What debates?

So-called debates last night, not widely watched here. I only caught part of them due to lack of cable (MSNBC) and bath & bedtime for the little darlings. How about Dodd mentioning Gov. Lynch, and Civil Unions! We'll have our own in June at NHIOP to obsess over, and thanks to Amy on the JREblog, we'll have Debate Bingo to play, too!

What's new here? Bomb scare on campus (we were notified by email a few minutes ago) so we're all just sitting here, alerted, watching out the Hood House windows for some sign of something.

Thanks to Susie Whitlock and Bob Coffey, I am completely addicted to Facebook now. At least it gives me something to do during this "alert"...

I've been notified of another upcoming visit by EE, and I am excited to be attending at least one of them:

On Monday, April 30th, Elizabeth Edwards will attend six events across New Hampshire. She will be joined throughout the day by Kate Michelman. The details of the events are:

• 10:00 AM Mrs. Edwards to open the John Edwards for President NH Headquarters at 66 Hanover Street, Suite 101C, Manchester
• 11:30 AM Mrs. Edwards to hold a conversation with Southern New Hampshire University students and community, Robert Frost Center 2500 North River Rd. Manchester
• 1:00 PM Mrs. Edwards to attend a meeting with community choice activists Rath, Young & Pignatelli, One Capital Plaza, Concord
• 3:45 PM Mrs. Edwards to have coffee with Portsmouth activists at River Run Bookstore, 20 Congress St., Portsmouth
• 4:45 PM Mrs. Edwards to attend a house party at the home of Marjorie Smith, 100 Piscataqua Rd. Durham
• 6:00 PM Mrs. Edwards to attend a Save Darfur rally University of New Hampshire Murkland Auditorium, Room 115

Tight schedule...let's see if Paul & Peter can keep her on time! ;-)

What's Happening in New Hampshire?

Well, you may think that all the attention right now is focused on South Carolina and Thursday's debate, but you'd be wrong! Here's what's going on in the Granite State:

John McCain is formally announcing his candidacy today, in Portsmouth. I have a friend whose husband did some advance work for him last week, which mostly included checking out the level of sogginess at Prescott Park. MoveOn.org has timed a new anti-McCain commercial on WMUR, which shows the disgusting "Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran" video clip. Not funny. Also, I met a student who said he was all about McCain until he shook his hand and realized how frail McCain was, and it rattled him. He's not the maverick of 2000 anymore.

And speaking of commercials, there have been two Richardson spots playing on our only local TV station, as well. They are being received favorably, and are very well done. Everyone loves the one shot by the stone wall (no danger of being accused of shooting it outside NH!). But if you ask me, these commercials are making a very good case for Richardson as the next Secretary of State.

Mitt Romney is finally coming to Portsmouth, but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it. There are three reasons why I want to see him in person: #1 is that I attended the 2002 Winter Olympics (as a spectator, not an athlete) and they were fabulous. Since it was the first major international event after 911, many people advised us not to go, or were worried. We not only went, but had a blast. They were run wonderfully from my perspective, and we got to see some of it up close, and talk to members of SLOC first-hand. Our hosts & friends, Steve & Trisha Clark of Provo, were awesome. Which leads me to reason #2: I won't rule anyone out of the running based on religion, even if I don't particularly agree with it (let's face it, I don't believe in any or agree with many anyhow). You won't hear many lesbians say this, but Mormons have been very good to us. Steve is one of my dearest friends and former colleagues, and he and his whole extended family have been gracious to us whenever we've met. His BIL, who is a lawyer for the LDS church, gave us a tour of his office which included access to places most non-members don't see. I've even had my picture taken on the temple steps! My reason #3 is silly: My brother now owns a home on the same road as the Romneys, in Wolfeboro.

