This I Believe - Rhode Island

By JAN KEOUGH

RIPR – Mindfulness. For some this is a cliche designed for the modern age, bandied about much too casually. Perhaps the word mindfulness conjures up images of pensive acquaintances, eyes closed, sitting in yoga poses. For others mindfulness has much broader meaning, including paying close, moment-to-moment attention, with real intention, to our daily tasks and interactions with others. For Jan Keough mindfulness has come into her life in ways that are not at all trite and that are deeply, deeply personal.

By JESSICA CROWE

By NANCY JASPER

By MIGUEL ROSARIO

RIPR – Former Rhode Island Training School inmate Miguel Rosario reflects on the powerful meaning of second chances in life.

By DAVID MELLOR

RIPR – Albert Einstein once said, "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge." That's a rather idealized vision of teaching, of course, and it doesn't always work out that way. Yet, as we hear from David Mellor, teaching can be full of wonderful surprises delivered in some rather delightful packaging.

By CALEB WOODHOUSE

By LYNNIE GOBEILLE

RIPR – The 19th century author and critic Edgar Allen Poe once said, "Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words." Indeed, for many of us the careful assembly of words has the power to transform what we think, what we feel, and what we experience as we travel through life. As we hear from Lynnie Gobeille, words also have the remarkable ability to help us sort out life's biggest challenges and mysteries.

By BARBARA CERVONE

By SCOTT TURNER

RIPR – In the nineteenth century, playwright Oscar Wilde once said, "Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them." That's a provocative, perhaps disturbing claim, of course. Yet the reality is that many parent-child relationships are complicated -- sometimes filled with love and nurture and sometimes surrounded by very sharp edges. For Scott Turner this intense complexity in his own life has shaped the person he is today.

By MIKE FINK

RIPR – Rhode Island has an indelible link to refuge and rescue, beginning with Roger Williams' first steps in what is now the Ocean State. Rhode Island's residents and forebears include a remarkable mix of the oppressed, the vulnerable, and the triumphant. Mike Fink reflects on a unique space -- a sacred plot -- that says so much about Rhode Island's soul.