Tag: 220609

Quality of Life 22/06/09

Take the weekend off

Lazy lawnmowers may be doing the environment a favor, according to the results of a recent research study conducted by the University of New Hampshire. Alexandra Contosta, research assistant professor at UNH’s Earth Systems Research Center, said in a press release that reducing the frequency of lawn mowing, or going “low mow,” can help to reduce carbon emissions, build soil organic matter and create better pollinating habitats for bees. “People may not think the small ecosystem in their own yard — the grass, soil and vegetation — is that important to the health of the whole planet,” Contosta said, “but taking important small steps, like not mowing as often, can have a big impact on things … which can influence climate change.”

QOL score: +1 (for giving us all a green excuse to skip mowing this weekend)

Comment: One easy way to go low-mow, Contosta said, is to skip mowing the parts of your property that are underutilized or difficult to access altogether.

Yay for birds, boo for fireworks fans

Fireworks at Hampton Beach were canceled for Memorial Day weekend and expected to be put on hold for several weeks in order to protect two nests of piping plovers that were found on the beach, according to NHPR. Piping plovers are an endangered species in New Hampshire and considered to be at risk nationally.

QOL score: 0 (-1 for the loss of some summer beach fun but +1 for leaving the birds in peace)

Comment: Hampton Beach officials said that they hope to have fireworks for the Fourth of July, according to the report.

Praise for a teacher

The Class of 2022 members of the Nashua High School South chapter of the National Honor Society have selected Nashua High School South English teacher Greg Montine as the 27th recipient of the No Bell Award. According to a press release from the school, the award, which has a symbol depicting a school bell without a hammer, is given to “an outstanding teacher who leads students; communicates enthusiasm and respect for the subject taught; inspires students to develop a hunger for learning; and serves as a role model for students.” Montine also received a $7,500 cash award, which was made possible by an anonymous donor.

QOL score: +1

Comments: Here’s hoping Montine has some relaxing summer plans.

Give blood

The American Red Cross and other blood collection organizations around the world will celebrate World Blood Donor Day on Tuesday, June 14. According to a press release from the Northern New England Regional American Red Cross, the day recognizes the importance of lifesaving blood donations and the nearly 2.5 million people who donate blood and platelets through the Red Cross every year. Blood donation numbers are often at their lowest during late spring and early summer, the release said, but the need for blood and platelet transfusions remains the same.

QOL score: +1 (especially if there’s a post-donation cookie)

Comment: To find a Red Cross blood donation site near you, enter your zip code in the blood drive locator at redcrossblood.org.

QOL score: 76

Net change: +3

QOL this week: 79

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

C’s tied 1-1 after two

There’s good news and bad news from the NBA Finals today.

The good was the Celtics bombing away during an incredible comeback that erased a 15-point Golden State third-quarter lead with a 40-16 fourth-quarter surge to win Game 1 big. The bad was showing once again they can’t handle prosperity by coughing up Game 2 in a 107-88 Warriors rout.

The latter via a barrage of first-half turnovers in a mostly inept offensive effort before getting flattened by a third-quarter Warriors explosion.

True, GS couldn’t go to Boston down 0-2 so they played with desperation, but the Celtics’ lack of intensity was equally responsible for the loss.

In the end being tied 1-1 is good for Warriors fans, those with no dog in the hunt, ABC/ESPN and the league but a repetitive irritation for Celtic Nation. Fortunately resilience has been their calling card so far, so maybe that irritation will fade by series end.

In the meantime, here are a few observations from the first two games.

Raise your hand if you knew Payton Pritchard was the second leading Celtics rebounder in Game 1 with six. One behind leader Jaylen Brown and tied with bigs Al Horford and Rob Williams. He also scored 8 points and played plucky on-ball defense vs. Jordan Poole in the decisive fourth quarter, and the C’s were a plus 14 in his 15 minutes of PT.

