Get a (Newport) Life!

“What I want to know is how we’re going to stay alive this winter.”-Gromeko, Dr. Zhivago

By going to see Dr. Zhivago at the Jane Pickens Theater this weekend! On Sunday, January 30, doors open at 6pm on Touro Street for a showing of one of the greatest films of all time

. Set in Russia, the 1965 film directed by David Lean stars Omar Sharif as Dr. Yuri Zhivago, a man torn between two women in the years leading up to World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution.

The showing is a fundraiser to update the heating system at the theater, so bring friends.  Complimentary cocktails start at 6pm— the perfect accompaniment to the hot, buttery popcorn you’ll get before you find your seat. The film begins at 6:30pm; buy tickets online at Friends of the Jane Pickens Theater.

Don’t get us wrong— we live and breathe Newport County, but sometimes, thus sayeth Sheryl Crow, a change can do you good. That’s why we subscribe to lifestyle magazines from across the country to see how other publications are covering life in their communities.  When the January issue of Madison from Madison, Wisconsin, arrived this month, photo editor SallyAnne Santos discovered a write-up about the restaurant 43 North, named after the latitude of Madison.

Interesting, we thought. The deck of Newport’s Forty 1º North   hosted NLM staff for a round of birthday cocktails this summer; could there be a restaurant for every degree north of Newport? Could we find a 42º North restaurant? A 44º North?

With her marine background and finely tuned Google skills, SallyAnne compiled the following list of eateries and businesses as far north as she could go. Who’s up for a latitudinal road trip this winter?

42º North Restaurant (Detroit, Michigan)

44 North Restaurant (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

45 North Vineyard and Winery (Lake Leelanau, Michigan)

46 North Farm (Olney, Oregon)

47 Degrees North Capital Management (Pfäffikon, Switzerland)

48º North Magazine (Seattle, Washington)

49 North Mountain Ski Resort (Chewalah, Washington)

(Image by Professor David Leveson, Brooklyn College, CUNY)

Well, almost.  Leading up to beach season, Clean Ocean Access organizes beach-cleanup days on the shores of Newport County. On February 12, devotees are picking up trash at Second Beach in Middletown from noon to 2pm. Bring gloves, a trashbag, and warm clothes. Later, when you actually do hit the beach this summer, pat yourself on your sunburned back for your efforts. For the complete list of beach cleanup days, visit Clean Ocean Access’s web site and click on “Current Events.”

(Reflections, Second Beach, Paul Rickert, 2006, courtesy of William Vareika Fine Arts)

Is there a scribe in you yearning to get out? Do you have an addiction to non-fiction, a penchant for poetry? Want to add “published” to your literary accomplishments, or just put another feather in your well-used quill holder?

If so, we are eager to read. Captivate us with your

gripping yarns, essays, stories and poetry and win the chance to have your work appear in Newport Life Magazine. Write an original work of non-fiction, fiction or a poem about life in Newport County.

Accepted entries include magazine-style articles, narratives, expositions, stories, or memoirs.  Submissions should not be letters to the editor, op-eds, or any other screeds. Non-fiction and fiction pieces should be no more than 1,000 words and no less than 500 words. Poems can be of any length. Submissions should be typed, double-spaced on standard 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper. Entries may not be previously published (and we will check) and are limited to one per person.

To enter:

Fill out this Writing Contest form electronically, save it, and then attach it to an email along with your work. Send submissions to writingcontest@newportri.com with subject line “Writing Contest.” NLM staff will choose the winning entries.

Deadline to be published in NLM’s March/April issue is January 28, so start writing!

The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination.—Terri Guillemets

But take a walk  after yesterday’s snowstorm, and the colors that were barely noticeable befo

re are now vivid against all of that white.   If you drove onto the island today,  no doubt you saw the red berries poking out of the snow in the median just before the bridge. And take a look at the emerald green on the cupola in the photo to the right, taken by Reader Photo Challenge entrant Bernie Dunn.

Did you snap any photos yesterday during or after the storm? Email your take on Newport under ice to nlmphotos@newportri.com and we will post them on the blog as part of a snowy slide show.  What colors did you see?

