RezaRitesRi.com

by Reza Corinne Clifton

PROVIDENCE, RI - I am long overdue with posting an update about what’s new here on my website, www.RezaRitesRi.com, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been updating it. For one thing, I’ve changed the template or “theme” of the page so that you’ll see new colors, new graphics, and…well you’ll see. And if you hadn’t noticed yet, I added two pages recently: “Just So You Know: Listings”; and “Recent Photos”. I’m updating the From Reza Rites section of Just So You Know as often as one to three times a week - with art and music events, community events, leadership trainings, and more, and I’ve even begun including events outside of Rhode Island. Recently, I had a few New York City listings, including a CD Release party for a reggae artist and a show by one of my favorite singers of all time, former R&B group, Groove Theory frontwoman, Amel Larrieux.

The current listings include alternative holiday shopping opportunities, an announcement about a Brown University film festival, and announcements about a couple jazz concerts. I’m getting the listings from all kinds of public and personal sources, and I’m trying to keep them pertinent to music lovers, artists, parents, grassroots leaders, and more. And there are three other sub-pages in the listings section that come from other RI community members, so make sure you’re checking in regularly or else you may be missing some pretty great stuff.

I heard a story recently on NPR about the research of a scientist who studied the relationship between brain activity and music and concluded that music activates some of the same brain responses produced by chocolate, sex and certain drugs and pharmaceuticals. I was fascinated at his findings, though hardly surprised given my own preoccupation with music. That preoccupation has always extended to live musical performances, a habit which has always exposed me to local and independent artists as well as experienced and commercial performers. That’s why I decided not to hold back recently when my schedule, photos, and write-ups all evolved into a short series on local (RI) music and local hip hop. Check out my site (Keep reading) for four postings about some of the places and some of the people creating and hosting cutting edge urban art in the RI area, and check out the Recent Photos page to catch extra, bonus photos.

Oh and one last thing: RezaRitesRi.com is being featured on TV! The Jim Vincent Show is a weekly program that airs on the new CW (UPN-WB) station and on Cox public access channels in RI. The program features different community members and organizations and is about, according to host and creator, Vincent, “access” and opportunity.” The show airs in RI first on CW28 (COX 9) this Sunday morning,
November 26, at 9AM. Re-broadcasts can be seen on COX 18 (Prov & Kent counties) this Sunday night at 9:30PM, and On COX 13 (statewide) this Monday evening, November 27, at 7:30PM.

You may be one of the people I’ve met and written about along the way and you may be a first-time or infrequent visitor who doesn’t leave comments. You may have seen my work and a reference to my website in The Providence American or you may have read one my articles online at Rhode Island Roads Magazine. You may be a friend or family member who promises to be there all along. Whoever you are, thanks for your support; it’s just as important now as it ever was before.

-Reza

Photos and article by Reza Corinne Clifton. Click here to see more photos.

First photo: Kevin Gibbs and Cl Smooth; Second photo: producers from last Friday’s Grand Tracks event

PROVIDENCE, RI - The dark space filled steadily with performers, promoters, and average music patrons. Bartenders consistently moved taking orders and filling glasses, while eyes, arms, and smiles showed innocence, mischief, familiarity, or delight. Some women dressed up; some men dressed down. We were all there to see a show, one that was to include a short performance by a legendary hip hop emcee, and one that was to showcase the talents of a fresh generation of music makers.

This was the scene last Friday night, November 17 at the Providence Black Repertory Company’s Xxodus Café, where Kevin Gibbs and Soul Optics Entertainment LLC hosted Grand Tracks—a monthly Beat Battle and Showcase series. The beat battle is accomplished by bringing in six producers who have all pre-submitted to Gibbs and his partner, J-Scratch, “quality,” self-made and self-mixed music samples. Selected producers then perform at Grand Tracks in front of a live audience, responding to challenges, ie. reconfiguring seventies funk rhythms into ready-to-use background tracks for vocalists and rappers.

Gibbs has been showcasing the production side of hip hop music since 2003 when he did his first Grand Tracks at the then-open Met Café in Providence. He explains his dedication this way: “up until recent years the producer in Hip-Hop has gotten left out of the picture. I mean you know that someone had to come up with all these beats.” But for Gibbs, it’s not only about highlighting the commercially successful; rather it’s recognizing the hard work and fresh talent of local or lesser known artists like J. Depina who won last Friday’s battle.

