Summer Fun While Sun Still Shines

Decided to ponder these dangerous times through a personal challenge to visit all bike paths and state parks throughout Rhode Island... while you still can! National Ride-a-Bike Day was on May 4th, a well timed inducement, since some of these endangered places were improved through Build Back Better transportation grants passed by previous congress, now facing renege and withdraw under a criminal regime. National Park Service keeps 3 million acres in 11 western states that may be sold to billionaire developers or oil explorers despite fact they are owned by American public, not kleptocrats or politicians, and unfit for any other purpose than to marvel at. Furthermore, federal funds to states are being slashed, especially earmarks to extend or maintain public spaces. Citizens can fight back by raising alarms, reclaiming rights, and riding such facilities in massive numbers, which makes land democracy and plurality personal.

Maybe it’s a modest seasonal goal that a compulsive cyclist could complete in a week, but set 5 conditions that must be met by bicycle: 1) Cover entire length in either direction of each dedicated bike path exclusive of on-street sections, short entrances, or spurs, not necessarily all segments in a single outing. 2) Explore any bikeable portion of every state park, if not the hundreds of also interesting city and town beaches, management areas, playgrounds, preserves, public land, and refuges. c) Arrive at ride start by any means, bus or car, or ride from home, if practical. d) For your hard to route park or segment, you may substitute a bonus suggestion. e) Challenge, once begun, extends for 1 year, though winter might affect access. Summer is 90 days; despite weather deterrents, most bicyclists can complete 10 rides over 13 weekends; with luxury of free time, completed own in 8 weeks.

For bikeways, challenge specifies Blackstone River Bikeway, East Bay Bike Path, Fed Lippitt Woonasquatucket River (aka Northwest Trail) Greenway, Gano Bike Path, Quonset Bike Path, South County (aka William O’Neill) Bike Path, Ten Mile River Greenway, Warren Bike Path, and Washington Secondary (aka West Bay) Bike Path. Not specified by RIDOT website but nevertheless under state jurisdiction are Central Falls Boardwalk, Charlie Hawkins Memorial Path in Colt Park, Henderson Bridge, and Sakonnet Bridge, 2 of 3 such parallel facilities with George Redman Linear Park alongside I-195’s controversially failed Washington Bridge. Though signed streets connecting facilities are exempt, they might prove useful while planning routes to these 14 facilities, 70 miles total.

Must also visit 20 official state lands and parks including Beavertail (shown above), Blackstone Visitor Center, Brenton Point, Burlingame, Chafee Preserve in Narragansett, Cocumcossoc (undeveloped) and Smith Grove, Colt, Curran (undeveloped), Eisenhower House, Fisherman’s Memorial, Fort Adams, Fort Wetherill, Goddard Park, Goddard Golf Course, Haines, Lincoln Woods, Pulaski, Rocky Point, Snake Den, and World War II Memorial in Woonsocket. State’s beaches, except Beach Pond, occupy southern shoreline, often widely separated (e.g., by land, Galilee beach is 14 miles from directly adjacent Jerusalem); none support bicycling, so don’t meet visit criteria, but kudos for including any en route.

Optional but worth a bonus point or requirement substitution are Arcadia in Exeter (forsaken gravel roads and hiking trails, passing by on RI-165 counts), Blackstone Boulevard bike lanes and Swan Point Cemetery (amazing arboretum) in Providence’s northeast corner, Burrillville Bike Path between Harrisville and Pascoag, Crescent Park (Looff Carousel) in East Providence, DelGiudice Memorial (aka Meadow View Avenue) Bike Path on Warwick Neck, Diamond Hill Park in Cumberland, Ninigret Park in Charlestown, Roger Williams Park in Providence, Salter’s Grove Memorial in Warwick, Slater Park in Pawtucket, Warwick City Park, Wilcox Park on High Street in Westerly, and Wilson Park in Wickford. Don’t forget Rhode Island’s National Parks, in particular, Roger Williams Memorial on North Main Street in Providence. Score 34 points, one per complete path or park visit, to complete this odyssey.

Rhode Island offers no better riding venues, least traffic and most scenic, guaranteed. Some argue secluded spots attract peculiar folks, so stay wary. Make no demands upon how and what you attempt, nor take any responsibility for misadventures you might experience. Merely share below own approach to accomplishing this possible mission, should you choose to accept it, which in part involved competing with motorists on actual roads. Wouldn’t it be nice if bikeways connected all beaches and parks? Bus and car racks might help. If you bring stuff in, take it out with you; leave no trace, unless it’s a geocache treasure. Please gloat over your successes under comments.

Bristol: Certain parks and paths can be tackled together. Assuming a Providence start, own route began at India Point, climbed over George Redman Linear Park (√), and headed south on East Bay Bike Path (√) through East Providence's Crescent Park (1 bonus), Barrington’s Haines Park (√), then Bristol’s Colt Park (√). Done in May, did loop through Colt on Charlie Hawkins Memorial Path (√), enjoyed promenade alongside Narragansett Bay, then exited past Coggeshall Farm onto Poppasquash Road, one of the finest scenery segments in entire series. Saw stately old rhodedendrons in full bloom, stunning bayside views, and swampy wooded lanes. Spent an entire morning on this 35 mile roundtrip; rode from home to India Point and back for an additional 10 miles. Ignored near mile Warren Bike Path, deemed a disconnected exit spur, traded for bonus. Score 6 or 7.

Coventry: Conversely, passing through no state parks, Washington Secondary (aka West Bay) Bike Path (√), is state’s longest at 19 miles, comprised of Cranston, Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry Greenways in line from Parkade, excluding dangerous quarter mile Tongue Pond Loop, on Providence line, stretching southwest to Summit Station, gradually rising to highest point of rail right-of-way upon which it was built. Most improved of all, newly restored and resurfaced to Coventry line, WSBP is now a pleasure compared to what it had become: an eroded, frost heaved, root buckled course for disgruntled commuters dodging dog walkers. Olde Summit Village is a perfect example of fading glory of yesteryear, when living in a hamlet at a rail hub implied prosperity. However, should you choose an off-path return, you can pass undeveloped Curran Park (√) on Cranston-Scituate line, Seven Mile Road, across from Henry’s Christmas Tree Farm, though actually exploring it would mean hiking its narrow trails on foot. For thrills, head north from Summit to Maple Valley Road and ride east down miles of rollercoaster ridges through Hope to get to Curran, in other words, real road cycling. Round trip on this route adds 7 miles, so another 45 mile day trip. Score 1 or 2.

Glocester: Nothing to prove, you can simply drive to Casimir Pulaski State Park (√) on Connecticut border, then pedal around a bit; not much to see anyway, or skip altogether by substituting a bonus spot. Club rides in area originate from West Glocester Elementary School, all but deserted during summer. You could park at CVS on corner of RI-102 and RI-44, pursue Chestnut Hill and Pine Orchard Roads, then respectfully cross and ride shoulder of RI-44 to Pulaski. Roads surrounding park are either cul-de-sacs or dirt, though Glocester otherwise boasts some of the best maintained and least trafficked pavement in state. About 10 miles away following perfectly repaved Reservoir Road, to South Main Street, with George's Pizza on left shoulder and winding down Pascoag Main Street through villiage to Elm Street, optional Burrillville Bike Path (√) at end of Eastern Avenue behind Clear River Electric District runs 1.2 miles through cool forest between Pascoag and Harrisville. Then return south on Steere Farm Road through Chepacet to CVS. Score 1 or 2.

Jamestown: This Narragansett Bay island has 2 targets separated by 5 miles: Beavertail State Park and Fort Wetheriill. Cross Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge, exit RI-138 onto North Road, and park around or on Narragansett Avenue. Ride east then turn south on Conanicus and Walcott Avenues bike lanes to end. Fort Wetherill (√) is on left; bumpy roads lead to bay overlooks. Blueberry Lane and Highland Drive lead west to Mackeral Cove Beach on Beavertail Road, which curves south to Beavertail Park (√). Beware of deer; their ticks carry Lime Disease. Reverse course. Upon return, no bonus but often visited Fort Getty Park is 0.7 miles west of beach; either way after beach bear left onto Southwest Avenue to origin and complete a 10 mile loop. Can be bundled with Chafee Preserve (√ with minimal bicycling facilities) and Fisherman's Memorial, or Newport loop, connected by Pell Bridge (toll). Score 2 to 7.

Johnston: Snake Den State Park (√) features Dame Farm’s harvest vegetable stand, but little by way of bicycling infrastructure. From Providence, one might take Promenade Street bike lanes to Eagle Square, Fred Lippitt Woonasquatucket River (aka Northwest Trail) Greenway (√) from Olneyville to Lyman Street, with no guarantee of personal safety through scary environs, then the long uphill of Greenville Avenue. Turn left onto Brown Avenue, then return same way. Generally make this a side loop to a ride elsewhere. Instead, though climbs are brutal, went by way of Plainfield Street, over Neutaconkanut Hill, up Central Pike, then right on Reservoir Road. Though not recommended, this approach meant a mile long segment on US-6 with no shoulder alongside speeding motorists to Brown Avenue. Only advantage is a screaming plunge on narrow but smooth pavement to farm, from which returned home on suggested route for a 20 mile loop. Score 2.

