Nick Maggiore

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Nick Maggiore OBS
c. September 2009
2nd Director of the St.Charlian Observer
In office
1 November 2009 - 16 April 2011
Predecessor Magnus de Armis
Successor Vacant
(next held by Heinrich Schneider)
1st Press Secretary of the Grand Unified Micronational
In office
8 November 2009 - 22 August 2010
Predecessor Office established
Successor Vacant
(next held by Fionnbarra Ó Cathail)
Personal information
Born 22 March 1993
New York City, USA
Died 16 April 2011(2011-04-16) (aged 18)
New York City, USA
Birth name Nicholas David Maggiore
Citizenship St.Charlian
Nationality US American
Residence Manhattan, New York
Religion None (Atheist)

Nick Maggiore (born Nicholas David Maggiore, 22 March 1993 - 16 April 2011) was a St.Charlian journalist, writer and commentator. Throughout his micronational career and until his passing he was the main reporter and Director of the St.Charlian Observer, having succeeded Magnus de Armis in November 2009. A St.Charlian citizen since late August 2009, he gained intermicronational attention during the Observergate, when he earned the Presidential Citation Ribbon for an article regarding a diplomatic crisis between St.Charlie and the now-defunct Democratic People's Republic of Erusia. On 8 November 2009, he became the first Press Secretary of the Grand Unified Micronational, a position he voluntarily resigned from on 22 August 2010.

His articles generally spoke of the main events taking place in the MicroWiki Community, that he described through "Eat at Nicks", the editorial and column of the Observer. Many of his publications were often followed by varied comments and opinions, which also made him one of the most acclaimed and controversial journalists of the MicroWiki Community. Although nominated for Finest Writing in the Schneider Awards, he later lost due to being considered "too controversial" against Gordon Freeman, but nevertheless received an "honourable mention" on 12 April 2011.

His mother reported in private to the St.Charlian Government that he was hospitalised days after his 18th birthday, on 28 March 2011. He died of bacterial meningitis on 16 April.

Early macronational life

Nick was born in Brooklyn, New York City, from David and Donna Maggiore, on 22 March 1993. His father initially worked in the call-center industry, while his mother worked as a bank accountant for a large American banking company. He was raised in an Anglo-Italian environment: his grandparents had strong Italian origins, but his mother's family was American; however, both of his parents decided to teach him Italian from a very young age in order to keep it inside the family. This followed even after the divorce of his parents, when he was 10.

Following the separation, his father moved to Ohio and is now a manager, while he and his mother moved to White Plains, in Westchester County, in order to be next to his mother's family, where he finished primary school and attended high school. Following the divorce, he was raised completely and solely by his mother and his grandparents. He later said that right after the divorce, he and his mother suffered some financial issues related to her job situation. This lasted until he was 14: his mother was promoted and his family situation improved.

He lived in the city of White Plains, New York, until September 2010, when his mother was promoted again and they both moved to Manhattan, more precisely, in SoHo.

Micronational career

Maggiore was introduced into micronationalism throughout summer 2009, when he stumbled upon MicroWiki and started looking for a micronation to settle in. He ended up by choosing St.Charlie in August 2009[1] where he introduced himself as "Tzar Nick" on the 26th. He later explained that one of the reasons he joined the Federal Republic was a thread published on the MNeu Forums regarding the St.Charlian Observer looking for journalists. He officially became a citizen and an Observer journalist on the 27th.

Micronational reporter

It's time that the St.Charlian Ambassadorial Council learns another chapter of diplomacy and moral values that mysteriously two journalists and a Prime Minister had to teach them: respecting a world that suffered too much discrimination. We're in the XXIst Century, please let's stop with these Middle-Ages prejudices.

— "Open-minded A.C, but not for gays", 17 Sep 2009

His first two articles were published on 17 September 2009.[2] The first one, "Open-minded A.C, but not for gays", denounced several homophobic remarks made by Athlon Strauss, at the time a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and First Ambassador James Lunam. Both diplomats were accused by Maggiore of showing an intolerant behavior towards the gay community, with Strauss asking the existence of homosexuals if "God created men and women". Maggiore would, however, later forgive Strauss for his declarations. Following the publication, the statements were retracted by both politicians. The second article informed the community of the dissolution of the General Assembly due to the inactivity of Sumaya Ilmi Guled. His first articles mainly discussed internal news, and were based off what was posted on the St.Charlian Forum. Ironically, the same Observer edition included the article on a supposed flaw in the political system of the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia, which will later lead to the Observergate. Consequently, Maggiore was rapidly moved to the "World News" section, and began his work as an intermicronational news reporter.

