Background
Alaya, Flavia Maria was born on May 16, 1935 in New Rochelle, New York, United States. Daughter of Mario Salvatore and Maria Alaya.
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book
Under the Rose: A Confession (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series) by Alaya, Flavia (2001) Paperback
(1St Edition)
1St Edition
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YTJST4M/?tag=2022091-20
Under the Rose: A Confession (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series)
( Flavia Alaya was 22 years old, a radiant but sheltered ...)
Flavia Alaya was 22 years old, a radiant but sheltered Italian American on a Fulbright in Italy, when she met Father Harry Browne. When the attraction that began in a cafe in Perugia grew too compelling to resist, they embarked on a relationship that violated one of the most powerful taboos of the Church and of society, yet endured for over 20 years. By day, they were subsumed in progressive community organizing. By night, they were subsumed in a relationship carried out, even through the birth of their three children, in absolute secrecy–sub rosa, or "under the rose." "Those asking for well-written honesty will be handsomely rewarded. In a poignant, lucid language that combines the pace of fiction with the intimacy of a love letter, her 'memory-ghosts' bring private and social history to full circle, the story of an immigrant's search for freedom of expression. Under the Rose is the very model of memoir writing, of a woman's voice finally finding perfect pitch."—Foreword "Flavia Alaya has written a memoir with a rare elegiac style. Deeply spiritual with love and tragedy, but finally, a woman triumphant."—Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming: A Memoir "Here is a timeless passion, recalled with a historian's precision. But it is also a modern political document, because these lovers took the definitions with which their times tried to imprison them--definitions of woman, of priest, of powerlessness--and transformed them, first in their own lives, and then out in the world."—Nuala O'Faolain, author of Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman "Flavia Alaya's richly textured story kept me up half the night, riveted by its dauntless passion and fierce insight. For those of us who are Italian Americans and sometime Catholics, Alaya's tale will have special power in its unraveling of mysteries and sanctities that shaped our lives. But her headlong rush toward remembrance of things past will have extraordinary resonance, too, for all who have lived, loved, lost--and won."—Sandra M. Gilbert, co-author of No Man's Land and The Madwoman in the Attic Flavia Alaya served as founding director of the School of Interc
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/155861270X/?tag=2022091-20
Silk and Sandstone: The Story of Catholina Lambert and His Castle
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00070Z9VS/?tag=2022091-20
Bridge Street to Freedom: Landmarking a Station on the Underground Railroad
(A dramatic TRUE story about the preservation of an Underg...)
A dramatic TRUE story about the preservation of an Underground Railroad site where two centuries met, of a heroism that transcended race, of a community memory that would not die. Multiracial Van Rensalier tells the remarkable story of Paterson, New Jersey abolitionists William Van Rensalier and Josiah Huntoon--one black one white--who exemplified interracial cooperation on Bridge Street, Huntoon's corner safe house on the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War. A vacant lot since 1983, Alaya recounts how this corner's symbol of 19th Century abolition became in 1995 a powerful common ground where demonstrations for racial cooperation helped restore peace to this riot torn city, and in 1996 helped preserve the site and its history. In 1984, this sacred ground also re-united deeply buried black ancestral roots severed for two generations by the pressures of America's racism. After years of searching for her suspected African American ancestry, Van Rensalier's genealogical journey led her to this same Bridge Street to freedom. In her prologue, she describes her pride, emotions and legacy in discovering her great grandfather William was not only black, but a black abolitionist. "I understood why Huntoon and Van Rensalier were abolitionists, and why I was their bridge on this street to freedom. For my children, for my country, for humanity, I too had to keep fighting what had enslaved my black and white ancestors...my family and the psyche of our nation." In 1994, Van Rensalier's extensive research and appeal essay, now part of this book, eventually became the bases for the site's preservation. Dr. Alaya, Italian American professor of literature and cultural history at Ramapo College, was also chair of Paterson's Historic Preservation Commission during the period of most intense public debate over this Underground Railroad site in 1995. She thus played an active and influential part in the public process by which Van Rensalier and the African American community saved this sacred ground from insensitive development as a fast food franchise. Her account of the complex story behind the story underscores the power of both racial cooperation and community resolve in preserving African American culture.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0927351048/?tag=2022091-20
Flavia Maria Alaya
Edit Profileactivist specialist writer history educator
Flavia Maria Alaya, American writer, literature and cultural history educator, civil rights activist, historic preservation specialist. Certified urban conservation Rome, 1997. Recipient stipend National Endowment of the Humanities, 1985; grantee Fulbright, 1957-1958, Italian Government, 1957-1958, Writers grant Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey, 1997, 2004; fellow Guggenheim Foundation, 1974-1975, Kress Foundation, 1997.