Lincoln: Distance of Blackstone Bikeway would exceed West Bay Bike Path if you consider on-street segments from India Point, Massasoit circulator, Rumford signed streets, and Pawtucket shared lanes. Actually it’s just 13 miles of dedicated off-street paths from Central Falls to Woonsocket. Though not directly adjacent, Lincoln Woods (√) can be accessed en route to bike path start point. Found a rare shady parking spot near South Entrance of Twin River Casino, and from RI-246 descended a pedestrian underpass of RI-146 that puts you at beach in Woods, then climbed ring road to a thrilling downhill through a covered bridge onto Great Road. Straight ahead, Front Street leads to John Street and entrance to Central Falls Boardwalk (√). Most bumps and cracks on Blackstone Bikeway (√) are now repaved or scraped smooth. Old mills and rushing waterfalls punctuate its shady passages along tow paths by leafy bogs of “Nation’s Hardest Working River” during 1800’s. Watch for turtles sunning themselves on logs and rocks and unusual birds. Path goes past target Blackstone State Park (√), over bridge into Cumberland, parallel to railroad, and terminates in at soccer field on Hamlet Street, from which there’s an additional segment of path and sidewalk alongside Truman Drive that connects to River Island Art Park and World War II Memorial (√), state’s smallest park, next to Museum of Work and Culture. Having completed path and visited parks, slogged over hills of RI-126, took Old River Road, Anna Sayles to Limerock village, Wilbur Road overpass, and turned left onto RI-246 back to Twin River, 26 miles round trip. Great Road itself has a handful of historic 300 year old houses scattered along its length that mostly runs downhill from north to south, worth a trip some other time. Score 5.

Newport: A high speed ferry connects Newport with Providence. City by the Sea presents 3 targets: Brenton Point, Eisenhower House, which is on grounds of Fort Adams itself. All on a shore loop begun at King Park on Wellington Avenue, follow club advice on Harrison Avenue around corner to Fort Adams Drive (√), where Newport Jazz Festival is held. Return to Harrison via Lincoln Drive past Eisenhower House (√), follow onto Ridge Road, then Ocean Avenue, where spectacular ocean scenery begins, through Breton Point (√). Beware of distracted motorists. Finish by Bellevue and Narragansett Avenues back to origin for a 10 mile loop. Or, for better morning vistas and easier hill climbing, ride reverse in clockwise rotation. Can be bundled with Jamestown or extended by going east on Memorial Drive to Sachuest National Refuge, returning on any of several roads. Rest of Newport’s touted bicycling infrastructure is dangerously congested and disappointingly overrated given it's the birthplace of the League of American Bicyclists and paved roads. Score 3.

North Kingstown: On opposite side of Greenwich Cove from Oakland Beach is another required spot, Goddard Memorial State Park (√). Rode directly there from Providence line on Pontiac Avenue, left on RI-5 through Apponaug onto Post Road, through East Greenwich, then left onto Ives Road, 13 miles. Too far to add to a Rocky Point spin, but short enough to include another required target, Quonset Bike Path (√). After completing circuit of Goddard Park and through Golf Course (√), turned south onto Forge Road, past Pojac Point and Quidnessett Country Club, then through Mount View neighborhood to start of path, which stretches through Allen Harbor and Quonset Point to Fletcher and Post Roads, an outstanding stretch of pavement and scenery. Went straight ahead onto Devils Foot Road intending to return through Coventry and West Warwick only to be turned back at closed overpass toward a detour on School Street. Adapted and took back roads to Love Lane, Hardig Road, Commonwealth Avenue, and College Hill Road en route to Washington Secondary Bike Path back to Providence, about 40 miles roundtrip. Wickford’s one mile Wilson Park Bikeway just happens to be adjacent to mostly undeveloped target Cocumcossoc Park and Smith Grove (√), which can be explored from Post Road and Stony Lane, checked off after Memorial Day on way to Veteran’s Cemetery in Exeter. Score 3 to 5.

Pawtucket: Picked an iffy day to check off Ten Mile River Greenway (√) from its start point on Ferris Avenue, East Providence. Started off dry but was soon swimming through persistent mist. Rode 6 miles to India Point, traced path/sidewalk around construction to target Gano Bikeway (√); has gotten menacingly overgrown and occupied by transients since this blogger first recommended RIDOT build it then rode upon opening. Leads you to Richmond Square. Formerly, you’d take on-ramp to join motor traffic crossing Henderson Bridge. Now, just up knoll from Waterman Grille, you turn left onto new parallel but separate bikeway (√), which would be preferable if path didn’t trail off about a block south of major circulator at Massasoit Avenue. Made a U-turn then turned up steep Wilmarth Avenue to get back on track to North Broadway. As always, turned onto Metacomet to Centre Street, up Pawtucket Avenue to Pleasant, then across Newman Avenue to Kimberley Ann Rock Athletic Facility parking lot. On a drizzly day with few others around, the 3 dark miles overlooking Turner Reservoir, Slater Park (√), and woods beyond was disturbingly mythic. Returned by Columbus Avenue, Division Street, Pleasant Street, Alfred Stone Road, and North Main Street, past Roger Williams National Memorial (√), Smith Street to State House surrounded by ten thousand anti-fascism, pro-democracy protestors, part of the biggest protest in USA history, five million nationwide, then across downtown to Eddy Street. In recent years, Providence’s Roger Williams Park (√), once an official arboretum featuring rare shrubs and trees, still operating New England’s best zoo and other attractions, has become a fine cycling venue with an area for BMX, and 4 miles of roads partially lined with dedicated lanes, definitely worth attention, nicer than Lincoln Woods. They hosted Cyclocross World Cup Championships there. Completed 30 mile outing by lunchtime. Score 4 to 5.

South County: Drive south on RI-2 to RI-138, and park in north lot of West Kingston Train Station. Go west on RI-138 over train bridge and immediately turn south on Fairgrounds Road, which becomes Liberty Lane. Follow RI-2 south to Heaton Orchard and Beaver River Roads. Turn right on Shannock Hill, then left on North Road (splendid overlook). [Modified due to recent construction closure.] Once in Shannock Village bear right and follow Old Shannock Road to RI-112, then Alton Carolina Road (RI-91) southwest. Just after Switch Road, turn south on Kings Factory Road. Turn left at tee to continue south in the high sanctuary. Bear right on Prosser, then right on Sanctuary Road, which leads through the part of Burlingame Park (√) public can visit; RV grounds requiring permits are on opposite side of Watchaug Pond. Carefully enter and U-turn on US-1 onto Old Post Road. Optionally, visit Ninigret Park (√) for a bonus. Beware: There be hidden trolls, like Greta Granite (shown). Return to Old Post Road and ride until it merges again with US-1. U-turn to switch back to Post Road, then Ministerial Road. Turn right on Tuckertown Road, then left onto Main Street through Wakefield to intercept South County Bike Path just after Robinson Street. Follow Path to Mumford Road in Narragansett. Optionally, turn north on US-1A to touch Chafee Preserve, then reverse. Follow entire South County Path (√) back to Railroad Street and origin. Score 2 to 4.

Warwick: Along with many cyclists do a loop from Allens Avenue’s bike lane straight past Stillhouse Cove (shown), through Pawtuxet onto Narragansett Parkway, site of Gaspee Day Parade and where there’s another bonus park, Salter’s Grove (√). Continue through Governor Francis Farms through hazardous Hoxie Four Corners (often use sidewalk from Squantum Road to Walgreens). Although West Shore Road has a wide shoulder afterward, instead turn left before village and take shoreline back roads to Conimicut Beach with an impressive bay panorama, then Tidewater Drive on route to Rocky Point State Park (√), a required stop. To access secret northern entrance from Palmer Avenue, turn left on Priscilla Avenue, steeply downhill (first test brakes or wind up in bay) to right on Bennet Road. Bypass closed car gate. Beware of dog walkers on state bike path around to main entrance, exiting back onto Palmer Avenue. Once you again reach Priscilla Avenue, turn left onto city DelGiudice Memorial (aka Meadow View Avenue) Bike Path (√), which leads to Warwick Neck Avenue. If you take left back onto West Shore Road, you can follow side streets to Pequot Avenue into Oakland Beach, where there’s short beachside bike path beginning at Iggy’s Chowder Shack 16 miles from start. Sea View and Hawksley Roads return on a direct line along Bush Neck Cove to West Shore Road. Directly across, Glen Drive will lead you into Warwick Public Library’s parking lot. You can reverse course via Old Warwick Avenue, Church Street, Overlook Avenue, then retrace West Shore to Hoxie; just avoid Warwick Avenue at all costs. Reversing course will total about 28 miles. Optionally, if very careful, you can add 12 miles by going west to nearby Asylum Road and riding fun City Park Bike Path (√), a 5 mile rolling twisty loop, and returning via Sandy Lane to Warwick Library. With optional extension, you’ll total 40 miles. Good news is this section of Warwick represents some of the flattest terrain in entire state. Score 1 to 4.

Skipped Fisherman’s Memorial, Sakonnet Bridge Bikeway, Warren Path, and Wilson Park in Wickford, all visited prior to challenge. Substituted bonus spots Crescent Park, Harrisville-Pascoag Bike Path, Ninigret Park, Roger Williams Park, Salter’s Grove Memorial Park, Slater Park, and Warwick City Park, as well as Roger Williams Memorial National Park. Scored 39, 5 beyond required 34, and tanned up like a Caribbean accountant.

Where Do You Stand?

Rhode Islanders abide, even enjoy, fascinatingly unique geographical names scattered across their tiny state, many bastardized from what they were once called by indigenous peoples: Narragansetts (Pawtuxet South to Point Judith), Niantics (Point Judith to Weekapaug), Nipmucs (Pawtucket toward northwest and Weekapaug westward into CT), Pequots (western RI border into CT), Sakonnets (Little Compton), Sauks ('yellow mud" people of Quonochontaug), Toskeyonke ("bridge/ford" people along shores of Pocasset River), Wampanoags (East Bay to Cape Cod), and whoever time seems to have so forgotten you can't find any mention on internet.

