Get out and enjoy winter
Bears hibernate, humans don’t. But that’s what it feels like with winter in New England. As a matter of fact, the average weight gain is five to seven pounds during winter months as we hunker down with calorie-laden snacks, weather-related excuses why we aren’t moving our bodies and bulky sweaters that let us hide those extra pounds. And don’t forget the kids who are getting on each other’s nerves and doing way too much screen time....
City Briefly
Last week, City Manager Tom Aspell began writing an original song about the inter-workings of city hall that he planned on taking on tour of the city’s many open mic nights. Soon, though, Aspell realized it was less of a song and more of a city memo, so he decided to release “the lyrics” for all citizens to enjoy. Voting time Absentee ballots available Absentee ballots for the Feb. 9 presidential primary election are now available...
Bulletin Board
Symphony N.H. returns to the Audi on Friday Symphony N.H. orchestra returns to the Audi stage on Friday at 8 p.m. as Maestro Jonathan McPhee conducts a program of Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Ravel and Prokofiev. Tickets are $18 to $49 and available at SymphonyNH.org, by calling 595-9156 or at the door. Friends of the Audi Artists reception at The Place Gallery Saturday On Saturday, there will be a gallery opening reception for the work...
This Week in Concord History
Jan. 19, 1942: Sylvia Esty, an 8-year-old Jehovah’s Witness, puts her hand over her heart but refuses to say the words of the Pledge of Allegiance at the Garrison School in West Concord. She says God has forbidden her to pledge allegiance to flag and country. Concord’s school board says it may have to expel her. Jan. 19, 2001: The state Supreme Court rejects a lawsuit that has delayed the construction of an addition at John Stark...
It’s all fun and games until – actually, it’s always all fun and games
If our favorite hobby here at the Insider is eating (which it most definitely and so obviously is), our second-favorite would have to be playing games. After all, we’re just a couple of kids at heart, and playing games is just what we like to do. But enough about us. We’re trying to tell you about all the games you can play right here in Concord. Whether you were already aware or not, this city is loaded with all kinds of interesting...
Book of the Week: ‘Body Respect’
Body Respect Lucy Aphramor and Linda Bacon 2014, 208 pages Fiction Body Respect starts by debunking established dietary advice. Fat? It’s not that bad for you after all. Dieting? It can actually make you fatter. Exercise? It won’t necessarily help you lose weight, even if it offers other benefits. What Aphramor and Bacon suggest instead of dieting and following a strict exercise regimen is – get this – listening to your body. They...
You can play (and live) in a fantasy world once you get in the game
Do you ever have the urge to be someone else? Or find yourself in a fantasy world, away from all the ups and downs of every day life? Well, we hear you. That’s why we created Insider Man. But you don’t have to create a fictional character who works as a journalist by day and is a superhero by night in order to escape whatever you’re trying to escape on that specific day. That does sound quite familiar, though, doesn’t it? All you have...
Believe it or not, you can win big money right here in Concord
Our years of television consumption taught us that bingo is a game played by retirees, sitting in a large hall with another retiree pulling balls out of a spinning wheel. Well, this is just another instance when television has failed us. ’Cause we checked out bingo night at the Bektash Shriners last Thursday and it’s way more popular and involved than TV ever led us to believe. Sure, there were retirees filling out cards as a...
Attention all nerds: Science Cafe is making a return to Concord
Ever wondered how autonomous cars work? Or maybe you’ve always been curious about the details of Jurassic Park-style genetic modification. Or, maybe you’re just kind of a geek who loves science, engineering and technical stuff like that – and there’s nothing wrong with that. If you fit into any of the above categories, you’ll definitely want to check out Science Cafe Concord, moderated by Monitor reporter David Brooks. Brooks, also...
Plenty of good live music and mac ‘n’ cheese for you to take in
Wednesday Who doesn’t love midweek live music? Hopefully you didn’t just say, “Me!” because DJ Rob Azevedo is hosting an artist-in-the-round monthly series, called “Granite State of Mind with Rob Azevedo,” at NEC Concord, and the series kicks off at 7:30 p.m. The first guest will be Pat Gochez, lead singer of Pat and the Hats. The night will include a live performance, with a Q-and-A session hosted by Azevedo throughout the hourlong...
Head on over to the library and pick up your Book Bingo card
You wouldn’t normally think that books and bingo go well together. Can you imagine sitting in a packed bingo hall, five cards in front of you, trying to take in a few chapters of War and Peace between each call? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. But the folks at the Concord Public Library have done the impossible: They’ve figured out a perfect way to blend the two unrelated hobbies. It’s called Book Bingo, and it serves as the...
We tried Concordland, the game invented by the previous Insiders
So we thought that since this is the games issue, we should try to play our own game, Concordland. Well, not “our” own, but the last set of Insiders, Ben and Keith, made and printed it. It ended up being a good time.
Jessica Fligg likes painting outside so much she did it for a year
Over the course of one year, starting in October 2014, New Hampshire-based artist Jessica Fligg set out to paint one en plein air painting each week. Using oils on birch panels, Fligg, a juried member of the New Hampshire Art Association, painted at least four outdoor scenes each month with one month (July 2015) painting as many as seven. A selection of her work from that year experiment is hanging at the Concord Chamber of Commerce...
Mac and cheese time, ya’ll
This is a little last minute, but the pure deliciousness of what we’re about to tell you about will far outweigh any stress that will ensue. So get ready to hop online and buy some tickets because you’ll want to be at the Grappone Conference Center on Saturday. It’s the sixth annual New Hampshire’s Own Macaroni and Cheese Bake Off – and as you could probably tell from the name of the event, there will be lots of mac and cheese to eat....
