Letters to the Editor
Spot the NewtNeed a good reason to spot the newt?
This month’s lucky (and fearless) newt spotter will receive a Dead Sea Product Collection from Fields of Ambrosia: Bath, Body and Home (fieldsofambrosia.com). The gift basket will include a Dead Sea Mud Mask, a Dead Sea Mineral Facial Toner, Dead Sea Mud Grain Facial Scrub, Firming Facial Lotion and a Natural Florida Sea Sponge — value $75. Fields of Ambrosia is a proud member of NH Made (www.nhmade.com), the state’s official non-profit booster of locally generated products and
services. (Just for the record, New Hampshire Magazine is a proud member, too.)
Spot four newts hidden on ads in this issue, tell us where you found them and you might win an assortment of great gifts. To enter our drawing for a free gift basket, send your answers to
Spot the Newt
c/o New Hampshire Magazine
150 Dow St., Manchester, NH 03101
E-mail them to newt@nhmagazine.com, or fax them to (603) 624-1310
Last month’s “Spot the Newt” winner is Brigitte Brodt of Littleton. June issue newts were on pages 18, 32, 65 and 76.
Letters to the EditorVoice of Hope
I just want to say thank you to everyone who did this [see Editor’s Note below] for us and that we now have a place to feel comfortable and more at home. The house is amazing and the effort that every single volunteer put into the house is just perfect.
I’m going to live up there very soon and after seeing the house Sunday I already feel at home. This project goes to show that people in the community want to give each and every kid another chance, so I am going to take that chance and the help thanks to Building on Hope.
Nick
Manchester
Another Voice
The new house is amazing. If you have not yet seen it I encourage you to do so. My name is Michael and I live there. I would like to thank everyone involved. I will never forget your incredible acts of kindness and generosity!
Mike
Manchester
Editor’s Note: Both Nick and Mike are in the Easter Seals NH residential program and are staying at the Krol House, which was recently rebuilt by the volunteer group Building on Hope. New Hampshire Magazine has been proud to sponsor the work of Building on Hope since its formation. Click here for the story.
Touchable Symbol
Rick Broussard’s pitch to recognize the red-spotted newt as N.H.’s symbol [Editor’s Note, June 2010] has high merit. Here is a symbol that is touchable, available in watery places as an adult and in woody places in its wondrous larval stage — the red eft.
When “real” for most youth means something electronic, to discover, to actually hold an orange bundle of brightness and wiggle in your hand, a life going about its business in backyards, can erupt fascination and quickly open a door to what is really real. An eft in the hand ignites questions, fires up the imagination — something asleep in too many of our youngsters.
Gordon Russell
New Boston
Not a Good Test
I got my June issue today and saw the UpFront section [N.H. Stuff] was on barbecue sauce. Out of the ones you listed my personal favorite is Goody’s Barbecue Sauce from Amelia Maes.
I was pretty upset that the way the sauce was used was on a hamburger! That is not how you barbecue. I’ve been barbecuing for a lot of years. It’s a slow process with preferably ribs over a coal fire and the end result is nothing like a hamburger would taste with some sauce poured on. If you are going to do a tasting, get someone who knows how to prepare barbecue to cook for you.
Keith
Northwood
Standing O
Enjoyed your article “Hip for a Moment.” [UpFront, June 2010] I just saw Christian Wisecarver and Holly Winchell this past Saturday night at The Music Hall in Portsmouth. The Super Secret Project really connected with the audience at the
Music Hall and “Granite State of Mind” got a standing O. They have true talent and amazing creativity. I’ll be watching to see what they do next.
Catherine Mack
Dover
Shaw Brothers for Saskia
I suggest you send Saskia [Letters, June 2010] “The Shaw Brothers Collection” CD because:
1. Rick and Ron Shaw were born and raised in New Hampshire. They got their musical start while undergraduates at the University of New Hampshire in the early 1960s. They have been composing and performing together ever since to enthusiastic audiences everywhere, and have recorded a dozen albums for RCA Records, Columbia Records and others.
2. Many of their original songs are about New Hampshire or New England, including “New Hampshire Naturally” and “The Ballad of the Concord Coach.”
3. They are still writing and performing an average of 100 shows per year, and live most of the year in Dover, and perform widely not only throughout New England but nationally and internationally.
4. “New Hampshire Naturally” was named the “official state song.”
5. The late Gov. Hugh J. Gallen presented them with an official proclamation as “New Hampshire’s musical ambassadors to the world” and former Gov. John H.
Sununu honored them for maintaining “the true spirit of New Hampshire.”
6. Their writing, singing and performing are tops, as evidenced by the fact that they have “opened” for and toured with the likes of Johnny Mathis and Bob Hope, to name just a few.
While Christian Wisecarver and Holly Winchell’s “Granite State of Mind” is clever, fun and contemporary, it isn’t original nor is their music representative of our state’s long folk music tradition.
Judith M. Kennedy
North Conway
P.S. With respect to your proposal for the state to use the “newt” as the new state symbol, I hope you are just kidding. I believe, and a lot of others do, too, that the state should leave things just as they are. There’s no harm in continuing to display and honor the “Old Man of the Mountain,” and it’s certainly far less expensive than changing every sign, poster and pamphlet to something new, especially when there is no consensus about a new, and as worthy, a symbol.
Editor’s Note: Thanks. The Shaw Brothers was a popular suggestion and yours was the first one to cross my desk. You’ll be receiving “Volkmusik Momente” by Franzl Lang in the near future. As for your P.S., I agree with you that there’s no need for a new symbol for the state. You can’t impose a symbol anyway; they have to evolve in the public mind over time. That said, I’m all about raising awareness of the charming and under-appreciated red spotted newt.
Delighted by the Dowser
So happy you did a piece on “The Master Dowser.” [Q&A, June 2010] My son, Phil, and I can make the practice of dowsing work here. None of the family believes us. So thanks for showing that there are other people who believe.
Mary Franklin
Cromwell, Conn.
