Third Annual Ciara Durkin Toy Drive is December 5!

The 3rd annual Ciara Durkin Toy Drive will take place on Saturday, December 5 from 12-2pm at the Kennedy Senior Center, 440 East Squantum St Quincy, MA to benefit Toys for Tots.

Special guests will be in attendance for pictures and autographs.

There will be a raffle to benefit the Quincy Crisis Center

Enter to win a Matt Light autographed football or a Luis Tiant autographed baseball!



Watching President Obama give his speech a few days ago, I wondered what Ciara would think of it all...

George W. Bush Library --Please Give Generously

The George W. Bush Library

Dear Fellow Constituent:

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages and accepting donations.

The Library will include:

The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.

The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won’t be able to remember anything.

The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don’t even have to show up.

The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don’t let you in.

The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don’t let you out.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able to find.

The National Debt Room, which is huge and has no ceiling.

The Tax Cut Room, with entry only to the wealthy.

The Economy Room, which is in the toilet.

The Iraq War Room. After you complete your first visit, they make you to go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth visit.

The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shotgun gallery.

The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty.

The Men’s Room, where you can meet some of your favorite Republican senators.

The Decision Room, complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins, and straws.

And don’t miss the Gift Shop, where you can buy an election.

The library will feature an electron microscope to help you locate and view the President’s accomplishments.

The library will also include many famous quotes by George W. Bush:

‘The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.’

‘If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.’

‘Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.’

‘No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.’

‘I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.’

‘One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.’

‘Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.’

‘I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.’

‘The future will be better tomorrow.’

‘We have the best educated American people in the world.’

‘One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.’ (during an education photo-op)

‘Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.’

‘We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.’

‘It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.’

‘I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.’

PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY!

Sincerely,
G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors

Matthew Zapruder: Poem (For Grace Paley) an Excerpt

Below is an excerpt from a poem

I placed thousands of
sweet tarts into my mouth. Five years
later someone said they saw Diane P.
kissing a girl in a car, and they punched
the window on the passenger side
in and I laughed, and it’s all been as
people say downhill from there, meaning
until this moment I have been coasting,
but from this one forward Grace I vow
I shall coast no more.

The Winter 2008 issue of The Massachusetts Review is devoted to writings by and about Grace Paley. I am going to look for it today!

i Jim Rice In Hall Of Fame, Por Fin !

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090112&content;_id=10858&vkey;=hof_news

This is good news. Non-Rhode Islanders may not realize that Jim Rice played with the Pawtucket (RI) Red Sox, before reaching the Majors. Once some one has played for Pawtucket, we claim them forever more.

RIers And Friends, Vote for Pam and PZ! (Weblog Awards, Cont'd)

Despite or because of (grin) my recent pissing match (if you'll pardon the expression, I'm in an alliterative mood), regarding Providence vs Portland, Oregon and Our Gay Mayors,
I am promoting Pam's House Blend,
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/
in the LGBT Blog Category
http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-lgbt-blog/
Although there is apparently friendship between many of the bloggers in that category...and I suspect if I had more time, I would be quite enamored with many (perhaps all) of those blogs as well.

For alphabetical reasons, "I Dreamed I Saw Grace P. Last Night" is listed on some one's blog roll right next to JoeMyGod,
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/
and that is an honor. Seriously. This blog aspires to reach the aesthetics and currency of many of the nominated blogs...

Pharyngula. Apparently going through some technical(today) changes today -- which means the link may not work...It's wonderful. It's currently an underdog...
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/
PZ Myers,is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris, and writes with depth, wit and dare I say, Love...
There must be a connection between PZ and Providence or Rhode Island, but it has not yet been spelled out for me. He is one of my facebook friends (I confess so are: Pam Spaulding, JC Christian, and Carl)and I am grateful for that.

There are so many categories and I have not visited each nominee's site that surely I omit other Blogs with Rhode Island Import. Please inform me, and I will probably Promote them! If not via the comment section, then via email or facebook or whathaveyou...but the Voting Ends January 12th!