Education
Bachelor in English cum laude, Barnard College, 1956; postgraduate, U. Padua, Italy, 1957-1958; postgraduate, Accademia delle Belle Arti, Venice, Italy, 1958; Master of Arts in English with honors, Columbia University, 1960; Doctor of Philosophy in English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, 1965.
Career
Instructor in English University North Carolina, Greensboro, 1959-1960. Lecturer in English Barnard College, 1960-1962, Hunter College, City University of New York, 1962-1966. Assistant professor English New York University, New York City, 1966-1971.
Professor literature School Intercultural Studies Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, 1971-1981, professor literature and cultural history School Social Science and Human Services, 1981—1999, founding director School Intercultural Studies, 1971-1973. Retired, 1999; adjunct professor literature Rowan University, since 2007. History professor Cumberland County College.
Referee, reviewer, presenter, panel moderator in field.
Achievements
Works
book
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Bridge Street to Freedom: Landmarking a Station on the Underground Railroad
(A dramatic TRUE story about the preservation of an Underg...)
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Under the Rose: A Confession (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series)
( Flavia Alaya was 22 years old, a radiant but sheltered ...)
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Under the Rose: A Confession (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series) by Alaya, Flavia (2001) Paperback
(1St Edition)
- The imagination is a square wheel: Toward a poetics of place (Ramapo papers)
- Silk and Sandstone: The Story of Catholina Lambert and His Castle
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Bridge Street to Freedom: Landmarking a Station on the Underground Railroad
Membership
Online advocacy journalism civil rights, chair History Preservation Commission, City of Paterson, New Jersey, 1991-1998. Trustee Passaic County History Society, 1973-1986, vice president, 1975-1978, president, 1978-1980. Advisor National Trust for History Preservation, 1991-2000.
Founding member, acting chair Federici Collection Inc., 1993-1994, curator, 1994-1998. Member New Jersey Historic Sites Council, since 1998. Founding member New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee, since 2003.
Vice president Bill Rights Defense Committee, 2004. Secretary, Cumberland Company Cultural & Heritage Council, since 2008. Member Modern Language Association (executive committee Victorian group 1971-1973), Northeast Victorian Studies Association (president 1977-1981, member advisory board, since 1981), Italian American Writers Association, Bridgeton History, District Commission Society, Cumberland County, Cultural & Heritage Commission.
Connections
Married Henry J. Browne (deceased 1980). Children: Harry M. Browne, Christopher R. Browne, Nina M. Browne. Married Edward George Feddema, August 7, 1993.
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Born
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Nationality
American
Education
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1956
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1958
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1960
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1965
Career
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1959 - 1960
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1960 - 1962
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1962 - 1966
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1966 - 1971
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1971 - 1981
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1999
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2007
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Awards
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Recipient stipend National Endowment of the Humanities, 1985. Grantee Fulbright, 1957-1958, Italian Government, 1957-1958, Writers grant Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey, 1997, 2004. Fellow Guggenheim Foundation, 1974-1975, Kress Foundation, 1997.Recipient stipend National Endowment of the Humanities, 1985. Grantee Fulbright, 1957-1958, Italian Government, 1957-1958, Writers grant Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey, 1997, 2004. Fellow Guggenheim Foundation, 1974-1975, Kress Foundation, 1997.