The following edition, published on 25 October 2009,[3] saw Maggiore's comment on the response given to the St.Charlian Government by Robert Lethler. Maggiore agreed with Magnus de Armis, then-Director of the Observer, not to publish the complete letter but rather summarize it because of its excessive length and bias. Later, Maggiore will admit that the article was mainly written in order to "make Lethler happy" and to "save [St.Charlie's] reputation from the repeated, unjustified attacks". However, the article published on 17 September endangered the position of the Observer within the MicroWiki Community and pushed De Armis to resign as ad interim Director of the Observer. Nick was unanimously nominated by the other contributors as his successor, also after receiving the Presidential Citation Ribbon for his involvement as "informal mediator" between the Federal Republic and Erusia.

Director of the Observer

I was nominated Director of this great newspaper, and since tradition says that "all Observer directors need their political scandal", I hope that I will be able to find my own.

— Eat at Nicks, 14 Nov 2009

As Director, Maggiore became responsible for all the articles published on the newspaper. He began his career by organising three different interviews to three influential micronationalists of the period that were discarded because of the Observergate: Alexander Reinhardt, whom he was friends with, Magnus de Armis, and Niels I of Flandrensis. Those were later published on the edition of 14 November, together with a new section, "Eat at Nicks", and contributions from other micronationalists and politicians. The same section was kept for the edition of 23 November, which focused on the first anniversary of St.Charlie. On the same edition, as Press Secretary of the Grand Unified Micronational, he also reported on the political turmoil which preceded the New European Civil War and the withdrawal of A1 and Flandrensis from the union.

Contrary to De Armis, Maggiore also welcomed contributions from other micronationalists which didn't forcedly work within the Observer: Athlon Strauss wrote a few times about the federal elections in Tor Pendente, and Niels of Flandrensis was often a contributor of the "png version" of the newspaper, particularly explaining his Government's stance on the GUM. He was also the first to report on the General Elections of 2010, publishing candidates' opinions.

Wordpress

Monthly stats of the Observer from January 2009 to April 2010. Until Nick's death, the website had almost 13,000 views.

On January 2010, the Observer was moved to Wordpress. Maggiore, later backed and helped by Reinhardt, took the decision after both realized that creating the layout for each edition was taking too much time. The newspaper was therefore moved to an "online" location, and stopped printing copies within the St.Charlian borders. All "offline" subscribers were informed of the website.[4]

Last articles

The last two articles written by Maggiore before falling into complete inactivity were written with 4 months of distance.

The first one,[5] published on 19 September 2010, asked James von Puchow to disestablish the Grand Unified Micronational after an unsuccessful attempt to revive it, affirming that "we should remember the GUM for its golden age, and not because of its sudden death caused by prolonged inactivity and a “schizophrenic nutter”". He also defended von Puchow from any possible accusations of incompetence, which turned out did not take place, beacause "[he] was left with a carcass and a first aid kit as the only accessory available". The union was disestablished the day after.

The last article, an editorial, named "Days of Tumult", published on 30 January 2011, debated the Von Linden affair and the choice of the Kingdom of Zealandia to give asylum to the "micronational terrorist". In the article, Maggiore said he intended to "return to a regular posting schedule", and commented on the sudden ban of Von Linden and King Anthony of Zealandia, justifying the one on Sebastiano, but asking the Admin staff to "unban" the monarch.

So we’ve been criticizing the bullying Lethlerism we lived under for a period of time. Yet, we try to confine those who disagree with the general opinion of the community and insist on being so serious about things that could be solved in less time. We’re then seeing complaints that our political discourse has gotten coarse and violent, or completely disappeared. I have the solution: bring back honor duels. People will watch what they say if they know they may have to face down a muzzle for it. To make it sporting we’d insist upon 18th century pistols, of course. Put that on the St.Charlie Broadcasting Network and you’d be able to sell subscriptions.

— "Eat at Nicks: Days of Tumult", 30 January 2011

Death and legacy

On 28 March 2011, Nick's mother informed his close friends that he was recently hospitalised, without however specifying why and when exactly. No other news was given other than the official announcement of his death. Nick suffered from bacterial meningitis and passed away on 16 April 2011, aged 18. The Maggiore family, aware of Nick's micronational occupation, allowed the publication of the news.

Nick's death was reported by Alexander Reinhardt, one of his closest friends in the micronational world, on 17 April. Following the news, Prime Minister Nicolò Alvisi declared three days of national mourning.

