Mary Cappello Knihy

Exploring the implications of consuming substances not intended for human consumption, this book delves into the complex relationship between human bodies and foreign entities. It examines how the boundaries can become indistinct, raising questions about identity, health, and the nature of what we consider 'natural.' Through thought-provoking insights, it challenges readers to reconsider their understanding of food and its effects on the human experience.

Of the mysterious Night Blooming Cereus, Mary Cappello writes: "The flower fell into our neighborhood like a shooting star." That neighborhood was a working-class suburb of Philadelphia riven by class distinction and haunted by contradiction. In tracing the marks that immigration and assimilation have left on her Italian-American family, Cappello also offers us her family's unsung art-their gardens, letters, and rosary beads-for the lessons they teach us about desire, creativity, and loss. From the Trade Paperback edition.

An energetic and irreverent essay on the forgotten art of the lecture, part of Transit's new Undelivered Lectures series.