RIJC (sometimes known as ReJeCt) was the safety school in the 1970’s for those of us who didn’t have the grades, the bucks or the connections to get a full scholarship to Brown.

Best class I ever took was Art. Danny and Carol were the life-drawing models. They are still my image of glorious hippy cool, and I hope they have fruitful and creative lives. Danny might be making glass somewhere. Carol–that chair you gave me was sprayed with cat pheromones. You should have fixed those critters. I might have had a more serene youth, uninfluenced by tomcat dreams.

The CCRI art studio is on the top floor of the Warwick campus–a concrete leviathan, a Titanic that won’t sink because she is on dry land. From the windows you can see Providence, the Promised Land.

We drew Danny and Carol, and did pottery. Cat Stevens is the soundtrack of that age.

As I fled from black-robed religious certainty, running from Catholic school and looking over my shoulder for lightning bolts, Cat Stevens was looking for a port in a storm, and found it in Islam.

I don’t understand his religious choice, but he sang so sweet. He was away for a long time, but now he’s back.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – With a wry nod to his problems with American immigration authorities, British folk singer Yusuf Islam performed his second U.S. concert in 33 years on Monday, treating 400 fans to classics from his youthful days when he was known as Cat Stevens.

The 60-year-old musician treated the invitation-only crowd to an hourlong set that included such hits as “Peace Train,” “Wild World” and “Where Do the Children Play?” as well as a selection of tunes from his new album, “Roadsinger.”

It’s old news, and can’t find it on the net, but I recall that he was considered subversive in the Muslim world, because he was such a musician. Kids had to sneak recordings around.

Artists and musicians have the task of breaking down walls. I hope that the tom/Cat will always find himself on the wrong side of the door, and will never be fully domesticated.