“[W]hy does it have to just be a Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, or Kanye West to get the attention?” Gibbs rhetorically asks in response to my recently emailed questions. “There are plenty of (local) beatmakers out there like Justin Case, Araab, Merk, Raidge, Nuncio, and Animal, all with banging beats wanting to make a living off of their craft.”

BET-recognized artists, Lexcano and Lee Wilson

Gibbs believes in their vision, but more importantly believes there’s evidence to support it: “you even see major emcees like Jay Z and artists like Cee Lo Green using beats from ‘unknown’ producers and getting them placed on major records.” And Gibbs feels that he too is doing his part with Grand Tracks, offering what he calls a “networking opportunity” that, dating back to the event three years ago, has produced partnerships between select producers, emcees, and vocalists that “are still working with each other” today.

Gibbs hardly has to flex his own promotions muscle, though. He has worked with artists widely-recognized in different hip hop circles like talented female wordsmith Bahamadia, while last Friday he brought in rapper CL Smooth, best known as the lyrically clever vocal partner to widely-acclaimed producer Pete Rock. He also invited Black Entertainment Television (BET)-recognized artists Lee Wilson and Lexcano, who both impressed the crowd with their versatility, soul, and rhythm. All in all, through Grand Tracks, Gibbs has organized a night where new talent is showcased, original trendsetters are respected, and the near-silent voices in the game are heard.

To see more pictures from the November 17 night, click here to go to the recent photos page. Otherwise, Soul Optics produces all of the Friday “Eclection” Xxodus Café events, and besides Grand Tracks, offers, monthly comedy, live soul and r&b, and a straight dj’s mix night. For more information about Eclection and Soul Optics LLC, visit www.souloptics.com, www.blackrep.org, or www.myspace.com/djbrownhornet.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

Photos and article by Reza Corinne Clifton. Click here to see more photos.

First photo: Jon Hope; Second photo: Dox

By Reza Corinne Clifton

PROVIDENCE, RI - Last Wednesday, November 15, in front of an all ages audience beginning at 8:00 PM, a number of artists performed and paid tribute to a monumentally important man in the local music scene. It was during “Rhode Island Rap Remembers: a Benefit for the Randy Hien Family Fund,” a show which took place at The Living Room on Rathbone Street. It which featured a bevy of local hip hop emcees (rappers): Poorly Drawn People, Reason and Dox, Storm Davis, Symmetry, Chachi, Romen Rok, Jon Hope, and Minister Ref; and turntable dj’s, Sterby Rock and Al Bums.

For decades, Hien, and later The Living Room with Hien at its helm, were known for inviting people of all ages and ethnicities, and befriending musicians and promoters with any level of exposure. While this writer never personally met Hien, I know that I consider the live music/performance experience so sacred in part because I began going early—to The Living Room as a high school student, thanks to the regularly-held all ages events.

First photo: Storm Davis in the foreground and Romen Rok in the background; Second photo: Chachi

It was clear talking to artists Chachi and Romen Rok that Hien’s support and welcoming spirit has been a significant factor in moving a diverse, amorphous RI hip hop agenda forward. While Chachi might describe the hip hop scene as in a “soon to blow” state, he also categorizes it as “very persistent” and “kind of depressing at times”—due to low fan support. Romen identified the local scene similarly, remarking that it causes and consists of lower back pain and anxiety. These are common to any local music scene, but it’s having club owners like Hien—who appreciated the real challenges but still valued music, creativity, and people who work hard—that make a difference in whether local music can thrive.

Through full-length cd’s, radio shows, frequent performances, regional and national appearances and collaborations, name recognition, and more, last Wednesday’s artists are thriving in one way or another. And last week’s show was about showing that they haven’t forgotten one of the heroes who helped make it possible.

After his death this past September, The Providence Phoenix, an alternative weekly distributed in Providence and across RI, published a heartfelt and sincere tribute about his life that included anecdotes and remembrances from the various friends and associates he guided, encouraged, loved, and impacted. Click here to read that article.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

Photos and Article by Reza Corinne Clifton. Click here to see more photos.

