Look at the HIDDEN ASSETS Beneath Your Feet

Beneath our feet runs the unseen, complex network that powers our lives.
And it's crumbling.

Water. Where does it come from? Where does it go? We don't think about it much.
That's about to change.

Wrapping up the events and activities during October - Rhode Island Water Infrastructure Month - WSBE Rhode Island PBS will air two important programs on October 30, beginning at 8 PM (channel 36, digital 36.1, RI cable 8, DirecTV36, Dish 7776).

The first program, Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure, is a national documentary that explores the history, engineering, and political and economic challenges of our water infrastructure, and engages communities in local discussion about public water and wastewater issues.

Then at 9:30, stay tuned for Hidden Assets: Rhode Island's Water Infrastructure. Take a look underground at the miles and miles of pipes - some buried more than a century ago - that comprise our Rhode Island water distribution and treatment system. Representing the full water cycle - drinking, waste, and storm - the men and women charged with keeping our water safe speak out.

This Rhode Island PBS production is moderated by URI Professor Maureen Moakley, and features local water infrastructure experts: W. Michael Sullivan, Ph.D., director of the RI Department of Environmental Management; Raymond J. Marshall, PE, the executive director of the Narragansett Bay Commission; Pamela Marchand, chief engineer and general manager of the Providence Water Supply Board; and Anthony Simeone, executive director of RI
Clean Water Finance Agency.

Local broadcast of Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure and
production of Hidden Assets: Rhode Island’s Water Infrastructure is made
possible in part by WPSU Penn State Public Broadcasting, the RI Clean Water
Finance Agency, the RI Department of Environmental Management, the RI
Department of Health, the Narragansett Water Pollution Control Association,
and the RI Water Works Association.

Crossing the Line Tonight

With Barack Obama in the Presidential race, mixed-race issues, diversity, and the politics of language have come into focus. They are essential things to consider with respect to freedom of speech.

Teja Arboleda's documentary, Crossing The Line: Multiracial Comedians is a timely one-hour documentary on race and humor, and who gets to say what. It airs tonight at 9PM - and it's the film's television premiere! It will be available to other PBS stations nationwide in November.

In Teja's words:

"The day I arrived in LA in November of 2006 to begin shooting this documentary, television’s Seinfeld star Michael Richards lost his cool to hecklers and retaliated with the ‘N’ word. Subsequently, Rosie O’Donnell, Don Imus, Senator McCain and others continue to cross the line without real consequence.

In today’s world of race-relations, immigration and entertainment, the ultimate question is: where is the line, and who can cross it?

Exploring these questions exposes the very nature of where pain and laughter come from in a racially divided world. Caught in the cross– fire are millions of bi-racial and multiracial Americans, and competing against the mainstream on all counts, humorists and comedians provide meaningful insight into what really divides us.

Crossing lines of racial, ethnic, and cultural acceptability by their very existence, multiracial comedians reveal that meanings of race vary across ethnic combination, gender, place, and time."

The film features the experiences, perspectives, and performances of American comedians of more than one racial ancestry–Sunda Croonquist (Swedish/African), Kate Rigg (Indonesian/ Australian/ Canadian/ Nuyorasian), James Connolly (Mexican/ Irish), Mark Yaffee (Navajo/ Mexican/ Scots-Irish), among others, and is based on Dr. Darby Li Po Price’s dissertation “Mixed Laughter: Mediating Multiracial Identities in American Ethnic Comedy.”


About Arboleda: Filipino-Chinese, African-American, Native-American, German-Danish, Teja has created programs for PBS, ABC, Discovery and Inc. 500 corporations.

He was AD/Editor for FRONTLINE, Say Brother (received an EMMY Award), and La Plaza at WGBH-TV (PBS), and produced for Chronicle on ABC (New England). He created, directed and starred in Ethnic Man!, and the six part educational series Diversity Elementary, both of which aired on PBS.

He has performed over 500 comedy shows on race and ethnic issues throughout 48 states, and is the author of In The Shadow of Race. Arboleda is Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Communications at The New England Institute of Art.

An Evening Uncorked!

