Things best not to say to cops (or anyone, really)

Pulling the occasional weekend duty at The Providence Journal required me to check the overnight police reports in the Capital City. Always interesting, reading the first-hand narratives of incidents and arrests that officers have written -- they often quote offenders, and their reports really constitute stories. Here are two cases where arresting officers tried reason, but were met with drunken anger. I quote:

-- Offender One, a woman.
"I don't give a f***. F*** that. These cops are a*******."

They also have handcuffs...

-- Offender Two, a man.
"You guys are a bunch of dicks, I don't have to go, f*** this."

Oh, yes, you do...

President Obama's remarks on the Supreme Court's ruling on healthcare

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                           June 28, 2012

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

ON THE SUPREME COURT RULING

ON THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

East Room

12:15 P.M. EDT

     THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  Earlier today, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act -- the name of the health care reform we passed two years ago.  In doing so, they've reaffirmed a fundamental principle that here in America -- in the wealthiest nation on Earth – no illness or accident should lead to any family’s financial ruin. 

I know there will be a lot of discussion today about the politics of all this, about who won and who lost.  That’s how these things tend to be viewed here in Washington.  But that discussion completely misses the point.  Whatever the politics, today’s decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it.

And because this law has a direct impact on so many Americans, I want to take this opportunity to talk about exactly what it means for you. 

First, if you’re one of the more than 250 million Americans who already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance -- this law will only make it more secure and more affordable.  Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime limits on the amount of care you receive.  They can no longer discriminate against children with preexisting conditions.  They can no longer drop your coverage if you get sick.  They can no longer jack up your premiums without reason.  They are required to provide free preventive care like check-ups and mammograms -- a provision that's already helped 54 million Americans with private insurance.  And by this August, nearly 13 million of you will receive a rebate from your insurance company because it spent too much on things like administrative costs and CEO bonuses, and not enough on your health care. 

There’s more.  Because of the Affordable Care Act, young adults under the age of 26 are able to stay on their parent's health care plans -- a provision that's already helped 6 million young Americans.  And because of the Affordable Care Act, seniors receive a discount on their prescription drugs -- a discount that's already saved more than 5 million seniors on Medicare about $600 each.

All of this is happening because of the Affordable Care Act. These provisions provide common-sense protections for middle class families, and they enjoy broad popular support.  And thanks to today’s decision, all of these benefits and protections will continue for Americans who already have health insurance.   

Now, if you’re one of the 30 million Americans who don’t yet have health insurance, starting in 2014 this law will offer you an array of quality, affordable, private health insurance plans to choose from.  Each state will take the lead in designing their own menu of options, and if states can come up with even better ways of covering more people at the same quality and cost, this law allows them to do that, too.  And I’ve asked Congress to help speed up that process, and give states this flexibility in year one. 

Once states set up these health insurance marketplaces, known as exchanges, insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against any American with a preexisting health condition.  They won’t be able to charge you more just because you’re a woman.  They won’t be able to bill you into bankruptcy. If you’re sick, you’ll finally have the same chance to get quality, affordable health care as everyone else.  And if you can’t afford the premiums, you'll receive a credit that helps pay for it. 

Today, the Supreme Court also upheld the principle that people who can afford health insurance should take the responsibility to buy health insurance.  This is important for two reasons. 

First, when uninsured people who can afford coverage get sick, and show up at the emergency room for care, the rest of us end up paying for their care in the form of higher premiums. 

And second, if you ask insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions, but don’t require people who can afford it to buy their own insurance, some folks might wait until they’re sick to buy the care they need -- which would also drive up everybody else’s premiums.

That’s why, even though I knew it wouldn’t be politically popular, and resisted the idea when I ran for this office, we ultimately included a provision in the Affordable Care Act that people who can afford to buy health insurance should take the responsibility to do so.  In fact, this idea has enjoyed support from members of both parties, including the current Republican nominee for President.

Still, I know the debate over this law has been divisive.  I respect the very real concerns that millions of Americans have shared.  And I know a lot of coverage through this health care debate has focused on what it means politically. 

Well, it should be pretty clear by now that I didn’t do this because it was good politics.  I did it because I believed it was good for the country.  I did it because I believed it was good for the American people.

There’s a framed letter that hangs in my office right now.  It was sent to me during the health care debate by a woman named Natoma Canfield.  For years and years, Natoma did everything right.  She bought health insurance.  She paid her premiums on time.  But 18 years ago, Natoma was diagnosed with cancer.  And even though she’d been cancer-free for more than a decade, her insurance company kept jacking up her rates, year after year.  And despite her desire to keep her coverage -- despite her fears that she would get sick again -- she had to surrender her health insurance, and was forced to hang her fortunes on chance. 

I carried Natoma’s story with me every day of the fight to pass this law.  It reminded me of all the Americans, all across the country, who have had to worry not only about getting sick, but about the cost of getting well. 

Natoma is well today.  And because of this law, there are other Americans -- other sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers -- who will not have to hang their fortunes on chance.  These are the Americans for whom we passed this law. 

The highest Court in the land has now spoken.  We will continue to implement this law.  And we'll work together to improve on it where we can.  But what we won’t do -- what the country can’t afford to do -- is refight the political battles of two years ago, or go back to the way things were. 

With today’s announcement, it’s time for us to move forward -- to implement and, where necessary, improve on this law.  And now is the time to keep our focus on the most urgent challenge of our time:  putting people back to work, paying down our debt, and building an economy where people can have confidence that if they work hard, they can get ahead. 

But today, I’m as confident as ever that when we look back five years from now, or 10 years from now, or 20 years from now, we’ll be better off because we had the courage to pass this law and keep moving forward. 

Thank you.  God bless you, and God bless America.

Carol Young's book club

Carol on the right, me at head of table, photo by Wayne Coats.

 
Not often that I make a make a book appearance and am treated to a fine dinner, but that's what happened Monday when I was the guest at Carol Young's book club, which met at her home. Carol is a dear friend of many years, and was a colleague at The Providence Journal for decades before she retired two years ago. I discussed AN UNCOMMON MAN, my biography of Claiborne Pell. The company and evening were the best!

Reports of my death...