1st photo: Big John Tierney and Charles Chachi Carvalho perform together at the Living Room. 2nd photo: DJ Therion spins hip hop for the audience. Click here to see more photos from the night

PROVIDENCE, RI - One man’s mission to address youth violence became another opportunity for both established and up and coming artists, performers and athletes at a recent event called the Sports Art Music Festival—or SAM Fest. Organized by Big East Music Entertainment, LLC (BEME) and the self prescribed Hip Hop Mayor of Providence, Charles Chachi Carvalho, SAM Fest brought together artists of the hip hop elements—rappers, dj’s, visual artists and breakdancers—and skateboarders, who all converged at the Living Room on Saturday night, November 11. The event was also in honor of Randy Hien, who was the longtime owner of the Providence local music headquarters, the Living Room, until his recent death on September 25.

The multitude of local artists who showcased their talents at the November 11 event included photographer Owen Muir; reggae and hip hop turntablists, respectively, DJ Therion and DJ Blademon; and members of the breakdancing troupe, Case Closed. But also front and center was Carvalho himself and his fellow hip hop emcees—19 year old female prodigy, Wande, and her co-performer that night Lah-Young Wahmu.

Carvalho has a diverse set of musical contacts, clear in his inclusion of the phonetic ska-jam-rock band, Ocean State, and what could be described as the show stealer, acoustic guitarist and long time local vocalist, “Big” John Tierney—who performed mesmerizing, infectious acoustic covers of selections of hip hop hitmakers including Biggie Smalls and Cypress Hill. Tierney and Carvalho closed the night out with an impromptu/freestyle/jam session that had the audience hooked.

Keep in mind: Carvalho has long been a familiar name on a local and regional level. He regularly performs locally and at regional hip hop festivals, while some know him from opening for national acts, like prolific hip hop emcee Ghostface Killa. He also currently runs a weekly “forum,” called Polyphonic, to unify “emcees, instrumentalists and poets” Monday evenings at the Providence Black Repertory Company. Other reasons one might recognize “Chachi’s” name is because his events are regularly announced on the radio hip hop programs of the University of Rhode Island’s 90.3 WRIU FM.

1st photo: Hiip hop emcees Wande and Lah-Young Wahmu. 2nd photo: A dancer from Case Closed. Click here to see more photos from the night.

Like his distinct musical acquaintances, Carvalho’s typical audience could be described as unique too, in that for the past 18 months, he boasts, all of his shows have been all ages. This policy has exposed him to and allowed him in turn to expose talent like Wande, who at 19 has been performing for several years. Additionally, for those who might say that young people only like what some consider corruptible mainstream artists, Carvalho offers a different perspective—even a challenge. For him, part of his all ages policy is in order to bring in older individuals who will come with youth from within their own circumference. “It’s mostly getting the word out to the parents and to the older brothers and sisters” he explained during a quick interview last Wednesday. “[Y]ou guys have to come; you can’t be too cool.”

And you can’t be too critical, this writer might add to Carvalho’s assessment. For hip hop’s critics, who would jump to lump the entire music and culture to the laziness, repetition, and/or morally questionable sounds coming out of commercial media outlets, take note. This night was about honoring a man with a big altruistic heart who opened the door to countless local artists and to live music-lovers of all ages. It included a diverse set of musical performers, genres, and vehicles for the art, and it was done to highlight the tradition of creativity, empowerment and introspection that was originally borne in hip hop. And RI’er or not, it was and continues to be in your backyard.

Click here to see more photos from the night. For more information about “Chachi” Carvalho and Big East Music Entertainment, LLC, call 401-RI-help-u or visit www.myspace.com/bigchach.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

Photos and article by Reza Corinne Clifton. Click here to see more photos.

Two members of the band Zawadi, Aamala Douangsavanh and Desiree Nash. Click here to see more photos from the night.

PROVIDENCE, RI - On Saturday, November 11 the organization, Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), hosted a membership meeting and hip hop show at the Providence nightclub Platforms. PrYSM has been in existence for five years working to empower youth and highlight issues effecting RI’s Southeast Asian communities. It was a fact celebrated and reinforced at last Saturday’s event.

At the meeting, the organization shared early results from a survey they conducted to “understand the needs of Southeast Asian youth in Providence.” To better understand beliefs and practices concerning education, police-relations, drugs and alcohol, and gang involvement, PrYSM collected results from 365 Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong Providence residents between the ages of 14 and 28. The results shared Saturday night—about HIV testing, school attendance, and opinions on community needs—represented only the beginning of the data they’ve compiled.

Organizers at PrYSM should be applauded for their success at exposing attendees to a variety of experiences and information. Besides survey results, PrYSM organizers also offered attendees a chance to participate in the elections process for their board of directors, a process which included holding a quasi-debate with all of the potential board members.

