Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - December 2, 2022
Analysis
Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - December 2, 2022
This week's list includes that neighborhood bar, Kraft's decency, and PPS' coverup.
Now, we are expanding the list, the political perspectives, and we are going to a GoLocal team approach while encouraging readers to suggest nominees for who is "HOT" and who is "NOT."
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Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? - December 2, 2022
HOT
New Owners for Popular Neighborhood Bar
Brenden Oates can recall going to his family’s bar on Chalkstone Avenue for as long as he can remember.
His father Terry Oates had bought Gilligan’s Pub in 1992, in a space that has served as a neighborhood watering hole dating back to 1933.
After college at URI, Oates began picking up shifts to help out, and got to know the regulars, at the small — and cozy — bar, as the seating capacity stands at 25.
Among the regulars Oates got to know were folks in the restaurant industry who would stop by after their shifts were over.
It was at Gilligan's that the Oates family came to know Amanda Fullam, a Burrillville native who worked at Los Andes -- and came to love the bar.
“She really stood out,” said Oates.
HOT
Our Man in Houston - Jeremy Peña
Part of the American Dream is that a young boy or girl could come to America and accomplish anything.
Jeremy Peña is a reminder that the American Dream is alive and well in Rhode Island. So much of the narrative in America is the loss of the core attribute of our nation.
"American Dream" was credited to James Truslow Adams in 1931, when he articulated that "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.
HOT
Decency
The New England Patriots plane was spotted taking players and staff of the University of Virginia football team last weekend to the funerals of three teammates tragically shot and killed earlier this month.
The three UVA Cavaliers players shot and killed were junior receiver Lavel Davis Jr. of Dorchester, South Carolina; junior receiver Devin Chandler of Huntersville, North Carolina; and junior defensive end/linebacker D’Sean Perry of Miami.
According to Yahoo, former Patriots star Chris Slade is the current defensive ends coach for UVA.
The Patriots plane — the first private plane in the NFL — has been used to transport everything from masks during the pandemic to the University of Rhode Island football team.
It is based at Rhode Island International Airport in Warwick.
HOT
Whistleblower
The key document of the federal whistleblower complaint filed by James White, President of Local 57 of the International Union of Operating Engineers against Barletta Heavy Division, has now been secured by GoLocalProv.
The claim was under court-ordered seal for approximately two years.
White’s lawsuit constitutes a federal civil action. GoLocal was first to unveil the 6/10 contamination in the Olneyville neighborhood in September 2020.
The contamination took place under the oversight of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, and its Director, Peter Alviti, repeatedly lied in statements to the media that there was no contamination.
White’s whistleblower action was a "qui tam" action.
“In a qui tam action, a relator brings an action against a person or company on the government's behalf. The government, not the relator, is considered the plaintiff. If the government succeeds, the relator bringing the suit receives a share of the award,” according to Cornell Law.
White is the "relator" in this instance.
HOT
35 Super-Talented Students
The Rhode Island Music Education Association (RIMEA) announced on Thursday that 35 students from Rhode Island have been selected to take part in, or be alternates, to the 2023 National Association for Music Education All-Eastern Honors Ensembles.
“These selected students developed their musical skills through their participation in their school music programs, were members of Rhode Island’s All-State groups last Spring, and were sponsored by their school music teachers to apply for All-Eastern, said Karen Anghinetti, President of RIMEA.
"They represent what is possible when students are given opportunities in school to develop the musical skills that are part of every human being to the highest levels from PreK through high school graduation. We hope that the Rhode Island community will join us in congratulating and celebrating this wonderful recognition for these students, their teachers, their communities and our state," said Anghinetti.
The accepted students will rehearse and perform in concert, with their counterparts from throughout the northeast, at a gala concert taking place in April at the National Association for Music Education’s bi-annual Eastern Division Conference, this year taking place in Rochester, New York.
Students Selected
Students were selected based on their All-State rankings last year, and via nomination by their school music teachers.