Spotlight on Coastal Extreme Brewing Company again on Tuesday, January 11, at 9pm, when Discovery Channel features Thomas Tew rum on Mike Rowe’s “Dirty Jobs.” W

atch as the host learns how to turn black strap molasses into aged rum, a historic Newport staple (Newport once had 22 rum distilleries and was a channel for transporting the sweet stuff during Prohibition).

Thomas Tew rum, named after a famous Rhode Island pirate, is now the only rum made on the island. To celebrate Newport’s rummy past and present, four pubs are hosting “Dirty Pirate” parties tomorrow night: Mudville Pub in Newport, Mews Tavern in South Kingstown, The Spot Underground in Providence, and Doherty’s East Ave Café in Pawtucket. Come drink “dirty mojitos” and watch the Thomas Tew episode of “Dirty Jobs” air at 9pm.

While reading an article about miniature paintings and scrimshaw by Ruth Taylor from the Newport Historical Society, Associate Editor Michael Persson was struck by the tale of a sea captain, John S. DeBlois, and his wife, Henrietta. About the Newport couple, Taylor wrote, “John wrote to his wife, Henrietta, with great frequency while at sea, painting a picture of an
extrem

ely loving husband who missed his wife terribly.” Persson discovered that the couple’s love letters, written between 1845 when they married and 1863 when Deblois returned home for good, had survived under the protection of the Newport Historical Society. His article about the Deblois’ love letters, “Correspondences of the Heart,” is in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of NLM.

The steamy letters, exchanged over long periods of time, often three years or more while Captain Deblois sailed around the world on the whaling ship, Merlin, are intimate peeks into Henrietta’s longing for her man—and his for her.

Read More →

“Sun salutations can energize and warm you, even on the darkest, coldest, winter day.”—Carol Krucoff, yoga therapist

In our Jan/Feb 2011 issue, we featured five kick butt indoor workouts to try this winter while waiting for the snow to melt. Here’s one: beginning January 26, rookie practitioners of yoga and wizened yogis alike will be exploring a kinder, gentler side of “Sir, yes sir!” during a 40-day “Transformation Boot Camp.”

The workshop is open to anyone who wants to take his or her practice to the next level with healthy eating classes, unlimited yoga, and close study of yoga posture and poses. During the 40 days, students can join yoga classes at both Inner Light Center for Meditation and Yoga in Middletown and All That Matters in Wakefield. This January, the light in me bows to the sweat dripping off of you. Namaste.

For more information, visit Inner Light Yoga

Remember the scene in You’ve Got Mail when Meg Ryan’s character, Kathleen Kelly, has finally admitted defeat, closed up her bookstore, The Shop Around the Corner, and is sitting in the children’s book section of the behomoth Fox Books? While mourning the loss of her beloved shop, she overhears a customer ask a prepubescent Fox employee about the book, Ballet Shoes. The employee looks blankly at the customer, and Kelly starts crying and says to the customer, “Noel Streatfeild. She wrote Ballet Shoes and Skating Shoes, and Theatre Shoes, and Dancing Shoes and…”

I tend to read Kelly’s last display of knowledge and nostalgia as Nora Ephron’s clarion call for early reading. Television brings the world indoors; books drive dreams of fantastic worlds and possibilities, of astronauts, painters, athletes, policemen, and, of course, ballerinas.

On January 17 from 1-3pm, Island Moving Company dancers are joining author David Ira Rottenberg at Barnes & Noble in Middletown to bring to life his new book, Gwendolyn, the Graceful Pig. While Rottenberg reads his story about two pigs who dream of dancing and playing football, IMC dancers will perform an interpretative dance of the story and then later teach a mini-dance lesson. Barnes & Noble is also donating a percentage of the day’s sales to IMC, so grab a handful of books and settle in for some family reading time. As Kathleen Kelly explains when asked about her favorite book: “I guess I’ve read Pride & Prejudice about 100 times and every time I read it I worry that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are not going to get together—but he truth is, whenever I think about my favorite book I always think about the books I read as a child.” 

What were your favorite books as a kid? Post them in the comments!