View from the chapel window, Pizzaonian Monasteries, Pizzaonia - Images courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator
BROTHER GIOVANNI’S JOURNAL………
Hi, my name is Sister Veronica, and I am the Supreme Pizzaonian of Pizzaonia. Brother Giovanni is giving me the opportunity of introducing myself personally. I am looking forward to spending time together and getting to know each other better.
When I first heard that Brother Giovanni was going to tell you about me and my leadership role here, I asked him if I could also spend some time with you after he was finished. He thought it was a wonderful idea for us to become personally acquainted with each other and then added, “Why don’t you go first.” So here I am.
If I start from the beginning, it may sound unusual because of our living in a beta-country in an alternate universe. I know that many of you are now hearing of the possibility of alternate universes existing. Let me assure you we are real. However, it wasn’t always this way.
I am a native Pizzaonian, and until we could portalize easily and safely to your world and back, I knew of no other place than Pizzaonia. For years, my life, like most people here, was simple. We lived in a peaceful, contented world that went on with remarkable consistency from one day to the next.
I had a wonderful childhood by our standards, but I suspect it would seem rather uneventful from what you expect from your children. My mother and father are also native Pizzaonians and have always held a deep reverence for our culture. They taught me the simple values that make a community work, and those values and traditions became part of who I am. There is no doubt in my mind that what they taught me was fundamental in my eventual selection as Supreme Pizzaonian. I can elaborate more on that later.
The Monasteries are one of our most respected institutions and as a young girl I had the opportunity to apprentice in their bakery. I loved the kitchens and the people I worked with each day. I apparently demonstrated a talent for baking quite early, and as I grew into adulthood, I was made the Chief Baker. I was thrilled. The opportunity to experiment with new recipes allowed me to be very creative, and I was reinforced by the praise for the products we served each day. Only Pizzaonians lived here then, and we did not know of your world. That was all about to change with the portalized arrival of immigrants from your country..
This is where it gets strange. As new people began to show up we did not know what to make of it. Pizzaonius, our founder, did not share with us that he had invented the Portotran with its miraculous ability to make inter universe travel possible. We learned later he believed the integration of more people with new ideas was necessary for us to grow as a culture. He also presumed the assimilation would be easy. Pizzaonius was eventually proved right, but that was not the case in the beginning. I am sure Brother Giovanni will spend some time elaborating on our strange beginnings as an assimilated culture.
One thing I should mention, for those not familiar with Pizzaonian culture, the fact that Pizzaonius would introduce the Portotran on his own without consulting anyone would seem troubling. If it were any other place but here, I might agree with you. What is unfathomable to your culture is the trust Pizzaonians have for each other. It is one of the reasons we can successfully exist without wars or governments.
We can share more on this later. My time is running out so I will say good-bye for now. When we have the opportunity to be together again, I would like to share with you what it is like to be a woman here. How I became Supreme Pizzaonian is a journey that I never intended to make. Till next time….
Sister Veronica
For those who are interested in our Pizzaonian history and the relationship between pizza conglomerate, Pizza digogo DiVinci and our Monasteries, can go to our archives, July 2009 at:
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