N E W H A M P S H I R E M AG A Z I N E septemb er 2 02 0
Do-it-yourself backcountry triathlon
“The Explorers� share their end-of-summer tradition and show you how to do it
magazine
Top of Their Game
remar k a b l e sp o r t sw o men
Meet Four of Our Most Remarkable Women in Sports: Amber Ferreira Lauren Thibodeau Clare Grabher & Tara Mounsey
d i y b a c k c o u n t r y t riat h l o n
experience the awesomeness of as revealed by actual nerds R Concord native
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Live Free.
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September 2020 $5.99
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nhmagazine.com | September 2020
from left: photos by joe klementovich, kendal j. bush and morgen karanasios; inset photos from top left: by rachel ellner, emily heidt, courtesy and susan laughlin
Contents 42
September 2020
52
62
First Things
603 Navigator
603 Informer
603 Living
4 Editor’s Note 6 Contributors Page 8 Feedback
10 sabbaday falls
26 Cigar Box Guitars
photo by Greg Kretschmar
78 Living
by Bill Burke
by Emily Heidt
Features
12 Food & Drink
C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply
backyard sports
stock + spice
story and photos by Rachel Ellner
40 Transcript
Meet Dan Beaulieu of Seven Stages. by David Mendelsohn
42 DIY Backcountry
Triathlon
82 Local Dish
Most organized races were canceled, so why not create your own? The Explorers show you how it’s done.
by Jay Atkinson photos by Joe Klementovich
52 Granite State
Women Are at the Top of Their Game
Winning Olympic gold. Biking the height of Everest. Overcoming injury. Playing at the pro level. The athletes in this story have done all that and much more. See what this year’s Remarkable Women have achieved — and what’s yet to come.
stuffed squash blossoms
recipe by Teresa Downey
18 Top Events outdoor fun
by Emily Heidt
20 Our Town Conway
by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers
32 Blips
nh in the news
by Casey McDermott
34 Politics
Back to School
by James Pindell
by Bill Burke photos by Kendal J. Bush
35 Artist
62 Nerd Power
by Susan Laughlin
What would New Hampshire be without its nerds? Probably pretty boring. Here are some creative people you should know.
86 Health
dealing with an identity crisis
Rosemary conroy
24 Drink This
North country hard cider
by Bill Burke
by Karen A. Jamrog
36 What Do You Know? mystery objects
by Marshall Hudson
ON THE COVER Olympic medalist Tara Mounsey is one of this year’s Remarkable Women. Learn more about her and other accomplished athletes on page 52. Photo by Kendal J. Bush
88 Ayuh
readin’, writin’ and antisepsis
by Fred Marple Volume 34, Number 9 ISSN 1560-4949
nhmagazine.com | September 2020
3
EDITOR’S NOTE
As a kid, my tribe was the nerds and weirdos. Truth be told, it still is. Fortunately for me, the Granite State tends to attract such people. One of our features this month makes that case and awakened a few memories.
B
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4
nhmagazine.com | September 2020
oth my parents were worldly and curious people. My dad came from rustic, French-speaking Cajun stock and my mom from a well-off northern Louisiana family. They met in college and shared a love of knowledge and words that they passed on to all of their four kids. A rich and expansive vocabulary is certainly a gift to any child, but it comes with a downside. When you’re in grade school, there are a few acceptable ways to stand out from the crowd. Using words that other kids don’t understand is not one of them. During lunch table talks, I’d sometimes notice the other kids giggling until someone would say, “You use big words, Broussard.” Knowing “big words” turned out to be an advantage in one popular arena of childhood: comic books. During the 1960s, when comics were in what fans call their “Silver Age,” topics of science and sociology were increasingly figuring into the world-saving antics of our costumed characters. More than once, a friend would ask me to define something shouted out by scientist Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic from Marvel’s “Fantastic Four”) during a battle scene, like, “Hey, Broussard. What’s ‘critical mass’ mean?” I’d often have to take these questions back to my folks for clarity, but only after I had confidently offered a bad but sufficient-for-the-occasion answer. So comic books were my entry into the society of schoolyard peers, and they also offered an important life lesson. Characters like the X-Men and Spider-Man had abilities that caused problems for them in the world. The same powers they used for good were the cause of their outsider status. I realized my penchant for “big words” (like “penchant”) would always stand between me and complete acceptance from the other kids, but they might also be my super power. I would never have used the term to describe
myself but I was a nerd, just like the crew we rounded up for this month’s feature story “Nerd Power” (page 62). I was a word nerd. I met a fellow word nerd back when I was editor of a weekly newspaper for the town of Bow. A gentleman named Richard Lederer lived in town and taught at the prestigious St. Paul’s School in Concord. He wrote dozens of books and coined the term “verbivore” for people like himself (and me) for whom vocabulary was a staff of life. A similar passion for some subject of interest was exhibited in just about all of the most fascinating people I befriended in my beat as an aspiring journalist. Also living in Bow at that time was Eugene Mallove, an MIT professor and science writer who spent his last years promoting the defamed science of low-energy nuclear reactions (popularly dubbed “cold fusion”) as a potential cure for the world’s energy woes. He published Infinite Energy Magazine and established the New Energy Foundation before he was senselessly murdered while cleaning up a rental home he owned in Connecticut. Finally, a confession. Back in June, it was announced that the Segway, the iconic invention of our state’s premier nerd Dean Kamen, would no longer be made. It was a personal blow because I was a Segway believer. When Kamen revealed his two-wheeled, self-balancing people mover amid great hoopla back at the turn of the century, the rest of the world scratched their heads. I could clearly see a future of domed cities where people rolled to their destinations as swiftly as ball bearings on a track. I clung to the notion that Kamen’s invention would change the world right up until its floccinaucinihilipilification.
photo by p.t. sullivan
Guilty as Charged
598446
nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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Contributors Before calling the Monadnock Region home, photographer and frequent contributor Kendal J. Bush, who took the cover photo and photos for “Granite State Women Are at the Top of Their Game,” traveled the world as an editor and videographer for the National Geographic Channel and NBC. She combines years of experience as a photojournalist with her film school education to yield beautiful, creative portraits as well as corporate, wedding and event photography.
for September 2020
Journalist, author and speaker Dan Szczesny wrote this month’s “First Person.” He’s written several books of travel memoir and poetry.
The Explorers, photographer and writer team Joe Klementovich (left) and Jay Atkinson, produced the feature story “DIY Backcountry Triathlon.”
New Hampshire Magazine contributing editor Bill Burke wrote “Granite State Women Are at the Top of Their Game,” “Drink This” and “Informer.”
Cultural affairs reporter Rachel Ellner produced "Food & Drink." She has published widely on food, fashion, art and design, and the New England fisheries.
Fred Marple of Frost Heaves, the most underappreciated town in New England (and possibly the world), wrote this month’s “Ayuh.”
Our regular “What Do You Know?” writer Marshall Hudson is a land surveyor, farmer and New Hampshire history buff.
About | Behind The Scenes at New Hampshire Magazine Ah, normality. What once seemed so mundane that we were always trying to spice it up now seems like sheer bliss. Remember when you felt the urge to buy a new scarf or toaster or SUV, and then followed that impulse to a well-lit, welcoming space where people would greet you and assist you in your purchase? You might even pick up something on the way out that you’d never thought of buying. It’s an act we once called “shopping.” The good news is that it’s still happening, even with the restrictions and inconveniences brought on by the pandemic. Shops are adapting, accommodating and innovating, and not just by taking their inventories online. So, are you still an in-store shopper? If so, we have a mission for you. Here at New Hampshire Magazine, we view support for the retail sector as a big part of our mission, and we’d like to know how it’s going out there. We’re calling on both roving shopaholics and focused in-and-out purchasers alike to share their experiences with us for an upcoming series on the state of retail sales in our state. What are stores in your area doing to make shoppers comfortable and informed? Who is offering something new and different in products and services? What’s the most inviting window display on your Main Street? Send us short notes (or long ones) — and cellphone photos if you’ve got them — and your observations might appear in our newsletter or in an upcoming magazine feature. Address favorite finds and retail revelations to editor@nhmagazine.com. 6
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Treasure Map? SHIR NEW HAMP
AY PAWTUCKAW EXPLORINGsession in the great outdoors Page 52
AL G THE NEW NORM
will be ENVISIONIN things are and 46 Page illustrate the way Art students
A vicarious group
E E M AG A Z I N JULY 2020
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Un-Zen to Her
H 2020 BEST OF N EXPLORE PA W T U C K A W AY NVISION ARTISTS E RE THE FUTU RY AL DELIVE LOCAL ME
All of the beauty that surrounds us in the state of New Hampshire for cover opportunities, and this is what you chose to represent the best of New Hampshire? I find it unattractive, creepy, and unrepresentative of the best of our beautiful state. It’s very “un-Zen” to me! Marie McDonough Hampton
July 2020 $5.99
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Live Free.
Best Boots What a great article about Peter Limmer and his handmade boots that have been worn by diehard hikers throughout the world [“Navigator,” July 2020]. It’s great to hear that the business is thriving, and that they have kept the process his grandfather invented for making Limmer boots exactly the same over all these years. I bought a pair of Limmers in the late 1960s from Grandpa Limmer himself, and remember him sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of his building in Intervale with a big smile and sharing stories with anyone who would lend an ear. The boots are legendary, and it warms the heart to hear that Peter now has an apprentice to help him, and to hopefully keep the business going for many years after Peter retires. His grandfather would be proud! Brad Smith Bedford
I read a story from last July about searching for treasure at the Contoocook River Park [“What Do You Know?”]. It was written by Marshall Hudson — he is great. He mentioned an old map from 1909. I was hoping that he would be willing to share that with me. I metal detect in there sometimes, [and] it would be helpful to fill in some blanks — his article filled in a few. Metal detecting is a good way to super-social distance and enjoy my hobby. Would you be able to forward this to him or to send me his email address? Dave Sponenberg Concord Editor’s Note: We notified Marshall Hudson and he should have reached out to you with the map by now. Our popular writer of “What Do You Know?” is always happy to help out curious readers. For proof, check out this month’s WDYK on page 36, a complete column based upon one reader’s query about some mysterious rocks.
Trail Trials I just had to write after reading the hilarious article about getting lost on the trails at Bear Brook State Park [“Ayuh,” July 2020], and tell you about my adventure. A couple years ago, I hiked a trail there called Catamount — which I think is another word for “cougar,” speaking of hoping names don’t reflect what’s on the trail — and it was steep and rocky and not marked well at all, especially after I reached the top. I wandered aimlessly for ages, and finally ended up in someone’s backyard in a big mobile home
park. There was a woman outside raking and I said to her, “I’m lost!” She rolled her eyes, laughed and said, “Not another one! Don’t tell me — you took Catamount Trail?” So I got the impression I wasn’t the first by any means, which made me feel a little less embarrassed. I asked her how to get back to the main parking lot where I’d parked my car — across from the booth where I’d paid to get in — and she said I’d be better off walking on Deerfield Road to get back there, instead of trying to take any more trails. When I asked how far it was, she said, “a couple miles.” My expression must have told her how disappointed I was, because she laughed again and said, “I’ll go get my car keys.” She then drove me back to the parking lot. I have no idea where I’d have ended up if I hadn’t been lucky enough to walk out of the woods and into her yard, because the cellphone reception when I was in the deepest part of the woods was sporadic at best. I’d probably still be wandering around in the park somewhere to this day! Just thought I’d let you know I can empathize with the writer. Kelly Darby Nashua CORRECTION: In our July story on Peter Limmer & Sons’ handmade boots, we incorrectly gave the web address for the Limmer Boot Company Inc., which does not handmake their boots, nor offer the custom work that the Limmer family does for its footwear. To reach Peter Limmer & Sons, visit limmercustomboot.com.
Editor’s Note: Thanks for the note and check out the correction at the end of Feedback.
Senseless and Stupid I normally love your magazine as an uplifting break from our normal today. I found the essay “Political Pattern” by James Pindell to be just senseless and stupid [“Politics,” August 2020]. If he was going to check all the boxes, why not religion? You don’t need a label maker in your office because you already have one. Ted Carl Alton Bay 8
nhmagazine.com | September 2020
Freddy Krueger Trail
cover illustration by zach johnsen; “ayuh” illustration by brad fitzpatrick
Send letters to Editor Rick Broussard, New Hampshire Magazine, 150 Dow St. Manchester, NH 03101 or email him at editor@nhmagazine.com.
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Spot four newts like the one above (but much smaller) hidden on ads in this issue, tell us where you found them and you might win a great gift from a local artisan or company. To enter our drawing for Spot the Newt, send answers plus your name and mailing address to:
Visit our store in the Lake Sunapee region for the largest selection of woolens for fiber arts you will find anywhere. PLUS we have sportswear for men and women and blankets & gifts.
Spot the Newt c/o New Hampshire Magazine 150 Dow St., Manchester, NH 03101 Email them to newt@nhmagazine.com or fax them to (603) 624-1310. August’s “Spot the Newt” winner is Steven Brzezowski of Moultonborough. August issue newts were on pages 2, 4, 9 and 31.
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603 Navigator “The earth has music for those who listen.” — Shakespeare
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nhmagazine.com | September 2020
Photo by Greg Kretschmar
Food & Drink 12 Top Events 18 Our Town 20 Drink This 24
Tripping to the Falls A return to Sabbaday Falls seems to take forever until suddenly there you are by ernesto burden
T
here’s something about coming back into the White Mountains that fills up my spirit so that it wants to expand out into the landscape as though it could be back in all of it, all at once. By the time I’m rolling through Lincoln, I’m 10 years old again in all the best ways, full of hope and awe and joy. I want out — and into the mountains. But after the drive north from Manchester, the car full of kids wants to eat something on Main Street, and then there’s hotel check-in, and various gearing-up practicalities before the big hikes begin, but that doesn’t mean we have to forgo being in it now. We drive 20 minutes or so over the most beautiful highway in the world, the Kancamagus, and get out of the car at the Sabbaday Falls parking area. Less than half a mile up a smooth path, no need to get everyone into boots, there’s a stunning, multitiered cascade spilling through a rocky gorge. We follow timber walkways up and along the gorge ... and we’re in it. Back. NH nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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603 NAVIGATOR
FOOD & DRINK
Stock + Spice Sprinkle a taste of local flavor story and photos by Rachel Ellner
Stock + Spice in Portsmouth
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nhmagazine.com | September 2020
FOOD & DRINK
603 NAVIGATOR
T
he salty air of Portsmouth’s Old Harbor just outside Stock + Spice conjures up images of the international spice trade. But inside the rustic shop, smells of freshly ground spices typically come from the mingling of ingredients that were once considered “exotic” merely because they were foreign-grown. Long ago, spices from four continents were unloaded at the wharves just across from the shop’s present-day location on Ceres Street. Today, many ingredients sold at Stock + Spice are grown on nearby farms. The talent responsible for many of the distinct and versatile spice blends is also local. Chef and store owner Paula Sullivan is trusted for her strong Seacoast culinary experience. She presides over the sourcing of ingredients, the creation of dozens of blends, and nearly a hundred single spice ingredients. Many of the custom blends have folksy origin stories (see sidebar on page 14) that reflect the culinary and farm communities in and around Portsmouth. Increased interest in those blends coincides with the popularity of Turkish and Middle Eastern cuisines. “Mastering Spice,” the third spice book by Israeli chef Lior Lev Sercarz, was widely ranked the best cookbook of 2019. Sercarz is known for creating blends that evoke vivid childhood memories. In contrast, Craig Claiborne’s “An Herb and Spice Cook Book” from 1969 devotes each of its chapters to the use of a single spice or herb. The chapter on “peppers” is on peppercorns alone. Sullivan, who was classically trained at Johnson & Wales in Providence, is herself part of this trend of noted chefs becoming adept at creating signature blends and enhancing some of the old standards. She also collaborates with some superb culinary talent. “I’ve always been a New England chef,” says Sullivan, who started her career working for renowned New England chef and cookbook author Jasper White, a two-time James Beard award-winner. “The urge to source locally was imprinted upon me in Jasper’s kitchen,” she says. Another influence is Portsmouth chef Evan Mallett, chef-owner of Black Trumpet restaurant, where Sullivan also worked. “He’s a most creative and curious chef,” she says. “His exuberance and the seductive powers of the spices themselves” continued on page 16
Chef and Stock + Spice owner Paula Sullivan nhmagazine.com | September 2020
13
603 NAVIGATOR
FOOD & DRINK
Spice collaborations Jeremiah Vernon visited Sullivan’s shop needing a spice blend for rotisserie chicken nights at Vernon Family Farm in Newfields. The resulting collaboration with Stock + Spice, which yielded the Rotisserie Chicken Rub, provided a well-rounded, salty, sweet and tangy flavor. Vernon now offers his rotisserie chicken seasoned with Stock + Spice’s Tuscan herbs, harissa, jerk seasoning and coffee rub. Chef David Vargas, a two-time James Beard finalist, is owner-chef of Portsmouth’s Vida Cantina. Boom Spice is a creation based on recollections of his mother’s chile. To make the blend, Sullivan toasts and grinds ancho and New Mexico chiles, then grinds cumin and coriander and adds just the right hit of cayenne. It is added to sautéed aromatics to make chili, but also offers a Southwest profile to fried eggs or, with a pinch of cinnamon, to roasted sweet potatoes. Yucatan blend is inspired by the seasonings Chef Evan Mallett uses for his ceviche served next door at Black Trumpet restaurant. In a shrimp stir-fry with garlic and scallions, it adds a high-spirited yet delicately citrusy taste. Mallett, a five-time James Beard semifinalist, originally opened Stock + Spice in 2014 with his wife Denise.
