Southern New England pRIde
First of all, check out this story on Chuck's site. Go now.
OK, so Massachusetts has an official State Cookie. That's weird. But it turns out all of our states have weird official "things." Steve points to the Nutmeg State's (that's Connecticut) official tartan (Maine has one too) and fossil, which is a bizarrely popular category, as California and Louisiana have state approved fossils, too.
In the Biggest Little, I am happy to report, we downplay our idiosyncratic nature when it comes to official business (ha!). There's the obvious State Bird, the Rhode Island Red and the State Motto, Hope (compare that to Alaska's "North to the Future!"). Not surprisingly, the State Shell is the quahog, which Seth MacFarlane introduced to the world as the fictional RI town home to the Griffin family. We have both a State Mineral and a State Rock, the latter being Cumberlandite, found exclusively in and around, you guessed it, Cumberland, RI. The official State Flagship is the Sloop Providence, not to be confused with the official State Yacht, the Courageous.
Charlie Hall, of Ocean State Follies fame, wrote the State song (separate from the State March) after being inspired by none other than hizzoner Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci. Says Hall: "I see [Buddy] at a jazz club, and he says, 'Why do you always have to write something negative about the state? Why don?t you write something nice?' So I went home and I wrote some lyrics, lyrics that make you want to puke."
Last but certainly not least, the State Drink: Coffee Milk. I remember well the controversey over whether the honor would go to the only-in-RI coffee flavored beverage or the RI original, Del's lemonade (click that link to see the dangers of too much Flash). I'm glad I didn't have to vote on that bill. When my brother comes to visit he can't get enough Dels, though my non-native nephews don't share our appreciation for it. Man, I could really go for a peach-mango lemonade right now… So yeah, cawfee milk, official drink of the Ocean State (the non-official state nickname!)
This fall I plan to introduce legislation to make A Cry for Help the official State Blog. Write your State Senators!
April 21st, 2004 at 6:12 am
Ahhh but do you little imperialists have a State Troubador? (Ours is Kevin Briody) A State animal? (Sperm whale) Or an official state insect? (Praying mantis)
And, no, I had no idea what a troubador was either. If pressed, I’d probably say bull fighter..
Fraternally yours in Prudence Crandall, the Connecticut State Heroine. (Whoever the hell she was…)
p.s. If the Family Guy were set here, they’d live in Oyster, Connecticut.
April 21st, 2004 at 10:39 am
Good stuff. Thanks for the trivia!
- Garris
April 21st, 2004 at 9:17 pm
Alaska has 2 state mammals, one marine (whale) the other terrestrial (moose).
I’m going to try to come up with some additions to the official state “x” roster…
April 21st, 2004 at 11:46 pm
We used to have coffee milk right along side the plain and chocolate in my elementary school cafeteria on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It’s not quite only-in-RI. Come to think of it, we had Del’s at the County Fair, I think maybe the Cape is trying to become part of Rhode Island.
April 22nd, 2004 at 12:55 am
I’d support the annexation of the cape. I have a friend from Attleboro who wishes she was a RIer (though she now lives in Texas…)
If I were governor, I’d take the Cape, but only as a protectorate. It’s time to make RI an imperial power. Then we could put up that wind farm, NIMBYs be damned. Also, with the addition of P-town to RI’s purview, the state would become by far the most fabulous in the nation.
April 22nd, 2004 at 7:15 pm
If RI took the Cape, they’d have to leave the crusty old Republicans in Chatham with Massachusetts.