Politics: Councilmen Blacklisted by New Leadership

Originally Appeared at GoLocalProv in January, 2011

Two veteran local lawmakers are citing political retribution as the reason they were completely left off Standing Committees for the first time in either of their careers. Providence City Councilmen Kevin Jackson (Ward 3) and Luis Aponte (Ward 10) say their lack of support for new President Michael Solomon (Ward 5) has put them in the dog house with council leadership and now it’s the residents of their respective neighborhoods who will pay the price.


Freshmen Councilmen Davian Sanchez (Ward 11) and Bryan Principe (Ward 13) were also kept off any of the six major committees. Sanchez says he supported Aponte’s bid for Council President while Principe says he didn’t endorse either candidate. The other five freshly elected Councilmen all received committee appointments.

Reached at Thursday night’s Council meeting, Solomon would only say, “The assignments speak for themselves and I’m committed to working with the whole council.”

They’ve Disenfranchised Four Neighborhoods
Jackson supported Aponte’s run for Council President as well, but said the unprecedented act of payback also could be because he supported Mayor Angel Taveras during last September’s heated Democratic primary. He said it was sending the wrong message to citizens in four parts of the city.

“In my 16 years on the council, I’ve never seen this happen,” Jackson said. “Even when [Peter] Mancini and [John] Lombardi were serving as President, they still gave everyone opportunities. What they’re doing here is disenfranchising four communities by telling these people that they don’t get a seat at the table. They said they would be inclusive. This isn’t inclusive.”

Jackson, who had been on the City Property Committee for 16 years, is the senior member of the City Council. From 1999 through 2007, he was Chairman of the Finance Committee.

It’s About Power
A council member since 1998, Aponte never publically supported a candidate for Mayor, but said he believes he is being punished following an unsuccessful attempt at running for Council President.

“I can only attribute this to being about power and retribution,” Aponte said. “I ran for Council President and didn’t have the votes and now this is happening. To me, it’s all about power. I’ve been on Committees ever year. This isn’t normal at all.”

Aponte agreed with Jackson’s opinion that not allowing a councilman to be a part of any committee is a huge disservice to their neighborhood. Both men said they plan to stand up and make their presence known at Council Meetings and they were among the few who spoke during Thursday’s brief session.

Aponte called on his fellow Councilmen to be ready to make tough votes during tough economic times and said it was time to fix some of the mistakes made in previous years.

Principe And Sanchez Respond
The freshmen councilmen left off all committees had a more optimistic view despite being shut out by the new leadership. Both Principe and Sanchez agreed that it was a little strange to not be invited to join a committee, but said they were looking forward to working with everyone on the council.

Said Principe, “I don’t think it diminished my voice. I support Council President Solomon and plan to work with everybody. If this was political retribution, I find it very unfortunate because the issues this city are facing are too big for that.”

Regarding the Council President race, Sanchez said he was neutral until Solomon told him there would be Committee positions available. That’s when he supported Aponte. He said he wasn’t too worried about being left in the dark.

“I don't think it will effect me in anyway. I feel like it’s actually a good thing not being in a committee. More time for me now to work in my ward.”

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Education: Leaders React To Proposed Diploma Changes

Originally Appeared at GoLocalProv in January, 2011

Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and the Board of Regents are pressing forward with a plan to implement a three-tiered high school diploma system that would reward students who perform better on the NECAP by 2013.

But skeptics argue students from poor performing urban school districts will have virtually no chance to receive a top tiered diploma. They say the three-tiered system will do nothing more than highlight the wide achievement gap between white and minority students.


Gist fired back Thursday, criticizing a Providence Journal story she felt was incomplete and dispelling the notion that any students in Rhode Island would receive a certificate in lieu of a diploma. The second year Commissioner defended the initiative and blamed the current culture for allowing partial proficiency to become the status quo.

A Culture Problem
More stringent graduation requirements are nothing new to Rhode Island. Gist said the Board of Regents agreed to make changes to the system in 2003 and again in 2008. Under the new proposal, which is likely to be voted on in March, a Rhode Island diploma would be given to those students who do not pass any portion of the NECAP, but still pass in school. A Regents diploma would be awarded to those who demonstrate proficiency on the test and an Honors diploma would be given to those who score highly.

Gist said incentives like the advanced diplomas could help raise the bar in some schools.

“If we have a culture where people are offended by higher performing students,” she said. “Then we’ve got a problem with the culture. Too often we aim to hold everyone to the lowest standard. This has always been partial proficiency, so it has become the standard.”

System Only Enhances Differentiation of Students
In an e-mail forwarded around earlier in the week, President and CEO of the John Hope Settlement House Peter Lee said the three-tiered diploma proposal “only enhances the differentiation of students” and “It does not implement additional supports, nor does it establish a climate in which academic success is attainable and rewarding for all.”

The subject of the e-mail was titled “Race, Equity and the Achievement Gap…” Lee also questioned the point of the plan and asked if it will really provided great support for students.

