[00:00:00]
Brandon Cook: It should be running... yah, alright. Can you just state your name and date and place of birth, just for the record?
Richard Bradley: Ok, Richard Bradley. I was born January 17th, 1962, in Rangeley, Maine.
BC: Did you have any siblings, or..?
RB: I have an older brother, mmhmm.
BC: And your parents...?
RB: Yes, I have parents.
BC: Where are they from?
RB: Oh, umm, lets see, My father was from Coventry Connecticut – no, I think he was actually born in Hartford Connecticut. And my mother was born in Bethel, Maine.
BC: What was it like growing up in Maine?
RB: Actually, I didn't grow up in Maine. When I was 18 months, we moved to connecticut.
BC: What caused the move?
RB: Uhh, my father's job.
BC: Ok, and so how was Connecticut?
RB: Connecticut was great. You know, I lived there till my early teens, I think... yeah. It was a small town, my father was the minister there. You know, very... Norman Rockwellish. [laughs]
BC: Yeah, umm... did you go to high school in Connecticut?
RB: No, actually, I went to high school in Rhode Island, my father's job moved him to Rhode Island, and uhh...
BC: And that's what brought you here?
RB: Right, and then I went to the Rhode Island School of Design.
BC: How did you first get involved in ACT-UP?
RB: Umm... hmm, you know, it's funny it kind of seems like just something that happened the other day, and it's over, and being asked about it... and realizing it was almost 20 years ago... [laughs] Lets see, well, you know in the 80s the whole AIDS situation just took you by storm. You know, it was uhh... I was of that generation where in the 70s there was all that free love and things were quite wild and permiscuous – but I was too young for that
[00:02:10]
RB: but old enough to know what it was about. And then, you know, the whole AIDS thing happened, and I was very... afraid to have physical relations with people, it was quite scary. But then I did meet someone very special, and its... it was great, umm, and... actually, one year to the day we met – well, a few months prior – he got sick and was diagnosed with AIDS. And at that point, when you got a diagnosis, it was too late to do anything – they didn't know of anything to do. So, just a little over a year that we were together, he died. So there was a lot of anger, and a lot of people with that similar situation. And we got together and it was like, you know, you just can't take this, you can't... Rhode Island Project AIDS was just starting at the time, and gaining momentum. And I thought a good way of dealing with my grief would be to raise money for them. And it's funny, in business you really have to think ahead... I will, it was then Fleet Bank, now Bank of America, had just built this downtown, this empty gallery space, and they were hanging artwork there of local artists. And we had a group of local artists who wanted to display work and sell the money, and – you know, give it to Rhode Island Project AIDS. And they wouldn't... the first time they'd speak to me, the second time I'd get to the secretary and the secretary would be like “Oh, just a minute” and then they wouldn't answer my calls... to this day, I still will not have anything to do with Bank of America. I mean, it's just... ya know, it... and now I see them sponsoring all these fundraising gallas and stuff like that.
[00:04:15]
RB: And that got me quite angry, and I wanted to learn more... The Journal Bulletin, you'd never know then that there was such a thing as AIDS. So there was just a lot of anger, whey aren't they helping us, why aren't they – you know, informing people, stuff like that. There was umm, it's still around, a paper called Options. And you should look into some of the back issues from that time. There was, I forget what the column was called, something like “AIDS watch” or “AIDS something” by Thayer Dietrick. And she had, she really -
BC: How do you spell that?
RB: Uhh, T h a y e r D i e t r i c k.
BC: Ok.
RB: I lost touch with her, but I have her last number, if she's still around. You know, I'll give it to you.
BC: Yah, that'd be great.
RB: She was very much involved with me in ACT-UP. You know, and it was a place where we could go and really express our anger, and it was umm... like, you would get people coming in who wanted to do such radical things such violent things that weren't really practical? We had one guy that wanted to just put tires in a busy intersection, and light them on fire, and it was like “Ok, but what's the focus there?” And then we had a lot of young people who just wanted to be in the media, and that was tough because we'd be working on some protest, we'd have everything timed perfect – and then when the media came somebody would do something showy, but it dissuaded our purpose. It was very frustrating, because it was very independent, you know, I mean it wasn't that structured.
[00:06:22]
BC: How was power structured within ACT-UP Rhode Island? Was there an official umm... like, how were decisions come about in committee and such?
