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In case you didn’t get the memo - I, Reza Rites, have been dj’ing at least once a month on 90.3 FM, WRIU in Kingston RI, having officially joined the now-four person team that produces the music show, “Voices of Women.” We each are on about once a month, and the show is live Saturday mornings, 9:00 - 11:00 AM. You can listen online by going to www.wriu.org, or by using and downloading one or both of the following two links:

http://131.128.160.72:8000/listen.pls or http://131.128.160.72:8005/listen.pls

Check me out tomorrow, Saturday, May 31!!!!! I’ll be playing women like Billie Holiday, Ninah Simone and Dinah Washington; Celia Cruz, CEU, and Ivy Queen; Ciara, Janet, Beyonce; Angelique Kidjo, Sara Taveras, and Les Nubians; Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, and MIA; Kim Trusty, Iyeoka, Ghislaine Jean-Mahone. Can you really miss this? Are you sure you don’t want to roll out of bed?

Peace,
Reza Rites

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by Reza Corinne Clifton

This post links to the full interview with Jamele Adams, aka Harlym 125. The excerpt was posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008.

PROVIDENCE, RI - When the next Langston Hughes comes along, will the world be ready? I asked this question and others during an interview I did recently with the nationally acclaimed award-winning poet and activist Jamele Adams, aka Harlym 125. You see Harlym 125 is a choreographer and performer of the multi-part dance that is spoken word poetry. He is also an author, educator and community leader. As Jamele Adams, he is an associate dean at Brandeis University. But as both Adams and Harlym 125, he is a regular presenter for youth, battered women, and the incarcerated and the person behind books like “My First Black Cherry Popped” and “Body Language Metamorphosis.”

Thanks to Anne Edmonds Clanton and ‘aec productions,’ Adams brought his art, intellect and advocacy to Providence on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - with a “concert” at Tazza Caffe. But maybe you missed the show; maybe you want to hear what Harlym 125 is about; maybe you want to know what kind of themes appear in his work; or maybe you want to hear what a revolutionary poet sounds like. Click here to link to the new home for Podcasts from RezaRitesRi.com to hear the full, nearly 30 minute version of the interview or click here to find and access it on iTunes. To hear the five minute excerpt, click here .

Both podcasts were produced by me, Reza Rites, but special thanks go to Harlym 125 and ‘aec productions’ for the live and recorded spoken word samples.

EDITOR’S NOTE (print and audio): Jamele Adams is Associate Dean for Student Life at Brandeis University.

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by Reza Corinne Clifton

Posted online with permission from She Shines(tm), a publication of YWCA Northern Rhode Island. This article appeared in the Spring 2008 edition; for more information visit www.sheshines.org.

WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND - Both Mary Grace Quinn and Jeannine Giguere are union carpenters. But what does that really mean do you ask? For one, it means that they are hard workers on construction sites who most afternoons “get tired at the end of the day.” But perhaps more importantly, it means that they each enjoy their jobs.

Neither Giguere nor Quinn began their careers as carpenters; on the contrary, they both explored what might otherwise be classified as office work. How did they become interested in carpentry? Do they make decent salaries? And what difference does it make being in a union? These are some of the questions that She Shines posed during recent conversations with Giguere and Quinn.

How or when did you become interested in carpentry, Mary Grace Quinn?

Quinn remembers always being “an outdoorsy adventure type,” including as a Girl Scout since the age of 7. As a matter of fact, she credits the Girl Scouts with helping her develop the confidence she acquired that led her into the trade. The Providence native and Cranston West High School graduate later took a few clerical jobs including a post at Blue Cross/Blue Shield, but later found that working in an office “wasn’t where [she] wanted to be.”

Quinn ended up finding a program operated by the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) that provided hands-on work experience in “forestry, fisheries, and wildlife” cleaning spilled dams and managing forest areas among other tasks. “That was when I first got experience with carpentry tools,” she explains. “We had great leaders and instructors,” she reminisces.

