FEATURED HEADLINES
Food: Cooking For Fun
FEATURED FOOD
Cooking For Fun
Senior Center Cooking Classes Opens To All
Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy/Stock Photo
The Nashua Senior Activity Center is going Italian with a special cooking class on Monday, Jan. 9, that’s open to the general public. A chef from Courville Communities assisted living facilities will give participants an interactive tutorial on how to make Italian bread salad and tiramisu.
The class is part of “Cooking with the Courville Chefs,” an educational series put on by the Nashua Senior Activity Center in partnership with Courville Communities. The series has been running monthly on and off for the past few years but has only recently become available to nonmembers.
“We’re trying to get back on track with [the series] and make sure people know that we’ve opened it up to the community,” said Courville Communities Marketing Director Wendy Sage-Matsis. “One of our best selling points is our food and dining experience, so this is a great opportunity for people who aren’t [members] to interact with our amazing chefs and learn something that they can take away with them.”
The instructor for January’s Italian-themed class will be Rejean Sheehy, an award-winning chef who has been on staff at Courville Communities for nearly 30 years, starting on the kitchen utility line as a teenager and working his way up to his current position as the nutritional services director.
The class will run around an hour and a half long and is designed to be simple enough to engage home cooks of all experience levels. It will take place in the common room, where Sheehy will do the cooking demonstration at a wide table using portable tabletop burners and other such equipment that doesn’t require the use of a full kitchen.
Participants will have the freedom to walk up to the table to more closely observe the demonstration, and to carry on an open dialogue with Sheehy throughout the class. There may even be some opportunities for hands-on activity.
“People can ask any questions they have, like, ‘What can we substitute for this ingredient?’ or ‘Can you show me how you’re cutting that?’ and depending on what [dish] is being prepared [the instructor] might pass around vegetables that need to be peeled or things like that,” Sage-Matsis said. “It’s one of those things that you don’t realize how much fun it can be until once you’re there.”
Participants will also have the chance to try samples of the featured dishes and will be given recipes to take home so they can try making the dishes on their own.
Each class in the “Cooking with the Courville Chefs” series is centered around a different topic. Sage-Matsis said that next month’s class, happening Monday, Feb. 13, will feature recipes with chocolate in the spirit of Valentine’s Day.
“We’re firm believers in the fact that life revolves around the kitchen table. … Food is a big part of the experience,” she said. “Knowing how interested [the senior community] is about the whole world of cooking, we’re happy to be able to offer a program that isn’t just about insurance or how to avoid falls, but is about something fun that people are interested in.”
Cooking with the Courville Chefs: Italian Cuisine
When: Monday, Jan. 9, 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Nashua Senior Activity Center, 70 Temple St., Nashua
Cost: Free for members, $10 for nonmembers, registration required
Contact: 889-6155, nashuaseniorcenter.org.
News: Family Law Reform
FEATURED NEWS
Family Law Reform
Report: State Law Favors Parental Rights Over Child Protection, Needs Fixing
Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy/Stock Photo
The Division of Children, Youth and Families is severely understaffed, its policies stifle corrective action, risks of future harm are not adequately assessed and state laws set the bar too high to prove risk of harm or neglect, according to a recent independent audit commissioned by Gov. Maggie Hassan.
Now, lawmakers must grapple with a number of recommendations made by the Center for the Support of Families, some of which call for removing some parental rights.
Political analyst Wayne Lesperance said that will be a hard sell for the more conservative and libertarian-minded lawmakers in the state legislature.
“Granite Staters have a very strong sense of liberty and freedom,” Lesperance said.
That culture has been largely enshrined in our laws, but in balancing the constitutional rights of parents with those of children, independent reviewers say lawmakers missed the mark.
Parental Consent
One recommendation made in the report, released just before Christmas, would eliminate a provision requiring parental consent for child protective service workers to interview and routinely see all the children in a household during an assessment.
“Determinations about maltreatment should not be made, or assessments determined incomplete,” the report said, “because the parents refuse access to the children. In this situation, parents’ rights should not supersede protection of the child.”
“I suspect it’s going to be a controversial issue like many of these things are,” said Republican state Rep. Frank Kotowski of Hooksett.
As chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, he’s likely to see some of the bills related to child protection since the House is poised to eliminate the family law committee that would traditionally review these kinds of reforms.
Democratic state Rep. Lucy Weber of Walpole is the current chair of the Commission to Review Child Abuse Fatalities. She is careful not to make predictions about how certain bills would play in the House, but she concedes there is usually tension where parental rights are concerned.
“Parental rights are fundamental constitutional rights, so any time you infringe on parental rights it’s a touchy subject,” Weber said. “But in my opinion the safety of children is one very good reason for needing to impinge sometimes on those rights, to limit those rights. … The tough thing is determining when and to what level you intrude on parental rights.”
Weber said there are other areas where lawmakers should consider rolling back some parental rights. For example, she said current law states that children who have already been removed from a home and placed in foster care still need to get field trip permission slips signed by their parents.
“I think it depends a lot on people’s life experiences, but some of it may wind up being partisan,” Weber said.
The issue of rebalancing the state laws around parental rights and child protection came up earlier this year when attorney Rus Rilee told local reporters he believed such an imbalance led to the serious abuse of plaintiffs he’s representing in a lawsuit against DCYF.
Among his clients are the families of toddlers who were killed at the hands of their parents and small children who were sexually abused by their parents during ostensibly supervised visitations. These were often parents who were already on DCYF’s radar, but because of state law, Rilee contends, were still given access to their children they might not have had if those laws were not in place.
During a phone interview in October following the news of the lawsuit, the Hippo asked DCYF Director Lorraine Bartlett if she thought state law had struck a good balance between parental rights and child protection. She said she felt the law was sufficient as written so long as statutory requirements are “applied correctly” and not “as strictly as some may interpret them.”
Bartlett could not be reached for further comment by press time.
Other Changes
The independent reviewers also recommended changes to state law in other areas. The report said the state should align the standards of proof required for substantiating abuse or neglect with the standards required for proving it in court. The initial substantiation requires only probable or reasonable cause while court cases require a preponderance of evidence.
Reviewers also found that cases of children at risk of future harm were marked “unfounded,” despite evidence of maltreatment, if the child didn’t have physical injuries. An overworked assessment staff and a high legal bar were cited as contributing factors to what appeared to be an unusually high ratio of unfounded cases to founded cases.
The report recommends state law clarify that cases should be marked founded whenever there is evidence the child is at risk of future harm.
Another problem identified in the report was the word “serious” in the state’s definition of neglect, which makes it inordinately hard to prove a risk of impairment when DCYF seeks to protect kids from neglectful conditions. It’s open to interpretation, and that interpretation is often “rigid,” according to the report.
