Got you covered

The latest recommendations for proper mask use

State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan gives an update on best mask-wearing practices.

What types of masks are the most effective?

If people can find masks that are two or three layers, that’s preferred over single-layer masks. Oftentimes, we see homemade masks being one piece of fabric, so we encourage people to … double up on the fabric they’re using, or to look for store-bought masks, most of which are made of multiple layers. … If you’re using a neck gaiter and it’s only a single layer, folding the neck gaiter in half is a very simple way of adding another layer of fabric … but we would go even further and say that neck gaiters are probably not the best type of mask to use. … The other key point is that masks should be well-fitted. … The whole goal of wearing a mask is to not let your respiratory drops escape, and to not let somebody else’s respiratory drops come in, so if there are gaps, that’s going to cause the mask to be less effective. Ideally, all of the air you breathe out and breathe in should be filtered through the fabric.

How can people ensure a good fit with their masks?

I think the first and easiest way is to simply use masks that have a nose wire so it can be pinched and cinched down around the nose to prevent any gaps that can occur between somebody’s nose and cheek area. … To eliminate gaps on the sides of the mask, there are different mask fitters and mask braces that can be used to better form the mask to the face. … Double-masking is another strategy. … Its primary purpose is to get a better fit [by] eliminating the gaps … but there’s also the added benefit that it has multiple layers.

What is double-masking?

When we’re talking about double-masking, we’re talking about wearing a reusable cloth mask and a disposable mask. … The way it’s being promoted and recommended by CDC … is that people should wear the disposable mask against the face, and then the cloth mask over that, so the cloth mask helps to compress the disposable mask against the face. … CDC does not recommend combining other types of masks.

Are two masks always better than one?

We’re not universally recommending that everybody should be walking around wearing two masks. What we are recommending is that … they upgrade their mask to one that’s better-fitting … and double-masking is just one option for people to get a better fit with their mask.

Is it safe for kids to double-mask?

I think the goal here is to focus on getting kids to wear at least one mask. … For young children two years of age and older — we and CDC continue to recommend that masks not be put on children under the age of 2 — wearing masks can take some training and some practice … but it can be done.

What’s the deal with N95 masks?

N95 masks are generally medical-grade masks that should be reserved for health care providers caring for sick patients and patients with Covid-19 in the hospital, and for people in health care settings. There are over-the-counter [KN95] masks that may be constructed of comparable material to an N95 mask … but aren’t appropriate or certified for medical use. … A KN95 mask is certainly an option … but we’re not recommending that … over another well-fitted procedural-type mask.

Is there any reason someone should not wear a KN95 mask?

One of the downsides of KN95 masks and some of those thicker types of masks is that there’s more resistance to breathing in and out, which can make it harder for some people to breathe. That’s part of the reason we’re not universally recommending that everybody wear KN95 masks.

At what point should a mask be thrown away?

It partly depends on … how long they’re wearing it during the day. [It’s different], for example, for somebody who is in school and wearing their mask all day … [than for] someone who wants to run into a grocery store for a half an hour. … The general recommendation is that when the mask is soiled or saturated, or the person is having a hard time breathing through it … and the fabric has lost its filtration efficacy, it should be discarded and replaced. … If you wear a disposable mask for an extended period of time, use a new one the next day. If it’s a reusable cloth mask, make sure you’re taking it home and washing it.

Is it really necessary to wear a mask outdoors?

It’s still recommended that people wear masks outdoors if they’re going to be around other people … but there’s some discretion involved. … If … there are two people sitting down 10 feet from each other, then it’s probably not necessary for them to wear a mask the whole time, but if you’re with a group of people mingling or moving around, absolutely [wear a mask].

Is there anything else you want people to know about proper mask-wearing?

I think the focus right now should be, one, that people wear at least one mask … and two, that people upgrade their single-layer masks to ones that are better-fitted. … A CDC study … showed that, if two people are together and one of them has Covid-19, when both people are wearing masks [that] are well-fitted, exposure can be reduced by more than 95 percent. — Angie Sykeny

Featured photo: Dr. Benjamin Chan, MD.

News & Notes 21/02/25

Covid-19 updateAs of February 15As of February 22
Total cases statewide71,01773,665
Total current infections statewide2,9532,883
Total deaths statewide1,1351,154
New cases2,518 (Feb. 9 to Feb. 15)2,648 (Feb. 16 – 22)
Current infections: Hillsborough County922807
Current infections: Merrimack County217232
Current infections: Rockingham County678650
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Covid-19 news

On Feb. 16, Gov. Chris Sununu announced that the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services received nearly $20 million from the federal government to support child care programs in the state, as part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. The funds, according to a press release, will be distributed to family child care providers, child care centers and licensed-exempt providers.

