Rhode Island Feeds

Looking for an activity with the kids on the upcoming February break? Join the Portsmouth Public Education Foundation (PPEF) at the Newport Athletic Club for Family Fun Night on Sunday, Feb. 19! For just $25 for the whole family ($20 with a WinterFest button), you can play basketball, racquetball, use the pool and cardio, and other fun activities. A fun and healthy evening for the kids, and a fundraiser for PPEF's support for the schools. This is fundraiser for the PPEF, the nonprofit supporting our schools here in Portsmouth.

Full disclosure: I serve on the board of the PPEF.

This morning, Ernie's Karate in Portsmouth hosted PHS student Amanda McCabe's senior project, a benefit martial arts tournament which raised more than $500 for the RI Parent Information Network 2012 Anti-Bully Walk.

More than 100 students, parents, and friends packed the East Main Road studio as McCabe kicked off the event. "Close your eyes," she said. "Now raise your hand if you've been bullied, witnessed bullying, or even been involved in bullying yourself." She waited a moment. "Now open your eyes and look around," she said. A majority of those in the room had their hands up. "That's why we're here."

Participants donated $5 to compete in each event (forms, weapons, synchronized forms) and parents and friends stuffed a jar on the counter on the way in to support RIPIN's efforts. It was a a fun morning of wonderful karate demonstrations for a good cause.

This afternoon, Rep. David Cicilline was on hand at the People's Cafe on Thames Street in Newport to help volunteers collect the 1,000 signatures needed to get President Barack Obama's name on the April 24 primary ballot.

Local political figures who stopped by to help included State Sen. Lou DiPalma (D-12), RI Rep. Peter Martin (D-75), and Portsmouth's former Sen. Chuck Levesque and Democratic Party chair Len Katzman.

And, just a reminder. If you're a Democrat, and want to throw your hat in the ring as a delegate to the national convention in Charlotte, the RI Democratic Party will be hosting a workshop on running for delegate next Tuesday night in Bristol.

Full disclosure: Our son is a student at Ernie's (which is an awesome school) and I am an officer of the Portsmouth Democratic Town Committee who signed President Obama's nomination papers.

In order to be on the March Primary ballot, every candidate needs signatures, and local Dems will be collecting them for President Barack Obama this Saturday in Newport from 2-3pm at the Peoples's Cafe on Thames Street. Get directions and RSVP at BarackObama.com.

Want to play an even bigger role in the process? You might consider running for delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte next September. The RI Democratic Party will be hosting a workshop on running for delegate next Tuesday night in Bristol.

Full disclosure: I am an officer of the Portsmouth Democratic Town Committee.

According to the ProJo, Portsmouth's embattled Rep. Dan Gordon announced his intention to run for a second term on Twitter. According to the ProJo, Gordon tweeted "The tyrants never sleep & some1 in govt has to fight back."

Wow. Just, wow.

The Portsmouth Little League (PLL) held their annual meeting this past Wednesday night at the Hampton Inn in Middletown and elected a new board of directors, according to a release issued this afternoon.

President – Keith Hamilton
VP of Baseball – John Skrypiec
VP of Softball – Jim Campbell
Coaching Coordinator – Pat Young
Secretary – Julie Young
Player Agent – Alan Pinchook
Safety Coordinator – Ian Mitchell
Director of Instructional – Matt Correia.

The PLL release continues, "We would like to thank all of the retiring board members for their hours of dedication to the league. The backbone of any youth sports organization is the volunteers who give countless hours to help the league succeed."

According to the release, PLL is still looking for a Treasurer for the upcoming 2012 season, and anyone interested can either contact Keith Hamilton at keithhamilton@cox.net or attend the next meeting, Tuesday, January 24 at 7:00pm in Valley Inn Restaurant (2221 W. Main Road).

Player registration is currently available at:
http://www.active.com/baseball-league/portsmouth-ri/portsmouth-ri-little...

FREE Volunteer Registration required for LexisNexis background checks is currently available at:
http://www.active.com/baseball-league/portsmouth-ri/portsmouth-ri-little...

Editorial note: Written from a press release. Congratulations and best wishes to these folks, and all the volunteers who support baseball for the kids of Portsmouth!

