White House Chronicle Expands to Local Storytelling in the Public Square

White House Chronicle is a public affairs news program told with a sense of humor. "From our town to your town, we explain politics, making it easy to understand." 

About once a month, the White House Chronicles features a special edition, Story in the Public Square, "where storytelling meets public affairs." Co-hosted by Jim Ludes of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University in Newport, and G. Wayne Miller of The Providence Journal, the show invites storytellers to discuss and examine their works and the impact they are having on public life. 

Story in the Public Square recently featured New York Times writer Dan Barry in a discussion of his upcoming book "Boys in the Bunkhouse."

White House Chronicle airs Sundays at 11:30 a.m. on Rhode Island PBS (digital 36.1) and at 7 p.m. on Learn (digital 36.2). 

From the White House Chronicle Web site:

In 1997, Llewellyn King set out to create a television program that would combine a civilized discussion of news and public affairs with English polymath Noel Coward’s “talent to amuse.”

“With White House Chronicle, I wanted a comfy couch of a television program where viewers could sit back and learn something new, or think about something in a new way,” said King, who is also the program's executive producer and host.

King also wanted viewers to meet new people - particularly the many talented print journalists in Washington who rarely, if ever, appeared on television. Over the years, a few of them talent-scouted by White House Chronicle have gone on to become TV fixtures.

As host of the program, King ventilates the issues of the time. He opens each episode with “a few thoughts of my own.” His un-Telepromptered commentaries range from serious to hilarious -  the big challenges for big engineering in the wake of the Gulf oil spill; running a small business (he ran a publishing firm for 36 years); taking his father’s advice not to become a copper miner in Zambia; and making proper tea. “Unlike politics, tea is very forgiving; just add more boiling water to the pot,” he said.

Viewers look forward to King's commentaries in much the same way viewers looked forward to beloved British broadcaster Alistair Cooke’s commentaries preceding PBS's Masterpiece Theater.

At a time when network television has a deficit of original thinking, “White House Chronicle” has a surfeit. 

White House Chronicle airs nationwide on some 200 PBS and public, educational and governmental access stations; and worldwide on Voice of America Television. 

On WSBE, White House Chronicle airs Sundays at 11:30 a.m. on Rhode Island PBS (digital 36.1) and at 7 p.m. on Learn (digital 36.2).

WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits over the air on 36.1; Rhode Island cable: Cox cable 08/1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08/508HD, Full Channel 08; Massachusetts cable: Comcast 819HD (Comcast SD subscribers check local listings for channel), Verizon FiOS 18/518HD; satellite: Dish 36/7776, DirecTV 36. 

WSBE Learn transmits over the air on 36.2; Rhode Island cable: Cox 808, Verizon 478, and Full Channel 109; Massachusetts cable: Comcast 294 or 312.

Roving Eye International Film Festival features 30 free films - includes local "Coming Home"

We received this announcement today:  

FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) and Roger Williams University (RWU) are proud to present the seventh annual Roving Eye International Film Festival™. The popular and acclaimed event, celebrating global cinema and artists, will take place April 22-26th, where more than 30 international films will be showcased, many United States premieres. All screenings are free to the general public. Screenings will take place on the campus of Roger Williams University at the Global Heritage Hall in Bristol, RI.

The 7th Annual Roving Eye International Film Festival will cover themes ripped from the headlines: returning veterans from the war on terror; facing PTSD and mental stress; global human rights, international relations and issues addressing sustainability and ecology. The Festival's slogan for 2012 is "You Know You Want to Look." [Editor's note: Yes, that's the same slogan WSBE chose for Haunted RI in 2011.]

