Category: Granite Views

Granite Views: Hippo’s Best of 2020

We’re very happy and a bit relieved to present Hippo’s Best of 2020 in this week’s issue. It’s been a long time coming.

Readers voted in our annual poll back in February (you know, “BC,” Before Covid) and we planned to publish the results in the March 26 issue, but with the shutdown of most businesses, schools and everything else, we worried that the list would be very unhelpful. Here’s a list of things you can’t do! So we held off until we had a bit more confidence that things would be opening back up. And here we are — opening back up (for the most part).

The Best of has always been a celebration of what makes southern New Hampshire different from other parts of the country. It’s the things you like the best about your community — the people, parks, community activities, restaurants, cafes and small businesses. It’s been a guide by our readers, for our readers.

The people, places and things that we ask readers to vote on are a part of the arts, entertainment and quality of life here that we strive to cover in each issue. And while we are proud to present those issues to you in this free newsweekly, the Hippo is not free to publish. Since our founding nearly 20 years ago, local advertising support has provided us with the revenue to publish a quality free paper. Not so much anymore. And now, we’re asking for your help.

Please consider becoming a sustaining member to help us to continue providing this coverage. We want to continue to give you the information that can help you make the most of living here, and we need you to pitch in. We want to keep offering you live music listings, updates on the comedy scene, a look at new art exhibits, a peek at theatrical productions, interviews with local authors and ideas for your weekend hikes. To do that, we need your financial support. Help us continue our mission of strong local coverage so we can help you make the most of your next meal or your weekend plans.

Please consider supporting us by becoming an annual member. All members will get exclusive access to Hippo’s online articles and archives, exclusive content, Hippo deals (when available) and a bumper sticker.

Contributions can be made online at hippopress.com.

Thank you for voting in the Best of 2020 poll and sharing your favorites, and thank you for continuing to support the Hippo.

3 months until disaster?

In less than three months, America will go to the polls to elect a new president, Joe Biden, or re-elect Donald Trump. But, unlike any other national election in our lifetimes, we are in the midst of a pandemic. Our citizens have been told over and over to wear masks and stay at least six feet away from others in order to stay safe from a disease that is likely to have killed over 200,000 Americans by election day (Nov. 4). How is that supposed to work when we know that presidential elections draw big crowds, are held indoors and have long lines?

The logical answer is to vote by mail. Historically, about 4 percent of voters choose absentee ballots. We’ve all heard the pundits say something like “With 90 percent of the ballots counted, so-and-so is leading by a slim margin and the absentee ballots have yet to be counted.” Voters hold their breath as races deemed too close to call hinge on the absentees.

So, what happens when the traditional absentee expectations are increased 15 or 20 times, as actually happened in a June statewide election in Pennsylvania? The numbers overwhelmed the election overseers and caused the results in a number of counties to be delayed for weeks. Is that what we are about to see in New Hampshire and across the country?

Is this about to be the perfect scenario for President Trump to say “I told you so” and claim that the election is invalid? Even if he’s wrong, might he be able to create enough of a doubt to throw the results into chaos? If so, the ensuing calamity would likely dwarf the Florida 2000 presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore, when hanging chads became a new phrase in our political jargon. Fortunately, both Bush and Gore conducted themselves honorably, for the good of the country, especially Al Gore.

In accepting the decision of the Supreme Court, Al Gore prevented what could possibly have been chaos, even blood, in the streets of America. While Democrats around the country were upset and complained about the court’s decision, our democracy survived

If President Trump were in Al Gore’s position would he have acted in a similar manner? I don’t believe so. If we don’t have a clear result and either of the candidates cries foul, especially in this volatile political environment, what happens next?

Personally, I’m very nervous.

~ Fred Bramante

A compromising compromise

Most New Hampshire public school districts are expected to go to a hybrid school model in the fall. This will mean kids go to school for a few days a week in smaller groups. When not in school, those kids will be remote learning.