“I believe the proposed plan, for all its good intentions, is short-sighted. I believe there are strategies we have not yet fully embraced that can make a difference for our children. Across the country, we hear superintendents saying that districts can’t do ‘it’ by themselves. But has the ‘it’ been clearly articulated?”

The College Factor
Another concern expressed by naysayers has been whether the three-tiered diploma system will effect college admissions. GoLocalProv contributor and Founder of College Admissions Advisors Cristiana M. Quinn said the new system probably won’t change much of anything when it comes to what colleges are looking for.

“I don’t see the three-tiered diplomas playing a significant role when it comes to admissions outside of Rhode Island,” Quinn said. “But it may for some of the state schools.”

The concern has been that students graduating with the third-tier Rhode Island diploma might be looked at in a negative light for not achieving a higher-tiered diploma. But Gist has made it clear that the Rhode Island diploma would be exactly the same as the one students receive today.

“One doesn’t count any more than the others,” Gist said. It’s just a reflection of [the students’] performance. The majority of Rhode Island students go on to Rhode Island schools. I’d actually like to see a day where maybe the Honors diploma means you get automatic admission or that you earn some sort of scholarship.”

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Politics: RI Gov's Debate Review

Originally Appeared at Rhode Island's Future in October, 2010.

Welcome to the shove it state, national media. Forgive us if we spill our coffee milk on you. We’re a little star struck. Rhode Island hasn’t gotten this much attention since Operation Plunder Dome and we’re not used to seeing ourselves on television unless it’s Family Guy. This is big. Drudge blew up one of our local news blogs. Chris Matthews talked about us. We even made The Today Show.


But while you allow us our 15 minutes of non-animated fame, please take some time to learn about the wacky governor’s race you’re opining on. For instance, you should know that while it’s shocking that anyone would tell a sitting President to shove it, it’s no more surprising to us that the guy who did it happens to call himself a Democrat. You should also keep in mind that the guy with all the union support who loves Dickens and the weather and sort of reminds you of your pot smoking hippy father actually used to be a Republican.

As for the actual Republican in the race, it’s worth mentioning that what you saw at last night’s debate was new to us as well. He’s surging now and yet, in a time where the entire country seems to be trending to the right, nobody in Rhode Island knew who John Robitaille was a month ago. Oh, and that witty Ken Block guy who takes the incredibly unsexy position of being in the middle of everything might just make the best governor of all.

These are things you need to know. With President Clinton coming to town in an attempt to fix this Shoveitgate mess on Sunday, I imagine you’ll be sticking around through Election Day. So here’s a guide to each of the four candidates based on last night’s debate…

Frank Caprio
To make sense of the Democrat who told the President off, you first have to understand the Rhode Island electorate. The numbers suggest we are one of the most liberal states in the union, but that isn’t exactly true. We seem to have a lot people who vote Democrat but think gays are icky, brown people are scary and call it “Obamacare”. So Frank Caprio is courting that crowd and alienating the progressives.

Make no mistake about it: Caprio’s attack on the President was as calculated as everything else he has done in his campaign. On Tuesday, he defended his comments, explaining to debate viewers, “if it takes telling someone to shove it, I’m going to tell them to shove it, because I’m going to fight for Rhode Islanders every day up at that State House.” His grade for Obama: Incomplete.

Caprio sells himself as the pro-business Democrat who wants to hold the line on taxes and create jobs by making more capital available. Although it has been reported that he considered running as a Republican, Caprio is sharp enough not to blame the state’s social programs for many of its problems the way Robitaille does. But he always seems to find a way to criticize Chafee for being too tied to unions and has made a habit of saying his union support comes from “people who actually build things.”

Among other topics discussed last night, Caprio said his first two priorities as governor would be to institute his $600 million dollar small business loan fund and to go down to the DMV and not leave until “we straighten that place out.” He gave the General Assembly a C for its performance; attacked Chafee for raising Warwick’s property taxes as mayor; and said he’ll give the EDC one week from the day he’s elected to close the 38 Studios deal or he'll “find a better way that works for the taxpayers.” He also enjoys long walks on the beach and his favorite book (seriously) is Lord of the Rings.


Lincoln Chafee
There are times when Linc Chafee leaves you wondering if he knows what year it is, but the man is doing something right. Chafee is building what can only be described as the strangest coalition the state has ever seen. He has the support of the older conservative crowd who remember his father and thought he did a good job as mayor of Warwick as well as the far left who consider him the most progressive candidate of the bunch.

He’s in an interesting position because his biggest flaw is also his greatest strength. His opponents, namely Caprio, attack him for being too close with the public unions, but those are also the people who are going to help him Chafee out the vote on Election Day without any party machine behind him. Unlike some of the other candidates, Chafee has a lot of supporters who live for the first Tuesday in November. They organize. They turn out. They get results.

Chafee is running as an independent and is the only candidate who has proposed a one percent sales tax on currently exempted items. He always makes sure to mention that he is not the one who got us into this mess and that all the experts say a sales tax is far less cumbersome than allowing cities to raise property taxes. Last night, he made it clear that he would veto anything above a one percent tax, citing the need for the General Assembly to stay disciplined.

