NH Secrets Legends and Lore

Building Community and Empowering Lives - Dr. Michael SwackWelcome to this joint production of The New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore and The Radical Centrist Podcast. I'm your host Wayne King.It's not often that we feel compelled to do a joint podcast but there is something quite special about our guest Michael Swack - Senior Fellow at the Carsey Center for Impact Finance, having recently stepped aside from his previous role as its director - In hopes of being able to direct more of his energy to practical and positive projects. Michael has been New Hampshire's secret weapon for Community Development for forty years. Those of us who have known him over the course of those years are very proud of him and the contributions he has made toward building community here. But he isalso a man of the world and he has worked his magic in countries from North America to Asia, Latin America and Africa. He is, by every standard we have established on the Radical Centrist Podcast, a radical centrist - more interested in getting things done than towing the line of any dogma or ideology.Michael Swack is probably not a name that sets off a lot of bells and whistles with most folks, but for more than forty years he has been the brains behind some of the most innovative and empowering ideas for Community Economic Development and finance - not only in New Hampshire but nationally. In other words, he is a superstar, but a superstar without a super-ego. His joy - what gets him out of bed every day raring to go - is his work and the powerful understanding that his actions are making a difference in the lives of those too-often overlooked when it comes to building community and equity in our future.All of us have a shortlist of people in our lives whom we have met and immediately realized that we were in the presence of someone very unique and talented. For me Michael Swack is one of those people.I've known Michael now for more than 40 years. We were founding members of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, one of the very first nonprofit loan funds in America helping low-income families purchase and manage their cooperative housing. I was the prime sponsor of two key pieces of legislation that Michael - along with two other giants in my eyes: Elliot Berry and Julie Eades - were the brains behind. To this day Those two bills, that both became law, along with New Hampshire's first homeless shelter legislation, are among the laws of which I am most proud.But the thing about Michael is that he's never satisfied and his brain is always looking beyond today for the next series of ideas to achieve even more.All this is not to say that Michael is simply a "tinkerer" because among professionals in his field he - in fact - sets off all those bells and whistles I spoke of before, because Michael Swack is a pioneer in the field of Community Development, who never rests on his laurels. To dispense with the tinkerer analogy - and to make it even more silly but meaningful: He's the ever-ready bunny of Community Economic Development. His gears always seem to be turning, ferreting out ideas that use public and charitable dollars to leverage private sector investment,all in the name of benefitting the hub of our lives . . . our communities and more specifically the people of those communities.That's why In 2019, the National Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) awarded Michael the industry's highest individual honor, the 2019 Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance. Then, In 2021, Michael was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Advisory Board - a position he has recently been reappointed to by the President. It's also why his position as a professor at UNH and as the founder of the Center for Impact Finance at the Carsey School is the ideal spot for him, teaching others is the next best thing to cloning Michael himself.

After 50 years in service to others at the State House, the last 25 as a State Senator, Democratic State Senator Lou D'Allesandro, 85, of Manchester announced he is retiring at the end of his term.As he retires Senator D'Allesandro takes his place among the giants of NH politics, names like Raymond Burton, Walter Peterson, Stuart Lamprey, Warren Rudman, Caroline Gross, Susan McLane, Hugh Gallen, Donna Sytek all of whom he praises and calls his friends, irrespective of political Party.Over the course of his 82 years Lou D'Allesandro has sported many titles, Captain of his UNH athletic teams, Coach of basketball teams of all ages, teacher, College President, State Representative, and now retiring "Dean" of the NH Senate, an honor bestowed upon him by his colleagues as the longest-serving Senator.The extensive article written by In Depth NH's Paula Tracy and linked below provides a much more detailed look at all this but of course our goal was to add some color to the biography of Senator D'Allesandro through his recollections and reflections.Paula Tracy - InDepthNH.orgSen. Lou D'Allesandro Retiring After Bringing Us So Many Great American DaysI am joined by a special cohost, veteran journalist Garry Rayno, who has extensive experience with many of the challenges faced by Senator D'Allesandro during his tenure.

Move Over Ed Abby, Sy Montgomery's Newest Book Exercises her Story-telling Chops and Her Inner Philosopher in a Big Way.“(To) Wait . . . an ironic verb, an action word, used to describe inaction. Derived from the French “to wake, to become alert to” To wait and to wake are not opposites but twins. We love NOW because it IS now. “Now” holds at once all of time in its fullness” ~ Sy Montgomery, “Of Time and Turtles”Turtles have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, more than 200 million years ago. Even then they may have been subject to the whims of “traffic” but they have, nonetheless, withstood the test of time.To many Native American nations, from the Navajo of the southwestern US to the Abenaki and Iroquois in my own northeast lineage, North America's indigenous people are tied to turtles. The continent itself is often referred to as Turtle Island based on various legends that Turtle delivered North America to earth upon its back. So you may presume, rightly, that I would eagerly anticipate this latest book by New Hampshire's own Sy Montgomery. After having read, listened to, and reread Sy Montgomery's newest book, “Of Time and Turtles - Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell,” I am thoroughly convinced that had she been born into the Iroquois Nation, a matrilinial society, she would have been seen as a mystic and given a fitting honorific, something akin to “Speaks with Turtles.” Of Time and Turtles - Mending the World, Shell by Shattered ShellWritten by Sy Montgomery, Illustrated by Matt Patterson

This year witnessed the passing of one icon of the early days of broadcasting, Marty Engstrom, whose residence in Fryeburg, Maine was but one place that he planted his flag but not the one for which he will be most remembered. That local was at 6,288 feet above sea level inside and outside of the Mount Washington Weather observatory atop New England's highest peak Mount Washington, known as Agiocochook by the Abenaki people.The Smile that Charmed Northern New EnglandMarty Engstrom ended his weather forecast every night except his very first this way.Though his nightly weather forecast from the top of Mount Washington was rarely more than one minute long, it was a minute that charmed the folks of the tri-state region to the extent that today, more than 20 years since his retirement, he is remembered with such fondness. Marty was, for all intents and purposes, our very first rock star.