Chef Evan Mallett of the Black Trumpet
14
nhmagazine.com | September 2020
603 NAVIGATOR
FOOD & DRINK
continued from page 13
What’s in the air? The inviting smells inside Stock + Spice often are from freshly ground spice ingredients grown on farms in New Hampshire and Maine. Locally grown peppers like the habanero, ghost, New Mexico, capperino and cayenne can figure prominently in the aromas that circulate. But then comes the hit of the freshly dried and ground orange zest, or the Ellagance culinary lavender from Hidden Meadows Farm in Eliot, Maine. The Local Paprika is made with Boldog peppers from Tuckaway Farm in Lee, while the hot chiles for the Wicked Hot Salt are grown at Wake
Robin Farm in Stratham and Heron Pond Farm in South Hampton. “All the peppers ripen in two to three weeks. I dehydrate them as they’re harvested and grind in small batches throughout the year,” says Sullivan. “The Wicked Hot Salt is for anything you want to add salt to, but with lots of heat and fruity pepper flavor,” she says. Celery salt, made from celery grown at Two Toad Farm in Lebanon, Maine, is versatile for old standards like deviled eggs, bloody marys, cocktail sauce or sprinkled on a ripe tomato. It’s also an ingredient in homefries Sullivan makes with granulated garlic, paprika and black pepper.
The spices at Stock + Spice are often made from locally sourced ingredients.
convinced Sullivan to take over Stock + Spice, which Mallett and his wife Denise originally opened. The shop carries a number of Mallett’s original blends. Sullivan is also respected by locals who have the notion that the right spices infused in a bloody mary, mulled wine, fried eggs or pan-seared shrimp can take their minds off a wet, dreary day or a long period of being housebound. “You don’t have to be an alchemist to use spices. Start with a just a couple; you can stay simple or build on that,” Sullivan says. “Berbere, our classic Ethiopian blend, contains more than 15 spices. But I’m also a fan of sprinkling a little sumac and Aleppo pepper on local halibut. Even a touch of Szechuan peppercorns infused in oil will bring a piney, citrusy element to a simple sesame noodle salad.” Sullivan freely dispenses many of her own spice-infused recipes: chili tequila truffles, pork shank sweet potato soup, East Coast-meets-East Asian chicken thighs, and a prized rose hibiscus shortbread. She has a before-dinner Chai-tini, and an after-dinner apple hibiscus hot toddy. There’s also her Mexican spiced
Family-friendly dining with award-winning brews Welcome back inside! • 20 handcrafted brews on tap • Farm-fresh ingredients • New menu items — Locally sourced • Growlers & 4-packs of cans available to take home! • Take-out with online ordering • Follow us on Social Media
Serving Lunch and Dinner Daily | 40 Andover Road, New London | 603-526-6899 | flyinggoose.com 16
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603 NAVIGATOR
FOOD & DRINK
“You don’t have to be an alchemist to use spices. Start with a just a couple; you can stay simple or build on that.” — Paula Sullivan
cocoa, sold as a mix, made with local chiles when available. It has a Latin American taste profile and is suitable as a year-round hot drink. Sullivan explains the uses for ground rose-petal powder and the differences between Cassia and Ceylon cinnamon. She answers queries about why saffron is so expensive (it’s manually extracted thread-by-thread from crocus blossoms). There is a trio of distinct curry blends: Sri Lankan, East Asian, and a “mellow yellow” (a flavorful but not-overpowering version of a Madras curry). A fourth curry blend may be coming; Sullivan is working on a Caribbean curry, inspired by a goat dish she once had on the island of Granada. With so many additional spices entering into our daily cooking, the boundaries of what defines New England cuisine are being challenged. But the spice trade balance has also shifted. Certainly, many spices sold at Stock + Spice are sourced from farther away, but trade is beginning to flow the other way. Sullivan says that a significant portion of the shop’s online orders for her locally grown spices come from Vermont and as far away as California. A historic flip, some might say. NH
Find It
Stock + Spice
25 Ceres St., Portsmouth Visit stockandspice.com to see the full range of spices, blends and recipes. During COVID-19 restrictions, the shop was limited to online business. It has since reopened to modified and limited walk-in traffic. You can still purchase spices online.
Mason, NH • (603) 878-1151 • pickityplace.com
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TOP EVENTS
September | Picks Outdoor Things to Do
No snow? No problem. Head to Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel in Jefferson for a unique tour of the White Mountains.
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Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel Cart Tour Mid-September, Jefferson
Who says dog sledding adventures are just for winter? Jump on a rolling dog sled and pick from a 2- or 5-mile cart tour through the picturesque White Mountains. Each tour includes time with your sled dogs and an unforgettable hands-on experience. dogslednh.com
Lancaster Farmers Market
Weekends through October 10, Lancaster
Shop from seasonal vegetables and fruit, grass-fed beef, pork, lamb, poultry (chicken and duck), fresh-cut fish, eggs, milk, baked goods, crafts, baking mixes, spices and more. Make sure you check out their website for safety protocols before you go. lancasterfarmersmarket.org
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Get some much-needed fresh air and close out summer with events ranging from craft fairs to drive-in outdoor music to sled dog cart tours in the mountains.
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TOP EVENTS
The Tupelo Drive-In Experience: The Dave Matthews Tribute Band
Stargazing with the NH Astronomical Society
September 21, Moultonborough
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September 5-6, Derry
If you are looking for a fun, unique outdoor music experience, head to the Tupelo Drive-In Music Hall, where you can sit in your car and listen to the show broadcast through the Derry FM station for a socially distanced concert. Since every other parking spot will be empty, you can also bring a lawn chair and sit in the empty spot next to the driver’s side and listen to the band or artist playing on the riser. Concertgoers can also enjoy food delivered to their car by golf cart if it is ordered ahead of time, or they can hang out at the outdoor dining tent. This weekend, enjoy music from the Dave Matthews Tribute Band. tupelomusichall.com
Life in a Colony, Lessons of Wellness from the Bee Hive September 30, Lee
Interested in learning more about the medicinal powers of local honey? Mary Ellen McKeen, beekeeper at Bedrock Gardens and vice president of the NH Beekeepers Association, will help you explore your hive mind and how beekeeping, hives and honey can provide wellness, meditation and add delicious flavor to our lives. Don’t forget to tour the gardens while you are there. bedrockgardens.org
1. Lancaster Farmers Market, Lancaster 2. Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel Cart Tour, Jefferson 3. Stargazing with the NH Astronomical Society, Moultonborough
Gunstock Labor Day Weekend Craft Fair September 5-6, Gilford
Bring family and friends to learn about the wonders of the night sky in a talk at the Carriage House at Castle in the Clouds, then make your way to the field by Shannon Pond to get a chance to use a telescope to view the stars, constellations and more. While stargazing you’ll locate constellations and learn about stars and planets in our night sky. castleintheclouds.org
This free fair features over 90 exhibitors displaying their fine jewelry, primitive crafts, country and contemporary décor, functional and decorative pottery, gourmet foods, glass art, fine art, textile arts, quilts, wood-turned crafts, furniture and more. There will also be live music to enjoy while you are walking around (socially distanced, of course). joycescraftshows.com
4. Gunstock Labor Day Weekend Craft Fair, Gilford
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5. Lessons of Wellness from the Bee Hive, Lee 6. The Dave Matthews Tribute Band, Derry
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Want to try some Olde World shooting right here in New Hampshire? Please consider joining us for one of our upcoming high-volume European style events this season. You’ll be treated to some of the best pass shooting, authentic dinners and post meal walkup hunts in the North East.
AVAILABLE DATES: September 19th – British Isle menu October 17th – Oktoberfest menu November 21st – Taste of New England menu December 19th – Holiday menu
January 16th – Tuscan menu February 29th – Mardi Gras menu March 13th – St. Paddy’s Part 1 menu March 20th – St. Paddy’s Part 2 menu
We also offer guided and non-guided upland hunts and shooting lessons on our 400 acres of managed cover for Pheasants, Hungarian Partridge and Chukar Partridge September 1st through April 30th. Please visit our website for pricing and more information www.newenglandupland.com or call (603) 478-0099 to book your event or inquire about other offerings. Open to the public. Memberships available.
New England Upland Shooting Preserve · 222 Danforth Corners Rd · Hillsborough NH 03244 nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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OUR TOWN
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Overlooked Town Don’t just drive through Conway By Barbara Radcliffe Rogers
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onway has always been the plain little sister of jazzier North Conway. Even an early guidebook noted the differences, commenting that Conway was “visited by people who wish to enjoy quiet rest and pure mountain air, and who dislike the brilliant display of N. Conway.” Route 16 was — and still is — a main conduit for visitors to the White Mountains, and the completion of the Kancamagus Highway in 1959 funneled added traffic along Conway’s Main Street. To many today, Conway is a pass-through town, best known for its weekend traffic tie-ups. But even within sight of busy Route 16 are places that are worth stopping to see. The Swift River, which tumbles through Rocky Gorge and over a rocky bed beside the
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Kancamagus, ends its short-but-swift course in the center of Conway, joining the Saco at a pair of covered bridges. The two bridges are less than 1,000 feet apart, but cross two different rivers. The earlier bridge, built in 1870, crosses the Swift River and is now closed to cars; the Saco Bridge, also a Paddleford truss construction, was completed a decade later. After traveling southward from Crawford Notch, the Saco River’s twists and turns become even more pronounced as it reaches Conway, where it turns abruptly east and heads into Maine. This meandering route through the relatively flat valley leaves Conway with sandy-bottomed swimming places and expenses of flatwater for kayaking and canoeing (there’s a put-in along Route 302). The flat river valley created a rare expanse
The Sherman Farm 2018 “Corn Maize”
of good farmland in this mountainous region, and West Side Road was once lined in farms. As agriculture declined, most farms closed, and only a few are still active. After it enters Maine, the Saco turns north along the New Hampshire border, creating another area of alluvial farmland, where the Sherman family started Sherman Farm, a small dairy farm, in 1964. Generations later, the Shermans have expanded steadily, with a year-round farm shop where they sell vegetables, their own milk in glass bottles, cider donuts and baked goods along with ice cream in the summer. Entering the field of agritourism more than a decade ago, Sherman Farm’s 12-acre “Corn Maize” features a different theme each fall, from Peanuts to the Patriots. Harvest
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photo by roger stillman
OUR TOWN
Café Noche in Conway is a vibrant cantina serving classic Mexican cuisine.
activities for all ages include a mini-maze for younger children, hay rides, a petting zoo and pumpkin patch. Among the throngs of tourists that were drawn to the region’s beauties in the early 1900s were artists who came to paint, among them Thomas Wilmer Dewing and Maria Oakey Dewing, whose summer cottage was not far from the Sherman Farm. The Leita
Monroe Lucas Preserve includes the remains of their cottage and gardens, which can be reached by a one-mile walking trail. A branch of Weeks Brook cascades beside the trail, and signs explain the history of the Dewing cottage and other historic and natural sites of what was once a thriving little hamlet. (A trail map can be found on the Upper Saco River Valley Land Trust website, usvlt.org.)
We knew that we couldn’t follow a trail to find the Washington Boulder, a giant glacial erratic that was once a popular destination for afternoon excursions from the valley hotels. Unlike neighboring Madison’s larger boulder, which is still there, the once-famous Washington Boulder met its end when it was quarried into the granite slabs that form the foundation for the Conway Public Library. But the library didn’t let the boulder’s legacy die. In the center of Conway, not far from the pair of covered bridges, the Conway Public Library is a landmark building on the National Register of Historic Places. Thanks to the fascinating Mt. Washington Valley History blog by Bob Cottrell, curator of the library’s Henney History Room, we know a lot more about the Washington Boulder and other lost bits of Conway’s past. The interior of the library, like its exterior, is impressive in its artistry, with carved oak paneling and stained-glass windows, and over the mantel in the Reading Room is a framed set of four photographs showing the process of quarrying the Washington Boulder into the slabs for the library’s foundation. Only scant relics remain of another early
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OUR TOWN
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Conway tourist attraction, the White Mountain Mineral Springs. Founded in 1882, the White Mountain Mineral Spring Co. bottled spring water for which they made expansive curative claims. The water was shipped to valley hotels, and tourists came to stay in the guest house and “take the waters” at a hexagonal Victorian spring house. When we first saw the spring house, it was sagging and forlorn in neglect, appearing like a ghost out of the woods on the edge of a clearing. Today, the restored pavilion is on the grounds of the new Kennett High School. More Conway history lurks in the nooks and crannies of the Eastman Lord House, the museum of the Conway Historical Society. Built in 1818, the house was the home of a local mill owner, and until it was given to the society, only three families had lived in it for 150 years. The society’s extensive collections are displayed in rooms decorated and furnished to various eras from 1818 onward. Changing exhibits highlighting particular events or eras in local history are presented in the former St. Charles Catholic Church next door, now the Salyards Center for the Arts. These have included subjects ranging from the Native American period to the impact of World War I in the valley. Sitting in Conway’s notorious traffic slowdown always reminds our kids to put in their bid for at least one dinner at Café Noche during our stay. When they were little it was the bright lively décor filled with colorful Mexican artworks that inspired their loyalty, but as they have grown older and their palates have matured, it’s now the equally lively cuisine and irresistible mango smoothies. NH
Learn more Sherman Farm
(603) 939-2412 shermanfarmnh.com
Leita Monroe Lucas Preserve (603) 662-0008 usvlt.org
Mount Washington Valley History mwvhistory.blogspot.com
Conway Historical Society (603) 447-5551 conwayhistoricalsociety.org
Café Noche
(603) 447-5050 cafenoche.net
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NEWS
WEATHER
ALWAYS
ALERTS
WITH YOU
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Drink this
North Country Hard Cider Silas and Ivan Gordon make a hard cider Mom would love By bill burke
G
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There’s no shortage of interesting options at North Country Hard Cider in Rollinsford — for instance, the Fire Starter, with flavors of cinnamon, pomegranate and habanero peppers.
The remarkably diverse line ranges from sweet (Pineapple Thunder, with flavors of lime zest and cilantro at 4.8% ABV) to North Country’s barrel-aged offerings. Rye, aged in rye whiskey barrels from Flag Hill Distillery in Lee, offers bold vanilla and
whiskey notes at 6.75% ABV. Old Forrest, also off-dry, is aged in 7-year-old Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels, imparting a vanilla nose and rich color from the oak char. Silas, Ivan and Ron have even added
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rowing up in rural Maine, the Gordon brothers — who, along with friend Ron Dixon, are the founders and cider makers at North Country Hard Cider — weren’t allowed to have food with additives or preservatives. “My mom’s a chemist, and if we ever went shopping with her and wanted something, she’d turn it around to see what the ingredients were,” says Silas Gordon. “Most of the time we couldn’t get it.” It created an ethos, however, that stuck. So when Silas, Ivan and Ron started the Rollinsford cidery in June of 2014, they created hard ciders free from those additives and preservatives. “It’s very real,” Silas says. “It smells like apples. It tastes like apples. Most people are allergic to sulfites at some level, so you’re not going to get a headache from drinking it.” Is that a no-hangover guarantee? “Well, it won’t be from the cider,” Silas says, laughing. “You can get a hangover from eating too much pizza.”
RVRWDS-769 NH Magazine summer JUNIOR PAGE ad 4.625x7.45.qxp_Layout 1 7/15/20 3:22 PM
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FOOD & DRINK
The Honey Badger, made from Maine-grown honeycrisp apples, is their lightest cider.
some heat in the form of Firestarter, which has flavors of cinnamon, pomegranate and habanero peppers grown right down the road from the cidery. When Silas reaches for a cider, though, he’ll go for something with a little bite. “The more tart the better, for me,” he says. “We make one called Bitter Brothers, made from bittersweet apples from our farm in Maine. It’s crisp, super-tart, and you’ll get tannins from that bittersweet apple as well. The acid allows the palate to taste more.” Visitors to the cidery, set in an old mill building overlooking the Salmon Falls River, can work their way through a long list of ciders available by the can, fill a growler with whatever is on tap, order 12-ounce pours or try a flight. (The tasting room has been moved to an outdoor patio as of press time.) Labor Day will bring with it a new release called The Bond — a cider made in collaboration with Deciduous Brewing Company of Newmarket. Later in the month expect fall flavors, including an utterly unique cider made from wood-fire roasted squash, called, well, squash. “It’s one of the most unique ciders we make,” Silas says. “The squash adds so much. It has a very unique mouthfeel.” And it, like all the other North Country Hard Ciders, will be additive-free and mom-approved. NH
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603 Informer “Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.” — George Eliot
Ben “Gitty” Baker puts a cigar box guitar through its paces at his workbench in the C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply shop in the Gonic mill in Rochester.
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Photo by Glenn Watt
Blips 32 Politics 34 Artist 35 What Do You Know? 36
Hard Times Make Great Music
To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a cigar box is just a cigar box — unless Ben “Gitty” Baker gets a hold of it. by Bill Burke
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here’s a wall on the second floor of an old mill building in the Gonic area of Rochester, where a mismatched collection of beer cans, cigar boxes and even a shovel are wired to wood and metal. At first glance, it looks as if Ben “Gitty” Baker, founder and owner of C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply, is bolting spare parts together in an unusual art project in the sprawling second-floor space overlooking the Cocheco River. But enthusiasts of cigar box guitars — smallish, rustic-looking, surprisingly harmonious instruments — would recognize the collection as a museum dedicated to the handmade instrument. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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“This is the wall of random stuff that I didn’t have anywhere else to put,” Baker says. “These are things I bought from other people, prototypes and things other people have sent me.” Cigar box guitars trace their origin back to the Civil War, first appearing in engravings by Edwin Forbes. One shows a Union soldier making an instrument out of a cigar box, and another depicts a solider playing a cigar box fiddle. Cigars were once shipped in barrels, but an edict from the US government spurred a change that saw them delivered in boxes. “It didn’t take enterprising people long to realize this was a nice box and they could make something from it,” Baker says. What they made were musical instruments — uncomplicated, inexpensive and easy to make and play. Even now, the homespun devices look simple enough,
INFORMER
C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply founder Ben Baker and the canjo that started it all
photos by emily heidt
Gifts, experiments and one-offs on display at C.B. Gitty
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Smokin’: Cigar boxes on their way to becoming instruments
but in the right hands, they become a gritty, slippery instrument, capable of alternately growling, singing and weeping. Depending on a number of elements,
it can be a banjo, a dobro or a full, rich-sounding acoustic guitar. “One of the beautiful things about them is that each one is very likely to
sound a little bit different,” Baker says. “One of the most frequent things I hear people say is not so much exactly describing the sound, but that it’s surprising. They’re surprised that sound, whatever its exact nature, could come from a cigar box — from a homemade instrument. Some have a grittier, growlier tone. If you put the lower sound strings on it, it’s going to have that bluesier, growlier sound. If you put the higher-pitched strings on it, it’ll have that banjo, dulcimer sound. Same exact instrument, but it depends on how you string it or how you tune it.” There aren’t a lot of rules or gatekeeping when it comes to making or playing cigar box guitars — a culture cemented, perhaps, from the instrument’s primitive beginnings. However, there are things that have become the norm. Typically, they are three-string instruments, tuned G-D-G. Many players use a slide, making it a natural for the blues, while others strum easily made chords, making it a useful accompaniment instrument. “The fact that you can pick that guitar up and strum and it sounds good
Unique and special.
