April Letters
A collection of letters from our valuable readers.
From a “Star Player”
I will never be able to express how wonderful it was to be a part of New Hampshire Theatre Awards night [see photos of the event on page 26]. The very thought of being recognized and awarded for doing something so rewarding is an amazing concept for me. I love my “kids” and I love what they give to me. I am a better person because of them.
You and your colleagues deserve a standing ovation for all your incredible work and energy you give to the theater companies throughout New Hampshire. The talent that is out there is wonderful. I really never knew there were so many theaters throughout the state.
I could go on and on about my experience on February 6, 2004 at the awards. The memories, the feeling of success, appreciation, and the fact that I have made a difference that you recognized will stay with me forever.
Thank you so much for nominating me for the Matty Award and for supporting my dreams.
Sara Brown
Play Among the Stars
Theatre Groupe, Inc., Salem
Witness to the Event
Thank you for another terrific evening at the Second Annual N.H. Theatre Awards program. It was a wonderful evening. It’s a thrill to see the joy and happiness these recognitions mean to the recipients. Be proud of your success and creativity.
Syl Dupuis
Manchester
Great Scot(ch)!
Eloquent prose and elegant style is how we can best describe Ernesto Burden’s “NH Escapes” article about our inn’s Single Malt Scotch Tasting Dinner, in the March issue of New Hampshire Magazine. His enjoyment of the area, the dinner and tasting, the companionship and the inn showed through in all that he said. We want to thank you for sending him our way and are pleased that he had such a good time.
We are hoping for another Best of New Hampshire and although we have not yet achieved Guinness Book of World Record status with our Martini List, it has now expanded to 252 varieties, including a Stars and Stripes (Bacardi, Blue Curacao and grenadine), Godzilla (sake, Midori, Cranberry juice and pineapple juice), Milky Way (Liquor 43, Godiva Chocolate, Buttershots Schnapps and cream) and Peachy Keen (Tanqueray, peach schnapps and peach juice).
On another note, how can we get New Hampshire Magazine distributed up here, above the Notch, as our local, very popular and worldly Village Bookstore does not even carry it?
Catherine and Jose Luis Pawelek
Beal House Inn
Littleton
Editor’s note: Actually, New Hampshire Magazine can be purchased at the Village Bookstore and at a number of locations in Littleton, including Shaw’s, the Irving Station on Union Street, Butsons on Lisbon Rd., and Pares Sunshine Market. We are sold in Shaw’s, Shop and Save, Brooks and CVS outlets statewide.
That’s Not Quite the Way It Went …
Any author would be pleased to find his book and himself described in a respected publication [Senior Life, December 2003]. And, indeed, I am. So I’m reluctant to point out several errors in the piece. The author writes that “Ginna is Irish- American, named after one of Ireland’s great patriots, Robert Emmett.” However the patriot’s name was Robert Emmet — with one “t.” My middle name is Emmett with two.
I am misquoted on page 61, when the author has me say: “Kirk Sterns [Scientific American editor] suggests that in a few generations we will all be ‘gray,’ uniform in appearance at least, and possibly in other ways as well.” I spoke of distinguished geneticist Professor Curt Stern of the University of California, Berkeley. I cannot be certain of my exact words, but I’m sure I did not say that Professor Stern thought or wrote those words. Stern’s view was that, after generations of interbreeding, Americans would become racially homogenized and we would become metaphorically gray.
Robert Emmett Ginna, Jr.
Sag Harbor, NY
A Fresh Look at Redesign
Imagine my surprise when my first subscription issue arrived and I found an article on “redesign.” [N.H. Home, March, 2004]. I have recently begun just such a business in Concord, An Artist’s Fresh Look, and I was intrigued by the different ideas on how to go about what I call “design for the do-it-yourself trade.”
One designer felt most comfortable with doing it by e-mail while another approached it as design in a day.
I visit with clients twice for about an hour. The first visit is to see the space and objects available, as well as to get a feeling for the range of colors that would work well in the room. When I return I have a written plan which I then explain in detail.
As an artist for over 25 years, I think a fresh look is something that people really respond to and the idea of a plan that can be done over a short or longer period of time allows them flexibility in implementation. I have to say that you certainly gave me a fresh look at your magazine with that article.
Gail Smuda
Concord
Got Moxie?
I really do like New Hampshire Magazine and the February issue was especially good. First the story of the Moxie bottle. I grew up across the street from the bottle where “Grampy” called himself the old Scotch in the Bottle. I sent the article to his granddaughter who lives in Maryland.
I also liked the article [Capitol Offenses] about the “heroes of winter” by Jeff Feingold (he forgot the garbage men who hang off the back of the truck). Enclosed is a photo [above] similar to yours [page 11, February 2003] Not sure of the location but I live on the shore of Pine Island Pond.
Esther Theodore
Manchester
How We’ve Changed
I liked your editor’s notes on change [March 2004]. I am a native New Hampshire resident. I grew up in the Great North Woods, Berlin to be exact, and I can tell you about change, how a city of 24,000-plus worked in years of yesterday, what people did for work, play, school, how the city functioned during its years of change as children grew up, how the city, mill, churches and scouts, etc., kept all of us together and provided us with multiple activities, how, as young men and women, we were able to get around the city and to activities without cars — so many different stories with both happy and sad endings. Be assured that many folks in New Hampshire can relate to these stories.
Yes, change is good, but as I tell others about these poor, but wonderful years of experiences as a youth in the North Country, I can still see the glow of excitement, as I share how simple life was back then — and I am speaking of the years from the late ’50s through the early 1970s. What a hard and wonderful time to grow up.
As they look back and compare life as it is today, to yesterday, they will see how the dynamics have changed. Maybe, just maybe, they will start to appreciate what they have, instead of just expecting and or demanding of life as we know it today. Just food for thought.
Don Vachon
Gilford
