October Letters

Shady Stuff

I enjoyed the article [August issue] by Jeff Rapsis on his memories of spending his summers on Hampton Beach. As a boy, I too spent my summers there and eventually put in 25 years as a police officer there. His memory is a bit shady, however, as there is no such street as Exeter St. in the beach or town.

Stay the memory course, Jeff. Let’s just call it “Memory Lane.”

Bill Lally
Hampton

Making Waves

I just finished reading your story “Hampton Beach Memories” in the August issue. I had to write to you. Fantastic writing! I’m not sure if I enjoy your style of wonderful word-picture writing, or if I enjoy the fact that you indeed put my memory-pictures to words. Either way, or for both, I thank you.

I sit here, on the rainy, raw afternoon following our tiny-drama version of hurricane Charlie. I debate whether to ride out to Hampton Beach to see what break-from-the-typical it would offer, or to sit here relaxed, enjoying a nice magazine story. After writing my compliments to you, I guess I’ll do both.

Kim Karafelis
Derry

Tamworth Tune

I see in your Aerosmith article [September issue] that you want there to be a song called “Live Free or Die.” There is one, written by Tamworth, New Hampshire, singer-songwriter and Grammy nominee Bill Morrissey. It’s more folk than rock, but it’s there.

Bill Batchelder
Tamworth

You Are Here

I have enjoyed your magazine very much since moving to the area three years ago. For those of us still getting to know the state, it would help to have a map reference of some sort with articles featuring particular locations in New Hampshire. I often wish I had a map at my fingertips while reading, and wonder if this could be incorporated into the magazine somehow.

Emily Burns
Bedford

Turn Out the Lights

I like the magazine a lot. I love the local events and stories of locals. I am a native and so proud of that, I sometimes have a little problem viewing the stories about how some family from Massachusetts has built their “weekend” home up on Lake Sunapee or somewhere else in the state and that home is five times (or more) the size of my little Cape. Somehow, as I get nearer and nearer to retirement age (I’m only 43, but intend to retire before 60), I shudder at all the real estate being bought up by “out of staters.”

I realize I can’t close the doors, though sometimes I’d like to. It is hard for the middle-class person to continue to thrive, and all my life I’ve seen our small towns get changed into metropolises. People move in from a different state to enjoy our quaintness, then they turn around and insist upon sidewalks and street lights, which increases the taxes, which forces the little guy out and on and on the cycle goes, so there is less and less quaintness.

I’m happily in the Upper Valley now, in Lebanon, but if the good Lord’s willing I’ll be north of the notches someday with my own little piece of the north country that the out-of-staters wouldn’t have an interest in.

Vanessa A. Brown
Lebanon

Now Just a Minute

Upon reading the article “Finding a Pediatrician” in your August 2004 edition, the only thought that came to mind was, “What about us?!” I am a family practitioner who also takes care of children and wanted to point out that your family doctor has been taking care of children long before there was a specialty known as “pediatrics.”

Additionally there are parts of this country and this state where there are no pediatricians available, but you will find family practice docs. Finally, I would like to remind you that, if you chose a pediatrician, at the tender age of 18, your son or daughter would have to find a new doctor, someone that they don’t know and who doesn’t know them.

Granted, in complex medical pediatrics a pediatrician is your best option, but in the vast majority of cases these are normal healthy children and guidance and counseling are the mainstays of the visit. These are skills that your family practitioner is adept at, and he can apply what he knows about your entire family to the situation. It should be noted that the health of a child, in large part, is directly related to the health and social habits of the entire family, which can be addressed by your family practitioner.

Matthew J. Masewic, M.D.
Boscawen Family Practice

Correction:
The academic credentials of Dr. Hugh Phillis of Nashua were inadvertently omitted from our list of Best Dentists in N.H in the August issue. Dr. Phillis went to Tufts Dental School, completing his study in Orthodontics in 1982. Our apologies for the omission.