Members from the dance troupe, Off da Curb. Click here to see more photos from the night.

But the other type of experience offered to attendees was the entertainment. This included an improvised drag show put on by three voluntary male audience members, and it included several performances: Zawadi; Dysphunctional Family; a single member of the Denver, Colorado-based Flobots; Case Closed and Off da Curb. Case Closed and Off da Curb, two local dance troupes, stunned the crowd with their different interpretations of hip hop dance. Dysphunctional Family an energetic, rap group, introduced the entertainment with its fun party lyrics while Johnny Five displayed crafts that included delivering lyrics in Spanish and English. Local band, Zawadi—lead by front women Ammala Douangsavanh and Desiree Nash—impressed the audience with a powerful political message and eclectic style that mixes spoken word, hip hop, and jazz.

Enlightening and entertaining—a new model? Maybe not. A job well done? Absolutely. Click here to see more photos of the performances.

For more information about the PrYSM Youth Survey results or about the organization itself, call 401-419-5713 or visit www.prysm.us.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

Before and on the day of elections, I posted some election-related articles including one about voter advocacy that a RI organization, The Women’s Fund of RI (WFRI), was working on. WFRI is a pretty interesting organization, and I know I’ve spoken to some people who haven’t necessarily heard of it, so I hope you’ll take a look. That article along with the others are below. The postings include photos of never before published pictures from Straight Mixed Culture V and artwork by artists Andrew “Moon” Bain and Angel Quinonez.

And what to do this weekend? I’ve added a new page to my site called Just So You Know: Listings, which include listings compiled by various community members and organizations like the RI Young Professionals, artist-entertainer Ghislaine “Tiger Lilly” Jean, and yours truly, Reza Rites. And if you have some time, stop by Lot 401 on Sunday night to join my friends and family in celebrating my 26th birthday!

I know you’ll find some of these articles interesting, and if you like music, art, activism, or networking I’m positive that you’ll find some of the listings helpful, so enjoy! And think about leaving a comment under one of the articles, if you like or dislike what you see or if you want to add more information.

Sunshine and Laughter,
Reza

One Last Word on Elections 2006

Diversity and Risk: Cornerstones of Providence Art

Women’s Fund of RI Discusses F-Word and V-Word (Feminism and Voting)

HoodRich Flight Foundation Arrives Displaying Partnerships, Support and Jazz

RezaRitesRi Special Election Coverage

By Reza Corinne Clifton

Voice Your Vote organizer, Ivette Luna

PROVIDENCE, RI - In honor of all my friends, family members, and local heroes who have worked so hard during this election campaign getting themselves involved, getting others involved, sharing their passion for the resolve and rights behind many of RI’s ballot questions, walking door to door, making cold calls, holding candidate meetings and debates, sending emails and editorials, etc., I felt that it was important for me to try and compile some of my thoughts—and in some cases your thoughts—about the elections.

The Raise Your Voice Campaign of Jobs with Justice, DARE, and Olneyville Neighborhood Association have accomplished some awe-inspiring results with a count of 549 for newly registered voters. Add that number to more than 2300 infrequent voters who have pledged to vote. Like the location of these organizations’ headquarters, the areas they targeted can be especially challenging given major pockets of traditional, incarceration-related or recent arrival-related political (economic, educational, health) disfranchisement.

Raise Your Voice was not afraid to discuss the challenges they faced, which they did a little over a week before today’s election on Sunday October 29, after the screening of a documentary entitled “The Word on the Streets: A Street Corner Perspective on Voting and Beyond.”

What could be called a Hip Hop documentary, Word on the Streets is a New York City-based documentary that showcases responses to and discussions about voting and the political process. Filmmaker Asif Ullah focused primarily on people of color—primarily those that appear to fall between the age of 18-35, with a minority of people of other ages—from different parts of NYC. It is “fast paced,” as the summary describes it, fresh-faced (as I’d describe it), and 21st century-oriented (I’d also say) with its truly multiethnic participant perspective and driven by what some might find are recognizable hip hop artists or rhythms.

Responses to voting and other political issues and responses to questions about neighborhoods and backgrounds—they were all over the spectrum. Below I’ve highlighted just a few of the most interesting statements:

You don’t even know what you’re fighting for

All the Blacks and Latinos are in jail, so how are we going to vote

What is the president doing for us?