How or when did you become interested in carpentry, Jeannine Giguere?

“I never intended on becoming a carpenter,” is the shorthanded reply that Giguere will tell you upfront. But she may not be the only one who was surprised at her career choice. “I’m really small, so people don’t think of me as a carpenter.” How small? “I’m four foot ten and 120 pounds.”

Like Quinn, Giguere, who is a native of Woonsocket, has experience outside of construction. But the social work and office jobs did not keep her hooked for very long either. Taking stock of where she was, explains Giguere, she realized “I had always liked working with my hands,” and she wanted a well-paying job. In response, she decided to approach the various unions to put her name on their work and apprentice lists. “It was the carpenters who called me,” explains Giguere.

Are carpenters well-paid? What, if any, are the union benefits, Jeannine Giguere?

With ten years as a carpenter under her belt, Giguere enjoys her work and is clearly able to articulate why. “I love it because you get to see what you’re building,” she explains, referring to the physical, hands-on work. “It’s there; you get to take pride in it.” But in addition to the joys of seeing results, Giguere also touts membership within a union as a function of her employment that she likes. Like Quinn, Giguere holds membership in Local 94.

“I do a lot of volunteering,” she explains, and “from the beginning I went to meetings.” “A few years ago during elections I put my name on the list,” says Giguere, “so I am on the executive board now.” She’s even now a delegate for Rhode Island in the New England Regional Council.

And yes, answers Giguere, the pay is good. Assuming a person starts from the very beginning, as a first year apprentice in the four year program (who is completing all of his or her requirements), you will earn almost $14.50 an hour – half of what the full hourly rate is. And after four years of full compliance with requirements and prerequisite hours, you begin to earn the full rate of pay in addition to other benefits and coverage.

Are carpenters well-paid? What, if any, are the union benefits, Mary Grace Quinn?

Like Giguere, Quinn offers membership in Local 94 as a job perk for her. “[T]hey’re really proactive” with keeping up with advancements, says Quinn, “no more than half of a step behind training the workforce to be there and get there.”

But both Giguere and Quinn recognize union benefits that can’t be felt or spent. “I really feel that I’ve been considered as an equal in many respects by my peers at work,” says Quinn upon reflecting on her membership. “Some people have better years and better hours than others. But the person who puts in 1800 hours helps balance out the person who was only able to work 800.”

***

Reza Corinne Clifton is a freelance journalist with six years of experience through multiple platforms including radio, print, and the World Wide Web. Her articles have been published in places like Blackenterprise.com, RIFuture.org, Motif Magazine, and The Providence American. She is also the creator and publisher of RezaRitesRi.com, an award-winning website examining and promoting diversity, and a radio producer with experience on WRNI and WRIU.

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by Reza Corinne Clifton

PROVIDENCE, RI - When the next Langston Hughes comes along, will the world be ready? I asked this question and others during an interview I did recently with the nationally acclaimed award-winning poet and activist Jamele Adams, aka Harlym 125. You see Harlym 125 is a choreographer and performer of the multi-part dance that is spoken word poetry. He is also an author, educator and community leader. As Jamele Adams, he is an associate dean at Brandeis University. But as both Adams and Harlym 125, he is a regular presenter for youth, battered women, and the incarcerated and the person behind books like “My First Black Cherry Popped” and “Body Language Metamorphosis.”

Thanks to Anne Edmonds Clanton and ‘aec productions,’ Adams brings his art, intellect and advocacy to Providence on Wednesday, May 21, with a full-on “concert” at Tazza Caffe. The show starts at 7:30 PM and Tazza’s address is 250 Westminster Street in downtown - “downcity” - Providence.

But what is Harlym 125 about? What kind of themes appear in his work? Click here to listen to an excerpt from my conversation with the performer and wordsmith. The full interview is coming soon.