Traditionally costumed Narragansett woman attending a recent South County festival  (click on pictures to enlarge)

Indigenous place names were based on natural, physical, topological, and useful criteria observed in their annual migrations inland in summer with staple corn grown in protected fields, then to shore in winter with shellfish being an important but perishable part of diet protected from spoilage by cold. Shell nacre was worked into decorative beads, wampum, valued for trade.

In response to anemic articles one encounters, below are listed all of the most persistent and recognizable examples, each with its current name, how now pronounced, location in state, and "what it signified". Click link for enhanced details, lost labels, and variable spellings from Dr. Francis Joseph O'Brien, Jr. of Rhode Island USGenWeb Project.

Acoaxet [ah COKE sit] over Little Compton border in Wesport “at a fishing promontory beside fields and small pines”

Agawan [AG ah wahn] in East Providence, a "low place overflowed by water" where they beached canoes

Annaquatucket [an nah kwah TUCK it] in North Kingstown south of Wickford “at the end of a river”

Annawomscutt [an nah WOMS cut] Creek in Barrington “at the rock summit” or “ruler’s hill”

Apponaug [AP poh nog] village in Warwick “where he roasts oysters (shellfish)”

Aquidneck [uh KWID neck] including Middletown, Newport and Portsmouth, “a place on an island”

Antushantuck [AN tush AN tuck] Neck in Cranston, “a well forested place near oxbow in river”, now a necropolis with St. Anne’s and Pocasset Cemeteries

Ashaway [ASH ah way] in Hopkington, “land in the middle (between)”

Canonchet [cuh NON chet] in Narraganset, “place he (Conanicus) oversees/protects/rules”

Chepacet [cha PACH it] hamlet in Glocester, from an anecdote about a lost “devil’s purse”

Chepiwanoxet [chep eh WAN ox it] Island in East Greenwich, “a small separate place” possibly harboring spirits of the departed

Chibacoweda [chee bah co WEE dah] or Prudence Island, a “small place separated by a passage”

Chipuxet [chee PUCKS it] in South Kingstown, at “turning place where the stream divides”

Chisawannock [chee sah WAHN nock] Island in Bristol, “a principle fishing place”

Chopmist [CHOP mist] Hill in Scituate, from Chapomeset, still a “crossroads”

Cocumcussoc [caw cawms KWIS sick] Brook, now Stony Brook, in North Kingstown, "where there are small sharpening stones”; once an early 17th Century trading post, then a slave plantation, the likes of James Varnum and Nathaniel Greene turned Smith's Castle into a revolutionary camp within a hidden cove. Name persists as an undeveloped state park.

Conanicut [ko NAN eh kut] Island, now Jamestown, named for Narraganset Sachem Conanicus

Conimicut [kon NIM i cut] Point and village in Warwick, named for Conanicus’ granddaughter Quinimikit

Cooneymus [KOO neh mis] Cove on Block Island, a “long gravelly reef”

Cowesett [koh WEE set] in West Warwick, a “groves of pines"

Escoheag [ES koh hog] in West Greenwich, “at head of three rivers”

Hummocks [HUM mocks] in Portsmouth, an “enclosed area where fishing occurs”

Kickemuit [kick eh MEW it] in Warren, “where there’s a large spring”

Louisquissett [loo is KWIS set] or Loquassuck [lo KWAS sick] in Smithfield near lime quarries “where they meet” and suspect loquaciously discuss

Mashapaug [MASH ah pog] in Providence, a “large pond”

Massasoit [mass ah SOY it] Spring in East Providence, named for Wampanoag Sachem Wasamegin, who settlers called Massasoit, shown below encountering sanctimonious English Puritans

Matunuck [muh TOON nick] in Charlestown, an “observation hill”

Meshanticut [meh SHAN ti cut] Pond in Cranston, which still has “large trees beside brook”

Metacomet [met ah KOM et] Brook in East Providence “related to Massasoit’s clan”; Metacom, aka King Philip

Miantonomi [MY an toh NOH mee] Hill, etc. on Aquidneck, named for Sachem “who wages war”

Misquamicut [mis KWAHM eh cut] Beach in Westerly, “where salmon are”

Moosup [MOO sup] River in Foster, named for Narraganset sachem Maussup “Little Bird”, aka Pessicus

Moshassuck [moh SHASH uck] River in Providence, “a great marshy meadow” where they hunted moose

Nanaquaket [na na QUACK ut] Cove or Point in Tiverton, “where swamp dries up”

Napatree [NAP ah tree] Point in Westerly, once a "treed neck", but now a sand dune after past hurricanes 

Narragansett [neh ruh GAN set] Bay, People, and Town “where the river narrows”; and down Ocean Drive to end of Hazard Avenue there is Indian Rock, as depicted by A.T. Bricher, oil on canvas (1871). Indian is what settlers called natives because they thought their exploration landed them in Asia, unaware there was an intervening Western Hemisphere with two whole continents, homes to several more advanced civilizations than theirs.

Natick [NAY tick] in West Warwick, “home uphill”

Nausauket [NAW saw kit] in Warwick, “between outlets” to Greenwich Bay

Nayatt [NIGH at] in Barrington “at the point”

Neutaconkanut [NEW tah KON kuh nut] Hill in Providence “at the scant boundary” where land treaty negotiated with Roger Williams originally ended

Niantic [nigh AN tic] Avenue in Providence and Point Judith in Narraganset, a “point of land at the tidal estuary”

Ninigret [NIN eh gret] Park in Charlestown, named for a Niantic sachem

Nooseneck [NOOSE neck] Hill in West Greenwich, where there’s a “beaver pond”

Occupessuatuxet [OX cue pess uh ah TUCKS it] in Warwick “at a small cove on tidewater”, whence Hoxie

Papasquash [PA pa squash] Peninsula in Bristol, possibly "broken rocks", not "papoose squaw"

Pascoag [PASS ko] hamlet in Burrillville “where the river branches”

Paucatuck [PAW kah tuck] in Westerly “a divided stream”

Pawtucket [puh TUCK it] “place of waterfall”

Pawtuxet [puh TUCKS it] at border of Cranston and Warwick, “at a little falls”; applies to entire river inland with two branches to headwaters in Coventry and Scituate

Pesquamscot [pes KWAMS kit] Pond in Richmond, aka Worden's Pond, state's largest natural lake, where “a boulder is split”

Pettaquamscutt [pet tah KWAMS kit] Meeting Place in South Kingstown “at the round rock”; also by proximity applied to what's now Narrow River

Pocasset [poh CASS it] River in Cranston "where the stream widens"

Ponaganset [pon ah GAN sit] Reservoir in Foster at a "waiting place on the shore"

Potowomut [pot uh WAHM ut] in Warwick, a "long meadow where trading occurs"

Quidnessett [kwid NESS sit] in North Kingstown “at a small island”

Quidnick [KWID nick] in Coventry “at hill’s end”

Quonochontaug [KWAN uh kon tog] in Charlestown an “extended deserted place beside two adjacent long ponds”

Quonset [KWAN sit] Point in North Kingstown at “a long place by a shallow cove”

Sachuest [SAT choo est] in Middletown “at the little hill near the great hill” between which is Paradise Valley, a geological and naturalist mecca for late 18th Century impressionist painters, including George Bellows, Paradise Point, oil on canvas (1919), likely inspired by an area at northeast corner of Gardiner Pond along Hanging Rock Road. This plein air painting intentionally draws your eye to Sachuest Point barely seen to left on horizon.

Sakonnet [sah KON nit] Point in Little Compton with a “rocky outlet”; also people who resided there and river that flows south past there

Sapowet [sah POW it] Marsh in Tiverton, literally “wet mire”, now a bird sanctuary

Saugatucket [saw gah TUCK it] River in South Kingstown “at the outlet of the tidal river”

Scituate [SIT yoo it] Town “at the cold brook or springs”

Seekonk [SEE konk] estuary to Providence River “where black geese are”

Shannock [SHAN nock] Village in Richmond where “salmon fishing” is good

Shawomet [SHAW oh meht], now Warwick Neck, where there's a “spring on a tongue of land”, also applied by early settlers to a spit in Northern Portsmouth

Shickasheen [SHICK ah sheen] Brook in West Kingston providing a “great water spring”

Shumunkanuck [shoe mun KAH nuck] Hill in Charlestown, a “high refuge”

Suckatunkanuck [suck ah TUNK kah nuk] Hill in Johnston, once wooded with “dark colored rocks at summit”

Sneech [SNEECH] Pond in Cumberland with “rocks alongside or at outlet”

Sockanosset [SOCK ah noh set] Crossroad at a “dark colored small place” in Cranston; once a slate mine

Sowams [soh WAHMS] in Barrington, “land to the south”

Sqauntum [SKWAHN tum] Point in East Providence, “gateway to an angry god"”

Succotash [SUK koh tash] Point and Road in South Kingstown associated with “corn kernel pulp”, an important foodstuff

Tautog [tah TOG] Cove in Charlestown “where there are fish”; also applied to actual species of fish

Tiogue [TIE ohg] in Coventry, a “pond at low land”

Tippecanset [tip peh CAN sit] Pond in Exeter, a “small place at the great clearing”

Tockwotton [TOCK wot ton] Shore in East Providence at a “steep climb resembling a pounding mortar”

Tommaquaug [TOM ah kWAh] Brook in Hopkington, where "they who cut" butcher beavers

Touisset [too WEE set] a quiet corner of Warren where you “ford a stream”

Tunk [TUNK] Hill in South Scituate, is “wooded”

Usquepaug [US kah pog] on river at border of Richmond and South Kingstown “at the end of pond”

Wamponaug [WAHM poh nog] Trail in East Providence, after "People of the First Light (Dawn, East)" who greeted European settlers beside their Sachem Massasoit shown (1620), with deserved reservations but dutiful generosity. Ancestors of these pandemic infected pilgrims given unconditional refuge are now among the most vocal anti-immigrationists.

