In early 2013, former Lebanon City Manager Greg Lewis was looking for a way to ‘bump up’ citizen engagement in the City’s policy and advisory boards. The idea he landed on, creating the Lebanon Citizen’s Academy, was designed to educate residents on the inner workings of city government to spur their interest in volunteering. And by all accounts from the perspective of both the City and Academy graduates, the idea is working.

According to the City’s website, the Lebanon Citizen’s Academy “consists of a series of entertaining, hands-on, educational short courses, and will provide you with the knowledge and understanding of how your city government works for you.”… Read More

The New York Times has been given credit for using the following motto: “All the news that is fit to print.” That definitive statement served as a source of pride for that publication in its masthead since the 1800s.

Today, the quotation has come into question as mainstream media often appears to have changed its mission, and now reports and emphasizes only the sensationalist or ‘bad’ news, both in print and over the airwaves. Just what is fit to print these days? A lot of heated rhetoric surrounds this question.

I know how to find the answer to this question. Take a few minutes out of your day and sit down with longtime publisher, Jen MacMillen, and have a chat.… Read More

Jonathan Warren graduated from the Lebanon School District in 2007 with a keen interest in the arts. Now, he’s returned as the visual arts teacher. “Just as the arts helped shape me as a student, I value the opportunity to work with today’s young artists. The arts provide a vehicle for self-expression as students develop their voices… and provide an opportunity to work collaboratively.”

On the District’s last professional learning day, arts teachers Lauren Haley, Jonathan Warren, Jonathan Verge, Todd Matte, John Carey, Gary Rothe, Yvette Garnham, Todd Renninger, Christine Greenough, Margaret Schultz, Megan Cardillo, and Thea Calitri-Martin met to work on the PreK-12 curriculum.… Read More

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was credited with the following quote many years ago: “Music is the universal language of mankind.”

Joe Clifford, Executive Director of the Lebanon Opera House, apparently is an exponent of that theory and from October 10-12 he made that bit of wisdom a reality for the Lebanon community and the Upper Valley. Joe arranged to host a group of musicians from Egypt to tour the region and give performances for area music students and concert-goers.

The musicians were part of a band from Cairo, Egypt who were making their American debut. The group was led by Youssra El Hawary, a singer/songwriter who playfully blends the sounds of Cairo’s underground music scene with French chanson, Indie rock and jazz.… Read More