Updating other NH news, we are on the brink of passing civil unions in our legislature and Gov. Lynch has pledged to sign it into law. No lawsuits or "legislating from the bench." As far as I've seen, no huge protests or crazed extremists. Just letters to the Editors and lots of contacting of legislators. The Exchange on NHPR had a very civil, dispassionate discussion (IMHO) on the topic yesterday, and it seems like an idea whose time has come. As I've said many times, NH conservativism isn't like that of bible belt or red states. It's more about keeping government out of bedrooms, relationships, families. So, we could be going to a lot of "weddings" this summer.

Ramblings From My Head to Yours...

Just some random rambling on things...

I love EJ Dionne of The Washington Post, and 99% of the time I agree with him 100%.

Yesterday, I had the bad fortune to have a meeting at Granite State College, which meant I had the good fortune to listen to NPR uninterrupted to and from Concord. Therefore, I got to hear Attorney General Alberto Gonzalas's hearings live. The guy is a bumbling idiot! I couldn't believe what lack of poise he had, how unprepared he seemed, and how flawed his arguments were. I want to know where he went to law school, so I don't recommend that school to any of my students. He was an embarrassment.

The news on the John Edwards site is that Joe Trippi has joined the Edwards Team. He had a strong following here among Deaniacs here last cycle, so it will be interesting to see if his joining the team will bring some local Dean Fanatics on board like the ones we met at the JRE at UNH event. They seemed like a very fun, very committed group of hard workers, and many of them worked on Carol Shea Porter's campaign too. I'd love to work with them.

And, the most surprising news of all: Civil Unions in New Hampshire!!?! Gov. Lynch says he'll sign it if/when it gets to his desk, which is likely to happen next week. What's up with that! Yee Ha! Go NH! I was interviewed by a local newspaper reporter on this issue and all I could say was "pinch me!" I think I like living in Blue Hampshire!

Happy Earth Day.

My Perspective

Everyone has something to say on the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I was trying hard NOT to jump on that bandwagon, but I've succombed. Here's an expanded version of what I posted at Blue Hampshire:

Having worked in Higher Education my entire career (Residential Life, Housing, Orientation, Academic Advising, Career Counseling, Coordinator of Exchanges), I can relate to the pain and anguish of faculty and staff members who tried to take some action when they read disturbing writings authored by the alleged shooter. It's an awful feeling, and I've been there more than once. You did everything you could, I know you did.

Sadly, I've seen so many students like him before--loners, limited family connections or friends, usually smart kids but secretly in more pain internally than imaginable and unable to deal with it appropriately--and I've felt the same way: your hands are tied. It's so obvious that "something must be done," but who?? -what? Unless there is a very specifically articulated threat, nothing can be done to help, nothing can be done to stop it. All you can do is watch & wait, and document. What a horrible feeling, helplessness.

Whether it's officially a mental illness the shooter (or others like him) suffered from or not, our society and our culture seem unable to reach or help people like him. We protect everyone's right to privacy, right to bear arms, and frankly right to be weird or different or even creepy. Until there's a dangerous or threatening action, there is little that can be done. Would we want it any other way, truthfully?

I once had a student involuntarily committed. He suffered from manic-depression, and so enjoyed the manic stage that he found it incomprehensible that anyone would want to medicate this and make it go away. He had those typical feelings of being a deity, or having superpowers. He wondered the halls in his underwear. He never slept. He was having visions. At the hearing to have him committed, I sat in the back with the RA, holding back tears. As the judge read a statement, it became apparent that it was his 25th birthday. What an awful day that was, spent trying to convince myself that this was the right thing to do--take away someone's basic rights and force him into treatment he didn't want or think he needed. And I have no idea what happened after he was released. No idea...and I wonder about him all the time, and that was 1995 I think.

My heart goes out to those who took the brave risk and tried but failed, and those who wanted to help but couldn't or were pushed away. Or who wanted to but just didn't see a way. It's so easy to point fingers after the fact, with "shoulda/coulda."

But it's more productive right now to spend energy on supporting families and the VT community. And finding some compassionate way to make sure it never happens again.