Many of the film's directors will be in attendance including recent Academy Award nominee, James Spione, director of "Incident in New Baghdad." Panel/roundtable discussions include "The War on Terror: Coming Home"* with Providence Journal writer G. Wayne Miller; Dr. Frank DiCataldo, assistant professor of psychology at Roger Williams University; John Freidah, Providence Journal photographer and producer; Coleman Nee, Massachusetts Secretary of Veterans' Services; Lt. Col. Denis Riel, Rhode Island National Guard; and Jonathan Shay, MD, clinical psychiatrist, author and MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" recipient for his work with veteran, and "HOLLYWOOD EAST: MAKING IT IN THE FILM INDUSTRY IN RHODE ISLAND" featuring Edward J. "Ted" Delaney, author, journalist, filmmaker and educator; Michael Drywa, Jr. Esq. Entertainment Law specialist; Steven Feinberg, Executive Director, RI Film and Television Office; Duncan Putney, SAG Representive; and Chris Sparling, writer/director author of the Ryan Reynolds feature "Buried."

Click HERE to see a listing of this year's programming and to learn more about the Roving Eye Festival. For more information about films, dates, and venues for the Roving Eye Film Festival™, please call 401-861-4445, email info@film-festival.org.

*WSBE Rhode Island PBS will re-broadcast Coming Home on Saturday, May 26 at 7 P.M. and Sunday, May 27 at 11 P.M.

Iraq War Veterans "Coming Home" a documentary by The Providence Journal

**UPDATE** 

Veterans and Family Assistance Resources

are listed at the end of this blog

The September 11th attacks on America in 2001 left a shared scar on the American psyche.

Even so, there are Americans, New Englanders, Rhode Islanders, whose scars are not shared by most Americans. Those experiences are only shared among the small group of American soldiers who have served in the "war on terror" in the decade that followed September 11.

In those ten years, 43 New Englanders lost their lives. Thousands of veterans have returned, forever changed. Coming Home is about four of them. WSBE is proud to present Coming Home, a documentary by The Providence Journal, on Monday, March 26 at 8 P.M. on Rhode Island PBS (digital 36.1, Cox 08/1008HD, Verizon 08/508HD, FullChannel 08, Comcast 819HD, DirecTV 36, Dish Network 7776).



Reaching Out
Following the broadcast, WSBE presents a live panel discussion hosted by (pictured left top) The Providence Journal's G. Wayne Miller, with Dr. Jennifer Lambert, acting chief of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic, and coordinator of the Returning Veterans Program at the Providence VA Medical Center; Dr. Thomas O’Toole (center photo), director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Homeless PACT program; and Iraq veteran Sergeant First Class Amy Slater (bottom photo) of the Rhode Island National Guard.

Representatives of the Veterans Administration and the Rhode Island Guard will be in the WSBE studios to staff an off-camera phone bank, answering questions and making referrals to services available to veterans. Viewers – especially veterans and their family members – are invited to call in anytime during the 90-minute program.

Coming Home
In October and November of 2011, The Providence Journal published an extraordinary series titled, "War on Terror: Coming Home." The eight-part series by Journal staff writer G. Wayne Miller chronicled the stories of several soldiers who served and the after-effects of war.

The stories upon which the newspaper series was based were woven into a compelling 50-minute documentary, Coming Home. Produced by Journal photographer John Freidah, Journal video editor Cecilia Préstamo, and Miller, narrated by Journal columnist Bob Kerr, and funded by The Providence Journal, the film also includes archival photos and video taken by the soldiers themselves.

In Coming Home, Army veteran Derek Pelletier and National Guard veterans John DiRaimo, Brian Santos, and Sean Judge share their combat experiences, and their lives back in the civilian world. Fall River resident Pelletier, twice honored with the Bronze Star, continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, as do Johnston native DiRaimo and Narragansett native Judge. Santos, who served with Judge, has followed a different path, becoming a New Jersey state trooper and marrying. Their interwoven stories illustrate the human toll of a war fought by a tiny fraction of Americans serving in an all-volunteer military.

Encore Broadcasts
A replay of the Coming Home and the panel discussion will air Wednesday, March 28 at 12:30 A.M. The phone bank will not be available during this replay, but referral phone numbers will be displayed on the TV screen. The documentary alone will also air on Saturday, March 31 at 7 P.M. as part of the ongoing Rhode Island PBS series, Rhode Island Stories.

