A look at my place of residence the past four years, after the jump …...
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The recent revelations about the crybaby Chris Cantwell have been reported quite extensively on this site, following the Vice News video about the Charlottesville disaster. Alas, the fact that he has (for the past five years) made his home in Keene, New Hampshire — where yours truly has lived the past four years — has spawned several front-page stories on the local Keene Sentinel newspaper. (And not for nothing — but Cantwell is a native of Long Island, New York … like me. Yikes ….).
Many of Keene’s residents are saying, “Not again?!?!” — as the past few years have seen some negative publicity about our town. And at Netroots Nation and on Facebook, I’ve been asked not only about him — but about some other recent events in our city (some of which are confusing, even to me). So I’d like to tell a bit about Keene — not a comprehensive history, but enough to get a sense of the place, as well as explaining some of the quirky actors you may have read about.
First, a word about geography of the Granite State, that “drug-infested den” as the Trumpster called us. As many election junkies know, this was the one red state in the Northeast for many years — before becoming a purple state in the 90’s. The Democratic presidential candidate has won 6 of the last 7 presidential elections (and had Al Gore not abandoned his 2000 campaign in early summer — only to lose the state by a scant 1.3% — it might have been 7-for-7). We have a four-member all-Democratic, all-female Congressional delegation .. but now a GOP-run Legislature.
New Hampshire is like an isosceles triangle: the eastern border with Maine (and partly on the Atlantic coast), southern border with Massachusetts, northern border with Québec … and the western border (mostly the Connecticut River) with Vermont.
More than ½ the population lives in the lower right-hand section of the stateKeene is outside the more densely-populated area and is the Cheshire County seat (population 23,500 at the 2010 census (seen in the bottom left-hand corner).
Its demographics are 95% white (close to the state-wide average) which longtime resident (and DK poster) Elwood Dowd says is more diverse than in his youth — largely due to Keene State College (one of the four campuses of the University of New Hampshire). It is one of the oldest towns in the state, with a local newspaper dating from 1799 (owned by only two families in its history). The town had a manufacturing base in the 50’s-60’s, before relying now upon insurance, specialty equipment and education (including Antioch New England College).
In film, Keene has two places: a 1949 film Lost Boundaries (starring Mel Ferrer) as the true story of a local black doctor who passed as white for many years, and 1995’s Jumanji (starring Robin Williams) which was mostly filmed here … and memories of his time here were so strong, there was a memorial to him (near Central Square) for several weeks after his August, 2014 death.
Two other figures associated with Keene: former GOP congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM) who was born here and is now Secretary of the Air Force — and the young pop singer JoJo (born in nearby Brattleboro, Vermont who spent some of her early years here).
More critically: Keene is a blue city, the 2nd most liberal in New Hampshire (just behind Hanover, the home of Dartmouth College). And that is at odds with some of the city’s more recent characters. First: an explanation of two political groups that seem alike, but are not ….. and can be quite confusing.
An actual Libertarian movementFirst is the group Free State Project (FSP) — is a hardcore libertarian group founded in 2001, which was determined to encourage major migration: hoping to have 20,000 (or more) people move to a small state in order to “take over” its government in favor of “liberty” as they see it. They chose New Hampshire in 2003 as its size (only 1.3 million residents) made it appealing. In addition: the GOP in New Hampshire has long been more libertarian than, say, states in the Bible Belt (the Christian Coalition never had a controlling interest in the GOP here).
And while they have a small presence, with a few legislators elected: D/K poster (and former legislator) freedapeople said they simply follow hardliners in GOP leadership. The fact that this is a cold-weather state no doubt has helped keep that hoped-for 20,000 people migration down (to only a fraction of it) and as noted: the state tends to vote Democratic the higher-up the ballot one goes (the opposite of some other states). Still, they can properly be called libertarians.
A movement of … well, charlatansNot so a local group called Free Keene (F/K) — which is not a local chapter of the FSP (as is commonly thought). In fact, the FSP looks down at F/K, for reasons that will become clear — for example, the FSP ejected Chris Cantwell in 2013 for advocating the killing of police officers.
Just before I relocated here from central New Hampshire in 2013 (in order to take a new job in the area) I read the AP story about some “Robin Hooders” — who would place coins in parking meters in order to avoid having motorists they didn’t know being ticketed (these meters only exist in a limited area of downtown) — and the push-back they received from city officials, taking them to court over this.
At first I thought, “Wow, are the city fathers that cheap?” — or wondered if they had the new space-age meters that sense when a car vacates its space … and wipes-out any remaining time. After moving here: I came to understand that the city had no problem at all with the practice (unless someone was feeding their own meter on Main Street, in order to park there all-day long).
Instead, the F/K folks were harassing the parking meter agents: asking why they were doing this work and telling them to quit their jobs because … liberty. The city lost in court due to 1st Amendment reasons in December 2013. Keene is in the process of switching-over to a Pay and Display system — which would help a bit.