Websites/Blogs, both new and improved

I have very little news lately (too absorbed in bullying drama at preschool and renovating our kitchen), so today I thought I'd direct your attention to some new and/or improved links so you can read other people's stuff!

www.NH4JRE.com is up and running, and looks great. It's a blog, a bulletin board, and a good source for info and candidate visits. The site was announced on the John Edwards website, so I expect it to start picking up traffic soon. That's where I found out the Edwards is the Commencement speaker at New England College, in Henniker on May 12th: "The Only Henniker on Earth." And, the site has an impressive, still growing, blog roll of John Edwards sites nationally.

The NH Democratic Party also launched a new site. http://nhdp.org/ Another mixture of user-generated content, press releases, upcoming events, with the exciting addition of The Sununu Watch.

www.seacoastonline has released an improved site, but I am unable to confirm if their NH Primary section (linked in my blogroll) is similarly upgraded, since I can't get to it. It keeps timing out on me. So, keep an eye on it.

See you 'round the blogosphere!

Life in the Blogosphere!

Blogs are truly incestuous, and they keep leading you to other blogs with a dizzying effect. But it's a happy dizzy, like twirling around when you're a kid. You fall, you laugh, you jump back up and do it again.

So, it should not have been a surprise to see my blog picked up by Joe Clarke on the JRE Blog. http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/4/5/115546/1840, but I was surprised. Thanks for the quote, Joe. And thanks for mentioning Blue Hampshire, too. What a thorough "blog round up!"

My next goal is to get JRE and/or EE up to the NH North Country, where I spent my Easter weekend. Folks up there don't read blogs or watch YouTube or all these cable shows. They hunt, they go to town meeting and to church, the go to the town dump on Saturdays, and most of all they talk. Everyone I spoke to had good things to say about JRE, but they all say the same thing: "does he have a chance?" asking and hoping at the same time. My answer is always two-fold: "YES, I think he's the ONLY one who can do it, and you just have to see him in person."

So, for all you JRE staffers out there, now hear this: get up there next time. Berlin, Colebrook, Lancaster, Littleton, Plymouth State... They're hungry for attention from the candidates, and a mill worker's son would find a lot in common with them.

Edwards Visit in Pictures & Video

My pal Laurie of Portsmouth OneCorp sent me this link to a Seacoast Online page where more pics from Monday's event were posted:

http://www.thenewhampshireprimary.com/multimedia/photogallery/2007_04_02_edwards/photo26.html And look what was there, the one thing I had hoped to get but didn't: A photo of me with John Edwards!! At one point, JRE rested his left hand on my arm as he shook someone's hand, and I turned to Cari Moorehead & mouthed "Oh my god, he's touching me!" The photo below was posted at our campus newspaper's site, and was taken just after that moment; I believe you can tell that his hand is still on my elbow!! Former Babcock resident now Prof. Andrew Kun (in striped sweater) had just shaken JRE's hand & complimented Edwards on one particular answer.

There's a video posted on-line called Edwards Family Values. I highly recommend it. It's a nice little edited piece with excepts from his trip to UNH and other NH highlights.

Congress is on Easter recess, so loads of candidates will be around in the next few. Does this make you miss NH, Bob?? I still want to see Bill Richardson, and of course the Repubs, especially Mitt.

Now, back to my actual job...

JRE at UNH

Last night's Town Hall Meeting with John & Elizabeth Edwards at UNH seemed like a big hit to me! True to my blog's name, I was in the Front Row this time, thanks to Laurie McCray of Portsmouth OneCorp.


My pal Louise & I were invited to be in the room that met with JRE & EE beforehand. It ended up being a bit rushed--handshaking and some small talk--but it was interesting none-the-less. We chatted with some big Deaniacs, and listened in on a chat between Elizabeth & Rep. Carol Shea-Porter. Louise did concur that John Edwards has a terrific handshake & great eye-contact (does anyone else remember John Kerry's lame shake & lack of any eye contact at all?). Elizabeth was charming, sincere, and entertaining again.


It seemed like many attendees were impressed with JRE's frank and unscripted answers. He makes such a strong impression in person. They both do. Nice people. Wouldn't that be something...nice people in the Whitehouse!