The Currier Museum of Art managed to keep itself visible, although the Manchester museum was closed for expansion in 2007, especially when it unveiled the contemporary sculpture that will grace the center of the new outdoor entrance plaza. “Origins” is 35 feet tall, orange, and involves I-beams.

This past year in southern New Hampshire was a good one for original and adapted work.

Even in southern New Hampshire, the food scene has more trends than a 13-year-old.

Hypocrits of the Year: Those in the New York who pontificated greatly after the spygate allegations about the Patriots run of three Super Bowls were now tainted and remaining quiet when 11 members of the Yankees championship teams of 1998-2000 turned up in the Mitchell Report. You tell me which is likely to have a greater impact on winning — using video of defensive signals from the sideline that are changed all the time, or having half your team juiced on performance-enhancing drugs?

As we in the media like to point out, this time of year isn’t just the Christmas season, but a period chock full of holiday rituals. One of those rituals is to look back and seeing what sense we can make of the year as a whole. There’s no reason a calendar year should be cohesive at all, but we humans do like to impose order upon chaos. As part of this ritual, we make lists. The best, the worst ... I don’t like to limit myself that way. Who says you can’t make up categories on the fly?

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