At a press event at the Guggenheim Museum in NY, Apple yesterday introduced a new, free application for creating electronic books called iBooks Author, and while it has some notable limitations, it promises the kind of step-function increase in user empowerment not seen since the days of Hypercard. Seriously, it gave me flashbacks to 1987. And I don't say that lightly.

The iBooks Author software is essentially a page-oriented multimedia creation tool; that is, you can imagine PowerPoint on steroids, or for those familiar with high-end production, Quark or inDesign. But in addition to allowing you to easily create pages with rich media assets, it takes you to the next step, automatically packaging everything up in an electronic publication format distributable on the iPad.

In half an hour, I was able to build a basic e-book including pictures, interactive widgets, links, and alternate layouts for portrait and landscape. Another hour and I was up the curve enough on the developer back-end tool, Dashcode, to create a little custom HTML widget, integrate, and deploy the whole thing to an iPad.

This could give everyday users — like, say, Apple's stated target market of educators — the kind of tablet-publishing capability that will drive an explosion of diversity and experimentation.

Yes, to take full advantage of the interactivity, you need to use Apple's iBooks app on the iPad, although you can also output as an Adobe Acrobat PDF, readable across devices, which preserves some functionality. But that's clearly not its sweet spot.

For anyone who's tried to build e-pubs using existing tools, iBooks Author is a "glass of ice water in hell." Existing free or low-cost apps all aim at creating sturdy, validating, cross-platform epubs; the high-end extensions of tools like inDesign support rich media, but are expensive and often require proprietary deployment systems. Apple has lobbed an enormously powerful tool into this mix, and by giving it away, they are clearly aiming to amp development for the iPad. Vendor lock-in is always a Faustian bargain, but considering the terms of the license — if you give iBooks away for free, there's no cost; any sales must go through the Apple store where they take a reported 30% cut — many might find it reasonable.

Hypercard flashbacks. Big time. Anyone with a Mac now has a tool you can learn in an afternoon that can create a professional-level ebook. This is exactly the feeling we had in 1987 when Hypercard gave everyone the ability to build interactive screen-based applications point-and-click style. Do I miss the ability to control the entire UI? Do I wish there was a more fully-integrated scripting language like HyperTalk? Am I concerned about deploying on other platforms and open standards? Yeah, sure.

For those inclined to worry about Faustian bargains, just remember that publishing tools have unintended and unimaginable consequences. Once you give people access to the means of production, it's very hard to shove the genie back in the bottle. Hypercard may have died out as a platform, but the ripples of hypermedia read-write enablement are with us still. Will iBooks Author do the same for publishing? We shall see.

Full disclosure: Our family owns Apple stock.

This weekend, fans of science fiction, fantasy, anime, gaming, costuming, and filk take over the Westin Boston Waterfront for the 23rd annual Arisia convention. As usual, it's an amazing program, and this con is always fun.

Oh, and I'm on a couple of panels, so, hey, stop by.

Army of Davids: The Role of New Media
Room: Revere
Sat 1:00 PM
With the FCC suggesting taxes and subsidies for legacy media, the new media is
increasingly successful in setting the agenda and breaking news stories. What
does this new media mean for the consumer and the political world? Will online
news media, generated by an increasing number of citizen journalists, be the new standard? Or will something or someone take their place? What about quality control? Are social networks and the hive mind aggregate the best models for investigative journalism?
David J. Friedman, David Larochelle (moderator), John G. McDaid, Maddy Myers, James Zavaglia

The Legacy of Steve Jobs
Burroughs
Sat 7:00 PM
Steve Jobs passed away last October, but his influence will last for years to come. He was most identified with Apple but don't forget NeXT (if you use a MacBook, you can't), and Pixar wouldn't exist without him, either. How did he "think differently" and will Apple continue to do so without his guiding hand? Will he be remembered with rose-colored glasses or as the demanding perfectionist that he was? Is anyone in the tech world ready or able to step into his shoes?
William "Ian" Blanton, John G. McDaid (m), Richard Stallman, James Turner

Kolchak the Night Stalker
Alcott
Sat 10:00 PM
After two TV movies, a short lived series in the 1970’s and an even shorter resurrection in the 2000’s, *Kolchak the Night Stalker* has shown its staying power with its fan base, influencing such shows as the X-Files along with graphic and regular novels. Panelists and the audience will give their views on this legacy.
Dr.Chris, Catherine Kane, John G. McDaid, Charlie Spickler, James Zavaglia

Marshall McLuhan Centennial
Independence
Sun 2:30 PM
The medium of the future is still the message. This year is the centennial of Marshall McLuhan's birth, and his views on media have had a huge influence. Let's look ahead at the future of media and in what ways McLuhan's insights may be overtaken by events or, on the contrary, continue to be relevant.
Lex Berman, David Larochelle (m), John G. McDaid, Ira Nayman, James Zavaglia

Full disclosure: Yes, I'm sometimes still reduced to gibbering awe that I get to sit on panels with people like these.