... have been greatly exaggerated. But there have been reports, most recently last week in Forth Worth, Texas. I must say my trip to heaven was quite interesting. I have sworn not to reveal details, however. Sorry!

"Superman Building," a rare tour

As the next installment in our year-long series Reinvent Rhode Island, The Providence Journal on Sunday, June 17, will publish a story about possible future uses for the iconic "Superman Building," which Bank of America, lone tenant, will vacate by April 2013. We were lucky enough to get a top-to-bottom tour of this historic and intriguing building, which has a storied place in Rhode Island history.

Here are some photos I took. Look for more in The Journal...

The "Superman Building," opened in 1928 as the Industrial Trust Company building, from Kennedy Plaza.

View of the Plaza from atop the building. The three prominent buildings are City Hall, the Biltmore and the Westin.

The view south, toward the head of Narragansett Bay

Door to the fabled "Gondola Room," rarely visited by the public. Many myths have developed regarding what this room was used for. Docking of dirigibles? Private parties for the bank president?

The Gondola Room. design clearly inspired by the passenger compartment of a 1920s blimp. Note the leather and oak appointments...

Custom wine rack.

The lantern at the top of the building is visible for miles at night. Here's the inside of the lantern.

Executive dining room, 26th Floor. No longer used, but furnishings remain.

The executive suite was lavishly furnished. These will all be removed when BofA vacates.

Peregrine falcons nest on the building. Here's a newly hatched chick. There's a webcam for them...

The basement safe has concrete walls thicker than three feet and doors that weigh 17 tons, all steel.

Side view of one of the safe doors. There are four doors. The safe itself is bigger than a house, or so it seemed. We were not allowed in.

Another door, next to a stationery bike, which gives the scale.

Free speech rights, free speech symbol

Exercising their free-speech rights, members of Occupy Providence have set up camp on the sidewalk alongside a four-story symbol of those same rights, The Providence Journal's headquarters in the capitol city's downtown. Behind the signs they have hung from our building is our newsroom. The Occupiers are demonstrating as the netroots convention unfolds across the street, at the Convention Center.

4 p.m. June 7, 2012, The Providence Journal.

A speech at the Convention Center, across from Journal

Zombie Night

Spending the morning watching Providence Journal films as we plan our participation in this summer's Rhode Island International Film Festival. Some great work by many fine filmmakers. Lots of serious and public-service productions, such as COMING HOME, but some are just great fun -- this one, "Zombie Night," by Sandor Bodo, one of our longtime photojournalists.

More of the backlist on Kindle

 
Amazon is methodically migrating backlisted titles to Kindle. With the addition of MEN AND SPEED, my 2002 book about NASCAR, five of mine are now available on Kindle.

Boston's beautiful Custom House

For a piece I am writing about possible new uses for an iconic building in Rhode Island, I turned for inspiration to Boston, where the venerable Custom House is now a Marriott Resort. They have beautifully restored this building, which was begun in 1837, completed in 1849, and completed with a 496-foot tower in 1915. General manager Willie Nagda graciously gave me and Providence Journal photographer Steve Szydlowski an hour-and-a-half tour. Starting with views from the 26th-story observation deck:

Buildings to the west. Last time I was up here, in college in the 1970s, I used an 8-by-10 b&w camera.

View to north, overlooking Quincy Marketplace. Fanueil Hall in foreground, City Hall to left; TD Garden, home of Celtics and Bruins,  and Zakim Bridge in distance.

To the east, Boston Harbor, Logan Airport in distance.

Guest loft, made from 1840s office space.

The magnificent dome, 163 years old.

Exterior view from Greenway, where hideous Central Artery once stood. The Big Dig buried the highway and opened up acres of park.

35th N.E. Emmys: No wins, a great evening nonetheless

We were nominated in two categories, but The Providence Journal did not take home an award last night at the 35^th New England Emmys, held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. We congratulate all of the winners. And we were thrilled just to be nominees, watching from directly in front of the stage, at Table 3 with Connecticut Public Television, which won several awards.

Yolanda and me, at Table 3, the 35th N.E. Emmys

The Emmys, of course, are sponsored by the regional chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. And so it said something significant that not only were several newspapers nominated in several categories, but the Boston Globe, led by former Journal visuals editor Thea Breite, won eight awards by my count. The Quincy Patriot Ledger picked up one. When you consider that newspapers cannot be eligible for many categories – “Outstanding Anchor – News,” for example – it demonstrates that this ancient medium, “print,” is very much alive in the modern age.

I’d like to give a special acknowledgment to the WPRI Target 12 investigative team, led by Tim White. They won for Outstanding Investigative Report. Tim is a great person along with being a great investigative reporter.

John, Yolanda, me.

The Journal was nominated in Outstanding Societal Concerns for "Justice for Jason: Foreman family strives to change Rhode Island Law," John Freidah, video journalist, and Cecilia Prestamo, editor; and in Outstanding Documentary for "Coming Home," John, Cile and me. These two films – and more, by other Journal documentarians – will be shown and discussed during panel sessions at this summer’s Rhode Island International Film Festival, where The Journal will have a large presence from start to finish. I also am serving as a 2012 Finalist Judge. Festival founder and chief George Marshall and his crew won an Emmy last night for Outstanding Public Service. See you starting August 7 at the festival!

Murrow Award Evening

Cile Prestamo, John Freidah and me.

A fine evening May 18 at the Newton, Mass., Marriott, receiving the Edward R. Murrow Award for best online documentary, New England Region, from the Radio Television Digital News Association. This for COMING HOME, our documentary about veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars that has been broadcast on Rhode Island PBS and nominated for a New England Emmy.

Sat next to a table with some friends from Providence WPRI, Channel 12, with whom The Providence Journal has a professional relationship. And there was award-winning investigative reporter Tim White, son of the late Jack, who won a Pulitzer while at the Journal and who was a friend of mine, starting with our days together at the Cape Cod Times. I wrote Jack's obituary when he died suddenly in 2005. A good man, as is his son.

And we saw many folks from The Boston Globe, including Thea Breite, who once worked at the Journal. The Globe won several online awards. They and we were the only newspapers represented in this room full of broadcast journalists -- wolves at the door! You will see more papers creeping in as media continues to reinvent... Simmons College and the Associated Press broadcast division also presented awards.

