About

My mother went into labor with me during the Opening Ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics. I was the third daughter and supposed to be the last child to my parents until 2003 when my little brother, my father’s only son, was born.

My father is Italian American. His grandparents immigrated from Naples and Sicily and settled in New York. My father grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He, his four younger brothers, and their parents shared one bathroom. When my father refused to eat mushrooms during dinner one night, his grandfather served them to him again for breakfast – then lunch, then dinner until my dad’s resolve diminished.

He graduated from Fordham University in 1972, moved to California, then settled in Las Vegas. My mother was 21 and working at IGT when they met. They were married in January of 1990 and had two daughters by October of 1992. I came a few years later.

The Sopranos started airing in January of 1999. I was only 2 years old. When the finale episode that shook America aired in June of 2007, I had recently finished my first year in a new school. We had moved to small town from Las Vegas in the summer of 2006.

I didn’t know what the Sopranos were. I knew that “soprano” was related to music, but I couldn’t tell you how. I didn’t really like my music class, so when Mom and Dad turned on the Sopranos, I had no interest at all, on top of the fact that I wasn’t allowed to watch it (Good call, Mom and Dad).

Now, I am in the first year of my Ph. D. program. With any luck and a lot of hard work, I’ll be the first Dr. Sposato by 2024. My father retired in January (actually December 31, 2018) and the whole world threw him a party. There were even fireworks.

In his retired life, he sends me New York Times articles, texts me how many steps he’s taking thanks to his new Fitbit, tells me how his cooking attempts are going, and watches any film or documentary I recommend. When I texted him in January saying I had started watching The Sopranos, he was enthusiastic to say the least.

To give myself a break from long days in lab and long nights researching cellular development, I’ll be watching at least one Sopranos episode a week on relatively the same schedule as my father. He hasn’t seen the series since it aired and I have only seen the first episode. I’ll be summarizing our conversations following each episode and posting our thoughts on this blog. In the words of my oldest sister, “Best idea we’ve ever had.”

This is our Sopranos story.