RI Rambles – Pricey Porn, Free Books and Whole Food

The Value of Porn

What’s your porn worth? It’s a question RI Senators Frank Ciccone (D-Providence) and Hanna Gallo (D-Cranston) have been asking themselves, on behalf of Rhode Islanders. The answer they came up with was $20. Whether that is $20 per quarter, per year or per sex act is unclear in the wording of the act (S 2584). It’s also unclear how much research the senators did to arrive at this number, but we’re sure it was vigorous, if not long or in depth. The brief (four line) proposal would also block “patently offensive” material, the definition of which is left up to … er, the courts, we suppose.

While many in the porn industry may feel that $20 undervalues their hard work, it’s oddly reassuring to see senators recognizing its value to RI society. Good porn can enliven the love lives of all sorts of people in our biggest little (not that size matters) state – all genders, singles, couples and the polyamours can use good porn for inspiration, added spice, or to blow off steam before emotional pent-up-ness reaches dangerous levels and leads to poor decision making. That sort of repressed demand can result in questionable romantic pursuits, but also in bad, orgasmically deprived decision making in business and other areas, like politics, possibly including the filing of ludicrous bills. Of course, there is nasty, illegal, exploitative porn being created as well, which law enforcement pursues at the production stage – that’s not the end of the porn spectrum that we’re talking about here. While we presume that this entertaining entertainment filing is mostly for publicity (which we seem to be giving them – ed), our political process has remanded the proposal to committee – the RI eternal holding pattern that typically will kill anything, from a legalization proposal to your hopes and dreams. The good news is that this cycle of self-gratifying inaction may keep some of our senators occupied and healthily released for years to come (all puns above intended).

Edgy Libraries

In more upbeat news, library fundraising is about to reach new heights as PVD’s Pam Steager makes plans to jump off the Regency Plaza high rise to raise money for the Providence Public Library. We’re betting libraries and base jumping never really went together in your minds either – but take a leap of faith and encourage her. There will be a zip line – and a Go-Pro camera involved. She’ll be going over the edge in June, and you can check her progress at provcomlib.org/edge

Whole Foods Bans Motif

For a dozen years, Motif has had a robust relationship with Whole Foods Market, occasionally hitting up their experts with health and nutrition questions, and distributing at their Providence locations in exchange for ad space as part of their community outreach initiatives. A few months ago, they severed that arrangement. It happened at the same time that Amazon took over the chain, but they’ve assured us that’s unrelated. They gave a few reasons, including a corporate no-soliciting policy (we have ads in here, but a magazine isn’t really considered soliciting), and cleanliness concerns, as well as concerns about fairness to other magazines. But the University Heights manager ultimately boiled it down to, “No one’s complained since we stopped carrying it.”
We are sad to lose that connection to our readers who grabbed the paper at Whole Foods – a lot of you seemed to like it. If you would like to see it come back, let’s try a little social experiment – go to the Whole Foods help desk. There’s rarely a line, and they’re usually super friendly – and let them know you’d like to see Motif return. Keep it that short and simple – just leave a message, and maybe, if that adds up, they’ll listen to you. And, er, ask your friends who shop there … since they may not see this message.