Little Rhode Island Makes A Big Fuss Over Local Writer’s Column

By Steve Bigham

Newtown resident Don Jackson is quick to tell you he has nothing against Rhode Island. But his column in this month’s edition of the Smithsonian magazine has some in the Ocean State up in arms.

In the piece, the well-known writer needles Rhode Island for its small size, strange name, and for the way “it cringes there, occupying a sliver of land so inconsequential that the names of the cities and towns have to be entered vertically on the map.”

The 500-word piece prompted some rather sensitive Rhode Island politicians to take offense to the story. A few even wrote letters to Smithsonian to remind its editors just how special their little state is. Mr Jackson jousted playfully with Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci last Friday morning on the Today Show. Mr Cianci called the story off the mark and pointed out some of Rhode Island’s many fine cultural and historical aspects. Mr Jackson agreed, and with his patented dry wit, suggested that Connecticut might gladly absorb all that.

US Senator Lincoln D. Chaffee, the Providence Journal Bulletin, and just about everyone else (except Roger Williams, the state’s founder) spent late last week pushing the virtues of their beloved state. If nothing else, Mr Jackson’s piece gave them an opportunity to promote tourism there. But it always seemed to get back to Mr Donald Dale Jackson, who got up little Rhody’s dander with the statement: “It is foolish for something so microscopic to go around posing as a state.”

Some were calling the Newtown author a bully. “Do you like picking on little kids?” one Rhode Island resident asked. One angered interviewer from National Public Radio out of Providence went on the offensive, stating that Connecticut was nothing more than a suburb of New York City. One Providence city official accused Mr Jackson of suffering from a case of “Rhode Island envy.”

The whole thing had Don Jackson chuckling to himself last week. The people of Rhode Island have given his story more credibility than he had ever expected. As the target of all their animosity, he has become the Salman Rushdie of southern New England, or at least little Rhode Island.

“Some took it more personally than they should have. I knew there would be some feedback, but I am surprised at the amount,” said Mr Jackson, who spent most of the week answering questions from different radio, TV and print media.

Mr Jackson said he first came up with the idea for the column during a morning walking session at the Danbury Fair Mall. During his stroll, he kept walking by one store that had a map of New England hanging in the window.

“Rhode Island does not have any geometric integrity. It sort of looks like an afterthought,” he said. “So I’m thinking – I have no bitch with Rhode Island, but this may be something I may be able to run with.”

And the editors at Smithsonian just so happened to be looking for a humorous column for its last page. Mr Jackson admits he didn’t think the magazine would go for the idea since it wasn’t necessarily “politically correct.” But to his surprise, the editors called him while he was on vacation in British Columbia to say they were going to run with it.

“The reaction to the story blew me away,” Mr Jackson said. “This stuff has been going bananas.”

The respected journalist has done pieces on Lee Harvey Oswald and the Civil War (for Life magazine), stories on this country’s great judges and numerous other significant works, but his lighthearted column on the tiniest state in the union may be the one Don Jackson will be most remembered for.

“It took me less than 30 minutes to write,” he said with a laugh.

  At age 64, Mr Jackson has built an impressive career as a member of the Fourth Estate. He grew up in San Francisco, then, after completing his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, headed East to attend the Columbia School of Journalism. It was there that he met his wife, Darlene. After a stint in the US Army, Mr Jackson got his feet wet as a writer for United Press International (UPI). In the spring of 1963, Mr Jackson landed a job as a staff writer at Life magazine. And within a year, the editors turned him lose, allowing him to cover many of the really big stories of the tumultuous 1960s. His job was to produce 5 to 6 big stories each year. The best part was that he and his family, which includes grown-up children Dale and Amy, could live anywhere, as long as it was relatively close to New York City. They chose Newtown in 1969.

In 1972, Mr Jackson left Life magazine after signing a book contract with Time Life. The writer free-lanced for much of the 1970s before hooking up with Smithsonian in 1980. It was there that he befriended editor Don Moser and the two have had close ties ever since.

Mr Jackson said it usually took him four to five weeks to complete a story. Two of those weeks were dedicated to research with another week set aside for interviews and travel. The writing would only take two weeks.

“The writing is like downhill skiing. The hardest part, and the time when I was most miserable, was the week before I wrote,” he explained. “But I feel totally flipped out lucky that I could live and work at home and do what I did.”