If you don’t speak out, how are you going to be heard? Nothing will happen if no one makes a move.

How’re you going to turn and make a democracy when you don’t have a true democracy here.

It’s like the blood and the crips—they make you think you gotta choose one of those. But there are other choices.

With the luxury of the filmmaker right there in person, at one point during the post-film discussion, a participant asked Ullah for final clarification about how many said they voted or why it was that people were not. Ullah painted a grim picture, saying few said that they vote and the few that did, did not feel that their vote counted [no further details on why not. Ward 8 in Providence, pointed out my mother, was decided by one vote during the primaries!]. And as to why, Ullah said, “people aren’t voting because they don’t know what’s up and people aren’t voting because they do know what’s up.” It was an informative documentary and Ullah’s response was an accurate summary of what he sees.

(Not the star of Ullah’s movie, Larry Woodbury is a part of the Raise Your Voice campaign. He has talked to and registered numerous voters in different parts of the city including the Olneyville and South Side areas.)

Now I know I am lucky to have a number of friends and associates that most would consider exceptional in their leadership and dedication, but still in hindsight I wonder if he looked for young organizers. And if he had, would his summary have sounded a little different?

But that’s not the only thing that seems to be missing. Aside from mentioning Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, very few of Ullah’s participants reference the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Movement. But the work organized by young and old Black and interracial organizations paved the way for voting rights that all Americans now have.

The amazing thing looking back at Voting Rights organizing from organizations like SCLC and SNCC is that these organizations were started or run by Young Black and White Americans. Take SCLC—the Southern Christian Leadership Conference: it was founded by Dr. King when he was younger than thirty years old!

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed by young people after a meeting was initiated by an elder, Ella Baker, who wanted to encourage and support student activists who were from the north and south; Black and White; men and women. As Dr. Bernard LaFayette of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of RI will recall if you ask him, this group of young college students targeted the most oppressed population and difficult section of the south—Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia—to campaign for voting rights including the right just to register part of the citizenry. Lives were lost and some citizens remained afraid, but they’re work changed this country and is why there are no voting taxes (ID cards?) or qualification tests.

We have a responsibility to reeducate ourselves and each other about all of this country’s heroes. There is blood on the ballot, the blood, of people like Dr. King, Willie Edwards of Montgomery Alabama, Jimmie Lee Jackson of Marion Alabama, Viola Greg Liuzzo of Lowndes County, Alabama, and Jonathan Daniels of Cambridge Massachusetts. And there are tears on the ballot for many of us, tears of joy from living and passed ancestors who in this country—and in others—struggled hard and valiantly to finally obtain full access to the ballots.

But back to today’s election. Just like Dr. King and SNCC many of the people working at the Family Life Center on the Number 2, Right to Vote campaign—for full voting rights for all citizens who have been released from jail—the Raise Your Voice campaign, the Voice Your Vote campaign, and the Number 9 Affordable Housing campaign are young community leaders! They look like you and me, or like relatives, neighbors, and even rappers on tv. They are making a difference and they are doing their part. They deserve recognition and they deserve support now.

Get out to vote. If you’re not registered for this election, register now so you’ll be ready for 2008. And while you’re at it, take a look at the two opportunities to volunteer. There’s still room to help today (Voice Your Vote; Affordable Housing).

For more information about Raise Your Voice, call 401-454-4766. For more information about director as

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

By Reza Corinne Clifton

This article appeared in the Late November edition of the web-based Rhode Island Roads Magazine

(Andrew “Moon” Bain and Angel Quinonez each stand in front of their respective works at an art opening for a new exhibit in the downstairs gallery at AS220. The exhibit features new works by them, and runs till November 26. AS220 is located at 115 Empire Street in Providence. www.as220.org or 401-831-9327 for more information.)

PROVIDENCE, RI - Last Thursday, November 2, Providence art and culture was put under a microscope during a conversation that took place at RISD museum with three distinguished RI cultural leaders. Moderated by Joe O’Connor, General Manager of WRNI 1290 and 1230, RI’s National Public Radio station(s), “New to the Scene: A Conversation on Providence Art and Culture” featured Hope Alswang, Director of the RISD Museum and Curt Columbus, Artistic Director of Trinity Repertory Company.

