I think museums and the culture around them have historically gotten a bad rap. When you think of museums, you might associate them with classism, inaccessibility, and wealthy donors and patrons. There’s also the issue of who decides which art is displayed and whose history is deemed valuable enough to preserve. So when I came […]
My name is Nyrsalee Cruz, I’m a high school student and I intern at the Rhode Island statehouse as a docent. Every Friday for the last year and a half, I’ve given tours to students, community members, and tourists. I walk guests through the rotunda made from Georgian marble, and I guide them in and […]
Former Rep. Barney Frank’s death on the advent of Pride Month has resurrected for me the tragedy that fell upon my father, Marshall, the night he dared to stand beside Barney. On July 26, 1990, the US House of Representatives voted to reprimand Barney Frank for being gay. That’s not the entirety of the story: […]
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026, those of us old enough to remember the 200th anniversary in 1976 tend to be fondly nostalgic for the “Bicentennial” in what seemed a less troubled time, when patriotism could be unironic. That’s somewhat of a false memory: the Vietnam war, the Arab Oil embargo, […]
Once upon a time, if you wanted a tattoo, one of the things you could do was traipse to Newport from any of the four corners of the world and get yourself a tattoo drawn by a character named Carlton Mott, better known as Buddy. Tattoos were popularized at first by sailors who had them […]
It doesn’t take long for a person new to Rhode Island to find a local booster willing to tout our little but lovable state and its amazing history. First colony that gave religious freedom to all; first synagogue in the colonies; the Gaspee affair as America’s “First blow for Freedom” of the Revolution in 1772; […]
April Fool’s Day originated among the French a few years into the Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin had been pleading with them for any sort of assistance. The brand new nation, fighting for their independence, told the soon-to-crumble powerhouse that they’d gladly take anything: ammunition, food, lovely ladies, cash. The French eventually grew […]
Ken Burns made documentaries cool. His early work, spanning back to the ‘70s, inspired generations to engage differently with documentaries. Reenactments, slow-burn pans across historic documents and paintings, and comfortable talking-head interviews with experts and historians – all the techniques Burns is known for to bring history alive – are used to good effect in […]
In the living room of his childhood home, a young Rich Lupo would sit as if under a spell, transistor radio pressed to his ear while the television played in the background. Especially at a young age, humans can soak up whatever they’re exposed to like sponges, albeit sometimes subconsciously. His father, a singing bartender, […]
Unique among all the states, only Rhode Island continues to observe “Victory Day” remembering the end of hostilities during World War II. At one point it was called “V-J Day” to signify the end of the war against the Japanese forces (as opposed to “V-E” day in May 1945 commemorating the fall of Germany). The […]