Jo-Ann Vega, a proud Italian-American whose roots in America began in 1903, is a published author and dynamic speaker with 30 years of experience presenting to academic, business, and community groups. Jo-Ann lives with her life partner and canine companion.
Here's a link to Jo-Ann Vega's new book, Wolf Woman & Other Poems
Moments in Flight: A Memoir
Brings the immigrant story full circle; recovers lost history; shares hard-earned practical wisdom
by Jo-Ann Vega
Moments in Flight: A Memoir
Brings the immigrant story full circle; recovers lost history; shares hard-earned practical wisdom
by Jo-Ann Vega
Published Dec 14, 2020
233 Pages
Genre: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
Book Details
Stunning memoir shares hard-earned practical wisdom, recovers lost history, and brings the immigrant story full circle.
Set in the last half century of transformative cultural change, Jo-Ann Vega’s memoir is a memory-keeper's engaging and wide ranging coverage of how the times affected the author and the country. The popularity of ancestry research confirms the deep hunger for authenticity, connection, meaning, and self-knowledge.
Vega says, "I'd like readers to enjoy the journey, get reacquainted with history, and open the door to dialogue with others. That's a picture of me on the cover, the background of the 50th birthday poster that others signed, a number who are no longer with us. All we have are moments to hold on to, capture, and try to make sense of."Part 1 is an extended eulogy to the immigrants of the south Bronx and the children who played on the streets without parental supervision—with horse-drawn vegetable and fruit wagons, malocchio, bocce, macaroni in numbered boxes, Uncle Dan the bookie, and Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra at Yankee Stadium. Part 2 details the impact of her famiglia’s relocation to suburbia, and her own coming of age during the relentless cultural upheavals of the 1970s. Part 3 is a bridge to today and life after work and parents.
Crafted from 40 years’ worth of writing and journaling, Moments in Flight also features useful websites, historical timelines, and a Book Club Discussion Guide.
NEW REVIEWS
5-star review: https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/moments-in-flight-a-memoir ...an inspiring memoir with interesting historical information. It also beautifully captures the tenacity of many immigrants who left their countries in the hope of a better future for their families.... bold, sentimental...meaningful exploration of what it means to gradually discover one's self... an interesting and deeply meaningful memoir.
Shawn La Torre, Story Circle Network https://www.storycircle.org/book_review/moments-in-flight-a-memoir/
This book is exemplary in its structure, organization, and pacing... voice and writing style. It has a unique voice, and the writing style is consistent throughout... A beautiful sense of the Italian culture and how that is both celebrated and preserved and how Vega and her family had moments of extreme difficulty in figuring out how to navigate life as immigrants.
Judge, 29th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards
Featured in the Bronx Daily Newspaper
Featured in Story Circle
Other Books by Jo-Ann Vega
Here's a sample, contents, intro, and first chapter of Moments in Flight: A Memoir -- Click here
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Book Excerpt
from the opening page, Chapter 1, Meant to Be a Chronicler
"I didn't love him until I had my fourth or fifth child."
It was one of those times when the message arrives as a blow. I unconsciously tensed to lessen the impact of my beloved grandmother's frank admission, and felt the air forceably expelled from me. For a few moments, I could not breathe or hear. Even now, decades later, my hands tremble as I type the words.
My grandmother, in essence, was a mail-order bride.
I know, in ways I cannot express, how fortunate I am for how far my clan has come in a century. As a woman, I have lived an independent life the immigrants could have neither conceived nor comprehended...
About the Author
Jo-Ann Vega
Also by Jo-Ann Vega