BoA Is Not Off The Hook In Rhode Island

Below is the email I received from Jason:

Yes, Nomi, the event is certainly still on. We are celebrating the victory in Chicago and still demanding a Peolple's Bailout in RI and across the US. Thanks for your support, and hope to see you there.
New Press Release below and attached.

Friday Dec. 12
4 PM
Bank of America Building 111 Westminster Street

Jason F.
Providence IWW
Branch Delegate, IU 330

Late last Wednesday night marked the end of the factory occupation at Republic Window and Door, a momentous victory for both the striking workers and the working class and working poor across the nation. The 260 Republic workers of UE local 1110 voted "yes" unanimously to accept a $1.76 million offer covering eight weeks salary, severance pay, extended health benefits and legally due vacation time. Bank of America spokespeople assured these funds were specifically for the workers and not for Republic management and owners' "bonuses" and "luxury cars."

The Providence branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) has made a call to action this Friday Dec. 12 in solidarity with the striking workers at Republic and to condemn Bank of America's actions. The event will be a victory celebration for the Republic Window Workers, for their noble direct actions which they themselves have called "an example for many workers, if companies treat them unfairly." At 4 pm this Friday at the Bank of America building at 111 Westminster we will salute our brothers and sisters in Chicago.

Those two paragraphs are from the press release of today...

Birthday Blogging: Ari Savitzky, Carl Ericson and David W. Harrington

Happy Birthday, Three Fair Bloggers!

Ari Savitzky of the Providence Daily Dose
http://www.providencedailydose.com

Carl Ericson aka Actor 212 of Simply Left Behind
http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/

and also of New York,
David W. Harrington, Creator of the Infamous Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator,
http://www.politsk.com/

Governor Palin Loves/Loses Turkey?

Rhett Jones' Memorial: November 1, 2008

My understanding is that there will be a lengthy memorial for Rhett this coming Saturday. It will begin at Manning Chapel at Brown at 11:00 a.m., according to the person I spoke with at Africana Studies.

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Africana_Studies/

" Justice Must Not Only Be Done, But Must Be Seen To Be Done "

Happy Birthday, democommie !!

Well, I may have missed it or it may be tomorrow or Sunday or even next week, but why limit our recognition to one day?

Dear democommie, a beloved contributor to this blog and commentator on many, and YES: the author and proprietor of his own, POLRANT: IF BEING A DECENT HUMAN BEING WERE EASY THE REICHTARDS WOULD HAVE FIGURED IT OUT LONG AGO
http://polrant.blogspot.com/
is celebrating a birthday !

And the francosphere (as General JC Christian calls it) has reason to rejoice!

Dear demo, I hope this week brings you joy and peace and hope. There are many of us on the internet tubez enjoying your wit and wisdom...Thank you.

Ciara Durkin -- How Can One Year Have Passed?

CPL. Ciara M. Durkin
1977-2007
Website created, owned, and operated by the Durkin Family.
Latest News
Last updated September 24, 2008
The Durkin Family participates in the Quincy Medical Center's Cancer Walk.
Since September 28, 2007, the Durkin Family has been involved in several memorials in Ciara's name.


As many of you know, each year our family and friends participate in a walk to raise money for cancer prevention. Our mother, Angela, and our sister Deirdre, are both breast cancer survivors, but we had been doing this walk for many years before Deirdre's diagnosis. In fact, it was this Medical Center that detected Deirdre's cancer early which prevented it from spreading.

This year, the walk is especially dear to our hearts because it coincides with
the first anniversary of our darling sister Ciara's passing. Ciara died in Afghanistan
on the 28th of September, 2007. While Ciara was in Afghanistan, she made an online donation with the dedication: "I give because I learned to stay strong
here in Afghanistan because of your courage. I love you".

In honor of Ciara, the hospital's Cancer Resource Library is being renamed
the "Ciara Durkin Resource Center."