Pell Scholars speech at Salve Regina University

©Marianne Lee / Courtesy of Salve Regina University
 The 2012 Pell Scholars, with Mrs. Nuala Pell, center; me, behind her; and Dr. Khalil Habib, director of the Pell Honors Program and philosophy professor at Salve Regina University, right rear.

On Tuesday, May 15, I was the guest of honor at the graduating dinner for this year's class of Pell Scholars at Salve Regina University. An honor indeed! These young women and men are destined for great things. And I had the pleasure of sitting with Salve President Sister Jane Gerety and Mrs. Nuala Pell. Our conversations could have continued all night. These were my remarks:

REMARKS TO PELL SCHOLARS
Pell Center
Salve Regina University
May 15, 2012

Thank you Dr. Habib, thank you Sister Jane, thank you Mrs. Pell -- and especially thanks to all of you, Salve’s distinguished Pell Scholars, for allowing me the honor of your company on the eve of your graduation.

I know a little about your impressive backgrounds – the internships some of you have served while at Salve, the superb education you have received at this great university in the city by the sea, and the study abroad many of you have undertaken. Seems like there is a strong connection between Newport and Senegal, Russia, Egypt, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Australia, Ireland and England. All of this is the very type of real-world experience that greatly influenced Claiborne Pell when he was your age and throughout his whole life.

From travels and learning like that, both here and abroad, came his profound belief – a belief he never lost -- that the world can indeed be a better place. A more peaceful, verdant and tolerant place, in which all people have the freedom to pursue their dreams, just as you already are pursuing yours.
So I congratulate you. I admire and respect your intellectual curiosity and scholarship. And I wish you safe and happy travels.

As you prepare for the next chapter of the stories you each are writing for yourselves, I encourage you to speak out at every appropriate opportunity. As someone who has spent more than three decades as a writer and journalist – in the public realm, in other words – let me say that we need fresh, new, exciting – and excited -- voices as never before. Welcome to the stage!

Whether standing front and center or occupying the wings, all of you here this evening will participate in the civil discourse that has shaped America since before the founding fathers. In the case of Rhode Island, this remarkable tradition dates to our own founder, the great 17th-century contrarian Roger Williams, who was banished from Massachusetts after being convicted of sedition and heresy for his belief in the separation of church and state. To think that Massachusetts today is the epitome of liberalism, the place that gave us the Kennedys, John Kerry, Mike Dukakis and President Obama, by way of Harvard Law…

But I digress.

The point is, Roger Williams was a man of conscience who was not afraid to use his voice. In his 36 years in the U.S. Senate, one of the longest legislative careers in history, Claiborne Pell was also a man of conscience who never feared using his voice. And like Williams, he was in the forefront of the public discourse on most major issues of our era, from foreign policy to mass transportation to the arts and humanities –– to the environment and to education, the cause dearest to his heart, as you who bear his name well know.

As Mrs. Pell can attest, Claiborne never lost his optimism – but in his final years, as politics became increasingly contentious, he did become concerned. He would not be surprised by today’s Washington gridlock, in which the common good suffers at the hands of vanity, grudge, bigotry, small-mindedness and big money. In fact, he saw it coming –– and he addressed it in his farewell speech on the Senate floor, in 1996. He also spelled out his vision of what America can be if the common good, and not self-interest, is the guiding principle. That is the vision he so tirelessly fought for.

And so let me read some of his parting words, which may help you – and all of us – as we participate in the public discourse, a civic forum that is our American birthright. They are contained in the final pages of my biography of Claiborne, AN UNCOMMON MAN. They ring as true today as they did 16 years ago:

“In times such as these, when there is fundamental disagreement about the role of Government, it is all the more essential that we preserve the spirit of civil discourse . . . The fact is that the democratic process depends on respectful disagreement. As soon as we confuse civil debate with reckless disparagement, we have crippled the process. A breakdown of civility reinforces extremism and discourages the hard process of negotiating across party lines to reach a broad-based consensus.

“The Founding Fathers who prescribed the ground rules for debate in Congress certainly had all these considerations in mind. We address each other in the third person with what seems like elaborate courtesy. The purpose, of course, is to remind us constantly that whatever the depth of our disagreements, we are all common instruments of the democratic process. Some of that spirit, I believe, needs to be infused into the continuing national debate that takes place outside the Halls of Congress. It should be absorbed by our political parties and it should be respected by the media, particularly in this era of electronic information. The democratic process is not well served by spin doctors and sound bites…

 “I would only add my own prescription for comity, which can be summarized in three simple rules:

“First, never respond to an adversary in ad hominem terms. In my six campaigns for the Senate, I have never resorted to negative advertising. The electorate seems to have liked that approach, since they have given me an average margin of victory of 64 percent.

“Second, always let the other fellow have your way. I have always found that winning an ally is far more important than getting exclusive credit. In politics, the best way to convince someone is to lead him or her to discover what you already know.

“Third, sometimes, half a loaf can feed an army. The democratic process is meant to be slow and deliberate, and change is hard to achieve. Very often, achievement of half of an objective is just as significant as achievement of 100 percent. And it may make it easier to achieve the rest later. In Government, as in all endeavors, it is the end result that counts—whether that result is half a loaf or more. Hopefully, an increase in comity and civility, together with renewed emphasis on moral responsibility, will result in a qualitative improvement in end results. In that regard, I have been guided throughout my Senate career by a simple motto and statement of purpose. It is a mantra of just seven words: translate ideas into action and help people.”

Pell closed with his vision for his country, still idealistic after nearly four decades in the bruising world of national politics.

“Over the years, I have thought time and again of the historical comparison between Sparta and Athens. Sparta is known historically for its ability to wage war, and little more. Athens, however, is known for its immense contributions to culture and civilization. In all that I have done over the past 36 years in the U.S. Senate, I have had that comparison uppermost in mind. I believe deeply that when the full history of our Nation is recorded, it is critical that we be known as an Athens, and not a Sparta.

