Tag: 210304

The Weekly Dish 21/03/04

News from the local food scene

• Derry market to return this June: After taking a one-year hiatus last year due to Covid-19 concerns, the Derry Homegrown Farm & Artisan Market will return on June 2, according to a Feb. 22 press release issued by its board of directors. The market will be held rain or shine every Wednesday through Sept. 29 at 1 W. Broadway in Derry, and will feature a selection of local produce, fresh seafood and meats, eggs, gourmet cheeses, artisan breads and more. The board had made the unanimous decision to cancel last year’s market just one day before it was scheduled to begin for the season. “As this will be our first season under Covid conditions, the market may look somewhat different this year and masks will be required,” the press release read. “While we enjoy making this a fun community event, the health and safety of patrons, vendors and volunteers will be paramount this year.” Visit derryhomegrown.org.

• Meet the makers: Join the New Hampshire Food Alliance for a virtual tasting event as part of the 2021 New Hampshire Food System Statewide Gathering, to be held on Thursday, March 11, from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. The event will highlight short presentations from three featured New Hampshire food producers — Wood Stove Kitchen, Winnipesaukee Woods Farm and Wayfarer Coffee Roasters — followed by a Q&A session about their items. The event is free and registration is open to the public. Visit nhfoodgathering.weebly.com/meet-nh-makers.html.

• From brunch to burgers: The Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford) will hold its next Champagne brunch on Sunday, March 14, in its Great Hall, with multiple seating times throughout the day beginning at 9 a.m. The brunch will feature unlimited mimosas and a buffet that includes a raw bar, a chef-attended omelet station and a grand dessert buffet. The cost is $75 per person (21+ attendees only) and reservations are required. The Inn has also kicked off Burgerama for the month of March, featuring unique burger and slider specials in its Tavern all month long. Different burger specials are available on different days in March — visit orderbvi.com/burgerama to view the menu.

• LaBelle Winery presents kids’ cooking TV series: LaBelle Winery owner and winemaker Amy LaBelle has partnered with New Hampshire PBS to present a series of pre-recorded interactive cooking classes geared toward kids ages 6 to 16, according to a press release. The series, called Amy LaBelle’s Cooking with Kids, is hosted by LaBelle and available to view online. According to the release, the idea for the series stems from LaBelle’s love of cooking with her two sons, 13-year-old Jackson and 10-year-old Lucas. Since 2018 she has also hosted successful monthly hands-on cooking classes for kids at the winery’s Amherst location. Four online classes have been produced. Visit nhpbs.org/cookingwithkids. In a March 2 press release, LaBelle Winery also announced the name of its new restaurant opening later this year in Derry. Americus, which is due to open in mid-May, will feature a menu of New England contemporary farm-to-table cuisine with an international flair, according to the release.

Build a garden library

Basic books to get you started

I know that many people, especially gardeners under the age of 40, use the internet to find the answers to their questions. That is fine, but the internet is full of “fake news” and spurious assertions. I do use the web, but if I want to learn about something in depth, I reach for a book. People who write books generally write about things they know. Garden books are written by gardeners.

Some years ago I taught a class in sustainable gardening at Granite State College, part of the University of New Hampshire system. I asked my students to buy The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. This paperback is a compact 800 pages of readable, educational information about nearly every aspect of gardening. It came in out on 2008, but is still in print. Everyone could benefit by owning it.

For a book on vegetable gardening there is none better than Vermont’s own Ed Smith’s The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible. With more than a million copies sold, this book goes into detail on every veggie you could grow — when and how to plant, how long seeds last, when to harvest, and much more.

Are you interested in flower gardening? My first choice of books would be Tracy DiSabato-Aust’s book, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques. She is obviously a well-experienced gardener and designer, and one who has learned to get her flowers to re-bloom, or bloom at a shorter height, and who knows how much sun and water each needs. Staking? Dividing plants? It’s all there and more.

For the serious flower gardener or landscape professional I would recommend a 1,100-page book by Allan M. Armitage: Herbaceous Perennial Plants: A Treatise on their Identification, Culture, and Garden Attributes. This book came out in 1989 and it is now its fourth edition, which came out in 2020. My goal for the winter is to read it, or the relevant parts, cover to cover. Why? Because I can learn from a man who is not only a Ph.D. professor but a hands-on gardener of many decades.

There are plants in the book that I absolutely lust for. Unusual plants that will fill niches in my diverse garden beds. It also tells me why some plants I have tried have died out. It informs me about named varieties to look for that have special attributes.

Dr. Armitage is opinionated and often funny. I like that. It has some photos, but certainly not one for every flower mentioned. This is not a coffee table book, but a book for plant collectors, landscapers — and fanatics. At just under $80, I think it’s a bargain.

Trees? The most prolific and best informed expert, in my opinion, is Michael Dirr. I use his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses every week of the year. It has informed me about any tree or shrub I want to know about. Now in its sixth edition, it sells new for $81.80, but it is available used for much less (usually earlier editions).

