Innovation Ecosystem/Opinion
Rehabilitation rambles
Close encounters of an aging kind
Photo by Mike Cohea, used with permission of the photographer
The photo of the harvest moon rising above the Newport Bridge. File photo.
By Richard Asinof
Posted 9/8/25
The continuing ability of news programs to ignore important stories such as the Epstein/Maxwell victims speaking out is a shanda.
How important are the forecasts by ISO New England, which manages grid reliability, in deciding the lawsuits against Trump’s efforts to halt the offshore wind industry? When was the last time anyone in the RI news media documented the state’s extensive health expertise around vaccine design and safety? Why has the continuing shortfall of nurses at Rhode Island Hospital, a division of Brown Health, drawn so little coverage? What exactly is Brown Health’s financial connection to PACE, an elder health care nonprofit? What is the status of the state’s public health laboratory in terms of securing renters for its market-driven spaces? How many parents need to have a conversation about what happened to them in terms of sexual abuse, so that their children know the truth?
For all the war-like talk about attacking Venezuelan drug cartels, as Ieva Jusionyte documented in her recent award-winning book, “Exit Wounds,” the biggest ongoing smuggling operations are the illegal flow of illicit American guns into Mexico and other Central and Latin American countries, which directly fuels the violence practiced by the drug cartels.
Instead of threatening to send federal troops into our cities, perhaps the U.S. needs to focus on gun smuggling, not drug smugglers.
Instead of threatening to send federal troops into our cities, perhaps the U.S. needs to focus on gun smuggling, not drug smugglers.
JOHNSTON — Did you encounter a “hoax” yesterday or today? I asked colleagues, family, and friends; their answers were a resounding no. One reporter responded by saying, “Not yet, but the day is still young.”
As part of my physical therapy on a stationary bike, I got to watch the first half-hour of the news conference staged by the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse. I was happy to pedal a few extra minutes to listen to what was being said.
Afterwards, I was surprised by how little traction the news conference had received from the Rhode Island news media. I’m not sure why; rape and child sexual abuse are common maladies and perverse occurrences in Rhode Island. Ask any woman and the odds are that she knows; statistics point to more than one out of every four women having been a victim of rape or childhood sexual abuse. One out of four, if not more. The resulting trauma and PTSD take an enormous toll on our mental health as a community and as a nation.
But why did the Rhode Island news media seem so reluctant to talk about the presser by the Epstein/Maxwell victims? Why studiously avoid reporting on this public conversation? Why was there so little curiosity about the courage to heal? Was this just another case of the rich and the powerful evading the consequences of their illegal actions? (Editor’s Note: Neither top political reporters Ted Nesi nor Ian Donnis mentioned the Epstein/Maxwell victims’ news conference in their respective political columns this past week. Was it not newsworthy enough?)
The women survivors who held court in front of the U.S. Capitol were willing to confront their abusers and fight back against those who challenged their believability, such as President Trump, who called it all a “hoax.”
The whole event was, in social work terms, a large family intervention, one that spoke forcefully about decades of sexual abuse; the level of denial was extraordinarily high. Of course, if all the facts and files tied to the Epstein-Maxwell cases were to be released by an act of Congress, it would go a long way to establish who is telling the truth — and who is lying, and which elected officials are practiced in the art of deflection and deception.
More importantly, perhaps, is finding a safe path for survivors to be able to talk about what happened to them and to be believed — particularly by the government and by law enforcement officials responsible for protecting citizens from such heinous crimes.
There are many things within my province and knowledge as a reporter that I will not discuss, and I take my professionalism and code of ethics quite seriously. My sources are always protected.
When it comes to my personal knowledge of childhood sexual abuse and abusive alcoholic families, from what people have told me in confidence, I have opted to protect the privacy of the women and families involved — from abortions to sexual assault by grandfathers, from assault by male high school teachers on women students to the college professors who preyed on students.
