HOT ART: Brian Smith and Anna Shapiro at Firehouse 13.

Best chore to delegate
That little doggie looked so cute in the store window. And so tiny. Who knew that in a couple of years a lumbering behemoth would be producing, on a daily basis, the biomass equivalent of a basket of puppies? In a small backyard, the dirt-to-doot ratio can be formidable. You could argue about whose turn it is. You could leave it for the next rainstorm. Or you could avail yourself of the YOUR DOG’S BUSINESS “Pooper Scooper Service.” On a weekly basis, they will come and do your duty for you. Rates vary, depending on the size of your estate, but optional scatological jokes are free. If you need additional inducement, they point out that “according to the EPA, 25 percent of ground water system pollution is from dog poop.” Serving northern and central Rhode Island and the Attleboro/ Blackstone Valley area of Massachusetts.

Your Dog's Business | 401.231.1161 | www.yourdogsbusiness.com

Best dance between fire and ice
Well, it’s not exactly “ice,” but that river water would be pretty cold to fall into and those twirling torches are very fiery. We’re talking SPOGGA, the fire dancer at WaterFire. This bare-chested, barefoot, bare-headed guy with one long braid coming down from a Mohawk to his waist gets dropped off by one of the fire-stoking boats at the first 12 braziers that are lit for the Downcity celebration that this art-for-the-community installation has always been. You watch, transfixed, as he dips the rags at the ends of two ropes into kerosene and begins to whirl them over his head or alongside his body, as he sits, stands, lies down, or creeps from one concrete stanchion to the next, sometimes tossing a handful of kerosene onto the water and lighting it. Once he has ignited the 12 braziers, he goes to Waterplace Park, where he performs his fire dance again. Check out his other lives on www.spogga.com and the WaterFire schedule at www.waterfire.org

Best uses for dead trees
Face it, city dweller: every time you walk into your apartment building, you’re stepping across the graveyard of a dead forest. Yes, you can donate to Sierra Club, but you can also make amends by stocking up on the paper goods at FIGMENTS, where trees are resurrected into beautifully designed writing paper, journals, date books, invitations, one-of-a-kind handmade business cards, and so forth. The sensibility ranges from skull note cards with black-tissue-lined envelopes to hyper-cute Japanese “Smile Frog” stationery fit for Yokohama schoolgirls to pass notes in calculus class. The place was opened in the fall of 2004 by RISD graphics design grad Peggy Lo, the creator of the handbag and card line In Sophie’s Bag. She fondly remembers getting her first box of way-cool stationery at age 7 in Taipei, where she was raised.

Figments | 717 Westminster Street, Providence | 401.588.5180 | www.figmentsdesign.com

Best old-fashioned spoken word
Time was when live entertainment meant listening to young students declaim a favorite narrative poem, inserting their own sense of drama through gesture or intonation. Hip-hop and slam poetry have created a resurgence of interest in recitation and performance. In 2006, the first national POETRY OUT LOUD competition was organized by the Poetry Foundation, in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, to promote an appreciation of poetry’s dynamic aspects. Finalists from participating Rhode Island high schools competed on March 13 at RIC to win a slot in the national finals April 30 and May 1. First place winner Jean Paul Lagace, from Providence Country Day School, received $200 and a paid trip to DC. Check the web site for details on participation in the program in Rhode Island and watch for next year’s state finals. The recitations are terrific theater, with the added element of competition.

401.222.6994 | sherry@arts.ri.gov | www.poetryoutloud.org

Best place to realize you have no game
Known to most statewide ballers as the “Jefferson Boulevard league,” TEAMWORKS (formerly Rhode Island Indoor Sports) offers every sporting league imaginable inevitably designed to savagely deflate your ego. They host deck hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and volleyball, but the basketball and infamous flag football leagues remain the top draws. Teamworks attract the best — we’re talking former D-1 athletes running around ready to clean your clock. Listen, Uncle Rico, if you think you can run routes and play man-to-man coverage in the A league here, you’re high, and all the powdered steroids at GNC ain't gonna help. There are plenty of Thursday and Sunday hoop leagues, including an over-30 division. Teamworks is available for kids’ birthday parties. A $15 membership required ($7 for kids).

Teamworks | 170 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick | 401.463.5565 | www.teamworkswarwick.com