Being selected or chosen as alternates indicates that these students are "amongst the finest high school musicians in the entire country," says RIMEA.
Rhode Island’s members of the 2023 All-Eastern Honors Ensembles include:
Miles Burke, Stella Densley, and Matthew Huang, from Barrington High School
Camila Brito, Mason Foss, and Nathaniel Gomes, from Cumberland High School
Rachel Williams, from Moses Brown School
Victor Bullard, Henry Scott, Lucien Chidester and Sabella Matheson, from Mt. Hope High School
Sofia Sweet, Charles Baer and Isabel Corson, from Narragansett High School
Emma Donnelly, Isabel Silveira, and Cameron Boyd, from North Kingstown High School
Nathan Comeau and Caitlin Roden from North Smithfield High School
Angelie Gordils, Gavin Gillooly, Elizabeth Welch and Rowen Klyberg, from Pilgrim High School
Anthony Fix from Ponaganset High School
Evan Williams from Scituate High School
George Ding and Christa Badoo from St. George’s School
Micah Malone from Toll Gate High School
Selected as alternates to this year’s All-Eastern Ensembles are Mckenzie Gardner and Katherine Chun, from Barrington High School; Tosin George from Cranston High School East; Abigail Bratsos and Sonia Bradley from Mt. Hope High School; Quinn Kennedy from North Kingstown High School; and Daniel Sheehan from Scituate High School.
HOT
Looking for Love
Cranston native Robert DellaVentura is starring on a new reality show hosted by actor Taye Diggs, and the first episode airs this coming Monday.
DellaVentura will be featured as a participant on streaming-giant Hulu’s “Back in the Groove” — about three single women in their 40s — and 24 men vying for their affections.
Host Diggs famously starred in the 1998 hit movie “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.”
“It’s a pretty different show than any reality show out there,” DellaVentura, a single father who is an accountant by day, told GoLocal.
So how did he come to be a budding reality show star?
“They actually reached out to me on Instagram,” said DellaVentura of getting in touch with producers at Hulu. “It’s funny. I don’t have a lot of followers, I thought maybe I was being pranked. But I reached back out to them to see what they had to say.”
HOT
RI Printmaker
GoLocal's art contributor Michael Rose has insights into a super-talented Anna McNeary:
Artists who utilize multiple media to express themselves enrich all the fields they explore. For interdisciplinary artist and Providence resident Anna McNeary, the realms of printmaking, textiles, sculpture, and installation are all fair game. In her studio at The Wurks in the Valley Arts District, McNeary is creating exciting work that sets her apart from her contemporaries.
McNeary completed her BA in Sociology from Smith College before going on to earn an MFA in Printmaking at RISD. She has shown her work widely and creates compelling objects ranging from individual prints, to quilts, to wallpaper, and more. The thread that ties them all together is McNeary’s probing vision. She pairs a love of various forms of craft with a mind that seeks to reshape her audience’s way of seeing.
NOT
Cicilline Not Making Friends
U.S. Congressman Jim Clyburn is one of the most respected members of Congress and he is arguably the most responsible for Joe Biden being President.
David Cicilline tried to knock Clyburn out of the leadership.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Mr. Clyburn’s election came after Rep. David Cicilline (D., R.I.) withdrew from the contest. One day earlier, Mr. Cicilline had unexpectedly entered the race, citing the need for representation from a member of the LGBT community with the coming departures of some gay lawmakers in leadership.
Mr. Cicilline exited the race behind closed doors on Thursday, delivering what one Democratic aide called a moving speech about the importance of LGBT representation. Some Democrats had been infuriated by his last-minute entry into race, particularly because Mr. Cicilline announced it on a day when Mr. Clyburn was out of town, delivering remarks at a funeral, and not in a position to defend himself.
NOT
Providence School Department
The video of a student being stomped on was horrific.
Then, the student stabbing the principal at Central High was deeply disturbing.
But what may be worse was the attempt to cover up and downplay the violence plays into the narrative that the School Department is untrustworthy.