In his continuing quest to woo Latino voters, Chafee said his first priority as governor would be to repeal E-Verify, which he said has done nothing to lower the state’s unemployment rate. His other top priority would be tackling the budget crisis. He refused to grade the General Assembly because “I have to work with them." He also threatened to come after the EDC if the 38 Studios deal goes bust. His favorite author: Charles Dickens.

John Robitaille
No one had more to prove than the Republican candidate last night. And I think he succeeded. The usually mild-mannered, above-the-fray Robitaille was highly critical of his opponents, especially Caprio, who he said “behaved like a petulant little child who did not get his way” regarding the Democrat’s comments about the President.

I don’t agree with much of anything Robitaille has to say, but his climb in the polls is directly related to Caprio’s downfall. There were a lot of Republican-leaning independents (the anybody-but-Chafee crowd) who thought they had to vote for the Democrat in the race, but that has changed and Robitaille is the benefactor. We won’t see it in any the polls because most took place prior to the Caprio flap, but there is no doubt the Republican could pull off the upset next Tuesday night.

Robitaille said his first two priorities as governor would be to cut spending and cut spending. As Republicans tend to do, he criticized the state for spending too much on social programs and said he doesn’t believe the government can create jobs. He gave the General Assembly an F for its performance and said “that’s being charitable.” He made it clear that he would veto any budget with a tax increase and emphasized the need for the state to become more business-friendly.

Robitaille was also responsible for two of the best punch lines of the night: 1) When Caprio referred to the state’s pension fund favorably compared with other states, the Republican said “that’s like saying the S. S. Minnow isn’t sinking as fast as the Titanic. 2) When asked about something his former boss Governor Carcieri did wrong, Robitaille said, “I think he made a big mistake when he endorsed Linc Chafee over Steve Laffey for Senate in 2006.”

His favorite author: David McCullough.

Ken Block
Let’s put it this way. Ken Block’s Moderate Party will remain on the ballot for years to come. Block was again impressive and full of sharp one-liners throughout last night’s debate. He tugged at people’s hearts when he described creating jobs as being about sitting at the kitchen table and staying awake at night to figure out how to make it work. The other candidates just don’t match up when job creation is the topic.

Block called Caprio a knucklehead for his comments about the President and criticized Chafee for wanting to sue the EDC. He said the state made a deal and it was time to honor it. He said his number one priority as governor would be to give the state’s IT department 30 days to “get the dead people off the welfare rolls,” which prompted WPRI’s Ted Nesi to tweet “Ken Block sees dead people.” Block said his other top priority would be to meet with the General Treasurer and secure one percent of the state pension fund to start his investment plan.

He gave the entire political system and F for a grade and said the General Assembly deserved a D, but mentioned that he was willing to stay after school to help them out, drawing laughs from the crowd. His plan focuses on cutting waste and fraud from the state and he claims to be the only candidate who has a track record for doing so. His favorite author: Orson Scott Card.

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Awesome People: Four Questions For A Hypertext Pioneer

Originally Appeared in The Phoenix

As both an author and illustrator, Shelley Jackson has looked beyond the limitations of singular genres or techniques to create a novel style of work. Perhaps best known for her 1995 creation, Patchwork Girl, Jackson is considered a pioneer of hypertext fiction, an interactive, nonlinear form replete with links. Jackson was at Brown University this week to read a piece from her latest project, which she calls newspaper collaging, and the Phoenix caught up with her for a Q+A.


YOU'VE FOLLOWED AN UNCONVENTIONAL PATH TO SUCCESS SINCE YOUR TIME AS A BROWN MFA STUDENT.
Well, Brown encourages experimental work, so it's not like I was having to buck the system at Brown. [The school] is unusually welcoming in that way and it was at Brown that I encountered hypertext and kind of played around with it. Partly it's just temperamental, due to the fact that from an early age I always was really interested both in writing and in art and I resisted the idea that I would ever have to choose between them. I always insisted that I could do both and other things too. It seemed more interesting to go in all different directions and that's just always how I've worked.

PATCHWORK GIRL IS CONSIDERED A GROUNDBREAKING WORK OF ELECTRONIC LITERATURE, OR HYPERTEXT FICTION. IN MANY WAYS, YOU HELPED CREATE THE GENRE. WHAT WERE YOU HOPING TO ACCOMPLISH WHEN YOU STARTED THE PROJECT?
In the beginning, I realized that it provided a way to explore things I was already interested in exploring in print in a way that was a lot more natural. I'm not a particularly linear thinker in any case and that's not what most interests me in writing. So in a way, my goal even in print was to find ways to slow down that propulsive drive toward an end . . . and set things in parallel — not just a line with a beginning, middle, and end. Hypertext provided a way to really literalize that because you could start at one window and go in multiple directions from there. To me, it felt like moving around in a physical space and it made it easy to see that I could incorporate visual art or sound or any number of other things in a way that is really hard to do with a printed book.