Speaking of Poole: This is unofficial, but that shot he made from one step past mid-court to end the third quarter of Game 2 is likely the longest shot made in the finals since Jerry West buried one from two steps beyond mid-court as time expired in the fourth quarter to send Game 3 in 1970 to OT. The Knicks recovered from that to still win 103-101, but that 53-footer was the ultimate clutch shot from Mr. Clutch.

Anyone ever seen Darth Vader and Draymond Green in the same room? Easy to hate that guy’s act after it was chippy stuff all around in Game 2.

I could not disagree more with ref analyst Steve Jaffe and Jeff Van Gundy saying a ref has to take into account game situations when deciding to give Draymond a game ejecting second technical foul for his first-half dustup with Brown. So what if he already had one? Doing that gives a guy whose M.O. is committing mayhem carte blanche the rest of the game. Sorry, he’s the doofus who put himself in the situation by being unnecessarily mouthy earlier in the game. He’s the one who crashed into Brown on his 3-point attempt and gave his landing on him a little extra oomph, then put his feet on his head to be annoying and Brown pushed him back. Double T, no questions asked. See you later, Draymond. Terrible interpretation by the refs.

I’ve never seen anyone who can go from being lights out in the first quarter to stone cold and absolutely awful the rest of the game as Brown was in Game 2, which came on top of his Game 1-saving fourth quarter to make it more perplexing. How does that happen?

Am I the only one who sees the irony in Mark Jackson waxing poetically about the Warriors; mini-dynasty? Because it happened immediately after he got fired for the toxic environment he created when he was their coach.

He hasn’t played all that well yet, but after two years of bad luck and hard rehab it’s nice seeing Klay Thompson healthy and back on the court.

Amid all the local drooling over Jayson Tatum’s many high moments, I’m still pretty tough on him for his lapses. I’m not picking on him; I just think he still drifts too much in his focus. So if you’re wondering why I included him in the Game 2 carnage despite scoring 28 points, it’s because they were -36 when he was on the floor. So something wasn’t working.

Having said that, it was a relief to see his touch return in Game 2. Though I’m with Mark Jax that he’s still not quite in sync, because he’s forcing things in favorable match-ups.

Anyone on the“Stephen A Blowhard is a basketball genius” bandwagon remember he proclaimed the Warriors to be “in serious trouble” after losing Game 1? That’s Game 1 of a best-of-seven series when the Celtics shot a very hard to repeat 7 of 9 from distance in their fourth-quarter blitz. Talk about an overreaction, which predictably lasted one game. Truth is, series like this usually have mood swings and the first two games rarely tell you much because they’re like fighters feeling each other out. As for Stephen A, shouting it louder than everyone else may get you to the top of a sports network, but it doesn’t make you right, which he rarely is. And that imbecile Skip Bayless makes him seem like he’s basketball’s Einstein.

Along that line, the overall stat so far to make Celtic Nation queasy is that the Dubs basically shot the same in both games, while the C’s were a hard-to-match 51.2 percent on 3’s in Game 1 and a back to normal 39 percent when they got croaked in Game 2.

While I love prehistoric history more than most, linking this Celtics team to those from its rich long ago history seems a stretch to me. I see the connection for guys who have played for the franchise and old buck fans like me, but it’s won one title in 36 years! Which by the old way of thinking is three and half decades of failure. The kind of franchise people around here during the Bird era goofed on.

This group is actually more like what Curry and company were in 2015. A young up and comer looking to be the NBA’s next great multi-year contending team. Time will tell if they become that, but if they do, I’ll settle for that.

Peace of mind

Broderick discusses mental health book, webinar series

John Broderick, senior director of public affairs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and former Chief Justice for the New Hampshire Supreme Court, discussed his new book, Back Roads and Highways: My Journey to Discovery on Mental Health, coming out at the end of this month, and a year-long webinar series about mental health called “Heads Up,” which he is organizing in partnership with Dartmouth Health.

What is the Heads Up Series?

