First Amendment

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution says - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

But what does it really mean? Past all the law jargon, how does it effect me?

The First Amendment protects allows us the right to choose whatever religion we like and protects our rights to freedom of expression;
-speech - allows us to express ourselves without interference or constraint by the government. 
-PRESS - very similar to the right to the freedom to speech, it allows people to express themselves through publication
-assembly - the right for people to assemble. Thinking back on it, I think UNH restricted this law last year when they sent out a campus wide email saying that we weren't allowed to leave our rooms and 'congregate' in the downtown area after the superbowl.  
-"to petition of the government for a redress of grievances, and the implied rights of association and belief.")

Pretty important stuff for a Journalist to know, if I do say so myself. 

Kate Bolick, The single lady.

The Atlantic’s  Single Lady visits UNH campus
By Michele Vizzo

On Monday evening the UNH writer’s series hosted Kate Bolick to speak about her cover earning story, “All the Single Ladies”. She was published on the cover of The Atlantic, making her one of only three women to do so in The Atlantic’s 155 years in print (about 1,860 issues to date). 

“If you get published in The Atlantic, it’s a sign that you’ve made it as a writer”. Said Leslie Brown, a graduate student studying non-fiction writing at UNH, “She’s an up-and-coming author, and she made it onto the cover!” Brown read the story when it first got published back in November of 2011 and then went on to read more of Bolick’s work.

Bolick’s essay turned the dating world upside down as she questioned the stereotypical roles of men and women in a relationship. “It’s time to embrace new ideas about romance and family - and to acknowledge the end of “traditional” marriage as society’s highest ideal” said Bolick in “All the Single Ladies”.  In today’s times 51-percent of women are remaining unmarried and are achieving higher employment opportunities.

During Monday’s speech she referred to herself as the most famous single woman in America, and joked about how that must make her boyfriend feel. Bolick kept the audience laughing while peppering more serious notes about the hardships of journalism. Most seats in the auditorium were filled by woman singing her praises, while a few brave men held there own in the mix. 

While Bolick’s story came out almost a year ago and has taken on many other projects since, she is still unaccustomed to the new fame it came with. “My friends started to become jealous.” She said, “ It effected friendships.” Bolick felt that she was clumsy about handling her new celebrity. 

“All the Single Ladies” was a best-seller and received over one million readers on the magazine’s website. Her story was optioned by Sony for a TV series and is currently in development with CBS. Of 600 scripts, she was one of the 200 that were chosen. In the next phase 10 scripts get made into pilots, and then two pilots are put on air. 

Bolick is acting as co-producer and creative advisor on the shows development. She has already helped in tweaking character storylines and says there’s nothing keeping her from moving on set if her script gets chosen to go on air. 

Aside from anticipating her show’s success and doing guest lectures, Bolick is working on her first book entitled, Among the Suitors: Single Women I have Loved. In this book readers can expect to learn about writers like Maeve Brennan, who first wrote for The New Yorker in The Talk of the Town section under the pseudonym “The Long-Winded Lady”. 

Bolick compared writing her book to wading in a wave-pool. She said when it came to journalist writing you have boundaries: you know you have this many words and this much time to get it done. However, with her book the possibilities are endless, and the boundaries are nowhere near as concrete. 

Sue Hertz, an associate professor of English  at the University of New Hampshire, was the force behind Bolick coming to UNH to speak. “Kate is a friend of mine from way back, and I thought that her elegant blend of the personal and the political, or internal and external, would be of interest to the grad and undergrad writing students.” Hertz went on to say that she’s young, fun, and personable. She suspected that she would be able to connect well with students. 

Stoddard NH, a small town.

Neighbor against neighbor - will residents of Hidden Lake be safe this winter?
By Michele Vizzo

Ben Wilder is being held responsible for unsafe winter driving conditions in the Hidden Lake Community of Stoddard New Hampshire. His company had been hired for a single year contract, but his work has been unsatisfactory to residents.

A meeting was held Oct. 10 to discuss a possible breach in Wilder’s contract. The Bylaws state the Board cannot extend any contract for more than a year, while Wilder’s argues that a delayed response to his contract leaves him the right to the roads. 

Counsel Maria Galvin was hired to defend the Board against the lawsuit filled by Wilder. 

Wilder read the bottom section of his plowing contract with the Association where it states “a decision must be made by Aug. 1 for weather or not the contract would be extended.” He went on to say that he received a letter from the Association lawyer dated Aug. 6.

President Dennis Pellegrino restated that the Board cannot extend a contract beyond one year and Gavin said that there was no signed extension and no suit on his contract. “But Wilder can sue for the $33,000.” 

Gavin said that it was made very clear by the members present at the June meeting that Wilder has failed to properly maintain the roads this past winter.

Wilder stated that he was not yet decided if he is going to sue for the breach of contract. He also said that he never left the roads “unsafe” and it was his decision when to sand and plow. 