What began as a project to tell the story of Waterville Valley as the birthplace of Freestyle skiing quickly morped into Waterville Valley as a crucible of cultural vision and change. In the coming weeks we'll take you into the lives of JD Nelson and his friend Jack Sanders who took a young Wayne Wong, Floyd Wilkie and George Askevold under their wings to make sure that they were not taken advantage of as they began their journey to superstardom in the brand new world of Hotdog Skiing - soon to be called "Freestyle". You'll meet Frank Dubois, the first certified African American ski instructor in America, Jerry Dunfey who intersected with their lives from his perch at the Parker House Hotel in Boston and the slopes of Waterville. as well as John and Donni Hughes, Bernie Weichsel, Executive Director of the first professional Freestyle association The International Freestyle Skiers Association, and others. Through it all Tom Gross, trusted friend to Olympic superstar and Waterville Valley founder Tom Cochran, was often at the center of the media storm. He was there at the beginning, announced races and competitions all over the country, and hobnobbed with celebrities (He's the only person I know who actually got Bill Russell to autograph something for him.)Whenever I would engage someone from Waterville Valley the conversation would invariably lead to Tom Gross who has forgotten more about Waterville Valley than the rest of us know.He's a great storyteller on top of it all.

David Watters laughs off the moniker of Renaissance man of the Senate but there's a lot of truth to it. A mutual friend wrote me with the following:"David is an expert on all kinds of things: New England graveyards, the New England Primer, hornbooks of New England, clown history, Shaker history (particularly African American Shakers), African American history and literature, slavery in New Hampshire, New Hampshire African American history, Grace Metalious, Robert Frost, human rights (he was active in a local chapter of Amnesty International and I think headed that chapter) and more. He also is interested in Native American history and has sponsored legislation on behalf of Natives in this state." This podcast focuses on his work in the Senate but I suspect we will do a future podcast where we explore some of these other passions of this very interesting fellow.

Peter Powell has been in the Real Estate business in Lancaster NH for 50 years now and he's very well respected and talented at it. But ask him what he lives for and he will begin to spin stories of family, New Hampshire, and his community, both local and in the broader sense NH and the US, long before he gets to his business career.I think it's that focus on community that allows Peter to have been the choice of both Republican and Democratic leaders in the US and in NH as a leader they can count on to build bridges. . . and if there is anything we need desperately these days its a restoration of a sense of community. From his heartfelt call to the legendary US Senate Republican Leader Mark Hatfield at one of the most trying points of his life to simply say, I'm proud of you. Keep on." To the moment that Democratic candidate for President Fritz Hollings poked his head into a latenight bull session at a local store in Lancaster and asked "Anyone here know Peter Powell? Tell him Fritz Hollings says hello!" There followed appointments to prestigious state panels in the humanities, the Trust for NH Lands, The NH Charitable Fund and so many other state honors that it would take too much time to mention.Peter spent a few years working in Washington after college, working for Norris Cotton and the Senate Commerce Committee as well as congressman Louis Wyman before deciding he wanted the country life and making the move to Lancaster. His father Wes Powell was governor of NH for two terms and of course that invites hundreds of stories into the conversation so we are going to schedule another podcast in a month or two so we can get in a few more of those. Wes was from the rough and tumble area of Puddledock in Portsmouth which seems to play prominently into many of those stories.

SAVE THE DATE: THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2024IN THE RAMP-UP TO THE 2024 NEW HAMPSHIRE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY, STUDENTS AND PUBLIC FIGURES WILL EXPLORE POLICIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR BUILDING A ROBUST AND RESILIENT CLIMATE ECONOMY WHILE HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING

Many people from the central New Hampshire area will speak fondly, often wistfully, of Tenney Mountain. As if it's time had passed. Yet, there is a reason why Tenney has been resurrected time and again over the years. It is because many of the fundamentals of a great family ski area are there, it's just that the formula for its resurrection have not been quite right.Today, a lot of folks believe that formula may finally have been found and - once again - optimism is bubbling up in the heart of New Hampshire. A combination of local knowledge, ski industry savvy and the financial "juice" needed to confront the dual challenges of restoring Tenney's infrastructure and dreaming big about its future seems to have coalesced with the team of Dan Egan and Steven Kelley - two folks with "just enough crazy in them" to make it happen.

Garry Rayno and Michael Kitch have been keen observers of public policy in NH for several generations, and especially the impacts of policies on the economy. Garry has been a lifelong journalist in New Hampshire and Michael began his NH career as a journalist, specializing in business issues, and served in the early 90s as the State Senate Policy specialist on the budget and economic policy. In this podcast we discuss a recent study from Phil Sletten of the New Hampshire Policy Institute on the value and impact of public expenditures and tax reductions highlighted by Garry in an article at InDepthNH.org's news website (below). The study shows a substantial public benefit and return to the economy from public expenditures like the SNAP program and relatively low value to the economy from tax cuts.