Professor Dirr also has written many other books, several of them with terrific color photos (in contrast to his Manual, described above, which has only drawings). I spent one winter going through his Dirr’s Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs with its descriptions of 3,700 species and cultivars and 3,500 photos.

Pruning is key to keeping your woody plants looking good. My favorite pruning book is by Lee Reich, The Pruning Book. With both diagrams and photographs, this book covers many species and their specific needs. His book Grow Fruit Naturally is another excellent book you might want.

Soil is the key to good gardening but a topic that is usually boring and scientifically described. Want an easy explanation of how it works? Try a book by Dianne Miessler, Grow Your Soil: Harness the Power of the Soil Food Web to Create Your Best Garden Ever. It explains very well how soils work, what soil test results mean, and how to correct deficiencies. You don’t need to be a scientist to read this one ($16.95 in paper).

Stone is a key element in many gardens, part of the “bones” of a garden. Dan Snow, a Vermont dry stonewaller and stone artist, has written a number of fine books on using stone. Listening to Stone and In the Company of Stone both offer practical and philosophical advice and share many fine photos of his projects.

Gordon Hayward, a Vermont landscape designer and prolific author, also has an excellent book on how to use stone, Stone in the Garden: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects. Want to build a stone path or a retaining wall? Hayward simplifies the process. As with Dan Snow’s books, great photographs full of ideas.

Sydney Eddison is another prolific garden writer with many fine titles. Her The Gardener’s Palette: Creating Color in the Garden taught me a lot about the use of colors in the garden. Her advice is always practical and nicely explained.

So invest in some books this winter, curl up in a comfy place and see what you can learn that will help you, come spring.

Featured Photo: Two fine books on perennial flowers. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 21/03/04

Dear Donna,

This is a bath set (commode set?) that we believe is from the 1800s. Any information you could share would be helpful.
–Lynn

Dear Lynn,
It was most likely made during the Victorian era (mid to late 1800’s) or later. It’s unusual to find several pieces matching still together today, due to damage, disuse, or being lost or given away.

Back in the Victorian era they had a real need for almost all the pieces. Pieces consisted of covered chamber pots for under the bed, bowl and pitchers, toothbrush holders, main slop pot (for chamber pot contents), etc. I have seen sets with up to 20 different matching pieces.

Yours is considered earthenware (pottery). Tough to figure out the manufacturer by the mark, but it could be English, German or Australian. They imported so many of them and lots were unmarked, but it’s not that important to the value of your set.

The secondary collectible market isn’t high for such items today. The decorative need isn’t there, and there’s not much use for them today either. But having several pieces could make your pieces in the range of $150 as long as they are not damaged.

Kiddie Pool 21/03/04

Family fun for the weekend

Scientific discoveries

After being closed for renovations for a couple months, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive, Concord) is reopening on March 5, with hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Occupancy limits have been set for popular exhibits and planetarium shows, and stringent Covid-19 cleaning and safety procedures will be in effect as the museum reopens. This Friday the discovery center will also hold its virtual Super Stellar Friday program at 7 p.m.; this month’s topic is “Mystery & Majesty of Saturn’s Rings.” The event is free, but registration is required at starhop.com.

Walk on the wild side

Squam Lakes Natural Science Center (23 Science Center Road, Holderness) hosts several Wild Winter Walks this month, starting Saturday, March 6, and Sunday, March 7, with sessions from 10 to 11:30 a.m. or 1 to 2:30 p.m. The program is for adults and families with children ages 6 and up. A staff naturalist will lead a guided walk on the live animal exhibit trail and will talk about how these native animals adapt for winter in New Hampshire. Snowshoes are available at no extra cost, if needed, or participants can bring their own. The cost is $10 per person. Pre-registration is required for all programs at nhnature.org or by calling 968-7194. Other upcoming Wild Winter Walks are scheduled for Saturday, March 13, and Saturday, March 20 (sess

Sweaters for the history books

Manchester museum displays Pandora Sweaters exhibit

Between 1940 and 1990, a bold neon sign that read “Home of Pandora Sweaters” sat on top of the Pandora Mill building at 88 Commericial St. in Manchester. This March, some of these letters will make an appearance at the Manchester Historic Association’s Millyard Museum as part of a special exhibit, “Pandora by Design: Sweaters from the Millyard.”
The exhibit is scheduled to open on March 9 and will run through August in the museum’s Henry M. Fuller State Theatre Gallery.

The fashion-focused exhibit will take a look at the history of Pandora Industries starting when they first came to Manchester as Brookshire Knitting Mills, according to Jeff Barraclough, the Millyard Museum’s director of operations and the exhibit’s assistant curator.

“It’s a fun exhibit that really looks at the design of Pandora and the different sweaters and materials that they produced over the years,” he said.

Not to be confused with the modern-day Pandora jewelry, Pandora Industries made textile products, such as knitwear and sportswear; the company produced as many as 60,000 sweaters per week, according to the Millyard Museum website, and its specialty was women’s sweaters. Pandora relocated from New York to Manchester’s millyard in 1940 and became a great source of employment for the city, employing as many as 1,000 individuals at a time. It was also one of the last places to manufacture textiles in the millyard.