Kalled Gallery
the
Wolfeboro, NH & Santa Fe, NM 603.569.3994 kalledjewelrystudio.com nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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Samantha Fish will hold court at the Samantha Fish Cigar Box Festival in January in New Orleans. Rochester-based C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply is a sponsor of the festival, and of the International Cigar Box Video Playoffs — a chance for enthusiasts to post video of themselves playing homemade instruments. neworleanscbg.com
Smokin’ on a Cigar Box Though it was born from humble beginnings, the cigar box guitar has enjoyed a little time in the spotlight. A number of high-profile artists have added the angular instrument into their arsenal, and while C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply founder Ben Baker hasn’t personally handed one of his guitars over to a celebrity, he has recognized elements of his handiwork. “Certainly there are Gitty parts on a number of those guitars,” he says. Among the notable cigar box guitar enthusiasts: Paul McCartney won a Grammy for “Cut Me Some Slack,” on which he plays a cigar box guitar with Dave Grohl (who can be seen online playing a CBG in his own studio), Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear. The fact that Jack White plays a CBG should be a surprise to no one. This cultivator of the curious makes music on anything, including one-string diddley bows and handmade cigar box guitars. Kansas City singer-songwriter/blues guitarist Samantha Fish brought the CBG from the campfire to the front of the stage with her soulful, molten playing. She’s now involved with the Samantha Fish Cigar Box Festival in New Orleans — a celebration of the homemade instrument scheduled for January 13-16, 2021. C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply, of Rochester, is sponsoring the festival and the International Cigar Box Video Playoffs (neworleanscbg.com). ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons’ CBG cover of Ry Cooder’s “Billy the Kid” showcases how his red-hot Texas blues style translates perfectly to the cigar box guitar. Shane Speal, a legend in the CBG subculture, is often referred to as the King of the Cigar Box Guitar. He is the creator of cigarboxnation.com, the author of “Making Poor Man’s Guitars,” and is credited with having lit the fire under the modern CBG movement. Steven Tyler slings a nice four-string version that sports a nifty resonator. Seasick Steve is a former busker who gained notoriety by laying down a rootsy brand of Americana/blues on his handmade diddley bows, hubcaps and CBGs. Justin Johnson, known as “The Wizard” for his mastery of anything with strings, often reaches for a CBG. 30
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without doing anything else on the neck is great,” Baker says. “In fact, you can use one finger, which makes it even more accessible.” The impromptu wall of fame at Gitty HQ features one-, two-, three-, four- and six-string versions, various canjos and a lap-steel guitar. Another uses a dog dish as a resonator, and still another is topped with a Mississippi license plate. It also includes the instrument that started Baker on the road to becoming the center of the universe of all things cigar box guitar. That instrument — a one-string canjo crafted in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and made from a beer can — intrigued the former tech-worker-turnedde-facto-luthier. “I had gotten into bluegrass mandolin,” he says. “I bought a book about how to build mandolins, and it turns out that’s really hard. My friends brought me this as a gift, and I thought, ‘I could build one of these.’ So I started researching canjos. There isn’t much about them online back then, but there was a little about cigar box guitars.” Baker didn’t have any traditional luthier training (“I have a lot of different hobbies and I rolled them all into this”). Instead, he worked from a set of the original free plans for building the guitar made available by renowned enthusiast, and founder of the online Cigar Box Nation, Shane Speal. From there, their popularity, and Baker’s business, took off. “We were the first,” he says. “There were a few guys wiring pickups and selling them, making slides out of bone. I got into it as a hobby and got into selling fretwire. I was in the discussion groups and people were saying it would be great if they could buy this or that, and it grew from there. We were the first to focus on cigar box guitars as a whole and then introduce the kits. Being the first and the biggest, we’ve been able to be a part of the ship and also help steer it.” C.B. Gitty offers completed guitars, but its core business is selling kits that allow people to create their own instrument, from concept to completion. The company has grown to include 10 employees working in a 13,000-square-foot space in the Gonic mill. Just don’t look for
photo courtesy jean frank
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Wood and wire: a collection of handmade guitars ready to sing
classically trained luthiers. “To bring a real luthier in here, they’d spend a little too much time telling us what we’re doing wrong,” he says. “How do I say this nicely? We eschew convention.” It’s paid off. “We’ve helped thousands and thousands of people get into this and actively spread the word and push this idea that anyone, anywhere can build their own instrument and make music on it,” Baker says.
A-listers, many of them known for slinging high-end six-string guitars, have adopted the instrument over the years. (See sidebar on page 30.) “Big-time musicians and guitarists can get anything they want from these beautiful, wonderful guitar makers,” Baker says. “But a lot of them have found that the sounds you get from a cigar box guitar, you won’t get that out of a Gibson or a Martin or a Taylor. Now a cigar box is never going to sound like a Gibson or a Martin or a Taylor,
but on the other hand, those aren’t going to sound like a cigar box either. If that’s the sound you want, that’s where you gotta go to get it.” nh
Where to Buy C.B. Gitty creates and sells cigar box guitars, instrument building kits, amplifiers, books and personalized items through its website.
C.B. Gitty Crafter Supply cbgitty.com (877) 470-5707
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IN THE NEWS
Blips Monitoring appearances of the 603 on the media radar since 2006
Uncommon Ground
deeper connections to the natural world that visitors can carry with them back to their communities. “To me, it’s always been important that landscapes offer a sense of place,” Forti says. “I think when we teach from a sense of place, people learn to value and be better stewards of the land.” Forti also cofounded and chairs the board of “Slow Food Seacoast,” a local arm of an international movement to cultivate an appreciation for “good, clean and fair” food. And on top of all that, Forti readily shares photos and commentary with hundreds of thousands of loyal Facebook followers under the moniker of “The Heirloom Gardener.” He’s now turning that expertise into a book (“The Heirloom Gardener — Artisanal Gardening for a Changing World”) due out in spring 2021. Forti’s love of gardening began early on, admiring both his neighbors’ ornamental arrangements in Cape Cod and his grandfather’s “intensively planted vegetable patches” in the middle of Boston. As he sees it, “gardens are nourishment for mind, body and spirit.” And his work to spread this philosophy to rookie planters and expert farmers alike has caught the attention of one of the country’s leading authorities on the subject, the National Garden Clubs Inc. The group, which distinguishes itself as the “largest volunteer gardening organization in the world,” is honoring Forti as one of three recipients of its 2020 Award of Excellence. The award comes as Forti says he’s seeing a resurgence of local interest in gardening — both in the COVID-19 era “victory gardens” popping up in backyards across the country and in the
Bedrock Gardens in Lee gets national recognition If you’re looking for reason to be optimistic that people might still be able to find common ground in this time of what seems like insurmountable ideological polarization, John Forti has some advice: Check out a local garden club. “I’d go out to lecture garden groups all the time, pre-COVID,” Forti says, “and would see them making a huge difference
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and fostering common ground.” Forti is something of an ambassador for New Hampshire’s horticultural community. He’s the executive director of Bedrock Gardens, a ”public oasis of art, horticulture and inspiration” that sprawls across 37 acres of farmland in Lee. To Forti, though, the gardens also offer an invaluable opportunity to foster
John Forti, the executive director of Bedrock Gardens in Lee, is one of three recipients of the National Garden Clubs Inc.’s 2020 Award of Excellence.
photos courtesy of john forti
By Casey McDermott
renewed interest residents have shown s in, Clas igh Cron Kale for200 exploring public agritourism sites, 7 of especially as the pandemic has limited travel options. Forti’s also encouraged by the “whole new renaissance” of New Hampshire industries built around local flora, fauna and food: farms offering tours and harvest opportunities to the public, but also breweries, distilleries, gardens and more. “We’re seeing an enormous resurgence of people trying to find meaning and connection” through gardens and gardening, whether at home or in their communities, he says. Plus, he says, it’s as good a time as any to “get out from behind our blue screens” and get closer to green space of all kinds. “it can remind you that the world is actually a beautiful place — or can be,” he says. NH Golden: Granite Staters looking for new places to explore close to home due to lingering COVID-19 travel concerns might find some inspiration courtesy of a newly logged entry on Atlas Obscura, the popular website devoted to unconventional destinations large and small. They recently steered travelers toward the gravesite of Richard McDonald, the cofounder of the iconic fast food chain that shares his name. As the website notes, McDonald’s final resting place is tucked “in the tranquil Mount Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum” in Manchester, and his “humble niche sports the iconic golden arches” so closely associated with the restaurant.
SOURCED AND SOUND
photo courtesy atlas obscura
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89.1 Concord/Manchester | nhpr.org Richard McDonald’s grave in Manchester
Champions of Pride: Two New Hampshire residents were recently celebrated as “Champions of Pride” by The Advocate, a leading voice for LGBTQ news. Rochester City Councilor Palana Belken, who also leads the ACLU of New Hampshire’s Trans Justice initiative, was honored for being the first openly transgender individual elected to hold such a position in the state’s history. Also honored was 15-year-old Lane Joslin, who is transgender, for her work advocating against a bill that would limit trans girls’ participation in sports. As quoted in the feature, Joslin says, “Our humanity does not depend upon how others perceive us. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.” nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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POLITICS
Back to School?
communities that count on a busy campus for their own economies. How does one do social distancing on a school bus? What if there are students with by James Pindell / illustration by peter noonan parents or family members who are vulneraremote learning hasn’t worked well, especially ble to the disease? What about the effects of he single biggest political decision for students who are already disadvantaged. denying some kids free and reduced lunch a whole host of New Hampshire Even a data-driven approach won’t provide and health checks if there isn’t school? politicians will ever have to make is No wonder school districts in New Hamptheir position about if, when and how to open a safe answer. There isn’t enough testing to know exactly what the community transshire aren’t on the same page. Sure, the imschools this fall. pact of the disease in Derry is different than When the novel coronavirus hit here in the mission rate is for any given week, nor is in Dalton up north, but take three Seacoast spring, there was a near-universal take that there enough research to guarantee just how school districts: Portsmouth, Winnacunnet schools needed to close, and within days of vulnerable young people are at either getting and Exeter. All three are considering different each other, they did. Now it’s complicated. or passing the virus on. approaches, from a delayed start to the year Local case counts have receded but not gone Politicians also can’t just listen to parents away, and numbers are spiking elsewhere. — who are themselves conflicted. For parents to giving parents a choice to welcoming Another wave is expected this fall. of young kids, there is simply no way they can students on alternate days. For this entire generation of politicians, This is not just about Gov. Chris Sununu’s go back to an office with kids still at home. decisions. Every current member of the For parents of older children, there are all the there’s simply no more pressing decision. Sure, passing a budget is hard, but it doesn’t Legislature or candidate, every mayor, and missed opportunities and moments — from carry the same consequences. Balancing literally thousands of school board members Friday night football to prom to even SAT one political interest against another is just must take a stand — a stand that could define season. While parents might want school called politics, and eventually a priority will their political careers. to return to normal, the world isn’t back to win out. And when it comes to really hard There’s no rulebook. There isn’t a clean normal. After living in a family bubble for political pickles, like, say, statewide education conservative or liberal position. There might six months, with no vaccine in sight, does it be people who believe that the economy and really make sense to begin mingling with the funding, the Legislature has the option to kick the can down the road. Here the calenschools should open immediately, but polling rest of the community if it can be avoided? dar forces a decision — just a matter of weeks says this cavalier position goes against the The decision for colleges involves the majority. Some believe a remote learning tuition dollars that are keeping some colleges before another big decision will need to be made by voters. NH situation is essential, but research says that barely alive. Colleges are also bound to local
Decision time for parents and politicians
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ARTIST
603 INFORMER
Rosemary Conroy’s studio is directly above the newly opened Francestown Village Store.
Spirit Animals
Finding joy in all creatures great and small By Susan Laughlin / art and photo by Rosemary Conroy
“A
t least I’m good at reinventing myself,” says artist Rosemary Conroy of Weare. Conroy was born, raised and schooled in New York City, but after working for several years as a computer support specialist for Wall Street, her professional life lost its luster. Riding the subway and wearing pantyhose every day was not in her game plan. Next, working at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests was fulfilling, but after the 9/11 attacks, she realized she needed to find her dream job soon. She wanted to become a full-time artist. Today Conroy’s love of wildlife is omnipresent in her paintings. The eyes of her subjects, birds and bears and even whales, give them a real personality. That’s her joy — to capture the spirit of the animal. The connec-
tion she feels with the creature is parlayed to the viewer by detailing a knowing eye, adding bright patterns of color, and laying down loose strokes to render their form. She says, “I looked these animals in the eye before I painted them and I want the viewer to care about them too. We need to realize we all share the same planet.” Conroy knows her subjects. She has traveled to Manitoba to study polar bears, Minnesota to study black bears, out West to study bison, and she even swam with massive humpback whales in the Dominican Republic. These are the same whales that summer off the New England coast near Stellwagen Bank. “To look a humpback whale in the eye in their natural environment is an amazing experience,” she says. Back in her new spa-
cious Francestown studio, Conroy captures their joyful energy on large canvases. Meet the whales yourself. Conroy is offering in-person visits at her studio, where she is following all health protocols outlined by the state. Email, call or text her to arrange an appointment, or book through her website. Ever the conservationist, she relates that the real humpbacks are no longer near extinction through good conservation efforts. NH
Find It
Rosemary G. Conroy
Studio B 74 B Main St., Francestown rosemaryconroyart.com, (603) 315-9060 hello@rosemaryconroyart.com Conroy recently had a one-woman show of her latest paintings at the WREN Gallery in Bethlehem. Currently she is offering private showings at her studio (see information above), and is also represented by Square Rabbit in New London and Sullivan Framing and Fine Art Gallery in Bedford. Prices range from approximately $2,900 and up for larger paintings. Affordable reproductions are also available. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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603 INFORMER
WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
A mystery in need of solving by Marshall Hudson
T
he mystery started with a simple walk on the beach. The tide had gone out and left behind all the drifting goodies that wash ashore with a stormy high tide. Suzanne “Suzie” Graham was vacationing at Plaice Cove in Hampton, and was walking the beach collecting shells when she started noticing some peculiar objects. Graham has a knack for finding unique things — she once found an unusual rock that turned out to be a 30,000-year-old caveman hammer-stone. She didn’t know what these Plaice Cove mystery objects were, but their hardness and sheen made her think they were metallic. Many of them were similar in size and shape, suggesting they might be machine-made in a factory somewhere. The mystery items were dark in color and roughly the size and shape of a good homemade cookie, but with holes in them
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that gave them a Swiss cheese look. Graham decided she needed to find out what these mysterious objects were, and why they were suddenly washing up on the beach. She collected some samples, sealed them in plastic baggies, and set out to solve the mystery. Showing the samples to friends and local Seacoast residents yielded no answers, so she took pictures of her mystery whatzits and sent them off to area science centers. She never got a response. While reading an article in New Hampshire Magazine about the drowned forests at Odiorne Point and Jenness Beach state parks, Graham wondered if her mystery widgets might be petrified remains from the drowned forests, so she sent her photos and an inquiring note to the editorial staff at New Hampshire Magazine. The novel coronavirus shutdown made it a challenge, but I coordinated a meeting with her to
examine and obtain samples of her mystery objects. Casual observers of our meeting might have thought they were witnessing a drug deal going down, as two masked strangers met briefly in a deserted parking lot behind an empty building at an on/off ramp to exchange mysterious substances in plastic baggies. Looking closely at the objects, I noticed layers or lines that resembled woodgrain or growth rings on a freshly cut tree stump. Could the mystery items be from sunken logs or wood from an old shipwreck? I put one inside a woodstove and tried to light it on fire. It would not burn. I dropped one into a bucket of water to see if it would float. Sank like a rock. I ruled out anything to do with wood. Back in 2011, 4 million plastic disks were accidentally discharged from a wastewater sewage treatment plant and ended up washing up on area ocean beaches. The disks provide surface area for bacteria to cling to while breaking down the sewage, and are not supposed to be released from the sewage treatment plant, but it had happened.
photos courtesy suzanne graham
What Are They?
Are these mysterious ocean objects metal? Stone? Synthetic or natural? Marshall Hudson is on the case.
603 INFORMER
WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
While vacationing at Plaice Cove in Hampton, Suzie Graham stumbled upon the strange pieces pictured on the previous page.
photos by marshall hudson
Top: Professor Larry Harris of the University of New Hampshire studies the objects. Above: Graham gets an up-close look.
