This man needs no introduction, and we all know how much he means to this site! Please give a very long overdue thank you to our March MOTM, Charlie, CMD!
Thank you for all you do Charlie!
Well, I'm a life long Rhode Islander and proud enough of that fact that I would have made one great tour guide for the places and history of my home.
In childhood, I had two homes. In the summers, I lived across the street from these guys:
The guy with the rake is Bill Yoman. He and the other guy, Bill Lacy, were the last of the rivermen on the Narrow River, aka the Pettaquamscutt River. Bill Yoman's brother, Joe, had the strongest Yankee accent anybody ever heard, archaic English, as if he had just stepped off the Mayflower. He also had the delightful habit of howling and barking at every full moon, while shaking his fists angrily at the bright disc. I remember one night my cousin and I had to lead him out of the street to his back yard, and tell him "Joe, ya gotta stay out of the street. Too much traffic these days".
One year, Bill Yoman planted the spare field next to our home with corn, and there I found my first point. About 1957 or 58. The base of an argillite Atlantic, still got it. Hands down, no contest, no way, the best years of my life. The Yoman's in particular still lived as people did in the 1800's. As I grew older, only then did I realize what a unique privlage it was to know all of them. Summer nights by kerosene lantern in the Yoman's kitchen, or by the bridge with Lacy, listening to his tall tales. Enlarge the closeup of Lacy's face. I swear you can see into the man's soul. Bill Lacy was murdered one night, his body dumped in the river. The police never solved that crime; I don't think they cared enough.
The rest of the year, my folks and I were the only Irish family in an all Italian, mafia dominated neighborhood on the west side of Providence. Across the street, an Italian social club, headquarters for one of the gangs belonging to the Patriarca crime family. Patriarca sat on the mob council that controlled rackets in the United States. A don's don to all the other dons. I liked that neighborhood too. Got to walk bare foot in the wine press. In the Boy Scouts, ran a casino in the basement, miniature slot machines, roulette wheel, shake down the other scouts, lol. I knew my best friend was gonna be a fine made man in Patriarca's family. Imagine my great surprise when, instead, he bacame one of the leading child psychology theorists in the country, lol. I still find that hard to believe.
In high school, my classmates included the actor James Woods. We hated each other, lol. And Walter Mossberg, who would go on to be the kingpin of electronic technology in America. If he gives a thumbs up to your gadget, you're golden.
From there, off to college and grad school at the University of Rhode Island.
I have more interests and passions in my life then I could list here. But, as for hobbies, it's always been about deep time. Just very attracted to deep time. Fossils, the deep time of life on earth; artifacts, the deep time of man in America, and meteorites, the deep time of the solar system. The older it is, the more I like it, lol.
I think I've been blessed to live in a Yankee neighborhood, an Italian neighborhood, and a Jewish neighborhood full of geniuses.
And blessed to know people who still lived in the 1800's, only to wind up addicted to an iPad, lol.
Thank you for all you do Charlie!
Well, I'm a life long Rhode Islander and proud enough of that fact that I would have made one great tour guide for the places and history of my home.
In childhood, I had two homes. In the summers, I lived across the street from these guys:
The guy with the rake is Bill Yoman. He and the other guy, Bill Lacy, were the last of the rivermen on the Narrow River, aka the Pettaquamscutt River. Bill Yoman's brother, Joe, had the strongest Yankee accent anybody ever heard, archaic English, as if he had just stepped off the Mayflower. He also had the delightful habit of howling and barking at every full moon, while shaking his fists angrily at the bright disc. I remember one night my cousin and I had to lead him out of the street to his back yard, and tell him "Joe, ya gotta stay out of the street. Too much traffic these days".
One year, Bill Yoman planted the spare field next to our home with corn, and there I found my first point. About 1957 or 58. The base of an argillite Atlantic, still got it. Hands down, no contest, no way, the best years of my life. The Yoman's in particular still lived as people did in the 1800's. As I grew older, only then did I realize what a unique privlage it was to know all of them. Summer nights by kerosene lantern in the Yoman's kitchen, or by the bridge with Lacy, listening to his tall tales. Enlarge the closeup of Lacy's face. I swear you can see into the man's soul. Bill Lacy was murdered one night, his body dumped in the river. The police never solved that crime; I don't think they cared enough.
The rest of the year, my folks and I were the only Irish family in an all Italian, mafia dominated neighborhood on the west side of Providence. Across the street, an Italian social club, headquarters for one of the gangs belonging to the Patriarca crime family. Patriarca sat on the mob council that controlled rackets in the United States. A don's don to all the other dons. I liked that neighborhood too. Got to walk bare foot in the wine press. In the Boy Scouts, ran a casino in the basement, miniature slot machines, roulette wheel, shake down the other scouts, lol. I knew my best friend was gonna be a fine made man in Patriarca's family. Imagine my great surprise when, instead, he bacame one of the leading child psychology theorists in the country, lol. I still find that hard to believe.
In high school, my classmates included the actor James Woods. We hated each other, lol. And Walter Mossberg, who would go on to be the kingpin of electronic technology in America. If he gives a thumbs up to your gadget, you're golden.
From there, off to college and grad school at the University of Rhode Island.
I have more interests and passions in my life then I could list here. But, as for hobbies, it's always been about deep time. Just very attracted to deep time. Fossils, the deep time of life on earth; artifacts, the deep time of man in America, and meteorites, the deep time of the solar system. The older it is, the more I like it, lol.
I think I've been blessed to live in a Yankee neighborhood, an Italian neighborhood, and a Jewish neighborhood full of geniuses.
And blessed to know people who still lived in the 1800's, only to wind up addicted to an iPad, lol.
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