Alswang was named Director of the RISD museum in September 2005, following the role of Chief Executive Officer at Shelburne Museum in Vermont, a role she had had since 1997. According to information distributed at last Thursday’s event, visitation at RISD Museum increased by 19 percent in her first year running the museum. Hearing from Alswang, this accomplishment was not by chance.

“There is a lot of risk,” explained Alswang to O’Connor and the mixed crowd audience. “There is lots of visual diversity and newness here…and a chance to do new things.” Though Alswang herself is enamored of historic architecture, she has embraced the vibrant artistic community she’s found in Providence and the possibilities such vibrancy presents. : “I have a working mandate for newness and diversity.”

(Bain and Quinonez stand in front of a piece by Bain that comments on “war that keeps raging on with no end in sight.”)

Columbus also sees distinctness in the Providence “artist and audience” communities, where he’s found many instances of art “intersecting” with other areas of life, as well as a healthy “ownership of the cultural institutions by the audience.” Like Alswang, Columbus sees this dynamic as one of the reasons to drive a more creative lineup, like one that might feature the famous Russian Dramatist, Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard as was Trinity’s most recent run.

Columbus too is fairly preoccupied with the idea of freshness in art and in theatre. “Make my work obsolete” he likes to tell his artist residents. For him, “colleagues who continue to take risks are my heroes” he explained to the audience. “Therefore I continually place myself in challenging places.”

Columbus’s philosophy or technique is working, according to his numbers and observations. At a microcosmic level, Columbus’s daily barista, who, he says, is also a local rapper, one day talked to him excitedly about the fact that he had attended a performance of Cherry Orchard.

Columbus was presently surprised, but maybe should not have been considering other figures he knew. “They played to 94% capacity during the entire run,” he explains, proud of this unusually high and consistent attendance rate. But Columbus still relates it back to a Providence—and really RI—public, which is with whom he wants to interact.

Pointing to the pre- or post-performance discussions he has introduced to Trinity works, Columbus feels he is acting in accordance with his desire to make Trinity “the public square” of Providence. “We are just not at a point where artists are so arrogant that they’ll be apart from the community,” he tells the Thursday audience.

That concept is important to Alswang too—of accessibility or “decoding” works of art and finding “multiple entries.” Often joking and referring back to her own excitement over non-contemporary works, Alswang articulated that both with respect to RISD and to cultural institutions in general, “it’s not okay to bore people.” She continued: “It is important to realize that these are real people in real times living in this city together.”

Contrasting the marginalization from surroundings—or really inertia effect—that similarly-located museums have experienced, she sees at RISD a legacy and necessity to continue interacting with the public. One way, Alswang mentions, is working with public schools and underprivileged youth. “We are concerned with making students visually literate,” she succinctly explains to the audience.

Even O’Connor from WRNI talked about the desire and necessity of working more with the public. He is new to the station, and has entered with a primary responsibility of trying to secure additional funding for the financially struggling NPR station. On the other hand, one of the station’s newest programs is Trinity Rep Radio Theater, a program proposed by none other than Columbus himself, which aims to introduce the public to playwrights and artists being featured in Trinity’s lineup.

(Work created by Quinonez. I’ll take a comment on the global marketplace for a 100, Alex)

And it’s this public engagement to which Alswang, Columbus and O’Connor are committed. But in a community like Providence where history, housing, jobs, schools, and international conflicts to name just a few contribute to a wide array of socioeconomic and racial and ethnic groups and the emergence of new cultures and new expression, these three face a formidable challenge. They have affirmatively begun or continued their outreach, but does the responsibility to be authentic cultural or public institutions come only from them? This writer showed her face last Thursday because her position is no; we’re all responsible and we’ll all have to work.

For more information about Trinity Repertory Company or RISD Museum, visit www.trinityrep.com or www.risd.edu/museum.cfm. For more information about WRNI, visit www.wrni.org.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

RezaRitesRi Special Election Coverage

By Reza Corinne Clifton

(Can you spot the voters or nonvoters? The feminists or misogynists? The Women’s Fund of RI galvanized a get-out-the vote effort following a survey of RI women’s voitng patterns commissioned this summer, and last month they organized a conversation to hear what young feminists were thinking.)

PROVIDENCE, RI - Feminism and Voting. The good news? According to The Women’s Fund of RI (WFRI), “a strong majority of women said they planned to vote” on Tuesday—“up to three-quarters.” The bad news, reports the organization? “Less than half”—47% it estimates—“felt their vote had any impact locally.”