YOU ALSO CREATED THE SKIN PROJECT, WHICH TOLD AN ENTIRE STORY BASED ON TATTOOS ON THE BODIES OF VOLUNTEERS. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT IDEA?
My ambition increasingly has been to push the boundaries of what writing is, what it can be, and resist defining it more narrowly. It seems to me that even a book is a more multifaceted object than we credit it with being. Every time we read, we're also engaging with this sculptural object; we're using our hands to move it, to manipulate it. It's a kind of performance; it only comes to life in our reading of it and in the particular experiences we bring to it and so each performance is unique. So it seems to me the text already leaks off the page in all directions and engages human bodies in interesting and complicated ways. A lot of my work is thinking about the body as it relates to text, so I thought I'd push that and make it more literal and the obvious way to do that seems to be this way we already publish on our skin.

YOUR LATEST VENTURE INVOLVES TEARING OUT THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND RECREATING A STORY USING ALL OF THE WORDS AND ADVERTISEMENTS LOCATED ON THE FRONT AND BACK OF THE PAGE. IT SEEMS TO PROVIDE A DARK-BUT-HUMOROUS TAKE ON OUR CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS.
I think it just came out of the material. That particular front page had a dead man's face smeared across it. He was a member of Al-Qaeda who had been killed and confirmed dead. That may have been working on an unconscious level as I engaged with it. I think all of these newspaper collages have been sort of clownish in some ways with some kind of comedy, but then a balance of the creepy seriousness. That seems to be a mode that I really enjoy, those two things weighing against each other. But I didn't specifically try to push it in a dark direction; it just seems to be in the subconscious of the New York Times. I think, in a way, the news is dark.

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Politics: RI Gov's Race Too Disappointing To Call

Originally Appeared at Rhode Island's Future in October, 2010

I turned 18 in September 2004. It was my freshman year of college and of the few priorities I had that fall, picking the right candidate for President fell somewhere behind constructing the perfect bong and making sure I wound up in as many classes as possible with Becky from across the hall in order of importance.

Besides, I already knew who to vote for. That summer, my hippy older sister forced me to listen to some black guy from the Midwest explain why John Kerry was going to save the world. If that didn’t seal the deal, this did: Eminem hated Bush, and even though I was a few years past my bleached-hair phase, I still considered him the voice of my generation.


But before the November election, I figured it might be a good idea to learn something about Kerry. Not because I had my doubts, but because I needed ammo when the College Republicans came to seduce my buddies with promises of better beer and prettier women. What I found out left me frustrated. He was nothing like that man on TV said he was. He was just another stuffy white guy who gave underwhelming speeches and was wishy-washy on most issues. Needless to say, I still voted for him, but let my friends go over to the dark side without much of a fight.

In retrospect, I probably should have cast a protest vote. But I felt protest votes were wasted votes and for the most part, still do. I have no real reasoning behind this, except that I like for my vote to count and the competitor in me would rather pick an average electable candidate than one with zero chance of winning. Bottom line: It would take a pretty awful cast of characters for me to support a fringe candidate or write-in Brian Hull on my ballot.

Which brings me to our governor’s race.

Not since that presidential election six years ago have I been so thoroughly disappointed by the favorites in a race I’m obligated to vote in. And I don’t see much changing over the next two weeks. Bill Clinton couldn’t convince me to go door-to-door for Frank Caprio and Meg Curran sure as hell hasn’t instilled in me a new level of trust for Lincoln Chafee.

The two frontrunners have spent the majority of their time attempting to one-up each other with sleazy attack after sleazy attack while offering nothing more than basic talking points for, you know, fixing the state. In short, Caprio believes that if your son can expand his lemonade stand by one job, Rhode Island could be saved. Meanwhile, Chafee thinks taxing said lemonade will somehow attract new businesses to the state.

These guys make Governor Carcieri look like a genius. The problem is the next candidate on the ballot actually believes the governor is a genius. When John Robitaille inevitably finishes third, you have to wonder if he’ll regret never being able to name even one thing his former boss did wrong in his two terms. While largely avoiding the mudslinging between the frontrunners, he has also failed to separate himself, forcing Republicans to wonder aloud if a vote for Robitaille is a vote for Chafee.

Which brings me to the question of the day: Is Ken Block deserving of a protest vote?

He has easily come off as the most likable of the bunch and when given the chance to talk during debates, he has been impressive. The problem is you often forget about him while focusing on what his opponents have to say about each other. We know he’s too conservative for this blog and too liberal for that other blog, which is precisely what he strives to be. Unfortunately, the “in the middle of everything” strategy, by design, doesn’t allow you to stand out. Not even among this disappointing group.

So how will I vote?

Let’s put it this way: Unless Eminem has a horse in this race, I remain firmly in the undecided and unenthused segment of the population.

Hey, at least I’m in the majority.

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Politics: Rhode Island Primary Review

Originally Appeared at Rhode Island's Future in September, 2010

Promising to serve with an open heart, an open mind and an open door, Angel Taveras accepted the Democratic nomination for mayor of Providence late Tuesday night. His victory in the four-way primary all but guarantees the city will elect its first Latino mayor in November’s general election, where he’ll face Independent candidate Jonathan Scott.

