Back in the 1880s, Dr. Augustin Thompson patented a nostrum called Moxie, which he produced at a small plant in Lowell, Massachusetts. He said the carbonated drink was “food for the nerves which has been proven to cure imbecility and loss of manhood.” When Congress passed the Pure Food and Drugs Act in 1906, unsubstantiated medical claims were outlawed, so…
The Cultured Club “Get Cultured” in your November 2003 edition tried to do an overview of New Hampshire arts. performing arts venues glaringly omits Keene’s Colonial Theatre, University of New Hampshire and Plymouth State University. Out of all the organizations mentioned, only Peterborough Players holds a contract with Actors Equity Association, the professional theatrical union. No mention is made of…
A friend of mine told me, “The most important lessons in your life take place when you’re doing something you don’t want to do.” I wasn’t thinking about that on the night I went to “Play Among the Stars.” I was just wondering if there was a way I could avoid driving all the way to Salem on a cold…
I’ve heard you described as one of the state’s premier Irish wits. How would you interpret that? I’d interpret that to mean we have an alarmingly low number of wits in the state. Seriously, how’d you get that reputation? I like a good Irish story; I’ve been known to spin a yarn. I tend to speak at Saint Patrick’s Day…
February was Fine I just received and read the February issue of your fine magazine and just wanted to say thanks for the consistently high quality from start to finish. I read all of your editorials. I particularly liked the articles on Franklin Pierce, Home Sweet Home, Home Design and got a real kick out of “Going February” by Rebecca Rule. Anyone who…
A scotch tasting doesn’t usually include a meal. Maybe some dry crackers between sips, but hunger sharpens the senses, so purists avoid a big feed with their single malts. But in the frost bitten, spirit-riddled mountains of Northern New Hampshire, when it’s so cold the radio’s announcing school closings, and the night has draped itself like a leaden blindfold over…
People change places. This may seem obvious, but it bears repeating when you’re trying to assess the trends and the expectations of a small state like ours — one that has undergone substantial growth in just a decade or so. And places change people. This is a fact that I can attest to personally. While I haven’t adopted a flinty…
IF YOU STAND at the edge of King Ravine at dusk, you can see, some 3,000 feet below in the valley, the twinkling lights of Gorham and, farther away, of Berlin. As you gaze across the massive U-shaped ravine, with its steep sides of sheer rock faces and rock slides and short trees, you can hear the steady wind as…
New Hampshire nature lovers may recognize Rosemary Conroy’s name — she pens a nature column for the New Hampshire Sunday News every other week. They may know her voice as one of the co-hosts of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Something Wild” segment. Maybe they’ve seen an exhibition of her wildlife painting. Or maybe they’ve just passed her driving down the…
TEDDY ROOSEVELT ONCE SAID (probably after one of his rougher rides) that it is “far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” Woody Allen once said,…
