Clyde Griffiths Redux

  Yes, black lives matter. Perhaps there are a few college English students here who can view this story as a black lives version of Theodore Dreiser's great novel " An American Tragedy ". The young man here is a black version of young Clyde Griffiths. Clyde got the death penalty for murdering his pregnant girl friend, Roberta. Clyde was not worried about a college education. He lusted for a beautiful upper class girl named Sondra.But the " murder " in Dreiser's novel was ambiguous. The row boat on the lake tipped over. And poor Clyde just could not rescue pathetic, pregnant Roberta. In the end Clyde was going to the electric chair, grieved by his religious mother. Clyde was corrupted by the glittering, dazzling vision of the GOOD LIFE in capitalist America.But as Senator Ted Kennedy so eloquently put it: " The dream lives on ! "      *******
  
                                          GAMBLING FEVER IN RHODE ISLAND

      

"There are many Rhode Islanders who don’t believe that state government
should be in the business of promoting gambling " . And I am one of them. I can't stand to hear celebrity news people like Gene Valicenti literally pimp for the Rhode Island State Lottery on his radio show all the time.He does not just coolly announce winners. He pants. Like a carnival barker , Gene shouts at the listeners to join the fun, to drink the Lady Luck Cool Aid .Yes, there is a lucky liquor store right near by in Knightsville, Cranston.
State lottery tickets and casino gambling are indeed just a tax on the poor. And they encourage the poor to accept the Wall Street ethic : WINNER TAKE ALL ! Above all we need a rational attitude toward wealth creation.
HOPE in Rhode Island should mean more than GOOD LUCK !