PROVIDENCE — Today, June 16, is Bloomsday, an eclectic literary holiday honoring the genius of James Joyce and his epic novel, Ulysses, a stream of consciousness celebration of everyday life in Dublin, Ireland. The novel records the travels and interactions of a series of characters, mostly centered around Leopold Bloom, and his wife, Molly Bloom, as they intersect with their own daily lives and tasks and memories and dreams occurring on June 16, 1904.

The last line of the book is an affirmation, with Molly Bloom’s remembrance her acceptance of Leopold Bloom’s marriage proposal: “…He asked me would I say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.”

Getting to yes.  
The narrative created by Joyce’s characters’ journeys travels far into the psyche of everyday men and women struggling to make sense of their relationships and the world around them. It delves into their deepest fears and regrets and fantasies while recording the mundane, tedious travails of everyday life. The novel borrows for its structure the lyrical poem by Homer, the “Odyssey,” an ironic juxtaposition of the heroic travels with everyday realities.

The book is filled with jokes and puns and literary illusions, as if the author is constantly talking to himself and his characters, a dialogue often illuminated by a self-deprecating self-consciousness.

It is not an easy read; it lacks the heart-stopping narrative style of a Robert Parker or Raymond Chandler murder mystery. But then, so do our lives, for the most part, always caught up in the rhythms of chores and tasks of everyday life, with the spaces filled up with arguments and menial responsibilities, always interrupting our dreams.

When Ulysses was first published in its entirety on Feb. 2, 1922, which was Joyce’s 40^th birthday, it was deemed to be obscene by authorities because of its vivid sexual content and willingness to express the hidden desires of both men and women.

Everyday is a blessing    
The month of June has seemed to be a never-ending series of holidays, some real, some bloated, some filled with projections of ego by a very sick President, others created by citizens yearning for a return to the roots of American democracy, No Kings Day.

Ahead of us is Juneteenth, the celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. Behind us is Portuguese Day, celebrating the immigrant ties here in Rhode Island. In between there was the full moon known as the Strawberry Moon. And, of course, yesterday was Father’s Day – that Hallmark Card celebration of male parenting.

Rites of passage    
As I attempt to write this story, I find myself struggling to express and to capture all the thoughts that are swirling about in the dense undergrowth of my consciousness.

It is hard to escape the limitations that my current chronic health conditions have placed upon my life – every step I take needs to be risk averse, requiring vigilance and caution.

I ponder the everyday reality of health care, both my own and that of those occurring outside of my own story:

•    A friend had successful hip replacement surgery on Friday, and is reported to be doing well in recovery.
•    Another friend is recovery from serious burns, and it is slow going.
•     One relative is about to undergo a kidney biopsy; another relative has a partial tear of her Achilles tendon.
•     Family friends shared the news that their daughter had given birth to a healthy, 7 lb. girl, Annika.
•    Another friend is sitting bedside by her father, maintaining a vigil during his last hours and days.
•    And another friend shared his continuing struggle to recover from intestinal surgery.

Clearly, these are the stories that matter most in our lives, for sure, but the day-to-day trials of sickness and health find it hard to compete with the dramatic ongoing wars on the world stage. Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear weapons industry; Iran retaliates with a missile barrage. Ukraine launches a successful drone attack on Russia’s Air Force, Russia retaliates with missiles and drones.

Often, these are stories that are not shared or made public, perhaps because by doing so, we make ourselves seem vulnerable.

Here on the streets of America, the Trump administration attempts to ramp up its propaganda war against immigrants, even “arresting” a sitting U.S. Senator attempting to ask a question at a press conference. War is just a shot away… Peace is just a kiss away.

I hear America singing    
How did you celebrate “No Kings Day?” Do you participate in one of several rallies held across Rhode Island? Nationally, millions of people came together to say “No More Kings,” drowning out the military parade held in Washington, D.C., where the President appeared to be nearly comatose, seeming to fall asleep.

It’s true, for a number of years, I held parties to celebrate the anniversary of the resignation of Richard Nixon, who announced he was resigning on Thursday, Aug. 8, 1974. The question I asked folks who received the invite was: “Where were you when you heard that Nixon had resigned?”

My reasoning was straightforward: I was about to embark on my brief career as a screenwriter in Hollywood when I heard the news. I was in the conference room at Public Arts Production at Universal Studios in Hollywood, where I had just been hired to write television scripts for the new TV show, “The Rockford Files.” I had flown to Los Angeles that morning from Seattle, where I had been working the lunch shift at a Mexican restaurant, The Guadalajara Cafe, rolling enchiladas for $2.25 an hour.

