Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate son of Piero, a notary from the town of Vinci, and a peasant girl named Caterina. The third wife of Leonardo’s father later bore a son named Bartolommeo, who idolized Leonardo although he was forty-five years younger. After the death of the legendary Leonardo, Bartolommeo attempted an amazing experiment. He studied every detail of his father’s relationship with Caterina. Then Bartolommeo, himself a notary by family tradition, returned to Vinci and found another peasant wench who seemed similar to Caterina, according to all Bartolommeo knew. He married her and she bore him a son whom they called Piero. Strangely, the child actually looked like Leonardo and was brought up with encouragement to follow in the great man’s footsteps. Surprisingly, the boy became an accomplished artist and was becoming a talented sculptor when he died, thus ending the experiment.

Perhaps the best way to begin reading poetry responsively is not to allow yourself to be intimidated by it. Come to it, initially at least, the way you might listen to a song on the radio. You probably listen to a song several times before you hear it at all, before you have a sense of how it works, where it’s going, and how it gets there. You don’t worry about analyzing a song when you listen to it, even though after repeated experiences with it you know and anticipate a favorite part and know, on some level, why it works for you. Give yourself a chance to respond to poetry. The hardest work has already been done by the poet, so all you need to do at the start is listen for the pleasure produced by the poet’s arrangement of words.

In Argentina, it is bad manners to clear your throat or blow your nose at the table. In Brazil, avoid touching your food with your fingers, and be sure to wipe your mouth before taking a drink. When dining with Muslim companions, be careful not to use your left hand for eating, touching others, giving or receiving objects, or pointing.

In 1927 social workers in various parts of the United States contributed reports to a study on whether Prohibition was working. From Cleveland it was reported that “at first the Italian groups thought Prohibition affected only whiskey-drinkers . . . and went ahead with their wine, many times quite openly.” In Buffalo it was said that “our Italian people have no conviction that they are doing anything morally wrong in making and drinking their native wines. They cannot understand why Prohibition was adopted. Generally speaking, they feel that it is an evidence of fanaticism, and while they are obliged in certain ways to conform to the law, they have no special scruples against violating it.” In New York, before Prohibition, Italian-Americans bought [wine] “as they bought bread in this new America, as a matter of convenience. Now they make it as they would make bread if the bread shops were closed.”

Hong Kong is 98% Chinese. Although the official languages are English and Cantonese, the use of Mandarin (or Putonghua, China’s official language and the one spoken by most Chinese worldwide) is bound to rise. Many other languages and dialects are spoken here, including Hakka (the language of a group of early settlers from China), Tanka (the language of the original boat people who came here some 5,000 years ago), Shanghainese, and Chinglish (a mixture of Cantonese and English). Among the nationalities living in Hong Kong, some 30,000 Filipinos make up the largest foreign community. Most are women working as maids and nannies—called “amahs” in local parlance—many of whom socialize on their days off near the Star Ferry and at Statue Square park.