" Hey, do you know what time it is ? "

You tube song

Last Saturday night people were warned about the seasonal

    time change: " Set your clock ahead one hour ". I do enjoy waking up

    with sunlight in my face ! But I forgot about the most important clock,

    the digital alarm clock in my bedroom.

           Awakening twice in the darkness this past week, I turned on

    my bedside radio to WLKW . " Hey do you know what time it is ? " I

    hummed, recalling the song ( It reminded me of an  LSD time warp ! )

           The radio guy DID know what time it was. But he just had to

    be cute about it : Four times ! " It is now quarter to the hour" ...

    " It is five past THE HOUR...."  ... " It is now half past THE HOUR ".

     " It is now just THE TOP OF THE HOUR ! "

       I was rather annoyed : " WHAT hour damn it ? "

        Could not the radio personality just say : " It is five past FIVE "

    or " It is SIX o'clock ".. ( And you better get your ass out of bed ! )

          Am I not worth THE TIME OF THE DAY ?

Title -terrifying or just terrible ?

I applaud the kid who won the " terrifying-story-title " contest,

    sponsored by General Mills ( Providence Journal Lifebeat, Oct. 30 ,

    " Stuff " )  .

           Braden Gardner 's winning entry: " Dead Dogs Still Fetch " .

      If the story is as chilling as the title, we'll have a rival

    for horror master Stephen King's " Pet Sematary " .

        Recall the dead cat " Church " came back to " life " after

    a night  at the old Indian burial ground. But he was awfully

    smelly and a little nasty .

              Being a kid at heart, I still have my own horror

    fantasies. In one of them I come across the lifeless body

    of a kid in a poison ivy patch in Strawberry Field. He is just

    Braden's age - ten years old.

          I won't give my story away but I'll tell you all the title :

        " Dead Kids Still Itch ! "

Quebec -the madness of "independence "

I did indeed wish Ray Fontaine more space in your newspaper

        but I cannot say that I wish his beloved Quebec more  " independent "

        space in  Canada ( " Butt out of Quebec's affairs,, Journal ! " )

               Thinking of the fate of the former Soviet Union ,I am reminded

        of one big truth of CIVILIZATION : Strength is in UNITY , in ORDER, in

        the parts forming a harmonious whole.

               If I were alive 2000 years ago, I would have been an unabashed

        supporter of the Roman Empire. Rome had far more to offer the world

        than an " independent "  Carthage or an " independent " Gaul ". Today

        the glory of the Empire is still all around us - eloquent and inspiring

        even in its melancholy ruins.

               Who cares today about post- Soviet Georgia ? Has it not achieved

        " independent " oblivion ?

                Today a Pax Americana would be preferable to world -wide CHAOS !

            There can be no FREEDOM or JUSTICE where there is no great CIVILIZATION.

Re Warwick Public Library: Your expertise needed -Dave

Thank you Dave for your reply. It is not quite an aesthetic 

    judgment - my loathing for the " renovated " Providence Public Library.

    I miss the " old " building - just the way it was. The facade on Washington

    has that delightful classic appeal. But the building's interior was

    redesigned and rearranged by somebody with no feeling or love for

    libraries.

           It use to be a pleasant place to browse in . Now it is wretchedly

    cramped . The pleasantness of the old order is a just a memory.

          Even the location of the rest rooms is a horror. The faces of the

    " help " - there are no more LIBRARIANS - reflect the wretchedness of

    the " improvements " .

            Walking into a library should be like walking into an old

    cathedral . I like all that " useless space " at the new Warwick Public

    Library. And plenty of  tables , desks, and  comfortable chairs there.

            I cannot judge the Warwick Public Library as  architect .. but

    as PATRON , I say THANK GOD !

             Is there any possibility of getting anything like it in

    Providence ?  

                                   Thank you   -ron

Your expertise needed -Dave

    Date: Thu, 29 Oct

    --Boundary-1588567-0-0

         Ron - I haven't seen the new Warwick library, or even a picture of it, 

    even though its architect said he would send me a fax of it. So I cannot 

    judge. But I think that if there were any chance it would be good enough to be 

    within shouting distance of the PPL (on Washington Street, not the "new" 

    addition on Empire), then I'd have been out there in a flash, covering it more 

    closely than the hip-squeezing jeans of a brainless enticing bunny. As to 

    whether it works better or worse, as a library, than the PPL, I would have no 

    idea. How did you arrive at your judgment? 

         - Dave 

    --Boundary-1588567-0-0

    Content-Type: message/rfc822

    Date: 28 Oct 98 11:01:29

    From:"Ronald Ruggieri" <ar803@osfn.rhilinet.gov>

    To: david_brussat@ProJo.COM

    Subject: Your expertise needed -Dave

    Reply-to: ar803@osfn.rhilinet.gov

    X-Orcl-Application: Return-Path: <ar803@osfn.org>

           Good morning Dave . Briefly -if you can check it out - I would

    appreciate your respected opinion on new Warwick Public Library.

       You may be interested  in the opinion of Louis J. Pugliese who

    described it as an " artistic failure " in the Oct. 27 Warwick Beacon

    ( Letters page 7 ).

           Let me just say this for now : Compared to the Providence Public

    Library on Empire St., the new library in Warwick is Heaven !

                           Have a nice day     Ron Ruggieri  ( 732-0215 )