According to Barraclough, the sweater company was owned by Saul and May Sidore, who later became May Gruber. Gruber was a pioneer in Manchester’s business industry, during a time when few women held positions of power, he said. The exhibit will feature a video that talks about Gruber’s life and influence.

The centerpiece of the “Pandora by Design” exhibit will be part of the neon sign that was once atop the Pandora building. In all its glory, the sign read “Home of Pandora Sweaters.” On display will be the fully restored “Sweaters” piece of the sign. When the Manchester Historic Association announced the sign restoration project in a press release last summer, it noted that the “Pandora” piece of the sign was beyond repair, and that when the sign was removed from the building in the early 2000s some of the letters disappeared. One of those missing letters was returned last year, allowing the Historic Association to move forward with the restoration.

“It’s a really cool centerpiece of the exhibit,” Barraclough said.

The exhibit will also feature a large collection of Pandora sweaters and advertisements from the 1970s and ’80s. These pieces were donated by one of Pandora’s former designers. The sweaters will be displayed on mannequins throughout the exhibit. Additionally, photographs will be displayed showing workers in Pandora’s factories. Barraclough called it “the production piece” of the exhibit.

Barraclough said he hopes that visitors will leave the special exhibit with a sense of nostalgia, whether they’re residents of Manchester who have family members who worked in the millyard, people who worked in the mills themselves, “or even just people who remember buying and wearing Pandora sweaters,” he said.

The Millyard Museum has Covid safety precautions in place, and this exhibit will adhere to the protocols without exception. Masks and social distancing are required, and only 30 guests are allowed in the museum at one time. – By Sadie Burgess

Pandora by Design: Sweaters from the Millyard
When: March 9 through August 2021
Where: Manchester Historic Association’s Millyard Museum, 200 Bedford St., Manchester
More info: manchesterhistoric.org/events

Featured photo: Vintage Pandora ad. Photo courtesy of Jeff Barraclough.

Fresh paint

Restored furniture store to open in Plaistow

Kerri Durkee of Atkinson is taking her upcycled furniture business to the next level with a new storefront, opening Saturday, March 6, in the Plaistow Commons strip mall. Better Than Before Home Furnishings & Design will feature used furnishings and home decor, restored and repainted by Durkee.

“It’s just amazing what a coat of paint will do for an ugly or scratched up or water-stained piece of furniture,” Durkee said. “It just brings it right up to date.”

It all started at a yard sale, she said, where she fell in love with a bench that was “old and dirty and kind of a mess,” but too unique to pass up. She took it home and cleaned it up, repainted it and replaced the fabric on the seat cushion.

“I posted a picture of it on social media, and somebody said they wanted to buy it,” she said. “I think that’s when I caught the bug.”

She started picking up more pieces at yard sales, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, estate sales and from anyone she knew who was looking to get rid of a piece of furniture.

“I ended up filling my whole garage with them,” she said “I haven’t been able to get my car in my garage for years now.”

Now a certified decorator and home stager, Durkee did home design and furniture painting as a side gig for 10 years before quitting her job in marketing four years ago to pursue it full time.

“A switch went off in my head, and I was like, ‘What am I waiting for, to do something that I love? Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed,’” she said.

Durkee ran her business online but kept an eye open for a retail space where she could showcase her furniture to customers in person. When she came across the space in the Plaistow Commons strip mall, she had some concerns about opening a store during the pandemic but was reassured by the success her business had seen over the last year.

“With people being at home more, a lot of them are adding new home offices and workspaces or are just generally sick of their furnishings and want to make some changes,” she said.

Customers will find a mix of traditional, coastal, farmhouse, floral and shabby chic styles as well as unpainted furniture for which they can choose a color and style. The storefront will also serve as a hub for Durkee’s home design consultation and custom furniture restoration and painting services as well as furniture painting workshops for people who want to learn the craft themselves.

“I think a lot of people have pieces at home that they want to use that need a little update, and they’d like to be able to do it themselves but don’t necessarily know the process,” Durkee said.

Durkee said she hopes Better than Before and the furniture painting workshops will raise awareness about the benefits of upcycling and encourage more people to think twice before tossing their old furniture or home decor.

“If something is still functional, I think it’s great to be green and give it a new coat of paint rather than filling up the dump sites with it,” she said.

Better Than Before Home Furnishings & Design
Address: Plaistow Commons strip mall, 160 Plaistow Road, Unit 3, Plaistow
Hours: Grand opening Saturday, March 6. Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m., and Monday and Tuesday by appointment
More info: Call 479-3041 or visit betterthanbefore.co

Featured photo: Better Than Before Home Furnishings & Design in Plaistow. Courtesy photo.

