From the Publisher: Welcome to the second issue

I’m delighted to be back, and grateful to our readers, community, advertisers and underwriters for continuing to see the value in this effort — and putting their time, passion and financial support into it. We threw a reception for contributors and sponsors after the first issue published, and the enthusiasm I heard in conversations that evening — for the representation this publication brings to various communities in the state — was overwhelming. And as the magazine made its way throughout the state, the positive feedback was fairly universal.

To be honest, in these polarized times, I’d expected to hear more criticism. But be careful what you wish for: I did get one note saying I shouldn’t feel entitled to inflict my “woke” political agenda on New Hampshire Magazine, where the letter writer had encountered our first issue (603 Diversity is inserted in New Hampshire Magazine, as well as NH Business Review).

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but I disagree with the writer’s premise. And I don’t mean the idea of whether it’s my prerogative to inflict a personal political agenda on our magazines, but rather the notion that 603 Diversity represents a specific political agenda to begin with.

Understanding diversity, in all that the word entails, and applying that understanding to our ability to engage in the world with empathy and compassion, has never been more important — or practical — than it is right now, in our fractious, deeply polarized and highly complex world. It’s part of how we can help create, for all of our neighbors — that sense of “welcome and belonging” that our columnist James McKim discusses in this issue. (See page 38 for McKim’s thought-provoking essay.)

And since healthcare is top of mind for everyone in the world right now as the pandemic grinds on, I’ll borrow an example from our story on “culturally effective healthcare” in this issue. The piece opens with an anecdote about a patient who’d had an organ removed but, because of culture and language barriers, didn’t know which one. Seems like an unbelievable experience to live through. And if an improved framework of cultural competence for healthcare providers, as described in our story, can help prevent things like that, or improve any of the array of disparate healthcare outcomes that some communities experience, that’s a positive for the whole state.

A good faith effort toward cultural competence shouldn’t be considered radically political, any more than empathy, hospitality or good-old-fashioned neighborliness.