When the Seagulls leave the city, that is when I know your love has left me; when you can’t find my umbrella in the crowd, the summer is ending. _This lyric, translated to English, was the chorus of one of the many Italian songs my Polish babysitter would play for me as a baby. _ Throughout my childhood, I could never understood what the hoarse Italian tenor was singing about, but what I did know is that the songs put me to sleep. When my fussing would exceed the tolerance of my parents (as it often did), they would hand me off Marta, who knew exactly what to do: Strapping me into the backseat of her tan Corolla_ Marta would drive north on Lakeshore Drive, blasting the Italian music. By Montrose, I would be asleep.

The Italian city of Sienna was first inhabited by the Etruscans, whose art and culture is still present today; many artifacts and frescos mark what was a once great Etruscan City. Following their downfall, Sienna would be discovered by two exiled Roman brothers, and at first, it seemed the two would rule the city successfully. Sienna had much of what was needed to become a dominate state—strong walls, an ideal geographic location, and thousands of acres of arable land—but internal dissent doomed the Tuscan city. One brother envisioned a pious Sienna, a holy city loyal only to the Vatican. The other brother, however, believed Sienna ought to become the strongest Military force in the region. These two ideas could not coexist,. and while Sienna never fell, it failed to reach the heights it could of; it remained just a doormat to Florence.

After school most days, I would be greeted in Marta’s Corolla with a homemade sandwich, a cold drink, and a peppering of questions about my school day. After giving Marta one word answers and gobbling the feast she had prepared for me, I would ponder who the scratchy sounding Sicilian was singing to. Long rides to my hockey practices were always accompanied by the Italian music, and sometimes, I would fall asleep before big games. Afterwards, we would listen to baseball on the radio, and I would try to explain to Marta the complex vernacular of the game (taking a base, plunked, homer, etc).

Marta spoke of Mariola like a daughter; she spoiled Mariola like a daughter; she loved Mariola like a daughter; and for most of my life, I thought Mariola was Marta’s daughter: not a stepdaughter. During the late 80s, while working as a janitor at O’Hare airport, Marta met her husband Wojceich and his then three year-old girl, Mariola; the two had fled Krakow and Mariola’s biological mother—two entities ravaged by alcohol and lack of opportunity. I always wondered if the Italian songs put Mariola asleep too.

My brother claimed he could understand the songs because he spoke Italian; he had spent the summer between his sophomore and junior year in Sienna. On the exchange program, all students received random housing assignments, and while most got working-class, rural Italian families, Paul was placed in a mansion on Siena’s Main Piazza. The house was inundated with art and fine food, and walking to class everyday, Paul would pass the Duomo, the Ture, and dozens of thousand year old buildings. In reference to his summer, he said “I first marveled at the sights and history I passed, but over the course of my summer, the effect of the house, the effects buildings, the effects Italy began to wane.”

A speechwriter of Ronald Reagan once said, “Immigration was in Reagan’s bones and understanding of America.” That said, Ronald Reagan's immigration policy was controversial in the 1980s, and today, it remains a hotly debated topic. In 1986, Reagan claimed “immigrants are Republicans, they just don't know it yet,” and accordingly, he passed the Immigration Reform Act of 1986. The law provided amnesty for three million illegal immigrants, allowed free movement of people from Mexico and Canada, and revamped the immigration “lottery” program. 

In 1986, on a whim, Marta walked to Krakow’s emigration office and entered the lottery. A few months later, in 1987, she would be offered a Visa to the United States. Marta is a staunch democrat, but to this day, she claims “Saint Ron” was watching over her.

Nowadays, conservatives like Ted Cruz and President-Elect Trump boast that they embody the principles of Reagan, yet their immigration plans run directly counter to the Gipper’s. The modern right vehemently supports walls, raids, and crackdowns on illegals, while Reagan advocated for the amnesty and protection of people who have “set down roots here.” As of 2016, about 11 million people are in the US illegally, and 50,000 come each year, legally, via the lottery program.

Most “illegals” speak Spanish, a romance language used from the tip of Argentina to the Iberian Peninsula. En el mundo hispanohablante, hay algas indiomas differentes. In Spain, for example, Espanol traditional, Catalan, Gallician, and Basque are all distinct languages with unique vocabularies— though they are all considered Spanish. On the snow covered Andes of South America, indigenous people speak Quechuan, a relative of Peruvian Spanish. In Cuba, they speak with a lisp; in Mexico, they speak with a sing-songy cadence; and in the US, they speak with a combination of English words.

During lower school nap time, all the JK-ers giddily lined up to get the blue, slightly worn out mats for their favorite 30 minutes of the day. While my friends eagerly scattered to their preferred part of the room—near the entrance, adjacent to the bookcase, or by the feet of a teacher— I would reluctantly place my mat in the center of the room. Within minutes, almost all the students (and some teachers) found sleep, but I stayed fidgety and awake. Staring at the grayish, grid-like ceiling, I would count every second and contemplate the successfulness of this torture method.

In the early 1990’s, my parents said they interviewed dozens of candidates to be my brother’s nanny. Initially, my mother sought only Spanish speakers, saying “I loved my three years in Oaxaca, and I want my kids to hablar muy bien.” But my parents couldn’t find a nanny fitting this criteria, and my father described the prospect of finding a good nanny as “bleak.” One day, my mother happened to mention our situation to a friend in passing; the friend immediately recommended Marta.

Wojciech worked as a freight truck driver. His usual route involved hauling fruit from the heart of the deep south_to the vast supermarkets of California. I always wondered what he listened to as he drove on US 80. Did he pass the time listening to the same Italian disco Marta and I did?

Polish is part of Lechitic group of languages used throughout western Europe. It is slavic in origin. Italian is a romance language that is closest to Latin in structure and vocabulary, and today, its influence reaches to the northern coast of Africa. Despite both Polish and Italian having over 50 million native speakers, the two languages are completely different. 1,800 KM, the alps, and vast cultural differences separate the two countries. Today, Poland’s economy is based on industry, liberal social policies, and monetary freedom. Italy, conversely, bases its economy on free market practices, exportation of fine goods, and tourism. There are few similarities between Italy and Poland— how Italian songs ended up in my Polish babysitter’s car, I will never know. What I do know, however, is to this day, those songs still put me to sleep.