In fact, reviewers could only find three examples in case law when the threat of serious impairment was successfully proven.
Finally, reviewers also recommended the law require DCYF to retain its records of reports of abuse and neglect beyond three years. The standard is seven years, according to the report. The House passed a similar bill last session as one of the changes proposed by the Commission to Review Child Abuse Fatalities, but Weber said it failed to pass in the Senate.
She said opponents feared such records could be used unfairly as ammunition in divorce proceedings.
Next Steps
Whether these changes get addressed any time soon is uncertain. The deadline for proposing new bills for this session has already passed, and lawmakers for the past few weeks have had some downtime for the holidays. Many said they had not yet even read the report on DCYF.
It’s possible some of the issues related to staffing will be addressed in the budget process.
But the legal reforms recommended in the report may require time for study.
Weber said the Commission has already been looking at the language defining abuse and will continue reviewing that in the months to come.
But Joy Barrett, executive director of the Granite State Children’s Alliance, said children at risk of serious harm and even death can’t afford to wait for improvements in the law.
“In a pursuit to better protect children, some changes will take time, and that I would see as a challenge because we don’t necessarily have time,” Barrett said.
She’s optimistic everyone will work together in the interests of children but how a predominantly Republican-led legislature will react to calls to reduce parental rights and possibly spend more money is unclear.
Lesperance said one strategy advocates could pursue is increasing awareness and focusing on the kids.
Another factor could be how Governor-elect Chris Sununu acts.
“There’s no question, if the governor makes this a priority you’ll have a much easier time to get this through,” Lesperance said. “I think that will go a long way to making these reforms happen.”
Sununu’s spokesperson emailed a written statement when asked where Sununu stands on the report’s legal recommendations.
“The report on DCYF identified a series of areas that are in need of improvement and provided practical recommendations that our team will closely evaluate in the coming weeks,” Sununu said in the statement. “I am confident we can implement real change that will provide for better protections for our children and families.”
Arts: Setting Standards
FEATURED ARTS
Setting Standards
Latest League Show Features Jurors’ Work
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photos
The latest exhibition at the Craft Center presents an opportunity for League of New Hampshire Craftsmen jurors to put their money where their mouth is.
“Setting the Standard” is on view Jan. 13 through March 24 and features about 45 jurors’ best and latest, with all 23 media categories represented, said Catherine Green, standards and gallery manager at the League. It’s the same show theme that hit the Craft Center just after it opened in 2011.
The rigorous standards are what have given the organization its esteemed name in the regional and national crafting community since 1932. Today, the League boasts more than 750 craftspeople, 29 of whom were juried in this year.
Its high numbers are due to the effect of being a juried member — what the League thinks of your work can have enormous impact on what buyers think of it too. Green mentioned a new member, Kathleen Collins, whose needle felt figures in the fall exhibition “Over the Rainbow” sold before the show opened.
“She said, ‘Wow, that’s the first time my work has sold.’ That’s very gratifying to see them be successful,” Green said via phone last week.
The jurying process is relatively straightforward. Artists show a few pieces to jurors certified in their respective craft — jewelry, ceramics, knitting, beading, wood turning, etc. — and the jurors decide whether to accept the artist based on the standards the League has set. Green said about 65 to 75 percent are accepted the first time around.
It’s extremely nerve-wracking, and all craftsmen interviewed remember that epic day very well. Green, a printmaker, had her go in 1982. She brought her husband, who sat in the car as she presented her work so she’d have company on the way home, no matter what happened.
Sanbornton basket weaver Sharon Dugan became a member in 1997, a juror about four years later. She brought her work to Sandwich Home Industries (now the Center Sandwich retail gallery) after reading up on the organization’s history.
“Being such a traditionalist, I wanted to go where the League first began,” Dugan said, laughing.
Her mother taught her to make baskets from natural materials and she had spent years mastering the art of the Shaker basket. Even so, she was terrified that day. She didn’t know if her work was good enough — if she was good enough.
“I remember distinctly how terrified I was, and I can see it in the people who come forward,” Dugan said.
Getting accepted into the League allowed her to quit her full-time day job to make baskets professionally, which she’s been doing ever since. She has two black ash splint baskets with migration patterns in the show.
Mason weaver Sarah Fortin’s big day was in 1985. A graduate of the Washington State University clothing and textile program, she learned the basics during a required course but mastered her technique after buying a loom in 1977. At the time, she had two small children at home and was working side jobs — catering, sewing — to supplement her income.
One of her pieces is a coat, “Flying over Glaciers,” which was inspired by the color and formations of the glaciers she saw during an Alaska vacation. Another is a pink, yellow, green and blue home decor piece. She likes that the League helps her make a living creating whatever she wants.
“I’ve been doing it for so long now it’s become part of my life. My husband is retired now, and we do a little traveling, but if I don’t weave quite often, I miss it,” Fortin said via phone.
One of the youngest League jury members is Wilmot artist Zack Jonas, 33, who has two pieces in the show: “Gazelle,” a Persian-inspired fighting knife with a 10-inch blade made from his own “firestorm” Damascus steel, and “Smoke,” a mid-sized American bowie knife, also with a Damascus steel blade. Jonas entered the organization in 2013 as the only bladesmith at the time. For him, it just made sense to get the League stamp of approval.
“I was … and still am working to discover and establish a market,” he said via phone. “And that’s basically what the League was founded for in the ’30s, so artists could have an association and be supported commercially.”
The goal in the jurying process, Green said, is to encourage craftsmen and guide them to becoming better at what they do. If they’re not ready for the full jury, the League has a critique program which is less expensive and less formal. She sees artists of all ages and backgrounds coming in to try out their stuff.
“We get young people, and we get retirees who finally have time to do what they’ve been doing for years,” Green said. “I remember a few years ago, within one week we juried in a 26-year-old and an 82-year-old.”
“Setting the Standard”
Where: The Craft Center, 49 S. Main St., Suite 100, Concord
When: On view Jan. 13 through March 24; opening reception Friday, Jan. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Admission: Free
Contact: nhcrafts.org
Music: Working On A Building
FEATURED MUSIC
Working On A Building
One Year In, Old Sol Music Hall Presses On
Written By Michael Witthaus (music@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
On Dec. 21, 2015, a few dozen people gathered in the back room of Shaskeen Pub in Manchester. They watched a short video that shared a vision for transforming a former Amherst Street movie house into a new venue: Old Sol Music Hall. With near-religious fervor, Old Sol co-founder Matt Wilhelm spoke of a venue that would be about “more than music,” a community magnet emblematic of the rebirth he saw in his hometown. The crowd cheered; one even wept. It was a hopeful moment; then, the work of making it a reality began.
