I am staunchly “woke,” and there’s a guy who has my gratitude for reminding me of it every day. This would be Norman Rockwell, the late “illustrator” once disdained by many a critic, but whose reputation as a legitimate artist has strengthened considerably over the decades. The reasons I admire Rockwell are many, one being […]
Gerry Goldstein
Gerry Goldstein, an occasional contributor to What's Up, is a retired Providence Journal editor and columnist who has been writing for Rhode Island newspapers and magazines for 60 years
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Gerry Goldstein: A pond where it’s easy being green
What goes around comes around, especially here at Shalom Acres, our little hobby farm in Greenville where an octogenarian who once caught frogs as a 12-year-old now does so again. These days, though, I brandish a camera instead of a net. Seven decades on, why still the fascination with these creatures whose forebears once hopped […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Fur, feathers, squeals, hogged some of White House spotlight
The reasons Donald Trump is abhorred here at Shalom Acres, our little hobby farm in Greenville, are too many to be counted, but among them is the fact that he was one of few American presidents to keep no critters in the White House. We find this suspicious, since we share our place harmoniously – […]
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Gerry Goldstein: A historical brew, in one small coffee cup
For years, a tiny piece of history has resided with other memorabilia on my desk, all accrued over decades of chasing the news. The deep-sea coffee cup beside one of standard size. (Gerry Goldstein photo) But it was not until last month’s disaster on the Titanic-bound submersible Titan that I pursued the story behind my thimble-sized Styrofoam coffee […]
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Gerry Goldstein: They said ‘I do,’ but the state moved to put them asunder
Since June is a popular month for weddings, it’s logical to review what was observed on the 12th: “National Loving Day.” And since you may have missed it, here’s a compelling fact about this low-profile holiday: It was named for a genuine Loving couple – Richard and Mildred Loving. The irony about “National Loving Day,” […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Seeing life from both sides and fighting on for a cause
When frail, 110-pound George W. Jorgensen turned 18 in 1944, he tried to enlist in the wartime Army, which took a peek at his wispy frame and rejected him. But leave it to the Army, a few months later it drafted Jorgensen and he served two years as a clerk at Fort Dix, N.J. before […]
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Gerry Goldstein: From an oceanic disaster, links to the Ocean State
Those new and ghostly 3D scans of the Titanic, showing in remarkable detail the “unsinkable” liner more than two miles under the sea, reflect an ageless tragedy with strong links to Rhode Island both past and present. Not the least of these involves ocean explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck in 1985 and even […]
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Gerry Goldstein: A new phrase is launched into the language
A few minutes after Elon Musk’s big rocket blasted off last month, momentary public befuddlement ensued when engineers from his SpaceX Corp. tweeted that the craft had experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” To put it more clearly, it exploded. The euphemism was tailor-made for the late comedian George Carlin, known for puncturing bloated verbiage. But he […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Lady Luck no help in this job search
Being an equal-opportunity essayist, I invite any ladies reading this to speak up if they feel insulted by what follows. Well, never mind what follows – in the eyes of some, that opening sentence itself contains an insult. Word came recently that in Easthampton, Mass., the school board rescinded the hiring of a new superintendent […]
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Gerry Goldstein: New words – When it rains, it pours
When a routine prescription seemed slow getting filled recently, I called the pharmacy to see if a problem was at hand. Said the pharmacist: “It’s a supply chain issue.” His response put him in the avant-garde of today’s culture, because the dreaded “supply chain” invocation is now an official entry in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Unhurried Baseball on deck for a prod
Baseball is a languid exercise, unsuited to impatience. As the aging, legendary pitcher Satchel Paige once noted, “I never rush myself. See, they can’t start the game without me.” The writer Edward Abbey described baseball as slow and sluggish, “with frequent and trivial interruptions, offering the spectator many opportunities to reflect at leisure upon the […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Old wisdom that resonates anew today
We’re deep into Black History Month, with culture wars continuing unabated, especially when it comes to what should be taught in the classroom. Arguments over curriculum are nothing new; the classic example played out nearly a century ago amid bombastic arguments by two of the nation’s premier orators and lawyers, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence […]
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Gerry Goldstein: The highs and lows of falling in love
