So I promise that this whole blog will not be an obsession with discussing every Rhode Island quirk but being in Rhode Island for this long has cast some kind of spell over me. Not just because I'm sure of the fact that Georgetown's famous M Street was named to commemorate Mineral Spring Avenue or that Nick's Riverside Grill totally copied Harborside (or Hahbahside, if you're true to your roots) in East Greenwich, but probably because this state will always carry a sense of nostalgia for me in one way or another and a classiness that you'll never be able to find anywhere else.
Take, for example, this morning when I was getting my roots done at Salon D'Talia (notice the incorrect use of the apostrophe in the title). As I was trying to figure out how the stylists were able to do my hair in stilettos for three hours straight on faux-hard wood, a thirty-something woman walked in and was warmly greeted. She was friendly, well dressed, and surprisingly didn't have the distinctively guido accent that characterized most of the other clients that morning. Everyone began to tell her how great she looked and how much they had missed her. It kind of reminded me of how I felt when I returned home from studying abroad in Paris. Like this young beaut, I had lost roughly fifteen pounds, had a new sense of style and gave off an aura of newly-gained experiences. When I could fit a word in edge-wise, I asked the woman where she had returned from.
Jail, she responded ambiguously. And I thought that she had just come off from Sabbatical in Saint-Tropez.
DC and Rhode Island definitely carry their respective differences, but are quite similar, too. As I learned in one of my many SIS courses at American University, a cross-cultural analysis is instrumental in determining the main differences between two distinct groups of people. Here is my take on the important elements that differenciate the two:
Size of Captiol Cities ---> DC: 591, 833 RI: 232, 453
Distance to Shoreline ---> DC: 208 miles RI: 28 miles
Ethnic Majority ---> DC: 68.6% African American RI: 55.4% Portugeuse American
Famous Citizens ---> DC: Barack Obama, Marvin Gaye RI: Debra Messing, Audi from Megan Wants a Millionaire
State Mottos---> DC: "Justice for All" RI: "Hope"
Beloved Restaurant ---> DC: CityZen RI: Sienna Restorante & Trattoria (I don't personally agree with this at all, just quoting from Rhode Island Monthly)
Hottest Nightclub ---> DC: The Park at Fourteenth RI: Monet Lounge
Club Give-a-ways ---> DC: First class plane ticket anywhere in the world (FLY)
RI: Breast Implants (Monet Lounge)
Movies Filmed in State Location ---> DC: The Exorcist RI: Me, Myself & Irene
State Staples ---> DC: Ben's Chilli Bowl RI: Del's Lemonade
Local & Thriving Business ---> DC: Latham Law & Associates RI: Anthony's Jewelers
She-she Private School ---> DC: Georgetown Prep RI: St. Mary Academy Bay View!!!
Hipster Scene ---> DC: U Street RI: Thayer Street
Movie Theater Snack ---> DC: Glazed Chicken Wings RI: Fresh doughboys (No joke)
Young Local Socialite ---> DC: Katherine Kennedy RI: Vinnie Denofria
Okay, so this was probably just for my own enjoyment, but you get the picture. And can you believe Monet Lounge is giving away breast implants for their Labor Day Hot Body Contest prize?! Gotta love it here, I guess.
<3,
Angela
VERY INFORMATIVE. Except I thought Lauren Broccoli was considered of the most elite socialites?
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