Meade Cadot served as the Harris Center's Executive Director from 1975 through 2009. In 2008, after 33 years and the successful creation of a SuperSanctuary of conserved lands, Meade handed the Executive Director reins to Laurie Bryan and became “Senior Naturalist"— emphasis on the Senior. At the end of 2012, he retired from his role as Senior Naturalist and Land Program Director. He continues to spend time at the Harris Center — working on land protection and outings, and sharing his considerable wisdom with the rest of the Harris Center staff — as their first-ever Naturalist Emeritus.Meade also served as a faculty member in Antioch University New England's Environmental Studies Department for 34 years.

Tom Irwin, an attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, who joins me on this podcast along with Roger Stephenson of the Union of Concerned Scientists and Biologist Dr. Cynthia Walter of the NH Network, to discuss one of the newer technologies in solid waste management called Advanced Recycling. Tom succinctly outlines the scope of the problem with respect to dealing with plastic waste.But plastic waste is only one of the issues that we need to address moving forward. Reduction and substitution is also a critical component of building a future where plastics do not pose the threat that faces us today. Finally, there is the overarching issue of climate change and the question of whether Advanced recycling will improve carbon emissions associated with the disposal of plastics or make the problem worse.

I first met "Dick" Daschbach when we served together in the NH House of Representatives. Dick and I formed an immediate bond and along with our colleagues, particularly V. Michael Hutchings and Deborah "Arnie" Arnesen we formed the backbone of a "peanut gallery" sitting at the back of Reps Hall together and offering a running commentary on the proceedings to one another.Dick's first job after college but before Law School was as a worker in the US Senate Post Office. He worked a half day and went to Law School the other half.In 1967 He and his wife vacationed in NH on Lake Spoffard and fell in love with NH. Shortly after that they bought a home in Walpole, NH. He became a legal services lawyer for the area.New Hampshire would turn out to be Dick and Virginia's "Spot on the Porch" for the balance of their lives (so far!)On the last day of class in his first year of Georgetown Law School Dick received a call from the office of Senator Russell Long asking him to come and work for Sen. Long. On that same day his first child was born and Dick was appointed as Maritime Counsel to Long's Merchant Marine Committee. US Senate: Office of the legendary Senator Russell Long of Louisianna. Senator Long was the son of Huey Long, also a legendary figure in Louisiana politics.He was appointed Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. Richard retired from that position upon the election of Ronald Reagan.Assistant to the President: Seafarer's Union, a Union representing the men and women who work on US flagged ships. Trying to raise the work standards all over the world so US ships, and employees, could be more competitive.At 74 he was appointed Chief Judge of the Federal Workers Compensation Appeals Board, a position he would hold for 4 years before returning to New Hampshire full time in his retirement.

Edith TuckerDescribed by the great John Harrigan as a first-rate journalist, Edith Tucker had already experienced a full and consequential life before a later life conversion to journalist. She dropped out of college to marry and then, in addition to raising four children, she got involved in local government, first in Pelham, NY and then in Wellesley, MA where she served as Chair of the Finance Committee and on the school board for nine years. She became an activist in the women's movement and fair housing and attended the 1976 Republican National Convention. After meeting the great Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith, Galbraith hired her to work for him, assisting him in the transcription and writing of his books and speeches and later serving as his appointment secretary.Edith was not the kind to let any grass grow under her feet so when a later employer moved his business to her hometown, saving her more than an hour commute each way, she decided to fill in those two hours by going back to college. She was accepted at Wellesley College as a Davis Scholar, majoring in Government. As a non-traditional student she was nervous about her ability to jump back into academic life - especially while working full time. She didn't need to worry, because she graduated summa cum laude and won the Erasmus Prize in history, bolstered by a paper that she wrote about the treatment of Chinese laborers in Massachusetts' Shoe Factories, a paper that influenced the State's adoption of the Chinese Inclusion Act.In 1994 she and her husband moved to New Hampshire and she went to work at the Berlin Reporter and later moved to the Coos County Democrat, owned by John Harrigan.A three-term state legislator during the last six years Edith has done a lot of thinking about some of the great issues we face in our country. The wisdom of her thoughts will make this podcast very enjoyable for you.

Rep Mel Myler & Rep David Luneau, both of Merrimack District 9 are the Ranking Democrat members and the Deputy Ranking Member respectively of the NH House Committee on Education. They have been leading the charge within the legislature for greater accountability and equity in public education, particularly with respect to the new Educational Freedom Accounts that provide annual grants to families who place their children in private schools, with virtually no accountability, educational standards, or oversight.When you listen to this podcast you will find yourself both disgusted by the unjust and likely-unconstitutional (soon to be adjudicated) use of millions of dollars of taxpayer funding being doled out to thousands of families whose children were already in private, often-religious, schools before the passage of the Education Freedom Account law, administered by a private contractor - not the NH Department of Education, and not subject to any legislative oversight.Parents who enroll their children in the program forfeit all special education assistance to the child, leaving their child as the primary victim of the transition.The only requirement to qualify for this grant is that the household is beneath an approximately $80,000/year income level but this requirement is only for the first year. If a family enrolls a first grader in the program this year, irrespective of how high their income goes over the course of their child's education, they will be eligible to collect the grant through the end of high school, with no recertification of income level.3,200 children are enrolled in this program, receiving a public grant of between $7-$9,000 per year per child. 3,100 children were already in private schools before the program went into effect and only 100 students applied to move from public schools to private schools. This represents a direct transfer of wealth, from communities throughout the state to families who were already sending their children to private schools.Then there is the hopeful news.For the first time in more than 20 years, a committee was appointed, Chaired by Rep Luneau, with support from the Carsey Center at UNH, a think tank, to do a broad assessment of educational funding, based on empirical data now available. What they discovered is that funding for public education is adequate but that changes to the formula for distribution are needed.That's right. More money is not the problem. How that money is allocated could substantially improve the equity of public education for all of our kids.

Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism: This is a Podcast shared to NH Secrets from The Radical Centrist PodcastDaniel Webster was at the center of the great issues that defined his times. He was opposed to slavery, vehemently opposed the Indian Removal Act - that ended in the notorious and, illegal, Trail of Tears - with fellow congressman Davy Crockett; argued consistently for freedom of religion and the protection of religious minorities. Yet even today an ambivalence exists about him that reflects a judgment of him based on current standards. In his book Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism, historian Joel Richard Paul seeks to draw our attention to the two most abiding principles of Webster: Freedom - that drove his belief that slavery was wrong, and Union, without which securing freedom for slaves in the southern states would not be possible and without which America could not fulfill its most promising ideals. Paul makes a convincing case that Webster was the force that gave birth to the to the belief that we were Americans, not merely Virginians, or Pennsylvanians or New Hampshireites; That the Constitution of the United States was the thread that wove us together and gave us common cause.Joel Richard Paul is a Professor of Constitutional and International Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law; Author, Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism

Remembering The NH Primary fight to elect President Jimmy Carter, his presidency and his Global impact."Always Leaving a Door Open" to Your mind and your future. That seems to be the thread that runs through the life of Marcel Veilleux.When I heard that President Carter had gone into hospice care, I wanted to find a way to celebrate the life of Jimmy Carter that intersected with New Hampshire. It brought to mind a day in 1974 when I walked into the Memorial Union Building at UNH and ran into my friend Marcel Veilleux who was working at a storefront kiosk in the front foyerl. I discovered he was working on the Presidential Primary campaign of an unknown Georgia Governor named Jimmy Carter. I remember I teased him about it - even though I was helping Jerry Brown and Fred Harris myself. Little did I know that Marcel had just signed on for the ride of a lifetime as Jimmy Carter went from unknown to rockstar. OK, rockstar may be overstating the case, but Carter's quiet competence and humility was just what the American people needed after the Nixon/Ford/Vietnam years.A few months later, after Carter won in the NH primary, Marcel was off to help in other states and he worked in the administration after that. This was an achievment that was celebrated by his friends at UNH. My conversation with Marce was a heartfelt reunion and a celebration of President Carter's many contributions to the world. From his presidency to founding the Carter Center to building thousands of houses with Habitat for Humanity, eliminating Guinea worm - a scourge in Africa - to proving fair oversight for elections around the world.sMarcel himself has had a consequential life from campaign operative and member of the Carter administration to managing a large professional association as well as his own business, and finally as a Pastor of a church, The Lighthouse Christian Center in Westbrook Maine.

Representative Ellen Read of Newmarket has done a lot of thinking about how to heal the wounds that have afflicted our democracy recently. She is a tireless advocate of a shift to Ranked Choice Voting. And she is not afraid to speak her mind about the way that the current system benefits the leadership of both political parties while it ignores the opportunity to give citizens the opportunity to cast a meaningful vote in any one election.

The wit and wisdom of John Harrigan. The Bradleys of Thornton Gore, Bears and Bobcats

In her 89 years Evelyn Auger has served her state - she worked for Health and Human Services for many years; Served her family, raising five children and served her community with more than 40 years as a planning board member and a few terms as a Selectperson in her hometown of Sanbornton, New Hampshire. You might think that with all this she wouldn't have time for anything else but you'd be wrong. Evelyn has spent much of her life bringing historic women to life in words and dress.It all began when she did a solo performance for her local historical society about Sanbornton native "Mother" Gilman" whose fictionalized correspondence with her son Moses, from the various battlefronts of the Civil War she created from historic records of his time and regiment. In that first performance, Evelyn read both letters from Mother Gilman to Moses and from Moses to her. When the Historical society asked her to come back for a repeat performance she recruited her grandson to play the role of Moses. With this first performance, dressed in everyday clothes, Evelyn was bitten by the acting bug; but something was still missing and it was right up her alley . . . period clothing. Evelyn loved both history and clothes so the wedding of historic fashion and historic figures was born. Joining us for the visit and lending their voices to the discussion from time to time you will hear the voices of her daughter Carol Barbour, friend and neighbor Janice Leighton Boudreau, and William Hockensmith Janice's husband.

Dr Marc Lessard and both undergraduate and graduate students at UNH are at the cutting edge of pure science in the Atmospheric weather realm and the understanding of how earth's magnetic fields impact up the atmosphere and specifically the Aurora Borealis. Marc began his professional life at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard but longed for a greater challenge. That desire brought him back to school at UNH to get his PhD in physics and to work as a student at the then-newly formed Institute for Earth Oceans and Space. Today he heads the very same program where he interned as a UNH student. It's been a long and circuitous journey for Dr. Lessard but it has brought him to the pinnacle of a career of which he can be justifiably proud. Yet the generosity of his praise for his students, for the brilliance and dedication of his colleagues and for the tremendous focus and professionalism of NASA occupy the majority of his attention.Perhaps his long and circuitous journey prepared him far better as a leader than an easier path might have. Dr. Lessards manner and modesty put me in mind of a quote from a famed Chinese philosopher. Long before we were launching rockets into the skies the philosopher Lao-Tzu said this:A leader is bestWhen people barely knowThat he exists,Less good whenThey obey and acclaim him,Worse whenThey fear and despise him.Fail to honor peopleAnd they fail to honor you.But of a good leader,When his work is done,His aim fulfilled,they will all say,'We did this ourselves.'