During a Feb. 18 press conference, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan said the daily number of new infections of Covid-19 in New Hampshire has been on a slight increase, due in part to those at colleges and universities in the state. Hospitalization rates, he said, have continued to be stable over the last several weeks.

Dr. Beth Daly, Chief of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control of the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, also said during the press conference that the state is expected to receive about 27,740 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine this week, an increase of more than 5,000 doses from the week prior. “In addition to state allocation, additional vaccines are coming into the state through the federal retail pharmacy partnership with Walgreens,” she said. First-dose appointments for people in Phase 1B of the state’s vaccine distribution plan are still available.

A recent change in federal unemployment policy, according to a Feb. 18 report from WMUR, has rendered hundreds of Granite Staters ineligible to receive their weekly benefits. Those who are temporarily laid off or whose hours are reduced but who have employers that remain open are no longer eligible. According to the report, U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan said they are working to get the policy reversed.

On Feb. 19, Sununu issued Emergency Order No. 85, an order mandating that Granite State schools offer in-person instruction to all students for at least two days a week starting March 8. “It isn’t just so the kids come back and have a more full, robust learning model,” Sununu said during the Feb. 18 press conference. “It really is for the behavioral and mental health, the isolation issues that so many of our students have been bearing with.” Under the order, a K through 12 school may transition to required full-time distance learning for students for up to 48 hours without state approval if officials deem it necessary to address Covid-19 concerns related to infections or staffing shortages. But if a school wishes to transition to fully remote learning for more than 48 hours, it must receive approval from the Commissioner of Education. Virtual Learning Academy Charter Schools are not impacted by the order. All K through 12 staff will be able to receive their first vaccine dose in Phase 2A of the state’s vaccination plan, which is expected to be between March and May.

Details of Sununu’s emergency orders, executive orders and other announcements can be found at governor.nh.gov.

House lawsuit

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ruled that Republican House Speaker Sherman Packard does not have to use remote technology for the two House sessions scheduled for this week, according to a report from WMUR. On Feb. 16, Packard released a statement following a lawsuit filed by Democrat state representatives against him, which argued that Packard was refusing to provide remote accommodations for House members with disabilities. “We are reviewing the complaint and working with counsel on our response,” Packard said. He pointed to the House sessions that have been held at the Whittemore Center, “where we had high attendance levels by legislators, numerous legislative and UNH employees, police, paramedics, contract employees, firefighters and others. No one contracted Covid-19 at the Whittemore Center indoor events in 2020.” He said the new venue for this week’s meetings, NH Sportsplex in Bedford, has more than double the usable area of the Whittemore Center and assured “an accessible, risk-mitigated and secure environment for all members and staff in attendance.” McCafferty wrote in her ruling that Packard is “immune” from the Democratic lawmakers’ suit “challenging his enforcement of a House rule that is closely related to core legislative functions,” according to WMUR’s report, and she based her ruling on the argument on legislative immunity. After the ruling, Packard issued a statement thanking the court and saying, “We were confident in our position that remote participation could not be reasonably accommodated at this time.” Democratic Leader Representative Renny Cushingreleased a statement saying, “Unfortunately, this case has exposed the callous indifference of House Republican leadership toward our most vulnerable members during the Covid-19 crisis that has taken the lives of a half a million Americans.”

There is now a bobblehead of the nation’s 14th president, Franklin Pierce, who was born in Hillsborough. The bobblehead is part of the “Neglected Presidents” collection, according to a press release, produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum and available for purchase at store.bobbleheadhall.com.

On Feb. 18, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan visited small businesses in downtown Laconia, speaking to owners about the pandemic-related challenges they are facing, according to a press release. Hassan helped get the Employer Assistance Coordination Act included in the end-of-year funding bill that was passed in December, so now small businesses can participate in the Paycheck Protection Program and also claim the Employee Retention Tax Credit, the release said.

The Granite State Leathers Superfund Site in Nashua, also known as Mohawk Tannery, will be cleaned up and eventually redeveloped to include mixed-use commercial space and residential housing, according to a press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which will share remediation costs with local developer Blaylock Holdings and the City of Nashua. The cleanup will address hazardous substances in soils, sludges and contaminated waste originating from the site.

The Palace Theatre in Manchester has a new performing arts series sponsor. According to a press release, St. Mary’s Bank has made a three-year, $180,000 commitment, having given an initial gift of $30,000 at the end of 2020 to support the Palace’s virtual shows, which are streaming during the theater’s intermission.