He was posthumously awarded the Sandum Order of the Sovereign Eagle, Order of the Gods, and Ribbon of Athena on the day of his passing and the Ultamian Order of Shirley on 14 May. President of District, Barbara Ruvolo, declared her will to dedicate a building or a street to him, though the idea was then abandoned when the Federation was given back to Italy.

On 4 June, Maggiore was posthumously promoted to the rank of "Grand Ufficiale" of the Order of the Blue Star, and 16 April was declared a day of remembrance for fallen St.Charlians.

Involvement in political affairs

Although he always claimed to be a "National Party voter", Nick was never involved directly in politics, and declared that his political views never influenced his articles nor the Observer. He was, however, known for stating the opinions of himself or of the community on many political issues, events and scandals, which quickly made him a respected but also controversial figure.

Territory Control Project

Nick's position as a micronationalist started to show up right before becoming Director of the Observer. Already in October 2009, he denounced the "Territory Control Project" started by the micronation of Isralica, part of the Kingdom of Alerther, which decided to claim Brazil, north-eastern Russia and western Africa, and the need of micronations to claim large, unclaimed areas, while referring to Molossia or Redonda as states who "[didn't] claim a lot of land, but still acquired fame".

The case made him known as a controversial writer, as the article also criticized the geopolitical structure of the Empire of New Europe, at the time a known micronation. Nevertheless, the article also received support from the consensus of the members of the GUM, including Erusia, which later nominated him their first Press Secretary in November 2009.

Ambassadorial Council and bureaucracy

Despite being in good relations with First Ambassador James Lunam, he often criticized his leadership as head of the Ambassadorial Council, denouncing not only the case of homophobia, but also the "slow bureaucracy" of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

On 23 November, in his article "A series of unfortunate events?", he reported a case in which an Italophone micronation, the Italic Republic, waited for weeks for a drafted treaty to be given, but was then forced to write it by itself. Lunam responded by saying he was absent due to "health reasons", but then solicited many St.Charlians to "stop complaining". Maggiore encouraged the diplomats to get back to work and specified he was not asking them to resign, although he requested, if possible, an apology to the Italic Republic and the Crown Principality of Landashir, although these were never made.

Erusia

Waking up to a military rule in Erusia gives you always a strange impression. Don’t you just hate it when you’re making yourself a toast, and suddenly a soldier of the Erusian army jumps inside your house and tells you that you’re now under a “legal dictatorship”? Man, I’d be pretty annoyed if I was an Erusian.

— "Operation Luxemburg: maybe it’s just me…", 15 July 2010

Maggiore always had a controversial stance on the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia and Robert Lethler. As Press Secretary during his Chairmanship, he reported many controversial situations including the withdrawal of the Federated Republics of A1, at the time a Most Glorious People's Republic. He also wrote articles on Erusia itself, interviewing Kai Roosevelt, one of Lethler's personas, when she was elected President of Erusia, or discussing Operation Luxemburg. He also reported the victory of the Democratic party in the last Erusian election.

In many cases, however, he showed criticism towards the Erusian political system and the Erusia Central News. On 15 May 2010, Maggiore published an article on the International Day Against Homophobia which also talked about St.Charlie's participation. A few days prior, on 4 May, he denounced another case of homophobia in the macronational world.[6] The article received a response[7] from ECN journalist Patricia Stewart (another persona of Lethler), which denounced the piece as being “nationalistic propaganda”, with its message being highly “ethnocentric” and “misleading”. Maggiore reacted to the declaration saying he "laughed" at her attack, stating that "it seems to me that her declarations were just published to “make news”. I received congratulations by former leader of New Scireland, homosexual Cameron Falby and by many other micronationalists that contrary to Ms. Stewart, saw my article for what its main intention was: raise awareness on gay rights, and not on St.Charlie". The fact that later Erusia was proven to be a one-man micronation pushed Maggiore to believe that Lethler was just finding "excuses to attack St.Charlie and its popularity".

After the dissolution of Erusia, Maggiore published an editorial on the legacy of the micronation, referring to Lethler as "Pinocchio" and putting in doubt the definition of "experiment".[8]

Sebastian Linden

Throughout his career, Maggiore wrote several articles on Sebastian Linden, also known as Mark Dresner or Ann-Sophie Myers, already at the time in which the correlation between these characters was still unknown.

