Meet Remarkable FarmHers Near and Far

FarmHer the Documentary examines the work of photographer Marji Guyler-Alaniz and gives viewers insight into the lives of the inspirational women in agriculture captured by Marji's lens. FarmHer the Documentary premieres Monday, September 5 at 8 p.m. on Rhode Island PBS.

FarmHer the Documentary follows seven women farmers and ranchers from around the country and discusses what it’s like to be a woman doing what is typically thought of as a man’s work. The women vary in age, ethnicity, and the type of farming or ranching they do. The FarmHers include a produce farmer and a row-crop farmer from Iowa, a sheep rancher from Montana, a dairy farmer from Wisconsin, a goat rancher and an urban farmer from Texas and a cattle rancher and exporter from Florida. These hard-working women all share an enthusiasm for their chosen lifestyles.

Rhode Island PBS recently visited with a local FarmHer, Amanda Rubio at Magaziner Farm in Bristol, to get a local FarmHer's perspective on a career in agriculture. Magaziner Community Farm is worked by a group called Yogis Feed the Hungry, a network of local yoga studios, and grows produce for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. In breaks during FarmHer the Documentary on September 5, we will show video segments of our visit with Amanda.

Celebrating the Lights and Sounds of Independence Day on Rhode Island PBS

Starting at 7:30 p.m. on the 4th of July, Rhode Island PBS commemorates Independence Day with a look at America's oldest parade and then the stirring music and magnificent pyrotechnics display in Washington, D.C.

7:30 p.m. - Bristol's 4th of July: A Celebration of History and Independence

The red, white, and blue lines in the middle of Hope Street are freshly repainted and the porches and doorways of the historic homes will soon be festooned with bunting, flags, and swags of stars and stripes. It's the spirit of Bristol, Rhode Island, "America's Most Patriotic Town," and home of the longest-running Independence Day celebration in the country.

A WSBE Rhode Island PBS film crew captured the behind-the-scenes preparations for the 2007 Fourth of July celebration, and traced the origins and evolution of more than 220 years of commemorative ceremonies and traditions.

Bristol's Fourth of July: A Celebration of History and Independence uses vintage photos and archival film to take viewers back in time to witness some of the early observances, as well as discover how the patriotic exercises, the historic parade, the Miss Fourth of July pageant, and other key events and ceremonies, got started and why the tradition is still going strong more than two centuries later.


8 p.m. Capitol Fourth 2014

It's a star spangled birthday party -- live from the US Capitol. This July Fourth, America's national Independence Day celebration honors our country's 239th birthday with an all-star salute led by two-time Emmy Award-winning television personality Tom Bergeron, along with a cast of legendary performers.

Broadcast live on PBS from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, this top-rated extravaganza features 20 cameras positioned around the city, ensuring viewers are front and center for the greatest display of fireworks in the nation.

In the three decades since the humble beginning of A Capitol Fourth, a parade of superstars has offered the best in American entertainment and helped set the tone for a spectacular American birthday party.

This year's line-up includes:

Frankie Valli
The original Jersey boy himself, Frankie Valli is a true American legend. His incredible career with the Four Seasons, as well as his solo success, has spawned countless hit singles.

John Williams
In a career spanning five decades, John Williams has become one of America's most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage, and he remains one of our nation's most distinguished and contributive musical voices.

Patti Labelle
"Beautiful" simply does not describe the incomparable force known to the world as Patti LaBelle. The soulful songbird's name has become synonymous with grace, style, elegance and class.

Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks is a Grammy nominated multi-platinum singer, songwriter and actress who originally garnered worldwide attention as winner of season six of American Idol, the show's highest rated season. Sparks was just 17 years old when she won the coveted title.

Michael McDonald
Two notes. That's all it takes to recognize the voice of Michael McDonald. Distinctive and soulful, it is one of the most yearningly emotive instruments of our times. To this, add formidable songwriting and keyboard skills, and you have an artist who has been a singular musical presence for four decades.

Sara Evans
Multi platinum-selling recording artist Sara Evans, one of the most compelling and authentic vocalists in country music, recently released her seventh studio album, Slow Me Down, to critical praise.

Kendall Schmidt
What began in 2008 as a passion project in a bedroom studio in Burbank, California has now become a whirlwind endeavor, with energetic and dedicated fans across the globe.

Kelli O'Hara
Kelli O'Hara recently received her fifth Tony Award nomination, along with Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics nominations, for her portrayal of Francesca in the musical adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County.

Jack Everly
Jack Everly is the principal pops conductor of the Baltimore and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa.

Plus, National Symphony Orchestra, Choral Arts Society of Washington, The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own," The U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, The U.S. Army Presidential Salute Battery, The Joint Armed Forces Chorus, and Military District of Washington.

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

More than a decade ago, first-time filmmaker Katrina Browne made a troubling discovery — her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. In her film, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, she and nine fellow descendants of the DeWolf family set off to retrace the trade triangle: from their ancestors' old homestead in Bristol, Rhode Island, to slave forts in Ghana, to sugar plantation ruins in Cuba.

Ten years from inception to debut, the film is part of the PBS series P.O.V., and airs on Rhode Island PBS on Thursday, July 3 at 9 PM (we're on channel 36 / digital 36.1 / RI cable 8 / DirecTV 36 / Dish Network 7776); night-owl Cox and Comcast cable subscribers can catch a rebroadcast on July 5 at 1:30 AM.

As the film recounts, the DeWolf name has been honored through generations, both in the Bristol and on the national stage. Family members have been prominent citizens: professors, writers, legislators, philanthropists, Episcopal priests and bishops. If the DeWolfs' slave trading was mentioned at all, it was in an offhand way, with reference to scoundrels and rapscallions.

Then Browne's grandmother opened the door a crack. She wrote a DeWolf history booklet with a brief but pointed reference to the slave trade, which caused Browne to look deeper. What Browne learned in her research, coupled with the journey she undertook with other DeWolf descendants to retrace early New England's infamous trade in rum, slaves and sugar, revealed secrets hidden in plain sight. Archival documents — from logs and diaries to detailed business correspondence, canceled checks and sales records detailing a global economy — unsettle not just a family, but also a nation's assumptions about its not-so-distant history.

Technically, this film is a well-structured, nicely photographed, and finely edited cinema verité documentary. Browne is looking for the truth about her family, and she goes about trying to keep her filming of it candid and truthful.

When the film presents historical evidence and explores the poignant and pointed personal struggles family members undergo when facing these facts, the film is fascinating and compelling. The filmmaker, however, tries to cast a wider philosophical net. Whether the conclusions reached in this personal family story can be successfully applied to a broad audience will be a controversy best left to the viewers to debate. Either way, it's a thoughtful and provocative look at an aspect of Rhode Island history not widely known.

Watch the film, (then the second short documentary that follows it) and then talk about them here.

What do you think about Traces of the Trade?
Did you know that quiet beautiful Bristol was such an important hub of the slave trade? (By the way, if you really had no idea, then you obviously haven't experienced the comprehensive multi-media series by Paul Davis in The Providence Journal. Check it out!)