It will be interesting to see how Taveras handles life as the overwhelming favorite in a race after effectively playing the role of the little-known outsider against his veteran opponents in the primary. His team seemed to relish its underdog role so much that I expected Mr. Taveras to kick his victory speech off by yelling, “We shocked the world.”


But did they really?

Taveras clearly didn’t have same name recognition as Steven Costantino or John Lombardi at the start of the race, but he had the blueprint for success from the very beginning. From the outset, Taveras had all the right people and resources in his corner: Myrth York’s financial support; Lauren Nocera’s talent as a campaign manager; energetic young leader Meg Grady and her vast reach among Young Democrats; and yes, Jerzyk behind the scenes. When you combine his dynamic team with the fact that his opponents were fighting for the same vote from a dwindling population, it becomes easier to see why Taveras won by such a decisive margin.

Just as many pundits predicted when he entered the race (before backing off near the end), Taveras built the same east side/south side coalition that made Mayor David Cicilline so difficult to defeat in 2002 and 2006. I know, I know. He claimed victories in other parts of the city as well. But that was simply icing on the cake.

And by Tuesday evening, when everyone was fretting about low turnout, we now know the underdog was just running up the score.

Scott’s Ideal Opponent
Jonathan Scott would have to shock the world in order to win the Providence mayor’s race, but as I’ve mentioned before, a faceoff with Taveras was his best bet. The sad reality is that there are a lot Lombardi/Costantino supporters who will find it very difficult to vote for a Latino in November. And they will turn out, because they’ll have a governor’s race to vote in.

That’s not to say that all of Scott’s supporters are just racists who hate Taveras. I actually like Scott a lot and think if nothing else, he’ll add to the discussion over the next two months. To become a serious contender, he’ll need to raise a lot of money in a hurry and find a way to separate himself from his opponent, which was a struggle in some of the primary debates.

The City Committee’s Relevance
On a warm June evening at the Rosario Society Hall in Silver Lake, Steven Costantino won the Democratic City Committee’s endorsement for mayor of Providence. This came just days after rumors started to circulate that Costantino might run as an independent, leaving Taveras and Lombardi to battle it out in the primary. That night, he told me those rumors were completely fictitious and that he never considered running as anything other than a Democrat.

It became clear that he was simply using a different strategy than his opponents. While Lombardi was running around to every birthday party, bar mitzvah and book club meeting throughout the city and Taveras was building the foundation of his campaign, Costantino was winning over ward committee members in hopes that support from the Democratic machine might carry him to city hall.

You have to wonder if he’s kicking himself for taking that route today. At one time, support from the City Committee may have meant a great deal, but it hard to imagine it meant much more than the 80 or so votes he picked up that evening. Neighborhoods no longer vote as one. I don’t know a single member of my ward committee and I highly doubt they helped rock the vote for their candidate on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s Best Story?
How about 21 year old Davian Sanchez winning the Democratic primary in the 11th Ward? It will be interesting to see how he’ll fare against Independent Carrie Marsh, who considered running for mayor, in November. Sabina Matos also warrants a mention for unseating Josephine DiRuzzo in the 15th. Thank god.

Monday Morning Quarterback In CD 1
The most oft-uttered phrase by candidates in the 1st Congressional District in the months leading up to the primary was, “if the election were to happen today, Undecided would win.”

That may have been true, but I think they were giving Undecided a little too much credit. I find it hard to believe the majority of undecided voters throughout the district were undecided because the candidates were all so strong and appealing. Chances are they were undecided because a race between four white guys they’d never met all promising to help them was the last thing they cared about. In the end, Undecided probably went with the name they recognized – Cicilline – or they were among the many no-shows on Tuesday.

David Segal deserves a lot of credit for earning 20 percent of the vote. I guarantee no candidate had more organization than he had on Election Day; but he would have needed to broaden his support base to have had a shot at defeating Cicilline. It will be interesting to see what he decides to do next, but everyone seems to agree that it’s not a matter of if he’ll run for office again, it’s when.

Bill Lynch wound up being the major disappointment of this race. I found it strange that someone who comes from a family of politicians had so little organization within his campaign. He was nowhere on the internet. His television ad was well done but came too late. And you can’t make term limits the number one issue of your campaign when the majority of voters couldn’t tell you how long one term in the House lasts.

Anthony Gemma was the wild card in CD 1 and he ended up doing pretty well. His jobs plan was actually quite impressive and he ran an aggressive campaign. Of course, in doing so, he might have helped hand the seat over to Republican John Loughlin. Something tells me Cicilline won’t be asking him to help over the next month.

You have to wonder just how big Cicilline’s victory would have been if not for all the mudslinging over the past few weeks. To still get 37 percent of the vote despite all the accusations and bumps that popped up along the way shows what strong name recognition and solid organization within a campaign can do for a candidate. Eric Hyers deserves a lot of credit.

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Awesome People: Hangin' With Lizz Winstead, Co-Creator Of The Daily Show

Originally Appeared at Rhode Island's Future in July, 2010

Everyone remembers that one person who helped set them on their career path. Maybe it was a teacher, a coach, a relative or some kind of mentor. For Lizz Winstead, the credit goes to a douchebag.