Wanskuk [WANS kuk] in North Providence at a “steep spot”

Wanamoisett [wah nah MOY sit] in East Providence, once “a good place to fish”

Watchaug [WATCH og] Pond in Charlestown "at hill country"

Watchemoket [watch uh MAH ket] Pond in East Providence “where there’s a great spring”

Weekapaug [WEEK ah pog] at Charlestown and Westerly, a “dividing line” between Niantic and Nipmuc tribes

Wesquage [WESS kwage] Pond at Bonnet Shores in Narragansett, a "cove where clay pots are made", now a wildlife refuge

Westconnaug [WEST con og] Reservoir near Clayville in Foster at “a long place”

Weybosset [way BAH set] Street in downtown Providence; “half way gets narrow”, as at a bridge

Wickaboxet [WICK ah box it] in West Greenwich "at the end of a small pond"

Wincheck [WIN check] Pond at Rockville in Hopkinton, "a pleasant place"

Winnapaug [WIN nah pog] in Westerly, a “good pond”

Woonasquatucket [woo NAH skwa TUCK it] River flows from Smithfield into Providence River “at head of the tidal river”

Woonsocket [woon SOCK it] city at a “steep spot with two rivers”

Wyoming [why OH ming] in Richmond; “large prairie” name much later imported from Delaware language, so not native

Yawgoog [YAWH goo] in Hopkinton on “one side of pond”

Rhode Island founder Roger Williams, exiled from congregation and outnumbered by locals, naturally became interested in Narraganset (Algonquian) language, so he codified A Key Into the Language of America (1643) from oral phonetic into originally written. His healthy respect helped preserve many old place names that gave food hints and useful facts; property ownership was not their priority. Ones that stuck refer to bays, brooks, coves, lakes, parks, ponds, rivers, roads, and whatever nobody owns. If they could build on it, upstart settlers would've tagged it meaninglessly and taken for themselves. English and French brazenly or ignorantly overwrote majority with port towns names from old world for no sensible reason or used own surnames to claim property. Ego, insecurity, or sociopathy obviously played a role. Nobody can go back and stop them from despoiling environment and violating treaties, but you can today organize resistance, stay vigilant, and stop tyrants before they destroy democracy, ruin rule of law, and strip rights from you.

Despots through history renamed places (i.e., Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, or Tsaritsyn to Stalingrad) to confuse, cower and dominate citizens. Williams also wrote extensively on the misuse of executive and governmental powers. The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience (1644) was a source for First Amendment of the United States Constitution guaranteeing free speech, though currently under shocking attack through restrictive executive orders with specious lawsuits brought against investigative journalists, media outlets, news reporters, private colleges, and whoever challenges their ruthless campaign to seize authoritarian rule. You stand at an inflection point where the worst of history tries to repeat itself.

John Wilderming of the National Gallery noted, "At the center of all its contrasts the Rhode Island landscape has been abidingly benevolent... making us feel that little separates the real from the ideal... How could it be otherwise in a state which has place names like Prudence, Patience, Providence, Hope, and Paradise [respectively, bay islands, capitol city, hamlet in Scituate, and valley on south shore of Middletown]?" Elite residents have fought for decades to limit or remove detrimental core industries, thus impoverishing factory workers and other laborers. Lack of housing and jobs suits multigenerational multimillionaires just fine, not their problem, since they prefer untended fields and wild woods separating them from hungry humans and neglected needy.

What I Like About You

"Keep on whispering in my ear. Tell me all the things that I wanna hear, ‘cause it's true, that's What I Like About You.” Jimmy Marinos, The Romantics, 1979

Be proud majority of Lil’ Rhody voters decided to dump Trump. Don’t be shocked that 20% of them still support Don the Con. APA would say that in any group one in four has a personality disorder, so under 200 thousand correlates among a population of over 1 million. Trump carried no urban areas except for narrowest of wins in Woonsocket, and eked out slim victories in towns of rural west. This tracked national map, where he’s a paragon of personal grit to bible belt rubes and deep south rebs who buy into The Big Lie: You can purchase security by giving up liberty. Otherwise, states he won were nearly a toss up. In home states Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., where residents witnessed his bizarre behaviors and shady business first hand, polls resoundingly renounced him. Biden won popular election by over 6 million, about 5% of record 152 million ballots cast in 2020. in contrast, in 2016 Trump garnered much fewer than Hillary Clinton but secured the slimmest electoral margin ever through alleged Russian hacks, low turnout, and widespread fraud. Only 25% of those eligible elected him into office. Scary part is he has actually gained popularity with an approval rating up to 45% among small samples recently polled.

Fiercely independent and typically conservative, countryfolk rather live apart on mortgaged land than occupy urban tenements. Generally, with little intergroup contact, resolving conflicts and tolerating troublemakers aren’t their strengths. Some work for global agribusinesses who dictate who they should vote for. Fox News, QAnon, and reactionary religions warn congregations and whoever listens that Republicans represent their beliefs despite conclusive evidence to the contrary. Not true of entire Midwest, Nebraska’s 2nd District would have none of it, and stereotypes are nonsense. Marijuana growers, meth labs, and moonshiners also dot countryside. Democrats (who largely labor in factories and live in cities) outnumber Republicans (upper middle class business and property owners), but independents (who span left to right) beat both and, unrepresented, must side with either. By GOP design states with least residents get disproportionate electoral clout. Votes are thereby rigged in favor of minority party, who threaten every ideal of democracy with false logic and greed tactic of market economy.

Trump claims he’s for family values, but just look at what his family values. He’s no church goer, fights a Twitter feud against Pope Francis. Third wife is a former stripper and illegal alien linked to Russian mob. Kids are opportunists cutting illegal deals with multinational gangsters. Fringe groups he’s defended include Aryan Nation, gun nuts, and white supremacists. Dad was a klansman, though he’ll deny it when confronted, just as he contradicts own statements no sooner than he makes them in rare moments when he speaks lucidly in full sentences. His ad hominem style pushes emotional buttons with succinct putdowns and tag memes. He’s clearly against educators, journalists, PBS, scientists, and those demonstrably smarter since they make him appear an idiot. His MAGA slogan suspiciously resembles Mussolini’s Make Italy Great Again, which betrays his fascist foundation and brought nothing but cooperative ruination. It’s been alleged that WWII Nazis never gave up trying to raise a Fourth Reich, which masquerades as a conservative coalition of whom he imagines himself supreme leader. Never having served in military, he called war hero Senator McCain a coward because he was captured, interned, and survived to further serve constituents. He disrespects military, and made it a priority to infiltrate Pentagon with his own operatives. Trump’s interminable speeches, analyzed by experts over 20 years, reveal him to be an amoral, anti-environmental, autocratic, biased, bullying, conceited, criminal, denialist, divisive, elitist, fascist, greedy, low class, lying, misogynist, narcissist, nationalist, paranoid, racist, rambling, sadist, sanctimonious, self absorbed, treasonous xenophobe who is dismissive of citizens with disabilities, doesn't know what public service entails, has no domestic or foreign policies other than raid federal treasury and strike unholy deals with worst of scum, and only respects those who prey upon “losers” given his long history as casino owner and cruel landlord who profited off the suffering of others. No one could make all this up. Whatever John the Baptist was to Jesus Christ, Trump is to the Antichrist. If you vote based on ideology alone, why go along with an amoral clown?

What’s true? Deplorables like how Trump feeds them what they want to hear, even though it’s just ego boosts, empty promises, and fear validation for those to whom world is a Malthusian hell hole of their own making for which they refuse to take responsibility. He’s a hero to anti-regulatory slackers, brazen bullies, crime lords, drug dealers, gangsters, gunslingers, mental defectives, robber barons, street hustlers, and the worst you’ll find slithering hidden. While Tumpkins cite Al Wilson’s song The Snake (1969) as an invasion allegory including stranger danger over those you should never comfort or invite, it’s Trump himself who’s not to be trusted. Deranged misinformation factories always want to flip the script back onto plaintiffs. In fact, automation, not immigration, accounts for a much larger portion of job loss nationwide. "What voters think is true is more important in elections than the actual truth," a fact that Trump exists to exploit.

However, it’s not what you say or think but what you do that matters. Trump inherited a fortune, then parlayed it into a casino empire by pandering and pimping to addicts. Panama Papers compiled by an international nonpartisan consortium of journalists named him 3,750 times, more than any other perp on planet, as a known money launderer and tax evader. The first president in history not to disclose his tax return, he avoided $95 million owed and paid practically no taxes since 2000 from his golf courses, numerous resorts, and several casinos raking in billions, which he intentionally bankrupted to beat taxes while drawing inestimable salaries. His charities and college were closed by federal judges when determined to be frauds, and television show cancelled for poor ratings and rank unreality. Rumor has it that he ran for POTUS to avoid billions in losses and probable prosecution.