In the ensuing months, Old Sol became an official nonprofit, held fundraisers, raised its profile and labored with determination toward its goal. If the stars align, Old Sol hopes to open in late 2018 — but hurdles remain. A Feb. 7 meeting with Manchester’s Board of Mayor & Aldermen is key.
In a recent interview, Wilhelm reflected on the many challenges that he, partner Alyssa Solomon and the rest of Old Sol’s organization face.
“We just feel it’s the right place, right time, and we know it’s going to take a lot of hard work,” he said. “If this was so easy, people would have done it already.”
The community feedback so far seems to validate Old Sol’s mission to be “more than music” for Wilhelm and Solomon.
“It’s confirmed our hunch that it needed to be ... a concert stage, but also a community and multipurpose stage,” he said, “with flexibility in how we set up the room — sometimes cocktail tables, sometimes no seats at all.”
An ideal venue should accommodate everything from ballroom dancing to a headbangers’ ball, he added.
“We talked to people, and with other nonprofits, that said, more than anything, we need a space that can do a lot of things,” Wilhelm said. “The other thing we heard from the nonprofit community was excitement to have a place for events that they’d otherwise do in a church basement.”
A benefit concert for Old Sol is planned for Saturday, Jan. 21. Once again, it will happen at the Shaskeen Pub, and star Pat & the Hats. Wilhelm first saw the Concord pop rock quintet perform at the 2015 Granite State Music Festival, and came away impressed by their onstage energy and connection with the crowd. The group released an eponymous six-song EP in early 2016.
“I was blown away by their musicianship and showmanship,” he said. “Part of what we want to do is support the local music scene, and even though the band has moved on to Boston, their roots are so deep here that it just makes sense. It’s symbolic in a lot of ways for what we want to do at our venue.”
Opening the show is Sarah & the Wild Versatile, a soulful roots rock band fronted by singer-songwriter Sarah Seminski and guitarist Eric Reardon. Veteran blues performer James Montgomery praises Reardon as “a very inventive player, way beyond his years in terms of being able to just jam and go with it. His solos are seamless.”
The Boston group has appeared several times at Nashua’s Riverwalk Cafe, and opened for Robert Randolph’s Family Band last summer. “Alyssa has been following them and she thinks they are a great complement to Pat & the Hats,” Wilhelm said. “We love the diversity on stage and both men and women for both acts.”
Wilhelm’s belief that the dilapidated Rex Theatre at 23 Amherst St. can be reborn as Old Sol Music Hall is bolstered by the surge he sees in his home city.
“Manchester is at this really exciting turning point,” he said. “There is a lot of downtown development, leveraged by the Chamber of Commerce ... we’ve been really impressed by the progress made in just the last decade. A lot has to do with local business owners; if I don’t do something at this particular downtown location, no one will.”
Winter Sol Concert featuring Pat & the Hats, Sarah & the Wild Versatile
When: Saturday, Jan. 21, 8 p.m.
Where: Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $20 at http://oldsol.org (21+)
Film: La La Land
FEATURED FILM
Film Review
La La Land (PG-13)
Written By Author (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy/Stock Photo
A hopeful young actress and a musician striving to keep jazz alive fall in love in La La Land, a fairy tale of Hollywood — with singing and dancing!
Mia (Emma Stone) works at a coffee shop on the Warner Brothers lot — and thus do cowboys, pre-revolution French aristocrats and movie stars mingle outside her workplace’s window. She yearns to be part of that world and goes on so-far-unsuccessful auditions for things such as the TV show billed as a cross between Dangerous Minds and The OC.
Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a pianist who wants to save jazz, pure old-school jazz, from a slide into musical oblivion. He sits outside a one-time venue for jazz legends and fumes that it has become a purveyor of samba and tapas. He is determined to open his own jazz club, even though his gigs where he sullenly plays Christmas carols as background music at a restaurant don’t seem to be getting him closer to that goal.
The first interaction between Sebastian and Mia is when he honks and then drives around her in traffic, Mia having been so absorbed in the lines she was practicing that she didn’t see the cars finally move on the overpass on which they were both stuck. Their second interaction comes when she hears him play an original song, snuck into the middle of a Christmas carol, at the restaurant. Mia goes to tell him he’s great but he brushes past her, having just been fired for his departure from the set list.
It’s at their next meeting, when Sebastian is playing 1980s pop covers at a party, that these two actually get to talk. They are hesitant, at first, but then quickly fall into each other’s worlds — Mia learning to like (or learning to pretend she likes) jazz and Sebastian encouraging Mia not just to keep auditioning but to create her own starring vehicle, something that will showcase what she is really capable of.
Though their romance is sweet, they soon hit bumpy patches. An old buddy, Keith (John Legend), offers Sebastian a well-paying job touring with his band, a sort of jazz-rock-soul-fusion thing. It is not Sebastian’s purest ideal but it is $1,000 a week. Meanwhile, Mia develops a one-woman play that she pours all her hopes and dreams (and time and money) into.
La La Land is very cute, in both senses of the word. With its beautiful shots of the prettier parts of classic Hollywood Los Angeles locales, its girls in fluttery dresses, its sweeping love songs and its pretty and hopeful-looking stars, the movie definitely casts a dreamy spell of the glamour of old Hollywood and the charm of young love. It uses the visual language of the golden age of film — in particular the musicals — to tell a very Hollywood story about having artistic passion and big ideas and the struggle to make them work with the reality of show biz.
La La Land is also pretty cute in how much it seems to wink at what it’s doing. I feel like all of this charm — which felt a lot, at times, like Charm!™ — might have worked better if I hadn’t spent the last four months hearing how dazzled I was going to be by La La Land. I doubt any movie could stand up to that kind of build-up. All of the sweetness that can make this movie feel so lovely and sparkling also gives it a sort of “put a bird on it” determined-whimsy quality. Which is to say, this movie is very earnest about its adorableness, maybe a little too earnest for my taste.
Of the central pair, Gosling seems to have a better sense of what he’s doing, how to walk the line and mostly keep his old-man-affectation-having pianist on the romantic side of the romantic/pretentious hipster divide. Stone just goes all in, all in with her giant eyes and her looks of heartbreak. There is a puppy-ish quality to how she approaches this role and that much wide-eyed believing in this much candy-colored sunniness is just one sugar cookie too many sometimes.