Art

Call for Art

• NHAA SPRING JURYING The New Hampshire Art Association accepts new members. Jurying takes place on Mon., March 22. For a prospectus and application form, visit nhartassociation.org and click on “Become a Member.” Applications and application fee payment are due by Thurs., March 18, and can be submitted online or in person at the NHAA headquarters (136 State St., Portsmouth). Instructions for dropping off and picking up artwork will be emailed after an application and payment is received. Call 431-4230.

• MAGNIFY VOICES EXPRESSIVE ARTS CONTEST Kids in grades 5 through 12 may submit creative may submit a short film (2 minutes or less); an original essay or poem (1000 words or less); or a design in another artistic medium such as a painting, song or sculpture that expresses their experience or observations of mental health in New Hampshire. Art pieces will be showcased to help raise awareness, decrease stigma and discrimination, and affect change to ensure socially and emotionally healthy growth for all children in New Hampshire. Submission deadline is March 31. Prize money will be awarded for grades 5 through 8 and grades 9 through 12. A celebration will take place in May, date TBD. Email magnifyvoices@gmail.com.

• ART ON MAIN The City of Concord and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce are seeking professional sculptors for year-round outdoor public art exhibit set up in Concord’s downtown. Must be age 18 or older. Submit up to two original sculptures for consideration. Submission deadline is March 31. Sculptors will be notified of their acceptance by April 30. Installation will begin on May 21. Exhibit opens in June. Selected sculptors will receive a $500 stipend. All sculptures will be for sale. Visit concordnhchamber.com/creativeconcord, call 224-2508 or email tsink@concordnhchamber.com.

Classes & lectures

• “NORMAN ROCKWELL AND FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT” Jane Oneail presents a lecture. Part of Concord’s Walker Lecture Series. Virtual, via Zoom. Wed., March 17, 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Call 333-0035 or visit walkerlecture.org.

• GENERAL ART CLASSES In-person art classes for all levels and two-dimensional media. held with small groups of two to five students. Private classes are also available. Diane Crespo Fine Art Gallery (32 Hanover St., Manchester). Students are asked to wear masks in the gallery. Tuition costs $20 per group class and $28 per private class, with payment due at the beginning of the class. Call 493-1677 or visit dianecrespofineart.com for availability.

• DRAWING & PAINTING CLASSES Art House Studios, 66 Hanover St., Suite 202, Manchester. Classes include Drawing Fundamentals, Painting in Acrylic, Drawing: Observation to Abstraction, Exploring Mixed Media, and Figure Drawing. Class sizes are limited to six students. Visit arthousestudios.org.

Exhibits

• “THE VIEW THROUGH MY EYES” The New Hampshire Art Association presents works by pastel artist Chris Reid. Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce Gallery, 49 S. Main St., Concord. On display now through March 18. Visit nhartassociation.org or call 431-4230.

• “ON THE BRIGHT SIDE” New Hampshire Art Association features works by multiple artists in a variety of media. On view now through March 28, in person at NHAA’s Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery (136 State St., Portsmouth) and online. Gallery hours are Monday and Tuesday by appointment, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Online opening reception to be held on Friday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m., via Zoom. Visit nhartassociation.org or call 431-4230.

Tours

• NASHUA PUBLIC ART AUDIO TOUR Self-guided audio tours of the sculptures and murals in downtown Nashua, offered via the Distrx app, which uses Bluetooth iBeacon technology to automatically display photos and text and provides audio descriptions at each stop on the tour as tourists approach the works of art. Each tour has 10 to 15 stops. Free and accessible on Android and iOS on demand. Available in English and Spanish. Visit downtownnashua.org/nashua-art-tour.

Theater Shows

• GIDION’S KNOT Theatre Kapow presents. Virtual, live streamed. March 5 through March 7, with showtimes on Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10. Visit tkapow.com.

• A TEMPEST PRAYER New Hampshire Theatre Project’s SoloStage program presents. Fri., March 19, and Sat., March 20, 8 p.m., and Sun., March 21, 2 p.m. Performances held virtually and in-person at 959 Islington St., Portsmouth. In-person show tickets cost $30, and virtual show tickets cost $20. Call 431-6644 or visit nhtheatreproject.org.

• FIFTH ANNUAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL New Hampshire Theatre Project presents. Five storytellers tell traditional and personal tales inspired by NHTP’s 2020 – 2021 MainStage theme “What Are You Waiting For?” Featuring Diane Edgecomb, Pat Spalding, Simon Brooks, Sharon Jones and Maya Williams; with special guest host Genevieve Aichele and musical accompaniment by Randy Armstrong. Sat., April 10, 7 p.m. The Music Hall Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth. Tickets cost $36. Call 431-6644 or visit nhtheatreproject.org.

• ZOOM PLAY FESTIVAL Presented by Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative and Community Players of Concord. Features short original plays by New Hampshire playwrights. Fri., April 16. Virtual. See Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative on Facebook or email powerhouse@belknapmill.org.

• THAT GOLDEN GIRLS SHOW: A PUPPET PARODY at the Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Sat., April 24, at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $35.