Elected despite no previous political experience, his legacy in office matches much of his life. No substantive bills were signed by him; though hundreds passed House, coconspirator McConnell made sure they’d never be debated in Senate with personal desk vetoes. Trump built a 12th Century wall against migration, executed own orders to kick millions of people off health insurance, pardoned felons, rescinded 65 of 100 environmental policies, rushed to sell oil rights in protected natural reserves including ANWAR, separated children from detained parents, and waged economic war with trading partners. His inept handling of COVID-19 pandemic led to millions of deaths; an estimated 35,000 of his own rally attendees were infected and 750 died, while he denied virulence and further infected staff members. His self-centeredness doubled federal debt and plunged nation into worst job loss in half a century, net minus 5%, after not keeping pace with Obama’s 10% gains, for which he took credit. Reagan, lionized for jobs and economy, stumbled for entire first term and trailed Clinton by 10% in second. Trump only admitted incompetent yes men into his revolving door administration, though few survived his irrational outbursts. Of 450 White House staff members, he’s had a record 85% turnover; many quit over conscience, others were indicted for fraud on his behalf, and scores were convicted and now serving time. Too fond of phrase, “You’re fired!” his spin was that he was trying to derive an ideal staff; reality is that best and brightest ran away and refused to be interviewed. In a typical story, according to AP, “Trump’s own election security agency has declared the 2020 presidential election to have been the most secure in history. Days after that statement was issued, Trump fired the agency’s leader.” Debunks his myth, no?

Trump was impeached for ballot tampering and would have been ousted except Senate Leader McConnell refused to hear evidence that would have convicted him. McConnell ought to be indicted for felony collusion, yet remains entrenched to stonewall progressives. Bill Clinton was impeached merely upon the impropriety of having a tryst in Oval Office and prevaricating when Congress confronted him for political leverage. Trump’s House trial was the most decisive of 3 in US history. This inquiry enhanced scrutiny over volunteer count and voter registration, so made it nearly impossible to cheat in 2020, thus his undoing. Trump answered no congressional subpoenas, colluded with foreign enemies, didn’t drain swamp as promised, doubled federal debt, enacted no new policies, extorted others and own nation for personal gain, forestalled several hundred new pieces of Democratic legislation while calling opponents "do-nothings", hid foreign investments and tax embarrassments, hired convicted and indicted criminals, hoodwinked rural electorate, insulted international trading partners without whom nation can’t exist, made America a global laughing stock, mined fears and frustrations instigated by GOP, and spent more than 300 times his salary on himself. Those who supported his reelection after all these revelations flagged their delusional fallacy or lack of decency.

Though it’s politically incorrect to demonize those who are mentally ill, a consortium of hundreds of psychiatrists expressed unanimous concern over his diagnosable psychoses. Any aim to improve government to suit incumbent’s own biases and whims can’t be healthy, prudent or safe. Diplomacy requires finding mutually beneficial approaches to nagging problems. History is littered with the failed regimes of hated dictators. Constitutional democracy has proven the longest lasting system. It was their real concern that nation couldn’t endure for 4 years with him at the helm, never mind 8. Need for greed is a disease that a market economy feeds, though you’ll be called a liar should you say so. If there was social justice, lives wouldn't be ruined on a quest for senseless accumulation. Pirate history teaches all a valuable lesson: After robbing treasure, they had no place to go, so couldn't improve lives by spending. Gold lust blinds, isolates, and turns one into a persona non grata.

Republicans can’t accept his loss because they gerrymandered districts and electoral votes in their own favor. Their accusations of voter “irregularities” describes a kettle calling pot black, but it’s more like an elephant afraid of a mouse. Speaks volumes when his supporters protested at polling places armed with assault rifles to intimidate unarmed volunteers, a vignette of what’s wrong in a polarized America. Deep state anxiety? Reverse conspiracy theory has Trump engineering pandemic to limit voting. It didn't work; many states shifted to mail-in ballots, and voters smartly took advantage. It was always a question who Democrats could promote to win decisively so manipulation couldn’t subvert majority's vote. It’s not that nation preferred Biden, who now owns the record for collecting most ballots ever cast and a 306 electoral victory after lawsuits and recounts; more just wanted Trump gone. Yet he and his lawyers are frantically trying to overturn results in swing states where he won on smaller margins against Hillary Clinton, even summoning Republican certifiers and state canvassers to White House to defy will of people and ignore counts. Constitutional experts already explained how he has no legal path to victory, but what does that matter to a scofflaw? Despite packing courts with conservative cronies, judges have ruled against every contention he’s thus far made.

For Trump concession means failure, loss, nothing to which he’d ever admit. Yet he’s bankrupted dozens of cash cows, defaulted on a billion in bank loans, and run dozens of businesses into ground laying off thousands of workers and leaving a wake of misery while taking millions in salary. Bragging that he took no pay as president, which he considered chump change, he bilked treasury for nearly a billion. Every golf outing at one of his resorts cost tens of millions in secret service lodging and transportation, which he pocketed, as he set a record for more vacations, 98, than all other presidents combined, not to mention nonstop rallies to prop up his celebrity profile.

Biden should be advised to change all White House locks, count antiques and silverware, fumigate premises, and sweep for bugs after escorting him out in handcuffs. Trump called historic presidential residence a “shit hole” along with scores of third world countries. A narcissistic sociopath and national embarrassment with his fake facts, fake news, fake presidency, and soon fake broadcast network, Trump will continue his relentless attack against civil rights, common sense, decency, democracy, inclusion, race, reason, tolerance and women. Already nation’s oldest president at inauguration, he expects to win a second term in 2024, when he’ll be 78 years old. Not to be ageist, Reagan was senile most of his 2nd term, which ended in his 77th year, in an office that rapidly aged and exhausted holders decades younger. No matter, Trump plans to promote plentiful progeny to act as personal proxies. The demon who possesses and protects Trump is ageless, a devious predator nourished on blood and power since antiquity. Don’t expect Don to fade nicely into sunset and let nation heal and rebound.

Good Gourd!

The Ocean State confuses residents and visitors alike with similar names for places widely separated. Don’t even start with roads and streets with identical uncommon names in cities or towns that don’t share a border, as opposed to Central, Church, Main, Maple, Oak, Park you’d find anywhere. Consider for examples: Cranston Street in both Cranston and Woonsocket, Laurel Hill Avenue in both Pascoag and Providence, Tidewater Drives or Streets in 5 communities from Pawtucket to South Kingstown. By old road customs highways, not modern interstates, carry names of destinations or origins, such as Hartford Avenue, New London Turnpike, Plainfield Pike, and Putnam Pike, cities and towns in neighboring Connecticut, or Taunton Avenue and West Wrentham Road toward Massachusetts. Makes sense to direct traffic efficiently. However, these hamlets, places and villages push reasonable limits by seemingly mimicking one other as if alternate aliases, bizarre buddies, dizzy dopplegangers.

Allendale (North Providence) vs. Allen Harbor and Allenton (North Kingstown) vs. Allins Cove (Barrington); there are also Alan Avenue (Cumberland, Narragansett, Portsmouth), Alan Drive (Bristol), Alan Street (Tiverton), Allan Court (Newport), Allan Drive (Lincoln), Allen Avenue (Cranston, East Providence, North Providence, Warwick), Allens Avenue (Providence), and Allen Street (Riverside) not connected to places. This alone is remarkably strange, but read on...
Alton (Richmond) vs. Ashton (Lincoln)
Annaquatucket (North Kingstown) vs. Annawomscutt (Barrington)
Apponaug (Warwick) vs. Quonochontaug (Charlestown)
Aquidneck (Island) vs. Quidnick (Coventry)
Arlington (Cranston) vs. Darlington (Pawtucket)
Ashaway (Hopkington) vs. Ashton (Lincoln)
Avondale (Westerly) vs. Adamsdale (Cumberland) vs. Adamsville (Little Compton)
Barberville (Hopkinton) vs. Burrillville
Blackrock (Coventry) vs. Blackstone vs. Greystone (North Providence) - a shade different?
Burr Hill (Warren) vs. Burdickville (Hopkinton) vs. Burrillville
Canonchet (Hopkinton) vs. Chepacet (Glocester)
Canonchet Farm (Narragansett) vs. Canonchet (Hopkinton)
Centerdale (North Providence) vs. Centerville (West Warwick)
Charlestown vs. Charles (Providence)
Clayville (Scituate) vs. Dayville (nearby Connecticut) vs. Davisville (North Kingstown)
Crompton (Warwick) vs. Little Compton
Dunn’s Corner (Westerly), Dunn Park (Woonsocket)
Esmond (North Providence) vs. Richmond
Fairbanks (Coventry) vs. Fairlawn (Pawtucket)
Foster Center being 3.3 miles southeast of North Foster and 4 miles southwest of South Foster; take your cartography and geometry lessons in Glocester to be safe.
Georgiaville (Smithfield) vs. Graniteville (Burrillville) vs. Graniteville (Johnston)
Glendale (Burrillville) vs. Glen Meadow (Warwick) vs. Glen Park (Portsmouth)
Gordon Street (Cranston), Gordon Avenue (Providence), Gordon Avenue (Warwick), Gorton Pond Warwick
Great Island vs. Great Swamp
Greene (Coventry) vs. Green’s End vs. Greenville (Smithfield)
Harris (formerly Harrisville, Coventry) vs. Harrisville (Burrillville)
Hillsdale (Richmond) vs. Hillsgrove (Warwick)

Hillsdale vs. Mountaindale; one-upsmanship?
Hope (Scituate) vs. Hope Valley (Richmond)
Hopkins Hollow (Coventry) vs. Hopkinton
Indian Lake (South Kingstown) vs. India Point (Providence)
Jackson (Coventry) vs. Johnston vs. Jamestown
Manville (Lincoln) vs. Melville (Middletown)
Maryville vs. Mapleville
Mapleville vs. Maple Valley
Meshanticut (Cranston) vs. Moon's Cut vs. Metacomet (East Providence)