RB: Ok, that was... it was very well done. Generally we agreed on a lot of things. Sometimes, on a certain project, we'd subdivide. And then that little subgroup would work it out, figure it out – whether it was to have some float in the gay pride campaign, or an awareness campaign, or... and then there were a lot of things that just really branched out to the community. The uhh, Journal Bulletin, we really had a beef with. You know, they wouldn't speak to us or anything like that. And somebody printed up these stickers, and it was the letterhead of the Providence Journal Bulletin, and it was about this big, 8 by 1 ½ inches, and it said “The Providence Journal Bulletin,” and then put “is out of order” and then underneath “for not covering AIDS related issues” or something. And it was just the right size, so what you'd do is peel the pieces of paper off the back of it, stick it in the coin slot, and then put the sticker over the coin slot. And I mean, there was one woman who was a mother, her son was in the last – or the late stages of aids – and it just gave her that sense of empowerment knowing every day she could go by and go to one of those newspaper vending boxes and do that. There were very clever things like that. When they were voting for a gay rights bill, senators and state representatives that voted in favor, we'd leave a little reward in their chair, things like that. I mean, those were some of the more benign things, but they had an effect, they were could for people, you know? Umm... I'm trying to think, there...
[00:08:43]
BC: Did the organization itself focus specifically on Rhode Island specific issues, or was there also an undercurrent to try to get more national attention? Or push any way in the national sense?
RB: There were people from the Rhode Island group that hooked up with other ACT-UPs. And um... I have to word this very carefully, so that nobody gets into any trouble... there was umm... a certain pharmaceutical company making tremendous profits off of, at that time, the only HIV drug. And they went to their corporate headquarters, umm... they... allegedly went into the office and steal plate – bolted a steal plate over the door, hung a protest banner on the outside. No charges were pressed on the grounds that there was no publicity on the incident. I know that I had a friend at that time who had been in this country since he was 16, he was from Venezuela, he went to a prep school in Georgia and then he went to the Rhode Island School of Design, and you know at this point he'd never left the country and then he contracted AIDS. And you just, there's no believable way that he got it outside of the company, and he was having trouble with citizenship. The company he worked for, he had to go to China, he had trouble getting into the country. And he needed his [word deleted at request of interviewee].
[00:10:53]
RB: And umm... I know very little of the specifics, just like... I chose to be ignorant of it. But the idea was while in the corporate headquarters they got into the computer system and... [9 seconds deleted at request of interviewee]... They umm they had it [the drug] transported to some anonymous warehouse location, and they could ship it to people if they needed it. So, you know. It went that direction, umm... it was interesting to see how people reacted to, you know it really taught me how sheltered how naïve by choice people can be. One year, I believe it was the anniversary of the bill of rights being written or signed into effect, and there was a copy of the bill of rights touring the country. And it was in Rhode Island, and we went there – the focus was bringing attention to the rights of people with HIV or AIDS. And you know, people were just so afraid, they just didn't understand, and the comments we would get were very... well, actually one or two people, we used to call them media whores, decided to go in and really cause a ruckus, and that kind of declined our cause... but I found it interesting people's reactions, they were saying “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity”, you know, to see the bill of rights? And I'm thinking, well, Rhode Island is one of the 13 original colonies, we have an original copy at our state house. So, you know...
[00:12:50]
RB: Who was the president at the time, was it Reagan? I think it was. Or was it the Vice president...? You know, somebody was in town, and we'd be there holding up our banners or what have you. And you'd get those reactions from people, “It's a once in a lifetime opportunity” and... well, here we were, people losing their lifetimes. We even had trouble with people I always referred to as AIDS profiteers. You know, from within our subculture, which was very hurtful, people with minimal skills were getting jobs for some of the nonprofit AIDS related organizations, these high salaries. Kids just out of school getting 30,000 a year, which was high then. And no real qualifications and really, you would see you know, them all having big parties and stuff like that, gala events. I remember once at the state house they had some, they referred to it as the social event of the year, they had this big gala. And we thought that was great, it was a fundraiser and all of that, but they really were getting away from it. So all we did was, and we were in conjunction with them, we wanted to umm have a reminder of the seriousness of the situation. So while they were going in, we had a candlelight vigil outside. It wasn't necessarily a protest, it was an additive. But you know, people were pretty nasty, pretty upset by us. But we didn't care.