The courage of the women who stepped forward and spoke publicly on Wednesday, Sept. 3 — despite the irritating jet flyovers trying to disrupt their truth-telling — should have been recognized by the local RI news media as a crucial political story to report. I wonder: What would happen if women in the news media in Rhode Island were allowed to speak openly about what they know?
Conspiracy, paranoia strike deep
The current brouhaha over future vaccine policies has important lessons for communities and states: they need to seize the moment and create their own regional health compacts to direct the supply and distribution of vaccines to protect their communities. MA Gov. Maura Healy has taken that step. A regional compact of Northeastern states that includes RI appears to be in the works.
A similar coalition is being formed by the West Coast states of Oregon, Washington, California and Hawaii.
No one is going to save us from the maladies of the Trump administration but ourselves.
The truth about vaccines is that they work; the science behind them is rock solid and righteous. The idiocy put on display by federal HHS Secretary RFK Jr. is beyond satire; he is a dissembler, a liar, someone without scruples; he displays all the characteristics of a chronic substance abuser (heroin was his drug of choice for years) who has been unwilling to move forward with his own recovery.
We are fortunate in RI that the state Department of Health has been such a strong proponent of vaccine safety and distribution. The recent interview conducted by WPRI with pediatrician Dr. Beth Lange provides a strong counterpoint to the mistruths being spewed out by the Trump administration. (See link to WPRI interview and an earlier ConvergenceRI interview with Dr. Lange.)
Strong winds
Thankfully, there has been very good coverage of the ongoing efforts by Congressman Seth Magaziner and Attorney General Peter Neronha to fight back against Trump’s efforts to curtail offshore wind developments in the ocean waters off Rhode Island and Connecticut. (Editor’s note: Once again, Ted Nesi’s narrative seems to be a bit near-sighted; he only goes back as far as former Gov. Carcieri's actions in 2007, ignoring the restructuring of the electric utility industry that took place in 1997, 10 years earlier, or, for that matter, the groundwork on wind turbines that had been done by Cape Wind.)
Moments of wonder, coincidence
As I compose this on my iPhone, slowly tapping out the content with one finger, I wonder what questions I would have asked of our two U.S. Senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, at the presser they attended in Woonsocket on Friday, Sept. 5, about a new community facility being built there. (Editor’s Note: I was stuck in rehab; there were no clear accounts about what happened.)
Woonsocket, like many other post-industrial New England cities, with its skyline a jumble of smokestacks, church steeples and triple-decker wooden housing, is a living, breathing example of what really happened during the last five decades with the carving out of the American middle-class economy, a place where dreams became stagnant, much like the industrial manufacturing properties left to rot. (Editor’s Note: There is an excellent 2024 PBS documentary by Kathy Hughes, a former colleague, and her husband, Tom Casciato, “Two American Families,” that covers much of this same ground in compelling fashion. See link below.)
The last time I had checked the data from the state Department of Health, the Rhode Island city that led the state in incidences of overdoses — from the nasty brew of illicit fentanyl, methamphetamines, and horse tranquilizers being sold on the streets — was Woonsocket. There is no such thing as coincidence.
Woonsocket, unfortunately, still has the highest rate of child abuse and neglect in RI, according to one community leader. Connecting the dots, the roots of this malaise are tied directly to a lack of jobs and a lack of affordable housing, leading to increasing mental health problems within families and poor school performance -- and fentanyl abuse. These are chronic problems that cannot be addressed separately or in a vacuum, the community leader believes. It will take a communal approach to build up a new resilience.
The most recent federal jobs numbers in August reflect how badly Trump’s policies have tanked the U.S. economy.
Yet, the ongoing yeoman’s work of community agencies such as the Community Care Alliance never receive enough praise from our elected leaders, it seems. Will the Friday, Sept. 5, presser mark a turning point? Who knows? Probably not.
Once again, it is up to the news media to ask the insightful “impertinent” questions of our state’s elected leaders, including Gov. McKee.
