As we enter the so-called season of love, politics in Rhode Island are producing a love story between unlikely partners, and they may not even realize that Cupid’s arrow hath struck Smith Hill. I have occasionally floated the notion that Rhode Island may be better off by, in a broad sense, temporarily abandoning the conventional […]
“[I] kept on getting up. A little slower. And a lot more deadly.” -Assata Shakur The Underground Railroad is traditionally taught to be an early 19th century clandestine network of white abolitionist and free Negroes who used various modes of transport to successfully whisk away countless numbers of enslaved Africans from their unsuspecting slave masters. […]
For the record, I am not a fan of Black History Month. There’s inequality in the way we talk about the contributions of black people and white people in American History, and that’s a continuing factor in the racial separation plaguing the country. Black people are intricately entwined in the creation of America. One can […]
It’s not easy being young. Millennials and their juniors face an uphill battle arguably more arduous than any generation has faced since the Second World War. An ever-competitive workforce characterized by low income, long hours and unrealistic expectations of 24/7 loyalty and availability is the norm, with unfavorable rates of interest, legacies of debt and […]
It wasn’t long ago that I found myself covered in flour, rolling dough with a glass bottle, reforming an amoeba-like shape into a circle, struggling to make it thin rather than pancake thick — but despite all evidence to the contrary, after twice flipping this “tortilla” and letting it cool just long enough to tear […]
For those planners among you, take note! This April, the 3rd annual Rhode Island Black Film Festival will take place in various spots in PVD, with a full calendar of narrative, documentary and feature films. The theme this year is Empowerment. Ann Clanton, festival founder and executive director said, “It means empowerment of women to […]
Phoebe Bean presented “Relics, Rebels, and Rum” at the RI Historical Society (RIHS) where she works as librarian in their Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center. Particularly striking was a small part of her talk using a few images from the collection to illustrate the routine details of the North American Triangular Trade in which RI […]
Okee dokee folks… Have you ever been “Tempted”?, felt like “Pulling Muscles From A Shell”?, had “Black Coffee In Bed”?, or thought that you were too “Cool For Cats”? If the answer to these is a resounding “YES” then you owe it to yourself to get to Vets on Sunday, February 23. Starting in the […]
Okee dokee folks… Back in the early ’70s, I was part of the first very fortunate generation of Americans that discovered “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” on late night TV. It was the funniest and most original program that I had ever seen. My friends and I would watch it whenever we could and recreate the […]
From installations and exhibits to restorations and residencies, historic places love opening their doors to artists. The ACT Public Art program offered a particularly warm welcome to creatives with its “Park-ist In Residence,” which involves artists bunking at homes situated on “two of Providence’s most unique and underutilized parks,” according to the call for entries. […]