We are connected

I’ve been hearing and thinking about annual cycles lately including Black History Month, the Lunar New Year, Mardi Gras, and the last day we worked in person — or the day our lives changed dramatically — due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At our house, this one-year mark coincides with my 89-year-old mother getting her second Covid vaccine and that’s a really big deal for us. For the last year, we have been working so hard to keep her safe in the midst of this pandemic. Her health has been our primary motivator to keep wearing masks and physically distance when our longing for social connection was pulling us to congregate with friends – she is the reason we’ve been so cautious. We’re really grateful that she was able to get the vaccine.

Many people who are vulnerable and at risk are waiting eagerly for their turn; others are more hesitant for a variety of reasons. We know that this virus has disproportionately affected some populations at higher rates because of the unique combination of factors that make certain groups more vulnerable — being older, having multiple chronic medical conditions, or being a member of certain racial/ethnic groups. These differences, known as health disparities, arise not because of any biological differences between groups as we are all part of the same human family. Rather, it is for reasons such as being more likely to be employed in essential work settings and thus at greater risk of being exposed to the virus, and more likely to be uninsured and have less access to health care with more chronic medical conditions. These factors are called the social determinants of health, where longstanding underlying inequities have been revealed by the pandemic. That is why some of us say that everything contributes to health, and health contributes to everything — because good health is requisite for our ability to be successful in school, to be productive workers, to enjoy time with our families, and to live long, fulfilling lives.

As a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel begins to shine with increasing numbers of people vaccinated, and hospitalizations and deaths finally beginning to decline, we can dare to look forward to resuming the in-person celebrations we had to cancel or put off. And I imagine that even the mundane activities of our daily lives will seem celebratory — going to work and chatting around the water-cooler, convening in person, exchanging handshakes and hugs.

The infectious nature of this pandemic has illuminated how we are all connected, that any one of us is only as healthy as others in our community, that we are all in this together — and that at heart, we all want the same thing.

Dr. Trinidad Tellez is a family physician and health equity strategist, community advocate, and consultant.

The year of pets

The year of pets

With more time at home in the past year, many people took the opportunity to welcome new pets — and it wasn’t just cats and dogs (though there were plenty of those too). Check out stories of owners who brought home canines and felines, sugar gliders, a bearded dragon, a parakeet and even a potbellied pig.

Also on the cover, the Hippo’s Best of readers’ poll closes Feb. 28, so don’t forget to vote for your favorite people, places and events in southern New Hampshire. See details on p. 39. And find local music, in-person or virtually, starting on p. 31.

I’ve been hearing and thinking about annual cycles lately including Black History Month, the Lunar New Year, Mardi Gras, and ...
A graphic the shape of the state of New Hampshire, filled in with the New Hampshire flag made up of the crest of New Hampshire on a blue field.
Covid-19 updateAs of February 15As of February 22Total cases statewide71,01773,665Total current infections statewide2,9532,883Total deaths statewide1,1351,154New cases2,518 (Feb. 9 to Feb ...
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From couch to cardio

Local fitness pros talk about their shift to virtual classes. Find out why you might want to get off the couch and try Zumba, Pound, yoga, group personal training and more, all without leaving your house.

Also on the cover, voting is now open for the Hippo’s Best of readers’ poll! Vote for your favorite people, places and events in southern New Hampshire. See details on p. 35. And if you can whip up a delicious bowl of chili, you may want to check out the Virtual Chili Cook-Off being hosted by the Merrimack and Amherst Lions Clubs, p. 18.

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Covid-19 updateAs of February 8As of February 15Total cases statewide68,49971,017Total current infections statewide3,2452,953Total deaths statewide1,1061,135New cases2,441 (Feb. 2 to Feb ...
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Write through it

Tyler Allgood shines on soul-baring Through The Empty

Surgery and its aftermath are often challenging; for a recovering addict, the experience can be harrowing. As Tyler Allgood faced a spine operation in early 2019, he worried about whether essential pain medication would lead to relapse. For six to eight months prior to entering the hospital, this fear had him “staring at the ceiling … going crazy wondering if my life was ever going to change,” Allgood said in a recent phone interview.

“Knowing I’d have to take drugs again to go through this,” he said, “I kind of had to revisit my past and revise it.”

The answer came through his music, on songs like “Downtime” and “Who Am I Now.” The latter is a dreamy meditation about being “always off, lost in the fixtures,” while keeping vigilant. Both appear on Allgood’s soon to be released album Through The Empty, a 13-track cycle that’s both starkly honest and expertly composed.

“The writing saved me,” Allgood said. “I had to keep writing; it’s really saving my life.”

Though this is his second LP, Allgood feels the new effort is a lot like a debut.