Could our mystery items be designed to serve the same purpose as the wastewater treatment disks, but be made of a more natural material than plastic? I contacted a friend who works for the state overseeing sewage treatment facilities, and was happy to learn that the mystery doodads I had been handling without gloves had nothing to do with sewage. I queried a professional geologist, and then other professionals in the coastal environmental world, and struck out again and again, but these contacts forwarded my photos and questions to their contacts, and those contacts forwarded it on to others. Eventually it ended up in the in-box of professor Larry Harris from UNH. Harris
thought he knew what the black cheese cookie things in my photos were, but he wanted to examine a sample. Harris teaches marine biology and has a Ph.D. in invertebrate zoology, which means he enjoys studying slimy ocean critters lacking a backbone. Harris had been teaching at UNH since 1969, and after 51 years, he decided to retire in May of 2020. Graham and I caught up with him as he was packing up and clearing out his office/laboratory. Harris has studied ocean life not only at UNH, but all over the world, including the South Pole. Harris spent a year at McMurdo station in Antarctica studying algae frozen in the ice. He told us that although the algae might have been frozen for thousands of years, when thawed it comes back to life, just as though it had laid down for a quick nap. Harris looked at our samples under a microscope and observed that the holes were funnel-shaped, and became increasingly larger in diameter as they got deeper into the material. “Clams” he said. Not just any old clam, a boring clam named Zirfaea crispata, more commonly called Great Piddock. The holes are the home of the Great Piddock, which burrows into the sea bottom and anchors there, pumping water in and out and filtering it to obtain the food and nutrients it needs. The holes are shaped like inverted funnels because the clam grows bigger and fatter over time as it burrows deeper. Our mystery item turned out to be over a thousand years old. It is saltwater marsh peat that had regularly accumulated new layers of silt and organic matter, which created the “growth rings” appearance that I had noticed. A Great Piddock colony had taken up residency and bored holes into the peat when it was still soft. Changes in sea
levels and many years of accumulated silt and organic matter compressed and buried the sample deep enough that sunlight and oxygen no longer reached it. The anerobic environment turned the sample black, and the Great Piddocks died or moved on. When moisture no longer reached the peat, it dried up and cracked into pieces, where it remained until some dredging operation disturbed it. The disturbed pieces then rolled around in the surf, which rounded off any sharp edges, and sorted them by size or weight as bigger ones sank and the lighter ones rolled on. A rowdy high tide spit them out, allowing Graham to find them while walking on the beach, which in turn led to a marine biology lesson in Great Piddocks from a South Pole scientist. Not a simple mystery, but we solved it. NH
Mystery solved. These 1,000-year-old objects were created by Great Piddock clams, which bored into the ocean floor. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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603 INFORMER
first person
At the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Pennsylvania, a 4-year-old learns that heroes come in all sizes.
Wanted: Heroes
A child’s-eye view of the day we can’t forget story, illustration and photos by Dan Szczesny
W
e are settled in for our ride across Pennsylvania, fresh off a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water. Coolers packed with treats, the long, glorious highway stretching out before us, we turn east for home after a twoweek road trip. We’re tired and ache with that sort of overload that seeps into your body after being on the road this long. My 4-year-old is just beginning to drift into a nap, when my wife suddenly asks, “Hey, isn’t Shanksville in Pennsylvania?” “The place where the plane went down on 9/11? I think so, why?”
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She’s quiet for a moment, focusing on her phone. “Oh, my gosh!” I say. “Today is the anniversary!” “Get off at the next exit!” she yells. Due to some perfect alignment of the stars, we find ourselves a couple miles away from the Flight 93 National Memorial on the anniversary of 9/11. I pull off the highway, oblivious to the role my daughter will soon play in the lives of so many people. A role that would all begin in a Goodwill store in the middle of nowhere.
★★★ By the time we arrive at the memorial site, it’s mid-afternoon. But the park is packed. We missed the President and the anniversary ceremony by only a couple hours. The bleachers are still set up and dozens of tour buses and RVs are buzzing around the site. As we pull up, we watch in wonder as a pickup truck, decorated from top to bottom with flags, statues of liberty and World Trade Center models, slowly drives by. Thousands of bubbles float out from the truck bed, shimmering in the cloudy sky. There are vets on motorcycles hugging and shaking hands. Tour buses from all over the country idle, tour groups of folks in wheelchairs, on crutches and hunched over walkers mill around. Families push strollers.
603 INFORMER
first person
Uma and her mom at the Flight 93 National Memorial on the anniversary of 9/11.
To my daughter, we are just going to a park. On the way here, I tried to explain that this will be a special park, a place to think about things and remember people. But I’m not ready to talk to her about 9/11 so I don’t really know how this will go. As I’m unbuckling her, she says, “Daddy, I want to wear the costume!” “Here?” “Please, yes, please!” At a stop off the highway, we took a bathroom break at a Goodwill store. My daughter found a bright red mask and cape and we took it with us for the coming Halloween. “Please let me wear it!” she moans. I’m out of my league here. There are TV cameras, and vets in leather jackets on Harleys. Would that be ... I don’t know, disrespectful? “Let her wear it.” My wife touches my elbow and smiles, always the voice of reason. The brave one. “It’ll be OK.” I fasten the Velcro cape around my daughter’s shoulders and slide the red mask over her eyes. “Like the Incredibles, Daddy!” I set her on the pavement, take a deep breath, her mother and I take a hand on either side, and we begin to walk.
The memorial is designed in the direction of the doomed airliner’s flight plan. The National Park Service has taken great pains to not sensationalize the site, to veer purposefully away from nationalism and focus on the heroic acts of sacrifice of the passengers that fateful day. It is a beautiful, respectful tribute. My daughter doesn’t know any of this. She knows we are outside, and it’s a warm day. There’s space to move, things to touch and flowers everywhere. And as we walk, people begin to notice. A docent near a large map of the park smiles and says, “Oh, honey, you’re so pretty!” A vet with a round belly and black vest filled with patches and medals smiles and gives me the thumbs-up. I smile back, I don’t know what else to do. Couples point at her. Some folks whisper. I’m shocked when one lady we pass on the long walkway up to the memorial says, “Thank you.” Near the viewing platform, a tall, darkhaired park ranger watches my daughter approach. “Is that a policeman, Daddy?” she asks. “No, baby, he’s called a park ranger.” “What does he do?” “Let’s ask him,” I say. I lift her up, but even in my arms, the ranger still has a few inches on us. His name is David. I whisper in her ear, ask him. “Mr. David, what do you do?” “Well, sometimes people have questions, other times they just want to talk,” he says. “I try to help people.” “Like a superhero?” she asks. Park Ranger David takes off his sunglasses and hat and bends toward her, only inches from her face. There is no one here,
no audience. This isn’t a performance. He is talking only to my daughter. “What’s your name?” he asks. “Uma.” “Well, Uma, this place was built to remember heroes. But today, you’re the only superhero here.” His eyes well up, as do mine. I hope she remembers this moment. “I’m an Incredible,” she tells him. “You sure are,” he says. We part ways, and I put her down. There are only a few people at that lookout, but when they see her coming, they move off. It’s as though they are making room for her, clearing that space to allow her a moment’s meditation. And she does. She walks right up to the edge and pauses. Like she’s reading the words. Like she’s a 4-year-old who somehow understands. ★★★ After, we visit the exhibit and my wife listens to some of the recordings. I can’t. I don’t want to cry. We check out the gift shop and my daughter picks out a fridge magnet. We drive over to the sculpture called the Tower of Voices, a half-built memorial with 40 wind chimes to commemorate the passengers. She calls it a singing tower. On our way back to the car, she plucks a daisy off the sidewalk and holds it tightly in the car. On the road, as she falls asleep, the flower remains locked in my daughter’s fist. We’re quiet as we drive away, heading home, the day slowly seeping into night. Grateful for the road. Grateful for each other. And grateful for the sleeping superhero we call our daughter. NH
★★★ The site sits on a couple thousand acres of farmland, and the memorial itself is enormous and subdued at the same time; a long runway-like walkway leading to a small orientation visitor center, then a larger museum, then the wall of names and finally a lookout platform rising above a hillock that overlooks the actual crash site.
The memorial honors the passengers of Flight 93 who thwarted an attack on the US Capitol. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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603 INFORMER
TRANSCRIPT
Free Bard Photos and interview by David Mendelsohn Dan Beaulieu is the co-founder and artistic director of Seven Stages, a merry band of players dedicated to bringing Shakespeare out of the mists of the past into the midst of common spaces in our modern world. They hold performances anywhere they can, but the most popular are staged at local bars under the title “ShakesBEERience,” where regular folks are encouraged to leave their tables, grab a script and assume a character alongside seasoned actors. So, Seven Stages invites you to head for your favorite watering hole wearing nothing but hose and cotehardie, because “Ale the world’s a stage.” And always remember, “Two beers or not two beers; that is the question.”
Seven Stages strives to buck the idea of being defined by any one thing. The goal is to create programming that speaks to people of every age, race and creed. ShakesBEERience was a flagship program to share our approach to Shakespeare — which I think of as “passionate irreverence” — in a setting that lowers inhibitions. Portsmouth is to Seven Stages as London was to Shakespeare, which is simply to say, it’s the place we do the bulk of our work. It was born in the well-worn wooden cultural oasis known as the Press Room, taken in lovingly by Book & Bar while the old digs got a renovation, and is back in residence at The Press Room. We’ve created programming in Brooklyn, in the Bay Area of California and all around the world, thanks to the wonders of Zoom and an international ensemble. Everything we do is free for all, or pay-what-you-will — we strive to break down fiscal barriers between our audience and these stories.
The series has been sponsored since its early days by the amazing team at Throwback Brewery, who take a very similar approach to crafting their beer as we do to Shakespeare: passion, creativity and a willingness to play. There’s a level of intimidation and austerity associated with Shakespeare that just isn’t what this guy was about. I think he’d have been a big fan of the 2004 Red Sox, who played loose and without regard for “The Curse” — exactly the kind of attitude needed to break the curse. I think he’d respect “Live Free or Die,” not as a neat motto, but as a direct command. We don’t try to recreate Shakespeare. We seek to emulate his ethos and approach to the classical texts he was playing with in a modern, exciting and accessible way. We’re looking at bringing “Titus Andronicus” to life on ice. I grew up playing hockey and have always been fascinated by the violence that is thrust up against the beauty and grace of the game. “Titus” shares a lot of that as well. My favorite play is “Twelfth Night, or What You Will.” It’s dope. “Hamlet” isn’t bad either.
In Shakespeare’s time, water was unhealthy, so alcoholic drinks were basic hydration, says Richard Ross, writing for The Drinks Business magazine: “Each of Shakespeare’s 38 plays has at least one mention of alcoholic drinks, so they’re deeply embedded in his writings.” Ross notes that drinks were indicators of social position. Ale was a peasant drink that was popular with the Bard. Wines were imported, thus expensive, so William caught a vicarious buzz by having his more princely characters guzzle them.
Visit 7stagesshakespeare.org for play dates and more info.
ABOUT THE PHOTO: Thanks to the award-winning Erika Cook for playing Portia in this scene from “Merchant of Venice.” Thanks also to Gay Bean and Heather Vitale of the Community Players of Concord for wardrobe and assistance, and to David Pelletier of Rye for the location. Finally, thanks to Jeanne McCartin for the idea for this installment of “Transcript.”
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dIY
Backcountry Triathlon Join our favorite band of adventurers, The Explorers, for a challenging, invitation-only adventure in a secluded area of the White Mountains. Or, better yet, read this for inspiration and create your own.
It’s 42 degrees, the water slightly warmer than
the air, with spires of mist rising from the smooth metallic surface of Stinson Lake. We dive in and begin cutting across the flat, silvery lake with Brad Hayman, a former elite swimmer from Gunnedah, Australia, surging ahead. The Fifth Annual DIY Backcountry Triathlon, held each September in Rumney, is underway.
âžľ Opposite: Brad Hayman, a former elite swimmer from Gunnedah, Australia, leads the way across Stinson Lake in Rumney, New Hampshire.
Story by Jay Atkinson | Photography by Joe Klementovich
A half-mile from the starting point, four of us arrive at a rock sitting a few feet beneath the water along the eastern shore of the lake. My hockey pal Mark Machera pulls me onto the rock, and I climb up alongside Jackson Spellman, Mark and Brad. For a moment, we linger at the turnaround. Jackson mentions the first DIY Tri when the water was numbingly cold and there was a strong headwind, which created a chop that smacked you in the face with every breath. We’re gazing across at 3,453-foot Mt. Carr, which darkens as the sky grows lighter. Everyone goes silent, hands on hips. Jackson is a lean, quiet, wry-tempered fellow. Standing to my right, he looks down, smiles to himself, and shakes his head. “You’re welcome,” I say, and everyone there laughs. Then Mark Machera pushes me off the rock and we start swimming, following after Brad in a staggered line. I’m at the back, the arc of the sun glinting off the water when I tilt my head to breathe. This is family, I’m thinking. This is home.
At Stinson Lake, Doug Langdon prepares for the swim leg of the DIY Backcountry Triathlon.
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Will Pierce joins his father Chris and sister Kaya on the dock after a bracing swim.
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Co-founded by my rugby
teammate Chris Pierce and me, the DIY Backcountry Triathlon was conceived as a challenging, invitation-only adventure in a secluded area of the White Mountains. In this way, we’d avoid the hefty fees of the triathlons and obstacle course races that have popped up, offering an opportunity for our kids to try their hands at a wilderness endurance event. Although my rugby friends and their wives have competitive backgrounds — football, soccer, wrestling, swimming, hockey, even a national dance champion — the DIY Tri is totally inclusive. These sojourns embody the outdoor lifestyle we all cherish, and it’s important to pass that on to our children. The DIY Tri isn’t a race against the clock; it’s a shared experience marked by humor, camaraderie, and a profound love of wild places. Chris Pierce calls it his favorite weekend of the year, and I have to agree. The first DIY Tri forms an origin story for our group of explorers, whose adventure calendar now stretches across all four seasons. The core events are a 1,650-yard open water swim, 6.5-mile mountain bike ride, and a 2.6-mile scramble up and down Mt. Rattlesnake. The swim portion is flexible — some of those participating in the heavyweight division swim approximately 500 yards, and friends who aren’t swimming coach the youngest athletes through swims ranging from 50 to 150 yards. Ten-year-old Willem Pierce and his 13-year-old sister Kaya, who are Chris and Tanya’s kids, have grown up in the DIY Backcountry Triathlon. Rugby pal Mike Zizza’s daughter Sofia, 22, a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina, is participating for the first time, though she was a stalwart in last winter’s pond hockey game. Two of my recent Boston University students, Andy Hallock and Betsey Goldwasser, are rookies this year. Our youngest participants, Teddy Godbout, 5, and his brother Max, 3, are being watched over by their rugby-playing parents Paul and Krystyna; and going by their early morning laughter, the young Godbouts plan to give it the old kindergarten try.
At Right: Kaya Pierce cycles alongside Stinson Lake followed by her dog Lenny Kravitz. Far right: Mike Zizza chases his daughter Sofia around Stinson Lake.
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Rumney, pop. 1,480,
is comprised of placid farms and neat clapboard homes spread along the Baker River, which winds through a valley of the same name. A church and white-fenced common mark the tiny village center. Located nearby is the Common Café and Tavern, our gathering spot on the Saturday evening before each DIY Tri. We’re lucky that one of the few businesses in town is among the best casual dining/live music venues in the White Mountains. By 6:30 p.m., our group, numbering 17, fills up the ground floor of the restaurant, which doubles as a bakery and coffee shop during the day. We keep staff members busy, taking orders for salads and their
crispy, thin-crust pizza, as well as local craft beers on tap. The “pre-game dinner” for the DIY Tri is a celebrated event, and in the midst of the boisterous laughter, I text Andy Hallock that he and Betsey have committed a faux pas by deciding to meet us the next morning instead of staying overnight at the Mountain View Lodge. An affable kid from St. Paul, Minnesota, Andy issues an immediate apology, promising to rouse Betsey and depart Boston by 5 a.m. the next morning. Soon we’re occupying every available space at the bar upstairs, though it’s already crammed with rock climbers, middle-aged couples drinking wine, bearded dudes in overalls and other friendly locals.
Rumney empties out right after Labor Day, with vacationers departing for other locales. Holding our event in mid-September allows us to participate in the sort of homey, Grover’s Corner atmosphere that “Our Town” author Thornton Wilder might have conceived if he were a rugby-playing bon vivant. During the triathlon we’re alone in the pristine environs of the Baker River Valley, but at night we’re surrounded by a cast of characters straight out of an earlier, more neighborly age. The upper floor of the Common Café and Tavern is long and narrow, finished in smooth pine, featuring a polished wooden bar along the right-hand wall, and festooned with massive crossbeams. At the far end of
the gleaming floor is a tiny stage, where DC Blue, a smooth blues-rock trio, is rambling through a bouncy version of “Rita Mae Young” by the Record Company. There’s a convivial buzz in the room, a rattling of glasses and bursts of hearty laughter piercing the buoyant, catchy tune. Chris sees an opportunity for a role in this musical comedy and gets up to dance with Kaya, his lovely blue-eyed, blond-haired daughter. For a minute or two, they’re the only two hoofers on the shiny dance floor. “Got a hollow heart and I’m feeling wrong Got a dollar in my pocket for a midnight song” Tanya grabs 10-year-old Willem and soon they’re up there too, gyrating and laughing. I step through the crowd, tap Chris on the shoulder and start dancing with Kaya, busting a few moves that haven’t been spotted since the invention of the VCR, and with good reason. The space fills up with burly rugby players, dancing with the Pierce kids and jostling each other. It’s contagious, as friends and fans of the band jump up — grandmothers, rock climbers, actual truckers and trucker-hatted hipsters, everyone shimmying and shaking and raising their hands to the ceiling. Chris looks over at me, his head rocking back with mirth, gesturing toward our friends. “Nobody has more fun than us,” I shout over the music.
The next morning,
right after the swim, I find my students, Andy and Betsey, on the beach. Andy is a tall, ginger-haired lad, a musician and hockey player. His girlfriend, Betsey, a soulful brunette who took my Jack Kerouac class, is trying to help Andy stretch my spare wetsuit over his angular frame. As I walk past, I say, “Glad you came?” Andy grins. “You’ve been talking about this for four years,” he says. “It’s going to be fun.” “You’ve got the wetsuit on backward,” I say, heading for my bike. Betsey laughs, pulling down the zipper on Andy’s chest that should be running along his spine. A short while later, we climb on our mountain bikes and head out on the gravelgrinding ride around Stinson Lake. Chris is riding alongside Kaya, who is pedaling her new recumbent bicycle. Just behind them, Paul Godbout is pulling young Max on a little trailer attached to his mountain bike. His wife Krystyna is piloting a similar rig, hauling Teddy whose legs are long enough to pedal. Multisport athlete Tanya Pierce, a former All-American in soccer at Ithaca College, shoots ahead with Willem racing along behind her, and it looks like a jailbreak as we race up Doetown Road.