• ROTARY PARK PLAY FESTIVAL Presented by Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative and Community Players of Concord. Features short original plays by New Hampshire playwrights. Sat., May 29, and Sun., May 30. Outdoors at Rotary Park, 30 Beacon St., E. Laconia. See Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative on Facebook or email powerhouse@belknapmill.org.

• TRUE TALES LIVE Monthly showcase of storytellers. Held virtually via Zoom. Last Tuesday of the month, 7 p.m., January through June, and September through December. Visit truetaleslivenh.org.

Classical

• CONCORD COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL FACULTY CONCERT Part of Concord’s Walker Lecture Series. Virtual, via Concord TV (Channel 22, or stream at yourconcordtv.org). Wed., April 21. 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Call 333-0035 or visit walkerlecture.org.

The Art Roundup 21/03/04

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

Theatre Kapow presents a virtual production of Gidion’s Knot. Photo by Matthew Lomanno.

• Virtual play: Manchester-based theater company Theatre Kapow continues its 13th season with a livestreamed production of Gidion’s Knot March 5 through March 7, with showtimes on Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. The play follows a conversation between a mother whose son has been suspended from school and his teacher. It explores themes like bullying, failures of the system, culpability, freedom of expression and the breakdown of communication between children and the adults who are meant to nurture them. “This play makes you wrestle with so many tough questions and [as] we explored [them] we kept uncovering more,” actress Rachael Chapin Longo, who plays the teacher, said in a press release. Tickets cost $10 per streaming device. Ticket holders will be sent the link to watch the show. Visit tkapow.com.

• New book of poetry: The Hobblebush Granite State Poetry Series releases its 14th volume of poetry, Loosen by local poet Kyle Potvin. Loosen is Potvin’s first full-length collection. “She employs a sparkling lyric craft to ask, ‘How will I live?’” Lee Briccetti, Executive Director of Poets House, said in a press release. “While balancing the anxieties of breast cancer and its treatment — backed into the corner of her own existence — [Potvin] creates a way to live with grace, finding pleasure in close observation … children, memory and reading.” Visit hobblebush.com/product-page/loosen to buy the book and to watch a recorded virtual launch event.

• Art classes in Manchester: A new art studio for drawing and painting classes has opened at 66 Hanover St., Suite 202, in Manchester. “I’ve crafted a space, a pleasant place to develop technical skills and creative thinking,” lead instructor Jason Bagatta said in an email, adding that he has been teaching art at the undergraduate and graduate level for 20 years and holds a master’s degree in fine art and interdisciplinary art with a focus on drawing, painting and conceptual art. Classes include Drawing Fundamentals, Painting in Acrylic, Drawing: Observation to Abstraction, Exploring Mixed Media, and Figure Drawing. Class sizes are limited to six students, with “plenty of personal space to work,” Bagatta said. Visit arthousestudios.org.

• Questioning psychics: The Walker Lecture Series is going on now through April 21, with virtual events every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Next up is mentalist and author of Psychic Blues Mark Edward presenting a lecture, “Psychics, Mediums, and Mind Readers: How do they do it?” on March 10 on Zoom. “He talks about the fraudulence of people who pretend they can talk to the dead and encourages people to use critical thinking to examine the trick nature of it before they believe that someone has magical powers,” Walker Lecture Series trustee Jon Kelly said. “I think our audience will be really interested in that.” Other upcoming programs in this spring’s Walker Lecture Series will include an art lecture on Frank Lloyd Wright and Norman Rockwell; a history lecture on New Hampshire revolutionaries John Stark and Henry Dearborn; an author event with Michael Tougias, discussing his memoir The Waters Between Us; a nature program about bears; travelogues about Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska and the deserts, coastline and safari parks of Namibia; and a faculty concert by Concord Community Music School. Call 333-0035 or visit walkerlecture.org.

Featured photo: Theatre Kapow presents a virtual production of Gidion’s Knot. Photo by Matthew Lomanno.

Quality of Life 21/03/04

NH is 2021’s 8th most educated state

The Granite State is smart! A recent study from personal-finance website WalletHub looked at data from all 50 states, comparing factors like educational attainment, school quality and achievement gaps between genders and races. According to the study, New Hampshire ranked fourth for percentage of people with high school diplomas, eighth for percentage of people who hold bachelor’s degrees, ninth for both percentage of associate’s degree holders and graduate or professional degree holders, and 16th for average university quality.

Score: +1

Comment: Some of our closest neighbors beat us in the rankings, according to the study, with Massachusetts taking the No. 1 spot and Connecticut and Vermont coming in third and fourth, respectively.

Exploring gender justice in NH

The New Hampshire Women’s Foundation recently announced the launch of the Gender Justice Cafe, a series of conversations about topics that impact equity for women and girls in the state. According to a press release, the Gender Justice Cafe will begin on International Women’s Day, March 8, at 10 a.m., with a 90-minute Zoom panel that explores gender justice internationally and features New Hampshire leaders and organizations that are working to elevate the voices of women and girls on a global level. Future conversations include gender and the climate crisis, racial equity and intersectionality, and transgender justice.