[00:14:50]
BC: There's... a lot of people would consider the ACT-UP tactics to be controversial at least, you know at the very least. Was there dissent within ACT-UP Rhode Island in terms of- like went there were protests that some felt would be a little too extreme, would some members of ACT-UP Rhode Island, would they voice their opinions against them, or was ACT-UP usually kind of more united?
RB: Oh yeah, umm... I think the toughest part was what I already had told you about some people, like, everybody seemed to have their focus or their event, their protest, their show of support for all of these different events and they would plan it. The hard part was when somebody stepped in and got carried away, or went against... cause it takes a lot of organization to put a good protest or action together. It's very easy to mess up. We were very fortunate, we had learned a lot – most of us, our parents had learned things the hard way in the 60s, you know, and uhh... so we had it all down, we knew exactly how to deal with the police, stuff like that. One of the uhh, well it was Rhode Island Project AIDS, we were at odds with them because it was just... there weren't qualified people. There were some wonderful people working for them, really great dedicated people. But then there were all kinds of things going on from within. One of the event planners got fired for embezzling. I mean, you know, it was like – cause people, businesses, restaurants started giving them so much stuff, and then they started, I guess this guy started submitting bills. And we were really angry over that.
[00:16:58]
RB: But you know, we'd also show our support. I remember one year at the walk for life, we were there and then umm... there was a, and this is before Howard Stern, but there was a local sort of shock rock DJ, and he was going to be running for governor. And he pulled up with these big speakers, and you know you have to reserve the state house lawn – and they didn't. And they started blasting his announcements, and ACT-UP was there, and we knew what to do, we peacefully marched there and we chanted something very loudly so they couldn't speak. And then they decided they would go up on the statehouse steps, and we had people there when we saw things getting a little out of hand to say “You know, nonviolence, nonviolence” I have to say, most of his following were senior citizens, so it wasn't a scary situation. But, I can't remember if the police came or not, but they didn't have a permit to be there. And of course, what followed was a week of calling every – everyone we could get to do this would be calling all the station's sponsors, you know, and saying “we don't want you on that radio station, we will not support you as long as you advertise them.” And we did start getting, on the air they would start having pleas to ask us to stop.
[00:18:44]
BC: Do you know what year that occurred?
RB: I'm thinking '88 or '89. And you know, there was... now it's the Phoenix, then it was the New Paper or the Phoenix New Paper? They would report on a lot of that kind of stuff. They had an article called Phillipe and George's wild world or something, and it was these two characters they had invented, and the would comment on these things. It was great. Another thing was, the pharmaceutical company that was making such great profits and not releasing any information on what it cost to produce certain drugs – some people would go into local pharmacies like CVS, and sometimes if you take a pen and put an X across the box they can't sell it, or if you cut the box with an exacto knife or... at the time, some state funded organization had this little sticker called Mr Yuck, and you were supposed to put it on all your poisonous cleaning products so your kids would see it and know to stay away from that – some people made skull and crossbone stickers and would go in and put it on all the boxes of their products. Hurt them how you can, you know; take back control. So it was things as simple as that up to taking over the corporate office.
[00:20:50]
RB: There was another... well, it'll come back to me. There were so many little things that they did. We even had one member of the group, and I believe she was sincere, someone with HIV. And at that time we figured she didn't have much time left. And in protest, she was saying what she wanted to do was go to the statehouse lawn with a can of gasoline and light herself on fire. It was... and I remember at the time I didn't know whether to talk her out of it or not. I certainly wasn't going to talk her in to it, but... and she lived quite a few years after that, she may still be alive, so...
BC: How early into Rhode Island ACT-UP's founding did you join the organization? Was it fairly new when you...?
RB: It was quite new, yah. There was a nightclub downtown...
BC: The Rocket?
RB: Yeah, yeah. I was working there as a coat check which... ya know, nobody checks their leather, so I wasn't doing very well... JAMES MCGRATH was the owner, he was a very good friend of mine. And I think when my friend died it kind of shook him up. We actually did a fundraiser called Artists against AIDS there, and people gave us what support they could and we made some substantial money and we did a series of events and over the next few years we made quite a bit of money for them, so...
[00:22:52]
BC: And then how long did you stay in ACT-UP?
RB: You know, I really don't remember. It was getting pretty intense... I want to say until the early 90s. You know, umm... it was umm... you know, it was tough. We were young, broke, angry. And I had to grow up and get a job and eventually I could do less and less and it kind of faded out.