There are things in La La Land that worked for me. The movie opens with a very believable traffic jam on a freeway where (less believable) the drivers popped out of cars and broke into songs about their hopes and dreams, pursued in the always bright sun of a California day. That opening is, genuinely, quite fun and charming. While I did occasionally want to turn the hose on Mia and Sebastian, there are also moments of their time together that are indeed quite romantic. Of all the ye olden stuff that has been brought back in recent years, why not more opportunities for ballroom-style couple dancing? You can’t beat strings and a couple waltzing or foxtrotting together — it is like a bouquet of roses; no matter how cliché you think it becomes, the romance of it is just undeniable. In fact, the scenes of Mia and Sebastian dancing actually pretty well illustrate the difference between cliché and classic — them dancing is classic, no matter how gimmicky it sounds when I describe it.
When I say “romantic comedy” you probably think of something with wacky misunderstandings, a crazy bridesmaid’s dress and a scene where somebody runs after somebody in an airport in defiance of all things we in the audience know to be true about TSA security. La La Land is a different kind of romantic comedy, one where the actual romance is warm and rosy and in the center and the comedy bits are actually surprising little quirky moments sprinkled throughout. It is truly a sweet and lovely movie and I applaud it for taking chances even if it’s not quite as wonderful as it wants you to think it is.
Grade: B+
Pop: Reimagine Yourself *
FEATURED POP - * COVER STORY *
Reimagine Yourself
Simple Hair, Clothes & Attitude Updates
Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
It’s a new year and a chance for a new you. If it’s time to rethink your whole look, there are a few simple steps you can take to change your clothes, hairstyle and overall image.
Find Yourself
Image consultant Susan Osborne, based in Manchester, says everyone has a “brand” and once they figure that out they can begin to craft an outward appearance that fits that brand. And knowing your brand has a lot to do with your personality and what sorts of things you want to accomplish.
“The very first step in making any change, in order for it to be long-lasting, is to first identify what you want to move away from and what you want to move toward,” Osborne said.
Andrea Dupont, an image consultant from Portsmouth who is also one of only five fashion feng shui masters in the world, puts it another way.
“From my perspective, in order to change your look you need to know who you are and what you want to attract into your life,” Dupont said. “Say you want to attract a better job. Then you would probably need to be more put together with a better quality and reflect the image of the industry that you want to get into.”
Dupont said people too often select their attire by mirroring the fashion choices of those around them in their everyday life, rather than turning inward and trying to figure out what they enjoy wearing as an individual.
Osborne recommends looking to people you admire and wish to emulate. Watch their attire closely and pay attention to the little details to see how they pull it off.
Pick Your Costume
Once you have a good sense of who you are and what you want, it’s time to start picking out clothes.
Dupont advises against shopping with a friend or listening to the sales person when they say something looks good on you — they’ll say that no matter what you’re wearing.
“Trust your instincts,” Dupont said. “If it doesn’t really make you smile, then don’t buy it.”
Osborne said people tend to fall into habits and patterns with their clothes and they need to try to break free of those habits if they want to update their look in a significant way.
“How clothes fit the body is also a pattern and a habit for people,” Osborne said.
For instance, if your clothes are usually baggy, try finding something that is more fitted. Osborne also emphasizes the importance of color.
“Colors make a big difference in our appearance,” Osborne said. “Wearing the right temperature of colors and the right intensity of colors that is good for our skin color, our hair color, eye color, our own temperature, and something that complements that, it really makes a nice enhancement in the way that you look and come across.”
And Dupont said a few little items added to your attire can go a long way in completing the picture.
“You have to take it to the next level and accessorize and make it more of a look versus just putting two pieces of clothes on,” Dupont said.
Change Your Hair
Osborne said changing up your hairstyle offers some quick and easy ways to change your look. Bangs or no bangs, short hair or long hair, people must make their own decisions about what specific styles to pursue, but Osborne recommends experimenting in small steps.
Women can try a new hair color by starting with different shades until they’re comfortable with the full transformation.
Gail Henry, the owner of Dude’s Barber Shop in Hooksett, said the quickest way for men to play around with new styles is with styling products like gel, wax or cream.
“I think No. 1 is product. Get the right product for the look you’re going for,” Henry said. “There’s everything from making your hair crunchy and stiff to making it flexible. …
Whatever style they’re looking for, they can attain with the right product.”
Keep Your Head High
Beauty is only skin-deep, however. Another way you can significantly change your look is by changing the way you carry yourself in public.
“Body language speaks volumes about who we are, how we feel about ourselves,” Osborne said. “Standing erect, shoulders back, not slouching, not having their head down, really creating good powerful presence … when you walk into a room is not only a confidence-builder but it also projects confidence as well.”
Ultimately, Osborne said, it’s important to remember that long-lasting change will not happen overnight. So while these quick fixes can set you in the right direction, you must be patient in crafting an overall look.
“Rome was not built in a day, and with image consulting it is the same way. It is definitely a process,” Osborne said.
MORE HEADLINES
Imposing Limits
Imposing Limits
Mark Sundeen On The Unsettlers
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
It’s common practice for people to analyze their lives this time of year, asking questions like, am I happy? Is my life fulfilling? And if not, am I on the right path to get there soon?
Southern New Hampshire University adjunct faculty member and author Mark Sundeen’s new book, The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today’s America, follows three families who go to great lengths in order to achieve more fulfillment through simpler lives. Riverhead Books releases the title Jan. 10, and Sundeen presents it at SNHU Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Sundeen, who’s also a correspondent for Outside Magazine, began conceptualizing The Unsettlers during the tour for his 2012 book, The Man Who Quit Money, about a man, Daniel Suelo, who left his life savings in a phone booth and hasn’t earned, received or spent a cent since. Suelo came along for the tour, and his story drew great interest among event attendees.
“A lot of people asked, ‘I admire how you live, but I have children. How could I incorporate these values into my life and not take it so extreme and live in a cave?’ … I wanted to answer that question. How radical can a family be? How far can you cut ties with commercial civilization but not be a negligent parent or deprive your kids of what would be important opportunities America has to offer?” Sundeen said via phone.
The “simple life” movement has existed for hundreds of years, occurring in waves. It was popular in the ’70s, and Sundeen said he’s seeing another resurgence right now; in his opinion, it’s due to today’s mainstream jobs and industries.
“Almost all jobs now … involve looking at a computer and manipulating data in one way or another, and I think people have the urge to do things that are a little more tangible — working with their hands, being outside, building and growing things that seem more essential,” he said. “The other thing unique about our time is we feel reliant on industries that are destroying the world — specifically fuel, food and finance. … We recognize that these three industries are damaging to us and making the world so much less fair and so much less safe, yet we depend on them.”
Many people are looking for a different way to live, which is why, he said, you see the rise in outsider candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders and trends like organic eating and the tiny house movement.