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Our route begins with three steep hills, and Kristi Spellman and Brad Hayman and I pull out in front. A former Miss Teen Dance America, Kristi was trained as a competitive dancer, with ballet her specialty. Kristi and her husband Jackson and I frequently meet for early morning swims at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. She’s a dynamic swimmer, fast on a road or mountain bike, and quick over the ground. But today Kristi wasn’t able to swim. Before we got in the water, she revealed that a week after taking five stitches in her calf, she was in the shower thinking about the vegan sports supplements she’s developing for her employer. Weighing my suggestion for blueberry/vanilla pea protein shakes against other, more questionable combinations, Kristi absent-mindedly shaved off her stitches. As we reach the top of the third hill, Kristi says that on her return trip to the urgent care facility, a nurse told her that she was the “laugh case” of the week. On the spot, I nickname her “Stitches” Spellman, which I’m certain will be another moniker I have bestowed on a member of our crowd. The ensuing down hill is rocky and rutted and pitched rather steeply, and Brad and I speed along, bouncing over the rough terrain. We’re going fast enough to break our necks if we were to catch a tire and get catapulted into the air. Gripping the handlebars and straddling the frame of our bikes, we navigate the shallow ditch that crosses the road halfway down the hill, letting out war whoops. Passing me, Brad goes rocketing up the short incline at the bottom of the slope. “Weight advantage,” I yell out. Jackson and Bubba McIntosh, who played rugby together at the University of New Hampshire, are behind me. As they pass Paul and Max Godbout, who’ve lost a pedal and are temporarily broken down, Bubba cranes his neck to glance back. “Looks like the Godbouts are having some technical difficulties,” Bubba says. Looking over his shoulder, Jackson sees Paul busy by the rear axle of the bike, fiddling with the pedal. “They’re gonna have to figure that out as a family,” he says, in a salesman-type voice, and Bubba laughs. Rugby players are quick to point out their teammates’ shortcomings or perceived failures, which has transformed our event into the DIY Self-Reliance Triathlon. Three-quarters of the way around Stinson Lake, we turn right onto the newly paved 48
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The DIY Tri participants crest the top of Mt. Rattlesnake.
road that follows the western shore, providing unobstructed views of the 342-acre lake. Finishing up at the little beach where we started, I get a text from Chris asking if I want to ride back to accompany him and Kaya over the last mile and a half. I climb on my bike and Willem follows after me, pedaling for over a mile before we spot his father and sister. Going past, I hang a U-turn and cruise up alongside Kaya. “How you doin’, kid?” I ask. “Little tired,” Kaya says.
A capable, athletic young woman with a sunny disposition, Kaya has cerebral palsy. Both of her parents are physical therapists, and have supported her through a range of adaptive and mainstream sports, including soccer, skiing, hiking and, today, swimming. Although I missed Kaya’s swim, when I returned to the beach I heard she was on track to complete her first DIY Tri. In 42-degree weather, Kaya got into the cold water, and using one arm and one leg that’s not entirely functional, she completed a 50-yard
swim. It was only the second time in her life she attempted to swim any sort of distance without resting — and she did it with a smile on her face. My younger brother Jamie also has CP, and growing up, the other kids in our neighborhood, including some who later played college sports, treated him like one of the gang. With physical limitations on his left side, but a powerful right arm and leg, Jamie was the quarterback and kicker in neighborhood football games; a pitcher in softball
and baseball; and played marathon games of street hockey behind our house, which was like a religion with my friends and me. In high school, he was on the varsity ski team, and played one season of junior college soccer. Kaya reminds me of my brother when he was that age, bound and determined to have the same transcendent experiences as her peers. “Show me your quickest leg turnover,” I say to her. “Fastest pedaling you got.”
This seems to buoy her efforts, and Kaya begins zipping along the pavement, catching up to her brother who’s directly ahead of us. “Get out of my way, dude,” she says to Will, rolling ahead of our group, her legs churning. I smile over at Chris, coming alongside him. As we follow the kids toward the rally point, Chris says, “If you’re a person with a disability, I think you should own it. It doesn’t define you, and shouldn’t limit you from trying.” nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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The Explorers and friends pause for a beer and a snack atop Mt. Rattlesnake.
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Teddy Godbout (purple T-shirt), 5, exults as he finishes his first DIY Triathlon.
“Amen, brother,” I say. When we return to the parking lot, everyone is waiting for us, changing into their hiking shoes and having a quick snack. Jackson is sitting on the tailgate of his SUV, wearing sunglasses and strumming his guitar. I’m parked beside him, and as I put my bike away, I can hear him crooning an old Lynyrd Skynyrd song. “Forget your lust for the rich man’s gold All that you need is in your soul” Sitting on the ground to lace up my hiking boots, I wink at Jackson, recalling the night before. Around 9:30 p.m., we quit the Common Man and headed back to the Mountain View Lodge, located on old Route 25, a few miles from the village center. It’s a large, rambling A-frame building, with a kitchen, sunken living room, large fieldstone hearth, and several bedrooms and lofts. Each year, we book the entire lodge, and are always eager to get back there, light a fire, and sit around having a beer and telling stories. Doug Willett and his wife Barb who live next door, own Mountain View Lodge. Doug coached football at Plymouth State College during their glory years, when a hometown buddy of mine, Kevin Bradley, was their quarterback. Since our first DIY Tri five years ago, Doug has treated us like family, coming over for a beer and helping
me give Chris Pierce a hard time, because, well, he’s Chris. Jackson was playing guitar by the fire, and as he strummed along, Mark Machera asked if he could try out Jackson’s Martin acoustic. Mark was down on one knee in the middle of the room, extending his arms. Jackson was sitting on the hearth, and passed the guitar over to Mark. Sitting beside me was Doug Langdon, a blond-haired fullback who I’ve played with in several dozen rugby matches. Gesturing toward Mark, I said, “He thinks he’s Al Jolson.” After a brief warm-up, Mark ran through a beautiful instrumental while Jackson sat with his elbows on his knees, smiling and nodding his head. I turned to Langdon, and said, “You know what, Dougie? There’s no place I’d rather be, and no people I’d rather be with, than right here.” Doug nodded, touching his beer to mine. Kristi Spellman was chatting with Krystyna Godbout a short distance away, and when she heard what I’d said, Kristi clasped both hands over her heart, flashing a huge smile.
Now, in the parking lot by the beach, Jackson finishes his sotto voce rendition of “Simple Man,” the song ringing in my head as we head for Mt. Rattlesnake.
“Boy don’t you worry, you’ll find yourself Follow your heart and nothing else” We arrive at the trailhead and start up an old fire road that quickly turns to a path, rises through a mixed forest of pine and oak and birch, and twists over a field of boulders toward the summit. Mt. Rattlesnake rises only 1,594 feet from the valley floor, but there’s a quick, 450-foot elevation gain, and after swimming and biking, I’ll be happy to get above the tree line and look down on the Baker River Valley. I’m in the second group, hiking with Brad and Bubba MacIntosh. They’re both squarebuilt, rugged guys, and we have a good laugh over a rugby game in Philly where a much younger, 275-pound forward grabbed me as I caught a kick-off and body-slammed me to the ground, dislocating my ribs. It was a dirty play, and he should’ve been ejected from the match. And if I hadn’t twisted sideways at the last second, he might’ve killed me. Somehow, the guy ended up with the ball, but was being slowed down by our biggest players. After I regained my senses, I got back onside and took a running start, launched myself into the air, and drilled him with a head butt. “Mate, you taught that guy more in two seconds than he’ll learn in five years of playing rugby,” Brad says. “I try to help young people whenever I can,” I say. Coming up through a last, nearly vertical run of boulders and scrub pines, Bubba and Brad and I reach the smooth rock that marks the top of Rattlesnake. Piercey and Mike Zizza take cold beers from their packs, and we lounge in the sun, chatting about the day’s events. Far below, the silver ribbon of Baker River winds among copses of miniature trees and farms, the barns and white-fenced outbuildings the size of postage stamps. Standing on the highest point, we take our annual photo of the Vandals Rugby guys, each of us making a V with the ring finger and pinkie of the left hand. “Are you a Vandal?” Mike Zizza asks. Immediately, Paul Godbout delivers the only acceptable reply. “You bet your sweet ass I am,” he says. Kaya is nearby, having a drink of water. As I shoulder my backpack, I lean over and kiss her on top of the head, saying, “You did a whole triathlon. I’m proud of you, kid.” NH nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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Granite State Women are at the
of their game She shoots ... She scores ... Maybe there’s something in the water. Thanks to women like Concord’s Becky Bonner, who could become the first female general manager in the NBA, and Dover’s Jenny Thompson, an Olympic swimmer with 12 medals, eight of them gold, New Hamp-
Lauren Thibodeau has been a golf phenom since she was 8 years old. Talk to anyone about endurance sports or triathlons, and Amber Ferreira’s name is bound to come up. Tara Mounsey wasn’t only a hockey pioneer during her time at Concord High School,
shire has been well represented on the fields, she played a key role on the first-ever US pools, rinks, slopes and courts of the world. women’s Olympic gold medal-winning hockey
You’ll see some of these women on highlight reels and others standing atop podiums hoisting trophies and medals. Yet there are
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team, and Clare Grabher has played Wim-
bledon and is now helping to lead one of the fastest-growing paddle sports in the country.
plenty of New Hampshire women, flying just
Women like Thibodeau, Ferreira, Mounsey
below the radar, whose passion and commit-
and Grabher are just a few of the athletes
ment have helped them achieve significant,
influencing the next generation. Meet some
and, in some cases, historical success.
of these remarkable New Hampshire women.
Clockwise from top left: Amber Ferreira, Tara Mounsey, Lauren Thibodeau and Clare Grabher
By Bill Burke Photos by Kendal J. Bush
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Bridget Freudenberger prepares for a steep downhill section of single track just before getting to the rock climbing.
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Amber Ferreira 54
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“It’s cool to say you’ve climbed Everest.” “That’s a joke that goes around,” she says, laughing. “I come in fourth place in everything.” Well, not everything. “I won Lake Placid in New York in 2014, so it’s hard to say that’s not my favorite,” she says. “When I first turned pro, I thought, ‘Whoa, I’m getting my butt kicked.’ But it was a great challenge, racing against the best in the world. I got to travel, explore and see all the competition out there. It took a ton of putting my head down and hard work.”
“I just spent six months in Colorado training. And it made me appreciate New Hampshire and all the awesome riding available here.” Despite the accomplishments, there have been challenges. After some early organizational struggles (for years there were more slots for pro male competitors at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, than there were for women), the field has been somewhat leveled. “It was a huge fight back and forth,” Ferreira says. “Their response originally was that there are fewer females in the field, but that was eventually changed. There’s equality there now — 50 guys and 50 girls.” Ferreira is no stranger to battling. To even get to Kona she had to qualify, which meant competing in several races back to back. She placed third in a Texas Ironman race in 2014, won Lake Placid, raced two weeks later in Mont Tremblant — she was leading for the majority of that race but finished second — and that’s what sent her to Hawaii. “By the time I go to Kona for the World Championships, I was destroyed,” she says. “It was physically and mentally challenging to turn around and repeat a podium performance.”
Two years later, a spectator jumped onto the racecourse in Lake Placid, causing a collision. She ended up in the emergency room with a torn quad and some road rash. Two weeks later, she was back at it in Mont Tremblant (fourth place). “I’m bullheaded,” she says. “I felt like that race was stolen from me. I’m proud of all of those moments. It takes a lot to race an Ironman. You have to stay focused.” Consider it foreshadowing. With the summer racing schedule also taken away, it’s that stubborn fierceness that motivated Ferreira to try Everesting. It was her second attempt. “I thought, ‘Cool, there are no races happening — may as well try it,’” she says. Ferreira has competed in more than 70 professional Ironman events in 11 different countries — amazing opportunities by any measure — but always looks forward to her return to the Northeast. “I just spent six months in Colorado training,” she says. “And it made me appreciate New Hampshire and all the awesome riding available here. I just did New London to Grafton, about 80% of that on dirt roads, and didn’t pass a lot of car traffic — just nice, New England backcountry roads. We did 87 miles on gravel and dirt, and it was awesome.”
What’s a triathlon? A multisport race with three continuous and sequential endurance races: swimming, cycling and running. The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.22-mile marathon run.
photo courtesy joe vigor
What does a triathlete do when races and events begin falling off the schedule, thanks to the pandemic? If you’re Amber Ferreira, you find a way to conquer Everest. The Concord resident — and Ironman champion, coach and owner of the Granite State Endurance Project — hopped on her bike at 5 a.m. on a warm June morning and began what’s known in cycling circles as the Everest Challenge: Pick any hill, anywhere, and start climbing — over and over again — until you’ve ascended the equivalent of the height of Mt. Everest. It took her 15 hours and 38 minutes to travel up and down the 2,936-foot Mt. Kearsarge, traveling more than 137 miles and climbing more than 30,000 feet atop her bike — all while raising $5,000 for the NAACP. “It’s cool to say you’ve climbed Everest,” Ferreira says. “It was really nice.” It was just the latest goal the Concord Hospital physical therapist set for herself. Ferreira, who was born in Westford, Massachusetts, describes herself as having been a shy child who used sports as a way to gain confidence and build relationships. She studied at Northeastern University on a track and cross-country scholarship, and competed at the collegiate level while earning her Ph.D. It was a hint at the career waiting just around the corner. After graduation, Ferreira upped her focus by several magnitudes. She began competing in uphill running, ultrarunning, snowshoe racing and long-distance swimming. (Intensity, you say? She once sprained both wrists in a 10-mile swim in Lake Memphremagog in Vermont.) She then discovered her passion: triathlon. “I was working my first job and saving money for a car, so I commuted on my bike,” she says. “I figured that I could swim, bike and run, so let’s do Ironman.” She raced her first sprint triathlon in 2008, competed in her first Ironman in 2009, qualified for the Ironman World Championships the next year and turned pro in 2011. Since then, there have been podiums, near-misses, and some impressive victories along the way. She took second in Mont Tremblant, and counts Switzerland and Austria among the most breathtaking competitions. Then there are the fourth-place finishes.
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Lauren Thibodeau 56
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“I go for it.” Ask Lauren Thibodeau how she felt scoring a hole-in-one and she gives a surprising answer: “Which one?” The 20-year-old Hampstead resident/golf phenom has drained three — the first before she was 11 years old at the sixth hole of the PGA National Squire Golf Course in Palm Beach Gardens during the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship. The second was at Champions Gate in Orlando in November of 2013 — a 113-yard 9-iron. “It’s funny, but all three have been in Florida,” says Thibodeau, a 2018 Pinkerton Academy grad. “It’s not extremely surprising because my grandparents live in Florida and I fly down and stay with them — it makes it cheaper for me to play in tournaments down there.” The third hole-in-one took place in late 2018 at the Atlantis Country Club just south of West Palm Beach — a par-3 on the 10th hole. “I took the wrong club and backed off,” she says. “I took another and hit it in. No one saw it go in and I was like, ‘What the heck?’” The road to a trio of aces and a long list of accomplishments, including competing on the University of Louisville golf team, began at the Atkinson Country Club, where she took her first lesson with Mark Spencer. “I was in a camp and played mini-golf, and I really enjoyed it,” Thibodeau says. “My mom’s colleague said that if I enjoyed it, I should take a lesson and see if I liked golf — but that I should learn the fundamentals first.” At first blush, she wasn’t on board with spending the afternoon in a golf lesson. But, by the time she was driving home that day, she had changed her mind. “I wanted to be a golf pro,” she says. She was playing in tournaments within a couple years of that first lesson, admittedly posting some high scores, but when she was 11, things started to click. “I started playing good nine-hole rounds,” she says. “Then I went to the New Hampshire Junior Championship. I had never shot in the 70s, and I really hadn’t played tournaments with girls older than me, but I went and shot a 77 and beat the two-time defending champion. That’s where it started, at Intervale [Country Club in Manchester]. I like that course and played it well. I’ve had a lot of milestones on that course.”
She played all four years on the Pinkerton varsity golf team, and won the New Hampshire Girls Golf State Individual Title each of those years. That’s not to say the W’s came without a few bumps. The day before playing in the New Hampshire High School
“I had never shot in the 70s, and I really hadn’t played tournaments with girls older than me, but I went and shot a 77 and beat the two-time defending champion. That’s where it started.” Girls Invitational her sophomore year, she unpacked her clubs after a late practice to a bit of a surprise — her driver, which she had been hitting consistently and with confidence, snapped in the trunk of her friend’s car. It was a late session, and she had an early tee time the next morning. There would be no time to visit a pro shop for repairs. The solution? Adapt. “I had another shaft in my house that would fit,” she says. “But it was stiffer, so I knew I’d end up losing 20-30 yards off the tee. I adjusted my whole plan and it worked out. It was a rainy day, but I ended up shooting a 76 or 77 anyway.” That ability to stay calm when things start going sideways has benefited the current New Hampshire Women’s State Amateur Champion. Her swing and demeanor have been compared to Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson, who won the Women’s PGA, US Women’s Open and Women’s British Open. In fact, if things are going too well, she may introduce a wrinkle that could expose a
weakness she can improve on. “One year I decided to putt lefty for the season,” she says. “I tried it out, goofing off, and it felt more natural. So I did it for a season and thought, ‘OK, that’s enough.’” Why? “I like to try different things — take risks and see if it pays off,” she says. “A lot of people won’t take big risks that could pay off for them in the future. I try to do that a lot to see if I can improve. I go for it.” In late June, Thibodeau played at the PGA Women’s Open in Michigan. She wasn’t completely satisfied with her performance, but it shed light on the discipline with which the University of Louisville sophomore approaches her game. “I didn’t play the greatest,” she says. “After the second round, I was 20th out of 78 people. But it was good putting myself under pressure again and seeing the weaknesses in my game, which will help going forward.” It also served to prepare her for what could be next. The college-ranked and World Amateur Golf-ranked Granite Stater has her eyes on bigger things after graduation. “The dream and goal is to go on to the LPGA from here,” she says, and then adds with typical humility: “But there are a lot of really good golfers.”