Last night's Rhode Island Blogosphere post-holiday party rocked the The Salon in Providence, with more than 100 bloggers, politicos, and media folks kicking back and talking about the state of the world, online and off.

The big local news, of course, is the relaunch of Rhode Island's Future, the state's premier progressive blog, which was dormant most of last year. But with a spiffy redesigned site and a great collection of writing talent, RI Future looks poised to make a well-timed comeback.

Also on hand last night was an advance team from Netroots Nation, coming to town in June, and getting to know local bloggers and progressive activists. (Have you registered yet?)

It was night full of great conversations and the wonderful experience of meeting people IRL that you've been reading online (Hard to believe, in this small state, but true!) Great seeing you, everybody!

The Portsmouth Public Education Foundation (PPEF) is beginning to plan this year's "Hidden Kitchens of Portsmouth" tour, and could use your help. There will be a meeting for volunteers on Monday, Jan. 23 at 5:45pm at the Portsmouth Public Library.

If you've ever been on the tour — which is the major fundraiser for PPEF — you know how much fun it is to see a half-dozen of Portsmouth's unique kitchens while sampling some of the best snacks and drinks from local wineries, markets, caterers, and restaurants. As you can imagine, there's quite a bit of behind the scenes work to make the tour happen.

We can use your help, and we will find something you're comfortable doing, whether it's spending an hour stuffing envelopes at home, driving around to pick up supplies, or serving as one of the official house greeters on the day of the tour. We appreciate every minute you can give — and it will help the nonprofit PPEF raise money that goes right into grants that benefit our Portsmouth schools.

Can't make the meeting but still want to help out? Please drop an e-mail to PPEF.

Full disclosure: I serve on the board of PPEF.

The Technology Planning Committee of the Portsmouth School District (PSD) met last night to hear updates on current initiatives and discuss a proposed social media policy to be forwarded to the School Committee.

The committee, chaired by PSD Tech Director Rose Muller, comprises teachers, staff, and community representation, and meets several times during the school year to review progress and goals. Items on last night's agenda included the new School Information System (SIS), Upgrades and initiatives, and a proposed social media policy.

Muller updated the group on the migration to the new SIS, Aspen, which required significant data cleanup (the previous system suffered from significant denormalization). One important new feature is the attendance automation which integrates with an automatic call feature — parents are now automatically called if no absence is reported, and in a much more timely fashion.

The district has also finished upgrading all switches to gigabit speed to be ready to take advantage of the BTOP fiber ring currently being run through the state to connect educational institutions.

And if you haven't yet had the chance to check out the new look of the PSD Web site, you may want to go take a peek. The new design, rolled out over the holiday break, aimed to simplify the navigation and and refresh the look and feel.

The group also discussed the proposed social media policy, which will be forwarded to the school committee for review and action. The goal was to provide educators and students with a framework for the responsible use of these new communication tools within and related to school.

Full disclosure: I've been a parent volunteer on this committee for about four years now, and I think this is the first meeting I've reported on, since the content is typically pretty mundane. You may not think it accidental that tonight, the school committee will be voting on who to appoint to their "official" technology subcommittee; my letter of application is among those being considered.

Black ice appeared to be responsible for at least one accident in Portsmouth this morning, as a vehicle skidded across the parking lot of Portsmouth Wine & Spirits at 1557 West Main Road and crashed into the building, destroying a window and leaving a five-foot hole in the front wall.

The accident occurred shortly after 7am this morning, according to Portsmouth Police at the scene. There was no word on injuries.

Rhode Island's Future, the state's premier progressive political blog, annnounced a major relaunch this Wednesday, January 11, as part a gathering of bloggers from around the state, according to a press release distributed this afternoon.

