Dear WMD Members and Friends,
In the 46 years since our Heidi was born, this is the first time she has not been with us for Christmas; to our utter astonishment, we have survived. That little family – – our daughter, her husband and their son – – were able to fly to Spain on Christmas eve, and they had a wonderful European holiday. It has been a wonderfully quiet time for us. We needed to think about a lot of things and begin to make plans for the next two years. WMD figures prominently in those plans as we want to continue making mischief until after the 2012 election, then look at the rest of life. We both want to try our best to make a positive difference.
Because of many interesting conversations since the November 2nd election, we realize the discontent and worry about the state of our nation. But with the flurry of activity by the congress just before it adjourned for the Christmas holiday, we are personally pleased with what was accomplished by our president and the democratic party. When the balance tilts toward the republican party in 2011, we are worried. What will they be up to then? We decided two years ago that we hoped our grandson, Christopher, would be able to finish high school and nearly finish college while Obama was in the White House. We believed that strongly in him; not everyone does, but we still do. Christopher is in his sophomore year and will be in his senior year in 2012. We hoped he would be able to get through these vitally important years with a positive role model. Well, so far so good.
As I wrote in late November or early December, our plans for Democracy School fell apart when we failed to reach an agreement with all of the people in on the planning. I accept full responsibility for the decision to cancel the February intensive two days. Those representing DFNH have gone ahead with their plans. A chance meeting with Susan Carr at Souhegan High School made me aware that she has found an excellent venue for them. In the meantime, I have invited Gail Darrell to meet with us in January, around our kitchen table, as she prefers. Gail is the authority on Democracy School and can give us the information we need in order to plan our own DS. I would like to invite any of you who are interested in attending, organizing, funding, a WMD DS to give me a call letting me know you would like to meet with Gail on Tuesday, January 18th, here at our home in Amherst. There are a few with whom I’ve spoken who are interested. Please don’t be shy. Our plan is to have a morning meeting beginning about 10:30, followed by a simple pot-luck lunch. Please consider this opporknockity..
The next evening, at the library in Amherst, Ruth Heden and I invite interested people to attend a “conversation” about taxes in New Hampshire. We are both members of the Granite State Fair Tax Coallition, though Ruth has been a much more active member. (For those of you unfamiliar with the GSFTC, it’s an organization created to get folks in NH to start thinking about multiple ways to raise revenue rather than focusing solely on property tax.) This in not a WMD event, but we certainly hope many of you will be interested in having this conversation. Do you know what percentage of your income you pay in property taxes? We hope people will attend with an open mind ready to have a civil discussion about HOW we tax in New Hampshire. We have no agenda other than to make people more aware of the fairness or lack thereof of New Hampshire taxes. Please consider attending. That is Wednesday evening, January 19th, at 6:30 in the evening.
And to really start our year with a bang, we have invited Arnie Arnesen to come to a WMD event, also at the Library in Amherst , on January 30th – – a 5th Sunday. Few have anything scheduled on 5th Sundays, so we hope to attract a good number. Those of you who heard Arnie at the “summit” in December know how she can ignite a crowd. She truly speaks truth to power. We are using the library because we can advertise the event, which we cannot if we use the clubhouse at The Fells. The room in the basement of the library holds 50 – – come early. More information to follow.
December 29th was a special anniversary for me personally. It was 15 years ago that I fell skiing at Pat’s Peak and broke my left leg. A bad outcome left me with an injured right leg and a well-repaired left leg. That’s the bad news. The good news is that perhaps I would never have gotten involved politically had it not been for that accident. It is oh so possible that the world would be going by without our even noticing. One never knows what’s coming around the next corner. When we rounded that corner, back in 1995, life took on a different perspective. When we bumped into Howard Dean in 2004, life became really interesting. And as we look around the corner into 2011, we can hardly wait. Away we go!
May we take this opportunity to wish each of you an especially bright new year. Let us make mischief together and see what comes of it. We promise to eventually have a real list of members, to do a real phone tree, to establish a real letter-writing committee and to have fun doing so. Let me know how you would like to help and what you would most like to do. We need help, feed back and your commitment to make WMD a functional operation. Give us a call; we are at 603 673-3730.
Our warmest wishes to each of you, hoping you have had a peaceful holiday season and knowing you look forward to the year 2011.
Sending love,
Pete and Nan
PS Pete reminds me of all we need to address locally and at the state level. He has agreed to write down his concerns which will follow shortly. Without his support, there would never have been a wild-eyed, liberal organization called WMD. I’m going to keep him.
WMD Women Making a Difference 