House Speaker George Roberts from 1975-1980 has a lot to look back on. Under his leadership the te built the Legislative office building where public hearings are held. Prior to this the state, and the House committees rented or squatted in various spaces around the city of Concord because there were very few spaces for a growing state legislature within the Statehouse. Yet while George is proud of the "LOB" he is most proud of the ways in which he worked to bring women into the mainstream of leadership in the House, a tradition continued by John Tucker. Roberts was also convinced that creating civility among the political parties was often a matter of small things; like seating. He alternated R & D members so that each had two people from the opposite party on their left and right on the theory that if they saw the humanity in members of the other party they would be more civil even when they disagreed.

A few weeks ago I was perusing a local listserve here in the North Country and I came across a message and appeal for Earth Day volunteers. As I read the message looking for the organization seeking volunteers, I realized that there was no organization. This effort was being undertaken by a single person - Kim Wenger Hall. Like many of us, Kim was concerned about the effects of plastic waste on the planet. Not content to simply complain about it, she had taken action and was recruiting volunteers to help through a call to action sent to friends, relatives as well as those she may not even know. It's not that she was asking a lot - she was simply issuing a call to those who felt a similar concern to take personal action along with her. That's why she is an everyday hero, taking action through her own initiative.

The Rough & Tumble (Mallory Graham & Scott Tyler) received the award for 2019 Americana Song of the Year in the 18th Annual Independent Music Awards.Their new single, "Ain't That the Way," will be released with an accompanying music video filmed by local NH filmmaker Elias Gillen on January 14th at 10am at Alumni Hall in Haverhill, NH.A Rough, Tumble and Raucous Introduction!A Rough and Tumble and Raucous Introduction: The Rough and Tumble Invite Their adopted Community to be part of their next album. Rough and Tumble a self-described Teeny Tiny Traveling Band has just put down roots after 8 years on the road with their two dogs in a 16' camper.You're going to love their sound!https://www.theroughandtumble.com

While she surely would be modest about it, Genievieve Aichele has played a significant role in bringing the city of Portsmouth from a somewhat nondescript seaside community whose economy was largely built around nearby military bases, to a vibrant arts-facing cultural center for the entire New England region. Even before she co-founded the New Hampshire Theatre Project 35 years ago, she and other performance artists had formed Kitchen Sink Mime and The Little Red Wagon children's production troupe. Her talents in story-telling, acting, and performing have been a constant that has served the greater good of the community.

Peter Stant Joined the Mowglis Family in 1978, graduating from the Den in 1982. He came because his elementary school friend Bruce Fergusen suggested that he consider joining Bruce. Peter would go on to join the inner circle and stroke the winning Blue Racing Crew. Peter is a fellow who developed a reputation as an empathetic friend, always eager to reach out to his fellow campers, especially those who were struggling.

Nestled in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire, and cutting across five different towns; nearly hidden from the average person, is a parcel of land larger than 60% of NH towns. The price of entry is a good ol' boy connection and a very fat wallet - filled with millions, or even billions, of dollars. Officially it's now called the Blue Mountain Forest Association, but nearly everyone who knows about it calls it Corbin Park. Surrounded by 26 miles of impervious fence, walling off 26,000 acres and two mountain peaks, Corbin Park seems mysterious, though harmless enough. But it is built upon a foundation of grift, pain, and suffering that includes state-sponsored and institutional slavery, and, quite probably, a role in the near-extermination of the American Bison as a tool of genocide against the Cheyenne, the Sioux, the Crow and other plains Indian nations.August Longpre invites people who have an interest or further information to contact him. Here is the Piece he wrote most recently.https://augustlongpre.substack.com/p/corbin-park-history

EP 80 Kim Varney Chandler - Covered Bridges of NHSeveral years of research by author Kim Varney Chandler went into the process of developing this extraordinary compendium of the Covered Bridges of New Hampshire, on top of the thousands of hours devoted to these bridges by the many communities, builders and individuals.It seems that this all began as a project that evolved from the nexus of Kim's love for covered bridges and the advent of the Covid Pandemic. It only made sense to Kim that photographing and then writing about covered bridges was a safe way to be productive during the pandemic. That is all to our benefit because she has produced, with the help of the talented folks at Peter E. Randall publishing, a book for the ages. 50 or 100 years from now I can imagine a lover of covered bridges with Kim Varney Chandler's book in hand exploring the covered bridges of New Hampshire.

"The freedom to take calculated risks, in business, love, or whitewater, is one of the most cherished prerogatives of a free people. I don't try to discourage knowledgeable people from willingly assuming risks; but I do work to educate inexperienced paddlers so they don't get into trouble inadvertently."~ Charles WalbridgeIn 2022 Charlie Walbridge, an icon of River Safety and a nationally and internationally renowned symbol of adventure and conservation, with deep ties to New Hampshire, was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame and the Southern Appalachian Paddlesports Hall of Fame.Wayne King, host of the New Hampshire Secrets, Legends & Lore Podcast caught up recently with Walbridge to celebrate his more than 50 years of adventure and activism within the paddling community.