“My efforts in foreign relations have been guided accordingly. I believe that instead of our ability to wage war, we should be known for our ability to bring peace. Having been the first and only nation to use a nuclear weapon, we should be known as the nation that brought an end to the spread of nuclear weapons. We should be known as the nation that went the extra mile to bring peace among warring nations. We should be known as the nation that made both land and sea safe for all. In particular, I believe that we should seize every opportunity to engage in multilateral efforts to preserve world peace. We should redouble our support for the United Nations, and not diminish it as some propose. We should not lose sight of the UN’s solid record of brokering peace—actions that have consistently served U.S. interests and spared us the costly alternatives that might have otherwise resulted.

“In education, I want us to be known as the nation that continually expanded educational opportunities—that brought every child into the educational mainstream, and that brought the dream of a college education within the reach of every student who has the drive, talent, and desire. We should always remember that public support for education is the best possible investment we can make in our nation’s future. It should be accorded the highest priority.

“In the arts and humanities, I want us to be known for our contributions, and for the encouragement we give to young and old alike to pursue their God-given talents. I want us to be recognized as a nation that opened the arts to everyone, and brought the humanities into every home. And here too, I believe government has a proper role in strengthening and preserving our national cultural heritage.

“Pursuing these objectives is not an endeavor that ends with the retirement of one person. It is a lifetime pursuit of a nation, and not an individual. It is always a work of art in progress, and always one subject to temporary lapses and setbacks. My hope, however, is that it is our ongoing mission to become, like Athens, a nation that is known for its civility and its civilization.”

Two talks: Special Lbraries Association, Pell Scholars

 I will be speaking at 1 p.m. this Saturday, May 12, at the 35th annual convention of the Rhode Island chapter of the Special Libraries Association, an organization of specialty librarians from universities, hospitals, law offices, media outlets and the like. I am honored -- and happy to speak, as specialty librarians have been essential to many of my books and newspaper projects.

The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy

 And then on Tuesday, May 15, I will be speaking at a dinner for the 2012 graduating class of Pell Honors Scholars at Salve Regina University, where I am always delighted to appear. This at the invitation of professor Khalil Habib, an inspiring philosopher I wrote about last year in one of my Providence Journal Rhode Island Life pieces.

Behind the Hedgerow Returns to TV Screen

BEHIND THE HEDGEROW: Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of Newport Society, opening-night feature film of the 2010 Rhode Island International Film Festival, returns to the TV screen this Saturday, May, 12 at 7 p.m. on Rhode Island PBS. Just this past weekend, Eileen was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

Extraordinary Collaboration on Journal Series

 In my many years at The Providence Journal, there have been few public-service efforts that rival the year-long examination of the struggling Rhode Island economy in our 2012 Reinvent Rhode Island series.

This Sunday's installment, "How We See Ourselves," an examination of the effect of self-image on economic performance, includes a main story, a sidebar, a column, a video, photographs, online polls and interactive graphics, readers' responses, and a truly awesome front-page design and layout. Working for most of the week, more than a dozen staffers collaborated in putting it all together.


I wrote the main story and the sidebar. Karen Bordeleau, deputy executive editor, and John Kostrzewa, assistant managing editor for business, commerce & consumer, spearheaded the effort. John also wrote the column. Tom Murphy created the awesome front-page graphic; Michael Lenahan, with an assist from Lisa Newby, laid that and the two inside pages out. Their boss, visuals editor Mike Delaney, had overall management of the imagery. Mike also oversaw John Freidah, who photographed and shot the video, with sound assistance from Steve Szydlowski. Cile Prestamo edited the video. Paul Parker, master of data, created the cool interactive graphics. Peter Phipps and Maria Caporizzo handled the polls and online design/layout. I can tell you that as deadlines approached on Friday, it was a very busy day in the newsroom. And it all went down with the usual cooperation and creative excitement...

Off this week, but an integral part of early installments in the Reinvent Rhode Island series, which launched in March, were Kate Bramson, Paul Grimaldi and Paul Davis. They'll be back shortly. And other staff members, not "officially" a part of the team, will be contributing as well.


I cannot even guess the hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries and expenses that The Journal will have invested when the series concludes at the end of the year. I believe they call this putting your money where your mouth is.

COMING HOME nominated for New England Emmy!

We learned last night that COMING HOME,  which already this year has won a 2012 Edward R. Murrow Award, has been nominated for a 35th New England Emmy by the regional chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. We are one of six films nominated in the Outstanding Documentary category. Winners will be announced at a banquet June 2 at the Marriott Boston Copley Place. A list of all nominees can be found at the New England chapter page.

Once again, our gratitude to the veterans who appeared in this film, sharing painful stories in the hope it would help others -- and to the Rhode Island National Guard and the Providence VA Medical Center, which opened their doors to photographer John Freidah, editor Cile Prestamo and me for the second half of last year. Add narration by columnist and Marine Vietnam veteran Bob Kerr, and the film was complete.

With our in-house Providence Journal documentary production team firmly established now, we continue to move into projects with social significance and public-service value.

Roving Eye a Fine Success

            Sunday’s kickoff to the seventh annual Roving Eye Film Festival at Roger Williams University was a fine success. We had a crowd of more than 100 for the showing of three war films: The 2011 Oscar-nominated short KILLING IN THE NAME, an extraordinary film; INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD, the powerful 2012 Academy Award-nominated short; and The Providence Journal’s Edward R. Murrow Award-winning COMING HOME. I had never seen COMING HOME on the big screen or in an auditorium, and it was quite remarkable witnessing the whole audience, including several veterans, sit in a sort of solemn mesmerized silence at the end. I don’t know how else to put it. The combined impact of the three films was very powerful. Festival director George Marshall and his students did a great job in selecting the lineup.

INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD director James Spione traveled from New York to show and discuss his film, and we enjoyed hearing him -- and later talking with him after about filmmaking in general and his current project, which sounds outstanding. Also on hand were two of the principal veterans in COMING HOME: John DiRaimo and Sean Judge, who came with his new comfort dog. Family members came, too.

Lt. Col. Denis Riel, me, John Freidah and James Spione.

             After an introduction from RWU president Donald J. Farish, I then moderated a panel discussion with: Lt. Col. Denis Riel, Director of Staff for the Rhode Island Air National Guard, twice deployed in the War on terror; Dr. Jonathan Shay, clinical psychiatrist and author; Frank DiCataldo, assistant professor of psychology at Roger Williams; Coleman Nee is Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services -- and a Marine Corps veteran of Operation Desert Storm; and my good friend and colleague, Journal photojournalist John Freidah, who made COMING HOME with me and editor Cile Prestamo, and my partner in documentaries now-in-progress at the projo.