It's one of the station's best events. The food is phenomenal, the variety of wines is amazing, and the fun is... over the top. Technically, it's our annual wine auction, but it really is a wine event - "An Evening Uncorked!"

The image to the left is our publicity materials for this year - a quick way to convey what the event is about. When I considered how to describe the event, I was surprised to find the right words on both ends of the scale - not quite opposite, but certainly in high contrast to each other.

The event really is at the same time elegant and casual (we all put on nice clothes but we don't put on airs), intimate and sociable (we sit at tables in small groups, but there's so much mingling all night) , epicurean and philanthropic (the foods and wines stoke our gustatory pleasure - which is pretty self-focused - but we gather to generously raise money for Rhode Island PBS).

For this, our eighth consecutive year, we return on October 3rd to the site of the original wine event: the historic Roger Williams Park Casino. This stately historic mansion is a lovely setting for this event, and it's nice to be back.

Tickets are $100 per person (table of 10 for $900) and include an elaborate wine tasting reception at 6, featuring international and domestic wines, and passed hors d'oeuvres; formal gourmet dinner and dessert at 7:30, and wine with dinner.

During the reception, browse the silent auction of collectible wines, bar and beverage gifts and accessories... and always a few tempting surprises. After dinner, the live auction introduces a variety of rare and fine wines, and unique dining and entertainment packages.

Here's a small sample of the offerings:

• Seven-course dinner and wine tasting in your home by Gracie's Restaurant
• Vertical selection of classified Bourdeaux from the 2000 vintage
• Nine-bottle collection of top-rated California and Washington red wines
• Three-bottle collection of Peter Michael wines
  
• Overnight stay and dinner at the The Renaissance Providence Hotel

Visit our Web site (www.ripbs.org) to see other items - even place a proxy bid if you can't attend!

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Have you attended An Evening Uncorked in the past? Have any stories or memories you wish to share?

Rhode Island's Schools: Where We Stand

In 1995, America’s college graduation rate was first in the world. Ten years later, it ranked 15th. As so many nations around the world continue to improve their systems of education, America can no longer afford to maintain the status quo. In an ever-changing, increasingly competitive global economy, is the United States doing all it can to prepare its students to win jobs and maintain a robust economy?

What about the state of education in our own state? With 39 cities and towns, and almost as many independent school districts, how do Rhode Island's trends in public education differ from national trends, and how are they the same? What's working, what isn't, and why? What innovations are being considered to improve student retention and graduation rates? More important than raising numbers, what is being done to ensure that the quality of preparation adequately equips our children with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in college and in the workplace?

These questions and more will be addressed in the WSBE Rhode Island PBS production, RHODE ISLAND'S SCHOOLS: WHERE WE STAND. The 30-minute program, hosted by Paul Zangari, airs tonight, Thursday, September 25, at 9 PM, after broadcast of the national documentary, WHERE WE STAND: AMERICA’S SCHOOLS IN THE 21ST CENTURY at 8 PM.

Representing the spectrum of public education, panelists on RHODE ISLAND'S SCHOOLS: WHERE WE STAND will include Virginia Harnois, chairperson of the Smithfield (RI) School Committee and president-elect of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees; John L. Pini, executive director of the Rhode Island School Superintendants Association; John R. Golden, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals; Raymond J. Pouliot, vice president of the National Education Association Rhode Island.

On the national scene, WHERE WE STAND: America’s Schools in the 21st Century presents a frank evaluation of our educational system’s strengths and weaknesses. Hosted by Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the documentary will visit schools throughout Ohio, an important swing state that represents a range of socioeconomic and geographic school districts. The program features schools in urban Cincinnati, suburban Columbus, and rural Belpre.

As for the local discussion, the half hour flew by during taping last week, and even seemed to end abruptly, leaving so much more to discuss. The panelists - each offering excellent perspectives and insights - seemed to feel it, too; they were just getting warmed up by wrap-up.

Look for more from this panel in a future program. We barely scratched the surface of this ongoing topic, and they all agreed to come back again.

In fact, what do you think about a quarterly report on Rhode Island schools? Sort of a televised report card?