Additional replays are scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, May 26 at 7 P.M. and Sunday, May 27 at 11 P.M.

To view the film anytime, and to read the original series of stories by G. Wayne Miller published in The Providence Journal, visit providencejournal.com/cominghome.

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Veteran and Family Assistance

VA Crisis Hotline 

1-800-273-TALK (8255) Press “1

The Providence VA Medical Center’s OEF/OIF/OND Clinic 

401-273-7100, x 6401 or
401-273-7100, x 6137

Rhode Island Army and Air National Guard Family Assistance Center 

401-275-4194 or
877-440-7994 

Rhode Island National Guard Family Assistance Center online

The Rhode Island Veterans Affairs 

401-254-8495

Rhode Island Veterans Affairs online

Behind the Hedgerow: Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of Newport Society

Behind the Hedgerow: Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of Newport Society takes viewers inside the private world of aristocratic Newport, Rhode Island – a world of privilege that began with the Gilded Age, when Vanderbilts and Astors reigned. WSBE Rhode Island PBS is proud to present the television premiere of the critically-acclaimed film on Wednesday, April 6 at 8 p.m., with re-broadcast as part of the ongoing WSBE series, Rhode Island Stories on Saturday, April 9 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 10 at 11 p.m.

The story's central character is Eileen Gillespie Slocum, descendant of the Nicholas Browns and friend to all of the 20th century Newport (and New York and Philadelphia) elite. When Slocum died on July 27, 2008, at the age of 92, a storied period of American history ended. Slocum was the last of the Newport grand dames – one of the last grand dames anywhere. America had changed, and so had the world; a new moneyed class now ruled, although descendants of the Gilded Age elite continue to live on and near one of America's most exclusive addresses, Bellevue Avenue, Newport.

Slocum's family granted filmmakers G. Wayne Miller and David Bettencourt exclusive access to her archives and private Bellevue Avenue estate, where much of the film was shot. The story is brought to the screen through the use of rare footage and still photographs, through filming of key Newport Society events during the summer of 2009, and through on-camera interviews of people in Eileen Slocum’s set and Slocum’s family. The filmmakers use Slocum’s extensive personal archive of photographs, books, belongings and papers – most notably, the diaries she began keeping at the age of nine as she was growing up in an eight-story mansion at the corner of New York’s 89th Street and Fifth Avenue. She continued to write these diaries into the 1990s. They are an intimate and never-before-seen account of life behind the hedgerow.

While Eileen Slocum is the protagonist of the story, Behind the Hedgerow has an intriguing supporting cast, including such prominent Newporters as Hugh D. Auchincloss III, known as Yusha, and Betty "Boop" Blake, a noted art collector who winters in Texas. Both Yusha and Boop were lifelong friends of Eileen. Both appear for the first time ever in a film.

The narrator of the film is Eileen Slocum herself. Through a newspaper series he wrote about Newport society, G. Wayne Miller, a longtime staff writer at The Providence Journal, became a confidante of Slocum's. During their long relationship, he spent hours recording Slocum as she discussed her life, her world, and her beliefs.

Because of Eileen Slocum’s stature, her relationships with virtually everyone in the world of old money, her long life, and her intelligence and candor, Behind the Hedgerow is uniquely entertaining, informative and, in certain passages, amusing.

Visit the film Web site for more information about Eileen Slocum and Behind the Hedgerow.

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WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits over the air on digital 36.1; Cox/Verizon/Full Channel 08; DirecTV 36; Dish Network 7776; ComCast subscribers, please check local listings for the channel number in your area.

WSBE Learn transmits over the air on digital 36.2; Cox 808; Verizon 478; Full Channel 109; ComCast 294.

Viewers with high definition (HD) capability can receive WSBE Rhode Island PBS HD programming over the air on digital 36.1, Cox 708, Verizon 508, ComCast 819.