Given that we co-sponsored the day, perhaps it is no surprise that we somehow managed to have Providence Journal Staff Writer Mark Reynolds cover the event for today's edition of The Journal!

Next up for COMING HOME will be a featured block at this summer’s Rhode Island International Film Festival, the second week of August. Our block will feature a number of Providence Journal documentarians and their work as we explore new media from “old-fashioned” newspapers. See you there!

Branding: Journal, University, Film Festival

With the combined promotional efforts of The Providence Journal, Roger Williams University and the Rhode Island International Film festival/Roving Eye 2012, we expect a great afternoon of movies and discussion this Sunday, April 22, at the Roving Eye International Film festival at Roger Williams University.

The feature film of the afternoon will be The Journal's first documentary, the 2012 regional Edward R. Murrow Award-winning COMING HOME, about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Free. Please join us!

Please join us at the Roving Eye Film Festival April 22

The public is invited to COMING HOME: THE HUMAN FACE OF WAR, a free afternoon of documentaries and discussion on Sunday, April 22, that kicks off the seventh annual, four-day Roving Eye Film Festival at Roger Williams University's main campus in Bristol, R.I.

Two Academy Award-nominated short films will be shown: INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD and KILLING IN THE NAME. That will be followed by a screening of The Providence Journal's 2012 Edward R. Murrow Award-winning documentary COMING HOME, about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will honor two Rhode Islanders recently killed in Afghanistan, along with all veterans.

The day begins at 2 p.m. with the showings of the two short films -- and INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD director James Spione will be on hand to introduce and discuss his film. COMING HOME screens at 4 p.m., follwoed by the panel discussion lasting an hour or so. The day concludes with a reception.

Pete Lord remembered in memorial service

Edwards Hall, University of Rhode Island, April 15, 2012.

On a warm spring day, with trees leafing and flowers blooming, a day he would have loved, Pete Lord was remembered this afternoon in a service at the University of Rhode Island. Several hundred people from many walks of life came, a tribute to this fine man who will be long remembered.

RIP, Pete. RIP.

Lecture at Salve Regina University

DiStefano Hall Antone Building, Salve Regina U.

Presented today at an American History class at Newport's Salve Regina University, where the Pell Center is located. This was to a group of about 30 Pell Scholars. Had a great time. The topic was how I researched and wrote  AN UNCOMMON MAN, my bio of the late Sen. Claiborne Pell. Invested a lot of time combing my files for the PowerPoint and it was worth the effort. The book was required reading for the course, and afterward I signed everyone's copy. A room of bright young scholars and I wish them the best. And thanks to professor and historian Marian Mathison Desrosiers.

I am always delighted to spend time at Salve. They have been supportive of my work for years, and last fall's UNCOMMON MAN book launch at the Pell center (where else?!) remains a very pleasant memory.

COMING HOME wins Murrow Award

Word today that the Providence Journal's first-ever documentary movie, COMING HOME, about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has received an Edward R. Murrow Award.

The award, from the national  Radio Television Digital News Association, apparently came from a record field of entries. The association wrote on its site today: "This year, RTDNA judges awarded 645 regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in 14 categories, including Overall Excellence, Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, and Website.RTDNA received more than 3,500 entries during the 2012 awards season, eclipsing 2011 by more than 500 entries and setting an all-time record for entries in what proved to be one of the most competitive Edward R. Murrow Awards seasons in RTDNA history."

COMING HOME won in the regional contest: the region covers all of New England. The doc now is automatically entered into the nationwide contest.

 Thanks to everyone at The Journal, but especially to the veterans who shared their stories: Rhode Island National Guardsmen John DiRaimo, Sean Judge and Brain Santos, and Army vet Derek Pelletier.

North Kingstown Free Library talk

Katy Miller with her dad at N.K. Library talk.

Spoke to a good crowd for an hour and a half Wednesday night at the North Kingstown Free Library's Rhode Island Voices program. Katy joined me and said she enjoyed it, too!

The Frank Beazley Building, the series back online

Frank and me in the Senate chamber.

 Those who know me know my long admiration and deep respect for Frank Beazley, poet, artist, champion of the disabled, and now 45-year resident of Zambarano Hospital. On Wednesday, Frank came with some other Zam patients and staff to the Rhode Island State House, where he was honored -- again -- this time for having the main patient building at Zam named for him. Frank thus joins former governors Garrahy and Sundlun in having a building named for him. It is a very rare honor, and one so well-deserved.

I wrote about this in today's Providence Journal.

And in advance work for the story, I managed to find the right editors internally who were able to restore my 12-part 2006 series on Frank, THE GROWING SEASON. This series was the inspiration for the documentary I co-produced and scripted, ON THE LAKE: Life and Love in a Distant Place, which begins with Zam's early days a a TB sanitarium.

Read THE GROWING SEASON and listen to Frank through this link.

Public memorial service for Pete Lord

There will be a public memorial service for Pete at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in Edwards Auditorium at the University of Rhode Island. A reception will follow at the University Club.

RIP Peter Lord

RIP, Pete Lord, friend and colleague of all of us at The Providence Journal. Pete died this afternoon after almost 11 months of trying to beat brain cancer. His family was with him. Pete was one of the best, quite simply. I can't find any more words right now...

Coming Home at Roving Eye Film Festival April 22

After our successful broadcast premiere Monday, March 26, on Rhode Island PBS, The Providence Journal takes COMING HOME, our documentary about veterans of the War on Terror, to its first film festival: Roving Eye, held annually at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. The documentary anchors an afternoon of war-related films and expert discussion about The Human Face of War. Please join us at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22, at Roger Williams University.

This appearance comes in partnership with Roving Eye founder and organizer George T. Marshall, executive director and CEO of FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival. Stay tuned for details of Providence Journal productions and staff presentations at this August's RIIFF as The Journal continues its expansion into video...

