This month's "Where Am I?" was a bit of a stumper, which only proves the point about symbols and signs, whether outside the front door of Middletown High or anywhere else across the community.
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CONTACT: Matt Sheley at (401) 712-2221 or msheley@middletownri.com
WHERE AM I – NOVEMBER 2021
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (NOVEMBER 10, 2021) – The picture for this month’s “Where Am I?” seems straightforward.
Hundreds of students and staff pass by it every morning and afternoon outside the main door of Middletown High School and probably don’t give it a moment’s thought.
And that’s exactly what signs and symbols like the Middletown windmill featured in the picture are intended to accomplish.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, there are symbols and signs all around us, many we don’t even notice. But that doesn’t mean they’re not important.
Rather, as Encyclopedia Britannica notes, symbols and signs can convey subtle pride and support for something without ever using any words.
“Signals, signs, and symbols, three related components of communication processes found in all known cultures, have attracted considerable scholarly attention because they do not relate primarily to the usual conception of words or language,” Encyclopedia Britannica said. “Each is apparently an increasingly more complex modification of the former, and each was probably developed in the depths of prehistory before, or at the start of, early human experiments with vocal language.”
Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown said for a lot of people, there’s a lot of pride in Middletown and what it stands for.
“Whether it’s our windmill or the Middletown ‘M’ you see on so many cars, the wave that the schools use, those symbols mean something more,” Brown said. “They truly are representative of our community and what we stand for. I know I feel it and so many other people do too.”
On Saturday, the Town Council took a tour of each one of the schools as part of its ongoing effort to renovate the existing buildings. Leaving from Town Hall at 350 East Main Road, the group visited the Oliphant administration building, the former Berkeley-Peckham School, Gaudet Middle School, Aquidneck School, Middletown High and Forest Avenue School.
The goal was to give Town officials and the community a behind-the-scenes look at the school buildings and where improvements are needed. School officials have said they’d like to get a bond proposal on the November 2022 ballot to help pay for the work, with the state expected to provide significant reimbursements as well.
To read a wrap up of the action, visit https://www.middletownri.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=582 online. For a closer look at the preliminary plan for the school’s, go to https://mdl.town/PreliminarySchoolPlan online.
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