Both podcasts were produced by me, Reza Rites, but special thanks go to Harlym 125 and ‘aec productions’ for the live and recorded spoken word samples.

EDITOR’S NOTE (print and audio): Jamele Adams is Associate Dean for Student Life at Brandeis University.

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(Shape Up Rhode Island holds its 2008 Wellness Fair and Closing Ceremony on Saturday, May 10, 2008 from 9:30 AM - 12 PM at Bryant University Chace Wellness Center. The event is Free and Open to the Public; (401) 421-0608 for more information. Photo from the RezaRitesRi.com archives)

SHAPE UP RI CLOSING CEREMONY TO FEATURE DAVID KATZ OF ABC NEWS

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island— Shape Up RI, the state’s highly successful community wellness campaign, has announced that television medical authority, Dr. David Katz will be the keynote speaker at the 11am Shape Up RI Closing Awards Ceremony. The Closing Ceremony and 9:30am Wellness Fair will take place on Saturday, May 10th at the Bryant University Chase Wellness Center in Smithfield, RI.

Since 2005, Dr. Katz has been a Medical Contributor for ABC News, with regular appearances on Good Morning America, 20/20, World News Tonight, and other ABC programming. Dr. Katz directs the Yale Prevention Research Center which he co-founded in 1998. Katz is the nutrition columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine, and a frequent contributor of expert opinion on nutrition and obesity to the news media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, HealthDay News, Prevention Magazine, The Associated Press, and others. As a former expert consultant on obesity control to the US Secretary of Health and the FDA Commissioner, he is currently an advisor on weight control policy to the National Governors Association. An inspiring speaker, Katz will be at the event to share his exciting work in fighting obesity, and to receive the annual Shape Up RI Award for National Leadership on Obesity Prevention.

Of Shape Up RI, Katz says, “In its maiden year, Shape Up RI attracted roughly 1,800 participants. Now in year three, there are 12,000. Since Rhode Island has only one million residents, the program now involves more than 1% of the state population! Not too shabby for the 3-year-old brainchild of a Brown University medical student, running on a shoestring budget and a bumper crop of good will.”

Shape Up RI Chairman Rajiv Kumar expects thousands to join in celebrating the accomplishments of the 12,000 participants for their hard work and success in this year’s program. Together the 1,300 teams enrolled in the Shape Up RI program will have walked millions of miles, comparable to walking around the world over 100 times, exercised hundreds of thousands of hours, and lost tens of thousands of pounds, collectively. The top three teams in the weight-loss division, the top three teams in the pedometer division, and the top three teams in the physical activity division will receive awards.

“It is incredible that Shape Up RI’s membership has jumped by 5,000 in one year,” Kumar said. “This growth shows that Rhode Islanders are truly committed to improving their collective health on a grand scale. “The festive closing event is a celebration of our shared success. As we continue on the lifelong path toward good health, it is important for us to stop and reflect on our progress. I hope that our friends in the community will come support us and share the day with the entire Shape Up RI family.”

Shape Up RI 2008 is co-chaired by prominent Rhode Island leaders Governor Donald Carcieri, Congressman Patrick Kennedy; House Majority Leader Representative Gordon Fox; Rhode Island First Lady Suzanne Carcieri; WPRI news anchor Karen Adams; and Joseph Amaral, MD, Former President and CEO of Rhode Island Hospital.

The Shape Up RI Wellness Fair, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., is an exciting event with free gifts, free health checks, exercise demonstrations, music, and a farmer’s marketplace. The Awards Ceremony is 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The Closing Ceremony and Wellness Fair are free and open to all participants, their families, and the public. You may pre-register by calling (401) 421-0608, or by visiting the calendar at: www.shapeupri.org.

Shape Up RI is sponsored by lead sponsor Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island, health partner Lifespan and education sponsor Amica Insurance. The wellness fair and closing ceremony is sponsored by GTECH, Sodexho, and Banneker Industries

***

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