WFRI is out to prove otherwise, according to the organization’s Executive Director, Marcia Cone-Tighe, who says “that is just not a reflection of reality.” But what is the Women’s Fund of RI? How do they know about these statistics, and what are they doing to combat this perception?

WFRI was launched in 2001 by The Rhode Island Foundation—RI’s 90-year old, primary center of philanthropy—and “a team of influential women.” With its creation, the Fund linked RI to “a global movement to improve the status of women and girls,” for they joined more than 100 other Women’s Funds throughout the US and world who all have the same improvement aims.

The Fund awards unique grants to nonprofit organizations registered as tax-exempt, 501 C status or to groups that are working with nonprofits, “positioning funding for women and girls as an essential investment to build sustainable communities.” Past award recipients include Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), English for Action’s VozMujer, and the Southside Community Land Trust—three out of the seven selected last year in September 2005, out of 45 Letters of Intent received by the organization that February.

The work of WFRI does not stop at distributing grants. The Fund also underwrites studies, like the one entitled “Status of Women in Rhode Island,” an independent study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Along with other conclusions, data in this study showed that women in RI “have the highest levels of health insurance coverage in the country,” yet “have among the worst mortality rates from heart disease, lung cancer, and breast cancer,” ranking last in New England for overall health. The study also found that while women have “among the highest levels of political representation through institutional resources,” they have “among the lowest levels of elected representation in state and national offices in the country.

The Fund offered an opportunity to hear more about some of these issues recently, when the organization acted in another of its roles: as “convener.” WFRI periodically gathers groups “with similar goals to discuss problems and jointly plan solutions” and to collaborate and leverage leadership and resources. A week before Halloween on Tuesday evening, October 24, the organization held a gathering they called a “Conversation with the Women’s Fund of RI: The Direction and Goals of Young Feminists.”

This pre-election meeting of diverse minds consisted of anecdotes and discussion that weaved in and out of the attendees experiences with the “misunderstandings and misrepresentations in 2006” about the status of women and the word feminist. A few women reported their frustration and disgust with national trends in reporting the string of recent national school shootings which have all victimized girls. Mindy Weber, a graduate school student at Brown University, wondered why the acts were not being called or considered hate crimes when in each case, the target or targets and victims were uniquely girls.

Other topics were discussed too, like the evolution of the feminist movement, the differences in the issues throughout the decades; and the importance and power of the “f-word” itself. But with 2 weeks before Tuesday’s election (at the time), politics was on the minds of many, particularly with the presence of two women—Melissa Flaherty, former Town Councilwoman in North Smithfield, and Jennifer Lawless who recently ran against US Representative Jim Langevin in the Democratic primaries.

Both Flaherty and Lawless recalled recent stings from a political system that still marginalizes women candidates. Flaherty remembered the condoning of unfair comments made by a male opponent associating her looks with (un)trustworthiness, while Lawless shared a comment she received from a potential voter who indicated disapproval with Lawless’s candidacy because she was unmarried and without a family of her own. “Jim Langevin is [also] and unmarried,” she explained, frustrated with the double-standard.

In spite of the frustrations, the message was made clear on the twenty-fourth and the Fund makes it clear again this morning, Monday November 6 at 10:00 AM with the unveiling of its “No Excuses Ballot.” The Master of Ceremonies for the event is Marie Wilson, Executive Director of a national, nonpartisan organization that aims to advance women’s leadership called The White House Participation. Joining her will be a variety of RI’s women leaders, who will be using a mock election ballot card to address the excuses women shared in a summer survey of RI women’s voting patterns. The cards have both the excuses written, and “answers that overcome those excuses.”

Some of the responses show the correlation between elected lawmakers and minimum wage and health coverage, provide directions to where to find polling stations (www.sec.state.ri.us/vic/), and urge registered voters unconcerned with candidates to consider skipping candidates to vote just for the ballot questions (casino, voting rights, housing, etc.) There are even directions on how to register for the next round of elections for those too late to register for this one.

“From open space to voting rights to housing” WFRI director Cone-Tighe insists, “many important questions will be decided on Election Day and will directly affect the quality of life for women and their families. Women owe it to themselves and their families to be a part of that.”

To access “The No Excuses Ballot” visit http://www.wfri.org/wfriBALLOTposter4.pdf, and for more information about The Women’s Fund of RI, visit www.wfri.org.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

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