“It’s kind of a wrap-up of all those years,” he said, noting that 2019’s The Weight of Thunder “was whipped together kind of quickly [when] a friend of mine had had an opportunity and he was an engineer. It’s still very meaningful, but on [this] record I finally bring my composing all together … and really produce the sound that I’m going for.”

Allgood, who also deals with alcoholism, “depression, PTSD and plenty of other mental issues,” said his songwriting is “ninety percent personal experience and stories.” Some can be heartbreaking — “Love In Vermont” deals with a love affair that ends in suicide.

There’s also hope. One of the record’s highlights, “No Visions of Fear,” contains the memorable line, “I’m too miserable to die.” Allgood is quoting a friend who succumbed to breast cancer.

“I don’t think he knew how powerful it was coming from him as he was dying,” he said, adding the statement was a reflection of his friend’s giving nature. “He hadn’t done all of his work helping people … that was the reason he was miserable. That he would have to leave other people behind.”

Along with strong songwriting, what distinguishes the new album most is its music: densely layered guitars, delicate keyboards, deft time changes and Allgood’s haunting vocals. He played and sang nearly every note.

Through The Empty was recorded at Loud Sun Studios with producer Ben Rogers, who also plays drums on the record. Dan Labrie, from Allgood’s old group BandBand, played slide guitar on a couple of tracks, and Eliot Pelletier contributed guitar as well.

Allgood got into music as a teenager.

“A friend of mine, Kyle Weber, was this really talented guitar player right from the get-go,” he said. “He played the talent show at our middle school, and that was where I realized that I really wanted to do that as well.”

He agrees that most listeners will detect a clear influence running through the new album.

“Jerry Garcia was hugely important finding my way through whatever it is I’m doing with music,” Allgood said. “The Grateful Dead, George Harrison’s solo stuff, all helped open my eyes to what was possible on my own, to create, to not have limits.”

When a release event happens — never a certainty these pandemic-limited times — Allgood plans to assemble a band to back him. For now, though, he plays solo and eschews looping sounds.

“I might incorporate that soon, but I tend to keep it as original as I can, I suppose,” he said.

His shows also include judiciously chosen covers of artists like The Beatles and Johnny Cash.

“I try to cater to everything, and then also mix in my original work,” he said.

Allgood expects to release the album in early March — “It’s coming as soon as possible,” he said.

He’ll play a lot of it during a livestream show hosted by Nova Arts on March 19 (novaarts.org).

Tyler Allgood
When
: Thursday, Feb 25, 6 p.m.
Where: Village Trestle, 25 Main St., Goffstown
More: instagram.com/tgood_extrabetty
Allgood also appears Saturday, March 6, 6 p.m. at Village Trestle in Goffstown

Graig Murphy, Francis Birch & Mike Smith
When: Saturday, Feb. 13, 8 p.m.
Where: Strikers East, 4 Essex Dr., Raymond
Tickets: $20 at laughriotproductions.com or call 895-9501

Featured photo: Tyler Allgood. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 21/02/18

Serenading: Check out a recent Facebook Live stream from Jessica Olson for an idea of her musical outlook. The Granite State native can switch from a classic Carpenters song to Carrie Underwood country pop and pivot to a vintage rocker like Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck In the Middle With You.” She has a few originals, too, such as the lover done wrong scorcher “Worth It.” Thursday, Feb. 18, 5:30 p.m., Fratello’s Italian Grille, 194 Main St., Nashua, 889-2022; more at facebook.com/JessSongBirdOlson.

Localized: Musician, promoter and Capitol City booster Lucas Gallo has a six-song EP ready for mastering and due to drop next month. Darlingside’s Don Mitchell helmed the project, a follow-up to From The Attic, an album assembled from many years’ worth of material while Gallo was hunkered down early in the pandemic. He plays an acoustic set at a favorite scene spot. Friday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m., Penuche’s Ale House, 16 Bicentennial Square, Concord, facebook.com/penuches.concord.

Welcoming: Guitar man Chris Lester has built a lengthy resume, from ’90s rockers Wild Horses to backing Godsmack’s Sully Erna and playing “Faux Walsh” in tribute act Dark Desert Eagles. He’s earned a reputation for talent and versatility as a player, singer and producer. Most recently, his band Ghosts of Vinyl released a pair of songs, “Amnesia” and “Zero Gravity.” Tuesday, Feb. 23, 5:30 p.m., Homestead Restaurant & Tavern, 641 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 429-2022.

Irelander: A weekly tradition continues with Marty Quirk performing Irish music in the afternoon. The “Marty Party” is preceded by a brunch that includes traditional Irish fare like black sausage and white pudding, washed down with a pint of Guinness if the mood suits. Optimistically, the downtown haven will have corned beef dinners ready the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Sunday, Feb. 21, 3 p.m., Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester, facebook.com/theshaskeen.