With Valentine’s Day approaching, we are reminded that love over the generations has had its admirers and its detractors, depending on one’s personal experience. As an optimist and a believer that life offers constant opportunity for enrapturement no matter previous disappointments, I hold with the poet Maya Angelou, who stood by the idea of never […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Courage, as inspired from on high
We’re just days away from an observance that usually slides by with only modest notice, so you know I’m not referring to the ballyhooed Feb. 2 appearance of a weather-predicting groundhog. A more solemn aura surrounds the memory of what happened 80 years ago Feb. 3, when a German torpedo slammed into the U. S. Army’s transport […]
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Gerry Goldstein: In this work, the nickname’s a calling-card
News outlets recently noted the death in prison of one-time Patriarca Family crime boss Francis Salemme, better known in La Cosa Nostra circles as “Cadillac Frank.” One might think the nickname derived from a love of those high-end cars, but urban legend says otherwise, asserting that when he once worked at a Boston auto body […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Spelling aside, ‘Chanukah’ brightens the season
Since I’m Jewish, you are welcome to wish me a Happy Chanukah. But if that spelling of the holiday doesn’t suit you (even though it’s my preferred one), you’re also welcome to wish me a Happy Hanukkah, Hanuka, Hannukah, Chanuka, Channuka, Chanukka, Hanukka, Hannukkah, Channukka, or Channukkah. Don’t fret about this, because the Encyclopedia Brittanica […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Something wasn’t kosher about so many of those Santas
When I was a lad in post-war South Providence, Santa Claus faced two major hurdles as he contemplated a visit to our tenement. First off, the structure had no fireplaces, so there was no chimney for him to slide down. Second, we were Jewish. My parents, observant in more than just a religious sense, had […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Historical wrinkles on aging in office
If Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree on one thing, it’s that being an octogenarian doesn’t necessarily mean one can’t get the job done. That’s to be expected, since Biden turns 80 today and the newly declared Trump, should he win another term (Heaven forfend), would be 82 when he left office. Trump, in fact, […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Say what? All she wanted was a bagel
My friends Alan and Avis recently spent some time touring Italy and making friends with people from around the world who spoke English with a variety of exotic accents. En route home, Avis posted this on Facebook: “I spent 10 days talking with people from Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, England, Cyprus and Australia with no […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Rhetoric rises on the wings of a seagull
There are still a few weeks to go before the Nov. 8 election, which means we’ll doubtlessly need to bob and weave as mudslinging continues apace. Possibly, though, this has already peaked in Rhode Island. How can you top the recent exchange in which the camps of Democratic Gov. Dan McKee and Republican challenger Ashley […]
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Gerry Goldstein: A royal burial on our own Aquidneck Island
No question that Queen Elizabeth’s recent funeral was, well, magisterial. But while that was in London, many Rhode Islanders might be surprised to learn that decades ago, a member of the royal family died in Newport and was buried in nearby Portsmouth with far less fanfare. The deceased was “Pookie,” the cairn terrier adored by […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Will ardor ‘AMP’ up for a new Civic Center nickname?
You can be sure that even on a barnstorming tour, the Washington Bullets will never play basketball at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence. That’s because the Bullets traded that nickname for a new one years ago, and “The Dunk” has now done the same. This is all part of a changing world where, from […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Tracking the bluebird of happiness
Not to get personal or anything, but – are you happy? The question is fodder for long thoughts, especially considering the pandemic, inflation, insurrection, supply chain woes, weather disasters, racial injustice, the war in Ukraine, and our sharply divergent opinions on laws and politics. These days, we are not a happy nation. Or are we? […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Humanity in history, from racism to Roe
One could accurately say that history shifted because the late Bruce Boynton craved a cheeseburger. A Black law student at Howard University in Washington, Boynton was en route home to Alabama on Christmas break in 1958 when his Trailways bus made a rest stop at a terminal in Richmond, Va. Noting that the Black section […]
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Gerry Goldstein: In the books, a supremely odious decision
Legal scholars and historians have called it the worst Supreme Court decision ever, and a former chief justice characterized it as the court’s “greatest self-inflicted wound.” But these references were not about the recent ruling that struck down Roe v. Wade. This year marks the 165th since the court, in a blatantly racist decision, ruled that […]