Rhode Island Stories: "Ballad of Baby Roger" and "Carolina, RI"

The Ballad of Baby Roger, a short documentary written and directed by Jamestown resident Patti Cassidy, tells the fascinating story about a four year old elephant that the children of Rhode Island purchased for Roger Williams Park back in 1893. Baby Roger was the Park's first elephant and the only male elephant in its 139 year history. The South County Independent and The Westerly Sun published stories about the short film earlier this year.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS will show The Ballad of Baby Roger on Saturday, June 18 at 7 p.m. as part of its ongoing series Rhode Island Stories.



Following The Ballad of Baby Roger, WSBE airs part 1 of Carolina, RI: The Smallest of the Small, a film by Carla Ricci about the village of Carolina in Richmond, RI.


UPDATE: Broadcast of Carolina, RI: The Smallest of the Small is postponed until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience.

A hundred years ago, New England had 2,000 milltowns - and one of them was tiny: 75 houses clustered around one street less than a mile long. But, Carla Ricci says, "don't let looks deceive you: Carolina, RI, has a big story." As mill towns go, it may be the smallest of the small, but this film makes the case that it may be one of the best.

What started out for Ricci as casual conversation between neighbors turned into a seven-year long journey of research and discovery,  poring over historical letters, photos, and documents, as well as hours of captured recollections and reminiscences. What resulted is the woven tapestry of the rich - and almost forgotten - history of remarkable Rhode Islanders from a remarkable Rhode Island village.


This link will take you to a video preview. Don't miss the "Cutting Room Floor" for more stories that didn't make it into the final film.


Carolina, RI: The Smallest of the Small will be shown in two parts: June 18 at approximately 7:15 p.m. and on June 25 at 7 p.m. on WSBE Rhode Island PBS. On WSBE Learn, the film will air June 22 (part 1) and June 29 (part 2) at 10 p.m., June 23 (part 1) and June 30 (part 2) at 5 a.m., and June 24 (part 1) and July 1 (part 2) at 2 a.m.  New air dates and times will be announced when broadcast-quality version of the video is available.

Unique Opportunity: Extreme Sailing with Legend Ken Read

Il Mostro, PUMA's 2008-09 entry

If you're into extreme sailing, you know the Volvo Ocean Race is the pinnacle for adventurous seafarers. Here’s a priceless opportunity to spend time with a legend as he gets ready to circumnavigate the globe in the race.

Rhode Islander Ken Read, America's Cup sailor and winner of more than 40 yachting championships, invites you and a guest for a day on Rhode Island Sound, aboard the new Rhode Island-built boat he and the PUMA sailing team will take on the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race in July. It's a real Rhode Island trifecta!

Captain Read and the PUMA team are serious contenders for the title in the next Volvo Ocean Race. They came in second last time (2008-09), but intend to move up aboard PUMA’s new craft, the Mar Mostro, built at New England Boatworks in Melville (Portsmouth).

This training day for the winner and a guest is estimated to last three hours and will be on a mutually-agreeable date before July third. The value of this once-in-a-lifetime experience is estimated at $3,000.00.

To make your best offer, e-mail auction@ripbs.org, or call 401-222-3636 x327.

One, Two, Three Inspiring Self-Help Programs, Back to Back (pun intended)

Many of us who are north of age 45 acknowledge (although perhaps reluctantly) signs that what we did or what we neglected to do in our youth are now exacting their toll. Stiff joints, painful posture, and pudgy middles remind us that good health takes deliberate thought and action to maintain flexibility, manage pain, and proper weight.

On Saturday, June 4, beginning at noon, WSBE Rhode Island PBS presents three special self-help programs back-to-back, to introduce innovative yet practical information: Easy Yoga for Arthritis with Peggy Cappy at noon, Stop Back Pain with Vijay Vad, M.D. at 1 p.m., and 3 Steps to Incredible Health with Joel Fuhrman, M.D. at 2:30 p.m. Presentation of these programs is part of WSBE's fundraising and membership drive. Please support the programming you enjoy. Join or renew today!

Easy Yoga for Arthritis with Peggy Cappy is a fabulous anti-stress yoga sequence, presented in her gentle style that everybody can do.

Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the US, affecting some 37 million people. In the 1-hour program,  Peggy shows how yoga can relieve stiffness, reduce pain and fatigue, and improve muscle and bone strength.

For more than thirty years, Peggy Cappy has been teaching yoga, meditation, and guided relaxation, helping others create greater comfort and ease in body, mind and spirit. Her studies have taken her to India, the source of yoga, to study with yoga and meditation masters.

It is no secret that chronic back pain is a huge medical issue for individuals who suffer it, for a health care system that suffers with it, and for the economy, which suffers from it through lost productivity (back pain is one of the most common reasons for lost days of work). Chronic pain is a very democratic health issue, affecting men and women, athletes and couch potatoes, laborers and CEOs, rural and urban dwellers, those who do the heavy lifting and those who manage the heavy lifters. A visit to the doctor for back pain is the second most common reason for office visits in the U.S.

Stop Back Pain with Vijay Vad, M.D. will empower chronic back pain sufferers with the medically-proven information and insights that he provides to his patients--the celebrity superstar athletes and regular folks, who are connected by the shared agony of spine dysfunction. Dr. Vad's clinically-proven approach, integrating the best of Western and Ayurvedic medical approaches, has changed the lives of thousands of people, and returned them to full function.

Dr. Vad is an expert in chronic pain, and half of his practice is devoted to chronic back pain issues. He has researched back pain extensively, publishing many articles for peer review on the subject. He continues to develop more effective treatments for back pain with his clinical research, combined with a biotechnology company he founded called Mobiech, and a research foundation called the Vad Foundation which funds innovative research in back pain and arthritis.

3 Steps to Incredible Health! with Joel Fuhrman, M.D. directly addresses the crisis of obesity and chronic disease plaguing America. More than 65% of Americans are overweight or obese - and that number is growing. 3 Steps to Incredible Health! with Joel Fuhrman, M.D. offers a healthy, effective, and scientifically proven plan for shedding weight quickly and reclaiming vitality and good health. Dr. Fuhrman shares his revolutionary program to prevent and reverse disease through nutritional and natural methods. His 3-step plan addresses the power of micronutrients, eliminaing food addictions, and superfoods for health and pleasure. Dr. Fuhrman's plan is not about will power, it about knowledge.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits over the air on 36.1, and is carried on Cox cable 08/HD 708, Verizon 08/HD 508, Full Channel 08, Dish 7776, DirecTV 36, Comcast HD 819; Massachusetts subscribers of Comcast standard definition should check local listings for channel designation.

WSBE Learn transmits over the air on 36.2; on cable in Rhode Island, it's Cox 808, Verizon 478, and Full Channel 109; in Massachusetts, Comcast carries WSBE Learn on 294 or 312, depending on your location.

Freedom Riders: American Experience

FREEDOM RIDERS, part of the American Experience series, is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.

From award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Wounded Knee, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, The Murder of Emmett Till) FREEDOM RIDERS features testimony from a fascinating cast of central characters: the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the Rides firsthand. The two-hour documentary is based on Raymond Arsenault's book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.

FREEDOM RIDERS will air on WSBE Rhode Island PBS on Thursday, June 11 at 9 p.m. and again on Saturday, June 4 at 1:30 a.m.

Click here for the Web site.