Scenes from an annual meeting

Had a memorable evening Nov. 14 at the 191st annual meeting of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Many good things underway with the society. I spoke about The War on Terror and showed the final chapter of Coming Home. That was the second time that week I showed all or part of the film (Bank of American employees was the other group), and people were moved.

Here are a few shots from the evening, all courtesy of Stewart Martin Photography.

Two-time Bronze Star winner Derek Pelletier, on screen in Coming Home.

Speaking about veterans.

Kathy Klees Clarendon, RIHS  Director of Development and Public Relations, and friends.

With RIHS president Barry G. Hittner.

Where Stories Take Us

State Hospital for Mental Diseases, March 1954. Courtesy Providence Journal.

Ladd Center, 1956. Courtesy Providence Journal.

 
"Where Stories Take Us" is the topic of my presentation from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 28, at Salve Regina University's Pell Center in Newport, Rhode Island. Do come!

I will speak on how we can sway public policy and come to better understandings of all of us as common members of society not only by presentation and analysis of facts -- the so-called straight news report, for example -- but also by story, which is writing, film and other creative expressions that stress character, narrative and emotion. To illustrate, I will be discussing The Providence Journal's long tradition of storytelling and how it has influenced public actions regarding, among other issues:

-- Deplorable conditions at state institutions. The photos above, from The Journal's rare archives, are two of several I will use.
-- Public safety in the wake of The Station nightclub fire.
-- State pension difficulties.
-- Treatment of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (I will show a clip from the projo documentary Coming Home).
-- And, this year, the state's continuing sick economy in the Reinvent Rhode Island series.
With my Journal colleagues, I have participated in all of these efforts. I will also throw in a few words about some other of my favorite stories and books, and two documentaries I wrote and produced on my own time.

 The free and public evening November 28 will serve as the official announcement of the Pell Center's Story in the Public Square initiative, a year-round program dedicated to celebrating and studying public storytelling in American politics and civic life. Story in the Public Square will launch with a day-long series of free and open-to-all events on April 12, 2013. As a Pell Center visiting fellow, I have been deeply involved with director Jim Ludes and other Salve officials in pulling it together.

More details on the November 28 evening are at the Pell Center site. And follow Story in the Public Square on Twitter, @pubstory A Story site will go live soon from Salve, along with a Facebook page...

For coverage, read the story in The Mosaic, Salve Regina University's Independent Student Voice.

Frank Beazley: The Growing Season

"The Growing Season" is available as a paperback and in Kindle from Amazon under the title "THE GROWING SEASON: Frank Beazley and the meaning of life." ORDER HERE!

 Updated November 3, 2017...

I never met anyone like the late Frank Beazley, nor am ever likely to meet anyone like him again. My time with him -- culminating but not ending with "The Growing Season," my 12-part 2006 Providence Journal series -- was a precious blessing. I think of him often still. He was a great man and I was honored to be his friend.

Despite a cruel upbringing followed by a tragic accident that broke his body and could have ruined his soul, he instead became an extraordinarily inspiring, uplifting and selfless champion of those without power or voice. Also, a celebrated artist, devoted gardener and man of fine humor. In these times of dark, narcissistic so-called "leaders" in Washington who are determined to divide and dehumanize, and who sit idly as the planet screams in death agony, we could use more Franks.

I said goodbye to Frank a few days before he died in 2012, as he drifted in and out of consciousness at the state hospital where he had lived as a quadriplegic for 45 years; saying "OK" and "good," he was ready to go. Then I wrote his obituary. And, fulfilling one of his final requests, I was honored to be a pallbearer as Frank was laid to rest.

You can witness Frank's indomitable spirit by watching two videos:

-- Frank on his 82d birthday, December 13, 2010. CLICK HERE.

-- And Frank honored by the Rhode Island General Assembly at the Rhode Island State House on April 12, 2012. I believe this is the last film ever shot of him. CLICK HERE.

And now, "The Growing Season," which is also available as a paperback and in Kindle from Amazon. ORDER HERE!

Toy Wars to be republished as E-book!

TOY WARS: The Epic Battle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them, my Random House book about toymakers Hasbro and Mattel, is finally being published electronically. On November 21, 2012, the e-edition will be available as a Kindle title and as a Nook book.

 "Here's a story that has everything: strong, handsome men, beautiful and equally strong women, corporate intrigue and family secrets," wrote USA Today. Wrote The Milwaukee Sentinel:  "Americans are endlessly fascinated by stories of the high-stakes, fast-paced corporate world, and G. Wayne Miller's inside view of Hasbro is an especially engrossing example of the genre." They were but two of many publications that praised the book.