Sundeen looked high and low via social media and word of mouth for an American family to profile. He wanted to find people who hadn’t inherited money or land; who were trying to limit the fossil fuels they used; who didn’t have jobs outside their own land; and who’d been living this way at least 10 years.
“I know a lot of people who do this for only a year or two and find out it’s too hard,” he said. “I wanted people who weren’t doing this as a media gimmick. … There’s been a trend in reality TV shows about people living off the grid, people going back to the land, but for the most part they dumb it down, so [viewers] miss the entire point.”
He found three families — Sarah and Ethan in La Plata, Missouri; Olivia and Greg in Detroit; and Luci and Steve in Victor, Montana — and divided the book into three separate narratives, starting in Missouri.
The first scene depicts the couple bicycling from an Amtrak train to a farm house they’ve never seen before in the middle of the night. Sarah, five months pregnant, is a classically trained opera singer, and her husband Ethan is a former marine biologist. They came across the land after compiling a list of 20 criteria for a home to begin their family. Some of their requirements included a year-round drinking water source, long growing season and location close to a train station and college town.
“I knew that would be a real great place to start the book. There’s such a sense of going to the unknown — a pregnant woman riding a bicycle to a farm she’s never been to,” Sundeen said.
Like this couple, all the families Sundeen interviewed came to live the way they do thoughtfully and carefully. He spent three weeks in each home as a fly on the wall and conducted long interviews, with about 10 hours of tape for each person. He saw their lives were hard but also enjoyable.
“I didn’t feel like any of these people were suffering by depriving themselves of the things they wanted. They loved working with their hands. They loved growing their own food and things like that,” he said. “What these people found was that by imposing limits on themselves, they actually found more abundance. People who didn’t need electricity found they were spending more time with children, putting on plays, playing music and exploring in the woods — things they might not do if they were sitting in front of a computer all day.”
Meet Mark Sundeen
Where: Southern New Hampshire University, 2500 N. River Road, Manchester
When: Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m.
Contact: marksundeen.com
Weekly Music Review
Weekly Music Review
Nine of Swords & More
Written By Author (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Album Art
Nine of Swords, You Will Never Die (self-released)
New York punk-rock will never die, certainly not with albums like this bellowed into the great hollow void. Singer Rachel Gordon came to this band from the unlikely confines of Baby Mollusk, wherein she was tasked with batting her eyes and hipster-ditzing her way around some decent but ultimately disposable Pavement-ish fluff. That’s hardly the case here; apart from a few moments of insectile glitch pattering over some elevator synth-cheese, this is like Courtney Love singing for Helmet, and I mean the really crazy version of Courtney. These tunes want to break stuff, taking on the political/societal ramifications of mass shootings and voting against one’s best interests and such-and-so. Yeah, everyone has an unwanted opinion these days, of course, but Gordon’s roaring is so raw and real that one can’t help but commiserate.
Grade: A+
Small Feet, Dreaming the Dream (Barsuk Records)
This is a digital-only release of this EP, comprised of six reworked songs left over from the Stockholm-based trio’s 2015 debut LP From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like The Ocean. To get your bearings, we’re discussing a band whose first LP was lauded by such hipster vanguards as Brooklyn Vegan, which isn’t necessarily as bad a thing as it used to be, unless my brain finally cracked in half and this stuff doesn’t aggravate me as much as it did during the mid-Aughts. Singer/leader Simon Stålhamre is the impetus here, whom some have compared to the sadly departed one-man-depression-ward Jason Molina for some reason; actually he sounded more like Brandon Flowers in unplugged mode for most of From Far Enough, a dawdling sugar-free trifle that felt like Silkworm in 1950s-surf mode. This EP is much different from that, though, and has a lot of enjoyable moments. “Liar Behind the Sun” has a shoegazey feel, what with the slightly overdone reverb and beach-campfire vibe, but it’s also got a lot of twee authenticity to it as well — a remarkable little song, really. I like the lack of shrillness on Stålhamre’s part during the first half of this record, even if the mutant Roy Orbison shtick returns later during “Smoke and Mirrors” and throughout from there.
Grade: A
All Souped Up
All Souped Up
Library Hosts Night Of Sharing & Tasting Soup
Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
If you have a soup recipe that you’re especially proud of, here is your chance to show it off: On Thursday, Jan. 12, from 6 to 8 p.m., the Brookline Public Library will host its fourth annual Soup Night event, where amateur chefs are invited to bring a slow cooker full of their own homemade soup to share with other participants and attending tasters.
“In wintertime, soup is always a comfort food. Everyone has their favorites that they love to make and share,” Library Director Myra Emmons said. “So we wanted to have a social get-together that allowed people to share their recipes with each other and have a good time. It’s been very popular. A lot of people come out to try the different soups.”
Those entering a soup are encouraged to bring copies of their recipe if they’re willing to share it so that tasters can try making the soups they liked best at home for themselves. People are also invited to make and bring loaves of their own fresh homemade bread to accompany the soups.
Emmons said there are usually around 12 to 15 different soups available to try and that the library has yet to see a Soup Night that features duplicate kinds of soups.
“We’ve had lots of different ones over the years,” she said. “There was a seafood chowder that was really good. There’s been tortilla soup, a chili tomato-based soup, ham and bean, lentil, Portuguese sausage, kale, squash, all kinds of things. There’s always a real variety.”
This year’s Soup Night will include a new element: a friendly competition with a judging panel comprised of the town administrator and other community notables. The winning soup maker will receive bragging rights and their name on the library’s “Tureen of Tastiness.”
“I’ve been a little wary of making it a competitive thing because I know sometimes those can get a little heated,” Emmons said, “and it’s still intended to be more of a community gathering, but we wanted to try this out to see if people like having the judges, just for fun.”
Soup Night is free and open to everyone for sharing and tasting, regardless of residency or library membership. There is no deadline to register as an entrant, but the library does ask that those interested in bringing a soup sign up at the front desk and indicate what kind of soup they plan to make.
Fourth Annual Soup Night
Where: Brookline Public Library, 16 Main St., Brookline
When: Thursday, Jan. 12, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Cost: Free for entrants and tasters
Contact: 673-3330, bplnh.weebly.com
Flavors Of The Rainbow
Flavors Of The Rainbow
New Juicery Opens in Manchester
Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
The Milk & Honey Juicery + Cafe, located at the corner of Elm and Hanover streets, is planning a grand opening in the next few weeks.
The cafe, founded by two childhood friends from Merrimack, Hannah Carol and Matthew Radwan, and local restaurant entrepreneur Liu Vaine, will serve organic and vegan juices, smoothies, breakfast bowls and more from a concept menu inspired by the colors of the rainbow.