Score: +1

Comment: These programs are free, and anyone interested can register at nhwomensfoundation.org/GJC.

Exploring slavery in NH

The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire has released a 45-minute video called “I was a slave, even here in New Hampshire”: The Concord Black Heritage Tour, which features notable African Americans from throughout Concord’s history. According to a press release, it includes stories of enslavement, emancipation, the underground railroad, abolitionism and visits from Frederick Douglass, as well as more recent stories, like that of renowned African American illustrator Mel Bolden. The video can be accessed at youtu.be/WhNu6mWn4xI.

Score: +1

Comment: “By reintroducing these stories of New Hampshire’s early Black citizens, we create a space for dialogues around race, diversity and inclusion,” Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire Director JerriAnne Boggis said in the release. “These corrective narratives make it possible to decrease barriers of misunderstanding and decrease people’s racial anxiety.”

Concord launches citizen reporting app

The City of Concord has announced a new citizen reporting platform and mobile app that will allow the Concord community to report non-emergency quality-of-life concerns and service requests. According to a press release, community members can use the web portal on the City website or download the free MyConcordNH app to submit a request or report to the City, including things like potholes, missed trash collection, snow plowing, downtown maintenance, trees, water, sewer and more. Users can also get email updatesabout theirrequests, which are automatically directed to appropriate city staff.

Score: +1

Comment:The MyConcordNH mobile app is available for download on Android and iPhone and includes links to city services and information, and push notifications can be enabled for things like winter parking bans or delayed trash collection.

QOL score: 56

Net change: +4

QOL this week: 60

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Options for QB needy Pats

The start of the new NFL year is two weeks away when free agent signings begin. With $65 million to spend, the Patriots are likely to be very active to retool to get back in the playoff hunt, a task made more difficult these days playing in the vastly improved AFC East, where Buffalo is now the top dog, Miami is a QB away from SB contention and even the Jets, who have their history of incompetence to overcome, are a concern since they have the second overall pick and $73 million in cap room.

Over the next two weeks we’ll look at what they need to do to recover from last year’s 7-9 debacle. First we’ll concern ourselves with the biggest question of the off season — who will the starting quarterback be in 2021? — and the obstacles they’ll face answering that question during an unprecedented off season of turbulence at the quarterback position.

The QB Derby: If Drew Brees retires as expected the new year had as many as 18 teams looking for an upgrade to make the competition for the right QB intense. Sensing that, the Rams struck first by sending their starter Jared Goff and two first-round picks and a third to get Matthew Stafford from Detroit. With Phillip Rivers retired, Indy then took the Carson Wentz headache off Philly’s hands for conditional second- and third-round picks, a big gamble for a talented but trending down hard-to-coach crybaby with a $145 million contract about to kick in. Both moves show how valved quarterbacks are and that desperate teams will vastly overpay to get one.

So with 16 teams left things could get wacky quickly. That sense of urgency will also leak into the draft, where five quarterbacks could be taken in the first 10 picks, worthy or not. In short, the off season will be a game of musical chairs for quarterbacks. Here are the options.

Draft a QB: This option brings the uncertainty of betting on a guy who’s never played in the league and at a very high cost if you trade up to get the right one along with the learning curve that goes with it. However, if you hit, you pay your starter $5 million per for five years instead of $30 million to $40 million, and that savings can be invested elsewhere.

Who to Draft: With the 15th pick, Alabama’s Mac Jones is the best probable for the Pats. I like three things about him. (1) He’s got a quick release. (2) His 77.4 percent completion rate for 41 TD passes says he’s accurate. (3) He makes good, quick decisions, evidenced by throwing just four picks. The X-factor: How much are his gaudy numbers due to the spectacular first-round talent around him? Though I’m confident saying this: Jones is a lot better than his Bama predecessor Tua Tagovailoa.

Likely Out of Their Reach: The top two on the market are Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson, who want out of Houston and Seattle. Both are better than Stafford and make big money, so they’ll wipe out the Patriots’ next three drafts and a large chunk of their salary cap space to prevent the haul most are hoping for. Since he’s 26 I might do it for Watson, but no one else.

Aaron Rodgers: Doesn’t seem likely he’ll move for a million reasons. But with GB drafting a QB last year, stranger things have happened. But even if he leaves it’ll likely be west for a team ready to win, like SF, which would put Jimmy Garoppolo in play.

Jimmy G: The consensus pick in the cheap seats. Pros: He knows the system, Bill knows what he can do and he took the Niners to the Super Bowl just two years ago. Con: He’s injury prone, a big negative.

Dak Prescott: I’m not a Dak guy. First because everything from their QB’s to the dance team is overrated in Dallas. Second, he’s a game manager who wants $40 million per. Are you kidding me? Finally, it would break my friend George Copadis’ heart to see his beloved Cowboys let their latest vastly overrated star leave Jerry’s house.

Matt Ryan:At best he’s a short-term solution, so they’d still have to draft a QB. Plus salary cap implications in Atlanta will probably prevent him from leaving. So forget about him.

