a baptist (sort of) in rhode island

"She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island
where the old world shadows hang heavy in the air.
She packed her hopes and dreams like a refugee,
just as her father came across the sea.

She heard about a place people were smilin',
they spoke about the red man's way, how they loved the land.
And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide
seeking a place to stand or a place to hide."

the eagles's "the last resort" will be my theme song of sorts from july 11 to august 12. why? well, during those five weeks i will be a member of the 2005 neh summer institute at brown university. so alongside the other selected applicants, i will spend about twelve hours a week in seminars on "british and indigenous cultural encounters in native north america: 1580-1785." i'll pack up the bike friday, read and discuss the primary and secondary materials from the seminar, hobnob with john carter brown fellows, and conduct some "gap-filling" research on my dissertation. throw in a weekend with leanne in the berkshires and it sounds like a great summer. and i get paid for all of this! the academy can be grand.

so nearly four hundred years after roger williams, another would-be baptist will reside in paradise. since southwest flies into providence, some of you should join me there for worship in the first baptist church in america, founded in 1638.