PD Hoyt is the pen name of New Hampshire children's author Patricia Dunfey-Hoyt, adopted as she navigated the complicated process of moving from classroom teacher to writer of children's literature. We take a broad look at her life and the process by which she has brought her ideas to life since retiring from teaching. PD Hoyt is readying her third book, "The Alphabet Comes Marching In" for release on the heels of her books "The Bakery" and "The Mother's Day Gift".

If you saw a photograph of Dick Backus and you thought - "I think I know him!" it may be because you are of a certain age when you watched daytime soaps like Ryan's Hope or went to see Eugene O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness" at the Ogunquit Playhouse, or you even went to see "Butterflies are Free" on Broadway. These are just a few of the gems that Richard Backus, born, and still living, right here in New Hampshire, has to his credit.Today, however, you are more likely to find him going door to door in his hometown of New Boston or one of the other towns in Hillsborough District 42 running for the NH Legislature. This was not how Dick saw himself spending time in his golden years, but his deep concern for the loss of community among our citizens and our elected officials has drawn him into the fray. I caught up with Dick recently over Zoom and we chatted about running for the legislature, always with the thread of rebuilding community running through the discussion and how rebuilding impacts and is impacted by so many of the challenges we face in our lives. How do we rebuild a sense of community when our commitment to public education is under fire? How do we restore community when more than 50% of our population are denied bodily autonomy? These and other issues compelled Dick to do something he never expected to do, to run for public office.

From his position at the Georgetown University Climate Center James Bradbury takes the science that he has learned over the years, beginning here in New Hampshire and later at Colorado College (BS), the University of New Hampshire (MS) and UMass Amherst (PhD) and turns it into policy and strategy to help the states address the many challenges of Climate Change. James attributes his love of the natural environment to his years at Mowglis, School of the Open, the summer camp on Newfound Lake he attended as a boy where he developed skills that have paved the way for a life of purpose bringing him to today when he is a leader in environmental policy around the challenges of Climate Change.

In the Wake of DobbsIs IVF the Next Target for the Morality Police?Dr. Adam FinkelAdam Finkel is a resident of Dalton, NH and Princeton, NJ. He served in leadership positions in both the Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations aimed at promulgating and evaluating risk-based regulations to protect the nation's workers from chemical, radiological, and biological hazards. He has a Masters Degree in public policy from the JFK School of Government at Harvard and a Doctorate in Environemtnal Health Science from Harvard as well. In the past few years he has jumped into important New Hampshire issues including the efforts to stop the placement of a landfill in the area adjacent to Forest Lake in Dalton as well as other local efforts to protect the NH environment. His concern over the ramifications of the Dobbs decision of the US Supreme Court regarding In Vitro Fertilization have started to consume addition attention of his time because he is concerned that it may be the next target of the fundamentalist forces that have gained control of the Court.

David Scanlan - A Balancing Act with Forward MomentumDavid Scanlan, New Hampshires new Secretary of State seeks to balance the interests of the broadest cross section of voters at the same time that he continues to move the state forward in terms of providing access to the sacred right to vote.We caught up with him recently to discuss the First in the Nation Presidential Primary status, the balancing act entailed in assuring ready access to voting for those qualified to vote, transparency and security, as well as the newest effort to increase the voter information for those whose primary language is not english.

Without question Wah Pah Nah Yah (Lightfoot Runner) was among the great artists of the 20th century. Certainly among Native American artists his name is synonymous with efforts to document Native culture through art. What most people are unaware of is that Wah Pah Nah Yah loved New Hampshire and especially the White Mountains. He was particularly fond of (Camp) Mowglis, School of the Open, on Newfound Lake.In fact, the entire West family has a long and storied history. His grandfather “Thunderbow” fought Custer at what the Cheyenne and the Sioux knew as the Green Greasy Grass river, today referred to as the Little Bighorn. His Grandmother Renee would be one of the children taken by the government and placed in boarding schools who escaped to return to her roots.

Steve Rand is not what one might describe as an educational zealot or a fellow who tilts at windmills. His family is about as steeped in tradition within the town of Plymouth as it gets. He took over the family business in Plymouth from his dad and, despite Walmart, the migration of business away from the town center, and all the odds, Rand's Hardware continues to thrive on the main street in Plymouth. He is a blend of pragmatic Yankee and street-smart entrepreneur. But behind that wry smile lies a philosopher and a visionary; a man who wants to “leave the woodpile just a little higher” when his days are done. So when the opportunity arose for him to be a plaintiff in New Hampshire's ongoing litigation over educational funding he did not hesitate. The lawsuit, we'll call it Claremont 3, though, to my knowledge, no moniker has yet been assigned to it - may be the culmination of more than 3 decades of legal action (and political inaction) based on the New Hampshire constitutional obligation to provide funding for an adequate education to all public school children.I wanted to speak with Steve Rand, not because he can recite chapter and verse about the legal history of the Claremont cases or the numeric minutia of tax disparities between towns or their relationship to the quality of schools from high-income or low-income school districts. Rather, I wanted to speak with someone who came at this from an experiential basis; someone who has lived the disparities on a day-to-day and year-to-year basis. Someone who has seen how the system short-changes our kids and our communities.

In writing a fictional account of the Chocorua story Jeremy Osgood has tackled the unknowable challenge of providing documentation where there is none but utilizing the rich history of folklore and myth surrounding the Chocorua story as a tapestry into which he weaves his own version of the myth. It's a great read, especially for those who love NH folk tales, very sensitively written and quite believable as one possible through-line in the dangerous and savage period.