Mount Hope (Bristol) vs. Mount Hope (Providence); Hope is the state motto.
North Kingstown vs. West Kingston (South Kingstown) with neither an East Kingston nor North Kingston
Oakland vs. Oaklawn vs. Oak Valley
Oaklawn vs. Woodlawn; okay, enough with the oaks and their copper/russet leaves denoting end of autumn and start of winter.
Park Square (Cranston) vs. Park Square (East Providence)
Paucatuck (Westerly) vs. Pawtucket vs. Pawtuxet (Cranston)
River Point (West Warwick) vs. Riverside (East Providence) vs. Riverview (Warwick)
Sandy Point Beach (Warwick) vs. Sandy Point Beach (Portsmouth)
Sayles Hill (North Smithfield) vs. Saylesville (Lincoln) vs. Slatersville (Burrillville)
Slater Park (Pawtucket) vs. Slatersville (Burrillville)
Saundersville (Scituate) vs. Saunderstown (North Kingstown)
Slate Hill Park (Cranston) vs. Slater Park (Pawtucket)
Smithfield vs. Smith Hill (Providence) vs. Smithville (Scituate)
South County with no North County
Tucker Hollow (North Scituate) vs. Tug Hollow (Richmond)
Valley Falls (Cumberland) vs. Valley (Providence)
Washington Park (Providence) vs. Washington (Coventry)
Warren vs. Warwick
Warren's Point Beach (Warren) vs. Warren Town Beach (Little Compton)
Warwick’s Buttonwood, Edgewood (Cranston, but bordering), Greenwood, Lakewood, and Norwood - except Buttonwood, none especially wooded, thought there’s a Wood Lake Park in Johnston.
Woodlawn (Pawtucket) vs. Woodville (North Providence) vs. Woodville (Richmond)
Woody Hill (Exeter) vs. Woody Hill (Westerly)

Sunflowers in Saunderstown

Coincidence could account for some repetition, or envy, or laziness, or terrain (hills, lakes, woods). You’d think residents would want unique names to avoid having mail or visitors misdirected. Post office mostly goes by zip code precisely because of this. Kudos to forebears for using Native American names so often, thus preserving what locales were called for millennia. Narragansett literally means Narrow River, town’s chief topographical feature. Ninigret, Pettaquamscutt, Ponagansett, Pottowomut, Quidnessett, Saugatucket and Westconnnaugh roll delightfully over your tongue, and to those to whom they hold meaning a hearth and hovel in which to huddle. Majority of names, however, hark back in time to important statesmen or port towns in Britain from which first settlers embarked.

Tourists visit state's coastal hamlets and villages for general ambiance and quaint architecture. They weigh in record gourds (490 pounds) and pumpkins in Warren. Rhode Island was really about mills along its 13 steady rivers churning wheels of productivity before water power was replaced by electricity. Mill villages still have businesses and residences without charming presences. You're more likely to encounter entrepreneurial gnomes and nursing homes than family domiciles and specialty shop miles. If you make an effort to follow rivers and see, you’ll get a lesson in history.

It’s well known that residents ignore official labels, prefer to give directions in terms of landmarks that used to exist. “Hang a left where Almacs used to be,” stupidly assumes you once knew of such a supermarket. Why even ask for directions? State is so small, you can bumble around a bit and still find it. Well, maybe not Antushantuck Neck Necropolis on Pocasset River where many end up anyway.

A disturbed mind finds everything disturbing; why bring up anything that demands thinking? All these places were once collectively called Providence Plantations; these days they want to remove that phrase from state's name (longest in America) because of some false associations to southern farms with captive labor. Rhode Island was the first state in nation to abolish slavery, but nobody remembers early innovation. 

Boomers in baseball caps only offer a lifetime of experiences during wild times. Somehow they managed to keep vicious megalomaniacs with shiny new nuclear weapons from destroying all life on planet. They deserve a bit of credit. Some issues do bear mentioning after all. In an election year like none since nation began, petty concerns of political divide can be taken in stride.

"Pendemic" Polemic

Babies are adorable, no? So what happens meanwhile to produce so many homely and misshapen adults? Diet fads, expensive cosmetics, gyms visits, and plastic surgery wouldn't ferry vast majority into vicinity of beauty with decent skin, narrow waist, nice hair, and proportionate figure. Although clothing creates a desirable illusion, are people allowing themselves look grotesque on purpose? Looking like a movie star just invites unwanted attention. Plus it's hard to maintain for too little gain. Anyway, bar to hurdle is too low to bother among obese subhuman crews in ragged wear with greasy hair and gross tattoos. And, as abundantly apparent, every pinch of exterior surface can also be pierced, though good looks aren’t necessary to be effective or superior, so you shouldn't care.

Toned up spandex cyclists tempt wrong types. Yet bicycling has become the exercise of choice among furloughed workers who can’t afford to drive, don’t own home gyms, and rather distance themselves from public spaces and subways. Former “governator” and self quarantined septuagenarian Arnold Schwarzenegger endorses cycling wholeheartedly. Safe distance for bicyclists is 30 feet, since rolling at speed can inadvertently intercept a cough, sneeze or talk faster than those who walk. Epidemiologists advise covering eyes, mouth and nose. Double thick cloth masks and m-frame safety glasses join gloves and helmets as essential cycling apparel.

Blog neglect “pendemic” parallels outbreak of pandemic, but not because author was sick. During a disease outbreak dare one delve into local detours? COVID-19-SARS did cause worst recession on record in England, but has also had a devastating effect on Rhode Island in particular among other American states. Ocean State economy already weak, work closures resulted in massive joblessness, worse than The Great Depression 90 years ago, which lasted for a decade with a peak of 25% unemployment. Policy miscalculations let most jobs revolve around badly hit government, small businesses, and service industries. Yet pandemic hardly affected banking, construction, home repair, insurance, laboratory, landscaping, manufacturing, mining, pharmaceuticals manufacture, road maintenance, and such crucial sectors as supermarket sales, though elective doctor and hospital visits were severely curtailed, so many medical layoffs occurred, while manufacturers of durable goods all but suspended operations. Consequently, availability and choice of major appliances has declined while prices have skyrocketed. Epidemics display total contempt for profit motives, in fact, target greedy along with aged, careless, homeless, poor, stupid, and those who think threat isn't real. Pundits recommend saving for a rainy day and staying home for good reasons.

Never a time out, less traffic offered RIDOT an opportunity to repave highways and secondaries, and restore bridge underpinnings. When departments of transportation repave streets they restripe them, as well. Federal and state laws mandate equal accommodations for all users; roads must allow for bicycling, walking and wheelchair use. To remove road shoulders or skip curb reliefs is to violate ADA and CFRs. When infection threatens, not taking public transportation and relying on self could save your life.

League of American Bicyclists rates cities through their Bicycle Friendly America program, but among Little Rhody's cities only Newport earned any mention, third class, based on biased reporting by advocates there. Providence, which lately has had more bike-centric boosts, was entirely snubbed. At least People for Bikes recognized state’s “speed of infrastructure improvement” over last few years, which still only garnered a 2.9 overall rating. With a post-contagion outlook, planners and street repainters might overlook guidelines already in the book.

Self improvement, street amendment and survival investment are interdependent. To do nothing is to die. Body needs to exercise though it loves rest, resists exertion, and screams, “No more reps!” Roads made more dangerous by limiting cycling and stealing shoulders for unnecessary lanes endanger lives and scare away self propellers. People balk at spending thousands of dollars on a bike when they think they can’t safely ride them. Yet state does have 100 miles of dedicated bike paths, more miles in signed neighborhood routes, and thousands of road miles recommended by RIDOT and vetted by bicyclists. Click here for 2020 construction status, but note no new projects are underway except for two bridges in Western Coventry. Wouldn't be a big deal to turn over swaths of soil alongside bikeways so cyclists passing by could sow wildflower seeds. Goal should be to link all infrastructure with shared roads and wide shoulders. Issues arise with what’s best to do, who has jurisdiction - federal, private, state or town - and who must pay. Healthcare costs taxpayers trillions annually, an enormous expense worth reducing. Cardiovascular and cancerous ills, both preventable via bicycles, still cost and kill more than infectious diseases ever will.

All road funding comes from a combination of sources, mainly government grants matched by local tax revenue. Delays in updating streets for all users impacts funding. Feds may deny or divide grants, or impose fines that residents have to pay. You might be outraged to know officials not only force you to abide outdoor restrictions but it comes at your own expense. Certain parties lobby leaders for these policies because it hastens the transfer of money from you to them. Weren’t family losses, economic recession, pandemic protocols, and supreme sacrifices already too much to bear without pure greed forcing bureaucratic decisions in favor of autocratic ambitions? Pawns greatly outnumber kings and resent being treating as toys or trophies. 

Don’t toss the baby out with the bathwater come election time. Support any politician no matter how repulsive who arranges progressive changes for a healthy alternative. Meanwhile, go forth safely and sensibly for fresh air and sunshine in style. 

Bread Lines

Once upon a time, Rhode Islanders could barely avoid delicious aromas of baking bread. You’d climb viaduct from Allens Avenue and inhale a heartwarming waft of Sunbeam from an adjacent mill. These day you must abide acrid exhaust, rotting debris, and skunk spray that Waterfires mask in burnt creasote. Across Point Street Bridge, then Henderson into Rumford, you’d pass Mrs. Kavanaugh’s English Muffins. Boulangerie and panetterie dotted Johnston and Providence neighborhoods: Atwell’s Avenue, Carpenter Street, Cranston Street, East Side, Killingly Street, North Main, Olneyville, and Washington Park. Nobody misses, or notices, ones long gone. Rainbow on Reservoir in Cranston is state’s last Jewish bakery. Get a Proustian remembrance of things past for checkerboard cake from Korb’s and danish from Bob Carol’s on Pontiac.