The Heads Up series was started during Covid … [to talk] to the New Hampshire community about Covid-related mental health issues, for children, for families, for the elderly. It was very successful. … For the next year, we’ll be focusing on mental health issues … covering a number of topics. … There will be some virtual forums on these various topics that will be available to the public at no cost. Some of those forums will have Dartmouth Health people on them and many other folks, too. … The goal of this series is really to increase awareness and start a different conversation around mental health.

What topics will it cover?

A lot of it will be focused on adolescents. … Some of it will relate to social and cultural pressures that young people are feeling before, during and after Covid. We’re going to talk about social media, athletics, stress. … There will be a number of topics that I think will hit a broad audience over the next 12 months.

How did you determine those topics?

They’re topics that I’ve raised in the book I [have been writing] for the last six years with the help and support of Dartmouth Health. … I’ve been traveling all over New England and talked to 100,000 young people in grades 6 through 12 in 300 gyms and auditoriums about mental health awareness. Of those kids, probably 4,000 of them have talked very privately and confidentially to me about what they’re seeing and experiencing, not just during Covid, though a lot of it has been exacerbated [due to Covid].

What is your personal interest in mental health?

It comes from my own lived experience with my family. … I’ve been very open about my family’s journey. … Two decades ago, while I was in public life, I didn’t understand mental health at the time, and I didn’t see it in my own family for what it was. I made mistakes; I see them now. It took my family on a really hard public journey that I wouldn’t wish on another living soul. The good news is, my family came through it. We’ve healed, and we’re in a very different place now. … The reason I’m doing what I’ve been doing is because of my own ignorance and the unintended harm it had in my own household. … Over the last six years, [mental health] has become acutely personal in a different way. … When I go to the schools, I’m honest with [the kids]. I’m vulnerable in sharing my family’s journey. I’m asking for their help to change the culture and the conversation which we have avoided for generations, and kids respond to that.

What is the book about?

The book is not really autobiographical or a story of my family. That story is already public; I share it every time I go and speak. The focus of my book is … everyone else’s family. I wrote the book because I wanted people to come with me at my elbow, into the [school] gyms and auditoriums all across New England, and to feel and experience what I felt and experienced. I want people to realize the nature and scope of the problem, and to understand that we can fix it, but only if we talk about it. … My book really is [meant] to drive a new discussion about the needed change in America’s mental health system, and to say to people that treatment works; it’s not hopeless. We just need to expand the system and allow people to access health care when it relates to something going on above the neck.

How can mental health be improved in New Hampshire?

The numbers of families and people dealing with mental health and substance [issues] is enormous, and we don’t have a system in this country to deal with either problem. … We don’t have enough psychiatrists … or nurse practitioners who deal with mental health issues. We don’t have enough psychiatric social workers … or mental health counselors. It’s not because people wouldn’t go into those careers; it’s because we don’t incentivize it. We don’t pay them. Psychiatrists, for example, are among the lowest-paid members of the medical profession. … Also, [mental illness] is still stigmatized. People are still ashamed. I know because the kids have told me that. They don’t feel that way when they have a broken ankle or a bad back. [Kids] feeling like they’re letting someone down or are defective in some way because they have a mental health problem is on all of us. … We need to let people know that it’s an everywhere, everyday problem, and not the result of some personal deficiency or weakness.

Featured photo: John Broderick.

News & Notes 22/06/09

Covid-19 update As of May 27As of June 6
Total cases statewide 324,373 327,358
Total current infections statewide 4,544 3,658
Total deaths statewide 2,534 2,542
New cases 3,331 (May 21 to May 27) 2,985 (May 28 to June 6)
Current infections: Hillsborough County 1,257 1,593
Current infections: Merrimack County 403 525
Current infections: Rockingham County 1,063 1,330
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

Students march

Students from Nashua North and South high schools will join hundreds of student groups across the country in the March for Our Lives protest, a nationwide event planned for Saturday, June 11, in response to the recent string of shootings throughout the U.S., to raise awareness about gun violence and advocate for gun control legislation. According to a press release from the organizers, the peaceful protest will take place in downtown Nashua, starting at 1 p.m., at The Soldiers and Sailors Monument. The students will then march to Greeley Park, where local high school students and Rep. Laura Telerski will speak about their experiences and opinions surrounding gun violence and gun legislation, starting at 1:45 p.m. March for Our Lives is a national student-led movement formed in 2018 in support of stricter gun control laws following a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. See “March For Our Lives Protest in Nashua” on Facebook for updates on the local effort.