Now available: SINCE THE SKY BLEW OFF, first collection of short stories

 Fiction remains my first true writing love, and squeezed between my non-fiction work, I still manage some of it, mostly MEMORY, my novel still in progress. A few years back, however, before I got into non-fiction books and filmmaking, I wrote fiction obsessively -- mostly mystery, horror and science fiction. Many of my short stories were published, in hard- and soft-cover volumes and periodicals, including Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. And my first book, THUNDER RISE: A Novel of Terror, was fiction.

In January 2012, David Niall Wilson, a writer of note and now publisher of North Carolina-based Crossroad Press, approached me to see if I was interested in bringing some of those stories back to print, Hell, yes! And not just print, but e- and audiobooks as well.

First to come is SINCE THE SKY BLEW OFF: The Essential G. Wayne Miller Fiction, Vol 1. The title story, set in a post-apocalyptic future, is one of my personal favorites. Written in the late 1980s, it has stood the test of time. And it's the basis of a screenplay my L.A. writing partner, Drew Smith, and I have been noodling on for some while now. Stay tuned on that (still noodling...).

SINCE THE SKY BLEW OFF is available on Kindle, Nook and other digital formats, for $2.99. A bargain! It has ten stories, and two previously unpublished screenplay treatments, one horror/fantasy, the other political/fantasy.

And thanks, David, for bringing me in this direction!

COMING HOME on PBS tonight

Tonight is the broadcast premiere, followed by a live panel discussion of Coming Home, The Providence Journal's first feature-length documentary movie. Into new media we go!

Rhode Island PBS, WSBE, is broadcasting the 90-minute program on digital 36.1, Cox 08/1008HD, Verizon 08/508HD, FullChannel 08, Comcast 819HD, DirecTV 36, and Dish Network 7776. During the broadcast, National Guardsmen and experts from the VA will be taking viewer calls off-air, providing referrals for veterans and families facing active-duty and post-deployment soldiers, airmen and sailors.

A replay of tonight's full broadcast will air Wednesday, March 28 at 12:30 A.M. The phone bank will not be available during this replay, but referral phone numbers will be displayed on the TV screen. The documentary alone will also air on Saturday, March 31 at 7 P.M. as part of the ongoing Rhode Island PBS series, Rhode Island Stories.

COMING HOME, Coming Monday, March 26

Fabre Line Club talk March 29, 2012

Speaking and reading 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at the Fabre Line Book Club on Providence's historic waterfront -- 200 Allens Ave. Host is historian Patrick T. Conley. It will be busy week: Monday, March 26, is the Rhode Island PBS broadcast premiere of COMING HOME and that Wednesday is a goodbye party to retiring Journal editor Dave Reid, who is one of the finest journalists and people you will ever meet.

Station Nightclub Fire, eleven days after...

One of the hundreds of stories The Providence Journal published in the first year after the tragedy alone. This was 11 days out, before the 100th person died.
Copyright 2003 Providence Journal.

And you may want to watch a video I shot of the site ten years after, when memorial crosses and remembrances still stood where now there is a Memorial Park.

LIVING IN A WOUNDED STATE - A SPECIAL SECTION - The Station nightclub fire takes an emotional toll on virtually every Rhode Islander, from Little Compton to Burrillville.

G. WAYNE MILLER Publication Date: March 2, 2003 Page: A-01 Section: Special Edition: All

WEST WARWICK - They come at dawn, during the lunch hour, after the winter sun has set. Some tuck flowers into the fence that encircles charred wood and misshapen metal, the physical remains of the worst fire in Rhode Island history. Some leave candles. Some leave balloons or American flags.

Others leave teddy bears, or photographs, or poems they have written. An elderly man carrying a sheet of paper approaches a large cross and says: "Can I put this here? This is a prayer I wrote for 9/11." A woman buries her face in her hands and sobs. Then she reaches for a box of tissues beneath the only thing spared by the inferno, a sign that reads: "The Station, Live Music."

This is our ground zero.

This is where almost 100 mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers - most of them Rhode Islanders, all of them people with a zest for living - died in a holocaust of smoke, gas and flame.

This is where another nearly 200 were injured and burned, some so severely that jewelry and, in one case, a chipped tooth, were needed to identify them.

This is the source of the raw emotions that have consumed Rhode Islanders and Southern New Englanders for 10 interminable days - emotions that will persist, in one form or another, for years.

A cold wind blows across the wreckage. The wind buffets the balloons and flags and sends forth the smell of death. Most of the national TV crews have left, but the flow of local visitors continues unabated. They come to the fence solemnly but with purpose, as one approaches an open casket at a wake.

"We knew just one person, but it touched us so much. It touches everyone in Rhode Island," says Mark Saucier, 42, of Warwick.

Atty. Gen. Patrick Lynch said much the same when he appeared last week on NBC's Today. "They say there are six degrees of separation in this world," Lynch said. "In Rhode Island, there's a degree and a half. The pain rips through this community quicker than any other."

Lynch and Saucier speak the truth. Rhode Island is the smallest state, and the million people living within its compressed borders make it a village. If you don't know someone who was at The Station on Feb. 20, then you probably know someone who did. And if you are the exception, you cannot ignore the news, magnified in a state where the longest drive, from Burrillville to Little Compton, can be completed in well under two hours.

Saucier has come here to Cowesett Avenue with his wife, Renee, 30, and their son, Zachory, who is 3. Renee bundles the boy against the wind. He takes in the scene without saying anything. "He saw it on TV and he knows people passed in it," says Saucier. "Just like with the shuttle Columbia."

"He's 3 but he's very intelligent," Renee says.

"We just had to come," her husband says.

THE FIELDS of Little Compton slumber under snow. Ice has locked in the ponds, and at Sakonnet Vineyards, workers prune vines and fix broken posts in preparation for spring. A tractor pulls a trailer down a winding gravel road. The air has the crisp bite of deep winter, which this year refuses to release New England.

No one from Little Compton is known to have died in The Station fire, and apparently no one was injured. This is no surprise. A town of 3,593 where oceanfront properties cost millions of dollars, Little Compton is home to farmers, executives and others unlikely to attend a heavy-metal concert in an old mill town on the far side of Narragansett Bay.

But even here, in the quaint confines of Rhode Island's second-least-populated community, escape from The Station fire is impossible.

"I can't stop thinking about it," says Ann Flather, an assistant at Sakonnet Vineyards, during a break from her duties in the main office. "I just find it devastating. You think of what they were thinking when they were in there. It gives you the creeps. It's horrible."