Lauren’s laurels Lauren Thibodeau was a four-time New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association girls state champion at Pinkerton Academy — the first girl in state history to achieve the feat. The list of her wins is extensive, including a notable victory last summer when she won the New Hampshire State Amateur Championship by nine strokes with a 6-under-par 210 at the 5,505-yard Breakfast Hill Golf Club.
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“I’ve never even remotely had as much fun playing any other sport.” The eight small, 20-by-44-foot pickleball courts at The Club at Christmas Mountain may not be Wimbledon, but for Clare Grabher, that’s fine. And she should know, because she’s played at both. Grabher, originally from Surrey, England, was a British Junior Champion tennis player who played at the Cathedral of Tennis in the late 1970s. Now, however, she takes to the court in Bartlett with a pickleball paddle and a big smile. “It’s an amazing sport,” says Grabher, who lives in North Conway much of the year. “And this is coming from someone who played tennis. A lot of tennis players will poo-poo it and look down on it a bit, but that’s until they get out there and play — and then they’re hooked.” Pickleball, which combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis, where players volley a polymer ball over a net, is said to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the country. Grabher has become an unabashed, enthusiastic evangelist for the sport (“I sound like I’m in some kind of a cult,” she says, laughing). But it almost didn’t happen. “I have a friend who said I had to try this new game called pickleball,” she says. “We went down to the middle of town where there are some courts. I saw people playing and I almost didn’t get out of my car. I was being a bit of a tennis snob. I thought the demographic looked a little older, I thought I was maybe too athletic, but then I thought, ‘I’m older.’” Pickleball has volunteers known as ambassadors. There happened to be an ambassador there that day. “He took me onto a court and I stayed for five hours,” she says. “I’ve been in sports my whole life — I played professional tennis when I was young — and I’ve never even remotely had as much fun playing any other sport. Ask any pickleball player.” A natural competitor, Grabher took to the sport quickly. “It’s a very easy learning curve for anyone who’s got any racquet sport background. In very short order, they can play the game and have fun and be pretty good,” she says, with
one caveat: “But it’s not the same as tennis.” The challenge is that it’s a game of strategy, not necessarily one of power. It’s played on a smaller court, so strength and speed don’t necessarily guarantee a victory. Grabher says placement and an understanding of the game are more important.
“We went down to the middle of town where there are some courts. I saw people playing and I almost didn’t get out of my car. I was being a bit of a tennis snob.” “A good player in their 70s can beat a 20-year-old if they know what they’re doing,” she says. “That’s what makes it a great game. It’s a mix of athleticism and speed and so on, but it’s also about knowing which shot to hit at what time.” The longtime owner of New England Tennis Holidays, Grabher fills her days coaching and playing the sport. Among her pickleball accomplishments, the IPTPA-certified professional won the national championships for 55-and-over in both singles and women’s doubles three times each, and the US Open for 55-and-over. “Doubles is the real highlight,” she says. “I have a partner from Massachusetts who is a lefty. Singles is like mini-tennis. Doubles has so much more finesse to it. That first doubles championship was a real highlight because you have a team member to celebrate with.” Grabher grew up a tomboy in the southeast of England “falling out of trees,” and relatively unaware of the different treatment between men and women in sport. Her
tennis game improved quickly. She played on the tour for about five years and, by the late 1970s, she found herself on the renowned courts of Wimbledon. “What I remember is when you’re walking on the courts, the grass is so perfect,” she says. “When you walk out there, it’s like, ‘Should I be running around out here like this?’ It’s like a golf green. It was an amazing thing,” she adds. “I’m from Surrey, which is not far from Wimbledon. All my family came out and we had to wear white. In a way it was pretty nerve-wracking.” Grabher says players won’t find the same rigidity on the pickleball court. “It’s much more informal,” she says. “It’s one of the reasons I prefer it. In tennis, you have to make groups and have exactly four people and make arrangements for this time or that time. In pickleball, you can show up for games 10-15 minutes before and just drop in. It doesn’t matter. It’s inherently more inclusive and social, and definitely not as serious in terms of requirements or clothing and being quiet. People will often yell while you’re playing. It’s more fun to play than any other sport.”
What is pickleball? Similar to tennis, two to four players use paddles to hit a ball over a net. The ball is served underhand below waist level. Only the serving side can score a point. The first side that scores 11 points, and is winning by at least two, wins.
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Tara Mounsey 60
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“A work ethic that has lasted a lifetime.” On February 17, 1998, in Nagano, Japan, a group of women from across the US made Olympic history. And they were led, in part, by a contingent from New Hampshire. Among them was New Hampshire hockey legend Tara Mounsey. She and her teammates became the first team to capture Olympic gold in women’s ice hockey by defeating favored Canada 3-1. For Mounsey, the road to Olympic gold (and silver, in Salt Lake City four years later) began one chilly night in her home state. “I got into hockey through family friends who had kids a little older than me,” she says. “They invited us to a New Year’s Eve skating party outdoors — which is how you should skate in New Hampshire. It took off from there. I was probably 4-ish and it was just something I really liked.” So much so that she started her youth hockey playing on the boys’ team — something she did until college. “I’ve always been fortunate in terms of my ability as an athlete,” she says. “I think that was clear rather early in my life. I’ve just been naturally coordinated. But what began to separate me was the work ethic my parents instilled in me and expected from me. They said, ‘You’re going to have to work a little harder and you may not be better than other people, but that’s not the focus.’ They instilled a work ethic that has lasted a lifetime.” That approach to life, and hockey, paid off. She played her high school hockey on the boys’ team at Concord High School, where she was named the New Hampshire Class-L Player of the Year in 1996. Not the girls’ player of the year. The player of the year. “That was a distinctive award and I was
honored to have received it,” Mounsey says. “That award will always be special to me, especially because it came at a time when women’s sports were still growing. I think it was instrumental in my career and in young athletes. It carried a message that you can do anything you want to if you put your mind to it.” During those younger years on the boys’ teams, Mounsey found herself accepted by a group of teammates who had played alongside her since they were 6 years old. “I had tremendous support,” she says. “They all knew who I was and people throughout the state knew who I was. Once in a while you’d hear comments from the other players’ dads like, ‘Are you going to let her check you like that?’ Come on. But other than that, there was never a lot of pushback. I was just one of the players rather than the girl on the team.” Now Mounsey, a graduate of Brown University who earned her graduate degree from Boston College, is a nurse practitioner in orthopedics at New England Baptist Hospital — a career choice made after overcoming several obstacles during her time on the ice. “I had a handful of injuries, and I encountered a number of amazing doctors and nurses and physical therapists,” she says. “It opened my eyes to a career in the medical field. I’ve been at New England Baptist for 14 years and I couldn’t be happier.” But hockey is never far away. That 1998 team, which made history by winning the first-ever Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey, had a powerful effect on growing women’s hockey in the US. Before the win,
Intense rivalry The US women actually had to defeat their Canadian rivals twice in the 1998 Olympics. The two teams met first in round-robin play. Canada was up 4-1 in the third period, but the US exploded for six goals in 13 minutes to put them up 7-4. Mounsey assisted on a Cammi Granato power play goal in that important game.
there were 27,000 registered female hockey players in the country. Twenty years later, that number ballooned to more than 82,000. It’s something that hasn’t escaped the Concord native’s attention. “It was a really, really special time and a special occasion,” she says. “It’s one of those things I certainly will carry with me forever. The takeaway, for me, is that those people, my teammates — I am very close with them. We keep in contact, and any time we get together, it’s like it’s 1998. We achieved a goal so powerful and instrumental in all our lives that my connection with that group of women can’t be found anywhere else.” NH
Meet more of the remarkable New Hampshire women who have made their mark in sports Hockey ★ When the US won the first-ever gold medal in women’s hockey in Nagano in 1998, the team had a distinctly Granite State feel. Among the players on that team: Tara Mounsey, of Concord; Tricia Dunn, of Derry; Katie King, of Salem; and UNH standouts Tricia Dunn and Karyn Bye Dietz (one of the most prolific scorers in UNH history with 100 goals and 64 assists), Colleen Coyne and Sue Merz.
Swimming ★ One of the nation’s greatest Olympic swimmers, Jenny Thompson, is now facing down the novel coronavirus as an anesthesiologist at the VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina. Thompson competed in the Olympic Games four times in total, winning 12 medals — eight of them gold. She retired following the Athens games in 2004 and embarked on her current career in health care.
Skiing ★ Penny Pitou didn’t care for the no-girls restrictions on the ski team at Laconia High School in 1953, so she tucked her long hair under her hat, asked her friends to call her Tommy, and sped off into the start of her long and successful career on the slopes. Among the many awards, wins and achievements, Pitou, who was born in Queens, New York, but grew up in Center Harbor, Gilford and Laconia, became the first American to win a medal in the Olympic downhill event in
Squaw Valley, 1960. She runs a ski school and was entered into the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1976. ★ Born in Hanover, Liz McIntyre attended Dartmouth and then spent 20 years on the US Ski Team, competing in the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympics before leading the team as a coach. She won four World Cup events as a snowboarder, finished in the top 10 in 18 World Cup events, and was enshrined in the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2008.
Basketball ★ As one of the talented Bonners of Concord, Becky Bonner first started playing basketball to compete with her brothers, Luke and Matt. She played on boys’ teams, earned a scholarship to Stanford University and finished at Boston University. Her career path has taken her through the offices of the NBA, landing her a job as director of player development with the Orlando Magic. A pioneer with a signature competitive drive, Bonner may be in line to become
the first woman general manager in the NBA. ★ At perennial women’s college basketball powerhouse UConn, Exeter-born Kerry Bascom stands out as both a pioneer and an all-timer. Bascom, who played at Epping High School before leading the Connecticut Huskies to its first-ever Big East regular season championship in 1989, was named Big East Player of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and stands as the second leading career scorer at the school.
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photo by morgan karanasios
omic book characters are big business, but for fans like Chris Buckner (behind the Spidey mask) they offer a chance to help nonprofits and delight kids as part of the Cosplay Hero Initiative (see page 71).
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ays onsibility,” s p s re t a re g s power come ly, “With great ger. Fortunate n li -s b e w d o neighborho g your friendly adily growin te s e il h w t, n erd continge you our state’s n ch — even if n u b le ib s n o pretty resp fit, in power, is a rtnite for pro o F g in y la p es find them can sometim dly roaming u ro p r o n io ts on televis . chasing ghos superheroes e k li d e s s re oors d convention fl
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nerd definition:
noun, slang Geek:
Nerd:
Subtle eye movement differences have been inconclusive in scientific testing in determining geek vs. nerd behavior.
[ nurd ]
So what exactly is a nerd? To get a proper definition, we went to a guy who has based his public image upon a similar term. Here’s David Brooks, aka The Granite Geek, to explain the difference between “nerd” and “geek.” “A geek is somebody who cares more about a topic than society thinks is proper. You can be an art geek, computer geek, clothes geek — but not a wealth geek, because society thinks even infinite interest in wealth is understandable. A nerd (spelled ‘knurd,’ as in drunk backward when I was in college) is the same thing but with fewer social skills.” —David Brooks • granitegeek.concordmonitor.com
John Herman: Nerd of All Media
original game inspired by ancient Egypt, freestyle rapping on stage as Thomas Edison or podcasting about a fictional North Country missing persons case? That would be John Herman, New Hampshire’s nerd of all media. An actor and improvisational comedian, Herman has been making things up on stage since he was cast in his first improv troupe at the University of New Hampshire in 1996. Since then, he has performed on many stages, including as a comedy ambassador to Impro Tokyo. He has played on the TEDx stage in a band that only uses phone apps, performed as both Sherlock Holmes and Dr.
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nonprofit Media Power Youth, Herman also teaches English at Epping High School. There, and only there, they call him Mr. Herman. Find more info at johnherman.org.
Collaborative Nerdity
One of John Herman’s favorite creative collaborators is Sarah Hart, a New Hampshire special education teacher who directs her passions for things like “Doctor Who,” “Star Trek” and live-action role-playing to help students who might otherwise struggle in the traditional classroom. She sees Magic: The Gathering cards as a tool to teach her students everything from number sense to language decoding and social-emotional skills. When teaching social studies, she employs the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing format, using the scaffold of character creation and dice rolls to make history engaging and fun. Experts often say that students learn best through play. If that’s true, then Hart’s students are some of the luckiest in the state.
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Who can be found showcasing his
Watson for the Boston Book Festival, and led a pandemic-inspired home production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He recently pitched a German game company an ancient Egypt-inspired tabletop game, showcased at the Boston Festival of Indie Games at MIT and Harvard, that he developed with his son Emrys. He’s been a director of the NH Film Festival for well over a decade, running the Young Filmmakers Workshop that guides aspiring young filmmakers through a weekend that is part film school, part film race. Herman notably was in the running to go to space in 2012. He was ultimately eliminated, ranking 5th out of 55,000 applicants, though he fondly remembers discussing Mt. Washington with former astronaut Buzz Aldrin when they met atop Seattle’s Space Needle. Herman went on to produce his “space race experience” as a stage show called “Spaceman,” which debuted at the Players’ Ring Theatre in Portsmouth. Herman has hosted a meet-up group called New Hampshire Media Makers for over 12 years, where he surrounds himself with other local creatives. When someone contacts him about his work, Herman admits he sometimes has to navigate an awkward conversation about which John Herman they want to talk to. And sometimes it’s John Herman, the educator. A longtime consultant and curriculum generator for Manchester media literacy
A Retroactive Apology to the “Father of Video Games”
photo by ari garnick
Writer and proud Odyssey2 owner Darren Garnick shares a moment with the Ralph Baer statue in downtown Manchester, which honors the late video game inventor. The statue is holding Garnick’s childhood copy of the Alien Invaders! game cartridge.
When I was a kid in the late
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1970s, I suffered from “Atari envy.” About 75% of my childhood was spent playing video games in my basement or in my friends’ basements — so I have no moral authority to criticize the insane amount of screentime logged by my children today. My friends all had the Atari 2600 game system. My brother Kevin and I had the Magnavox Odyssey 2, which was sold at Garnick’s TV, our father’s television and music store. I thought the Odyssey’s joysticks were more nimble than Atari’s controllers and considered the graphics and game quality to be roughly similar. However, from the perspective of the 10-year-old Darren, the Odyssey was generic supermarket soda to Atari’s Coke, Pepsi and RC Cola. Because
of better marketing and distribution, Atari had more partnerships with game developers and more licensing deals. They had all the hit titles. When Atari licensed Donkey Kong from Nintendo, Odyssey came out with Pick Axe Pete! — a gold miner who climbed ladders and jumped over boulders instead of climbing ladders and jumping over barrels. When Atari licensed Pac-Man from Namco, Odyssey responded with K.C.’s Krazy Chase! — a munchkin that races through a maze to chomp segments of a caterpillar instead of dots. Odyssey games were never turned into Saturday morning cartoons. I didn’t even know anyone who knew someone who had an Odyssey 2 system at home. So years later, it’s not a shock to me that the popular
Ralph Baer at home in his “research lab” surrounded by a few of his popular creations
By Darren Garnick
gaming site IGN ranked it #21 on its “Top 25 Video Game Consoles of All Time.” It occurs to me that I might be portraying myself as an ungrateful brat. Although I wasn’t a model child and threw the occasional temper tantrum, I was appreciative of my dad’s gifts and did truly enjoy the countless hours playing these games. As an adult, I was genuinely excited to learn that the Odyssey was invented in New Hampshire. Better yet, it not only came before the Atari, but it was the ancestor of every video game, period. Engineer and toy inventor Ralph H. Baer, immortalized with a bronze statue overlooking the Merrimack River in Manchester’s Arms Park, has a remarkable life story that can’t be done justice in this space. Born in Germany, he fled to America as a teenager in 1938 with his Jewish family to escape the Nazis, fighting them five years later in a US Army intelligence unit. He later worked at Sanders Associates in Nashua (now BAE Systems) from 1956-1987, overseeing about 500 engineers developing military technology and applications. It was at Sanders where he developed the “Brown Box” prototype that evolved into the Odyssey. The Manchester resident spent his “retirement” years developing electronic toys at his Mayflower Drive home research lab, which was relocated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History after his death at age 92. He was awarded more than 150 US and foreign patents, and his best-known invention was probably Simon, an electronic memory game that challenged players to memorize long patterns of sounds and flashing lights. I first learned about Baer’s contribution to my childhood from local journalist David Brooks, a science columnist (Nashua Telegraph, Concord Monitor) who helped popularize his legacy beyond the insular video game community. In the early 2000s, I had the idea to take my Odyssey out of mothballs and challenge Baer to a game. I never followed up. Perhaps the next best thing would be this retroactive apology: Sorry that I believed that Atari was first, Ralph. I’m proud you called New Hampshire home, and thanks for entertaining the 10-year-old me! nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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ByBill BillBurke Burke By
Ask Kadrolsha Ona Carole what she
does for a living, and she’ll likely explain that she edits content for nonprofits. She may not mention that she’s sung backup for Joe Cocker, appeared in a number of blockbuster films — her lengthy list of on-screen appearances range from uncredited roles in films such as “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” and the newly released “Greyhound” to the in-production “Attack of the Killer Chickens the Movie” — and is now one of the faces of Airport Television Streaming Service. Spend a little time with her, however, and you’ll also learn this engaging Granite Stater is the Queen of the Paranormal. And that’s official. “I was on a radio show in 2007, and a gentleman called to ask me questions about the paranormal,” says Carole, who goes by the shortened KO. “He said he would dub me ‘The Queen of the Paranormal.’ I said thank you, and then I trademarked it. Best move I ever made.” With a lifelong connection to the unexplained (she comes from a family of dream
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interpreters and spirit communicators seven generations deep), KO certainly wasn’t new to ghost hunting and all things unusual before the preternatural (and legally binding) coronation, but her profile grew as she guested at comic cons around the country as the reigning Queen. “I started moving into different projects and things regarding the paranormal,” she says. “My connection to it goes back a long way, since birth, but I then went into comic books, greeting cards, stamps — you name it, and all with a positive spin to it, because being positive is a wonderful thing.” That outlook doesn’t mean her excursions aren’t without some unease. “Prepare to be scared,” she says of her investigations. “This isn’t for television. This is real. People aren’t always prepared for what they see or hear or smell. People don’t realize there’s a smell to it. You smell rotten eggs, which means there’s a spirit — probably a very bad one, mean in nature and ready to cause trouble. Other times you may smell a perfume that could’ve been worn by someone’s grandmother, and it could
KO can often be found mingling with fellow superbeings at comic cons. Above from left, that’s her with Playboy Playmate Bebe Buell, lead singer for The Motels Martha Davis and author May Pang, best known for her 18-month affair with John Lennon.
trigger memories that come in a flash, in an instant.” Among the hair-raising sites she’s dug into: the most haunted spot in all of New Hampshire, according to KO — Tortilla Flat in Merrimack. The building, which dates back more than 200 years, was once part of the Underground Railroad. “There was some curiosity on the second floor, and there’s one room in particular that the closer I got to it, the creep factor was overwhelming,” KO says. “It felt like, ‘Hey, don’t go in there.’ There was just something up there that didn’t care for my energy.” If it seems as if her metaphysical tenacity borders on heroic — it does. And that’s also official. KO has been immortalized in the pages of a series of comic books, in titles such as “The Haunting Tales of Bachelor’s Grove” and “Kadrolsha Ona, Queen of the Paranormal.”
game Theory
By Matt Newton
“How long do they let you out of the retirement home so you can play Fortnite?”