Marcus Mariota:Pro: He flourished in Chip Kelly’s system at Oregon. So maybe that’s what he is, a system QB in search of the right system. Con: He flunked out in Tennessee, who got immediately better after he was replaced by Dolphins flunk-out Ryan Tannehill.

Sam Darnold: Tannehill got better once he got away from Adam Gase in Miami. Could that be the same for Darnold? Nope. He’s just the latest — Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley — overrated QB to come out of USC.

Jameis Winston: He’s got talent, but he threw 30 picks with Tampa Bay in 2019 and we know how much Coach B hates turnovers. But he also threw for 5,000 yards and 31 TD passes that year. He’s a long shot, but turning him into the productively efficient QB he wasn’t under Bruce Arians in Tampa Bay would give a new apples-and-apples dynamic to the “Was it Tom or Bill?” debate.

Cam Newton: Most don’t want this to happen. But Coach B may not be one of them. The question is, how much did joining the team late amid the Covid-hampered training environment play into his issues and did he suffer from lack of weapons as Brady did in 2019? I think it’s 50-50 he’s back,

Preferences: (1) Keep Newton and draft a QB, where Cam eventually evolves into a wildcat, short yardage and goal line scoring option. (2) If you go new, take the system guy, Mariota. Though if Coach B finds a way to somehow make a Jimmy G deal to include soon to be free agent tight end George Kittle, do it.

Following their latest loss, where they blew a 20-plus-point lead again, the 15-15 Celtics are straddling a line between their season becoming a huge disappointment and a total catastrophe. A wild overstatement? Maybe, but we’re now five weeks into a stretch of 11 losses in 19 games and it’s not like it’s been an incredibly rough stretch in the schedule. It started with a horrid mail-it-in 105-75 loss to the Knicks, which was followed by losses to bottom-dwellers Detroit, Washington, Sacramento, Atlanta and New Orleans on Sunday. So it’s beyond being just a funk. Shockingly it leaves them just a half game ahead of the surprising Knicks, and I’m pretty sure “catastrophe”would be the No. 1 answer if this were an episode of Family Feud and a family of green-teamers were asked what one word would best sum up finishing behind the Knickerbockers this year.

Now I’m more into fixing things than second guessing, so here’s a look at the issues and some suggestions for fixing the problem.

The Team Is Playing Dead: They have no emotion. Especially with Marcus Smart out. All teams need a guy who gets in people’s faces when they don’t play hard, they make dumb mistakes or they just don’t care enough about winning and losing. Some do it by scaring guys like MJ or KG, some with a stern leadership demeanor like LBJ. Others are just a pain in the butt like Draymond Green. But however it’s done every team needs it and they don’t have a guy like that.

Brad Stevens: I’m not a blame-the-coach-for-everything kind of guy. But I admit I have Brad fatigue for two reasons.

They Reflect His Placid Demeanor: Some coaches are suited for one kind of situation and not for others, like Bill Fitch with the Celtics in the ’80s. His drill sergeant approach was perfect for the young team Larry Bird joined as a rookie, which needed to learn how to win. But his shrill, never satisfied voice was eventually tuned out when those lessons were learned. In came the “treat them like they know what they’re doing” KC Jones and the guys responded by winning two titles. That may be the case here in reverse. This passive group needs a guy to drive them because they’re too comfortable with losses.

He’s Too In Love With The 3-Ball:It’s why they blow so many big leads. Once the 3’s stop falling, they have few other options to look for help as the big leads melt away, as happened on Sunday.

Jayson Tatum: I know how talented he is and he’s a good kid who puts in the work to improve. But I want more. I know it’s not his way, but the best player has got to develop a what-the-blank-are-you-doing way when needed, and until he does he’s not a Top 10 player or the leader they need.

The 3-Ball Doesn’t Always Fall: I know it’s a 3-ball league and what the math says about taking 3’s over 2’s. But sorry, anyone who has ever played knows that sometimes long-distance shots hit dry spells. Thus teams also need scoring down low, where the percentage is higher and you get foul shots. You rarely get the latter on 3-balls unless you have a dope covering you. Case in point was Sunday, when after being down 21, instead of the Pelicans chucking up more 3’s, they posted up 280-pound Zion Williamson or gave it to him at the foul line for drives, where he just overpowered everyone, leading to easy buckets and trips to the line for old-time three-point plays. That and the sudden appearance of defense was why they turned that game around. Having a really dependable block scorer, like, I don’t know, Joel Embiid also forces weakside defenders to double team them, which gives shooters more time/room to launch.

C’s Needs Restructuring:I don’t know what Brian Scalabrine is smoking, but the biggest need is not another scoring wing like Harrison Barnes. It’s changing the formula from wing scoring dominance to one that complements the 3-ball with reliable scoring from the block.As much as I love the grit of Daniel Theis, that’s not him. So a trade is needed. But if they want to wait a bit, give Robert Williams 30 minutes a game to see if he can do some of that.