About two decades ago, Winstead was having drinks on a blind date in New York City when everybody’s eyes turned to the bar’s television. It was right at the onset of the Gulf War and Winstead recalls being taken aback by the pageantry of the events taking place – the graphics, the reporting, the way violence was being sold to the public. She says it made her sick.


Her date’s response? “Wow. This is so cool.”

In that very moment, Winstead, who had been a standup comedian since the early ‘80s, says her act changed. She hated the way hypocrites in the media were packaging the war and decided to start focusing on politics and current events. Within a few years, Winstead began working with Comedy Central to create an everyday show that would respond to what was happening in the world, with the media as a central character. The Daily Show was born.

Winstead has become a leading voice among progressives around the country, co-founding Air America Radio, where she also hosted a show with Rachel Maddow and Chuck D. Last month, she served as a keynote speaker and panelist at Netroots Nation, where she called the progressive movement the voice of sanity in our country.

Winstead is in Rhode Island this weekend to perform her latest solo project, called My State of The Union. The Mixed Magic Theater in Pawtucket is hosting her for a pair of shows this evening at 7:00 and 9:00 and another two at the same time tomorrow night. Tickets are still available.

I caught up with her Wednesday before she spoke to a large crowd at Drinking Liberally at the Wild Colonial. Aside from learning that she orders her steak rare (Paragon may have dropped the ball on that one) I found her to be as insightful as she is hilarious. We talked a lot about women in comedy and she said she believes that a female will have a late night show on a major network within ten years.

Unfortunately, thanks in part to the internet and 24/7 media, she thinks the Letterman’s and Leno’s of the world (she doesn’t put The Daily Show in this class) have started to lose their relevance. In her opinion, radio is a great way to connect with an audience. She said she loves how listeners can keep the host honest and how they’re the ones dictate how the show goes.

Winstead said she feels the right still owns talk radio because the goal of conservatives is simply to “scare the shit” out of the audience. She thinks people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are willing to shovel dishonesty down their listeners’ throats because they are the most opportunistic people in the world and given the state of the country, it’s easy to take advantage of the public.

She said progressives need to roll up their sleeves and find a way to be heard. She pointed to all the brilliant people on the left who are well-known (Bill Maher, Jon Stewart) but said the next success probably won’t come from television because there isn’t any syndication money out there. She said she wishes MSNBC “had the balls” to put a real progressive show on its network.

Her key message to progressives, however, is to bring the internet to real life.

“A lot of times, we only get together two or three times a year,” Winstead said. “Progressives need to meet up for social occasions – have BBQ’s and rallies, start attending school board meetings and city council meetings. Infiltration is fun. “

Someone ought to find that douchebag.

And thank him.

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Book Review: Bill Simmons' Good Book...Of Basketball

Originally Appeared at Mediaite in November, 2009

Remember when you were in high school and your English teacher made you write a paragraph, then cut it in half, and then cut in half again in an attempt to help tighten your work? Well Bill Simmons stayed up late watching Cheers the night before and skipped class that day. No one likes words more than Simmons, who, as his ESPN colleague Rick Reilly once said, might be the only columnist in history to have his column jump to another page.


But it might be just that, the tangential style that intertwines endless pop culture references with hilarious personal stories and occasionally well-researched topics, that has made him one of the most popular writers in the country today.

In his latest book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy, you essentially get a 700 page Simmons column, complete with lists of the 96 greatest players of all time, the ten best teams in history and of course, around 1,500 words on how Kobe Bryant compares to Teen Wolf.

After reading the book in its entirety, I’m convinced of one thing: Nobody knows more about the history of basketball than Bill Simmons. At times, it reads as though he’s trying to prove that to you, particularly when he writes about the sport prior to 1975. He was born in ‘69, so in those parts, he relies heavily on the hundreds of books he read to fill in what he didn’t witness firsthand.

From there, it’s vintage Simmons. For a guy who calls the year he stopped writing and smoked way too much weed the best decision he ever made, the man has a remarkable memory. He tells the laugh out loud story of how his developing love for basketball made him wish he was black (haven’t we all?). And he comes off as guy who recognizes how privileged he was to grow up in a time where he and his father could afford season tickets to some of the greatest Boston Celtics teams in history. It’s actually quite endearing.

For those who read him regularly, the book meets all expectations. He even addresses some of his longstanding beefs with certain players or coaches. Early on, he describes how Isiah Thomas, a man he crucified over the years in his column, taught him the secret of basketball. The secret is a theme throughout the book; players and teams who understood the secret were rewarded. Those who couldn’t were guys like Vince Carter, who Simmons is harder on than just about anyone who ever played, with the exception of Kareem Abdul Jabar.

While some sports writers use lists as a lazy way of mailing in a column or giving length to a book, Simmons’ top 96 players list is the central premise and unquestionably, the best part of The Book of Basketball. Spanning 338 pages, from Tom Chambers at 96 to Michael Jordan at 1, he recreates the basketball Hall of Fame the way it should be, devising a pyramid that separates the players by level of greatness.