In an era where civility is a rare commodity, recalling the way that Dick Swett conducted himself as a US Congressman and later as an Ambassador to Denmark is a reminder that civility, humility and conscience are still honorable and - perhaps even possible again. Dick was elected to the second congressional district seat in congress in 1990 and in 92 he was handily re-elected for another term. The turning point of Dick's political fortunes came in 1994 with the successful passage of the assault weapons ban. Despite the danger to his own career, Dick voted for the measure and it became law. He lost his reelection bid by less than a percentage point. FOLLOWING ON THE HEELS of the ban, there was a decline in gun violence but when the ban was not extended under George W. Bush we reverted to the status quo ante and we all know what that has looked like for our country. In 1998 he was named Ambassador to Denmark by President Bill Clinton a post he held until 2001. In this podcast I speak with Dick Swett about his political journey and his life journey since his act of courage led to the passage of the (temporary) assault weapons ban in 1994 and his razor close loss, fueled by the NRA, in the subsequent election.

Here Comes the SunDaniel Weeks, Revision Energy and the Fight for a Livable WorldA 12th-generation Granite Stater, Dan Weeks is well steeped in New Hampshire history but he is also a citizen of the world. Dan left New Hampshire after high school to serve with AmeriCorps and attend Yale and Oxford on scholarships. He lived and worked on four continents before returning to NH with his South African wife Dr. Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, a human rights lawyer and academic. Dan and Sindiso are the proud parents of three young children.

Most folks in New Hampshire have read or heard about "Chief" Chocorua. The story of Chocorua and the family of Cornelius Campbell is said to have taken place in the 1720s. This was approximately 40-50 years after the formation of the Wabanaki (People of the Dawnland) Confederation or Confederacy, formed in response to the growing threat from the two main colonial powers, England and France, as well as territorial threats from the Iroquois. According to the legend, Chocorua was already an adult with a young son, he is said to have lost his wife to disease shortly after his son's birth. According to the legend. Chocorua befriended Cornelius Campbell, an immigrant from Scotland, who had settled in the area around what was known first as Burton, then as Albany and is today called Tamworth. Today, Chocorua is spoken of in reference to both a man and the mountain which ostensibly bears his name. But did Chocorua actually exist or does his story represent 3 centuries of "fake news"?

Journalist and Author: “Water Connections” What fresh water means to us; What we mean to waterJim Rousmaniere is a soft spoken fellow, but these still waters run deep as the saying goes. He has the curiosity and insight of an oracle to many of his admirers. He is also straight out of central casting when it comes to the role of an editor, glasses at just the right level on his nose so he can look over them at you and make you feel like his BS meter is always on full alert.After a stint in the Peace corps, he began his career in journalism at The Baltimore Sun in Baltimore and Washington DC, where he covered national economics, and in the early 1980s he took over the editorship of the daily Keene (NH) Sentinel. He retired from newspaper management in 2013, at which time he began researching the subject of his book: "Water Connections."While he clearly has a deep respect for the natural environment, it is the intimate and immediate connection with people and their stories that feed his imagination and enthusiasm and allow him to take what might seem a simple story and weave it together with the artistry of a symphonic composer. Art, history, science, and business all figure into the story that Jim tells.

Over the course of 42 years Mark Okrant has evolved from academic to tourism research guru to murder mystery author. Mark Okrant has spent the past 42 years in New Hampshire teaching Tourism Management and establishing and then maintaining the mantle of "Tourism Research Guru" for the State of New Hampshire. Born and raised in Connecticut, Mark came to New Hampshire in 1979 when he was hired by Plymouth State in response to a search for an individual to help establish the state of New Hampshire's first academic tourism program. One of the grand benefits of all this was that many, perhaps all of the most interesting and majestic tourist attractions in the State of New Hampshire would roll out the red carpet for him and share with him the comfort of their accommodations and - now and then - a secret or two. At some point Mark began to craft the idea of writing a murder mystery and staging it at one of the famous resorts in New Hampshire. Then a conversation with Steve Barba, an icon in New Hampshire tourism and owner of the Balsams Resort in Dixville Notch unleashed the dam. Mark had asked if Steve would be open to having him write a murder mystery about a crime at the Balsams. Not only did Steve say yes, he opened his doors and staff to the project. That conversation sparked a life-long friendship and Okrant's first novel "A Last Resort". Nine mysteries, and one non-fiction book later, Okrant is still going strong and continues to write, though he is winding up his teaching career. I caught up with Mark recently to talk about coming to New Hampshire, his academic and research career and writing novels.

Rob Wipfler - Director Kingswood Laketarletoncoalition.org Zack Porter, Standing Trees, zporter@standingtrees.orgIn 2000 a coalition of people including elected officials, volunteers and environmental organizations rallied to save an especially unique area in the Moosilauke region that was threatened by development and logging. Lake Tarleton is the largest lake in the White Mountain National Forest today and one of the few that has never had problems with invasive species. Today the area is once again under threat, this time from the very agency that was charged with caring for it when $7.5 million in public and private funds secured its preservation. This is not the first time that the forest service has been charged with acting like a man with an ax whose only solution to a problem is to cut. Furthermore, it is not at all clear that the forest service would have been chosen to manage the property had the organizations and citizens who rallied to save the lake and its surroundings known that it would thoughtlessly place this gem in the box of rocks that is the lowest level of protection offered within the White Mountain National Forest.With fewer than two weeks before final submissions are due proponents of a plan to give greater “Scenic” protection to the Lake Tarleton Watershed area are making a final push buoyed by an Earthday Executive Order from President Biden encouraging the development of Old Growth Forests that on the face of it runs contrary to the actions of the White Mountain National Forest administration.I spoke with Zack Porter of St. Johnsbury-based Standing Trees organization as well as Rob Wipfler, Co-director of Kingswood Camp for Boys on Lake Tarleton who is also the Director of a newly formed Lake Tarleton Coalition.

