Continuing the love
The Concord community lost a great teacher and friend last year when Sue Ann Martin tragically died unexpectedly. Sue Ann touched many people in this community from her Broken Ground students and their families, her coworkers, her neighbor and church friends, to her friends in the running community.Education was Sue Ann's love and Broken Ground was where she shared this love with her students and fellow teachers.We want to...
The legend of Black-eyed Susan and Sweet Willam
The black-eyed susans blooming in my Concord front yard aroused my curiosity to research how this flower got its name. I learned that in 1720 an English writer, John Gay, published a ballad about a young maiden named Black-eyed Susan who goes on board a ship in the harbor to find her lover, Sweet William. After she finds him in a glorious reunion she is told by the ship's captain she must leave the ship. The ballad dramatizes the...
Bending over backward
The spiritual concept of “seva,” a Sanskrit word that translates to “selfless service,” runs deep through most yoga practices. Indeed, the poses that yoga practitioners use were created for the purpose of strengthening one's body in order to better help others in need.Asa Dustin, owner and primary instructor at Concord's At Om Yoga studio, has spent years of training to ingrain that seva into his very...
It's about time someone named a burger after me
You may recall the Food Snob being thoroughly petty upon finding out that the SNOB Film Festival was, in fact, not a celebration of the life of Concord's favorite food critic. Fortunately for everyone involved, the Snob was able to put his outrage aside and actually attend the festival.A day of sitting in the dark watching moving pictures can leave the average audience member a bit fatigued; for one whose everyday routine revolves...
This Week in Concord History
Sept. 20, 1973: Attorney General Warren Rudman decides against pressing prosecution of anyone connected with Gov. Mel Thomson's Jan. 23 search of business profits tax records. But he declares the search was “illegal” and vows to prosecute if the tax search is repeated at any time while he is attorney general. The search had exploded into a controversy after Thomson directed his chief aide to peruse files belonging to...
Football widow
Dear Casper and Bill,I'm writing to you because I am about to become a widow – again. No, I'm not mariticidal. I'm a football widow. I was so excited when I heard that there might be an NFL lockout this season, but now that it's back on, I know I'm going to lose my husband again. Every Sunday, he disappears to a bar or a flatscreen-owning friend's house to watch football, leaving me behind to twiddle my...
City Briefly
Each week, City Manager Tom Aspell stumbles to his fridge, pulls out a can of Cheez-Whiz and writes out a delicious orange-yellow city memo with the cheesy goo. This week was no exception.Firemen honor 9/11we will never forgetSeveral off-duty members of the fire department participated in commemorations of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Aspell writes. Members of the department's honor guard were present at the...
Off to the races
Hey, remember Natalie Turgeon, the up-and-coming country singer we wrote about back in April (“A small-town girl with a big voice,” April 12, 2011)? Well, her star continues to rise, and next week she will be using that big voice at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon to perform the “Star-Spangled Banner” before the big NASCAR race!Turgeon will perform the anthem in front of a crowd of nearly 100,000 at...
Letting off some steam
The New Hampshire Garden Railway Society put on its annual model railroad exhibition Saturday at the Bektash Shrine Center. The fundraising event drew quite the crowd of train enthusiasts (a.k.a ‘caboosesters’). For more information about the New Hampshire Garden Railway Society, visit nhgrs.com.
Letting off some steam
The New Hampshire Garden Railway Society put on its annual model railroad exhibition Saturday at the Bektash Shrine Center. The fundraising event drew quite the crowd of train enthusiasts (a.k.a ‘caboosesters’). For more information about the New Hampshire Garden Railway Society, visit nhgrs.com.
Book of the week
For more information about the Concord Public Library, visit concordpubliclibrary.net.Buddha's OrphansSamrat Upadhyay2010, 433 pagesFictionSamrat Upadhyay's story begins with the abandonment of an infant and suicide of his mother. We are introduced to the rough life of the poor on the streets of Kathmandu in 1962. A homeless man discovers the baby and brings him to a poor woman who sells roasted corn in the street market....
Buskers welcome
The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce Creative Concord Committee, in partnership with downtown merchants and the Concord City Council, announces that sidewalk performers (or “buskers”) who wish to share their talents are invited to sign up to perform at one of four locations in downtown Concord.The four approved downtown locations for performers are:The sidewalk at the opening to Eagle Square, by the clock tower.The...
Stretching a rookie's yoga preconceptions
My maiden voyage into the world of yoga hadn't even officially begun, and it was clear who the rookie in class was.I made it as far as sitting on the floor – which, for the record, is not an official yoga pose – before Karen Kenney, owner of Quest Yoga Studio on Beacon Street, noticed I was struggling to sit up straight in a comfortable manner.She offered me a beanbag pillow to sit on, which immediately did wonders for...
The 'yoga lady' comes to Concord
Concord yoga devotees, ask and ye shall receive.Karen Kenney has long been considered “the yoga lady” by those who know her from a long-running show on ConcordTV, but her full-time practice had always been housed outside the city limits, first in Epsom and later in Chichester.But after years of gentle encouragement, Kenney made what always seemed like an inevitable move and opened Quest Yoga Studio on Beacon Street in...
2011 is ‘The Year of the Turtle’
Turtles are disappearing from the planet faster than any other group of animal. Today, nearly 50 percent of freshwater turtle species worldwide are identified as threatened with extinction. Twenty percent of the world's turtle species are found in North America and the United States has more native turtle species than anywhere on Earth; it's a turtle biopersity hotspot. Of the seven species of turtles considered native to New...
Icons: Part two
What comes to mind when you think of New Hampshire? What best symbolizes the state and its people? The New Hampshire Historical Society offers up more than 100 possible answers in the exhibition “Icons of History: Objects that Define New Hampshire.” The exhibition's Part I opened in May at the Society's museum, at 6 Eagle Square, and will be on view through the end of the year. The exhibition's Part II is...
New exhibit opens
“Protecting the Forests: The Weeks Act of 1911” exhibit will be on display at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests Conservation Center through Oct. 28.Using historical images and text, this exhibit showcases the history, social significance, and ecological impact of the Weeks Act. Passed in 100 years ago, the Weeks Act led to the creation of the Eastern National Forest system. The White Mountain National...