TOY WARS is the latest of my books -- some previously unpublished, others updated -- that are being released as E-books in many formats. For other titles, click here.

Page One, Providence Journal, 11/7/12

The Folks at Carpenter's Beach

Rob and Nancy (Carpenter) Thoresen, mother and son, in front of their front-row summer cottage. Once upon a time, it was hundreds of feet to the waterline...

I have now spent much of a week chronicling Superstorm Sandy's impact on the south coast of Rhode Island. My reporting and photographing culminated in today's story in The Providence Sunday Journal about the community at Roy Carpenter's Beach in South Kingstown, which has been in family hands for more than a century. The photographs by The Journal's Bob Thayer, including the one above, were spectacular. And the story paired very nicely on the front page with Rich Salit's excellent story about coastal erosion.

[For Sunday and Monday pre- and during-Sandy blog and photos, click here. 
[For Tuesday post-Sandy photos and coverage, click here.
[For Thursday's Day Four adventure, including interior photos of Carpenter's Beach cottages and buildings, click here.]

Thunder Rise cover, new edition on the way...

My good friends at Crossroad Press, publisher David Wilson and artist David Dodd, continue with their mission of bringing some of my earlier books into the digital age, with new Kindle, Nook and other e-editions --and some also in paperback and audio. The first, this past spring, was Since the Sky Blew Off: The Essential G. Wayne Miller Fiction, Vol. I, first in a planned trio of shorty-story collections (with some previously unpublished work as well).

Next was the new and updated edition of my first non-fiction book, The Work of Human Hands, available now in digital format, and soon in paperback and audio.

And on deck now: Thunder Rise, my first published book and only novel thus far. As the cover states, it is the first of the Thunder Rise trilogy. The last two volumes, Asylum and Summer Place, have never been published. They will be, as we roll along...

Another day at Carpenter's, post-Sandy

Spent a good part of Thursday day at Roy Carpenter's Beach in Matunuck, South Kingstown, R.I., for a Sunday story for The Providence Journal on the effects of the storm on this unique community. Long-time summer resident Kevin McCloskey, and Beach owners Nancy Thoresen and son Rob, were my gracious hosts. What a timeless community, with generations of priceless memories, which Sandy could not sweep away. I hope to do justice to it in the newspaper.
 
[For Sunday and Monday pre- and during-Sandy photos, click here. 
[For Tuesday post-Sandy photos and coverage, click here.]

Hurricane Warning from years ago, sign that now hangs in the Fire Barn.

Yes, another view of the First Lady, grand shingled cottage due west of Carpenter's Beach on Card's Pond. What's up with the chair? I assume it arrived in the storm.

But this chair, too? Serendipity? Storm? Whatever, there it was.

Crews begin the cleanup outside the store, where I spoke with Rob and Nancy Thoresen and Kevin McCloskey.

A sign inside the Fire Barn.

Hope was Nancy's relative. The family has this cottage, front row, now.

Kevin inside his cottage, second row, just behind Hope's.

Kevin outside his cottage. Several cottages in the front row were lost.

Rob with his name, written as a teenager, in the Fire Barn. Hundreds of summer residents have signed their names here in multi-colored chalk.

Rob found an ET towel he used years ago when he stayed in Hope's House.

The view from living room of Hope's House.

A Black Hawk helicopter, apparently from the Rhode Island National Guard, flies over the beach.

Journal photographer Bob Thayer shoots Nancy looking out from window of Hope's House.

Guest speaker at RI Historical Society annual meeting

I am honored to be the guest speaker at the 191st annual meeting of the Rhode Island Historical Society at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, at the society's historic (naturally!) Aldrich House on Providence's East Side. The event is free and open to the public.

The Society all year has been remembering wars in which Rhode Islanders have fought and my topic, appropriately, will be The War on Terror -- the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan primarily. I will be including some of the findings of my 2011 Providence Journal series and showing clips from Coming Home, the award-winning Journal documentary that capepd our effort last year.

Please join us!

Chasing Sandy (away), Day 3

 My third day chronicling Hurricane Sandy. More, as always, at The Providence Journal.

[For Sunday and Monday pre- and during-Sandy photos, click here.
[For Thursday's Day Four adventure, including interior photos of Carpenter's Beach cottages and buildings, click here.]