Bread was once the very staff of life and still underpines nutrition pyramid, though carbohydrate rich diets lead directly to diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. People have shifted to fruits, seeds, sources of protein, whole grains, and vegetables. Plates of pasta may be popular, but tacos full of beans and greens probably outnumber them. Inability to adapt menu may account for TGI Friday’s demise, another failed local restaurant to add to this list of over 500. Expect more with fears of Chinese or Italian foodstuffs. Bats and dogs, filth and infection, disrupt attraction and digestion.

Rapid evolution and technological change make Truth a victim. Pandemics, terrorists and wolves at their door, nobody has time enough to consider carefully and reason thoroughly, only react fearfully according to how they’ve been conditioned. Laughably, official channels warn of misleading info, when for decades they’ve been the biggest lie factory around. You can only choose to be cannon fodder, sacrificial pawn, servile minion, or surplus victim. Identified an informational crisis in What Do YOU Know!? on page 34 of Labann Says (2013). Bloggers account for only remaining independent journalists who report from direct experience without bias, though most still color observations with opinions. Indeed, prejudiced reporting will always be more popular than unvarnished objectivity. Seems disjointed facts require a roadmap to connect the dots, though oversimplifying veers far from tangled reality.

Impressionist paintings or literary masterpieces shouldn’t be the only place you can still find beauty. It should be evident everywhere anyone makes efforts necessary. Yet you may roll down bike paths flanked by bulldozed mounds of dirt, swampy creeks, and tangles of brambles and wonder, “Why not forests, gardens or lawns?” Overgrown corner lots used to feature exceptional gardens, but planting and weeding went out of style a century ago. Not uncommon now to find properties strewn with stuff that usually fills dumps. Staying isolated at home this Spring seems ineviatble, so who knows? Notice more people than usual raking yards and working properties.

Deficiencies in ambience directly relate to labor costs and lifestyle choices. Time is too valuable to fritter away at $10.50 minimum/hour. Last crew through charged nearly a grand for three hours of tree limb removal. Smartphone chatter, spectator sports, and stupid movies occupy intervals not otherwise spent earning and sleeping. Home baking and prudent yardening, lowest of priorities since housing standards are no longer enforced and Seven Stars was voted among nation’s best bread makers, could make a comeback. Small businesses are closed, and supermarkets have cut back on freshly baked local products. Retail visits reveal many empty shelves.

Home ownership, cornerstone of the American Dream, hardly exists anymore, since banks hold mortgages and town assess taxes that amount to rebuying over and over. Municipalities elsewhere terminate house taxes after 100 years, but not here. In addition to nation’s average personal indebtedness of $150,000, unsecured federal, local and state debt means every citizen - child, man and woman - owes at least $300,000 in total. Who can afford to buy bulbs, seeds or shrubs? But avoiding lines, dodging contagion, and staying sheltered leave hours to bake bread and trim verge. Any government relief only goes to paying back banks and state, Just another bigwig bailout, obligations that come before buying food and paying bills, since they’d make you homeless, take away your residence. Street beggars get no furloughs.

Always say that survival is paramount, and ways to die can be prioritized. In America over last hundred years, cardiovascular diseases killed more than any other cause, a million annually, with cancers second, hundreds of thousands affected. Car collisions, at around 40,000 per year, come in third, more drivers and passengers than soldiers in wars over the bloodiest century in history. Infections and gun violence are about equal, ~15,000/year. All are preventable, although few measures are taken to mitigate. Commuting by car to jobs isn’t necessary: can self propel to some, telecommute for many, and use public transportation for others. Home delivery has hugely resurged lately, though porch piracy spread to follow suit.

Worldwide today, infectious diseases, especially malaria, remain a leading killer. Pharma companies shy away from vaccines, because they can make billions treating allergies and annoyances where their drugs only need to be marginally effective. A vaccine actually has to prevent infections. Antibiotics can create incurable strains and spread illnesses. Lawsuits might result in billion dollar settlements. Diseases are directly related to sanitation. Viruses cannot live outside a host, either animals, bacteria, insects or people. So minimizing contact with bacteria is key, whether in airborne droplets, bug bites, or on surfaces. Humidity harbors but rainfall flushes bacteria. High internal temperatures, such as during aerobic exercise or fever, is a mechanism that body uses to kill infections. This new SARS virus is highly contagious, takes up to two weeks to incubate, tough to diagnose without specific kits, as many symptoms are like ordinary cold and flu, so may already be more widespread than reports say, some 300,000 identified cases. Supposedly, new incidents in China are falling, though America and Europe is currently being hit hard. So, avoid groups, disinfect diligently, and move under own power.

What about food? You must shop or starve. Since virus was traced back to food, can imported foods infect people? Will virus affect farming industry so drastically there will be shortages? Many reacted with stockpiling nonperishable items, though some bought retail only to gouge illegally during internet sales. Over last 5 centuries, over a billion people died of starvation for various reasons: antiscientific sentiments, bad policies, financial ruin, ignorant practices, unanticipated blight, and world wars. Shades of depressions bread lines still haunt memories. What jobs will go away forever after each organization is arranged around contagion? In this Decennial Census year, who’d want to open door to a visiting enumerator? Amidst an extinction vortex event with decreased genetic variance from outbreeding depression, can you expect global population to stall at 8 billion? Yet you’ve already dealt with HAV (Hepatitis) and HIV (AIDS), both far more prevalent, with fewer precautions. As usual, priorities are misplaced because news media fans fears for responses that favor the wealthy. Instead of genuine concern, it’s, “Don’t get sick, because you might make me too sick to profit and stockpile.”

War of Words

Wow! What’s our world coming to? Climate denialists discredit environmental activists, say solar cycles cause temperature fluctuations, and try to convince all to consider Little Ice Age, Maunder Minimum, and Wolf Index. Indeed, fewer sunspots always coincided with colder winters, but exact opposite is now occurring with least count and record highs. Begs question as to what’s really going on. Don’t know? Don’t care?

Wether or not you believe that greenhouse gases can trap heat from escaping into space, despite a 97% global scientific consensus and obvious precedent on nearby 900° Venus, you can’t discount or excuse manifest negligence, which has dumped millions of tons of plastics, putrid streams of nuclear radiation, and tons of toxins into air and seas that increased pulmonary disease and killed coral reefs, schools of fish, and vital plankton. Abandoned factories, arbitrary pesticides, acid rain, clear cuts, garbage dumps, inorganic fertilizers, multilane highways, strip mines, and throw-away mentality have ravaged landscapes. Before Lovelock discovered CFCs were destroying ozone layer, too much smog had already corrupted atmosphere. Hurricanes begin as desert heat from deforested land at man’s hand which causes evaporation over ocean and delivers devastation ever more frequently. Even worse, sheer heat boils off clouds that shelter planet from ultraviolet insolation.

Environment inevitably became a hot topic. For 200,000 years modern humans slowly rose to one billion around planet; in next 200 years they became seven billion; over last 20, they added another billion. China’s one-child-per-family policy curtailed an estimated half billion, but has since been rescinded. Despite some heeding advice of zero population growth, expect another billion in next 2 years. Average life expectancy worldwide has reversed from 72.5 years, the highest of all time. Until now how many children, men and women planet could sustain was never in question. Wars didn’t slow repopulation, but slammed conservation. Industries detest any carbon bargain as discriminatory regulation and would rather pay fines instead.

Despite headcount, it’s been indisputably proven that humans induce ecological decline. But who wants to admit blame or collusion? London smog lifted once burning coal ceased. Aggressive air quality regulations improved Los Angeles. What humans did can be undone. Once nature no longer supports life, extinction follows. Have we already reached the point of no return? Fear of doom dominates art, has already become a whole genre of paranoia films: bees, birds, bugs, dystopia, sharks, snakes, toxins, viruses, wastelands, zombies.

You can now visit Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island disaster sites, but still must wear a dosimeter and protective clothing. Only takes one exposure of 100 rads in 8 hours to kill you from cancer or leukemia. There’s no telling what you might get in a one megaton nuclear blast, up to 10 times that within the first 48 hours. Cancer is already a pandemic, mostly due to petroleum use and radiation leaks. Why risk that by inciting ill will, installing fission reactors in your neighborhood, making insane demands, and negotiating in bad faith? Tough talk betrays weakness. True strength requires no explanation, qualification, or repetition.

See so many texting and typing their lives away, wonder what they're trying to say, what they expect to achieve, or who they hope to deceive. Consensus doesn’t assure truth. Throughout history, most of what humans agreed upon or believed alone couldn't be proven. Experts in a field should be given more credence than street rabble who can’t ace an arithmetic quiz. But monetary motivation and moral corruption strangle truth and subvert perception. Given catastrophic potential of doing nothing, logic dictates careful study of real causes and reasons behind 3% disagreement. Makes sense to dismiss a few naysayers as spokespeople for those for whom climate fixes would interfere with investments. Automotive, Big Oil, coal miners, industrialists, truckers can all afford to bribe scientists to lie on their behalf; so can venture capitalists for green startups. Lowbrows defend conspiracy theories and self delusions.

Personally test own choices, conclusions and resolutions. Practiced net negative carbon footprint and population growth. Produced and saved costs over compensation by a factor of 5. Owe no one. Expect and waste nothing. Am tempted to carry around a bar of wax to write warnings on car windows, not windshields, when drivers park illegally, especially in spots designated for the handicapped. It would be writing that would be read, provoke reaction, rise above apathy, unlike most of what's otherwise offered. To sacrifice own wealth for community's welfare is your strongest stance, unlike parasites and politicians who merely redirect what’s yours among favored groups.

