(photo of chinese stars by molly booker)

9-ish, $6, Thursday, the 201, 201 Westminster Street

Why should you care about the treasurer’s race?  The treasurer’s office is an underused asset to our state government, with important levers of power that seldom get used.  The treasurer isn’t just about finance, but also housing, education, the environment and more.  We deserve a treasurer who understands that it’s not just about managing the state’s finances more efficiently, but also about using those levers to benefit the state’s working families, its water and air, housing, education and more.  Read more about finance, or about me at the campaign web site, or at whatcheer.net, or — better yet — come to the party and ask me.

And the March 18 details:

A week from this Thursday, on the evening of March 18, please join me for a fundraising party for my campaign for Rhode Island General Treasurer.  It will be at the Hi-Hat, in Davol Square, Providence, from 6-9, and will feature an invasion, I mean appearance, by the fabulous What Cheer?  Brigade, a 16-piece street band with four drummers, three tubas and heaven knows how many trombones and trumpets.  My friend Aaron Wade of the band Santamamba will also be around to fight back on the piano.  And I’ll probably speak for a little bit, too.  The suggested donation is $100.

There are more than fifty co-hosts helping me with this affair:
Craig O’Connor and Lauren Goddard - Melody Drnach - Dave Heckman- Matt Jerzyk - Karen McAninch and Steve Markovitz - Rachel Miller - Jane Murphy and Jim Dean - Marvin Ronning - Marti Rosenberg - Roxie and Tom Sgouros Sr. - Jim Tull - Councilman Seth Yurdin - Representative Frank Ferri - John Roney - Senator Rhoda Perry - Ray Rickman - John and Letitia Carter - Robert Walsh, Jr. - Harry and Alice Beckwith - Marc B. Gertsacov, Esq. - Jim Harris - K. Nicholas Tsiongas - Lawrence Purtill - Ric McIntyre - Paul McNeil - Dave Ortiz - Representative David Segal - Henry and Peggy Sharpe - Bruce Vild and Faith Lamprey - Jay Walsh - Rick Brooks - Bert Crenca - Brian Hull - Representative Scott Guthrie -Representative Art Handy - Ed and Cathy Hardie - Meg Kerr and Bob Vanderslice - Nancy Evans Lloyd - Lynne McCormack and Al Chin - Garrett Bliss - Patrick Crowley - Representative Bob DaSilva - Johnny Dollar - Scott Duhamel - Representative Jay Edwards - Alisa Gallo - Roberta Hazen Aaronson and - Michael Aaronson - Representative Edie Ajello - Michael Alper - Representative Chris Fierro - Representative Rod Driver - and Dan Bass

This thought-provoking documentary examines an issue of growing concern among pediatricians, mental health experts, educators and environmentalists: more and more children are growing up with few opportunities for unstructured play, especially outdoors.

You don’t even see kids playing outside in the snow any more. Children used to be kicked out of the house by their parents and told not to come back until dinner. They then roamed the neighborhood in noisy gangs — usually with a pack of dogs — got into trouble, made up contests and games, staged plays, devised money-making schemes, formed weirdass clubs, and learned how to navigate social situations and become autonomous and independent citizens of the world. (And that world is not a scarier place, parents just do not assess risk properly.) The movie will be shown at Temple Beth-El next Tuesday evening and will be followed by a panel discussion. It will screen again on March 30th down at the URI Kingston Campus.

[I originally had this incorrectly slated for tonight. The event takes place one week from tonight. My apologies to the commenter and anyone else who has been inconvenienced. I usually check and double check, but I was rushing. BC]

Tuesday, March 16, 7pm to 9pm, Temple Beth-El, 70 Orchard Avenue

Join founding members of the Uncaucus, friends, fellow voters, and comrades from the city of Providence in an UnDebate, where those interested in serving as our next Mayor listen instead of talk.

Thursday, April 1, 2010, 6:30pm - 10:00pm

Bravo Brasserie
123 Empire Street
Providence, RI

Candidates Steven Constantino, John Lombardi, Daniel Harrop, and Angel Taveras have agreed to participate (thank you!). Carrie Marsh, Joe Paolino, and Myrth York who have yet to declare candidacy but remain interested in the race, will also join us. All candidates, declared and undeclared, are welcome to join. Will update the invite as more RSVPs from candidates come in.

The event will be moderated by Mike Ritz, who will help keep the conversation positive, forward looking, and, in true Uncaucus style, fun.

The venue has limited capacity and admission, which is free, will be first-come, first served. So don’t be late!

I like the idea of this a lot, but I can never go. One thing that bothers me is that they seem to like Navy time which seems too precious by half, maybe they are trying to recruit more sailors. As to this particular evening I see among the presenters — Dan Bass. Is that the Dan Bass? Is that our Dan Bass? The Bassmaster?! (Hey, plug this blog why doncha?) At any rate, the Providence PK chapter has now lasted one year and is celebrating with a party at the Waterplace Restaurant. After the usual presentations all the people will jump up and dance to DJ Micah Jackson. (More info, go here.)

Free, Wednesday, doors open 19:20, presentations 20:20, Waterplace, 1 Finance Way, downtown, 272.1040

Show through Saturday, Craftland, 235 Westminster Street, 272.4285

Below: Wallflower Party by Jenine Bressner. Hand and laser cut testiles, synthetic fibers and glass. $850.

Below: Luminous Chain by Islay Taylor. There are five different versions (short, long, 3-strand etc.) from $80 to $145. Glass, thread, retroglow, brass/sterling silver. The construction of these pieces is lovely. They don’t appear to be strung, but rather encased in ‘netting’.