BC: Where you still involved in ACT-UP when the meeting locations moved from the Rocket, or no...?
RB: Yah, yah, what happened with that... then they were at the Providence center I think, yah.
BC: Were you involved when that happened?
RB: Mmhmm
BC: What'd you think about that? Like, how'd that effect you?
RB: Was there a circumstance why we did it?
BC: I've read some literature that just stated that the organization grew, but that some people felt kind of alienated when it moved from that communal setting to something a little more larger and intimidating.
RB: Ok, you know, interesting that that would come up. Cause it really wasn't a big... I mean, you know, a lot of being involved in that kind of organization is the world spinning out of control, and you want to take control. So there were a lot of control people. We had... I think some people expressed a problem going to a bar to meet, I think that might have been it. And then umm... some people felt that the Providence center was getting more geared... I think they were going to move it to an office at Brown, and then they thought “Well, we don't want it to be a Brown university organization”, and then we got the Providence... I think that was it, I don't think it was much of a commotion. Maybe it's just faded in my mind in light of all the other things.
[00:25:20]
BC: How was the community surrounding ACT-UP itself? Was the membership very racially diverse?
RB: Not terribly, no, no. You know, a mix of genders, a mix of age groups... I would say the student population was more Brown and RISD. I think for the time, you know, a catholic college like PC might not have really, it might not have attracted that sort of a crowd.
BC: Was there a sizeable heterosexual population as well, or was it mostly homosexuals and lesbians and...
RB: Yeah, very small straight population. Yeah, maybe 1 or 2 members out of... what did we have, maybe 20 people? Yeah.
BC: Did the
community socialize outside of the organization itself?
RB:
Mmmhmm.
BC: What happened? Were there mixers, or...
RB: Nothing structured. Quite often after the meeting we'd all go out to dinner. You know, and... some people did have parties at their homes and stuff like that. And of course Pride day was always a party, and sometimes we'd go to Pride in Boston together or Pride in New York together. There used to be the old joke, meet me at Pride, I'll be the one wearing the ACT-UP t-shirt and the black leather jacket. [laughter] It's interesting seeing the pride festival this last week, I mean, I kind of remember as a teenager seeing the first pride day or one of the first ones on the news. And it was like a stationwagon or something and people with magic marker placards and stuff like that. And some of the people in the group had been there and told me, and it was always great to hear about stuff like that. Then, you know, in the 80s it really... it was strong, you know, hundreds of people chanting, and... we made a really nice long banner, you know it was black and had the ACT-UP symbol and the activist triangle, and as much as we could on a limited budget I made striped prison uniforms about the death of – cause then it was a death sentence. And I remember seeing it on the news, and it was really chilling.
[00:28:23]
BC: Was there any dating within the organization?
RB: Oh I'm sure. I'm trying to think of... I can't think of specifics, but it just, you know. If not dating, sleeping around. [laughter] But, you know.
BC: Did it feel like any of that tension ever entered into the meetings themselves?
RB: Umm... not really, just silly about it. Actually, I think actually that's about the time I met someone. And that was a tough thing because it was sort of like... later found out it was someone who got involved just to meet someone. But you know, that happens and that was fine. They ended up being quite high maintenance or demanding, and it kind of pulled me away from the organization, but...
BC: Did it feel like the social community of the organization changed as time progressed and ACT-UP grew?
RB: Yeah, yeah umm... it umm, I think one of the rifts was, there would be people there who were very much involved with Rhode Island Project AIDS as well as ACT-UP, and you know we would do things to bring awareness to the situation there, and they'd be reporting back to their friends at the project and playing this sort of middle man thing, and - there was a lack of trust. But you know, I mean, we were always there for each other too, that's what brought us together; the world was abandoning us. You know, and uhh, if I had to move then they all came and helped me move, stuff like that.
[00:30:23]
BC: So it was a very tightly knit community would you say?
RB: Yeah, very. You know, people would fall in and out of the fold, but uhh...
BC: Did ever ever seem like there were some members of the organization that kind of didn't belong in the community, or didn't participate in the more communal aspect, or...?
RB: Mmm... people who didn't... I mean, I think there were, I'm trying to think of examples... You know, sometimes people were in it for the novelty of it, they didn't really have a vested interest. But there was a place for them. There were people who came from very privileged backgrounds and just couldn't fathom what people were going through, they wouldn't believe it. By the same turn, there was a certain snobbery that came from the people that... like, there was one person who had such a tough life, mother was a drug user, father would molest her, and she became umm... ended up actually improving her life greatly by living with a pedophile. You know, there were cases like that that would really look down on these privileged white people kind of thing, which was kind of the slang which was used. But by the same turn, it brought them together. So, umm..