All of it, of course, is his opinion. But he backs so much up with statistics, knowledge and his passion to persuade everyone to think exactly the way he thinks, that you have to question yourself before you start calling Simmons a homer who let all that pot get to his head. Full disclosure: The minute I received the book, I skipped to see where he listed my favorite player of all time, Allen Iverson. He has him about 30 spots higher than I expected.

From there I was sold.

And chances are, you will be too. The book isn’t without its flaws. It occasionally reads like a 700 page book might and the pop culture references will surely be out-of-date by the time Simmons’ children are old enough to read it. But he also delivers the most entertaining history of an entire sport you’ll ever read. Baseball is a sport too stuffy, too set in its ways, to have a book written like this. Football is too much team, not enough individuals.

Basketball is just right. And Simmons was the perfect author to capture it all.

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Politics: Providence Mayoral Debate Review

Originally Appeared at Rhode Island's Future on 7/15/2010

Give perennial loser Christopher Young credit for one thing: The man provides fireworks superior to anything we saw over Fourth of July weekend. On a night where the candidates for Mayor of Providence delivered civil, prepared remarks with zero follow-up from the moderators, Young’s screaming diatribes made the Providence Mayoral Forum at Regency Plaza well worth the price of admission. (Full disclosure: It was free.)


For the most part, each candidate focused on jobs, city services and education. It’s only July, but it’s already clear that Steven Costantino is your guy if you want the city to be more fiscally responsible; John Lombardi is the pick if you want the Mayor to focus on trash pickup and graffiti cleanup; Angel Taveras will concentrate on education; and Young is the right choice for the conspiracy theory, tinfoil-helmet wearing crowd.

A couple notes:

Make no mistake about it. This was no debate. It was a trial run. The candidates were given mostly-generic questions ahead of time and managed to refine their mostly-generic answers down to the second of the time allotted to them. For that reason alone, I say the winners of the night were each candidate’s communications teams.

The line of the night came from a young, African-American John Lombardi supporter who I overheard while I was leaving the event. He pointed out that every candidate seems to want to one-up each other when it comes to how hard they had it when they were young. He’s right. I call this the Tupac-story (I’m from the gutter and I’m still here). Angel Taveras grew up in a single-parent household. Lombardi was an orphan. Young was an orphan. And once, Steven Costantino had to eat Ragu for dinner.

From the look of things, there weren’t many undecided voters in the room. I happen to be one of them. Most people were wearing stickers in support of one (or more) of the candidates and so it was difficult to get a feel for how people thought the forum actually went. Even Young had a fan or two. On to grading the realistic candidates…

Steven Costantino
Overall Grade: B+

Costantino comes off as a little bit more polished than the others with his business-first message and I think it resonates with voters. He said the city is facing a $50 million deficit and he’s the best candidate because he has proved that he is willing to make the tough decisions. He said the city will need to look into cutting department budgets across the board and that he will develop a rainy day fund. He was also the only candidate to mention regionalization: “Rhode Island is a 30 X 40 state that acts like it is Texas. It’s about time we look into consolidating services with other cities.”

He said that one of the city’s major challenges is attracting new businesses. “There isn’t a business out there that wants to invest with a city that can’t control it finances. “ He also pointed out that vacant spaces aren’t ready for new businesses to move in. He said we need to make those vacancies into smart spaces so new businesses actually want to fill the void.

On education, he said Superintendent Tom Brady is doing a great job, but the city is dealing with an infrastructure based on an enrollment that was much higher years ago. He emphasized again that he was willing to make the difficult choices and that it might mean closing some schools. He strongly defended the education funding formula because it was predictable and ensures that “every child in Providence will have a chance, at least the start.”

John Lombardi
Overall Grade: C

John Lombardi sounds tired. This wasn’t the first time I noticed this with him. It’s only July and it appears like he’s already exhausted from the campaign. At two different points, he was caught in a daze when it was his turn to answer a question. It’s too bad because he seems like the most likeable of the three serious candidates, but if he already appears down and out, how will he look in September?

He continued to harp on the delivery of city services and said the city has actually become a problem for businesses. He said businesses are closing because they can’t use their sidewalk or have delivery trucks park in front because they will be ticketed. He also complained about the graffiti problem and people defecating in the streets and pledged that the laws already in place will be enforced if he is elected Mayor.

When asked about the importance of downcity, he said “So goes downtown, so goes Providence, so goes the state of Rhode Island.” He said the city needs to figure out what to do with the Arcade and that the problem with the nightclubs is that the city needs to do a better job handling the traffic problems created when they close.

On education, Lombardi said “we need to hold teachers accountable, but we really need to hold parents accountable.” He said Providence can’t be one size fits all because of its diversity, but as one person pointed out to me, he makes it sound like families are to blame for failing children and even if that were true, it doesn’t actually help anyone. It’s just as bad as Bill Lynch accusing Providence children of being lost during the Congressional debate.