Well, the first edition of ‘Insider’ Trivia didn’t quite go as planned
We don’t really ask a lot out of you. Just answer the phone when we call, read the paper each week and send us cookies every once in a while. So we never thought a little Insider trivia would be too much for you. We figured “Hey why not test their Insider knowledge from 2015 and see what kind of responses we get?” We thought we’d at least get a couple emails with a mixture of funny, correct and odd ball answers, but not a single one...
Where did we go this time?
Pam Peterson, along with her son Brandon and his partner Roberto, spent some time soaking in the beautiful sights in Gallipoli, Italy, this fall. We sure do wish people would bring us on these fun trips instead of the paper, but that works too. Send your pics with the Insider to news@theconcordinsider.com.
This Week in Concord History
Jan. 12, 1943: State Rep. Norris Cotton leads the charge for a ban on smoking in Representatives Hall during House sessions. The tobacco habit, he says, “is distasteful and obnoxious to the many non-smoking members.” He says the House is the only legislative body in the world that allows smoking during deliberations. The bill passes 203-129. Jan. 12, 1952: The Monitor reports on plans to make Main and State streets one-way, with one...
City Briefly
Last week, City Manager Tom Aspell created a game where he cut up his city memo into individual letters and had city staff put it back together. Obviously they did a pretty good job because we have it here for your reading pleasure. Get out the w2’s Time to do the taxes Through a partnership with AARP, the Parks and Recreation Department will be hosting Tax-aide, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning Feb. 2 and running through April...
Book of the Week: ‘Romie Futch’
The New and Improved Romie Futch Julia Elliott 2015, 378 pages Fiction Romie Futch is a middle-aged taxidermist in South Carolina, obsessed with his ex-wife and deep in debt. Surfing the internet in a drunken haze, Romie sees an ad seeking participants for an “intelligence enhancement study” in Atlanta that promises $6,000. All he has to do is “undergo a series of pedagogical downloads via direct brain-computer interface.” At the...
The Bulletin Board
Grace Episcopal to host monthly supper Friday Grace Episcopal Church will host its free monthly community supper Friday from 5 to 6 p.m. The January supper features meatloaf with gravy, mashed potatoes, string beans, rolls and chocolate cake for dessert. So come, bring your family and friends and take the night off from cooking. There is no charge, but donations are welcomed and support our Take-A-Tote Ministry, which helps to feed...
Break out those planners – Here’s what’s coming up in 2016
With the start of a new year, it’s natural to want to look ahead at what’s to come, what’s to be expected. 2015 was a big year in Concord, but that doesn’t mean the capital city’s 251st year can’t be just as cool, if not better, than its 250th. We thought long and hard about some of the notable events (or expected notable events) coming up this year, and decided to fill you in early – way early, in some cases – just so you can start...
We decided to play catchup on a few stories we wrote last year
We know the final issue of 2015 was all about last year. We also know that this week’s edition is supposed to be an exclusive look into what 2016 has in store, but unfortunately we couldn’t fit everything in last week. So think of this as a bit of bonus 2015 coverage. We went over the stories that defined the Insider in the previous 12 months, but there were some we wrote that probably left you wondering what ever happened after the...
We told you there’s nothing like a festive scavenger hunt
In the final Insider before Christmas, we wanted to test just how much you had noticed the holiday cheer this year. So we put together eight clues and asked for you to provide some answers. Well, Sandy and Andrew Garfunkel got all eight correct after a couple of hours of fun they said put them in the holiday spirit. For their efforts, the Garfunkels will receive a $25 gift card to a Concord business.
General Services works like a machine – or a team – during a storm
If you’ve looked out your window lately, you may have noticed that it has (finally) snowed. We didn’t get a ton last week – thankfully – but it was enough to mess up the roads and just be a general nuisance to everyone trying to navigate through it. But, as luck would have it, the hard workers at the General Services Department were all over it like white on snow, as they are every time there’s a storm around here. Director Chip...
Books, games and lots of exercising
Tuesday ∎ If you’re into D & D, then your Tuesday night plans just got better as a trip to the Concord Public Library is in your future. If you don’t know what D & D is, then you might want to sit this one out cause there will probably be some veteran Dungeons and Dragons players at tonight’s game night, which runs from 5 to 7:30 p.m. ∎ It might be pushing the envelope a bit, but ConcordTV is hosting a trio of classes tonight....
Here’s what we’d like to see in Concord
We sure do like Concord. And that’s a good thing because if we didn’t, our jobs would not be all that fun to go to each day. Luckily, we get to enjoy all the sights and sounds that come with covering the capital city – along with the people, things and animals that make Concord an amazing place to live, work and play. But, like all of you, we have some ideas as to how Concord could be even better. We know, some of you may be wondering...
What has the mall always needed? Bounce houses and laser tag
If we had one complaint about Concord, its been the lack of bounce house and laser tag venues. It seems like almost every week we talk about getting our bounce on, only to remember there’s no place to go. There are other times when we just want to shoot each other – not with a firearm, of course, but rather a laser gun. One of those ones that doesn’t burn or vaporize anything, just makes cool sounds and lights up. But we’ve run into...
Nothing says science more than sending rockets 300 feet in the air
As part of school vacation week, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center offered a couple of one-day workshops for kids looking to stay sharp in the learning department. And one just happened to be all about building small rockets and then shooting them 300 feet into the sky from the NHTI soccer fields. They constructed the rockets from a kit, painted them and also added an engine, igniter and a couple other rockety type things.