The two distributors that supplied pepper to Daniele Inc., the Burrillville salami-maker, have recalled several lots of both black and red pepper, as a complex multi-agency investigation points ever more surely toward pepper as the source of a nationwide salmonella outbreak.

All the recalled pepper was distributed to commercial customers rather than stores. But the companies that bought the pepper may have used it in their products, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is determining whether additional recalls are necessary.

A hearing will be held tomorrow in the House Judiciary Committee at 4pm to weigh the current practice of counting prisoners as residents of Cranston, thereby artificially adding people to House Districts 15 and 16, and Senate District 27.  Being a Census year, the General Assembly will be redistricting in 2011 based on data from 2010.  Supporters of the move to count prisoners as residents of their last known address include Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Common Cause, the ACLU, Prison Policy Initiative, Demos, and the National Urban League.

Rep. Joe Almeida put in legislation (H 7833) after looking at the figures, and commented, “Its all about fairness.  These folks come from districts around the state, and will be returning to them upon release.  When I found out people are working to make this change around the country, I wanted Rhode Island to keep pace.”

A companion Senate bill (S 2452) is sponsored by Harold Metts, and co-sponsored by Juan Pichardo, Rhoda Perry, Maryellen Goodwin, and Paul Jabour.

Current RI election law is clear that voters do not lose their residency by going to college, the military, or prison.  However, the districting process has relied completely upon federal census data, without updating it to exclude prisoners from Cranston.  Revising residency data is unlikely to have any bearing on actual elections, but will provide a more equitable distribution of resources amongst cities and towns.

This bill would capitalize on the recent move by the Federal Census to make it easier to  count  prisoners, a move aided by the presence of National Urban League President Marc Morial as chairman of the Census Advisory Board.  RI would join more than 100 counties and other forms of local government that currently factor-out the prison populations when districting.  Similar legislation is currently pending in New York, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

More information can be found a thttp://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/ri.html

Seeing that I can’t stomach the choices available at one such locale, I tend to gravitate towards the uppity big-coffee-business to get my fill.  While waiting in line at one of their stores last week, I noticed as the customer in front of me ordered some kind of breakfast sandwich (you know - the ones that look like wax figurines in the glass case - staring you down as you wait to order).  As the barista “prepared” her order, I couldn’t help but notice as she grabbed the sandwich from the fridge, removed it from its plastic packaging (think snack cakes or frozen burritos) and tossed it into the microwave to get it nice and hot for the customer.  Although I completely understood that I was not shopping locally at that moment, I was genuinely shocked to have witnessed this process.  I think it’s reasonable to assume in such a “classy” establishment that the food offerings would be fresh or perhaps they would do a better job of hiding the process from the customers anxiously awaiting their caffeinated beverages with little more to do at the time than watch just what the baristas are doing back

In a time where so many of us have read/watched such informative works as Food Inc., Fast Food Nation, Eating Animals, etc… companies should probably do all that they can to provide fresh, quality items to consumers.  If convenience had little or nothing to do with our choices when it came to selecting where to purchase our food/drink (or any everyday item for that matter), I would like to think that we all would spend our money at locally owned and operated cafes and shops - not only to keep the money in our local economy but also to support businesses that truly care for the well being of their customers.  Plainly put, eating a sandwich that has been cryovaced into plastic packaging to preserve for who-knows-how-long is probably not good for our bodies and is definitely not good for our local merchants.  I have been to just about every coffee shop downtown or on the east side and not once have I seen the staff tear open a prepackaged food item, slap it onto a plate and serve it up.  Perhaps it takes a few minutes longer to wait as individual ingredients are brought together to form our meals, but consider it an investment.  It may be cliche, but some things are indeed worth the wait.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Mayor David Cicilline claims he has cleaned up Providence after the corruption of his predecessor, but his family relationships and connection to a former staffer could raise new questions about his reformer credentials.

His father is a mafia lawyer. His brother just got out of federal prison after serving time for a courthouse corruption scheme. Now, his former police driver, the husband of his longtime executive assistant, has been arrested as part of a state police bust of a cocaine dealing ring that also netted two other Providence police officers.

Today marks the 100th annual International Women’s Day.  Conceived in 1910 at the second International Conference of Working Women, the day’s original purpose was to draw attention to women’s equality and, hopefully, to give them the right to vote.  (At that point New Zealand women, the first to vote, had only been doing it for seventeen years.)

The first event took place the following year, in 1911.  It was formally recognized by the UN in 1975, and International Women’s Day is now a national holiday in fourteen countries, most of them former Communist nations.  Though it originally took place on March 19, it was moved to March 8 in 1913 later and has taken place on this day ever since.

There’s a website showcasing this year’s events around the world, the closest of which seems to be in Boston.

Once again, local company Orion retail|exhibit|design has teamed up with famed architect and Oscars set designer David Rockwell. Orion invented and built the system that makes it possible to take 100,000 individual Swarovski crystals and string them together into an embodiment of Rockwell’s 2010 Academy Awards vision.

(You do know Swarovski, right?  Makers of the only brand of crystal Jennifer Love Hewitt will trust to encrust her “precious lady”?)

These Swarovski crystals have a higher purpose than vajazzling.  They traveled from Austria to Smithfield, RI, where Orion craftsmen strung them into 6,000 different meter-long chains.  Next, the three-ton curtain shipped to L.A. and was assembled under Orion supervision into a 60-foot-tall, dazzling sight.

What’s that you say?  Seen one 100-foot-wide Swarovski crystal curtain, seen ‘em all?  Ah, but Orion has been hinting at “new and unexpected features” which will create “even more theatrical effect” this year.  If you’re not into speeches, at least you can enjoy the shine.

2010 Academy Awards, Sunday, 8pm on ABC

The Steel Yard, 27 Sims Street, 273.7101