Vice President Kristin Newell stated it was not his job “to tell people how fast or slow to drive, but to make the roads safe”. 

A vote was taken to decide if Wilder’s contract should be extended. The 33 members voted: YES - 7 and NO- 26. Ben Wilder’s contact will not be extended by a vote of the members present. 

Other snow plowing bids ranged from $37,195 - $108,000. 

Resident Paul Dionne asked if their insurance would cover the inevitable lawsuit. Answer: probably not. 

Questions were asked if there was money in the budget for the lawsuit against the Board. Gavin said that the budget for the lawsuit would probably be around $2,000 now, and could easily go up to $10,000. It was recommended that additional funds were set aside for the Board’s defense, but this would “affect the budget for road upgrades or would require an increase in assessments“. 

Hidden Lake resident, Roy Morotta read a petition from 100 full-time members about last year’s  snowing plowing. He said, “the members were concerned about the poor job done; the resulting conditions on our roads; the hope it wouldn’t occur again.” He also made a plea to Wilder to drop the lawsuit and asked him to join with us as neighbors. 

Gavin said they were open to settling and that Wilder should have his attorney call her. 

Wilder is also in conflict with Hidden Lake bylaws, specifically for parking heavy equipment on his property. By state law, equipment whish is used may be driven onto the property and off again for business. Wilder states that all of the equipment is his own personal property - therefore not violating the law. 

~ Embellishments Exhibit ~

Embellishments: Constructing Victorian Detail
By Michele Vizzo

UNH students, alumni, Durham residents, and curious travelers have all been summoned to the basement of UNH’s Dimond Library to take a trip back in time. From tired studiers who need a break to families just passing through, the Embellishments: Construction Victorian Detail exhibit has a lesson for everyone. 

The descent down the three flights of stairs may seem daunting, and mysteries, but your travels will be greatly rewarded upon entering the exhibit. Guest will find over 25 pieces of Victorian era clothing adorning the walls, including several extravagant special occasion gowns.

“I am a lover of aesthetic beauty and I felt that this exhibit demonstrated one of the more beautiful historical aesthetics in fashion and design,” said UNH 2011 graduate Caroline Brewer. She looked back on her days as a UNH student and regret not going to all the amazing exhibits they had to offer. 

Plus, it’s free! 

This exhibit was decided on to coincide with the other textile themed exhibits in the Seacoast area this year  - including Thread: Stories of Fashion at Strawbery Banke, 1740-2012, at the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH. 

The Embellishments collection belongs to the University Museum and was assembled by Irma Bowen, for whom the collection is named after. Bowen was a teacher at UNH between the 1920-1940’s and collected donations from the community to use as teaching tools to show the history of fashion and textile techniques to her students. 

However, by the 1960’s, these types of classes (i.e. home economics) were no longer of interest, so the museum inherited the collection and stashed it away in off-campus storing that is shared with the library. 

The Embellishments exhibit was put together by guest curator Astrida Schaeffer, who has done extensive research on the collection and did a show similar to this one using the same collection about 12 years ago.

Dale Valena, a manager of museum collections at Dimond Library, expressed how now in 2012 students can still learn from Bowen’s collection. She said, “Classes in English, history, material culture, and museum studies are using the exhibition in various ways to learn more about their craft.”

Schaeffer believed that in showing the exhibit,  different classes would all be able to benefit from it. She said, for example, how art students could use to study forms and shapes, sociology students to understand women’s roles and class structure, and history students to study material culture, etc.

“But really... everyone wears clothes. So on some level,” said Schaeffer,  “we all respond to them, have an innate understanding of them.”

Valena went on to say that classes studying the era will find the exhibition to be an interesting and tangible way of processing history. Also, that because of Schaeffer’s fine work, the exhibit is getting lots of visitors from outside the community, which is good for UNH and the Library. 

Bette Bramante, a MA in English Literature recipient from UNH and long term resident of the area, visited the exhibit as part of a Durham Art Walk organized by Valena. The walk started  at the exhibit, then moved to Paul Arts Center, and then went downtown to Libby’s. 

Bramante expressed an interest in the exhibit because of her daughters involvement in a theater piece at Strawberry Banke. She said, “Seeing that play helped me to imagine more vividly the lives of the women who wore the garments in the UNH exhibit.” Bramante said that it brought the story behind the clothing to life in a remarkable way. 

The exhibit transported onlookers back to the days of cinched wastes and lace embroidered capes, but kept them right in the backyard. “The relative age of the dresses corresponds to early Durham and UNH's early Durham years (1893)- so that's kind of neat,” said Valena. 

While outsiders are going out of their way to visit the exhibit, it is the locals who can be thanked for the pieces on display. Many of the dresses were donated by Durham families, and in those days the college and town were linked closer together than they are today. 

