The subjects interviewed for Underground Rhode Island were selected, among many possibilities, for several reasons. The eldest were likely to have been part or the "hip" scene around jazz and the Celebrity Club of the 1950s. More than a few had a connection with AS220 and its circle, at some time in the past. And the youngest members have been active in the Rhode Island arts scene, in one way or another, during the last twenty years or so. Not all are either "lost" or "unknown"; some of them have long been prominent. And yet they represent a self-consciously offbeat take on the mainstream culture of Middle America. They are "underground" even when "overground," part of a world more recognizable to Allen Ginsberg (or Bruce Springsteen) than the people in the White House or Wall Street. And they were intriguing to the students who chose to interview them.
You may expect to find a photo--not necessarily from the recent past--a short biography, a recording of the subject's own voice, a verbatim transcript of the interview, and links to related materials. Not all these are present for each interview--some are still being gathered (or recovered)--but they definitely represent a sense of a life and creative work within that life.
Jodi Glass was born in Long Island, New York in 1953. She attended various colleges, including Berklee College of Music in Boston, and received her graduate degree in Audiology from Hofstra University. She has been in Rhode Island since 1978, where she has been involved in founding and organizing several feminist projects, including the Feminist Resources Unlimited, the Rhode Island Feminist Chorus, the first 'Clothesline Project' in Rhode Island in 1992, the annual 'Take Back the Night' march in Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Feminist Voices, and the Rhode Island Feminist Resources Network. She currently works as an audiologist at the Meeting Street Center, with a focus in disability rights.
© 2005