Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a rare example of the fortunate academic whose subject matter, through no actions of her own, becomes of intense public interest. What she spent a career studying was the rise of Benito Mussolini, the early 20th Century radical who subverted the institutions of democracy to turn Italy into a dictatorship – and […]
Prior to the pandemic, you could often find Rob and Uschi Yaffe seated at the end of a long, reclaimed wood table in the middle of their casual fine dining restaurant, the Grange. The brunch rush bustling around them; mason jars filled with sweet tea and tart lemon wedges or strawberry and peanut butter smoothies […]
In RI, during the COVID-19 emergency Gov. Gina Raimondo has limited informal social gatherings to no more than 15 people and in-person school classrooms to stable groups of no more than 30 students. Where do these numbers come from? The governor has described them as “judgment calls,” but she is not just arbitrarily picking numbers. […]
Dr. Joseph Chazan, like the character Billy Pilgrim in the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, is unstuck in time. The phenomenon is localized in a new graphic novel Chazan! Unfiltered, which takes a here-there-and-back-again approach to his personal and professional life story. Rhode Island’s own Dr. Chazan is a nephrologist (in layman’s terms, a kidney doctor), and while […]
As summer slips into fall, we asked our food writers to reminisce on their best food memories and favorite flavors from the season. This is what they told us: The most blissful moment for me might have been returning to what felt like normalcy: dining at an outdoor table in downtown PVD at Malted Barley with my […]
Autumn officially begins on September 22, 2020 at 9:30am EDT. Mars, having turned retrograde at the beginning of the month, sits at a harsh angle to the big three in Capricorn: Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. Mars, having rolled over these three while in direct motion during August, is prepared to roll back over, taking jabs […]
“Twindemic” is the trendy buzzword for the nightmare scenario in the medical community right now: seasonal influenza rampaging at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic, two respiratory illnesses with similar symptoms – fever, headache, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, fatigue – stressing health care resources, especially hospital beds. “Getting vaccinated against the flu is […]
How deadly is COVID-19? How does it compare to seasonal flu? These are difficult and controversial questions. Above all, it should be emphasized that some sub-populations are definitely at much higher risk for bad outcomes if they become infected, such as people with compromised immune systems due to existing underlying illness or simply old age. […]
Farming While Black (in Rhode Island)In 2017, there were just nine black farmers in Rhode Island. Frustrated with that statistic, Quatia “Q” Osorio became a farmer herself, and single-handedly brought the number into the double digits. Since 2018, she has been farming two pieces of property she owns in Providence. The story of farming in […]