Opinion — Zohran Mamdani and the Pyrrhic Victory of the Democratic Party: Why he is the leftist version of Donald Trump with all of the same problems

Zohran Mamdani protest sign (Credit: Oleg Yunakov, CC-BY-SA-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons) Mayor-elect of New York City Zohran Mamdani is a self-avowed “democratic socialist,” and his policy proposals include free public transit, free child care, city-run grocery stores,...

Full SNAP Benefits Must be Paid by Fri, Nov 7, Court Orders: Judge seems incredulous that partial payments resulted in delays; government appeals

Michael Bilow of Motif attended the 3:30pm court hearing and is reporting based on his personal observations. At a hearing in US District Court in Providence on the afternoon of Thu, Nov 6, Judge John J....

RI Football Club FINISHES THEIR HOME SCHEDULE STRONG: Will Face Charlestown Battery in First Round of the Playoffs Nov 2 on CBS

I immediately noticed that there was a unique feel in the air surrounding Centreville Bank Stadium as I dropped a friend off at the gate and sat in traffic for about 20 minutes to park...

SNAP Benefits Must Be Paid, PVD Federal Court Rules: Contingency funds must be used despite government objections

Michael Bilow of Motif attended the 1:00pm court hearing and is reporting based on his personal observations. In a case with national significance and effect, Judge John J. McConnell Jr of the US District Court in...

SNAP (Food Stamps) Emergency: RI announces support during federal shutdown

RI SNAP support poster (Source: https://dhs.ri.gov/programs-and-services/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/supplemental-nutrition-hold ) The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known by its old name, “food stamps,” is funded primarily by the federal government but run by state governments. The money ordinarily placed...

ON THE COVER: Ella Mahoney

In creating the cover of Motif’s Indigenous Peoples Month issue, artist and visual arts teacher Ella Mahoney took her inspiration from her birthplace, Aquinnah, in Martha’s Vineyard, MA. “Every year, the members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag...

2025 Food Truck Awards Winners

This year’s RI Food Truck & Drink Awards managed to dodge the rain clouds and have a beautiful night by the Pedestrian Bridge, in lovely, view-encrusted District Park in the Guild Garden.  We detailed the victorious...

Roots Report

Okee dokee folks… So, I am EXTREMELY angry. This disastrous regime has been assaulting immigrants as well as US citizens and making some disappear. That in itself is disgusting and enraging, as we are a...

Local Indigenous Artists and Crafters

My great, great grandmother was a Ramapough Lenape Indian and one of the only ancestors we have a picture of from that long ago, around the late 1800s. While we may only have an image...

Local Indigenous Author Spotlight: Vanessa Lillie

“What’s that saying, ‘We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams’?” (Quote from Blood Sisters by: Vanessa Lillie.)  Vanessa Lillie is a best selling author, citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and lives on Narragansett land in RI. Her...

STRANDED WHALES: RITUAL AND RECKONING

When a whale dies, sometimes the ocean delivers it back to us. Whether it drifts ashore in a quiet cove or crashes onto a crowded beach, its body becomes a stage upon which humans project...

DREAMING

As the Museum Coordinator for the Wampanoag History Museum at the Aquinnah Cultural Center,  I have the responsibility of making sure that the belongings in our collection are properly cared for. This work can be...

Between Land and Law: An Exploration of Tribal Identity and Sovereignty

When I set out to curate this collection of writing on “sovereignty,” I knew it was a mammoth to explore. Among original peoples of the Northeast, the word – the idea  – is layered with...

Motif 2025 Drink Awards Winners

On September 9, Motif celebrated the 9th annual RI Food Truck and 4th RI Brewery Awards! No one died, some pink monsters came out to dance, and the sun set on an overall good time...

ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART TWO: PERESTROIKA

Silence = Death Under Brian McEleney’s direction, the much-anticipated Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika, wowed audiences just as much as part 1, Millennium Approaches. This continuation revisits the lives of its beloved, memorable characters as...

Roots Report

Okee dokee folks… Parking. That is what is on my mind today. In my opinion, if a venue – or any business for that matter – does not take easy parking access into consideration as...

Building a Community, One Drip at a Time: New Harvest Coffee & Spirits

I don’t think I will ever drink iced coffee. Ever. And I feel very confident about that. It’s not that I’m anti-cold coffee — if that’s your jam, I won’t judge — but my heart...

Your Spooky Season Reading List

Looking for something to keep you up at night? Whether you’re hunting a quick campfire story or ready to spend long hours reading at the hearth, here are some scary stories to trouble your nightstand...

It’s The Season of The Witch: Now streaming on a service near you 

Let’s start with the basics here. We all know the commercialized image of a witch on a broomstick, flying around on a full moon with her black cat. But what if I told you witchcraft...

DIARY OF AN ARTIST AS AN IMMORTAL VAMPIRE: Audio drama’s protagonist has PTSD (getting bit will do that)

Illustration by Strawberry7. The leading character of the audio series The Diaries of Netovicius the Vampire was spawned by an offhand comment while creator Hugo Pierre Martin and his partner, Sonja Kelly, were walking around downtown...

Providence’s Evil Eye: One author’s mission to revive Edgar Allen Poe

“Almighty God!-no,no! They heard!-they suspected!-they knew!-they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could...

ON THE COVER: Matthew Bernier

Fittingly, old haunts surround a couple of skeletons on the cover of Motif’s Halloween issue, as designed by digital artist Matthew Bernier of Barrington. They are the names of businesses now gone: Goldy Records, Chez...

SMALL, BUT SCARY: A list of RI's haunts

Illustration by Jade Cannata We reach a point in the Autumn Equinox where the veil is thin and spirits take flight. As we wander this Earth, most of us rarely look for signs of history from...

I'm Here for the Cabezones

It was the constant tiredness I had been feeling for months, the fear I felt for anyone who looked like me, and the hunger for hope that brought me to the Subway across the street...

Ragga Ragga Summer: A love letter to the Cayman Islands

The following is based on a true story. In 1994, Fidel Castro allowed thousands of Cubans to leave the island on makeshift rafts. I was living on Grand Cayman, writing for the daily newspaper. With...

In Search of My Grandfather

My Mexican grandfather was born in Austin, Texas, on August 19, 1929. I know this because I have his birth certificate, issued by Travis County and the Texas State Board of Health. But no, rather:...

Life on the Border: Where lines divide and connect

“Man is born free, yet everywhere he is caged.” Barbed wire, concrete walls, and guarded toll booths — even with friendly guards — confine people to the nation-state of their birth. But why? Borders are human...

Poetry

What a pleasure and an honor to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, alongside community treasure Marta Martinez, in this issue of Motif magazine. Poetry is an integral part of any truly vibrant cultural landscape, and the...

Meso-American Time Keeping

Strolling through The Find on 6 in Johnston, I came across a beautifully, intricately carved, circular, wooden plaque. It stared at me as I was staring at it, intrigued by its detail, and I picked...

Extraordinary Rendition: Poetry

for Philip Levine When the CIA said, An extraordinary renditionhas been performed, I knew Lester Youngblowing his saxophone in that way he didwhen Billie Holiday was a few feet awaysmoking, singing “I Can’t Get Started,”was not what they...

Stuff to Do