Flather does not know anyone involved in the fire; her connection to the tragedy is through the media, with their unforgettable accounts and images, that extraordinary videotape of the fire catching inside the club playing over and over on TV.

Sue Souza, the vineyard controller, does not know anyone, either - nor did she think she was a degree and a half away. Not until Monday evening, when she visited her hairdresser, and the hairdresser broke down in tears.

"A friend of hers," Souza says, "is a patient at Shriners in Boston. She's severely burned. They're going to have to amputate one arm and her other hand."

"So she's going to have nothing left," Flather says. She stops, the enormity of what she has heard sinking in.

"It kind of hit home a little more then," Souza continues. "It wasn't just something that happened in West Warwick - it was, 'Oh, this was a real person.' "

Debbie Marion, tasting-room manager, has been listening to her fellow workers. "Oh, God, I just got an e-mail from a good friend of mine," she says. "He works for the West Warwick Fire Department. He happened to take that shift on overtime." Marion's friend was uninjured during his eight hours at The Station, and now he is taking a vacation.

"It sounds like he just needed to get out," Marion says.

THE BREAKFAST crowd at JP's Place, a restaurant on Chapel Street in Burrillville, is thinning; Burrillville is a working-class town, and by 8 o'clock, work beckons. But a few diners linger this morning. The coffee is fresh. An order of bacon and eggs cooks on the grill in the kitchen out back, filling the place with a comforting aroma.

Abbie L. Hoisington, 28, a teacher at Burrillville High School who lived in Cranston, died inside The Station. The high school held two assemblies for students after her death was confirmed, and dozens of teachers attended her funeral on Thursday. In the lower grades, teachers talked to younger students about the tragedy, noting the lessons that should be drawn. "Don't use fireworks inside," one third-grade teacher advised pupils.

"I didn't know Abbie personally, but students who came in here had her in study," says Flora Phaneuf, a waitress who lives in Pascoag.

The tragedy burrowed into Phaneuf's consciousness early on Friday, Feb. 21, the same time that it entered the heads of millions of others. "I actually heard it on the radio on the way to work at 5:30 in the morning," Phaneuf says. "At that point, it was just a bad fire with fatalities. I believe the number then was around 10. That was horrific."

It was merely a portend: throughout that awful day, the body count kept climbing, until, incredibly, it seemed it would approach 100. Diners at JP's listened to the developing news over two radios, one in front with Phaneuf, the other out back with the cook. At some point, the cook shut his off. It was more than he could take.

Phaneuf kept hers on, refusing on some level to believe what she was hearing. "I think you kind of go into a self-protection mode as the reports come in," she says. "It's too much to bear at once."
Phaneuf thought of her daughter, 19, who frequents clubs: "That could have been her," she says. She answered calls from worried friends, including one in Missouri who used to live in Rhode Island.

And she discovered that a neighbor who is a supervisor in a Warwick nursing home had lost two employees, with a third hospitalized. Another degree and a half of separation.

Phaneuf describes the sorrow, if not the grief, that she is certain all Rhode Islanders are experiencing. "The feeling is the same whether you lost someone or not," she says, tears filling her eyes. "The same as 9-11. This may not have that scope, but it has the same feeling."

Pascoag contractor Leo Felice, one of Phaneuf's lingering customers, agrees. Another emotion, one closer to anger, surfaces.

"Things happen every day," Felice says. "What underscores this tragedy is it was completely avoidable. It's not like a plane accident." Felice notes that The Station had no sprinklers, and that the foam soundproofing ignited by band Great White's pyrotechnics was not fire-retardant.

THE MAIN broadcast studio of WPRO-AM, in East Providence, provides barely enough room for the controls, a television, computer monitors, an on-air personality, a producer and a guest.

Soundproofing covers the upper walls and a small window overlooks Wampanoag Trail. This is the afternoon world of talk-show host Dan Yorke, a perceptive observer of Rhode Island culture.

It is nearing 4:30 in the afternoon, and, on the studio TV, Yorke has just watched Lynch at a news briefing in Cranston. Lynch has been trying to coax Jeff Derderian, one of The Station's co-owners, into answering questions, thus far without success. As the afternoon wears on, about half of Yorke's callers criticize the attorney general. The other half defend him.

Days after the fire, the radio discourse has entered what Yorke calls the "what-the-hell-happened' phase." And some people are seeking villains. Derderian and his brother Michael have been denounced, along with members of Great White. Momentum builds to assess blame.

"I just think Patrick Lynch is so far over his head," says caller Mario.

"Like a frightened teenager," says Marie.

"Let this thing play out and then judge the attorney general," counters Joe.

"We've got to remember that at the root of this is terrible pain, terrible hopelessness," David offers.
Yorke takes the middle position: Lynch's performance at the briefing was weak, he argues, but the attorney general, like so many others, seems exhausted. Yorke likes Lynch, but he nonetheless is critical when he appears as an in-studio guest later that afternoon.

Six o'clock comes, Lynch leaves, and Yorke departs the studio for his desk in a room across the hall. With the exception of a week ago Sunday, when he listened to WPRO-AM over his own radio on a day off, Yorke has been on the air every day since Friday, Feb. 21. He has heard untold hundreds of callers from throughout southern New England, and witnessed the shifts in emotion. They continue to shift.

"I think there are four phases," Yorke says. "I think there is the shock-horror phase. I think there's the deep-sadness-and-paralysis phase. I think there's the 'hey-what's-going-on' phase. And then we might have either the resolve and/or the anger phase."

A native of New Jersey, Yorke is now a solid Rhode Islander, a member of the village.

"It's kind of like we get kicked in the head together, we have our own 'woe-is-me' together, we have our own what I call 'Rhode-apathy' together over the frustration of not having a government that serves us but not doing anything about it because we're complacent.

"But we also have a tight-knittedness in this village mentality that is probably unduplicated anywhere in the country. Because of that, does anybody escape this thing? No."

IN THE HALLS of academia, in the clinics and hospitals, learned women and men study trauma and grief. They provide counseling, medications, and other care to people whose loved ones have been injured or lost to calamity. Almost always, this involves only one circle of family and friends.