For more than an hour, the show’s executive producer, Roy Huggins, dictated the plot of the script I was being tasked to write, “Aura Lee, Farewell.” Then, promptly at 6 pm, a big Sony TV was wheeled into the room and the assembled group watched in amazement as Nixon gave his farewell address. I was in shock.

Why was I hired?    
At 22 years old, having graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., a member of the first class, I had decided to find a job working that summer on a fishing boat bound for Alaska, to earn enough of a stake to finish a novel I had begun.

I hurt my ankle on the docks in Seattle, which is how I ended up as “the lone gringo” rolling enchiladas on the lunch shift. I had sent the first third of my novel, about life in a factory town from the perspective of a middle-aged woman whose life is falling apart, to Roy Huggins. On the basis of that, Huggins had hired me.

There’s much more to this story, but I will simply say that I never finished my first attempt at a novel. And I fervently disliked Hollywood, leaving my job after three months, miserably unhappy. It was my rejection of the Hollywood dream; I had caught the brass ring only to discover how empty the dream was.

My question today for my ConvergenceRI readers is: How do you think the current Trump presidency will end? Do you think he will die suddenly while in office? Or do you think he will stay in office for the full four-year term, despite the visible decline in his cognitive capabilities?

We all live off hope    
Today’s edition is my third to last before I take my planned summer break from publishing.

In terms of news coverage, the state budget, which the House will vote on this week, makes health care a priority, thanks in part to the push by R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha to put forth solutions to the current health care crisis enveloping Rhode Island.

On June 24, Attorney General Neronha will speak at the annual meeting of the Community Care Alliance in Woonsocket. A year ago, I was honored for my journalistic advocacy by the Community Care Alliance, and the Attorney General attended. [See link to story below.]

“In a time of great political uncertainty, federal overreach, and subsequent fear, Community Care Alliance’s work could not be more important,” Attorney General Neronha told ConvergenceRI in advance of the annual meeting. “CCA serves the most vulnerable members of our community, and serves them well, connecting them with resources that they need to survive and thrive. What we need most right now is action and empathy, and Community Care consistently delivers both. I’m proud of the great work they do serving Rhode Islanders, and I will continue to support them in any way that I can.”

This past week, the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner announced fines for the failure of health insurers to comply with state regulations requiring the waiver of cost sharing for COVID-19 related services during the recent public health emergency. UnitedHealthcare was fined $1 million; Blue Cross and Blue Shield Rhode Island was fined $20,000, and Aetna was fined $10,000.

ConvergenceRI reached out to Cory King, OHIC Commissioner, for further clarification:

ConvergenceRI: What do the fines represent in terms of increased enforcement of insurance regulations?    
KING: The fines reflect the scope and severity of the violations. OHIC is always ready to use its enforcement powers. Our expectation is that health insurers comply with the law. If OHIC finds that they have failed to do so, we have a number of enforcement actions and penalties that can be employed, depending on the circumstances.

ConvergenceRI: What did you think about the PBM lawsuit being brought by the AG that for the first time names OptumRX?    
KING: I haven’t had time to read the complaint.

ConvergenceRI: Does the speeded up timeline for primary care rate review in the House FY 2026 budget make sense to you?    
KING: Yes, it does, and the accelerated timeline is consistent with the timeline Gov. McKee proposed in April. I think a rate review will be beneficial to policymakers as a guide to appropriations decisions in the future. Medicare rates are an important benchmark, but a rate review will allow us to benchmark Medicaid rates to other payer rates and understand primary care funding in relation to the costs of delivering accessible, high quality primary care services. I am very much looking forward to this work.

On Friday, June 13, OHIC released the individual, small group and large group premium rates requested by Rhode Island insurers. The requested individual rate increases for 2026 ranged from 21.2 percent to 28.9 percent. By comparison, the approved rate increases in 2025 averaged 7.8 percent in the individual market.

In the small group market, the requested rate increases for 2026 ranged from 20.3 percent to 22.2 percent. By comparison, the approved rate increases for 2025 averaged 11.2 percent for the small group market.

And, in the larger group market, the requested rate increases for 2026 ranged from 13.5 percent to 26.4 percent.  By comparison, the large group market approved increases for 2025 averaged 11.2 percent.

According to the insurers, the factors identified that influenced the requested rate increases included: the impact of tariffs on imported drug prices and for imported drug ingredients; the increased utilization of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss; high spending on prescription drugs and increased expenditures on health care services.

I am hopeful that I will be able to continue with ConvergenceRI following the summer break, but I am only far too aware of the need to vote in favor of my continuing health and a reduction of stress in order to do so.