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (PG-13) | Judas and the Black Messiah (R)

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (PG-13)

Everybody is wonderfully game in the delightfully silly Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, a movie co-written by Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, the writers of Bridesmaids.

Comparatively, Bridesmaids played it straight. Barb and Star goes all in on its weirdness.

Barb (Mumolo) and Star (Wiig) are poofy-haired besties whose favorite flavor is “plain,” whose wardrobe is built on culottes and who work together at a Jennifer Convertibles in Nebraska. When their store is closed and they are kicked out of Talking Club (run with an iron passive-aggressive fist by a woman played by Vanessa Bayer, so well used here as so many of the movie’s supporting roles and cameos are), Barb and Star decide to throw caution to the wind and go on an exotic vacation — to the middle-aged-vacationer-friendly Vista Del Mar, Florida. They end up at a hotel with a real “cruise ship but on land” vibe and, during their first night, end up at the bar sharing a giant hallucinogenics-containing scorpion bowl with Edgar (Jamie Dornan). Edgar is drowning his sorrows over his would-be girlfriend, Sharon Gordon Fisherman (also Wiig, looking very “Dr. Evil meets 2013’s Snowpiercer” but chic). Sharon won’t become an “official couple” with him until after he helps her release a swarm of genetically modified mosquitoes meant to kill the residents of Vista Del Mar because they were mean to Sharon when she was a kid.

Other things that happen in this movie: A character has a conversation with a crab. Andy Garcia shows up in a cameo, still in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! mode. A human cannon serves as a significant plot point. Dornan shows an almost superhuman lack of vanity (there’s a power ballad! on a beach! I have never liked him more than I do here).

I did wonder, occasionally, if this movie was being cruel to Barb and Star, if it was punching down at these ladies with their haircuts and their general middle-ness. But I don’t think it is, ultimately. Through all the silliness, Wiig and Mumolo, who seem to be having such a sunny great time here, give these characters a core that includes general decency and their deep love and friendship for each other.

Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar is great goofy fun and I highly recommend it. B+

Rated PG-13 for crude sexual content, drug use and some strong language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Josh Greenbaum with a screenplay by Annie Mumulo & Kristen Wiig, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is an hour and 47 minutes long and is distributed by Lionsgate. It is available to rent.

Judas and the Black Messiah (R)

Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield do standout work in Judas and the Black Messiah, a movie about the real-life activism and death of Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party.

In the late 1960s, Bill O’Neal (Stanfield) is arrested after a rather inventive car theft and given a choice by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons): prison time or becoming an informant for the FBI. Bill picks not-prison and is sent to join the Black Panther Party in Illinois, where Fred Hampton (Kaluuya) is the Illinois party chairman. As Bill finds his way into the party and Fred’s inner circle, he sees Hampton attempt to unite different social-political factions in Chicago to work for similar goals, largely related to poverty and police brutality.

We also see the charismatic Hampton begin a relationship with Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback), now known as Akua Njeri. They try to build a life of activism together while the FBI relentlessly pursues Hampton and the Panthers however they can.

Judas and the Black Messiah shares some of the same historical space as fellow award-season hopeful The Trial of the Chicago 7. But where that movie was filled with big Aaron Sorkin speeches and cutesy Aaron Sorkin character notes, this movie feels like it is about real people with real motivations and personalities. There are little moments, particularly with Kaluuya and Fishback as Fred and Deborah, where you feel like you’re watching a fully-formed person wrestle with not just Big Political Ideas but with what those ideas mean to them and the course of their life. Stanfield makes you feel O’Neal’s uncertainty about what he’s asked to do by the FBI and his growing difficulty of balancing what seems like a genuine respect for Hampton and the aims of the Black Panthers with his willingness to help Mitchell (and his desire to stay out of jail).

This is a well-told story filled with strong performances about a slice of history the movie makes feel fresh and relevant. A

Rated R for violence and pervasive language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Shaka King with a screenplay by William Berson and Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah is two hours and five minutes long and distributed by Warner Bros. It is in local theaters and on HBO Max until mid-March.

Featured photo: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Doomed Romance: Broken Hearts, Lost Souls and Sexual Tumult in Nineteenth-Century America, by Christine Leigh Heyrman

Doomed Romance: Broken Hearts, Lost Souls and Sexual Tumult in Nineteenth-Century America, by Christine Leigh Heyrman (Knopf, 304 pages)

Perform a Google search for “Martha Parker” and “Dunbarton, New Hampshire” and nothing especially interesting comes up. There’s just a smattering of obituaries and grave-marker sites related to assorted Parkers from the Merrimack County town near the intersection of Interstates 89 and 93.