Consensus is only heartwarming among those similarly minded, worth little among indifferent rabble. Anyway, don’t desire or require validation. Just because something once worked for you doesn't mean it will work now for anyone else. Persons are packages of particular looks and talents that may or may no longer suffice, has beens or heroes in the present. No matter what you profess, your message will be something some faction will dismiss due to unfair association by age, orientation or race. “Okay, boomer,” is evident ageism, gutless anthem among those who never been beaten down during peaceful protest to secure rights they take for granted, so will lose them. Don the Despot Trump is a boomer, as was Dubya Bush and Slick Willy Clinton, all born in 1946, but only one among them was a Rhodes Scholar. Arguably, Barry Obama was nation's only Gen X president to date, and only Nobel Peace Prize winner since Jimmy Carter.

There are plenty of reasons you wouldn’t want to communicate. Bad behaviors increase risks in billions of ways. Blogs, conversations and street corners are monitored. Though they claim they want to be heard, people never shut up, want ever more if your time, won't ever be satisfied. You're almost safer among wild animals. If peace is your goal, isolate yourself on a deserted island. Great invention, Caller ID: Answer no calls from collection agents, only fronts for organized crime. Being exposed in blogs and social media nudges you into crosshairs of scammers, who use what little they learn against you. It's too easy to lure people into something they don't need or want. Government notifies you by USPS mail. Scammers would add felony mail fraud if they decided to affix postage, but there's no misdemeanor for email or phone fraud, just civil suits, which are hard to mount and seldom recover losses.

Best forms of communication read people's minds, suggest new perspectives, think beyond boundaries to anticipate needs and inspire improvement proactively. This precludes catering and validating. Unique refuses to be dismissed or pigeonholed. Those who waltz through life with blinders on, who won't observe how others suffer from their acts of omission and transgression, warrant leaders who'll betray, rape and slaughter them. Aggression and neglect invite retaliation. Comforts carry hefty costs. Someone has to pay, though millionaires want to spread costs among current masses and future generations while evading own taxes. Pardon? If you're worth more than rest it’s a privilege to pay in a higher bracket. Amassing that much doesn’t make life any easier, either, just a struggle to keep surplus you'll never spend. Trick of trickle-down is it never created jobs, painfully obvious and repeatedly proven, pabulum and propaganda politicians use to hoodwink rubes and stooges.

Someday without warning you'll be given a choice to do what's honorable. Consider carefully. Sacrifices you make out of fairness and justice will best serve everyone’s wellbeing, including yours. Selfish greed and spiteful opportunism will damn and haunt you for eternity, invoke God’s vengeance. Sociopaths, however, have no guilt, never graduated past infantile need and teenage jealousy. Why care about how others conduct themselves, unless it impacts you personally? The real abomination is when a nazi fraud sets himself upon a throne in judgment over hard working, honest innocents who deserve better.

Guilty of ignoring what's important? Does negativity include people you just don't want to hear? No sense of duty to those who've turned cynical out of needs you didn’t fulfill? Is peace an earnest aspiration or final destination? Even graves are no resting place, corpses disinterred for land grabs. Such advice never reaches those too busy doing right or having fun. Conversations change corespondents, could cause growth, improves civilization. Life is confusing, messy, risky and therefore wonderful. Bono sang, “When you stop taking chances, you stay where you sit. You won’t live any longer, but it’ll feel like it.” Does this meme mean to ignore wretches you've exploited without conscience? Psychologists agree the primary reason for today’s epidemic of male suicides is silence. Heeding society's discontents leads directly to authentic life experiences though it increases risks.

Smart people constitute a minuscule minority. If democracy rules, they are actually outsiders, deemed among the unhinged fringe whose actions are akin to sadomasochist and skinhead sin. They probably ought to keep every opinion to themselves lest they confuse lamebrains and invite retaliation. It's conceivable there are individuals who think so clearly they can see through any scam, solve any problem, and view rest of humanity as if an insect swarm. However, revelations come to whoever is active or awake enough to invite them, and they never demand explanation or qualification, as does sales persuasion. It's almost proof of falsehood when someone has to lecture nonstop to convince anybody.

This barrage of agitation does provoke counterproductive polarization. Although exhausting, what’s required is to weigh merit of every argument and wend own way accordingly. When boomers were teens, they had little to go on. Information wasn’t so easily fact checked over internet. Based decisions instead upon common sense, fuzzy intuitions, gut feelings, moral codes, past experiences, scant data, or stubborn prejudice. These become awesome practices in an age of propaganda. Among authentic correspondents today you have axe grinders, bogus bloggers, disreputable publicists, fake reporters, official liars, scam artists, sedition broadcasters, and social backstabbers. Pays to remain skeptical.

Not one candidate in this election cycle laid out any visionary path forward. Effective policy requires intelligence to consider every aspect of all issues, how one effects another, what can be postponed, what must be prioritized. Survival always comes first with room for civility, etiquette, niceties. Greed, divisive posturing, misappropriation of public treasury, outright criminality, suborning lies and perjury (so common in congressional testimony it is cliche), and whatever doesn’t result in sensible compromise has no place on a national level. Eyewitness testimony ought to be encouraged and heard.

Parallels decades between wars in Germany a century ago, a gradual build up to nazi dictatorship, which led to constitutional overthrow and coups by thugs emboldened by those who bought into false hopes of criminal crackdowns, full employment, and infrastructure improvements, then closed eyes to genocides. And pharaohs whipped millions of slaves to build monuments to themselves, not what you'd call share the wealth or social justice.

Root causes of dysfunctional government include both integrity of politicians and system itself. Many narcissists, nazis, self aggrandizers, and sociopaths are drawn to positions of power. Normal people shy away from scrutiny. Those in office would never get away at real jobs with cheating, lying and making empty promises. Campaign financing means they have to cater to billionaires, creating devastating wealth disparity, and foreign warlords, leaving nation vulnerable to financial and military attack. All this could be cured by treating congressional service as if jury duty. Qualified candidates could be pulled from a pool of people between 30 and 50 years old, vetted for intelligence and psychological health (which would exclude many currently in office), with right of refusal based on family hardships. Pay them like sports stars, millions for 6-year contracts, with cuts should they be recalled. This resembles what the founding fathers intended, vital land owners conscripted into roles of representing neighbors, and sacks career louts who hang around until decrepit and senile, selling votes to whoever pays the most. Precedents exist for discriminating against age or youth in crucial roles, including not being able to vote until 21 years old, and mandatory retirement of pilots and police. But random selection would include women, who are nearly ignored and not currently represented as half the population. For the Senate, only those who’ve previously served a term in The House would be eligible. Presidents, too, should have previously served as legislators.

What would be the consequences of eliminating imperial aggression? History shows that England was none the worse after relinquishing control over Hong Kong, India, and other colonies. US interjects itself into every civil war, regional instability, and tribal squabble, when should only be there alongside UN overseers upon their request. No harm in patrolling seas to protect commercial fishing and shipping, but parking just offshore to intimidate probably backfires by losing more support than gaining. Shows of force make Americans more vulnerable, though irreparable damage has already been done, spent every credit from helping win WWII, spun lies to start subsequent actions in Afghanistan, Balkans, Iraq, Korea, Viet Nam, so warmongers alone could profit. Yet quality of life might diminish for lucky 10% who can spend on something other than debt interest. Readily availability of imported materials, in particular oil, would decline. The average motorists could no longer afford gasoline, though people still drive everywhere in Europe, where pump prices are higher by factors of 3 to 6, since they don’t possess own reserves as does USA. Electronic gadgets would cost more without slaves assembling them overseas, though minimum wage American assemblers could certainly handle.

Producing stuff locally for own consumption rates as an effective alternative to fuel wasting international shipping. One could argue that any savings through cheap labor cost are lost before product arrives at mail or retail outlets. In truth, shipping is done only to maintain industrial monopoly and intellectual property, how a thing is made and spread, so a select few profit. Allowing many factories to produce locally means distributing knowledge and losing control. After you make an expensive purchase, you are charged unjustified fees to use it. Computers more frequently go obsolete while crucial data and forms are increasingly transferred into internet sites, which demands your repeated investment. All this is by design, no coincidence at all. No longer a tool, a computer is a pricey ticket into an expensive amusement park.

Holding a job to earn money to survive is a demeaning and limiting construct. There are alternatives. Explore venture capital startups. Run for office. Start a religion. Parasites and scammers make more money doing these things than honest workers. Prisons are full. All wealth derives directly from only three industries: agribusiness, manufacturing, or mining. Oddly, employees in these industries are the least paid, with profits often marginal, because there is no social justice. Farmers keep you alive, and many go bust on abusive land taxes. Miners mortgage homes and lose them when dirt doesn't pay. And manufacturing assemblers must compete with slave labor abroad. Parasites win, producers lose.

Why should Rhode Islanders care? Because ills of entire country blow up over Watch Hill’s Napatree Dune across this nondescript state, whether political retribution or prevailing weather. Conservatives avenge disloyalty, cut funding for liberal states. Community either faces competition and rises to meet or slides downward and succumbs to scavenger mentality. Conservatives demonize liberals, because they fear real criminals and figure peaceniks make easy targets. They embrace evil, and need someone to blame who won’t fight back. Although it makes no sense, they group all non-conservative factions together, including moderates, progressives, and whoever won’t kneel before them and pledge allegiance to fascism. Rhode Islanders led the original revolution by burning The Gaspee, still worth considering during tax time, paying to fund their crimes against you. Blame nobody else for your fate if you do nothing.