The idea is the thing. Bruce Iverson’s Hsieh-i brush paintings capture the essence of the object, be it bamboo, orchid or chrysanthemum. Paintings are not done from set-ups, but by observing nature and then expressing the “ch’i” with simple, yet…
To understand carpal tunnel syndrome, it helps to have a visual metaphor. Picture a train going into a narrow tunnel. Now imagine the walls of that tunnel closing in, squeezing the train until it can no longer stay on track…
To read the fevered letters to the editors of Granite State newspapers invoking his name, one would think that General John Stark had stumbled on the Battle of Bennington only by chance. That he’d really run out for cigarettes. Well,…
Since I recently turned 55, and since all twin-digit birthdays are special, I decided to celebrate this “mid life” (presuming a life span of 110) milestone by doing something I'd never done before. I had never climbed a mountain —…
Sometimes the hardest part of a room makeover is finding where to start. We asked nine designers to take us along on the design process, from inspiration to the final touch. The project was eight rooms in the 2007 Old…
The power of mind over biology is a mystery that science has just begun to understand, but healers from the the Eastern world did not wait for science to break the mind-body code. Elaborate systems of curing and preventing disease…
Begin in Groveton, a former lumber town north of the White Mountains, where the Ammonoosuc River used to be filled with logs waiting for the pulp mills. Now a park holds an old coal-fired logging railroad engine and caboose beside…
If my family were the Kennedys, I would be the last one picked for touch football. It's not that I am particularly clumsy or slow, too short or too old. It’s just that I am too rational. Why waste a…
It’s just a little luncheonette-style spot with a counter and a few tables, but Rincon Colombiano offers big, bold flavors in traditional Columbian dishes with some familiar ingredients merged with flavors you might never have tried before. Start with a…
Your neighbor comes over with an armful of the bloated green vegetable, and the farmers markets are flush with zucchini of every stripe. We offer you 12 great reasons to embrace the bounty with enthusiasm and a good chef’s knife.…
Keep your mitts off our primary — that’s been New Hampshire’s mother-bear-fierce message to all who would diminish the importance of the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Now the N.H. Historical Society and the N.H. Political Library have teamed up to…
Yet Another Scoop I’m a fan of homemade ice cream so was very interested in your story in the August issue [“The Scoop on Ice Cream”] and looked to see if my favorite places were listed. Some were. One that…
Before the modern kitchen came to be — with its many closets and cupboards — the accoutrêments of cooking were stored in a pantry, a room off the kitchen. As society changed over the years, the pantry fell out of…
Old soldiers never die, but they do pass away. As the warriors and workers of the Greatest Generation fade into history, they have riches to bestow upon the generations of today and tomorrow — the cultural wealth and practical wisdom…
Sly Fox of Saturday Night Seth Meyers, 33, has remained one of the most consistently engaging members of the “Saturday Night Live” cast since joining the famous TV comedy troupe in 2001. This year he’s become SNL head writer and…
He Knows Where It’s At Sean Joyce could have been a lawyer, but he has no regrets. “Now, I hire them,” he says. The president and CE0 of Margaritas has eight restaurants in New Hampshire and 19 throughout New England…
The Natural If you think the Audubon Society is only “for the birds,” you have not yet met Rick Minard, 51, who took over as president of New Hampshire Audubon in September of this year. The organization has taken a…
Fresh Face on the Food Scene “People recognize me now and come up to me in the supermarket to tell me they’d just love to have my job. It’s a thrill!” says journalist Rachel Forrest, 42, from Exeter. Her restaurant…
Renaissance Man There were early indications of what was to come. In his senior year in college, Rusty McLear started a restaurant. Because he only had $1,000 there wasn’t enough money for decorating. The solution? He called the restaurant The…
Luminous Lobbyist Maura Weston has that glow of purposeful efficiency that comes from someone who not only knows where she wants to go, but how to get there. And she’s been going places since starting as a clerk at the…
North Country Newsmaker Conventional wisdom says you might as well shred your money as start a daily paper, but one local newspaper chain is defying convention. The Conway Daily Sun was started in 1989, a Berlin edition followed in 1994,…
The It Team The New Hampshire National Guard is on the forefront of the War on Terror and still tends to the usual cataclysms like floods and pestilence. Shortly after the attacks of 9-11 they mobilized to secure our state’s…
Chef/owner on a Roll Michael Buckley, 43, vowed to have his own restaurant by the time he was 30. He accomplished that with the opening of Michael Timothy’s Bistro and Jazz Bar in 1996 and then he went on to…
The True Boys of Summer This summer all eyes were on 13 boys from Portsmouth — just the fourth New Hampshire team to ever go to the Little League World Series, or as coach Mark McCauley calls it, “baseball heaven.”…
Ingredients for Success Cooking is in her blood. Dad, two brothers and a sister are all in the restaurant biz, and last year Chef Mary Dumont of Portsmouth came home from creating great food in some of California’s finest restaurants…
Bright Star Rising Josh Logan, 26, was a big fish in a small pond, playing for adoring crowds at Manchester’s Black Brimmer and getting airplay and attention in the local media. Then he got “discovered” by scouts from CBS’ reality…
Animated Individual Marc Dole is used to interruptions. It takes a concentrated schedule for his Portsmouth-based Hatchling Studios to produce such acclaimed short films as “The Norman Rockwell Code” and “The Toll.” But recently the interruptions have been calls from…
Neo-preservationist Maggie Stier, born in Exeter as Margaret Moody, was the first director of The Fells and helped put that Newbury site on the map among historic sites and public gardens in America. Now she is working for the New…
Maestro of Media This summer, Mark Bodi was named as president of Griffin, Bodi & Krause — the state’s busiest and most famous ad agency — but you won’t find him tied to a desk. His passion is working in…
Improv Impresario John Herman is a creative whirlwind on the Seacoast, with his improv comedy troupe, Stranger than Fiction, his mystery band, “The Man Who Was Thursday,” his theatre roles and his new weekly video podcast, “The Eye” (www.johnherman.org). He’s…
Entrepreneur of Edge “If I stay with one thing I get bored very easily,” says Jon Thomas, 40, owner of Alternative Sun/Spider-Bite Piercing and Tattoo in Manchester. Well, that explains how what started as a tanning and piercing salon evolved…
Woman with a Plan The fastest growing ethnic group in the state, and the country, is the Latin American population, which is actually composed of a dozen or so sub-groups, each with a strong sense of identity. But as newcomers…
Bringing the War Back Home The idea came to her in the middle of the night. Why not give soldiers video cameras to take into battle in Iraq? That way, the soldiers could tell their story right from their humvees…
Physician of Policy Frank McDougall, 56, knows the corridors of power. He has regular Washington sit-downs with the likes of Karl Rove and Jim Jeffords. Always straddling party lines, he has worked as Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s secretary of economic…
