One Mind Snapping Blog

My friend Larry is likely to die soon. As director of Hope for New Hampshire Recovery, I’ve seen way too many people die, either from suicide or drug overdose. Larry doesn’t seem suicidal, although none of us can know for sure. Larry doesn’t now really use illegal drugs. Still . . . My friend Larry … Continue reading My Friend Larry is Likely to Die Soon

December 1, 2021 Dear Hope Nation, I have COVID-19. It sucks.  Do whatever you can to prevent yourself from getting it, unless you like losing your sense of taste and smell, feeling sore all over, coughing, being chilled and needing to sleep 18 hours a day. If you’re not vaccinated, please get vaccinated. If you’re … Continue reading I Have Covid-19. It Sucks

All year round, Manchester has a huge homeless challenge. From now until springtime, that challenge is a humanitarian crisis. Without a place to escape the cold, human beings will lose fingers, noses, ears and toes. Some people may die. Think of it!  In a wealthy city more than 20 years into a new millennium, people on … Continue reading Hell May Be Hot, But Cold is Hell!

As you look over this open letter to the universe, please understand I am not a bright man nor an insightful one. I don’t understand how the universe and existence work. To be honest, I don’t understand how a radio or a can opener works. Still, I’ve used open letters to the universe to find … Continue reading An unorthodox Man’s Unorthodox Search for a Dog

Dear Hope Nation, Big News!  Happy News! Great News!  Happy News! Subscribe to get access Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Hope will reopen from 5-9 pm Tuesday. For those of you who only read text in big letters: It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, not because I … Continue reading Come to Hope Tuesday Night at Five!

Dear Hope Nation, It’s Friday and I’m going to use that as an excuse to rub some feathers the wrong way. All it takes is a few sentences. Beginning . . . Now: I hate the 60’s, or at least the music of the 60’s.  I’m 62 years old, and started listening to the radio … Continue reading The Ones I Like Best

Dear Hope Nation, Today’s letter will be shorter than normal. As it happens, I am chair of a commission to build a monument to honor people in recovery and to memorialize people who have died of addictions. Senator David Watters of Dover was the driving force behind this effort, and he deserves all the credit. … Continue reading What do you think?

Dear Hope Nation, Please remember to breathe. When you do, you’re doing yourself good. Although it’s been a long time since I got my gentleman’s D- minus in high school biology, I seem to remember respiration being one of those things that contribute to staying alive, along with getting enough sleep and eating Flintstone’s vitamins. … Continue reading Don’t Forget to Breathe

Dear Hope Nation, Writers should write what they know is an old truism, one I often don’t follow, not because I’m trying to be contrary—although I probably am—but because I don’t know a lot of stuff.  I mean, my brain is filled with facts and factoids, trivia and twice-told tales, but of real knowledgs it’s pretty empty.  … Continue reading Baseball and Recovery — Sort Of

Ocean’s Depth January 25, 2021 Dear Hope Nation, As is often the case, I’m willing to embrace a metaphor without fully understanding the original image. In rhetoric, metaphors have two parts, the tenor (the subject of the metaphor) and the vehicle (the thing the tenor is compared to). For example, in the sentence: As a … Continue reading What Lies Beneath the Current