Angel Taveras
Overall Grade: B

Angel Taveras gets better every time I listen to him. He came off as awkward and unprepared early on, but has worked his way to sounding more confident and now delivers a clear, concise vision for the city. I have two pet peeves. 1) The Head Start to Harvard line now generates more eye rolls than smiles. 2) He has to stop telling people that he sees a bunch of little Angels in our children. Old, white Italian families do not want to hear that.

Taveras is best when he’s talking about education. It’s clearly the issue he cares most about and not surprisingly, he’s the only one with an actual plan on how to fix it. He wants to implement a Children’s Zone similar to the one Geoffrey Canada created in Harlem and “no one is going to tell me Providence can’t do it.” He believes in a wrap-around model for school services and said it starts with early childhood education and that we need to look into alternate pathways for students.

When it comes to jobs, he pointed out that while the city’s unemployment rate hovers around 15 percent, some neighborhoods are suffering from 25 percent unemployment. Similar to what Anthony Gemma said on Tuesday night, Taveras feels workforce development is a key issue. He said that while others are focusing on new businesses, he feels Providence needs to do a better a job retaining the current ones and helping them create more jobs.

Taveras mentioned that recovering from the current fiscal situation will take a “shared sacrifice” and that the city can’t just tax its way out. He promised to sit down with every union, the colleges and universities and every department to see what can be done about cutting the budget deficit.

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Life: Why I Coach

Originally Appeared at Dan's Take

Anybody who thinks the Chicago Cubs are the most loveable losers in the world never met my little leaguers. Then again, no one has ever witnessed anyone, anywhere, lose quite like us. We were the Bad News Bears without a happy ending. We made the Washington Generals look first-class. I felt bad watching the runs pile up on my helpless little guys, but the other teams felt worse – you know things aren’t going well when the other coaches are rooting for you.


Winning just wasn’t our thing. Not that any of my little guys knew – once, after an especially bad whooping, one of my nine year olds tugged on my t-shirt and asked if we had won. Won? I gave him a perplexed look, “buddy, we didn’t even make it out of the batter’s box today.”

Such was life for my team during our 0-16 campaign. We struck out, we dodged groundballs, and for a bunch of fourth graders, we had an uncanny ability to remain clean (dirt also wasn’t our thing). But the truth is, I’ll probably remember the losing only slightly more than my team, and that’s only because I actually kept score for every game. It’s everything else, the hilarious stories and the head-scratching ones, the heartwarming and occasionally heartbreaking tales that made this season memorable for me.

Teaching baseball to children is a lot like teaching someone to speak English. Every time they think they’re getting the hang of it, another crazy rule pops up and throws everything off. The “infield fly” rule is just a preposterous as “I” before “E” except after “C.” And why, as my first basemen once asked, can’t you just throw the ball at the runner to get him out? Monkey ball works in kickball.

The key is learning all the positions, but that also means knowing right from left, which can be tricky. Sometimes it can also be hard to pronounce the names of each spot on the field. For example, one kid spent the entire year asking to go to the mountain and I would always say no. I thought he was talking about the big pile of dirt behind out dugout. Turns out he meant the pitcher’s mound, and he took the hill in our final game. Jose hit four batters in a row.

My actual pitcher (we only had one) was a 3’2 seven year old who played right field and batted dead last on opening day and was the starting pitcher and leading off by game three. He was so tiny that our catcher (his brother) would often knock him over when throwing the ball back to him. But Joey knew that pitching was all about intimidation, so he’d wear eye-black to look older and make his “mean face” to strike fear in the hitters. That’s heart.

Of course, every team has an overachiever. Ours was our shortstop. Chris knew how to catch and could throw all the way across the diamond. He liked to dive and slide and even though he had an awful habit of throwing his bat after swinging, he made contact enough to be considered our best hitter. In one already out of reach game, a ball was hit to shallow left field and he made the greatest catch any of my kids had ever seen, so they did what the pros do: They jumped on top of him and celebrated as though it were the game-winning catch. One problem: It was only the second out of the inning and a runner tagged up and scored.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t laugh or smile at everything that happened this season. Sometimes reality hits hard. They old motto is “kids say the darndest things,” but in actuality, they’re brutally honest. Mom drinks too much. Dad’s never around and he doesn’t pay child support. Or we’re going to be homeless. Real life problems that winning in baseball won’t solve. My friends often tease me by comparing me to Keanu Reeves in “Hardball,” but the truth is, real life tends to be a lot less entertaining and a lot more eye-opening.

It’s the tear-jerking stories that make me want to come back and should make you want to get involved. Sometimes we don't realize that kids these days are lonelier than ever. Not every child has a reliable parent to turn to or someone willing to pay attention to them. Too many grow up with John Madden as their male role model and Grand Theft Auto has taught them far more about stolen cars than they will ever know about stolen bases.

It's really sad, especially when you hear from people who have already given up on a generation. Children need coaches and role models in their lives now more than ever. It's so easy too. Spend a couple hours a week with a youth. Mentor them. Coach them. Teach them. Do something.

It's not hard to have an impact on a child's life.

So make it happen.

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