What a difference a century or two makes.

Had there been Wikipedia in her day, Martha Parker would have been at the top of Google search results. For a time, she was one of the most famous young women in this part of New England, and a couple of men tried to make her one of the most scandalous. Let’s just say, if reality TV had been a thing in the early 19th century, there might have been a show called “Keeping Up with the Parkers.”

Historian Christine Leigh Heyrman discovered the story by accident, while studying correspondence to and from “pious Yankees set on saving the world,” missionaries originating in New England. In multiple letters, there were tantalizing mentions of the beautiful, young Parker, spurned suitors, broken engagements and a reputation in danger.

This was all the more interesting because Parker was no Jezebel; she was a pious, educated young woman who hoped to be a missionary’s wife in the Ottomon Empire. America may have been the promised land, but many of its 20-somethings, as it turns out, were clamoring to leave. For girls who grew up in a culture steeped in Calvinism, Heyrman writes, becoming a missionary’s wife was a prime aspiration, and these “assistant missionaries,” as they were called, were celebrities in New England villages, their adventures written up in the local newspapers.

“Years spent in the company of high-minded people have given me a taste for low gossip,” Heyrman says, and she wanted to learn more. Her investigation led to an archived box of correspondence that had been collected by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the powerful organization that controlled which pious New Englanders would be sent overseas to save the heathens.

The story was all there but in pieces, like a puzzle: letters, disaries, depositions and testimony the board had collected about Parker’s character.

That was difficult work, but then came the hardest part: convincing a publisher that all this antique correspondence would make an interesting book.

Fortunately, Heyrman succeeded, on both counts. Doomed Romance loses points for the titular spoiler, but it’s a surprisingly compelling account of a messy love triangle, examined through the mores of the time. Heyrman knits the travails of a 21-year-old who grew up in Dunbarton, bent on obtaining “assurance” of her salvation, into a tapestry of what New Hampshire was like in the early 1800s, as aspirational young women pushed back against the men who were bent on keeping them busy on the home front.

In the process, she makes clear the differences between a culture defined by religious faith and a culture defined by the lack of it, but also that despite the chasm between 1821 and 2021, a basic human nature prevails, with or without social media.

Heyrman at one point describes Parker and one of her suitors as “supremely self-absorbed, steeped in hothouse emotions and skilled at working up themselves and each other.” They had, she said, “over many years, become addicted to the drama of their relationship.”

Not that any of us would know anyone like that.

Like most of her contemporaries, Parker was in the market for a spouse, and because she was by all accounts (there are no photographs) comely and whip-smart, there were multiple men competing for her hand. The two that figure most into this story are Thomas Tenney and Elnathan Gridley, and for a time she was engaged to both.

Although Tenney, Heyrman writes, emitted an “odor of sanctity,” Gridley was richer and had better prospects on the mission field. (And, can we agree, a much better name?) So despite Tenney’s remonstrations — which included an hour-long dramatic reading of his account of their relationship to that point, delivered to Parker and her sister — Parker settled on Gridley. And then the fireworks began.

An anonymous tattletale reported to the American Board that one of their aspiring missionaries had, basically, the morals of an alley cat. Was it Tenney who filed the report? That’s one of the small mysteries that drives this story, as well as what will become of the three central parties.

Heyrman does superb work in piecing together this obscure, 200-year-old story, made even more challenging because, as she writes, “private lives were much more private then.”

“For centuries, stoicism served as the default mode for nearly everyone in the Western world, ordinary people especially. The harder life was, the more crucial to hold emotion in check: sometimes survival itself demanded restraint, even hiding the heart’s desire.”

While the book bogs down at points, weighted by the quaint language of the day and a historian’s penchant for mind-numbing detail, it is frequently enlivened by Heyrman’s light touch. She writes, for example, of the melodramatic exchanges between Parker and her suitors echoing “the purple prose of those novels evangelicals were not supposed to be reading.”

Overall, however, while this is a well-crafted history, let the buyer beware: Doomed Romance is no romance novel. It’s a serious book for the serious minded. B

BOOK NOTES
Because the federal government doesn’t understand that none of us are emotionally equipped to deal with taxes during a pandemic, the tax filing season began last week.

Maybe you’ve already filed yours and are just waiting for the check to show up. For everyone else, let this be the year you take advantage of every possible deduction. There’s a wealth of books, some newly updated, that promise to help you do that.

How to Pay Zero Taxes by Jeff Schnepper, billed as “The IRS’s Worst Nightmare” (McGraw-Hill, 928 pages), is said to be the guide to every tax break the federal government allows. Given that one chapter is on cattle-breeding programs, that appears to be true.