Matthew DiMasi, holding a copy of the first “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” comic, appears with his latest mosaic based on its famous cover.
A Masterpiece of Many Pieces by Rick Broussard
It was 36 years ago that a couple of young guys in Dover decided to create a comic book that was so ridiculous that no one would ever consider publishing it. Indeed, they had to borrow money from an uncle to generate the first run of 3,000 issues of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles No. 1,” and somewhat to their surprise, they all sold out and two more printings took place. Anyone who bought one of that first batch should start digging through the attic — they now sell for more than $30,000 each. Dunbarton radiologist and comic collector Matthew DiMasi had been handmaking mosaic renderings of his favorite comic covers for six years, selling them for high-figures to fans, when the “TMNT” cover caught his eye. The low-res look of that two-color cover lent itself perfectly to his medium, so he got busy. Now his rendition appears on yet another 3,000 run of a special printing of the comic book in honor of the 36th anniversary of the original. Meanwhile, DiMasi has been tapped by Marvel to create a mosaic “variant” cover of their rebooted “Spider-Man No. 1” for its 30th anniversary. Check out DiMasi’s work on Facebook and Instagram.
to be a part of their habit. Combine that with a love for video content creation and a background in film/ TV/radio, my fascination with online gaming platforms turned into a passion for streaming — and quite possibly a new career path as I near the age of 50. It takes some explaining to friends and family when you talk about earning a living playing video games, but like any form of entertainment, there’s an inherent audience for that type of content, and people are willing to support it. You take a little performance art, a dash of talk show, a good measure of entrepreneurship, and a whole lot of community building and package it all up in the joy of video gaming — and you have yourself a stream. It’s quite humbling, really, to know that you’ve gone this long in life to unexpectedly discover a calling where you can turn on a video game, click “go live” and suddenly have viewers from all corners of the globe interacting with you. When you’re engaging people in a live format, doing something enjoyable, it can truly have an impact on you and others.
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photo by morgan karanasios
S
o, the trolls are jumping into the chat today, and it seems my age, not my game play, is the joke of the hour. Browsing through the platform, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many older gamers with white beards grinding to earn a Victory Royale in the game. And, for some, apparently that’s fodder for ridicule. The rest of my watching audience comes to my defense — we’re a community, after all — and I wink with a smile, “Son, I was playing video games before you were even born. It’s not about age, I’ve just leveled-up in life before you.” While the technology may be new, the concept of spectating someone else’s video game play is rather familiar. Having spent much of my adolescence in the 1980s, I spent countless hours in arcades, standing over someone’s shoulder as they pumped quarters into PacMan, Donkey Kong or Dragon’s Lair. Only today, your audience is online and global. My on-and-off-again affair with gaming recently grabbed hold when my kids started playing Fortnite, and as a parent, I felt the best way to monitor their screen time was not to limit it, but instead
Matt Newton (aka Newt2Newt) can be found on Facebook Gaming at fb.gg/newt2newt. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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New Hampshire Bound
By Kate Wiswell
We may not live in hobbit holes here in New Hampshire, but looking back from the Dark Kingdom of Los Angeles, our state is a great place to begin an adventure, and the perfect place to return to when the going gets rough. t’s a tale as old as Tolkien: A curious youngster, partly feeling a duty but mostly dreaming of adventure, chooses to leave the peaceful, verdant New Hampshire and travel a road going ever on, over rock and under tree, across the land and to the heart of Mordor (also known as Los Angeles). I am not the first Hobbit to have left the ’Shire, and the stories of legendary Hobbits before me have been guiding lights. “The Hobbit” is the first story I can remember knowing; I still have the battered copy my parents read to us over and over. As soon as I was strong enough to hold it, “The Lord of the Rings” expanded my love. How could a girl from green, bucolic New Hampshire not feel kinship with Hobbits? And like every Hobbit before me, my ’Shire roots have been what let me grow. Whether it’s your gardener or a party of dwarves, good company is of utmost importance on a Hobbit’s journey. My inseparable partner across Middle (American) Earth was a small green car named Frodo, who even lost a front left hubcap along the way like his nine-fingered namesake. Sadly, also like his namesake, I found myself mourning the loss of a beloved Old Man in a Mountain soon after leaving home. Decades of family drives from Concord (where we lived) to Berlin (where we began) and back again made the Old Man a devastating anchor to lose.
Maintaining civility outside of the ’Shire is also a must, and civility starts with food: Prioritize it, savor it and share it with others. It has been my pleasure to introduce many Californians to the finer foods in life, from fluffernutters and whoopie pies to poutine, tourtière and a quality lobstah roll. You can bet my friends know who has the good maple syrup for second breakfast. In addition to meals, civility requires we always remember our manners, which is why I frequently hear the names of fellow ’Shirefolk — Sandler, Silverman, Meyers, O’Malley — the latter listed among the nicest people in Hollywood. The ’Shire may be a relatively small place that is a bit out of the way, but it offers a Hobbit everything they need in the wild. Much like Bilbo’s love of wordplay gave him the exact right skills to survive riddling with Gollum, my random New Hampshire knowledge has fortified a nerdy reputation. Things like every Robert Frost poem, or literally anything about our 14th president, or the real name of Golden Pond and that national elections start in Dixville Notch. Not only do I know and love hockey, but thanks to teen years spent cheering for Tara Mounsey, I can also give you a history of our US Women’s Olympic Hockey Team (read more about Mounsey in the feature starting on page 52). And our Olympic ski
teams — thank you, Bode Miller. Really, though, the gift that drives ’Shire folk to succeed is the respect for creativity and innovation fostered by those who’ve gone before. From Archie to “Our Town” to Irving, our artists intrigue; from the Coach to the Cog to the Segway, our inventors impress; and from space flight to statesmen to sports, our heroes inspire. How could a Hobbit not be emboldened to strive with such great fellowship behind her? Should success come, the source is the simple, straightforward values of the ’Shire. Their very nature as Hobbits is why Bilbo, Frodo and Sam remain uncorrupted by the One Ring, and why (I hope) I can say the same in the face of an often soul-crushing world. Our ’Shire values keep us grounded, and a big value is the belief that everyone and everything has value. Every experience brings something to learn; every person has something to teach. It is a belief I have tried to embody in my travels, and it has rewarded me with countless fascinating excursions down lesstraveled roads. The most influential teachers in my life have come from home, including my schoolteachers, because of what they taught me beyond the curriculum. At Rumford Elementary, Mrs. Blodgett taught me theatre can happen
more from the nh nerd hall of fame Dean Kamen Inventor of the Segway — need we say more? Well, there’s plenty more to say. Kamen’s dad, Jack Kamen, was one of the artists who made Mad Magazine and the fabled EC Comics (like “Tales from the Crypt” and “Weird Science”) into the stuff of childhood dreams and nightmares. Kamen has a bunch of his dad’s original comic art on display at his DEKA Research and Development in Manchester.
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Arnie Arnesen If anyone is famous for nerding out on politics, it’s talk radio host Arnie Arnesen. She’s an in-demand opinion-maker for local and Boston stations, and appears regularly on Iowa Public Broadcasting. Her run as NH Democratic candidate for governor back in 1992 earned her a fan base so avid that a few of her supporters may still have their original bumper stickers on their cars.
Gov. John Sununu The nerdiest guy to hold our state’s highest office (at least until the current holder) was John H. Sununu. He got his Ph.D. at MIT, and is credited with bringing computers to the New Hampshire Statehouse during his three terms in the 1980s. His official gubernatiorial portrait features a desktop computer. As chief of staff for President George H.W. Bush, he successfully recommended his nerdy pal David Souter to be named a Supreme Court Justice.
Ken Burns If the near-obsessive detail that our über-documentarian and PBS stalwart Ken Burns demonstrates when pulling together the research for films like “Baseball,” “Jazz” and “The Civil War” resembles the completionist imperative of a kid assembling the ultimate deck of Pokemon cards, then we might just have to admit what the rest of the world already suspects: Ken Burns is a total history nerd.
comfort of my imagination and into adventure. Not only did he give me the opportunity to actually be in a production of “The Hobbit” when I was 12, he taught us all the vital importance of humility and play. Those productions are where I first learned to improvise, a skill that has been invaluable beyond theatre, in teaching, writing, and existing. They are where I started to figure out how to share my imagination with the world. Later, as an intern at Van’s North Country Center for the Arts and in his Department of Cultural Resources, I learned how to hone that creativity in a professional way. Eventually I set out from the ’Shire, but no matter where I went, Van was there with advice and encouragement in the most trying times. And whether I was looking for my next story idea, contemplating steps in my career or simply feeling out of sorts with the world, one refrain was constant: Bring it back to New Hampshire. The road goes ever, ever on down from the door where it began. I don’t know when these feet that wandering have gone will turn at last to home ... but I know that home will always be the ’Shire, and that, as Tolkien himself said, “as long as the Shire lies behind ... I shall find wandering more bearable.” The gifts that have been given to me by the history, people and values of New Hampshire will be the foundation of my success. After all, what could be a stronger foundation than granite?
Christa McAuliffe Public school educators may the be our single most nerd-infused industry (see John Herman on page 64), and the avatar of this truth is Christa McAuliffe, the Concord High teacher who was willing to leave Earth just to better reach her students. She developed an entire curriculum based on experiences she hoped to share from space before her ride, Space Shuttle Challenger, exploded shortly after takeoff in 1986.
After leaving the ’Shire, K.S. (Kate) Wiswell went to Harvard to become a cryptographer and came out with a degree in English literature. Along the way, she studied physics, statistics, philosophy, mythology and marching band. After three years in the corporate world, she joined the Second City comedy troupe because “improv is cheaper than therapy.” Her new book, “Full-Frontal Nerdity,” is $12.99 from Kaplan Publishing and is available everywhere books are sold.
Al Kaprielian Lest we forget, one guy who paved the way for local media nerdity (specifically weatherperson nerdity) is Al Kaprielian, whose squeaky predictions of “high pressure” became an iconic catch phrase during his 20+ years at Channel 50 in Derry. His fan base persists, and Kaprielian still practices his meteorology anywhere he can, including his current gig on Manchester Christian radio station WLMW. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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anywhere, including a coatroom. Mrs. Sutton introduced us to Krypto, and by equating math with fun changed me forever. Mr. McKoan pushed me to ride my first roller coaster, and in doing so taught me the exhilaration that can come from facing a fear. In high school, Mr. Morrison taught us that spelling matters — even in history class — but more importantly, demonstrated exuberance. Mrs. Hoadley exuded a spirit of playfulness and humor that has stuck with me for decades, and Mr. Kelly showed us all how to wear our geek passions with pride (especially if it’s the Marx Brothers). There were less enjoyable lessons as well, like adults could be childish, or cowardly or careless, and that everyone has times when they are simply wrong. I am grateful to every teacher I had at Rumford, Rundlett, Concord High and beyond, and to the peers who taught me so much by surviving beside me. But perhaps the person who gave me the greatest lessons for living my best Hobbit life (besides my parents), whose impact has stayed longest and reached farthest, was Van McLeod, our longtime commissioner of cultural resources who died in 2016. By no means am I the only person who might say this — there are unknown numbers of us better off for having known him — but in many ways, he was this Hobbit’s Gandalf. As director of the Concord Children’s Theatre Company when I was growing up, Van prodded me out of the
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Civics Nerd By Lynne Snierson
Anthony Poore, the executive director of New Hampshire Humanities
Fonzi. That began my appreciation for motorcycles and other fun stuff. I have really rad tattoos, and I’ve got a lot of ’em,” he says. “Like everyone else, in high school I wanted to be a rock star, so I picked up the bass guitar and played in a band. As a kid, for some strange reason, I had this huge appreciation for ’80s hair bands. Music is where I really geek out. I love seeing live music. I just do all these deep dives.” Poore, who holds two master’s degrees, said his varied avocations directly correlate to his vocation. “I always knew that I liked people a lot more than I liked things. I’ve known that since day one. I freaking love people. I’m really impressed with humans,” he says.
“This is the space where I need to be. In order for me to maximize that and give service, this is the way I should go about doing it,” says Poore. A recent example? Poore and his partner, Samantha, are learning to sew just so they can give away masks to people and organizations in need. What is the fountainhead for all this motivation? “I’ve always been a half-full guy. Each morning I appreciate that I woke up today. Then I know here’s a new a story and that frames the day. I’m a person of faith. My faith provides me hope, and hope gives me optimism, and optimism gives me energy,” he says. “I work harder than the average person, but I do it out of joy.”
Comics and Community
Chris Proulx (center) poses with “Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles” creator Kevin Eastman (at his left) and the voice cast of the original “TMNT” cartoon series: Barry Gordon, Rob Paulsen, Cam Clarke and Townsend Coleman.
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by Chris Proulx
In the past decade, superheroes have taken over the big screen and hit the mainstream in ways no one had predicted when I was reading comics as a kid. Growing up, comics weren’t cool, and outside of Halloween no one dressed up as their favorite hero in public. When we started Double Midnight Comics in 2002, my partners and I set out to create a space where geeks and nerds like ourselves could meet up and celebrate our shared love of comics, games and pop culture. Our goal was to be a place where everyone was welcome from the fan that first discovered “Spider-Man” back in the ’60s to the newbie who loved the latest movie. Eighteen years later, and I’d like to think we hit on something that worked. In 2003 we launched the Granite State Comicon to bring the community together on a larger scale. Over the years that event has blossomed from a one-room comic book show for New England comic book fans to a big pop-culture event that welcomes all sorts of fandoms from all over the country. This year with COVID-19 we can’t get together for events like our annual Free Comic Book Day, and the Granite State Comicon is canceled, but we’re busy preparing for 2021 when we can get all of our friends together to celebrate the geeky things we love.
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a single mother and paternal grandparents in a tight-knit African American community, Anthony Poore learned well the fable of the hungry stranger who convinces selfish townspeople to each part with a bit of their meager food to make a nutritious and bountiful meal all can share. As executive director of New Hampshire Humanities, he takes a lesson from that story, knowing the richness of our culture can only be revealed by the contributions of many people. “I was raised on that story. I have that old-school mentality around community support and progress. Those things are bred in me,” says Poore. “Is that nerding out? The real question is, ‘Who shouldn’t be doing this work?’ That’s just a way of life for me.” Although he happily accepts the title of civics and civic-engagement nerd, Poore says, “I never thought that having this adoration and appreciation for people and people power was considered nerdy. I actually thought it was cool.” Cooking and gardening are also subjects of his affection, but music and dance are obsessions. “I was doomed from the start. My mother was the disco champion of Dayton, Ohio,” says Poore, who has boogied off with a couple of trophies from NHTI’s “Dancing With the Stars” scholarship fundraisers. As a youngster, Poore would spend time with his dad, a toolmaker by trade and a singer by zeal in the city that was a hotbed of funk and creativity. “Growing up, I always wanted to be
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“Stone Soup.” While being brought up by
HERO
INITIATIVE
SEPT
2020
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Christopher Buckner has been dressing up as Spider-Man for about five years, and he’s a regular with the Cosplay Hero Initiative that supplies superheroes (and villains) to entertain at events like Nashua’s Lil’ Iguana’s Safety Fair or Boston’s Christmas in the City where they thrill about 4,000 kids (and parents), including many expriencing homelessness.
Nh e k ma ace to pl ! g in ter all k r bet or o W a f
The Cosplay Hero Initiative (formerly Cosplayers for a Cause) is a group of local fans who like to dress up as their favorite comic book characters and liven up events where they are invited to appear. They describe themselves thusly: “We are a group of cosplayers dedicated to making the community a better place. We have decided to use our hobby as a way to provide happiness and assistance to those in need.” Check them out on Facebook and visit this story online for more photos of them in action and for an interview with Spider-Man (Chris Buckner).
603 Living “We didn’t realize we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun.” — Unknown
Backyard sports like bocce (see page 81 for rules) are a great way for small groups to connect and spend socially distanced quality time together outdoors.
