Don’t disturb the sound of silence

And despite the supply chain disruptions caused by the slashing of the foreign aid program, Edesia has figured out ways to get its peanut-based products in Rhode Island to the places they’re needed, in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Get Rhode Island News AlertsSign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email“Why did we build this factory?” Edesia founder and CEO Navyn Salem asked during a ceremony Thursday. “To say that a child, no matter where they are born, must have access to food and nutrition to prove to the world that we can end a protracted problem. It is time to end malnutrition.”The offices of Edesia Nutrition in the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown, R. I. Edward FitzpatrickLast year, hundreds of thousands of boxes of Edesia’s life-saving peanut-based nutritional paste were sitting in warehouses as Elon Musk began dismantling USAID, and Edesia was forced to lay off 16 employees. But now Edesia, named for the Roman goddess of food, has expanded its North Kingstown factory from 85,000 square feet to 300,000 square feet, Salem said.

As rabbis, we minister to people who have been assaulted and to families who have been harassed because they are Jewish. Concerned parents whose children have been bullied for being Jewish come to us for counsel and comfort. From high schools to hospitals, here in Providence, Jews are being asked to answer for a foreign conflict simply because they are Jewish. This is why we are joining Neighbors Voting No on 7. We lead Congregation Beth Sholom, Temple Beth-El, and Temple Emanu-El. Our communities hold a wide range of views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So do we. We also share a responsibility to care for our congregations, and to speak when we see a foreseeable danger. Question 7 proposes restricting municipal investments connected to countries accused of grave human-rights violations. To be absolutely clear: This campaign is directed only at Israel. Voters need to understand that distinction: A broadly worded principle is being advanced through a campaign focused on one country, the world’s only Jewish state. Many supporters of Question 7 are moved by sincere anguish over Palestinian suffering. We respect that anguish. Palestinian lives are precious.

Write to us at startingpoint@globe.com. To subscribe, sign up here. TODAY’S STARTING POINTDon Johnson, right, and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs appear in a scene from the 1980s television police drama "Miami Vice. "APOne of the many joys of having teenage roommates is discovering that your wardrobe is actually a costume closet, and you, unfortunately, have a solution for everything. “Do you have a Hawaiian shirt I can wear for ‘Tropical Day’ at school?”“Heavens, no. Wait … maybe. Actually, I have a few options.”Spirit Week, which takes place each year in the run-up to Halloween at my older son’s high school, has become an annual reminder that I am old, and a closet pack rat. Closet being the key word, because any time I find myself staring at a circa 1991 CB ski parka, some small part of me thinks: “But I might need it.” Then ‘90s day’ will come along at school, and I get to shout “I told you so” at no one in particular.

From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly’s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know! Edmondo Crimi purchased his first vampire-killing kit in 1977.

Model of the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth, 1947-48Peabody Essex MuseumMassachusetts’ maritime history being what it is, not a few local museums have model ships in their collections. Among them are the Museum of Fine Arts, the Addison Gallery of American Art (which devotes its entire basement to its display), the Museum of Science, and the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Above and beyond their very considerable historical interest, museum-quality ship models are phenomenal works of craftsmanship and beautiful objects in their own right. How phenomenal, how beautiful? Consider the model of the Cunard ocean liner Queen Elizabeth owned by the Peabody Essex Museum. One of several hundred ship models in PEM’s collection, it’s 22 feet long, weighs 2,700 pounds, and was carved from a single 6-ton piece of mahogany. The detailing is remarkable. Made on a scale of a quarter-inch to a foot, the model boasts 900 handmade fittings and 1,700 portholes. If it were any more impressive, PEM might have to change its name to Peabody Essex Dock. Peabody Essex Museum, 166 Essex St., Salem. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org Claude Shannon, "Bounce juggler (W. C. Fields)," early 1980s.

Along the way, the museum is dedicating much of its gallery space to a series of wide-ranging exhibitions that highlight its idiosyncratic collection, while also offering free admission during the four-year festivities. Fitchburg Art Museum director Nick Capasso and deputy director and curator Emily Mazzola. Ken McGagh for The Boston GlobeThe celebrations’ through line, according to FAM’s director Nick Capasso, is the museum’s commitment to Fitchburg, a once-thriving industrial city that is looking to the arts to help revitalize its economy. “We have to do more than just have people come to the museum,” said Capasso. “We have to help with education in the city. We have to help with economic development. We have to feed kids.”That may be a broader mission than the museum’s founder, Eleanor Norcross, envisioned when she used her considerable collection — and finances — to establish the museum. But not by much. Norcross, who spent decades painting and collecting art in Paris, hoped that sharing her collection through the museum might bring “joy and inspiration” to the area’s mill workers and their families. Entrance to the Fitchburg Art Museum.