[00:32:15]
RB: Toward the end, you know, it was falling apart... Oh, another, getting back to some of the publicity that the Journal was giving, I remembered at the time, Denman Scott was the head of the Rhode Island Department of Health. And this was something that turned people off to Rhode Island Project AIDS, they were working with him. The way it was explained to me by officials at Rhode Island Project AIDS was “Rhode Island is a very attractive state for studies due to its size and diversity per square miles.” And they wanted to get more AIDS studies in the state. The way to do that, and to qualify was to keep a record and I guess record names of people who had AIDS – back then it was AIDS, it wasn't HIV yet. And umm... they felt that that would keep people from getting tested. Right then, at that time, it was important to know whether you had it or not so that you wouldn't infect people. Or you could prepare for whatever was going to happen. It was right at the time that they started being able to detect it – we thought early, but we didn't know what early was. But there was really no reason for it because there was no treatment, so you know... why, there wasn't really a self motivating reason to go and get tested aside from protecting others, and if you didn't care, it's not like - if you were a really selfish person, you'd at least do it to get treated.
[00:34:25]
RB: So there was a thing in the paper about how, and I think ACT-UP was accused of it, spraypainting the front of Denman Scott's house. And my parents were outraged, I was outraged, I was shocked. And then I found out that either at that time or not long before that time, I was living across the street from his house. And I didn't see it. And it was, I don't even remember what the spray-painting said but it was like a little stencil on the sidewalk about the size of a brick. So it was like Oh. Ok. [laughter] You know, so it was... typical to what we were dealing with. Even Rhode Island Project Aids, we went there in support of umm... it wasn't World AIDS day, but something. And the director of Rhode Island Project AIDS at the time, she was very condescending, not a likable person first of all. We just didnt' click with her, and she always would have to get a remark in like “Well, we have other constituents to deal with”, more important than us. So we started protesting their events. But we went to their events, and that year was like the Year of the Woman? Like, some world AIDS board was going to have a focus every year. And she made this speech about, “We have to think about the women, the children, the innocent victims.” And you know, as a gay man, that was...
[00:36:18]
BC: Yeah, certainly
RB: I mean, it was, my first reaction was to look around to see if anyone was picking up rocks to throw at her. I remember so distinctly, my quote may be off, but that was the gist of it. My second reaction was to look for a rock myself. And then I realized, I don't, I should not be here. So, but umm... I got off the track, where were we...?
BC: Oh, it's fine, there's no particular track, umm... were very many members of ACT-UP Rhode Island actually HIV+, and were they very public about that within the organization?
RB: Some where, some weren't. You know, we'd have people who would umm... go and, knowing they were positive, go and get tested at the Rhode Island Blood Center just to monitor how they'd be treated. There was one person, it was actually a roommate of mine, I remember maybe a year later there was some ad in some magazine for some treatment and it was his picture and it was like “Oh, he's been living for this long with...” [laughter] so I mean, some people really made a career out of it.
[00:38:12]
BC: Did it seem to affect their, umm, power within the organization at all? Like, the power of their voice as actually be HIV positive?
RB: No. And uhh, you know, if umm... people were pretty angry.
BC: Did you, did it seem that you were ever able to prod the Projo into improving their reporting?
RB: I think the times just changed. And they had to go with it because, you know, it effected enough people. But, not that it matters, but I know some – I don't think I've read, I might have read an article or two of course, but I've never purchased a paper. I know a lot of people who haven't but so many people do it, it just doesn't matter, and that's the problem with media; they don't care enough. You know, I've had fun with it. In recent years they've done telemarketing, and I'm on that do not call list now, but I remember one of the last calls I got to, “Yes, are you the man of the house?” and I said “Well, I can check...” She goes, “Thank you.” “Yes, yes apparently I am the man of the house, thank you for asking,” and I hung up on her. [laughter] Its, I just don't have the respect for them and i never will so it's a lost cause. I mean, they've written great articles, they've written great articles about me! But... it's just not bringing people back to life, it's not buying back the time we lost because people wouldn't fund such causes. So...
BC: After you left ACT-UP did you go on to do any other politically motivated work?
