My passion for journalism and photography has carried me down a long, winding road filled with adventures (and misadventures) that I will cherish forever. As much as they mean to me it’s always so delightful to share them.

Once again, thanks to Kimball Union faculty member, Darrell Beaupré, I was offered the opportunity to share precious moments from my career when he invited me to speak to two of his classes. Darrell explains the concept:

“One course is titled Baseball in Literature and Film. I started it as a senior elective about five years ago. I also had Mr. Nelson attend my Voices from New England class which deals with local writers and speakers.… Read More

At the tender age of 77, Quail Hollow Senior Living Community resident Dorothy (Dot) Plume has launched a mission of love and caring that nearly defies description with its passion and dedication.

In recent years the entire country has been caught up in honoring military veterans and first responders. As the song lyric states: “A grateful nation turns its eyes to you!” Dot Plume not only got swept up in the veteran’s tributes, but the delightful lady contributed all her talents and energy to make sure veterans received a proper and emotional thank you.

Dot is simply known as the Quilt Lady by those veterans she has honored.… Read More

For the past 3 years, Carline Roberge and her husband Balvin have been offering take-out Haitian and Jamaican specialty foods and Haitian art next door to the former Hirsch’s clothing store. Together, they own and operate Karibbean Coffee Shop, sharing delicious authentic Caribbean dishes at the shop and in season at the Lebanon Farmers’ Market. The regularly changing menu takes you clear to the Caribbean with oxtail, curry goat, pork griot (chunks of citrus marinated pork shoulder with Scotch bonnet chiles), and Caribbean beverages and side dishes.

So how did Carline, a native Haitian, and her family land in Lebanon, bringing with them the spicy flavors of the Caribbean?… Read More

When J. Barrie Sellers received a call in 1974 from an old Sheffield University friend, Ivor Hawkes, inviting him to come to New Hampshire from his job at Terrametrics in Colorado, he jumped at the opportunity to co-found a new company for the manufacture and sale of vibrating wire devices. Though the company the two men (along with a third, mathematician David Wright) established on Parkhurst Street lasted only three years, Barrie’s subsequent project, GEOKON, has survived and thrived, and is this year expanding its modest footprint on Spencer Street with a new office complex currently being constructed across the road from their current location.… Read More

As New Hampshire’s population grows older – and is expected to keep following that trend – the older residents, their families and friends, and the community as a whole seek ways to help them manage their lives in a variety of ways. Fortunately, the Upper Valley hosts no shortage of services and programs to assist in this effort. The state’s largest hospital and employer, of course, is involved in supporting the region in a big way.

The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Aging Resource Center is committed to improving the minds, bodies, and spirits of older adults in the Upper Valley, helping them to become more active, connected, and supported.… Read More

Police departments everywhere are well-known to stand by the slogan ‘Serve and Protect.’ In order to protect, law enforcement agencies have quickly learned that they must be prepared in these tumultuous times. Rest assured, Upper Valley residents, the Lebanon Police Department is prepared.

Cruising around the Upper Valley you may have seen an impressive-looking vehicle that bears the Lebanon Police Department logo. That is what is called a Mobile Command Center, and while it may appear rather conservative on the outside, it represents a thoroughly high-tech communication center capable of handling any type of crisis situation. Lebanon Police Chief Richard Mello explained what an asset that vehicle has become.… Read More

When Linda Copp arrived in Lebanon in 1984, one of her first stops was to visit the Lebanon Recreation & Parks Department to inquire about teaching ballet. What began as a small instructional program with a few dancers upstairs at the Carter Community Building is today a thriving, multi-faceted organization offering ballet, musical theater dance, and modern dance. The institution now has its own studio space on the mall in Lebanon comprised of a dance school – the Lebanon Ballet School – and a non-profit performance dance company – City Center Ballet, Inc., hosting professional artists and choreographers from around the country.… Read More

It was just one more challenge when the January night of the awards ceremony threatened a dismayingly snowy drive. But – as the award bears witness – overcoming challenges is a specialty of Opera North, the Upper Valley’s esteemed homegrown opera company. Three intrepid representatives of the company set forth for Concord to receive the New Hampshire Theatre Alliance’s Matty Gregg Award for Vision and Tenacity.

“I think of it as New Hampshire’s equivalent of the Tony awards,” says Opera North’s Director of Development, Maria Laskaris. Opera North (ON) was being honored for its collaboration with the National Park Service (NPS) which resulted in last summer’s Singers and Swingers, a surprising blend of opera music and circus performance at the NPS site, Blow-Me-Down Farm.… Read More

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