It’s a compromise intended to reduce potential transmission of Covid-19 by reducing the contact kids have with each other and staff while acknowledging that remote learning has its limitations. In most districts, class sizes will be limited so kids can sit six feet apart.

Though I’m sure it’s well-intentioned, I wonder if this hybrid plan is actually counterproductive.

The challenge here more than anything else is the logistics of caring for kids and reducing potential transmission.

First there is the issue of getting these kids to school. How many kids will be allowed on buses? How do we make sure the kids wear masks? Do we have the buses and drivers to do that in a way that won’t completely undo the measure being taken to reduce class size?

Once at school, can we reasonably expect kids to socially distance themselves? It sounds as if recess and other activities like that could be eliminated or curtailed. What impact will that have on learning?

After all that, kids will still be expected to be remote learning for two to three days a week. Who is going to be at home with them to keep them on task and to watch over the younger ones? As more parents go back to work, will caregivers be friends, grandparents, day cares or a patchwork of those? Will these kids be exposed to even more people thereby increasing their exposure to Covid? If parents have to stay home, who is going to pay them?

On top of all that, women, in many cases, will end up being the primary caregivers for kids’ remote learning. What is the impact to them? Are we furthering the longtime earnings gap between men and women?

These are all issues greater than our public school districts, but federal and state governments have essentially laid all of these problems and concerns at their feet without giving those districts the resources to adequately deal with them.

As tough as it is, state and federal governments need to take an active role in helping districts make in-school learning as safe as possible for kids and staff. If this means extending the day, then do it. If this means putting more buses on the road, then do it. If this means bringing in more teachers, paying teachers for extended days or offering hazard pay, then do it. If this means bringing in portable classrooms then do it.

There are no easy solutions — no silver bullet. But with more assistance and coordination from state and federal governments schools (or other buildings turned into schools) could be made more safe. But we can’t expect public schools to solve this on their own.

Still stuff to celebrate

The last few months have been unprecedented — and rough. In addition to the immeasurable health effects of the pandemic on the lives of Granite Staters and the losses it has caused, we faced the sudden closing of major parts of our state with most residents stuck at home and hundreds of thousands of people here losing their jobs.

Now, with the stay at home order lifted, many businesses have reopened or are planning to reopen soon. Many people are heading back to work and many of the area’s restaurants, businesses, recreation areas and attractions are finding ways to operate (see 47 examples of this in this week’s cover story).

While life isn’t fully “back to normal” we thought it was time to recognize the people, places and things that make New Hampshire such a special place to live. That’s right, it’s Best of 2020 time. We plan to publish the Hippo Best of 2020 in August. But before we do, we’re going to hold a mini round of Hippo Best of 2020 voting to give some praise to the places that helped make the shutdown a little easier. These categories include: “Retail shop with standout service during the shutdown” and “Eatery whose takeout got you through the shutdown.” Go to hippopress.com to give some love to the restaurant that gave you a much-needed break from your kitchen or the store that helped you pick out something special for somebody who needed a lift to their day.

We held off on publishing the Hippo Best of 2020 in late March because many of the locations that readers chose as their favorites were closed and we didn’t know how long that would last. Hippo’s annual Best of is both an expression of what Hippo readers feel is interesting and worth sharing with everyone and a guide to independent businesses and events. One of the many frustrating things that happens online is that when you seek out local events, parks, attractions, restaurants and other businesses, the results are both not so local and not so accurate. No person has picked up the phone and called to see that those businesses are still operating (like we do at Hippo). And for some reason those algorithms think Waltham or Scituate, Mass., is local. I guess if you’re in Silicon Valley it is. But if you want to grab a burger or go on a walk it isn’t so much.

Now more than ever, it’s important to support the local attractions, businesses and museums that make our region an enjoyable place to live.

We further explore those favorites in our annual magazine, Cool Things About New Hampshire (due out in October 2020).