“Come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain topsSail over the canyons and up to the starsAnd reach for the heavens and hope for the futureAnd all that we can be and not what we are.”~ John DenverIt may seem to some nearly heretical to use the lyrics of a song to highlight the poetic and beautiful writing of Sy Montgomery but I suspect that she of all folks would understand that expressions of the beauty and joy that the animal kingdom brings to us all serve to complement one another and give more strength to the final message, not dissonance.Researching articles, films, and her 31 books for adults and children, nationally bestselling author Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Rwanda, hunted by a tiger in India, and swum with piranhas, electric eels and pink dolphins in the Amazon. Her work has taken her from the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea (for a book on tree kangaroos) to the Altai Mountains of the Gobi (for another on snow leopards.) For THE SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS (a National Book Award finalist) she befriended octopuses at the New England aquarium and scuba-dived and snorkeled with wild octopuses in Mexico and French Polynesia; next, she drew on her scuba skills to cage dive with great white sharks. Her latest book, out May 3, 2022, is “The Hawk's Way” in which she becomes “the junior partner” to this extraordinary ruler of the sky. Sy lives in New Hampshire with her husband, the writer Howard Mansfield, and their border collie Thurber.

For more than 40 years, since he left his teaching position at the University of London, Michael Kitch has interwoven his own life in the fabric of New Hampshire. Historian, journalist, political strategist, economic guru are all labels that attach themselves easily to him. One of the few political strategists to have ever served under both Republican and Democrat Senate Presidents . . . You might call him the David Gergin of New Hampshire politicos; like Gergin attracting a retinue of ardent supporters, skeptics and detractors. Always interesting and with a razor sharp intellect he is never dull and a keen observer of the body politic.

Steve Taylor is best known for his 25 years of service to the State of New Hampshire as the innovative and energetic Commissioner of Agriculture who transformed an obscure state agency into a vibrant and relevant voice for agriculture in an age of environmental consciousness. Yet, his contributions to journalism, and to his beloved community of Plainfield are equally important hallmarks of a life well-lived.

50 Years ago, Dudley Dudley, with a small dedicated group of women, led the fight to stop the development of the largest proposed Oil Refinery in America from destroying the Seacoast of NH, Maine and Massachusetts. . . and they won; Sending Ari Onassis back to his Yacht on the Mediterranean.The words attributed to Margaret Mead come to mind when I think of Dudley Dudley:"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." ~ Attributed to Margaret Mead.

When Michael Fischler retired in 2017 after 50 years of dedicated service to the Plymouth State College Community he was at the height of his career, when a firestorm erupted over allegations against a former graduate student for whom he (along with dozens of other former teachers and mentors) had written glowing recommendations. He did nothing wrong but the toxic atmosphere on campus and a timid board of trustees allowed a What followed was a three-year struggle to assert his academic freedom and civil rights - with help from nationally acclaimed civil rights attorney John Meyer. Just when life should have become simpler. Mike Fischler was faced with the challenge of a lifetime. Today, with the worst of it behind, he reflects on his life and - for the first time - on the trauma that almost derailed his legacy. Michael L. Fischler lives in Holderness and is professor emeritus in the Department of Counselor Education and School Psychology at Plymouth State University, where he taught for 50 years. Fischler has made numerous contributions to PSU, PSU students, and the PSU community over the course of his long and distinguished career. He has served on PSU's Homophobia Task Force, on the President's Commission on Diversity, and as an advisor to the Black Student Union and Tau Omega sorority. His research interests include cultural diversity, intercultural communication, social behavior, psychological counseling, multicultural education, and prejudice reduction.The plaque credits Fischler for the Center's founding and for the inspirational lessons he taught during his 50-year teaching career.

If you saw a photograph of Dick Backus and you thought - "I know him!" it may be because you are of a certain age where you watched daytime soaps like Ryan's Hope or went to see Eugene O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness" at the Ogunquit Playhouse, or you even went to see "Butterflies are Free" on Broadway. These are just a few of the gems that Richard Backus, born, and still living, right here in New Hampshire, has to his credit. I caught up with Dick recently over Zoom and we chatted about his illustrious career.

Plymouth State University and NH Electric Coop Launch Pilot Vehicle to Grid ProjectWill Electric Vehicles form an important Component of Energy Storage in the Future?Hosts Wayne King and Don Kreis - NH Consumer Advocate before the Public Utilities Commission - speak with Bill Johnstone, business development executive, and Brian Callnan, VP of Power and Resources Access at the NH Electric Cooperative about a pilot project with big implications for energy storage and cost control with respect to electric rates.

New Hampshire's first woman Speaker of the House was renowned for appropriating the phrase “herding cats” as her way to humorously describe the process of governing the 400 member House of Representatives aka the General Court in New Hampshire. Over time that description has caught on, not only because it accurately describes the process of trying to guide the second largest deliberative body in the US (3rd in the world, after the Japanese DIET), but because it also reflects the humor and grace that Speaker Sytek brought to the job.First elected to the NH General Court in 1977 she served until 2000 rising to be the first woman Speaker of the House.In this podcast Speaker Sytek reflects on her distinguished career in the legislature, the women who dominated the legislature upon whose shoulders she stood, and the current state of legislative affairs.