I am from Rhode Island, originally, and read a quote somewhere: “In Rhode Island, everything is local”.<\/p>\n
Rhode Island is the kind of state where you ask for directions, and this is what someone will tell you: “Okay, so you go down this street and you take a right where the A&P used to be … then you stay on that road, and when you come to the end of it, take a left where the Bess Eaton used to be … and what you’re looking for is on Rt. 138 where that Tae Kwan Do studio used to be.”<\/p>\n
Local Rhode Islanders like myself will nod knowingly at these directions suffused with the past<\/b>, and newcomers will be completely lost. “Tell me what is there NOW, please.”<\/p>\n
And when the direction-givers say stuff like “where the A&P used to be”, sometimes they are talking about what hasn’t been there for 30 years!<\/p>\n
I love that.<\/p>\n
My sister Jean pointed out, as well, that all directions given in Rhode Island usually contain the words “Dunkin Donuts”. <\/b>The moment she made that observation, of course I started hearing it all over the place.<\/p>\n
“Take a left at the Dunkin Donuts…”
\n“And then you pass the Dunkin Donuts…”
\n“There’s a stoplight, and a Dunkin Donuts on your right…”<\/p>\n
Or sometimes the two particularities of Rhode Island directions will happen in the same sentence: “Take a right where the Dunkin Donuts used to be…”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am from Rhode Island, originally, and read a quote somewhere: “In Rhode Island, everything is local”. Rhode Island is the kind of state where you ask for directions, and this is what someone will tell you: “Okay, so you … Continue reading