The name Milk & Honey, Carol said, was inspired by the theory that sustainable practices will lead to a “world of abundance” where everyone will have what they need to live.
“We’re writing a love letter to the place we grew up,” she said. “We’ve traveled the world and refined our tastes, and now we’re coming back to give this gift to New Hampshire. I think this is something it needed.”
Everything served at the cafe is free of dairy, soy and meat products, and everything is vegan with the exception of humanely harvested local honey and eggs used in some dishes.
The menu is broken into three main categories — juice, smoothies and bowls — and each category has nine selections based on the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white and brown. The drinks and dishes feature a combination of fruits, vegetables, nuts and herbs to achieve their respective colors. The red juice, for example, is made with apples, carrots, beets, lemon and ginger; the purple juice is made with grapes, cucumbers, purple cabbage and lemon.
The smoothies consist of superfood blends, like the orange blend of sweet potato, banana, maca root and cinnamon, and the green blend of orange juice, spinach, kale, banana and coconut cream.
Breakfast bowls and whole-grain bowls include selections like chia pudding, oatmeal, sweet potato, buckwheat and acai bowls.
Carol said achieving the visual colors for the drinks using all organic products wasn’t an easy task.
“Sometimes it was like, ‘OK, this tastes great, but it’s not red enough,’” she said. “Blue was our largest obstacle. I was told by more than one nutritionist, ‘You can’t do it. Take it off the menu.’ But [the rainbow] is our concept, and we can’t say blue isn’t on the rainbow! So it look a lot of research and time to figure it all out.”
A different color is featured every day the cafe is open, with free samples of that color’s juice. Customers also have the option to do a juice flight in which they can taste three different juices.
In addition to its main menu, Milk & Honey offers locally roasted coffee from Flight Coffee Co., local tea from White Heron, house-made non-dairy milks including almond, cashew, tiger nut and hemp milk; and sweeteners including agave, local maple and honey.
Carol and Radwan said they use as many local products as possible, but staying local doesn’t take precedence over using organic and quality products that keep with the cafe’s concept.
“If you focus [a menu] on local, so much of it is about what’s seasonal,” Radwan said. “We want ours to be a menu that is solid year-round and has stuff that you may not be able to order at another place that has, like, one vegan option,” Radwan said.
“We’re more focused on expanding your palate and offering something that doesn’t exist in the area,” Carol added.
The cafe can accommodate 30 customers, with a mix of cafe tables, family style and bar seating. The atmosphere has a sleek and urban vibe that Radwan said was designed to feel like “an oasis.”
“I love the whole woodsy aesthetic, but we wanted this to be different and have a more modern and clean look,” he said.
Most importantly, Radwan said, he and Carol want Milk & Honey to be a welcoming space where everyone feels comfortable. Their hope is that the concise menu with items named simply by color makes the ordering process feel less daunting for people, and that the cafe will help to clear up misconceptions about vegan and vegetarian eating and make it more accessible to the general public.
“We’re intentional about making it appeal to a wide demographic, from the most veteran vegan to the health-curious person,” Carol said. “There’s something for everyone, and we’ll help them figure out what on the menu is best for them.”
Milk & Honey Juicery + Cafe
Where: 889 Elm St., Manchester
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Contact: milkandhoneymanchester.com, 420-9308
Check their website or Facebook for opening date announcement.
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Rockingham Fishing & Hunting Expo Return
Written By Matt Ingersol (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
If you are new to hunting, fishing, archery or another type of outdoor activity and want to learn for the first time, the Rockingham Fishing & Hunting Expo is a good place to start.
The 14th annual expo will be held at the SNHU Arena in Manchester Saturday, Jan. 7, and Sunday, Jan. 8. The event is the largest and longest continually operated outdoor sporting expo in New Hampshire, featuring more than 200 exhibitors specializing in various kinds of outdoor sports. Previous expos were held at Rockingham Park in Salem and drew more than 10,000 visitors over the course of the weekend.
Expo organizer Fred Allard said the focus is primarily on fishing and hunting, but a mix of other exhibitors will include those who specialize in kayaking, canoeing, camping, falconry and more. Exhibitors from New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and several Canadian communities are all expected to attend.
“A lot of the seminars that will be shown focus on beginner levels,” Allard said. “So if someone is interested in kayaking and wants to get into it for the first time, there will be a seminar you can learn from. … If you want to learn specifically about deer hunting, we’ll have a guy doing a seminar on that. … There’s a lot of beginner stuff you can find here.”
Other seminars will include a live display of redtail hawks from the New Hampshire Falconers Association, ice fishing tactics and techniques courtesy of Tim Moore Outdoors in Greenland, a taxidermy presentation by Wily Coyote Taxidermy, a video presentation on coastal water fishing by Capt. Mel True of Fishnet Charters, an introduction to basic target archery courtesy of Mike Bolduc of Archery in Motion in Concord and more. Allard said the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department will also be there selling and providing information on fishing and hunting licenses.
Popular events for the kids include fishing in the live trout pond and an interactive archery seminar specifically for younger archers to learn. There will also be paintball ranges, a laser shot range and a small obstacle course, Allard said.
New to this year’s expo will be an appearance by the Whitetails of North America, the largest collection of trophy whitetail deer in the world, according to Allard. Assembled by Vermont hunter John LaBerge, the display will cover more than 80 feet of exhibit space — and that’s not even enough to include everything he has.
“I have about 60 deer in my collection, but we’ll only be able to fit about 23 deer across 80 feet,” LaBerge said. “There are quite a few that I can swap off and change for the next year, though.”
LaBerge has travelled all over the country buying and collecting replicas to add to his record-setting collection, including one of the Missouri Monarch, the No. 1 non-typical whitetail in the world.
“Nobody around here has ever seen a display like this,” he said. “I mean, you’ll have individuals who have great displays but are only at their homes, and some other places that may have security like you can’t believe. … But I’ve been told by many people that they haven’t seen a traveling display like this ever.”
LaBerge said a staple of his display appearing at shows is the photo opportunities visitors can take with the whitetails.
“Most shows like this that you go to will only have maybe one deer set up, and they’ll only give you one picture for $10 or something … so what we like to do is let all the kids come and take pictures with the deer, or with their parents in front of their favorite deer. It’s a really big deal with the kids.”
14th Annual Rockingham Fishing & Hunting Expo
When: Saturday, Jan. 7, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 8, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester
Cost: $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 5 to 15, and free for children ages 5 and under (tickets available at the door only)
Visit: rockinghamexpo.com
Flash Freeze
Flash Freeze
Gate City Striders Presents First of Five Winter Races
Written By Matt Ingersol (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
If you want to stay active outdoors despite the frigid temps, the Gate City Striders have a race or five for you. The 2017 Freeze Your Buns series, featuring five 5K-length runs, kicks off Sunday, Jan. 8, at 9 a.m. Additional races are planned for Jan. 22, Feb. 5, Feb. 19 and March 5.