The General Manager: Earth to Danny, what are you waiting for? Stop trying to get a steal every time you make a trade like in the Gordon Hayward-for-Myles Turner fiasco. I’m not in love with Turner, but taking only him in that deal instead of holding out for more would have filled the need to get bigger up front and provided a stretch four who blocks shots too. He also could have been flipped later for a better fit. Rome is burning. Stop fiddling (and diddling) and get what is needed.

The Bench Needs Scoring:Short term, I’d swap Payton Pritchard and Kemba, to give the second unit a much-needed dynamic scorer. However, any major deal will likely need Kemba as the bait to make that happen, so it must give the C’s a proven bench scorer back, like Orlando’s Terrence Ross.

Top Trade Target: I wanted Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic as the free agent replacement the summer Al Horford and Kyrie Irving defected. The problem is that he’s blossomed into a 24 and 11 guy so he’ll cost a lot more. Why would Orlando move him? Maybe after falling out of it again they’ll want to build around their younger players and know his trade value will never be higher. He’ll cost future picks, recent top picks and likely the Time Lord, unless Kemba goes to a third team needing a veteran presence with a lot of draft capital to send their way like New Orleans.

Voices raised

Youth artwork highlights mental health issues

New Hampshire middle school and high school students are invited to submit original artwork centered around mental health for the Magnify Voices Expressive Arts Contest, which includes a showcase of the finalists’ pieces to be held during Children’s Mental Health Awareness Month in May. Michele Watson, New Hampshire Family Network Coordinator for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and one of the organizers of the contest, discussed children’s mental health in the state and how youth are using art to raise awareness of and destigmatize mental illness.

What are the biggest mental health issues affecting youth in New Hampshire right now?

Anxiety and depression are some of the biggest that we’re seeing right now. Anxiety is through the roof, especially during the pandemic this year. There are many children [having mental health issues] now who have never had them before. For some, it’s so bad that they won’t go to school. They don’t even want to come out of their room.

How is art useful for addressing those and other children’s mental health issues?

Art lets children express themselves in a way that they may not be able to do in a conversation. Instead of just talking about it, they can show it and demonstrate it. It’s good not only for them to be able to share their voice, but also because it gives [adults] a better understanding of what they are feeling.

What kinds of art pieces does the contest feature?

We’ve had a range of videos. … In one video, a group of students each wrote a diagnosis on their forehead, and at the end of the video, they erased the words from their forehead, and the message was, ‘I’m not my diagnosis.’ We had another video where a boy who has ADHD is sitting in a classroom, and the teacher is talking, and the video is showing everything else that he is aware of rather than paying attention to what the teacher is saying. … We also had a lot of poems both years. One poem that really stood out to me was a middle schooler talking about her anxiety being like a tornado that would wrap around her tighter and tighter. … One of the art pieces was a drawing, where the student drew her inner self and her outer self to show how they don’t match and how what people see from the outside is not what she is actually feeling on the inside.

Where does public awareness of and response to children’s mental health issues in New Hampshire stand as of now?

It’s so much better than it was in years past. We never used to talk about this stuff. No one wanted to say that something was wrong with their child. … If you want to look at the silver lining of the pandemic, [children’s mental health] has gotten so much more attention. … Schools are really learning a lot and educating their staff, and more people are starting to understand that kids can’t learn if they’re struggling emotionally and mentally. … The kids are also doing a much better job of sharing all of this.

How can it be improved within the school and home?

A big part of this is identifying if this [behavior] is ‘just a teenager thing’ or ‘just a kid thing’ or if it’s something that’s leading to a bigger crisis … because a lot of times, the parents or caregivers don’t know. They think [the child] is choosing [that behavior] versus [having a mental health issue], and they don’t take it as seriously as they should. There’s a lack of understanding, like, ‘Oh, it’s just a phase. They’ll get over it. Everybody has anxiety.’ We hear [statements] like that a lot. Well, yes, everybody does have anxiety, but not everybody has debilitating anxiety where they can’t even walk into a classroom without getting butterflies and feeling like they’re going to be sick. … We have an information and resource line, both through email and an 800 number, where families and schools or anybody can get help identifying those needs earlier on. We do a lot of training [programs] to help families … [where] we teach about brain science and about different diagnoses and how … they can better support their children and how to deal with these situations.

How can it be improved on a state level?

We need more mental health care providers. Families have a hard time getting in [to see one]. They might have a six-month wait to get their child an appointment. … If a child [has] to be taken to the emergency room, there can be a very long wait to actually get a bed in a mental health facility. We’ve had up to 48 kids around the state in emergency rooms waiting, and some of them had to wait up to two weeks. We need to do a better job of identifying [mental health crises] before they get to that point, and if they do, we need to be able to get [children] the help they need sooner than they’re getting it now.

Magnify Voices Expressive Arts Contest
The contest is open to youth in grades 5 through 12. Submissions must be related to mental health and may include a short film (under 2 minutes), an essay or poem (under 1,000 words), a song or a two- or three-dimensional art piece. The deadline is March 31. Visit tinyurl.com/magnifyvoices2021

Featured photo: Michele Watson

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