[00:40:10]
RB: Umm, well... nothing of great note. Although, I didn't think ACT-UP was such a big deal, I mean, I'm surprised to be asked about it all these years later, I thought it was just something that would be forgotten. You know, I look at all these people who really made huge sacrifices. I put a lot of time into it, I umm... you know the IRS sends out those letters every year, social security, telling how much you make each year? And I look back then and I'm like, “How did I live on 3,000 dollars a year?” You know, we were starving people. So in later years, you know, umm... oh, I know what I was saying earlier about people getting along and getting in contact – we were very passionate about the work that we were doing, and it did go into different directions and I did have falling outs with people that umm, I don't know if I've ever spoken with again. Mainly because as time goes on, you don't run into them, but umm in '94, so quite some time or a little bit of time later, I had, I was diagnosed with lukemia and ended up in the hospital. And those people came through, they contacted people I knew and said, “Well, I know I'm not one of his favorite people, but if he needs anything...” You know, I got cards, you go through the motions. It's like, oh, I had to be on my death bed for them to get in touch with me? But I probably wasn't in touch with them. So it was, it was a little connection going.
[00:42:22]
RB: So the past ten years for me has really been getting my life together, and I don't know where I'm going. You know, I get into my salesman drag every day and I've been enjoying that, but, I don't know that that's who I am. So there could be things in the future. My family, it's how I grew up, my father... I mean, I remember as a child my parents being very stressed out and in hindsight finding out that my father was arranging, when we were living in Connecticut, for bus trips to Alabama for the Martin Luther King marches. And we would get death threats over the telephone late at night and stuff like that. So it's where I come from, it's, I have a hard time sitting back and seeing injust behavior.
BC: Were your parents aware of your involvement in ACT-UP?
RB: Yeah, I'd be on TV sometimes or, you know. And they knew James McGrath and they knew Thayer, and they always read Options.
BC: Were they supportive?
RB: Oh yeah. I was quite independent of them anyhow, so they didn't have a say. They were just glad to hear from me, directly or indirectly. It's funny though, the Journal, about '95 it had my bone marrow transplant and Thayer from ACT-UP had organized a fundraiser to help me and she got Journal Bulletin coverage and there was a great article, it was something about goodwill or charity comes full circle and it mentioned the work I had done with ACT-UP and the fundraisers I had done for AIDS related benefits and now there was a benefit for me. And it was great, all these performers, the imperial court was there... I was a
[00:44:30]
RB: I was a jewelery designer back, you know, in the ACT-UP days. And of course the drag queens found out about that, and that's what supported me was making tiaras and things for them over the past few years. [laughter] So it all came around very nicely. And that's one of the biggest things I learned as we're getting into this last gay pride march, and the whole family aspect and marriage and we used to think so awefully of “Why do we want to be like the straight community, we're something specifical we're something different.” But I think my fundamental belief is community. I mean, the block where I live we all know each other and we'll come through for each other, or the gay community. And as we're, you know, paving the way for places like AIDS Project RI, you know we'd be there to protect them but we'd be there to police them. And as they were getting to be such a big out of control thing the director once referred to umm, there was a rally and the journal had a picture of two men hugging. And she said, “See, that's what happens, we get negative publicity.” And I'm like, you know, two men hugging on the front page of the journal and you're calling that negative publicity? And I realized we'll take care of our own, the Project might not be there for people. My feelings about the project now are very different. Course, because of what was happening then I'm not really up to date with what they're doing, and you know maybe I should be and maybe I'll hate them again. Or maybe not, I dunno. But it left us realizing, we'll take care of our own. There were always people who couldn't afford health care, well they still can't, and there was always a friend who would shelter them at least until whatever happened happened.
[00:47:05]
BC: Are you still in touch with many members of the old ACT-UP community, or has it largely drifted apart?
RB: That's one of the nice things about being in Rhode Island, you do get in touch with them. I, it's really more of a case of running into them. Umm... you know, uhh... It has drifted apart, but I do see a lot of people...
BC: Is there anything else you want to throw in, or...
RB: Umm... like I said, it was just... it's what you do, it was just a natural reaction, and now to see somebody doing an oral history of it its very strange to me. And like I said, it seemed like just something that happened the other day and I left it in yesterday and moved on and I didn't realize how far I moved on, so... no, I guess that's everything.
BC: Well thanks.
RB: You're welcome.
[00:48:14]
[end of interview]