Each of the races begins at Stellos Stadium in Nashua before looping around Nashua High School South three times and coming back toward the starting line, ending at the Conway Arena for refreshments.
“The purpose of the series is to give people some motivation in the really cold dead of winter, but it also helps us raise money for the club to put on some of the bigger races that are held throughout the year,” race director Jessica Greenwood said.
Greenwood said the races are nearly always held as scheduled regardless of the weather conditions, except in extreme cases of snow or ice just before the start time.
“We pretty much keep running unless there’s a legitimate danger,” she said. “Other than that, we have volunteers that put sand down on the corners [of the route]. … A lot of the road is on sidewalks. We don’t cross roads. … We’ve never cancelled for cold, and we’ve kept running even if it is snowing.”
Runners will gather at the Conway Arena at the end of each race to warm up with hot chocolate, water, donuts and coffee.
The Gate City Striders has more than 600 active members participating in races across southern New Hampshire and the Merrimack Valley. The club hosts other running series and programs throughout the year, including the Mine Falls Trail Series, a “Fitness University” running camp in the summer for kids, and the Gate City Marathon, a race held in May that began in 2015.
Each of the Freeze Your Buns races is open to all age groups, and you don’t need to be a Gate City Striders member to participate. All you need is weather-appropriate race attire and footwear and a small entry fee to run.
The cost is $5 per race for adults ages 19 and older and $3 per race for kids and teens ages 18 and under. Runners do not have to participate in all five races, but pre-registration rates for the whole series are available at $20 for adults and $12 for kids. No strollers or dogs are allowed on the route.
If you do run all five races and finish as a top scorer, you’ll have a chance to win a raffle prize at an after-race ceremony following the concluding race of the series in March.
Awards will be given out to the top male and female point scorers for the age groups of 10 and under, 11 to 14, 15 to 19, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and 80 and older.
Results from each race in the series will be posted on coolrunning.com.
Gate City Striders’ “Freeze Your Buns” Run Series
When: Sunday, Jan. 8, 9 a.m. (other races of the series are Jan. 22, Feb. 5, Feb. 19 and March 5, all at 9 a.m.)
Where: Begins at Stellos Stadium (7 Stadium Drive, Nashua), and ends at Conway Arena (5 Stadium Drive, Nashua) for refreshments
Cost: $5 per race or $20 for all five races for adults ages 19 and older; $3 per race or $12 for all five races for kids and teens ages 18 and under
Visit: gatecity.org
Playwriting Process
Playwriting Process
First Reading of David Preece's The Story of Ruth This Weekend
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Getting new eyes and ears on a play he’s written isn’t exactly Manchester playwright David Preece’s favorite part of the process, but it’s necessary if you want your script to be any good.
“You feel naked. You’re exposing yourself, warts and all, to the public. And they can mock it, they can laugh at you — and that’s part of the process of writing a play. You’ve got to be strong!” Preece said via phone last week.
His “warts and all” will be on view Sunday, Jan. 8, at the reading of his most recent piece, The Story of Ruth, at the Concord City Auditorium, part of the Walker Lecture Series. Jim Webber will direct, and Barbara Webb, Wallace Pineault, Melinda Wolf, Katherine Proulx, Steven Lajoie, Andrew Pinard, Aaron Compagna and Kim Lajoie will read.
The play is about television actress, screenwriter and playwright Ruth Gordon, a New England native known for the films Harold and Maude and Rosemary’s Baby, for which she won an Oscar. It takes place when the actress is 79 and decides she wants to go back to Broadway, where her origins lie.
New Hampshire audiences have seen many of Preece’s plays. His most recently produced was Dancing Among the Wildflowers, about the last hours Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife spent together at their Texas ranch, at the Hatbox Theatre this fall. Preece is a history buff and theater-lover, so much of his work is inspired by real people and events.
“I fell in love with Ruth Gordon in the early 2000s. I had seen Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Rosemary’s Baby and Harold and Maude. … I started to do some research and was amazed at the odds and the obstacles thrown against her, and how she overcame all of them,” Preece said. “There was a time when there were no plays or movies given to her, so she decided to write her own. … I was also fascinated by the people who befriended her and helped her along the way.”
Many of these people were theater legends — Thornton Wilder (who was inspired by Gordon to write The Matchmaker), Alexander Woollcott, Helen Hayes and Jed Harris — all of whom make appearances in The Story of Ruth.
“I just thought a tribute needed to be given to her and these people,” Preece said.
Preece, who’s also executive director for the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission, began researching the piece two and a half years ago. He spent many Saturdays and Sundays on his computer at Starbucks sipping coffee and sifting through information.
“You learn a lot about history, and that’s one of the rewarding things about being a playwright — if you do the necessary research, you uncover a lot about your characters,” Preece said.
Writing took about nine months. He compares his process to ceramics.
“It’s like clay. You start to massage it, and then you build the sculpture that will be known as the final play, but it involves months of rewriting, and hopefully opportunities to have the play read aloud by good actors and presented by a good director,” Preece said.
During the reading, Preece will sit at the back of the theater and mark up his script with red ink as he follows along. Afterward, he’ll ask for audience feedback and conduct one-on-one meetings with the actors and director for critique. Then it’s back to Starbucks.
Listening to play readings and getting feedback is critical for playwrights, Preece said. What you hear aloud doesn’t always match how it sounds in your head — which is why he’s so thankful for the support in ventures like these.
“The theater community in New Hampshire is one of the best because they really do encourage community and professional theater,” Preece said.
The Story of Ruth Reading
Where: Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince St., Concord
When: Sunday, Jan. 8, at 2 p.m.
Admission: Free
Contact: Part of Walker Lecture Series; call 496-1384, visit concordcityauditorium.org
Not That Hard To Stay Healthy
Not That Hard To Stay Healthy
How To Get More Sleep & Less Sick
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
Chances are good you’re not at peak health right now.
Maybe you’re recovering from the stressful, cookie-infused, exercise-less holiday season, or maybe you even caught something from all the hugging, kissing and handshakes at family gatherings.
Jim Readey, owner of the Yoga Center, shares his tips on how to get better sleep, and Dr. Benjamin Chan, physician and state epidemiologist, has advice on how to avoid getting ill this winter.
Sleep More
Jim Readey, who will host a workshop on getting more sleep at the Concord Co-op in late January called “A Better Night’s Sleep (The Art of Deep Relaxation),” suffered from insomnia for decades. His biggest issue was falling asleep, which could take an hour, sometimes longer. It had enormous impact on his well-being.
