Great expectations

From the editor ~ May/June 2024

Dear readers,

As I write this, first proofs of the May/June issue are scattered around me, which is always one of my favorite moments of putting the magazine together: finally, I get to see what I’ve been conjuring up in my mind, fully formed on paper. Story ideas are no longer just a wish-list of things to explore but actual stories now taking shape on the page, accompanied by rich visuals.

Several of the stories in this issue are ones we’ve been thinking about for awhile now, including our cover story on the upcoming 44th U.S. Senior Open — finally happening after a pandemic-related delay (it was originally scheduled for 2020). The senior men’s golf championship will take place at the historic Newport Country Club, beautifully captured on our cover. As the club’s longtime president Barclay Douglas Jr. says, those hallowed grounds “become everybody’s course when something like this happens.”

Then we have a story on local Special Olympics athletes, specifically the Sharks, our Aquidneck Island home team, which will send several members to compete in the summer games at the University of Rhode Island from May 31 to June 2. For the Sharks and their families, the games are as much about camaraderie as competition.

In “A Name, A Voice, A Life” we delve into the archives of the Newport Historical Society, which opens an exhibition of the same name in May, and recently launched a digital database cataloguing some 1,700 names (and counting) of Black Newporters from the 17th through 19th centuries. That exhibition showcases an important part of the city’s history, brought to life through a collaborative project, several commissioned artworks, and select artifacts from the society’s collection, all while amplifying the stories of the names unveiled in their archives.

It wouldn’t be an issue of Newport Life if we didn’t go exploring, this time to museums that are part of the North American Reciprocal Museum Association, known as NARM, which brings us from Jamestown to Bristol, Providence to East Greenwich. In the same spirit of adventure, Andrea McHugh detoured to several bars around town where elevated cocktails are getting their due. One of those spots is The Brenton Hotel, which is also the site of a weekly Salon Series hosted by Curtis Speer, our profile subject and the man behind Cusp Gallery as well as the Newport Artists Collective.

In keeping with our sporty theme, our Favorite Finds selections this issue will have you working out in style. Hot tip: Head to our TikTok and Instagram pages for some behind-the-scenes footage of that photoshoot, which led to a friendly pickleball versus tennis dance-off. And, finally, for some reading inspiration, we spotlight authors Ann Hood, Elizabeth Strout, and Andre Dubus III, who will all be here in late June for a panel at Salve Regina University.

Hopefully by then it will be warmer, and we will all have made it to the beach (and had our first dip in the sea!), ideally with an elevated beverage in hand.

Until July,

Helena

Managing Editor

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