As director, he allowed the publication of a letter by Niels of Flandrensis on the state of their diplomatic relations with the SUNP.[9] The letter was followed by a reply, requested by Maggiore himself, of Dresner, on March 30.[10]

Nick, however, wrote about Linden only days after, on 8 April, when the United Federation of Socialist Micronations was founded and Dresner replaced by Ann-Sophie Myers, later involved in an argument with Sandus leader Will Sörgel regarding the GUM elections for the chairman. Maggiore stated his disagreement with Myers' accusation and jokingly adviced Sörgel to "watch out for free bibles, pizza deliveries, and any other things that he didn’t order" after Ann-Sophie's threat of contacting the Anonymous group. On the same day, when the "Pristinian Conspiracy" report on Linden was published, Maggiore wrote "The Ballad of Frederic the Inventor" explaining the dossier and stating his opinion on the whole issue.[11]

New Europe and the New European Supreme Court

Oddly, in the MicroWiki article about the New European Trial of the Major Fascist Leaders, what’s clearly mentioned is that the trial "held a lot of expectancy for the hope of New Europe’s reputation as a “fair society”". It might sound like a very nice sentence, and surely the trial of the fascist leaders marked the end of an era in New Europe, but how can you still claim it if months later you make the trial obsolete with your own hands? All micronations can set up a penal code; but only a good use of it can make it mean something, especially in cases like these.

— "Eat at Nicks: defining “justice”", 26 Apr 2010

Maggiore was often critical of the Empire of New Europe, already at the time he was only a reporter for the Observer, when debating their territorial claims that were including the East Coast of the United States. Although a supporter of the Imperial Government during the Civil War, he was subject of positive critics both internally and externally for his editorial of 26 April 2010.[12] In said article, he took a negative stance towards the decision of the New European Supreme Court to pardon the former leaders of the fascist groups that staged the coup.

Micronational warfare

Nick Maggiore was able to state his negative stance on micronational warfare during the Austenasian Civil War, describing its events with "the only thing that is actually keeping the war alive is ceasefires, and a few micronations that still didn’t understand the way things are going",[13] referring to young micronations. When the Civil War was over, he then criticized the attitude of those who "still try to speculate on the Civil War by giving out medals and protesting about who is the real Emperor of Austenasia either".

His general opinion of micronational warfare was usually negative, but supported the teaching of military history "in order to show the terrible things war can do" and an alternative to the current micronational warfare. He agreed with Leonard Von Sternberg, at the time Chief of Staff of the St.Charlie Armed Forces that "after the Austenasian Civil War, surely creating a military academy doesn’t promote a peaceful attitude, but the idea of using a videogame for battles is way better than just arguments over the internet and viruses, I believe. It is time that we give a real face to micronational war, because right now, I personally see no difference between the Rhodesian War and the Jerry Springer Show".

Writing style

Maggiore was known for his repeated "informality" in his articles, where he often discussed about events that took place in his everyday life or gave personal opinions on micronationalists. He often took an informal stance on various events taking place. He once said, in a private conversation, that "micronationalists are human beings with excessive egos, as such, they don't need to have their titles repeated all over an article". He was generally known as ironic and sarcastic, with many references to macronational events or figures. On the "Ballad of Frederic the Inventor", he introduced the article with the lyrics of "The End" by the Doors.

He also made ironic remarks on the Presidency of Whisky I, particularly in the 23 November edition, where he joked on the fact that St.Charlians were "partying for an unrecognized nation that is still ruled by a dog. If a formal party was organised, I would have loved to meet him, shake his paw, and congratulate him for the wonderful work he made". He was never a critic, though, of his position, as he later decided to write his obituary together with Reinhardt.[14]

Personal life and trivia

Nick was openly homosexual from early 2010 and was known as a strong gay rights activist both in micro and macronational life. He often discussed about various events in his life with other St.Charlians in the online Forum and was recognized as an active micronationalist, also known for his physical appearance. He was a common reader of the Pasargadan newspaper Tribuna Popular.

He tried many times to raise activity within the Forum and was known for a particular episode, in December 2009, where he declared that he would have published shirtless photos of himself if the number of posts written by Fabiana Gallo della Loggia in the official forum would have become 100 in one month. The challenge, however, was not met.[15]

When Robert Lethler admitted, in July 2010, that Erusia was a fictitious micronation and that he would have left the community, Maggiore dedicated to him the song "Bye Bye Baby" by Marilyn Monroe in an article called "Bob Lethler packs his stuff".[16]

Awards and decorations

Posthumously

References

Links

Preceded by: Press Secretary of the Grand Unified Micronational Succeded by:
Office created 8 November 2010 - 22 August 2010 Vacant
(Office next held by Fionnbarra Ó Cathail)
Preceded by: Director of the St.Charlian Observer Succeded by:
Magnus de Armis 1 November 2009 - 16 April 2011 Vacant
(Office next held by Heinrich Schneider)