Racing history

What was previously known as the North East Motor Sports Museum in Loudon has been officially renamed the New England Racing Museum as of June 2, according to a press release from the Racing History Preservation Group, the nonprofit that owns the institution. The 10,000-square-foot museum features race cars, motorcycles, photographs, artifacts, books, racing helmets, trophies and racing uniforms from throughout the history of motor racing in the New England region. The reason for the name change, the press release said, is to more accurately reflect the museum’s focus, which has become more specific to the six New England states than to the larger Northeast, and to racing than to the broader realm of motor sports, than the museum’s board of directors had originally anticipated when plans for the museum were first drafted more than 12 years ago and when the museum opened its doors in 2017. “You tell me we’re going to see motor sports and I’m not interested,” museum trustee Mike Smeriglio said in the press release in regard to the name change. “If you want to go see racing, I’m on board.” The museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays during the summer, Saturdays during the winter, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with expanded days and hours when there are racing events at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Admission costs $10 and is free for children under age 12. Visit nemsmuseum.com.

Space news

The University of New Hampshire has been selected as one of 14 universities in the U.S. to receive a portion of more than $10.4 million in funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, WMUR reported. The funds are to be used for research and special projects being conducted at the universities in partnership with NASA. In February, UNH announced that a group of researchers and engineers from the university’s Space Science Center had been recruited by NASA to study particles streaming to Earth from the edges of interstellar space as part of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission, expected to launch in 2024. According to the UNH website, the mission will further understanding of the heliosphere and how the sun impacts the atmospheric space surrounding the Earth, which may ultimately help to provide better protection for astronauts and satellite technology.

The cane tradition

The Warner Selectmen will award long-time Warnerresident Phil Lord the Boston Post Cane at the United Church of Warner on Saturday, June 25. The tradition was introduced in 1909, when the now defunct Boston Post newspaper presented gold-headed walking canes to many New England towns to award to their oldest residents. Lord, who celebrated his 96th birthday on Feb. 4, will be the 32nd recipient of Warner’s cane. According to a press release from the Warner Historical Society, Warner is one of the last communities to still have its cane and continue the tradition. The cane will be preserved at the Warner Historical Society after the ceremony. The event runs from 2 to 4 p.m., with the main presentation at 2:45 p.m., and is free and open to the public. Visit warnerhistorical.org.

Deceased New Hampshire residents who served in the National Guard or as reservists during their lifetime can now be buried in the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen. According to NHPR, the cemetery previously only accepted burials for New Hampshire residents who had served on active duty as members of the military. The Executive Council voted unanimously for the change in policy.

Those grieving the loss of a loved one will no longer have to worry about paying road tolls in New Hampshire when they are part of a funeral procession. Gov. Chris Sununu signed the new executive order on June 6 which states that if the lead car in a funeral procession stops at a toll booth and informs the attendant of how many of the following vehicles are in the procession, the attendant will allow those vehicles to pass without having to stop or pay, according to a press release from the Governor’s office in Concord.

The Merrimack Rotary Club is holding an Electronics Reycling Fundraiser on Saturday, June 11, from 8 a.m. to noon at Merrimack Town Hall (6 Baboosic Lake Road in Merrimack), according to a press release. Drive by and pay a donation fee to drop off telephones, cables, video games, speakers, radios, computers, televisions and air conditioners, the release said. See merrimackrotary.org.

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