“Sleep is one of the most basic needs for our balanced health. We have to have nutrition, exercise, shelter, and we need rest,” he said via phone. “It’s one of the building blocks of health.”
He found things changed when he began yoga about 25 years ago due to the practices involved, like deep breathing.
“If you go to sleep with quick, shallow breaths in a flight-or-fight manner, it will keep your nervous system on edge. If you learn to breathe more slowly, you’re going to enter into sleep more peacefully,” Readey said.
Learning to detach from thoughts using meditation techniques also helped.
“Most of us in our culture have wired our brains to be problem-solving machines,” Readey said. “Our brain is trying to locate the problem or issue and then resolve it. And that’s not a bad thing, but the problem is, we can’t shut it off.”
Other ways to get better sleep at night, he said, include cutting down on sugary foods, caffeine and alcohol just before bedtime. All activate your brain and can cause shallower sleep.
“[Alcohol] might help people fall asleep initially, but they tend to sleep at a shallower level and wake up more easily at night,” Readey said. “It will generally mess up your natural sleep patterns. You might have a short-term gain but it will have some detrimental side effects.”
Your actions throughout the rest of the day can affect your sleep too.
“If you’re not getting physical exercise during the day, the body will have this excess energy at night,” Readey said. “If we exercise on a regular basis, then the body is going to feel more at ease when it comes time to get into bed and go to sleep.”
Did you spend some time on the computer or watching TV just before bed? That can ruin sleep too.
“With TV, your mind is reacting to everything you’re watching on television,” Readey said. “People are in fight-or-flight breathing when we’re on the computer, whether we know it or not.”
If you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, he advised refraining from turning bright lights on if possible.
“As people get older, people start waking up earlier or in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. They have a hard time going back to sleep,” he said. “When you turn on the lights, it gets the brain to think it’s time to get up.”
Get Sick Less
Naturally, one of the best, easiest ways prevent illness — at least one kind of illness — is to get the flu shot.
“It remains the best way to not get infected from the flu, which tends to be more serious than the common cold, anyway, which is another reason to try to get vaccinated,” Chan said via phone.
The common cold, however, has no vaccination, and it often creeps in during winter months due to more time indoors, which means more contact with people and possibilities for contamination. The best way to avoid these colds is to prevent the spread of germs. Don’t sneeze into your hand — sneeze into your elbow or into a tissue. Wash your hands regularly. If you do get sick, stay at home to get rest and drink plenty of fluids.
“A lot of the [advice] tends to be pretty routine,” Chan said. “There’s not much that’s new or surprising for a lot of people. It tends to be the common-sense approach.”
A Better Night’s Sleep (The Art of Deep Relaxation) with Jim Readey
Where: Concord Co-op, 24 S. Main St., Concord, 225-6840
When: Saturday, Jan. 21, from 10:30 a.m. to noon
Admission: Free
Contact: concordfoodcoop.coop/classes/ or nhyogacenter.com
Easy Money
Easy Money
Quick Fixes to Improve Your Financial Situation
Written By Matt Ingersol (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
If you have New Year’s resolutions to save more money for retirement or emergencies, or to pay down some of that credit card debt, check out some of these simple financial tips.
Building a Budget
When it comes to any type of financial planning, keeping a budget that works for you is crucial for the proper management of your money, regardless of your individual situation.
“Budgeting is vital, because it gives you a roadmap of how you want to allocate your money,” said Brian Brown, a financial wellness expert with GreenPath Financial Wellness’s Manchester office.
You should always budget regardless of your income level, according to Brown, because it gives you opportunities for how you might want to change or refine it.
“If you make $100,000 a year and are spending $150,000, then you’re no better off than somebody who’s making $30,000 and spending $80,000,” he said. “That’s why you should always look at what your safety net has been with your spending. … In addition to that, the arrival of a new job or any other sort of additional income can also help to refine your budget, and it helps you to make that plan and to make some informed decisions as far as paying down debt.”
But Brown added that a common thing people can forget about budgeting is remembering to put money away for an unexpected financial emergency or crisis.
“Not everyone always thinks in the full scale about what budgeting their money should include,” he said. “They may think about it as a budget to pay for all of their utilities and monthly expenses, but they don’t always think about budgeting for savings.”
Brown recommends working toward having about three to six months’ worth of living expenses tucked away as an emergency cushion — and budgeting helps to realize what that amount is for you.
“You’re obviously not going to develop those savings overnight, so it’s important to set goals until you get to where you want to be,” he said.
Give Yourself Credit
Knowing your credit score and what impacts it is also very important. Brown said a great online tool is annualcreditreport.com, where you can fill out a form to obtain a credit report for free.
“Before you develop a plan to help improve your credit and your credit score, you need to know what’s impacting it,” he said. “The first step to any sort of improvement is finding out what is on that credit report. … On-time payments are obviously vital, but so is keeping a balance of around 30 percent, because not only does that sometimes impact your credit score, but it’s also something that can impact your month-to-month financial situation.”
Your payment history is a large component of your overall credit score, Brown said.
“On-time payments are certainly going to help, because you’re showing the credit that you do have,” he said, “but on the flip side, you’re utilizing that credit with each of the transactions you’re making on your credit card.”
Ready for Retirement
Getting into a habit of saving early and saving often, even if it is only a small amount each month, could make a world of a difference when it comes to retirement.
“A lot of people will assume they are too young, they are too poor, or they have too much debt they need to pay off first, but it’s never too late to start planning,” said Caitlin Demet, an independent advisor with Northeast Planning Associates in Bedford.
Demet said it could be very helpful to develop a trusting working relationship with an advisor, or to consult with family members or friends if you don’t already have one. Funding an emergency account in the long term also helps you avoid dipping into retirement accounts in the event of a financial crisis.
“If you can put even as little as $50 a month into a 401(k) or a Roth IRA, it compounds interest, so it will grow like you would never imagine,” she said.
Save on Insurance
If you are trying to find the health or dental insurance plan that is best suited for you, Demet said a common thing most people don’t realize is that there is no cost for hiring an independent insurance broker.
“You can go to a broker and they will go out and help you shop for plans … and determine what is most important for you,” she said. “They might compare different plans in terms of identifying one that might be cheaper but will have a higher deductible. … It’s helpful to get some advice and to just have the options that make the most sense.”
Social Boost
Social Boost
Fast Ways To Improve Your Social Life
Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
If you’re looking to give your social life a boost this year, there are all kinds of simple things you can do to help your cause. Kate Luczko, president and CEO of Stay Work Play NH, said it all starts with getting out of the house.
