• Meanwhile, on the mean streets of Allens Avenue, JARhead R.J. Heim informs your superior correspondents that a company known as Segue My Way has set up shop, offering tours of La Prov aboard a Segway — a travel device that looks like your vacuum cleaner and is more fun than beating a sack full of Rhode Island politicians with a baseball bat. After a bit of preliminary training, R.J. took a spin through India Point Park, but the guys at Segue My Way offer a tour through the East Side, downtown Providence, Smith Hill, and the Jewelry District. Go to seguemyway.com and tell ’em R.J. and P+J sent youse.
NEW CANDIDATE, SAME DEAD CULTURE
If Anthony Gemma’s campaign for Congress is anything like the annoying commercials he greenlighted for his business, Gem Plumbing & Heating, P+J expect his bid for Congress to go down in flames. Of course, your superior correspondents have a certain bias here. While Gemma (like many others in this year’s “throw the bums out” political environment) touts the fact that he has never served in elective office before, we don’t see experience in elective office as inherently good or bad.
What we do think is inherently bad — and a perfect indication of how pathetic American business and culture have become — is the world of marketing. Advertising has turned our brains to mush.
We don’t mean to pig pile on Mr. Gemma, but the ridiculous “board of directors” idea that he unveiled in his inaugural press conference on Tuesday — get all the state’s top pols together for regular meetings — reeks of marketing-think.
GOOD DEEDS UNDER THE RADAR
We received a note last week from our friend, activist Richard Walton, keeping us up to date on the fundraising totals from his annual birthday bash in Pawtuxet: “The turnout was very good (close to 200 people attended) and we received over 100 separate contributions.”
By the end of the day, there was $4300 in the kitty and, as Richard reminds us, “there are always people who send checks within the next couple of days.” We remind you that all the money goes to the Niquinohomo Sister City Project (which provides medical, educational and other support for the people in Niquinohomo, Nicaragua) and Amos House, the Providence non-profit with a variety of programs for people in need.
Last week, we were also reminded that there are all sorts of efforts that go on under the radar — average Americans providing help to those who need it. Dr. Donna Gavin, a Vo Dilun optometrist, and her daughter Hannah, along with 33 others from our area, have returned from a trip to La Romana in the Dominican Republic.
The mission, which was supported by donations from many friends, family, and neighbors was, according to Dr. Gavin, “to work on the construction of the Good Samaritan Hospital, a facility dedicated to providing care to needy people in the area.”
The folks who went to the Dominican are just a few of the people who regularly make this world a better place. These are stories that one only occasionally sees in the daily newspapers. The Good Samaritan Mission Council has been sending groups and money to support the hospital and medical missions since the late ’80s. It is efforts like this (and so many others) that give P+J hope.