If 928 pages is too daunting, there’s J.K. Lasser’s 1001 Deductions and Tax Breaks 2021 by Barbara Weltman (Wiley, 464 pages).

And, if you want to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, the IRS and Department of the Treasury publish their own paperback book, Tax Guide for Individuals (“Independently published,” it says; 137 pages). Infuriatingly, the IRS wants us to pay $12.99 in order to understand how to file our taxes instead of making all this information free on its website. At least it’s only 99 cents on Amazon Kindle for those inclined.

For a lighter take on the subject, take a look at Daylight Robbery: How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future by Dominic Frisby (Penguin Business, 288 pages). Frisby is a British comedian who apparently moonlights as a financial writer. He had me at the first page, in which he genially explains how in 1696 British monarchs William and Mary replaced the hated “hearth tax” (literally a tax on every fireplace in a home) with a tax on windows. Not surprisingly, people started building homes with fewer windows.

Daylight Robbery was published in hardcover last year, but a paperback version is out this month.

Books

Author events

DIANE REHM Author presents When My Time Comes. Virtual livestream hosted by The Music Hall in Portsmouth. Tues., Feb. 23, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5. Call 436-2400 or visit themusichall.org.

PAUL KRUGMAN Author presents Arguing with Zombies. Virtual livestream hosted by The Music Hall in Portsmouth. Tues., March 2, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5. Call 436-2400 or visit themusichall.org.

C. J. BOX Author presents Dark Sky. Virtual livestream hosted by The Music Hall in Portsmouth. Tues., March 9, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5. Call 436-2400 or visit themusichall.org.

Book Clubs

BOOKERY Online. Monthly. Third Thursday, 6 p.m. Bookstore based in Manchester. Visit bookerymht.com/online-book-club or call 836-6600.

GIBSON’S BOOKSTORE Online, via Zoom. Monthly. First Monday, 5:30 p.m. Bookstore based in Concord. Visit gibsonsbookstore.com/gibsons-book-club-2020-2021 or call 224-0562.

TO SHARE BREWING CO. 720 Union St., Manchester. Monthly. Second Thursday, 6 p.m. RSVP required. Visit tosharebrewing.com or call 836-6947.

GOFFSTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY 2 High St., Goffstown. Monthly. Third Wednesday, 1:30 p.m. Call 497-2102, email elizabethw@goffstownlibrary.com or visit goffstownlibrary.com

BELKNAP MILL Online. Monthly. Last Wednesday, 6 p.m. Based in Laconia. Email bookclub@belknapmill.org.

NASHUA PUBLIC LIBRARY Online. Monthly. Second Friday, 3 p.m. Call 589-4611, email information@nashualibrary.org or visit nashualibrary.org.

Language

FRENCH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE CLASSES

Offered remotely by the Franco-American Centre. Six-week session with classes held Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. $225. Visit facnh.com/education or call 623-1093.

Special events

EXETER LITFEST Literary festival will feature local authors, keynote speaker Victoria Arlen, book launches, a Saturday morning story hour for kids, and programs on various topics including publishing tips, mystery writing and homeschooling. Hosted virtually via Zoom by Exeter TV. Thurs., April 1, through Sat., April 3. Free and open to the public. Visit exeterlitfest.com.

Featured photo: Doomed Romance

Album Reviews 21/02/18

Disco Shrine, xxoo Disco (self-released)

Man, the world just needs to stop a second so I can catch my breath. This week I had to deal with a string of disasters, including two different hacks of critical life stuff, then it was the news about the “Robin Hood” subreddit Wallstreetbets helping desperate people make big money by trolling hedge funds, and today, this came into my emailbox with little explanation, the first EP from a day-glo Los Angeles-based girl who, I’m told, “bops,” in other words writes songs that have a lot more to offer than most of the corporate-run ridiculousness you usually hear on dance radio. The Iranian immigrant does have a great formula if you can get past the many trap beats (I still can’t, I’m sorry); the song structures and hooks are more like MIA and Gwen Stefani than anything else, marinated in hip-hop but with an eye toward ’90s-throwback radio. She’s getting big overseas and will probably take down a good number of slow-moving Taylor Swift fans as things progress. A-

Trance Wax, Trance Wax (Anjunabeats Records)

