A not-so-brief profile of Domenico Bettinelli, Jr.
My story begins in Europe where three out of my four grandparents were born. My dad's parents were from a town on the southeastern side of Sicily called Augusta. My grandfather's family were all fishermen and so was he and the first time he came to this country was at the turn of the 20th century when he was 12 years old. Later on, after getting married and having a few kids, he brought my grandmother and the family over to live in Boston. Now my mom's father is from Russia and he was Jewish. In fact, his father was a rabbi. They emigrated from Russia in about 1910 to get away from the attacks on Jews. And my mom's mom was French-Canadian (and English and Scottish and Irish, mostly French) and was born here.
Skipping ahead a whole bunch, my parents were married in 1959. I have two brothers, two sisters, three half-sisters, five nieces, five nephews, and two step-nephews (at present). My parents divorced when I was in high school, but they're on good terms now. My brothers and my sister Evy are all married. (I'm married too, as of this August.) Francesca lives in Maine with my mom. My oldest half-sister is in college and the others are both in high school.Oh and me? I was born in 1968 on Halloween. Yes, I know, "Trick or treat." It's an old joke. We lived in Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood of Boston, until I was four and then we moved to the suburbs. Specifically, the town of Canton. I grew up there. It was okay, if a little quiet. Basically, when we were kids we had the choice to either hang out at the variety store or hang out at the mall. Wooh! I graduated Canton High School in 1986 with decent grades.
I went on to Boston University where I majored in aerospace engineering and joined the Navy ROTC program. You see, I really wanted to be an astronaut, and the best way was to become a military pilot first. Well, it didn't work out too well. I didn't have a scholarship and I was still too immature for the responsibilities of college and slacked on my school work. Long story, short: I didn't flunk out but my grades were so low I didn't qualify for a scholarship or grants and couldn't afford to go back.
It was off to the work force for me. I eventually got a job working in a factory making juice dispensers (you know those machines in the movie theaters that spray the juice in a big clear bowl on top of the machine?). I worked there for two horrible years while I struggled with lack of motivation and worry that I wouldn't find out what I was supposed to do with my life. After that I worked at a Christian book and church supply store. That was a much better environment and I worked there full-time for two more years. By then I figured that if I was going to accomplish my goals and live up to my potential I had to go to college and move out of the house. I started by going to Massasoit Community College for a year during the day, while working nights at the Christian book store. After that I got accepted to Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, a small, very Catholic liberal arts college in the heart of the Rust Belt.
The year was 1992. I'd had no intention of moving to Ohio when I was considering schools, but for some reason the name just kept coming up and I sent off an application on a lark. The more I thought about it, though, the more I wanted to go. Finally, after praying a novena to St. Joseph, I found out I was accepted. In fact, the acceptance letter came on the feast of St. Joseph, the last day of the novena.
My four years in Steubenville were the best of my life. I made amazing friends, took fantastic classes, and generally had a great time. I consider those years as the time when I really and truly grew up. I didn't want to leave at the end, but it was either move on or stifle myself. During my time there I was editor of the school newspaper, which helped me greatly in next job. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in theology and I did most of the work toward a master's degree. I didn't finish because I had a new job working for Catholic World News and I couldn't afford to take to take out more loans to stay another semester and finish the degree. That's okay because I had what I really wanted-- the knowledge I'd gained.
I moved back to Massachusetts to be closer to home, although my job allows me to live basically anywhere, since I work from home. I ended up in Salem, because my friend Randy Reinbold had been offered a job as youth minister at Immaculate Conception Parish. We'd agreed to get an apartment together when we moved here, but Father Murphy, the pastor offered to let Randy live in the big rectory. After Randy told him about our agreement, Fr. Murphy said I could move in too. In the Spring of 2002, I moved out and no longer had to answer awkward questions about why I lived in the rectory (ex. "Are you going to be a priest?" "Um, no, I'm just renting a room.")
I try to be active in my parish. I am coordinator of religious education, lead a young adult Bible study/prayer group, and am vice-chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council. I'm also webmaster of the parish web site.
In the past eight years I've made some more good friends, including Peter Campbell, who I introduced to my sister. They married in 2000 and have a little girl, Kateri, who was born in 2001; Chiara, born in 2003, and Joshua, born at the end of 2004. My brother Bernie is the oldest of my siblings. His first wife, Kathy, died in 1992 and they had a girl, Mary. Bernie married again, this time to Carol. She has two boys, Jared and Sam. My brother John and his wife Patti have four boys, Peter, Joseph, JohnPaul, and Domenic, and two girls, Catherine and Theresa. My sister Francesca is single and lives in Windham, Maine. My mom lives with her.My parents are divorced, my dad is remarried, and he has three girls, Amanda, Angela, and Christina.
On August 13, 2005, I was married to the lovely Melanie Scott, a brilliant woman who is from Austin, Texas; attended the University of Dallas and Boston College; and now teaches English at Salem State College and Montserrat College of Art. We live in Salem, Massachusetts.
And on May 18, 2006, Melanie gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Isabella Marie.
And who am I? I'll try to briefly describe myself. I'm a techno-geek. I love gadgets and technological toys, including Macintosh computers. I am a writer, of fiction as a hobby and non-fiction in my former job. I was briefly the editor of Catholic World Report magazine, an international Catholic news magazine. Now I work at the Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of Boston
I read all kinds of books, but for fiction it's mostly science fiction and military techno thrillers (think Tom Clancy). I have recently been enamored of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series of novels about the Age of Sail, the British Navy at the beginning of the 19th century.
I subscribe to at least a dozen different magazines: MacAddict, MacWorld, World magazine, National Geographic, Popular Science, Lay Witness, Cook's Illustrated, Coastal Living, Inside the Vatican, and Crisis. The actual numbers vary from month to month as I pick up new subscriptions and drop old ones. I enjoy a wide variety of music from Frank Sinatra to Eric Clapton to Jimmy Buffett to Luciano Pavarotti to Jaci Velasquez to Steven Curtis Chapman and on. I like handmade cigars, fine wine, and dark beer.
My favorite TV shows include all of the Star Trek series, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, the new Battlestar Galactica, Lost, CSI, Heroes, and the Simpsons. I also love Red Sox baseball, New England Patriots football, and NASCAR racing.
I love to cook, and I experiment all the time with new recipes and new ingredients, rarely following a recipe exactly, but looking to improve it a little here and there. It's my creative outlet. I drive Melanie crazy; she says I'm a kitchen geek because I'm always looking for the perfect pot or pan or tool. My favorite cooking shows are Alton Brown's "Good Eats" on the Food Network and "America's Test Kitchen" on PBS, produced by the same folks who produce "Cook's Illustrated" magazine.
My favorite book of all-time is The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've read it at least 18 times since fifth grade. Other favorites include Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October and his other books, and David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorrean Sagas. And there's the aforementioned Aubrey-Maturin books. I've recently picked up S.M. Stirling's alternate history books, which are great and interesting.
It's hard to choose just one, but my favorite movie is probably Braveheart, although if you ask me tomorrow I may give a different answer. (Lord of the Rings should be up there too, but I lump it in with the books.) I also like all of the Star Wars, some of the Star Trek, Gladiator, most Jackie Chan movies (not so much the Chinese-language ones), Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, the first and third Indiana Jones movies, and among the classics: The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and Gunga Din.
Well, I'm sure that was more than you wanted to know. I mean that's more than I wanted to know. But in case you haven't dozed off and are now drooling on the keyboard, thanks for reading this far.
[Last updated 9/24/2007]