A full moon was peeking through swirling storm clouds outside.

 

Arrived at East Matunuck Beach, South Kingstown, around 6 a.m., in the pre-dawn darkness.

Overnight, the sea flooded the parking lot with sand. The pavillion, new this year, appeared undamaged.

Another view of the parking lot. I was standing on the pavllion. Nothing like my last time there, at the height of the swimming season in August! There was still beach there then...

On my way to the famed Ocean Mist bar in Matunuck, passed a submerged mobile home park.

Crews had removed feet of sand that had blocked the road in the Monday evening high tide surge.

Amazingly, the Ocean Mist, built on piles, survived with minimal damage. "Someone said the piles go straight to hell and the devil's hanging on!" owner Kevin Finnegan joked to me.

But a few doors down, a private cottage wasn't so lucky.

Neither was this cottage at nearby Carpenter's Beach.

Nor the one next to it.

Debris was all over Carpenter's Beach, which the storm had shrunk to almost nothing. Longtime summer people remember a beach 500 feet deep...

Incredibly, a rainbow at Carpenter's just before high tide.

Heading west from Carpenter's to the "First Lady," one of the grand old cottages.

For comparison photos, see my earlier blog.

The First Lady has lost all of its sand and berm protection, and is being lashed by the waves. It tilts now seaward.

A temporary reprieve from the waves shows the building as an island. Two other "ladies" were damaged, too, but the water was too treacherous for me to get close.

At this point, afraid of being trapped, I headed back at a brisk run.

I tried but could not get to Misquamicut, where damage was reported severe. R.I. National Guard troops here muster at the Westerly Police Station for duty assisting national Grid and protecting property from looters.

And folks, this is Rhode Island. This Dunkin' Donuts in Westerly (probably one of about 234 in Westerly alone!) had power. Line out the door and cars backing up traffic in the street.

Hurricane Sandy on Rhode Island's south coast, Part I

 The shore at South Kingstown -- Matunuck in particular -- is one of my favorite parts of Rhode Island, along with the Charlestown and Westerly coasts. All are being battered by Hurricane Sandy. I drove to Matunuck on Sunday afternoon, to see the waves from the beginning storm surge. I was back early Monday, to see the morning high-tide surge and Tweeting for The Providence Journal's ongoing coverage. I'll be back in the area on Tuesday morning, to see what is left after the anticipated higher surge of the Monday evening high tide. Check back tomorrow for the latest, and of course get timely updates, blog items, photos and video and more at The Journal's site.
[For Tuesday post-storm photos and chronicle, i.e. Day Three,  click here.
[For Thursday's adventure, including interior photos of Carpenter's Beach cottages and buildings, click here.]

South Kingstown shore late afternoon, Sunday, October 28, 2012:

Looking west, toward a grand old summer cottage near Cards Pond (and Theater-by-the-Sea) whose owners have valiantly tried to shore up over the years against creeping beach erosion. Not sure if it will survive this one.

A shot westward taken from the front of the grand old cottage. Sand I am standing on may well be gone when this blows over.

South Kingstown, Charlestown and Westerly, Monday morning, October 29, 2012:

Another west-looking view of the old summer cottage -- I could not get as close as on Sunday. I took this shot from Roy Carpenter's Beach.

The waves pile on -- and this was the morning surge. Compounded by the full moon, the Monday evening surge is expected to be mightier. Lord knows what I will find tomorrow...

I wasn't the only one drawn to the power of nature at Carpenter's.

On way to Charlestown Breachway, a kayak shop already imperiled.

A kindly officer let me past the roadblock to get to the Breachway itself.

The ocean is invading the Breachway parking lot. I doubt this shack will be here in 24 hours.

The water pours in. I stood for a moment on the dunes, but the waves crashed too close. Too dangerous.

In the summer, cars fill this lot. On Monday, gulls hunkered down at the Breachway.

Continuing west, I arrived in Westerly to find the access to Misquamicut was blocked. Seriously blocked.

Walking past the plows, the reason why: The bridge is already underwater.

Another roadblock on road to Watch Hill, Westerly. This time, the cops would not let me by. Tried my press pass and a cash bribe (kidding about the latter).

But the police said: "You want a good photo? Turn down this road." I did, onto Avondale Road, where the water from Colonel Willie Cove (I did not make that up) was over the road. This was almost 10 a.m. two hours past high tide.

Resident of Apple Rehab, Westerly, were already evacuated.

Windows boarded in downtown Westerly.