Though Frederick Douglass has been extensively chronicled — by himself and by modern-day historians such as David W. Blight — his Rhode Island oratory during the second half of the 19th century deserves renewed attention. Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in Talbot County, Maryland in 1818, Douglass as a young boy endured family separation, brutal […]
Columns
A look at What’sUpNewp’s latest columns.
Posted inColumns
The power of your story: Kim Fuller and the beautiful, messy relevance of being seen and heard
Telling personal stories has a measurable positive effect. They help us feel seen and remind us that we are seen. As we grow older, and older still, it can begin to feel as though our stories are fading. In reality, they’re right where they’ve always been. Sometimes, it’s something simple. A snowy day can bring […]
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How Midwives support women through the reproductive years
At South County Health’s Center for Women’s Health, Certified Nurse Midwives are among the providers caring for patients with clinical expertise and compassion, empowering women to make informed choices about their health. When people hear the word midwife, they often think of childbirth. While midwives are experts in pregnancy, labor, and postpartum care, their role […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Best of A.I. must spring from ourselves
In 1995, inventor and entrepreneur Robert Metcalfe wrote a magazine column in which he predicted the Internet “will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 will collapse.” If that didn’t happen, he vowed, “I’ll eat my words.” When instead of collapsing the Internet surged, Metcalfe kept his promise. At a conference in 1997, he put […]
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Just My Opinion: Assuring an adequate blood supply following the Blizzard of 2026
The blizzard we are now experiencing can have a devastating impact on a lot more than just safe driving and power outages. It becomes incredibly disruptive to maintaining an adequate blood supply that translates to saving lives. Today, all Rhode Island Blood Center blood drives and donor centers are closed, and it’s a fair guess […]
Posted inOpinion
Dr. Michael Fine: What’s crazy about paying for medical school
Before I describe the incredible cost of medical school, I want to mention how I paid for my medical education. I didn’t. You did, and I am very grateful for that. Like about 1800 other American medical students in 1979, I was lucky enough to get a National Health Corps Scholarship, which paid my tuition, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Michele Gallagher: America’s love affair with coffee dates back to Colonial times
A friend recently gifted me Robert Mastin’s newly published book, Liberty Call: When Newport Was Home to the Atlantic Fleet. As an enthusiastic student of local history — and someone raised in a military family — I read every word. Much has been written about Newport’s Colonial and Gilded Age eras. Far less has been […]
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Just My Opinion: What is the United States of America?
What is the United States of America? We are white, black, brown, red, yellow … we are a rainbow. We are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, evangelicals, atheist, agnostic. We embrace all who worship and those that do not. We are Latino, American Indian, Asian, German, French, English, Italian, Irish, African, Portuguese, Iranian, Israeli, multi-racial. We […]
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When your period is disrupting your life, it’s time to talk about it
For many women, heavy or irregular menstrual cycles are often brushed off as “normal”—something to endure quietly while juggling work, family, and daily life. But changes in menstrual bleeding can be a sign that it’s time for a closer look—and effective treatment options are available. Heavy Bleeding Is Common — But Not Normal At the […]
Posted inOpinion
What’s in the Dash: Real voices from older Rhode Islanders
Names have been changed to protect privacy. The voices and experiences shared here are real, sometimes uplifting and sometimes raw. In 1996, thirty years ago, Linda Ellis wrote a poem called The Dash. It’s a poem often read at funerals, a reminder It’s not the years on your gravestone that matters most. What matters is […]
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Gerry Goldstein: ‘Honest Abe’ refused some heavy handouts
Abraham Lincoln was a chump. Oh, that’s not my opinion, but in one respect it seems to be Donald Trump’s. As we have learned, Qatar gave Trump a $400 million Boeing 747 for use as a new Air Force One. When he leaves office, he said, he plans to transfer the aircraft, which some describe […]
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Dr. Michael Fine: What’s crazy about getting into medical school. Part 1.
Ok. We are somewhere between 50,000 and 300,000 doctors short. Probably more, given our current approach to immigration, because 25 percent of all doctors in the US come from other countries – because we don’t send enough of our own students to medical school. Instead, we import our doctors from elsewhere, from places who need […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Standing at the CUSP of Newport’s Art Scene: Curtis Speer, CUSP Gallery, and the Newport Artists Collective
For 2026, on the advice of a wise mentor, I’m expanding the scope of my WUN Voices column from exclusively spotlighting women-led organizations’ “Voices” to include the Voices of all Rhode Islanders doing ground-breaking work that is making an outsized impact in the smallest state.” Enter Curtis Speer I recall sitting at a Greater Newport […]
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Caught off guard: Involuntary discharge and why it belongs in your aging plan
Recently, I was working with The Edward King House Senior Center, The Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island (SACRI) and Age-Friendly Rhode Island to bring an invitation-only screening of the film Involuntary and a panel discussion to Newport. While this screening has been postponed, one thing became clear to me: many people don’t know what […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Overhead, a reflection of who we are
The Civil War was new in 1861 when Brooklyn’s 14th Regiment, soon bound for battle, heard these words from abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher: “A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation’s flag, sees not the flag, but the nation itself.” That’s still food for thought in 2026, as this American prepares to exchange his wind-worn […]
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Dr. Michael Fine: What’s crazy about keeping Roger Williams and Fatima Hospitals alive?
We are now seeing the predictable twisting in the wind as our state leadership struggles with what to do about Roger Williams and Fatima Hospitals, which are bankrupt. Nobody in state government likes to see hospitals close, in part because people work at hospitals and those people vote, and their unions have lobbying power. That […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Theatre Review: ‘Suffs’ is a standing ovation-worthy triumph at PPAC
It’s hard to believe, but women didn’t have the right to vote in American elections until 1920. And it took a movement of determined women to win that right. That’s the focus for “Suffs,” now on stage at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Suffs is short for suffragists, the women leading the movement to win […]
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Keeping the new year’s SPARRK lit after January: Gail Lowney Alofsin on momentum, meaning, and mindset
Gail Lowney Alofsin is Newport’s own energizer bunny. She is everywhere—starting each day at the gym at 5:30 a.m., moving through “hour of power” coffees and back-to-back meetings, commuting to and from the University of Rhode Island campus, where she serves as Associate Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Office of Strategic Initiatives, teaching at […]
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Gerry Goldstein: Stretching the truth, for good and for evil
Our government recently reported performing a “double tap” in September on a boat suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean. This was some tap – two missile strikes that instantly killed nine men and then blew apart two survivors clinging to the wreckage. So there, in the words of “War” Secretary Pete Hegseth, we have the deployment […]