"Any one of these individual tragedies happens every day: somebody gets burned in a fire, a family loses a member to a car accident," says Dr. Gregory K. Fritz, medical director of Bradley Hospital, and a professor in Brown University's department of psychiatry and human behavior.

"But when there are 97 tragedies - and then all those ripple out - it's like one huge dose of overwhelming grief and crisis and unsettling feelings."

A person may gloss over news of one stranger lost in a fire, Fritz says, but a tragedy of this magnitude unleashes a broad withering fury.

"It's just multiplied by 97 and then taken to the fifth power or something. Everyone is touched by it," Fritz says. "I don't know what would happen if this was in Montana, but my take is it would not be so powerful a reaction because Rhode Island is so physically small. And this state is built on extended family relations and personal relations."

All this is compounded by the awesome force that precipitated the tragedy: uncontrolled fire. Anyone who has ever touched a hot stove or lain too long in the sun can begin to imagine the horror of being burned alive - or surviving, only to wake up in a hospital isolation room with one's identity confirmed only by distinctive jewelry or a uniquely chipped tooth. Losing one's face is a fate almost beyond comprehension.

"Whether they live or don't, there is something horrible about that," Fritz says. "That affects us more viscerally than if someone dies of a heart attack or falls. They're still identifiable then. That sense of burning is a primal fear."

Fritz explains that it is human nature for people to seek villains in a tragedy of this order, regardless of whether the cause proves to be accidental or the result of negligence. The possibility that it could have been what Fritz calls "a random event" - the very sort of event that next time could strike unsuspecting, innocent you - is profoundly unsettling. It reminds people that life, even in little Rhode Island, always proceeds with risk.

"When something like this happens with such disastrous consequences, everyone tries to find meaning, tries to explain it," the psychiatrist says. "They try to impose blame: 'It's not just fate or bad luck.' I think people prefer evil to meaninglessness. This random thing happening challenges our sense of security."

Fritz advises families a degree and a half removed to draw together and discuss what Rhode Island has experienced these last 10 days. He suggests that donating blood or money, attending fundraisers, sending cards, or even just posting to Internet message boards can be healing.

"Even if it's just symbolic, it feels better and is much more psychologically healthy than just being passive."

AT a. SALON Galleria & Spa, on Tiogue Avenue in Coventry, a six-minute drive west of The Station nightclub, clients chat with their stylists as hair is cut, nails done. Soft-rock music fills the room. Like a glass of wine, an hour at a salon is one of life's sweet pleasures.

Life goes on in Coventry, but what happened on Feb. 20 weakened its pulse. Nine residents of Coventry died, along with at least two others who had recently moved away. Warwick lost more people, 10 - but the town of Coventry, with 33,668 residents, is less than half the size of that city. If torment can be measured by such grim ratios, Coventry is particularly cursed.

"The last few days it's been very somber, very quiet," says Kristen Pope, 22, who owns the Galleria salon with her parents, Alison and Richard. "I've had a lot of cancellations from people that are attending funerals or wakes or memorials. The first question on everyone's mouth is: 'Did you know someone?' "

Almost universally in Coventry, the answer is yes.

Pope has lived most of her life in town. She was with girlfriends at a club in North Providence the night of Feb. 20 when her cell phone rang. It was a few minutes past 11 o'clock.
The caller, Ricky Pimental, the West Warwick man she is dating, did not say hello. "Where are you?" is all he said.

"I'm in North Providence," Pope answered.

"Turn on Channel 10."

"Why?"

"The Station just went up in smoke."

Pope went to a TV and saw the fire being broadcast live. Pimental drove to The Station, to see if he could help. He could not get close enough to help.

But he got close enough to see.

"It looks like 9-11," he said on his next call to Pope. "It smells awful. I can't believe this. I can't believe this."

A few minutes later, Pope's mother called.

"I'm not there," the young woman said.

"Come home," her mother demanded.

Pope watched TV until 5 o'clock that Friday morning. It was a long, tear-filled night, one haunted by unanswerable questions. How could it happen in Rhode Island? Pope thought. How could so many innocent lives be taken in a matter of seconds for no reason?

The weekend came and Pope, like so many, waited for the names of the victims to be released. Pope did not know anyone who died, but she found her degree and a half of separation: Jason Sylvester, 24, of Coventry, and Alfred Crisostomi, 38, of Warwick. Both men died.

"I graduated with Jay Sylvester's brother, Jeff," Pope says. "And my friend Melissa's boyfriend - his brother was killed, Al Crisostomi."

Now, several days after the last flames were extinguished, Pope is turning her thoughts to good. She has organized what she calls a "relief salon-a-thon"; tomorrow, from noon to 7 p.m., the Galleria will offer hair cuts, manicures and pedicures for a donation of at least $5, a sizeable discount. All proceeds will go to the United Way's The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund.

"It's a shame that it takes tragedy for everyone to come together," Pope says, "but hopefully once this all settles down, it doesn't lose its effect. I hope that everybody will kind of just stick together. These families are going to need a lot of emotional support after this is done."

A VAN STOPS on Cowesett Avenue. The door opens and a woman in a wheelchair is lowered to the street.

Kathy DiRocco, 47, of Warwick, suffers from scleroderma, a chronic and potentially fatal disease that can afflict the skin, muscles, joints and internal organs, including the heart. DiRocco's skin is mottled and her hands are misshapen. But she can hold her bouquet of flowers.

Accompanied by her mother, Kathleen Cronin, 72, and her aunt, Ann Scotti, 68 - each of whom is carrying her own bouquet - DiRocco steers herself toward the crowd at the fence encircling the remains of The Station. She does not know anyone injured or killed in the fire, but one of her sons knows someone who knows someone else who escaped without harm.

"We wanted to do something - bring the flowers and give a donation," DiRocco says. "My kids will give blood later when supplies are low."

"We're praying for the souls and the families left behind," Cronin says.
"And for the people in the hospital," DiRocco says.

The wind blows, sending forth its unwelcome odor. The sun breaks through the clouds, but the rubble stays a terrible shade of black.

This is the place at the center of stories that grandchildren will hear, of stories that will persist in anniversary commemorations.

If House Speaker William J. Murphy, of West Warwick, has his way, this is the place that will become a permanent memorial to so many lost and broken lives.

This is the place that binds us all now.