RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY • 35 YEARS
I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane over Newport , took part in a Providence Bruins practice ( as a goalie no less ), donned firefighter gear to bake inside an 800-degree training trailer in South Kingstown , walked — very carefully — on the catwalk under the Mount Hope Bridge in Bristol and got slammed around the ring taking a pro wrestling class in Pawtucket .
Am I crazy ? Not clinically , but I am a journalist and wrote about 150 “ Rhode Trips ” over a dozen or so years , a popular lastpage column in this magazine that included all the above and more , so maybe “ crazy ” and “ journalist ” do belong in the same sentence .
But I loved every minute of it , from scary ones like being subjected to 600 pounds of force flying in a World War II vintage Grumman TBM-3E Avenger torpedo bomber in Westerly to the tasty , like writing about — and sampling — classic Rhode Island staples such as hot wieners , stuffies , dynamites and johnnycakes , as well as chowing down on a half-dozen lobsters and half as many steaks while eating like a Viking at the legendary Nordic Lodge in Charlestown .
There are stories everywhere , even in the country ’ s smallest state with its seeming infinite supply of them . I ’ d cull phone books in the olden days to find stories like a tiny research nuclear reactor at the URI Bay Campus , and
Cavanaugh Company in Greenville , which bakes billions of communion wafers for host-hungry parishioners the world over . And for the record , Greenville is a village in Smithfield , named for Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene and yes , I once did a Rhode Trip talking about the rich history of Rhode Island villages . Why ? Because it ’ s a cool fact in a tiny state packed with them .
And that ’ s not crazy . That ’ s just the endlessly fascinating state of Rhode Island . — Paul Kandarian
A Big Blue Bug ’ s Life HOW OUR FAVORITE TERMITE SPENT THE LAST FORTY-THREE YEARS AS A RHODE ISLAND ICON .
Big Beginnings : The 4,000-pound , nine-foot-tall Nibbles Woodaway is an eastern subterranean termite that ’ s loomed over the Route I-95 Thurbers Avenue curve since 1980 ( he ’ s over the hill at forty-three !). Burrowing into our archives , we learned the steel-and-fiberglass insect was originally painted purple ( the color of a live termite swarmer under a microscope ), but the paint job faded to blue . As the new hue stuck as part of its moniker , the owners repainted it blue ever since , eventually rebranding from New England Pest Control to Big Blue Bug Solutions in 2012 .
holiday season , the Big Blue Bug inherited a spotted red necktie a decade ago , sunglasses and an Awful Awful in summer and an Uncle Sam hat and white beard for the Fourth of July . It also sported a medical mask in the dark days of COVID-19 . The Rhode Island icon even had an Incredible Hulk makeover ahead of the 2021 Rhode Island Comic-Con and supported the PawSox in the past by wearing a ball cap . Can we slip him a copy of Rhode Island Monthly , hmm ? bigbluebug . com — Jamie Coelho
Starring Roles : Geraldine Perry of Tiverton coined the “ Nibbles Woodaway ” nickname as part of a public contest held in 1990 . That same year , WPRO ’ s Geoff Charles conducted his afternoon drive-time talk show on top of the building next to Nibbles . Motorists reportedly bumped into each other on the highway while trying to catch a glimpse of Charles and his entourage on the roof , which happened to include a scantily clad exotic dancer . The clever insect also appeared in driving scenes in Dumb and Dumber ( 1994 ) and Dumb and Dumber To ( 2014 ), and even had a song written about him .
Costume Changes : In addition to donning a red nose , Christmas lights and antlers come the
44 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l MARCH 2023