Ants in the City column celebrates one year with Motif. “Stick to ants” he cried, hiding behind a zoom chat rather than showing up to say it to me in person at an invited seminar I gave at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City earlier this year. After a year of […]
I spent nearly every day of the past three months scouring Rhode Island’s radio stations for the elusive “Song of the Summer”, even as an endless parade of national media critics declared the search futile. “The Song of the Summer is Dead,” pronounced a WIRED headline in August; I recall hearing an NPR segment that […]
Folks, it is finally here! The season that many anticipate with excitement has finally arrived. September rolls in, and before you know it, October arrives with that cooler weather and the most beloved (and most debated) fall seasonal drinks. As the summer heat fades and cravings shift, pumpkin spice makes its grand return. Here are […]
And I to clasp her waist wandered all the earth, with wars and mountains, with sands and thorns. – Pablo Neruda Providence, Rhode Island greeted Alexis with grayness on a rain-soaked Tuesday in fall. He arrived via Peter Pan bus from New York, and disembarked at Kennedy Plaza. He had waited twenty years for this […]
September will be a time of unleashing our inner sun, merging the solar illumination of once-hidden aspects of our being with our outward-facing selves. This will be a portal of layered opportunity and legacy, a time stamp in 2025 where our internal gates and labyrinths suddenly align to create a clear path forward. Walls dissolve […]
Before we’re made to deal with whatever winter dumps down on us, we have the glory of fall. The chill of the air is still a novelty; we are newly impressed by our own jackets; we indulge in early season ciders. Maybe even throw on a pumpkin spice rim. Best of all: you may find […]
Admittedly, much of my work has focused on the familiar and where my upbringing was centered: the South Side and the West End, where I lived for the first forty years of my life. Even the East Side has garnered much love among my musings, given my career path and where it has led. For […]
Don’t be a robot, exhorts visual and music artist Spocka Summa of Providence, the cover artist of Motif’s Fall Guide in concert with several Anti-Robot Club members. Together, they designed this issue’s artwork: “Break free and be yourself!” In today’s media-driven, celebrity culture, it’s easy to become programmed, “Like a computer that does XYZ, and […]