Buy Nothing '99

Some of you news mavens out there know that, for a number of years now, a large national coalition of concerned organizations have targeted the day after Thanksgiving (traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year) as National Buy Nothing Day. For the third year, a group of Vo Dilun grassroots nonprofit agencies have sponsored a coat exchange day where they collect winter coats from those who can afford to donate them, and then pass the coats along to folks in need.

Last year, the coat collection took place on the State House lawn on a corner across from the now-opened Nordstrom. The symbolism was hard to miss. On that morning, longtime local activist Richard Walton called the news desk at the BeloJo to give them a heads up on the effort, and hopefully, get a photographer down to chronicle the event. Walton tells P&J that the woman on the Other Paper desk (he can't recall her name) "burst into laughter" when she recognized his voice and received the message. And the Belojo did not send a photographer. Might this little incident belie the Urinal's oft-claimed contention that advertising considerations do not encroach on the news desk's turf?

This year the coat exchange effort will be taking place at the same location on the State House lawn. If you are doing well and have a coat that you're not currently wearing, we urge you to consider participating. There are 41 organizations involved this year. Donating a coat is good for the environment (you know, recycling and all that), good for people in need and, not coincidentally, good for your soul. You can contact Greg Gerritt, point person for the exchange, at 331-0529.

The brave new intelligence of cyberspace

A rather amazing factoid gleaned from Thomas Friedman's "Foreign Affairs" column in the New York Times: Mein Kampf, that chirpy little treatise by our old buddy Adolf Hitler, which just happens to be virulently racist, ranked among Amazon.com's top 10 best sellers to German buyers this year. The German government has made it illegal to either sell or publish the Big A's Nazi manifesto in that country (can you say, "denial," boys and girls?), but it can't control what people purchase over the Internet, to be shipped to Munich and other places in Deutschland in time for the weekly beer hall putsch. It's reassuring to know that interest in Hitler and his progressive thinking is still attracting readers among the Huns, nein? In a related story, the number one Amazon purchaser in the US of the deplorably written Mein Kampf is believed to be the Patrick Buchanan fan club.

As P&J went to press, the New York Times reported that Amazon will no longer sell Mein Kampf in Germany. But another dubious trend on the Internet, auctioning the memorabilia of Hitler and other previously not-ready-for-prime-time celebrities, continues unabated. It seems that an Atlanta-based online auction site has come into the possession of a number of the führer's prized personal possessions, including his martini shaker and a collection of flatware.

We expect that Hitler's salad fork was fairly well used (he was a vegetarian), unlike the vintage ice scraper belonging to former child TV star Gary Coleman. That's because it rarely snowed in southern California, and Coleman probably couldn't have reached the windshield, anyway. Also available are childhood items once owned by Drew Barrymore that her harridan mother, Jaid, is peddling on the Gavelnet Web site, including the cowboy hat she wore in the film E.T. (minimum bid $45,000). Suggestions that Jaid consider getting a real job seem to be falling on deaf ears.

Thin skin

Next to the media, perhaps educators are the thinnest-skinned professionals of all. We suppose it's the constant hammering teachers take because Johnny and Joanie can't read anymore, or the pretentiousness of education officials and academics who flash their doctorates while being unable to speak plain English and then are deservedly laughed at by the public. Regardless, these folks just can't take a joke anymore.

That appears to be the case in the latest edition of Newsline, the house organ of the National Education Association of Rhode Island, which reads, "20/20 test an insult." This overreaction is to a recent episode of ABC's 20/20 "news" show during which teachers agreed to be tested on a voluntary basis. Admittedly, as pointed out by P&J's pal Jerome, a teacher himself, it was a lose-lose situation for any teacher who agreed to take part. Blow a question like, "Who is the current secretary of state?" by selecting Hugh Downs, which was one the four offered responses, and you'd look like a fool. Get it right -- by identifying Danny DeVito as the Penguin in drag, for another question -- and all you do is prove you're up to acceptable par on current pop ephemera.

Nonetheless, NEA president Larry Purtill took it on himself to bleat to his membership about how unfair it is that teachers are constantly singled out for abuse by politicians, the media and the public. Purtill also carried on about very real professional development issues, which simply make the average person tune out. The problem is that the best teachers would, and should, have no trouble answering the questions posed by 20/20, and if they can't, red flags should be raised.

If the teachers' unions didn't do such a rabid, paranoia-fueled job of defending colleagues who are incompetent -- and who in any other workplace situation other than civil service would be 86ed in a heartbeat -- they might not have to deal with questions of a teacher's intelligence. P&J have always found that those teachers who are at the top of their fields are not only au courant about what real life is like and what's going on in the world, but stress a knowledge of current events to their students -- whether it is required by the curriculum or not.

Incidentally, we're not sure if Purtill got his nose out of joint just because he thought the answer to the question of who sculpted "David" was "d -- Andy Warhol." Everyone should know it was Big Daddy Lipscomb.

Holiday benefit

Here are a couple of fundraising events taking place this week that you might want to know about. Tonight (Wednesday, November 24), local heroes John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band will be performing at the Call, on Elbow Street in Providence. It's part of the 1 of 52 Artist Hunger Network series, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Concertgoers are also asked to bring a nonperishable food item to help which combat hunger in the Ocean State.

Alyce Bessette died of leukemia a few years back, leaving three young children. John LaFrancois, head ramrod of the Blackstone nightclub on Mendon Road in Cumberland, was a friend of Alyce's, and each year he holds a fund-raiser to gather money for the college fund for her kids. This year, the event takes place at the Blackstone on Saturday, November 27, starting at 3 p.m. Acts include James Montgomery, Young Neal, Mark Cutler, Steve Smith & the Nakeds, the Mockingbirds, the Rock 'n' Soul Horns and many others. Jorge will emcee and admission is a mere $10 for a good cause and a great time.

No claws at Common Cause

A capacity throng was present at the Common Cause dinner last week at the Providence Marriott, where the good government organization doled out awards to Tony Freitas, the cooperating witness in Plunder Dome, who was hailed as "a solitary citizen whose indignation and sense of civic responsibility drove him to risk his home, his business and his life itself." Lawyer Alan Fink was also feted, along with Brown prof Ross Cheit and the South Providence citizens group, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE).

The BeloJo's new editorial editor, Ed Achorn, moderated the main event featuring Senate candidates Ahh-lene Violet and Little Richit Licht (Dorian Weygand and Young Mr. Lincoln Chafee were detained in D.C. on official bidness). Ahh-lene was particularly sharp, eliciting laughs for comparing the Biggest Little's gubernatorial post to the Queen of England, and the legislature to the real power, Parliament (she didn't mean George Clinton, either). Richit was a little stiff, with one wag diagnosing a touch of Goritis. All in all, a rather amiable evening. Expect the fur to fly once Dorian gets into the fray.

Kudos and congrats

. . . to outgoing Mayor David Gordon of Newport, who is donating his unused campaign funds of $11,000 (he did not seek reelection) to buy classroom computers for the Thompson Middle School. As a kicker, since the funds will be placed in the Newport Public Education Foundation while major renovations are made to the school, interest will be earned to apply to other projects at the school when the work is done. Perhaps folks who leave our General Assembly to work in high-paid, self-created cushy government jobs, like the loathsome Milkshake Matty Smith; to spend more time with their families, or for some other bogus reasons, like Prince of Darkness Joe DeAngelis and Vinny "Family Man" Mesolella; or who have run unopposed but still gathered campaign chests, might like to explain to the public where all those funds went. Hey, nice Mercedes, Prince.

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