According to the release, after a year-long experiment in which the blog was largely unmoderated and independent, Rhode Island's Future will recommit to expanding the progressive voice throughout the state. With the upcoming primary and general elections this year, a new political landscape that includes the first Hispanic Mayor of Providence and a registered Independent as governor, the upcoming Netroots Nation convention, and a series of financial and social crises that have come to a head in RI, including skyrocketing unemployment, perennial tax debates, and the recent pension reform legislation, RI Future will once again play a prominent role in advocating for progressive solutions to the problems facing the Ocean State and will be a truly grass-roots community-based source for information in the state and beyond.

The expanded list of contributors to the blog includes many longtime, new, and periodic writers and community activists in the state including: Aaron Regunberg, Andy Cutler, Brian Hull, David Segal, John Speck, Josh Stabach, Kate Brock, Libby Kimzey, Marco McWilliams, Mark Santow, Pat Smith, Reza Clifton, Russ Conway, and Thom Cahir. The new writing team includes a former elected official and Congressional candidate, a current candidate for State Representative, social activists and community organizers, a history professor, a local adult educator, an entrepreneurship and strategic communications consultant, and an award-winning multimedia producer. Each of these writers brings with them particular expertise and interests that will reinvigorate the RI Future community by reaching new audiences.

The evolution brings a wider spectrum of views and interests, and the newest incarnation of RI Future will be a platform where topics will be covered in written and multimedia formats. While budget and tax policy, the economy, state and local elections, immigration, civil rights, progressive politics, and State House news be a large part of the stories covered, RI Future will also be tackling issues such as net neutrality, digital rights, and online privacy; the intersection of race, art and politics; trends in political and online communities; and will more fully engage with the arts and culture community. More importantly, as the buzz about RI Future’s return builds in blogger and political circles, content will be driven by the evolving group of diverse writers to the site. Readers will be further engaged through an article rating system that monitors reader reaction, comment ratings which will assist with the self-policing of the site, social media linkages, reader-created content, and partnerships with other blogs and media outlets.

The new and improved RIFuture.org will be available for viewing beginning on January 11, 2012 – a time coinciding with the Annual Providence Blogosphere Post-Holidays Party, which will be held on the 11th from 7:00-10:00 PM at The Salon, 57 Eddy St. in Providence.

Editorial note: Written from a press release.

Last night, the Contemporary Theater Company staged their 7th-annual "24-hour play fest" at South Kingstown high school, featuring six one-act shows written, directed, and produced in one day, and the results were, by turns, hilarious, engaging, and thought provoking. It was an amazing evening of theater, made all the more special by the knowledge that none of it had existed on Saturday.

The audience voted after the show, and the overall winner for the evening was also the first one on the program, "The Long Play," a twisted comedy about a couple considering divorce, their naif and musical son, and a sudden visit from a long-forgotten high school classmate professing his love for the father. The script by by Michael Lowden was deft and surprising and the directorial choices by CTC's Christopher Simpson were inspired (as the mother watches a football game, the audience literally becomes the TV, as actors tossed footballs; in a later flashback moment, high-school field trip kids poke a stuffed possum and Simpson broke the fourth wall to invite the audience to join in.) Emily Boyle and James Foley did a wonderful job as the estranged couple, and their son, played by Miles Martin plinked along on an electric piano before supporting them in a parody musical number as they reconcile and rebuff the unrequited high-school crush, played by Matt Royality-Lindman. If that sounds like a truly gonzo one-act to pull off in a day, well, yes, it was. The award for best show was well deserved.

There were additional challenges for the writers: each had two writing prompts, such as, "a musical number abbreviated abruptly," "repeated nonverbal references to the weather," and "actor plays an inanimate object." As if cranking out a one-act overnight was not challenging enough. But wait, there's more. Each show also had to include six common bits of dialogue, and it was really fascinating to watch as the meaning of the phrases pivoted in each of the plays. There were lines like "Once you get to know me, you will know how absurd that question is," "I can make myself heard, but I can't make people listen," and "that moment where nobody speaks, but everyone understands what's happening," and then, as you heard them over and over in different contexts, there was a delightful dissonance. The six writers all did a wonderful job working within the constraints.

