The Day of Yellow Rain
“My cats came in covered in yellow,” one person stated. Another said her mother saw barrels of the Crayola-yellow stuff positioned against the fence that separated the neighborhood of Windsor Park from the Hoechst chemical facility. I posted a shorter version of this story to several Facebook pages dedicated to West Warwick, and I got…
West Warwick Produces Champions
We got the news in the winter of 1960, that our family from West Warwick would represent Rhode Island in a national contest to be held in the spring. We were Rhode Island’s candidate for “All-American Family.” This was no small honor, for families all over Rhode Island competed to represent our state. It was…
Guest-speaking: To Be Compared to Her is ‘Heaven,’ Indeed
“Colleen, you’re like the Erma Bombeck of Rhode Island education.” That’s what one person said who reads my regular educational Op-Ed’s in the Providence Journal. I loved the fact he compared me to a witty lady who had a wonderful, common-sense approach to things. Like Erma, I like to use humor to get my message…
Even Milltown Kids Dance
With Brylcream-slicked hair and Mom-pressed shirts, the boys stood against the auditorium wall, as if they were about to be shot by a firing squad. In a metaphorical way, they were. Soldiers each, they were about to embark on the most damnable mission of their young lives…crossing the auditorium’s wide oak floor, to ask one…
Our Mill Town Jobs Helped Make Us Who We Became
“Colleen, we’re taking you off the floor and putting you into screen-printing,” said my shift supervisor at Oresman Bros. Factory, on Pulaski St., in the Crompton section of town. He apparently had great faith in my ability. I didn’t know screen-printing was a skilled position. He introduced me to Tom, the taciturn man in charge…
A West Warwick Native Walks Back into Her Childhood
‘The Principal’s Daughter’ As Guest-Speaker, I Don’t Plan on ‘Pulling a Larry Wilmore’… You know—the alleged comedian of “The Nightly Show” fame who some say ‘bombed’ at the 2016 White house Press Conference Dinner, as he skewered several, with the result an audible groan —or worse yet for ANY comedian—no response– came up from…