Joining our team of walkers this year is our mother. She is
participating in the walk for the first time in memory of Ciara.


We hope that you will visit our webpage at http://www.firstgiving.com/positivethinkers (link below) and make a donation for this very worthy cause.
The Durkin Family to Participate in the
2008 Quincy Medical Center's Cancer Walk

On October 11th of 2008, the Durkin Family will have an anniversary mass for Ciara at
Saint Gregory's Parish in Dorchester, MA (see link below for a map).

This mass will begin at 4:00pm, and all are welcome to attend.
Anniversary Mass for Ciara

Aifreann chinn bhliana i dTeach Pobal Bhantiarna Lourdes agus Naomh Colm Cille, Leitir Móir, Dé Sathairn, 4 Deireadh Fómhair, ag 7.30 i.n.
Aifreann Chinn Bhliana do Chiara


We have heard from some members of Ciara's "army family," and their stories and reminiscences have brought us great comfort. We look forward to hearing from other soldiers who served with Ciara, especially those soldiers of whom she spoke often and with such fondness. Any communications will be treated with confidentiality. Please email info@ciaraweerabrat.com if you wish to contact the family.
Ciara's "Army Family"
We've added some information on Ciara's interment at Arlington National Cemetery.
Click here to see the page...http://www.ciaraweerabrat.com/


Most of the above is an excerpt from an email I received from Ciara Durkin's family...The technical errors in this post are my fault, NOT the fault of her family.

Slave Trade Remembrance at WaterFire will be OCT 4, not Sept 27

Dear all,

The weather forecast for tomorrow is for a big storm to hit
Providence, and so we've decided to postpone the A Thousand Ships
observation until next Saturday, October 4th. The symposium on the
following day is being postponed to October 5th.

Meanwhile, our prologue, the screening of a thought-provoking
documentary about one particular Rhode Island slave trading family,
will go ahead as planned. This is great opportunity to learn more
about some of the issues we're addressing with A Thousand Ships, and
the filmmaker and many of those who appear in the film will be
attending. After the screening, there will be a discussion / q+a.

Traces of the Trade
3.30pm-6pm

I received the above letter from Dawn at Rites & Reason Theatre, [Thank You, Dawn!]. I imagine more information is at http://www.waterfire.org/

Rites And Reason Waterfire Seeks Actors For Sept. 27.

We can extend our deadline to hear from actors until Tuesday, to make sure that R and R actors have an opportunity to take part in this important event, honoring the memory of Rhett Jones and marking the 200th Anniversary of the abolition of the Transatlantic slave trade on Saturday, September 27th.

We are particularly short of male actors right now, but would be
delighted to hear from anyone interested in taking part.

The actors will be given a series (8-10) of one-minute texts to
memorize and perform for the thousands of people at WaterFire,
accompanied by a flaming torch. The texts are a combination of real and dramatized pieces about slavery and abolition, and the actors will be scattered throughout the event, before returning to a set place to deliver all of their texts as a final closing spectacle.

There will be one rehearsal, at a mutually agreed time; otherwise, the actors need to make sure that they are available on Saturday September 27th, between 6pm and 10pm. Anyone interested should get in touch with me directly asap.

I've enclosed the long description of the event. We'd be honored to have Rites and Reason performers among our group. Also, we're still looking for a director for this section; if you know of someone who might be interested, do let me know.

With all best wishes, and thanks again

Andrew

For More Information: http://www.rihumanities.org/

Love is somehow...(MLK, Jr.)

Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to the ultimate reality.

from The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. selected by Coretta Scott King and published, in her book of that name, by Newmarket Press.

Don Carcieri for Vice President

Pat Crowley has created a facebook group.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36998639488&ref;=ts

My dear friend and gifted writer, "democommie" (trademarked name) made a similar suggestion well over a month ago as I recall.

Recommending: Matt Jerzyk's Analysis of 8/13 !!

I barely know Matt Jerzyk, but we have the exact same birthday ( with one of us being 10 years older and having only one son, and one has two...and a law degree and technical skills some of us only dream about).

