Mark Rinaldi is an alumnus of the University of Connecticut, where he obtained his BA in English and Italian and his MA in Italian Literary and Cultural Studies. He has worked steadily as a teaching assistant and instructor of ESL and Italian, as well as teaching ESL freelance. He is currently in the first year of his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center as a member of the Italian Specialization. His academic interests include studies in Italian dialect literature, Italian-American Studies, and confrontation/rapport between Italy and Italian-Americans, by way of books, film and popular culture. Other interests include theories of comedy/humor, analysis of the relationship between violent youth cultures and literature, and exploring the relationship between (mis)communication and technology in the 21st century.