Rhode Island Culture
If you’re thigh deep in the muck of Rhode Island politics, as I am, you may find something about the local society inexplicable. The game is so locked up, in Rhode Island, that it isn’t clear whether anything can shake the stranglehold of insiders and special interests. Consider two recent stories. On the National Education…
Maybe this is more of a venting post but why in the world are the schools closed tomorrow? Simply because it’s an election day? Because some schools get used as polling places? I still don’t get it. The middle school I attended was used as a polling location, more specifically the cafeteria. Rather than canceling…
First, scroll down and read Monique’s postings on Rep. Spencer Dickinson. Then… The topics of hope and hopelessness pervaded this weekend’s readings, from absurd labor rules in schools, to the likely outcome of Make It Happen, to Spencer Dickinson’s insider view, and then to Sandra Fluke.
Post Falls, ID (Ocean State Current) – Following Jennifer Hushion's explanation of why her family is considering leaving Rhode Island, former Portsmouth resident Hal Meyer reflects on why he left and the change he has experienced. Not long ago, my wife and I moved out of Rhode Island. We relocated to North Idaho, also known…
Regarding the Cranston banner, well, it’s pretty much all been said, so I won’t divert too much time into it. Suffice to say, it’s obvious that the decision to pursue an appeal was heavily affected by the current fiscal crisis in the City of Cranston. Would they have gone ahead if Cranston had more money?…
Back when TLC actually put on programs that reflected their actual name (The Learning Channel) instead of just reality crap, there once was a show called Connections, hosted by a balding English dude with glasses named James Burke. I loved that show. In it, Burke would link seemingly unrelated items through history. (Like getting from…
A little while back, an editor of a new online magazine, 7STOPS, sent me a link to an essay therein by Adrian Shirk, Providence-resident writer. The piece interweaves the history of Narragansett beer with the sense of rootlessness accompanying college graduation, these days, and the stasis of the state. While looking for an apartment, I…
With the pension crisis on hold until a special legislative session, apart from a typical Rhode Island study group (or special interest group, as the case more accurately is), with Central Falls entering bankruptcy, and with the fully-mobile-yet-somehow-disabled John Sauro emerging once again as a symbol (this time of the lack of consequences for a…
That Providence College basketball has turned to a native son to turnaround it’s troubled program is not new news, but Kevin McNamara’s piece in today’s ProJo about new PC basketball coach Ed Cooley is one worth reading. He had a tough family life but was lucky to know a family that helped him out. Above…
Calling Lincoln Chafee our “bewildered governor” and joking about the national search no doubt conducted before Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio hired the 25-year-old son of his union pal for a $90k job, Ed Achorn puts his finger on the chilling reality: Until voters hold accountable these leaders — and the legislators who put them…