The second show was a futuristic dystopia, "Look in the Clouds" by Shawn Fennell, directed by Lily Matthews. Portsmouth's Andrew Katzman played the young tutor and suitor of Tammy Brown, a 16-year-old in a mega-high-rise of the future, whose designer father, Pat Keefe, is preoccupied with how to move the residents ever higher to escape global warming. I've got a soft spot for this genre, and the energy between Katzman and Brown was wonderful; there was one beat where he brings her a bouquet of balloons and she exclaims that helium is expensive. "Maybe I sold a kidney," he admitted, in a moment that was a beautiful mix of rueful memory and come-on. As they descend in the elevator, Rebecca Magnotta appeared in a delightful absurdist turn as Amelia Earhart.

Next up was "I Thought My Boyfriend Was a Vampire," by Shannon Lee Clair, directed by David Price, a darkly comic ghost story in a hotel room as Tonya Free discovers that her boyfriend, Grey Johnson, is visited nightly by the shade of his dead twin brother, played by Max Rosmarin — with the occasional intrusion of his spiritual guide, the classical Horace, played by Eli Roth, who speaks only in poetic forms. "Lucky I wasn't dead during his limerick phase," Max notes. The evolving dynamic between Tonya and Max was well played, and the play closes with her considering a revolver in her hand as she ponders which brother she loves. A wonderful beat.

"Relationship Rescues," written by journalist Liz Boardman and directed by Jonathan Pitts-Wiley, offered a fresh take on family counseling, with a delightfully over-the-top barefoot therapist, played by Max Matthews, whose blend of reiki woo and gnomic advice delivered in haiku won him best actor of the evening. Spencer Curry as the oblivious sports-obsessed husband ("Why I am here? The Pats have a by week") and Amy Lee Connell as the control-freak wife had a delightful chemistry, and Connell took home best actress of the evening. Christine Cauchon turned in a subtle counterpoint as another patient kept outside in the rain, who turns out to be the key to the doctor's happiness in the end.

The next show was "Spinning Spinach & Tasting Teacups Gives Dreadful Girls Painful Hiccups," written by Ashley Macamaux and directed by Amy Lynn Budd, and it was a minimalist fantasy about a man with a balloon. I'm one of those people who digs futurist theatre, so I loved the weird, absurdist interactions of Rico Lanni, Sami Avigdor, Meghan Rose Donnelly, and Steph Rodger, who may have been in a park, and then passengers on a train. Donnelly may have been a man. Or a woman. And the balloon may have gotten stuck in the rafters on purpose. Or maybe not. Weird fun.

The evening closed with "I Smell Bad and Can't Read Good," by Davidb Marchetti, directed by Judith Ross-McNab, a high-octane comedy that won for best plot, about two guys, a delightfully smarmy Pat Hayes and his nebbish wingman Kevin Killavey who try to pick up two women at the beach. There's a minor complication: a giant, rotting whale that Grace Danna convinces her friend Amelia Giles to use to their advantage, by playing the boys into trying to save the obviously dead critter as payback for a string of macho pickup lines. Killavey turned in a delightful long-suffering counterpoint trying to convince his pal to abandon the attempt to impress the women by playing marine biologists while ignoring the obvious: "Free Willy's bloated carcass is right there!" While the couples do find rapprochement, the local authorities blow up the whale with dynamite, showering the cast in a hilarious rain of red Jello.

It was a marvelous, magical, hilarious evening full of intense moments and human notes, and the entire cast and crew should be very proud of what they did in one day. This is what theater is about, and I highly recommend you make the trip to South County when they do this next year.

You can find out more about the Contemporary Theater Company on their web site, or like them on Facebook. Their next production, in late February, is Charles Mee's dark dramedy "Paradise Park," which, in the hands of this company, should be a fun ride indeed.

Full disclosure: Our family knows the Katzmans, but I had no idea that they had any connection to the show until after I had decided to attend.

Stateside Associates, a government relations consulting firm, has named Portsmouth's harddeadlines.com to its list of the best local politics blogs around the country, according to a press release distributed today.

The 74 blogs on the list run the gamut from sole props like mine to the politics blogs of newspapers like Gannett's Cincinnati.com. (Yes, I did google for secondary pickup to see if it was a linkbait scam. If your mother says she loves you, check it out.)