Such as: What are the rates of asthma for public schoolchildren in Woonsocket and how does it impact school attendance figures? What are considered the major factors in children’s chronic asthma conditions? Will Woonsocket contemplate ending its sewage compact with surrounding communities to better protect the Blackstone River from ongoing pollution threats? What is the rate of childhood lead poisoning in Woonsocket? How many of the city’s landlords are participating in the housing database run by the state Department of Health? What are the opportunities to improve care for the growing number of the city’s unhoused population?
The bigger question: How do urban communities such as Woonsocket practice “resilience” in the age of Trump?
The tendency is to pretend that everything is normal when it is not. There is no question that President Trump is out of control in his erratic behaviors and wild claims to support the use of federal troops in places such as Chicago.
Here in Providence, PVD Fest is underway, a quite different kind of "taking it to the streets" celebration. There are so many reasons why Providence continues to be an attractive place to live.
But what is the story that is trending on the online corporate news feeds? “If you were to win the $1.7 billion Powerball drawing on Saturday night, would it make more sense to take a lump sum or a series of payouts over time?” Dream on, Bud.
Personal tales from rehab.
The really good news is that my latest onslaught from gout is gone, enabling me to regain strength in my legs and greater control of my movements.
I had to intervene, however, when the care workers attempted to feed me allipurnol while I still had gout. Allipurnol is a preventative medicine to prevent flareups of gout, but when taken during an attack of gout, it exacerbates the gout, making it worse. I had to consistently refuse to take the allipurnol, talking back to those dispensing the meds. Call it patient advocacy. If I am not for myself, who will be? If not now, when?
My roommate-in-rehab’s daughter comes nearly every day to visit him; she currently lives in Maplewood, NJ. We played a little bit of Jersey geography. She knew, for instance, that her town’s local high school was the birthplace of “Ultimate Frisbee.” A friend of mine from high school days, Buzzy Hellring, was one of the co-creators, along with Joel Silver (who became a movie producer). It is a small world after all, it seems. One of the iconic Ultimate Frisbee photos from 1976 is of Gary Hirshberg, future founder of Stoneyfield Yogurt, playing for the Hampshire College team, seemingly suspended in midair, about to catch a frisbee. (What a great narrative to share.)
I re-extend my invitation to the local news media, including those members who have created the series “Behind the story” on WPRI, to come for a visit to interview me. I have no expectations , however, that they will ever find the way to my rehab facility to come talk with me.
I am often captive of my roommate’s desire to watch the local news, morning and evening. It is a bit of an education for me to watch the ways that the on-air news professionals fill the airwaves with a constant chatter that is meant to be both educational and entertaining. But it often leaves me with numbed senses and a desire to know what is being left out of the on-air conversations.
Who knows when I will return to my apartment, having successfully completed my stint in rehab. I am grateful, very grateful, for the continuing excellent care I have been receiving.
Folks need to be very clear: the future landscape where we will all end up, as both a participant and an observer, is as a patient in rehab, with varying degrees of care. It is not so much that our minds stop working but that our bodies wear out.
I keep thinking and wondering if there could be a brief segment on the nightly local news, shot at a local rehab facility, one that engages with the caregivers and the patients, where stories can be told and remembered.
What would that look like? What kinds of stories would appeal to a younger audience? How would the camerawork change in these segments? And how best to bring in the caregivers and make them an important part of the conversation?
This time of year, what I miss most are my planned excursions to pick apples at a local orchard and then baking apple pies. When I lived in Western Massachusetts, and I heated my home with wood, including using a Glenwood cook stove, I would take a day off from work and make pies.
Those activities are now only in reach in my memories, as my legs keep losing traction in my battle with a chronic health condition, where a rogue antibody is attacking the myelin in my thoracic region. But my apple pie recipe is still tops, in my opinion, made without sugar and a combination of apples to create an unbeatable texture and taste.
