Today’s picture of the day is a seagull flying in Wickford harbor. It is funny considering the number of seagulls in Rhode Island and the fact that Rhode Island is nick named the ocean state one would think that the seagull would make a good state bird.  Of course the seagull is not the state bird.  Probably because it can seem pretty disguising at times; especially when it is pillaging our food on the beach. So the Rhode Island state bird is a chicken instead; the Rhode Island Red Hen.Â
It seems that Rhode made the ocean state it’s official nickname to promote tourism and began putting it on the license plates in 1972. Although, I do not quite see the logic in putting the nickname on license plates to promote tourism since Rhode Islanders are notorious for their unwillingness to drive far distances; the whole state can be transversed in under an hour. Maybe Rhode Island should have went with the nickname ’plantation state’ to bring us more in line with our state bird and official state name “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”. Yes that is the official name of the state, smallest state with the longest name as the irony has it, and for those of you who may live in Hawaii, out West, or in some other country Rhode Island is not part of New York. If you through that you were actually thinking of Long Island. See Rhode Island is rather disliked by many other New England States for her nonconformist nature so one of them probably started this myth. Just look at this poem printed in a Connecticut newspaper in 1787:Â
[To Rhode Island]Â
Hail, realm of rogues, renowned for fraud and guile,
All hail, the knaveries of yon little isle…
Look through the state, the unhallowed ground appears
A nest of dragons and a cave for bears…
The wiser race, the snare of law to shun,
Like Lot from Sodom, form Rhode Island run.
The poem was written mostly in response to Rhode Island’s practice of forcing creditors to take payment for war debts in paper money.  Even more so than today paper money was prone to rapid inflation then. Although, the attitude of other states towards Rhode Island is much better today, and Rhode Island eventually comes to conform in many ways Rhode Island still has maintained her nonconformist nature.Â
Rhode Island has successfully fought off an attempt for a Las Vegas style casino, and has still not been forced into accepting homosexual marriage, by the courts, as Massachusetts has out-right and blantently done and Connecticut has practically done by allowing civil unions and granting all the rights. Rhode Island thus far has remained true to her founding principles of governance according to the will of the people, and has thus far not allowed the courts to decide this and I trust would bring it before the people if it was ever considered.
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Tags: bird, harbor, ocean state, rhode island, seagull, wickford