Raymond Two Hawks Watson is an activist, educator, musician and community leader who is a leading voice in understanding southern New England Indigenous people’s history and culture. During a recent interview, Watson and I discussed RI’s ‘warped’ historical timeline, which, when presented in most contemporary settings, often fails to recognize the size and scope of […]
Rachel Hughes is a writer and artist whose work has appeared in The Vernal Arts & Music Festival, FringePVD, Talking Bodies, in print in the Frequency Writers’ anthology and online at soar.forharriet.com and wnba-books.org where she placed third for fiction in The Bookwoman’s 2018 writing contest. Rachel is also the founder of the international arts […]
Don’t Be a Knob (Israel) Perpetual imperialist Israel is at it yet again. Last week, the nation’s prime minister, Benny Nuttyyahoo, announced plans to annex the West Bank should he survive the country’s upcoming election. The Anglo-Stalinist wet dream has spent the greater part of its existence tormenting their neighbors in the name of Yahweh, […]
Everyone’s talking about the brand spankin’ new Wexford Innovation Center down on Dyer Street, which had its grand opening on July 17. Even more interesting is its anchor tenant — the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) — which will be opening its doors officially next month. I recently sat down with Joy Fox, CIC’s media relations […]
I’ve written for Motif for a few years now, but this right here is by far the hardest piece I’ve ever tried to compose. You see when I’m not writing articles or reviewing theater, I’m teaching. I’m an English Language Arts teacher in a high school. A high school in Providence. And wow, do I love […]
We Give Up Due to the gap between when Phillipe and Jorge have to file our copy and when it comes out on the newsstands, we have almost given up on writing about our pathologically lying, infantile, racist president, Orange Orangutan. Anything projectile-vomited forward on a Friday by The Donald is bound to be overwhelmed […]
When my eldest son left his play-based preschool co-op to join our local public kindergarten, nothing felt right. I suddenly was excluded from his school experience, left to glean information about his day from the stacks of worksheets he brought home. And what I gathered felt, to my untrained eye, inappropriate for a kid his […]
Unless you’ve been avoiding the news (which is honestly understandable these days), you’ve probably heard recently about the dangers of vaping. This week we saw the sixth confirmed death from the mysterious vape-related illness that seems to be sweeping the nation. Although we have yet to see any cases in RI, the RI Department of […]
It’s back-to-school season, which means that the summer’s debates over public education and charter schools in Rhode Island are about to ramp up. In the interests of expanding the conversation about school choice, Motif asked School One’s head of school, Jennifer Borman, to talk private school shop with us. Rekha Rosha (Motif): Tell me a […]
At Ocean State Montessori, a child’s first lesson isn’t necessarily their ABCs and 123s. The Montessori philosophy revolves around creating a community and helping students function within and contribute to that community. Amy Andrews, head of school at Ocean State Montessori says that starts with the concept of Grace and Respect, which students encounter when […]