Here we have a Belfast-based DJ specializing in more-or-less throwback trance and meanwhile being touted as an innovator. That didn’t sit well with me for obvious reasons, but I was going to inspect this album anyway, being that it’s on my beloved Anjunabeats imprint, the home of the Above & Beyond dudes, whom I’ve talked about plenty of times here. It is a throwbacky record for sure, made of ’90s rave afterparty chill as opposed to more modern, immersive hypnotics. And that’s OK; if you’re big on slightly stripped-down electro, you came to the right place. Toward that, it can feel a bit cheesy here and there, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. Wish they had put the single Clannad’s Moya Brennan. I’m sure it’s gorgeous, which I’m off to verify now, but again, that tune’s not on here, so it doesn’t even apply. B+

Retro Playlist

Going back to Feb. 17, 2011, your not-so-humble Playlist guy here (moi) was babbling something about Boston oi-pop band Dropkick Murphys, who “have made a career out of making Jonathan Papelbon into a tutu-wearing dancing bear.” The new album at the time was Going Out in Style, a concept album about some Irish guy, because as we all know, there are no other types of people in Boston except for Irish mill-workers who work 78-hour shifts. Thus a departure, more or less, but I did note that there were a few songs Bruins fans could sing at the top of their lungs “while the Bs get pasted by horrible teams like the Panthers” (that sentiment has changed now, of course, being that the team has no good scorers these days except for a few 40-year-olds and maybe the mascot).

Not that my B- grade reflected it as much as it deserved, but truly the loser album up for discussion that week was Native Speaker, from Montreal-based indie band Braids. The buzz over this, their debut album, was deafening, which made me instantly suspicious. And they did get some blowback from the press, which surprised me. The haters (I was one of them) thought these guys were too much like Animal Collective, “indulging in the sort of repetitive robot arpeggios you hear during the happier moments of nature documentaries.” In other words it was nice, sappy and disposable. I mean, it’s not a horrible album; I guess what surprised me was that no one jumped on the band for the album’s title track. It sounded too much like a Fever Ray tune, which is, admittedly, not shocking, being that the band’s singer sounds so much like Karin Dreijer Andersson (i.e. part Sinead, part Bjork).

PLAYLIST

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• Just like every Friday, Feb. 19 will see a few new albums, from bands and people and self-aware robots with Soundcloud accounts. One of the albums is from The Fall, and it is titled Live At St. Helens Technical College ‘81. If I’m still the professional music critic I’ve always been, the consummate tastemaker who can identify what an album is going to sound like just by looking at its title, I predict that the songs will all be live versions of old Fall songs, probably at a technical college of some sort, recorded circa 1981, or perhaps 1881, when this music was relevant to people other than those brothers who made the Stranger Things TV show. I don’t like The Fall and, um, uh, never really did, like it was always too messy, like Captain Beefheart on mood stabilizers. Feel me, guys? I know, I know, I’m supposed to be the noise-rock connoisseur around here, but The Fall isn’t noise rock, it’s just awful and gross. It’s OK if you like them, and if you do have that particular brain malfunction, I hate to tell you, but you’ll be sad to know that their landmark tune “Hip Priest” is not part of this package. Bummer, dude, but lots of other stupid Fall songs are on there, like “City Hobgoblins” and blah blah blah whatever, I don’t know.

• I think Brooklyn indie-rock band The Hold Steady sounds like They Might Be Giants with a Pennywise (lack of) personality, at least going by the only song of theirs you’ve probably ever heard, 2013’s “The Bear and the Maiden Fair,” the punkish spazz-out that was pretty popular back then. Fast forward to today, and their eighth album, Open Door Policy, which streets on the 19th and is propelled by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones-ish horns of leadoff single “Family Farm.” It’s more along the lines of Barenaked Ladies, that kind of thing, stompy and danceable. I can deal with it.

• Scottish post-punk crew Mogwai have always been pretty cool, don’t you think? Buzzy, loud and all that stuff. But it is a new year, and a new album, As The Love Continues, which has a single, called “Dry Fantasy.” This tune is something of a surprise, like ’90s radio-techno-chill, not a lot of meat to it, but that’s OK, it definitely works if you want to relive all those afterparties where you passed out on your roommate’s futon while talking about French philosophy, and then talk turned to how much the both of you love Ren & Stimpy, which is basically the same concept as Foucault but with better graphics.

• Lastly, it’s Australian indie-folkie Julia Stone, who often records albums with her brother Angus, but not this time. She had some modicum of fame last year when she re-did the Midnight Oil song “Beds Are Burning,” but it didn’t save her from the fate that befalls all decent Australian musicians, specifically the problem with American audiences taking Australians seriously unless they’re in the band AC/DC. Her third solo record, Sixty Summers, will include the song “Dance – Alone,” which I assume is a variation on the wispy, angelic tune “Dance” that was on her last EP, a romantic trifle about picking someone up at a bar. It’s music for moonbats, but it’s nice.

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