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Local Dish 84 Health 86 Ayuh 88
Game Time
Backyard sports provide a healthy dose of community and competition By Emily Heidt
S
ome say that Frisbee golf is the new golf. Actually, no one says that, but in my neighborhood growing up, it might as well be. Weekend block parties, nightly walks around the loop with friends up the street, Patriots game driveway viewings, potluck dinners and holiday decoration extravaganzas (Halloween might be our specialty), were all the norm, so it only made sense that my dad would build a Frisbee golf course as another way for the neighborhood to come together for good company and good fun. Using old pieces of plywood, paint found in our garage and neighborhood telephone poles for targets, he went out and transformed our neighborhood circle into a ninehole Frisbee golf course. There is one par-3, two par-5 and six par-4 holes, with the most difficult hole of the bunch being the ninth hole due to its T-shot downhill, with all remaining shots being uphill. The game itself brought its own excitement, but the added challenge of avoiding hitting people, cars, house windows and newly planted gardens when playing provided another level of entertainment and difficulty. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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New Hampshire Magazine’s assistant editor Emily Heidt’s dad Rich, her sister Kristin and neighbor Joan are ready for a fun game of Frisbee golf.
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Sundays became the day for everyone to bring a drink and their Frisbee and meet up at the bottom of our driveway for a round of golf. While personally I have only played once (I am really good at holding drinks, keeping score and providing Jim Nantz-level commentary), it is still one of my favorite neighborhood traditions and summer family activities to participate in. Whether you are a new or seasoned Frisbee golf player, it’s a fun sport to try while you connect with neighbors, family and friends. The best part about it? Anyone can play, it’s easy to access, and it doesn’t require you to be an athlete. While it may be one of the more popular outdoor summer community sports, it isn’t the only game in town. To make the most of the end of the season, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite fun summer sports, ideal for enjoying (socially distanced) outside with family, friends, and maybe even a few of your neighbors.
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603 LIVING
Disc golf is played a lot like golf, but instead of clubs and balls, players use a flying disc and aim for a metal disc golf basket.
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LIVING
A family favorite, cornhole is a lawn game in which players throw bean bags filled with dried corn at a target consisting of an inclined wooden platform with a hole at one end.
Disc Golf Different than Frisbee golf, disc golf is a game where a small, dense disc designed to travel long distances is thrown into a series of metal baskets situated on an outdoor course. The object is to complete the course using the fewest possible throws. The disc is thrown from a tee area to a target, which is the “hole,” and as each player continues down the fairway, they must make each consecutive throw from the spot where the previous throw landed. The various terrain changes, and trees and bushes located in and around the course add challenging obstacles for the golfer to navigate. Finally, the hole is completed when the “putt” lands in the basket. If you are looking for mental stimulation, a unique group activity and even a bit of aerobic exercise, this sport is for you —
no matter your age or skill level. If you’d like to try your hand at disc golf, check out discgolfscene.com for a full list of parks, recreational areas, camps, resorts and farms that have their own disc golf courses near you. Top O’ the Hill Disc Golf in Canterbury and Breakin Chains Disc Golf in Manchester are two fan favorites that you should check out. If you are looking to participate in disc golf tournaments beyond weekend games with friends, join Live Free and Drive Tour for one of their fun tournaments. The Tour is a seasonlong series of lively, competitive disc golf tournaments that cater to players of all skill levels throughout the region. It is made up of some of New Hampshire’s best courses and culminates in a championship event at the end of the year.
Wiffle Ball Wiffle Ball was created to be a miniature and simplified version of baseball. Fans of baseball or softball may be thinking they don’t typically have three hours (or more) to dedicate to a full nine innings, but wiffle ball is usually just six. All you need to play is one wiffle ball bat, a couple of plastic wiffle balls and between two to 10 players. It is recommended that you play with a team of 10 players so you can do two teams of five, each consisting of a catcher, a double area fielder, a triple area fielder and a home run area fielder. When you are measuring the field to play on, make sure that it is in the shape of a triangle (as big as you want) with the upper point as the catcher and batter’s box, and the pitcher’s position a few strides past that. The outer lines of the triangle should also be divided up into the double area, triple area and home run area. The scoring might be the same as baseball, but there is no base running in wiffle ball. This means that the game emphasizes catching and hitting skills, but that doesn’t mean that if you don’t have either of those skills that you can’t play — players young and old can play and become pros in no time at all. If you are looking for more of a challenge beyond setting up a local game with friends
Bonus Fun Facts to Uplevel Your Game Bocce ball is also known as Italian lawn bowling, with the first Italian league formed in 1947. Wiffle ball was born in 1953 when David Mullany designed a ball that curved easily for his 12-year-old son. There are more than 8,000 disc golf courses worldwide. Original Frisbees were premade metal pie tins, and W.F. Morrison was the first to make the Frisbee out of flexible plastic. The first documented game of bocce was in 5200 BC in a painting in an Egyptian tomb.
photo courtesy wiffle.com
The typical wiffle ball weighs around 2 grams, compared to a golf ball that weighs 46 grams. Disc golf was formalized in the 1970s by “Steady” Ed Headrick.
If you like baseball or softball, try your hand at a game of wiffle ball.
The modern Frisbee was invented in southern California and sold for around 25 cents. nhmagazine.com | September 2020
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Looking for extra fun this summer? Check out these family-friendly lawn games. Cornhole
Spikeball
A classic summer game, cornhole is a lawn game where players take turns trying to toss bean bags into the holes of the opposite raised board. You can buy your own set, or get adventurous and creative and make your own.
This game is a lot like volleyball, but it doesn’t come with the hassle of setting up a volleyball net. Play the two-on-two game by bouncing a ball off the net for your opponents to then get three passes to return the ball back to your team. If they miss, you score, and the first team to 21 points wins.
This backyard game is easy, lightweight and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Players have three “bolas” each, which they toss on the ladder rungs to gain points. Don’t forget that you can also knock off your opponent’s bolas to steal from their score.
Kan-Jam Ultimate Disc Game If you don’t feel like setting up a Frisbee course in your neighborhood or if you are looking for extra throwing practice, this four-player game is for you. The game consists of two flexible plastic cans with an open top and slotted front, and the goal is to hit the can with the disc, shoot it through the slot, or have your teammate help with either to get points. The first team to 21 wins.
Jumbo Connect Four Here’s another example of a classic indoor game that has become a giant outdoor version. The same rules and pieces apply, but this two-player game feels more fun when it’s 4 feet tall.
Your binge-worthy options just got interesting.
nhpbs.org/watchmore
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Giant Jenga Take this game from your living room table to your yard with the super-size version to play outside. The object is the same: Remove and stack the blocks without the tower toppling over.
left photo by irina/istock; right photo by jim lambert
Ladder Toss
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photo by ed toro
and raising money for a young child with a medical condition while doing it, head to Concord every September for NHTI’s Annual Wiffle Ball Tournament. Even though this year’s tournament was canceled, you can still start or keep practicing for next year’s tournament. Bocce Ball Bocce is one of the most widely played games in the world. The game is simple, it can be played by people of all ages and skill sets, and you can use just about anything as a bocce court. It can be played on any stretch of level ground like gravel, grass, pavement, a patio, a sidewalk, etc. You can play with two players, but it is a great team game and is best played with a team of eight and four members on each team. To start, buy a bocce set that includes one pallina (smaller ball), eight larger bocce balls (four each of two different patterns or colors), and create a bocce court that measures 76 feet long and 10 feet wide. The rules for backyard enjoyment are easy to follow and pick up for those who haven’t played before. Before you start, determine which team will go first and establish a foul line that
Blending the best features of four square and volleyball, spikeball is great for bringing out your competitive side with friends.
you can’t cross when throwing your bocce ball. The first player will then toss out the pallino, and the next player begins by throwing out a bocce ball attempting to get as close to the pallino as possible. The next player then tries to get their ball closer to the pallino than the first player. If they do, their ball is called “inside.” The next player or team continues until they have thrown
all of their balls or gotten a ball “inside.” The game is over when all bocce balls have been thrown. Points are then awarded to the team with the most “inside” balls, and they are the only ones who can receive points. The first player to reach 13 points wins. (You can also pick a lower score if you want the game to move along so you can get back to grilling.) NH
Drive • Tour • Explore
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LOCAL DISH
Zucchini for All
Recipe by Teresa Downey / photo by susan laughlin
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s mid-summer heat turns to late-summer heat, the gardens continue to put forth bounty. And nothing is more plentiful than the zucchini. You can nip that plant in the bud by harvesting the blossoms and enjoying them stuffed with ricotta cheese, as suggested by Teresa Downey of Chichester. If you are fresh out of blossoms, you may be able find them via terrabasics.com, Downey’s online farm store. — Susan Laughlin About Terra Basics Teresa Downey founded Terra Basics in 2017 as a family business. With over 30 years of gardening experience and a passion of environmental advocacy, Downey and her husband Tom cultivated the land into sustainable USDA organic gardens, where she now grows healthy edible flowers and herbs, and markets them to the general public and local restaurants to add beauty and a local touch to plated dishes. Find fresh edible flower mixes, floral jellies, fresh and dried herbs, and tinned teas at terrabasics.com and the Barnstead Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. She also offers an all-natural laundry soap scented with floral or woodsy essential oils. Terra Basics Chichester / (603) 234-1677 / terrabasics.com
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Stuffed Squash Blossoms The blossoms and filling 12 opened squash blossoms 1 cup ricotta cheese 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese 1/4 cup (or 6 blossoms) fresh bee balm, chopped (Use either red bee balm, Monarda didyma or pink/purple bee balm. Monarda fistulosa can also be used.) 1 tablespoon or a few sprigs of fresh lemon thyme, chopped 1 egg Avocado oil for frying
The batter (Adjust as needed if you prefer
Combine the cheese, herbs and egg and mix well. Gently open blossoms, remove stamens and fill with cheese mixture. Twist the blossom top closed. Repeat until all are filled. Heat 2 inches of oil in a frying pan. Mix ingredients together for the batter. Dip each stuffed blossom into the batter, letting the excess drip off, and then immediately place into the hot oil. Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve over rice for a main dish or as a side dish.
1 cup water (or a pilsner beer)
Serve with a garden salad sprinkled with nasturtiums, borage, red Amaranth flower or other organically grown flower petals such as roses, calendula, broccoli flowers or arugula.
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
Enjoy!
a thicker or lighter batter.) 1 cup flour
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Who Am I?
When life changes and you’re not ready: Understanding identity by Karen A. Jamrog / illustration by gloria dilanni
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ife events such as having a baby, sending a child off to college or experiencing a global pandemic can throw a person for a loop, leaving one to look in the mirror and wonder “Who am I? What do I do now?” We all are resistant to change,” says Peter Naitove, Psy.D., Ed.M., a NH certified school psychologist. Change that challenges our identity can be particularly difficult to accept. Much of our sense of identity centers around what we feel is special about ourselves. “I think this is what we feel our individual gifts are — our talents, our interests, our passions, the ways that we stand out as unique. I think it’s especially about what
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brings us joy” as well as sadness and grief in our lives, says Carl G. Hindy, Ph.D., a retired clinical psychologist who now works exclusively with couples in a “retirement practice” in Exeter. “It’s so important that we all feel special in some way, so we’re not
just a widget, just like everyone else. ... That sense of our identity drives so much in our lives.” Hindy points to his own life as an example. “I’ve spent my life working as a psychologist, and now I’m recently retired,” he says. “While I planned to do a little psychology practice [in retirement], COVID has prevented that, and I’m sort of struggling over that.” Our sense of identity develops in various stages starting in early childhood, Naitove says. It’s shaped by the environment we grow up in, trauma and loss, our ethnicity, cultural background, and more. “It’s an incredible process,” he says. “There’s so much overlap with all these different aspects of our life. It’s very complex.” As we progress through life, our identity continues to evolve. “There are shifts in one’s life,” Naitove says, “whether it’s natural shifts because of aging and growing, or they’re imposed on you through trauma or COVID” or other unexpected situations. The upheaval that has been inescapable for everyone this year has led many to reflect on their identity, or to mourn the loss of some aspect of their identity. Newly unemployed individuals who previously considered themselves successful, for example, might feel that they now lack a valued dimension of their identity. This is where self-image, resiliency and adaptation are crucial characteristics, Naitove says. “We need to be careful in how we identify ourselves, and the language is important because if I say ‘I’m a very capable businessperson and if this doesn’t work out I can find something else,’ that’s different from thinking ‘This is all I can do and I can’t do it anymore.’” Unfortunately, the social isolation that is prevalent in modern times — even prior to COVID-19 — can leave our sense of identity on shaky ground. Years ago, Hindy says, “we lived in cohesive neighborhoods with family on the block and we went to
“What brings me the most joy in my life? What do I really enjoy, and how can I steer toward those things?” — Carl G. Hindy, Ph.D.
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the same churches and social club at night, and had all these overlapping roles with the other people we were close to. Now that has all fractured. ...There isn’t a whole ‘who am I’ reinforcement that there used to be.” When change challenges or threatens your identity, reflect on your special talents, interests and passions, says Hindy, and ask “What brings me the most joy in my life? What do I really enjoy, and how can I steer toward those things?” To help maintain the emotional engagement he relished for 37 years as a therapist, in retirement Hindy has scheduled walking-and-talking times with friends. He also volunteers “in a way that relates to my particular identity. Like at the food pantry here in town, we can all stack the cans and fill the bags, but I’m trying to be the person that stands out in the street ... and talks with the people waiting in line for food about what they’re going through, and how they’re dealing with COVID and whatever in their life. I’m trying to find ways to recreate some of the things that bring me a sense of meaning and purpose. It’s joy, meaning, purpose, engagement. I think those are the key words.” NH
Tips for coping with an identity crisis Both of the experts we spoke with about identity say that it’s important to remember, particularly during times of potential identity crisis such as job loss or a newly emptied nest, that we have many roles — and to beware social media, which can feed insecurities or perceived inadequacies as we compare ourselves to others. “We each have multiple roles,” says Carl G. Hindy, Ph.D., a retired clinical psychologist who now has a limited practice in Exeter. One person might be a mother, daughter, sister, veterinarian and more, for example. “View yourself as the aggregate of all those roles,” Hindy says, “and see the value in that whole identity,” rather than breaking it up into little pieces. “Identity is the sum, or more than the sum of our parts.” Also, believe in your ability to handle change, suggests Peter Naitove, Psy.D., Ed.M., a NH certified school psychologist. When you find yourself mourning the loss of some aspect of your identity, whether it’s your job, your youth or something else, “you have to adapt and say, ‘That’s not all I am,’” Naitove says. “Start to realize ‘I’m not one thing.’” And as always, if you are struggling on your own, seek professional help.
At the heart of
what’s next At Catholic Medical Center, our providers and staff take pride in delivering quality, trusted health care to those we serve. Challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic only reinforce our commitment to your health and well-being. Whether you have a time-sensitive medical need or questions about routine or preventative care, we’re here for you. Find out more at CatholicMedicalCenter.org/WhatsNext
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Readin’, Writin’ & Antisepsis Today’s school supplies include a bit more than new shoes By Fred Marple / illustration by brad fitzpatrick
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t’s back to school time. If you, like me, are old enough to remember Benson’s Wild Animal Farm, those words open a junk drawer of mixed emotions: excitement, anticipation, sheer terror. As I recall, most girls typically liked going back to school because it meant one thing: new shoes. Back then, 95% of shoe sales for kids happened the last week in August, also known as the High Holy Days at Red’s Shoe Barn. Most kids got one new pair of shoes a year, and we had to take care of them as if they were Dorothy’s ruby slippers because they had to last till next year, at which point they became our Regular Shoes. See, we only had two pair of shoes. Of course, shoes cost more then, but they also lasted longer than today’s shoes for kids, which hold up for about 15 minutes before they start shedding bits of Velcro and you have to go to CheapMart and buy another pair made from recycled No. 5 plastic by highly skilled machines in China. New shoes were not a big back-to-school incentive for us boys, nor were the two pair
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of pants and three shirts our moms bought from Monkey Wards or the Sears catalog. For us, the only good thing about going back to school was the new TV shows that came out at around the same time. The promise of “Batman,” “F Troop” and “McHale’s Navy” on Channel 9 was like a pre-anesthetic, numbing us to the impending pain of long hours on wooden chairs, writing reports about Gen. John Stark or the New Hampshire state bird (the purple finch, which eats seeds, berries and insects). We did like getting new supplies: pencils, notebooks, and a protractor and compass that we never figured out how to use except for scratching our initials on desktops. Then there were the three-ring binders. Rich kids got new ones with paisley patterns or fake alligator skin. The rest of us got castoffs from Dad’s office or freebies from Smerdley Insurance (“Serving the Insurance Needs of Frost Heaves since 1959”). These days, of course, kids head off to school with more supplies than Lewis and Clark carried on their expedition. A typical back-to-school list now includes: 87 pencils,
12 colored folders, 10 sets of markers, nine pink erasers, four calling birds, and enough glue sticks to construct a full-size replica of the state capitol. This year, kids will also need hand sanitizer, tissues, wet wipes and a Peewee Protective™ hazmat suit. That’s only in the more metropolitan communities, of course. In other parts of New Hampshire, kids will go back to school with nothing more than an open carry permit. It’s a Live Free or Die approach that lets each school district decide how it’s going to handle reopening, following the guidelines of the CDC, the WHO, HBO or the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges (headquarters, Hillsboro). Personally, I’ll be hunkered down watching the “Flintstones,” pretending it’s September, 1960. And I’ll be wearing my School Shoes, so there. About Fred: Fred Marple has been staying home, avoiding people, and limiting social contacts at his home in Frost Heaves, New Hampshire. Nothing has changed.
CARING FOR YOU. SAFELY. We’re all living in unexpected times. Rest assured, all of us at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health are committed and ready to safely care for the people of Northern New England – at all our locations. Understandably, you may be worried about seeking care at this time; however, it’s so important to your overall health that you keep your scheduled appointments, not postpone care and not ignore symptoms needing medical attention. At Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, your health and safety remain our number one priority. And that is something that will never change. Learn how we are going above and beyond to ensure every visit is safe for you, and our employees. Visit: go.d-h.org/open
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