In Stateside's companion guide to the best State-level politics blogs, Ted Nesi and the ProJo Politics blog both got the thumbs-up.

As I said to their representative when he contacted me this evening by e-mail, I'm delighted that people find my coverage useful, and appreciate the recognition and exposure.

Editorial note: Written substantially from a press release. This was unsolicited, and I had no knowledge of this, nor contact with anyone at Stateside Associates prior to this evening.

According to this week's "community update" from RIDOT, demolition work on Portsmouth's Escape Bridge from Jan 9-20 will include continued installation of netting under the bridge to catch debris. Demolition of the superstructure and removal and disposal of the sidewalk and bridge railing are also on the schedule.

Editorial note: Written from a press release.

According to agendas distributed by the Portsmouth Town Clerk this afternoon, it appears that the candidates for Town Administrator will be going through final interviews this Friday and Saturday at Town Hall. All the meetings are listed as executive sessions under "RIGL 42-46-5 (a) (1)" for "Personnel, Interviews."

The "civilian panel" selected by the Town Council (with each Councilor choosing one representative) will meet at 8am on Friday in the Portsmouth Room, with the professional panel from the search firm downstairs in the Council executive chamber.

Town Council will be interviewing the candidates in executive session in the Portsmouth Room at 8:30 on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Next Wednesday, Jan 11, at Salon in Providence, the Rhode Island blogosphere gets together for their fourth annual holiday party, joined by special guests from the Netroots Nation advance team prepping for the conference this June. Hang out with all the awesome folks from our local online world and get a peek into the Netroots planning. You won't want to miss this one!

More details at Providence Daily Dose, and here's info on The Salon.

BTW, have you registered for Netroots Nation yet?

Locus, the trade paper of the science fiction field, reviews most of the short fiction in the major markets, and this week, Lois Tilton had a brief but positive note about "Umbrella Men"...

"A story of family and of human ties. The plot avoids predictable routes, and the characters are very appealing, especially the nascent SF writer João."

Tilton can be a tough reviewer — color me chuffed.

According to a "community update" from RIDOT received today, demolition work on the Escape Bridge will begin on December 26, following completion of the netting under the bridge to catch debris. The first phase of the work, which they project to last through January 6, will include demo of the superstructure and removal and disposal of the sidewalk.

They keep calling it the "Cove Bridge," but we all know what they mean.

Editorial note: Written from a press release.

The Portsmouth School Committee met in executive session for 3.5 hours tonight, and the 20-or-so citizens who were still hanging on at 10pm learned only that a new subcommittee would be formed to support the Superintendent. The two votes taken during the exec reportedly had to do with process — one to affirm their personnel review approach and the other, which failed, to suspend the rules. The minutes were then sealed, and the committee adjourned without taking up the regular agenda.

If this sounds confusing and incomplete, well, yeah, it was.

Everyone I talked to at the meeting — we had so much time that I was talking with people I *never* talk to — admitted they knew a tiny piece of the story. People said they knew it was about Superintendent Krizic (which was also apparently in Saturday's edition of the dead-tree news organ from the southern part of the island) but beyond that peg, the stories diverged like a game of telephone being played in a Kurosawa film.

I clearly don't know, and I'm not speculating.

The first two hours of the meeting, the school committee was closeted with their lawyers, leaving Krizic out with the public. Then came a brief break, people headed for bathrooms, still not talking to anyone, then they disappeared back into the little room.

But this time, it was *with* the Superintendent and *without* the attorneys.

That left an odd mix of constituencies waiting in the PHS library — a contingent from the Portsmouth Public Education Foundation, several from NEA Portsmouth, a big bloc of PCC types, and three of the Town Council (Robicheau, Kesson, and Staven) who stopped by after their meeting ended. PHS Principal Bob Littlefield was seen slipping in and out. There were a couple of parents, and, of course, the usual reporters. All waiting for what seemed oddly anticlimactic.

I mean, okay, we've now got a new subcommittee to help the Superintendent. Or something. (Guide? Monitor? Evaluate? Remains to be seen who's on it and what their actual charge is.) Seems like you might have been able to get to a result like that without all the secrecy, angst, and drama. Whatever went on for those first two hours with the lawyers on the clock must have been pretty interesting stuff.

And I thought I was taking this week off from blogging....