Thank you for taking the time to vote this year and continuing to support Hippo’s independent journalism.

The English language

 “It is America! You should be speaking English!” “Is anybody here illegal?!” “It’s America speak English!”

Those words rang out in a now viral video filmed by a woman in downtown Nashua as she began harassing men who were installing hardscapes. This tirade was unprovoked except for the fact that she happened to overhear the white foreman speaking to his employees in a language that they felt most comfortable conversing in — Spanish.

For most of my life, half of my family did not speak English; a fact most don’t know about me as my French Canadian roots disappeared when my mother married a man with the last name Ryder. Between my father not speaking French and our desire to simply become “White Americans,” my brother and I never learned the language.

My mother grew up in Nashua and was surrounded by her big French-Canadian family where the words that flowed from their mouths were never taught in schools. Her family found its way there thanks to the factories with pensions and unions to protect their jobs. In just two generations, our family went from having not even an eighth-grade education to having post-graduate degrees.

I remember spending my summers jumping in my pepere’s pool as my grandparents and mom spoke to one another in a language I did not understand. When I would hear them speaking that way, I would think to myself, and sometimes say aloud to them, “Speak English!”  

I say all this to remind myself and others that many of us started here with different experiences, languages, and intentions. I know the mindset of “It’s America — speak English” is how we have all been conditioned.

Despite the fact that speaking a language other than English is relatively harmless, there is real damage for those who do not abide by those rules. The violent words and actions hurled at the Latinx employees from the white woman is a perfect example of how white privilege permeates even the most innocent of spaces.

Fortunately, the public outcry from the video was enough to silence her, but I know that those workers will not soon forget what happened or how they were treated. We all have to work twice as hard to undo the harm done out of fear and hate. 

I wish I could go back and listen to my grandparents speak, to hear their voices and laughter at the words I did not understand, and know that they were only trying to express themselves in the way that felt most natural to them. Unfortunately, that time has long passed and with it a key part of our cultural identity — all in the name of ignorance. 

Testing the NH paradox

Cellphone videos are all over the web and the media today, documenting incidents of confrontation between those wearing a face mask and those angrily refusing to do so. A Facebook posting asks: “It’s OK to wear a life jacket, bike helmet, sunscreen, earplugs, sunglasses, or a seat belt when it protects us. Why is it an outrage to be asked to wear a mask if it protects others?”

Individual liberty versus the common good?

Some will be old enough to remember the Governor’s Commission on New Hampshire in the 21st Century. Its report, titled New Hampshire: My Responsibility, took stock of what makes our state distinctive. Very simply stated, it is our sense of individual independence on the one hand and our mutual interdependence on the other. Our state motto captures only half of that reality. Yes, we want to live free, but we also know that we depend on others to do so fully. The members of that commission called this “The New Hampshire Paradox.”

Never before in our state’s history has this paradox been put to the test as it is right now in the Covid-19 pandemic, especially as alarmingly rapid spikes are occurring across the country. However much we may feel ourselves to be individuals with prerogatives and rights, we have obligations to others so that their rights and ours can be safeguarded.

Nothing more dramatically illustrates the challenge of the New Hampshire paradox than the measures we must all take now — immediately now — to contain and ultimately tame this virus. This cannot be a choice between individual liberty and social responsibility, between Republican and Democrat, between conservative and liberal. As the signs popping up all around put it, “We are in this together.”

Yes, a face mask is absolutely necessary to protect others from you and you from others. Forget partisan statements regarding mask wearing and recognize instead that we are all very human and very susceptible to this terrible disease. Keep a respectful distance and wash hands regularly. We in New Hampshire do not have to take our cues from federal officials or left or right media. We know what is needed to protect our fellow citizens and that is a certain sacrifice — hopefully temporary — of individual liberty for the common good.

Thirty years ago, the commission warned us, “As New Hampshire grows, our sense of mutual dependence must become as strong as our independence, or we will lose both.”

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