Rhode Frog: December 2008

Ring My Bell

From now until Christmas you may see a froggy somewhere in Woonsocket ringing the Salvation Army Bell (90% of the proceeds go to FRCA. So far, we have more donations than last year). But that's not enough for me, and in general, I'm nerdy enough to say things like, "fundraising online is fun!" Well, according to Holly Hall in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, "The warm glow that many donors get from giving to charity involves the same brain mechanisms that evoke pleasurable sensations after sex, eating good food, and using heroin or other drugs, a new study has found." Think of me as your dealer.

Banner Ad for Red Kettle

Personal fundraising widget for 2008 Red Kettle campaign

Prospect Terrace Park

Roger Williams, overlooking Providence on a November afternoon.

Praise for Viola Davis, RIC alum and actress

When I graduated from RIC in 2002, I wanted to hear actress and RIC theatre grad Viola Davis speak when they presented her with an honorary degree. Not to hear any glamorous Hollywood stories, but to hear from a real artist, someone who honed her craft and worked for her success. If the reviews of her performance in the newly released film Doubt (based on the play) fall on open ears, we will all get to hear from her very soon.

Although it's still a supporting role, Davis can now be seen on screen with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Does it get better than that for a thespian?) Critics from WaPo, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone, and Newsweek are using precious editorial space to single out Davis's performance. As of yesterday, Davis has a Golden Globe nomination to her name.

Oscar, anyone?

Imagine the partying at the RIC theatre department.

Bits & Pieces

Senator Al Franken has proposed a "Pay for War" resolution that would require Congress to raise taxes and/or cut spending before authorizing new acts of war, so that American foreign adventures can't contribute to the national debt.

In "The Long Road Home," historian Ben Shephard tells the neglected story of the refugee crisis the Allies faced when, at war's end, millions of displaced persons -- among them prisoners of war, slave laborers and survivors of concentration camps -- had to be repatriated to their homelands or resettled somewhere else.

For most of the last century, talk of secession, nullification and the rest of the extreme states-rights lexicon were relegated to the fringiest parts of the political fringe. But since Barack Obama entered the White House in January 2009, mainstream Republican rhetoric and proposed legislation at the state level have both warmed to the hoary idea that state governments can take their relationship with the federal government on what amounts to an a la carte basis or perhaps abandon it altogether.

Is the tantalizing dream of a universal library dead? Some scholars and librarians across the country fear it may be, now that a federal judge in New York has derailed Google’s bold plan to build the world’s largest digital library and bookstore.

...the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office... finds that a large part of the supposed savings from spending cuts would go, not to reduce the deficit, but to pay for tax cuts. In fact, the budget office finds that over the next decade the plan would lead to bigger deficits and more debt than current law.

...Republicans in Mississippi are divided over a wholly different wedlock issue: interracial marriage.

Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz writes in this month's Vanity Fair about the corrosive, self-reinforcing wealth concentration that has hijacked American politics, in which the America's future is sacrificed to give ever more money to an ever-smaller group of oligarchs.

Ring My Bell

Prospect Terrace Park

Praise for Viola Davis, RIC alum and actress

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