His website, Rhode Island Future inspires this and many other 'Rhody-based bloggers.

Please check out his commentary from yesterday:
http://www.rifuture.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=3644

Hooray for Captain Spaulding!

This blog has a fresh post. Hooray for this blog!

http://cptspaulding.blogspot.com/

!

Yes, this blogger and I share one set of grandparents!

Rites And Reason Awards, 2008

Most Recent Recipients of Rites and Reason Awards:

Darnell J. Fine '08: Rhett S. Jones Legacy Award for Outstanding Contribution to Institution Building

Gina Rodriguez '08: Alexis Prussack Legacy Award for Outstanding Contribution to Institution Building

Julian Drix '08: McKinley Ragland Legacy Award for Outstanding Contribution to Institution Buidling

Elizabeth C. Morgan '10 and Sevita Qarshi '10: Marsha Z. West Legacy Award for Outstanding Contribution to Institution Building

Bradley Toney '10 and Janine Heath '10: Donna Edmonds Mitchell Torch Award for Outstanding Rising Junior

Tomas Landes '11, John Racioppo '11, Elizabeth Rothman '11 and Akinyi Shapiro '11: Annual Luis Pagan and Joanne Suh New Pioneer Award for Outstanding Contribution to Institution Building by a First-Year Student.

I hope that this time my effort to copy and paste has not resulted in chopping off people's names on the right margin (well, it's no secret, I lean to the left). This information is gleaned from the website of the Africana Studies Department of Brown U. I tried unsuccessfully to post a link, but have now deleted that line. The link below to Rites & Reason Theatre does work, thankfully!

On a personal note: Darnell J. Fine and Gina Rodriguez were my stage managers for The Candlemakers of Kletsk at Rites & Reason in October of 2005.

If you belief in prayer, or anything of that ilk, please (as the Quakers say) "hold in the light," Rhett Jones . Rhett is in RI Hospital as I write this. Rhett has been a mentor to me (and more) since I studied with him my sophomore year (1983-1984!)

A Loyal Jewish Soldier in General J.C. Christian's Army

I am. (see title above).

Jesus' General has some mighty fine links, all firmly Heterosexual and Manly.
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/

Read the comments for detailed analysis, footnotery, et cetera.

Grace Paley Documentary Needs Funds!

I'm sending this short note to pretty much all my lists. For those of you getting this, I was able to

watch an 18 minute beginning to a film about Grace Paley, to be called: Grace Paley: Collected Shorts.

For those who don't know who Grace Paley was (she died last August), visit your

bookstore. Grace's voice was unique - as was her life. Many of us in the peace

movement and the women's movement count it as a privilege to say we were

arrested with her.

Lilly Rivlin needs to raise more than a half million dollars to get the film finished. I'm sure she will

do that - provided she has help. This is not a fund appeal letter - it is an appeal for anyone who

knew Grace and her work to think of people who do have funds. People in the literary world, in the

world of film, of art. And of course, if you want to help directly with a check you can send it to

Lilly Rivlin made out to "Women Make Movies", % Lilly Rivlin, 463 West St., Apt. 510 A, NYC 10014.

You can also visit the website: www.LillyRivlin.com.

So put your thinking caps on. The remarkable Grace, who meant so much to so many of us

(there must already have been six different memorials). Grace was a whole and complete human

being who saw no way to draw a clear line between art and protest. So, if you have any idea on

sources that can help with funding, get them to check in with Lilly Rivlin. Meanwhile, judging from

the 18 minute segment I saw, all of us will have a great film to look forward to, and a means to

introduce a whole new generation to the life and work of one of America's greats.

David McReynolds

I received this from David today (less than 2 hours ago!). I don't know Ms. Rivlin, but the address above is the same one Suzanne and Peter Ruta live in, so I could have passed her in a corridor.

Grace Paley and Marsha Z. West are surely celebrating the Marriage Victory in California with Ancestors. Harold Rogovin might be chuckling.