Ever since my father took me to my first game, I had become a huge hockey fan and still am to this day.

Having graduated catholic school, 9th grade at Bellevue Junior High School was for me an explosion of public school freedom. My curly hair grew into an afro. I acquired the nickname Ziggy from the David Bowie t-shirt I often wore. I wore platform sneakers to go with that t-shirt and with my bell bottoms.

Pop and rock music was a big part of my life as a teenager well into my 20's. I listened to everyone from my very first pop idol, Elton John to Bowie to Kiss, Rush, New York Dolls, the Sex Pistols, the Clash with many more bands and genres in between.

I also like to think about the places in which I've lived be they brief stays or lengthy: Bellevue, the city where I grew up and spent my formative years. Kahalui, Maui, Hawaii for where I immediately left upon graduating high school with dreams of going to college and becoming an actor only to become seriously homesick and move back home three months later. Seattle, my birthplace. The city I love with all my heart. Salt Lake City, Utah. Another brief interlude, while I was searching for myself. A beautiful city, but not where I supposed to be. Bellingham, Washington. The place I was supposed to be. Small town America without the small town thinking, that jived completely with my sense of “where am I going?” Bellingham pointed me in the right direction - To Vancouver, BC Canada. Where my dream of becoming an actor was realized. Where my love of hockey was not greeted with ample disregard but with unbridled enthusiasm. Where at any given moment, I would hear three or for different languages being spoken at once. Where I learned not only a lot about myself as an American, but with the large Italian community in the city, as an American with Italian heritage.

With each place, I left a little of myself and took a little bit with me.

And now I find myself on my 49th birthday in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, starting over. A new language, a new culture and at the risk of sounding like a bola de queijo (cheeseball) – a new beginning. I am scared and excited.

It is the rainy season here, and as the thunder rumbles and the rain falls on a lazy Saturday afternoon, I raise a glass to my wife Sonia, for without whom I would not be here today; to my family, who have always supported me and who I love unconditionally; to my old friends who have always had my back; and to my new friends, it is indeed a pleasure.

A toast and a warm abraço to one and all.

Images celebrating family and places.




Music: Spacewalk by Lemon Jelly from the album Lost Horizons