“The UNH history aspect is mostly the story of how we got the collection, which is through Irma Bowen,” said Valena. 

Astrida is also publishing a book to accompany the exhibit coming out in November. 

Zumba? Oh, no. Prostitution.

In other news, how about the Zumba instructor, Alexis  in Maine? 

21 Men’s names have been released off of her client list, leaving a possible 80 or more names still off the record. 

The 21 men were all charged with a misdemeanor count for engaging in prostitutions. However, when the names were originally given, it was done without age and middle initials. This left a few unlucky men under fire from locals. While the only thing they could be blamed for was unfortunately having the same name as someone on the list. 

Frankly, this is a little disturbing to me. If you can look at Paul Main’s innocent face and not feel bad about what he must have went through with everyone thinking he was on the client list of the moment, then you need to go back and look at it again. 

I can’t help but be baffled by the injustice here or how something this big could just be looked over. It was more than careless to release these names without a middle initial, let alone without the ages. 

I think it’s occurrences like these that give journalism a bad name. This is breaking news, what the people want to know now and fast, so it is understandable why a rush would be put on getting the names out there. But, I believe that MUCH more care needed to be taken here. 

[On a way side note - I really hated all the pictures of Alexis Wright different websites used in their stories. No mug shot, just slutty pictures of her in a sports bra or posing like myspace still matters. I understand what she's being charged for, but really?]

When Pumpkins Fly

That Crazy Pumpkin Festival


One again Keene, NH closed down its streets and lined them with thousands of pumpkins!

Unfortunately, the festival fell short of it’s goal of breaking the jack-o-lantern world record - but received more local volunteers than ever before, leading this years Pumpkin Festival to a great start.

Festival organized teamed up with Keene State college this year in order to gain more local support. They worked together to set up a clean up challenge to end the festival.

Most teams consisted of Keene State Students from fraternities and other campus organizations. 12 teams were made with each being able to have up to 25 members.

All teams were told to select a charity that they would win up to $1,000 for by being the wining team. All clean up teams would be given $100 for their charity regardless. These winnings have been donated by local businesses in the downtown Keene area.

However, not all went according to plan when pumpkins starting flying into dumpsters. Teams were all assigned a section of pumpkins to clear, but because of the massive turn out of jack-o-lanterns, dumpsters quickly filled up and left teams at a standstill.

Teams were left standing around frustrated while they waited to be assigned a new dumpster. In the end, teams were asked to walk the pumpkins down to dumpsters located at the end of Main St.

Because of this, no winner could be determined and compensation for the teams is still being debated.

School Board

Students of Portsmouth School will have to TiVo Saturday morning cartoons if School Board member, Tim Steele, is able to institute disciplinary Saturday morning sessions as a substitute for school day detentions.

In the past students were disciplined by in-house suspensions – where students are required to spend a school day under close supervision of a faculty in an empty classroom.  Under this new rule, students will not miss any class time.

Peggy Bacon, voiced her concerns about the new punishment from a parent’s point of view saying that it’s already hard enough getting her son to school five days a week, let alone six. ”I just don’t think it’s going to make any difference, and the parents are going to pay for it – in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays.”

Tax increases can be expected to compensate for the addition staffing needed to hold the additional Saturday classes.  Steele told the School Board it would require an allocation of about $3,000 per ear for staffing.

However, resident Bob Farley supports the new rules and doesn’t sympathize with the possible inconvenience for parents. “Parents aren’t teaching their kids any discipline, so the kids have no respect for rules. Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up.”

What do the students think about the possibility of Saturday school? Lisa Gallagher, a senior, spoke against the rule at the School Board meeting saying that, “In 12 years of school I’ve never served a detention, and I don’t intend to. I think it’s just being done to make life easier for faculty, so they don’t have to seal with detentions during the week.”

Gallagher also spoke about the possibility of students skipping their Saturday sessions, to which Steele combated that if a student skips Saturday school, he or she would not be allowed to return to school until the detention has been served.

This new rule would be primarily put in place as a punishment for students caught smoking on school grounds. Steel said there are other problems, but smoking is by far the worst.

After discussion, the board voted 5-3, with one member abstaining, to table the issue until its next meeting March 7. Steele was instructed to return with figures on in-school detentions, so far of that year, at that time.

The board also heard several committee reports, including one from the rental committee, which reported that rental of school rooms and buildings was off about 25 percent from last year. They suggested that rental spaces be advertised in the newspaper’s classified advertising section.

Other reports came from the maintenance committee, which reported that graffiti artists had vandalized the back wall of the Middle School; and from the Athletic Committee, which proposed guidelines for fundraising by Booster Clubs.

These reports will be discussed at a future meeting.

Other new business discussed by the School Board involved a retreat for administrators in June; four requests from teachers for leaves of absence in the coming year; a financial report detailing the impact of federal budget cuts on the school lunch program; and approval of several school department and food service bills amounting to $13,568.