F/K is more akin to a group of anarchists and grifters, led by one Ian Bernard, who has re-named himself … Ian Freeman. Opinions vary as to how he seems to sustain himself without a visible means of support, with the most common explanation being that he is a trust fund baby (a frequent background for libertarians). Others, (including one individual associated with an anti F/K group) believe he made his money from illicit drug sales elsewhere and moved here later.
Either way, he bought a house in the area and broadcasts his Free Talk Live syndicated radio program from there. He either left/was forced-out of the FSP last year, tried to claim his home as a “parsonage” (in order to avoid taxation) and had an underage girlfriend for a time (who later left). In my ward, I would see campaign signs for an F/K member Conan Salada each Democratic primary and general election (even non-partisan local and school board elections) .. and who is always trounced.
This group made its mark locally the past few years: opposing compulsory education by having members walk to a local school and tell the kids “School sucks”, engaging in public smoking of marijuana on 4/20 in front of law enforcement .. then refusing to pay a fine … and also engaging in a program of chalking the sidewalk downtown — not as an artistic measure, but with political statements (which, admittedly, wash away when next it rains). No wonder the FSP sees them as injurious to their cause.
Fortunately, the anti-F/K group sees their influence as dwindling (even before Chris Cantwell got involved with them). Many of Ian’s associates have moved away or became inactive (with one Rich Paul moving back to Michigan because he “ran out of couches to surf”) — leaving the radio program as the lone remaining face of F/K. Big surprise: Ian has maintained a relationship with Chris Cantwell.
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From 1991-2014, the city had a wonderful event in downtown (on a Saturday before Halloween). The Pumpkin Festival would see upwards of 30,000 carved and lit pumpkins in Central Square and beyond, with a stunning look after darkness. It was also a major draw for restaurants, street musicians, face painting for kids and Keene State college students (as the school is located just south of downtown) coming out to sing in its glee clubs. The Fest in 2013 (my first time there) regained the listing in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest such display (>30k) and I had an excellent time the following year in 2014, with nearly 60,000 visitors from throughout New England (and beyond) there.
The largest stack of pumpkins — in Central SquareThat is, until I returned home around 7:30 PM.
I had no idea that south of downtown, there was trouble in the Elm City — I was getting Facebook and e-mail messages asking, “Ed, are you all right?!?”. I really hate to use this term (with its segregationist origins) … yet the only apt description that I can come up with is outside agitators to describe what happened next.
An out-of-state company promoting pop-up parties— advertising parties around certain events near college campuses to attract people there, then encouraging them to do things to be videotaped and put on social media — told of major parties to be held on that evening.
In the weeks leading up to Pumpkin Fest, FinnaRage promoted a party with a poster showing a scantily clad woman standing in a field of pumpkins. FinnaRage TV traffics in plenty of suggestive content. Their website is full of videos of people chugging beer, grinding on the dance floor, and in one instance, smoking a bong through a gas mask.
"They did go on social [media] and bring in a lot of out-of-town students for just the purpose of coming up and raising mayhem," says Randy Filiaut, a Keene city councilor.
Filiaut says the city knew FinnaRage was coming to town because of the buzz on social media. He says landlords told off-campus student tenants if they hosted a FinnaRage party, they’d be evicted.
That led to the outbreak of a drunken riot — albeit that many of those rioting were not Keene State College students (with some exceptions) — in fact, the next morning many KSC students came out to help clean-up (which was duly noted by our then-governor Maggie Hassan, now in the US Senate).
Either way, the damage was done. There was an actual riot a few blocks from the college campus where off-campus student rental housing exists (which I had no idea that unrest had developed, being in downtown) and dozens of people from seven states that night were arrested. The festival was cancelled for the following year and has been held in Laconia (in northern New Hampshire) since. A wonderful tradition lost (although there are efforts to bring back a very scaled-down version of it this October).
Side streets (w/off-campus student rental houses) that niteIn recent years, the city has featured prominently perhaps its most famous native son Jonathan Daniels (part of a Top Comments diary I wrote several years ago).
He graduated as the 1961 valedictorian from the Virginia Military Institute and won a fellowship for post-graduate study at Harvard University in English literature. But he soon realized that he was being called to the ministry and enrolled at Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the fall of 1963, expecting to graduate in the spring of 1966.
He answered the call of Dr. King after Bloody Sunday and (among other things) helped integrate the local Episcopal church and tutored students (returning home in order to take exams).
Jonathan Daniels and civil rights activistsThen, as VMI's tribute page explains:
In August 1965, Daniels and 22 others were arrested for participating in a voter rights demonstration in Fort Deposit, Alabama, and transferred to the county jail in nearby Hayneville. Shortly after being released on August 20, Richard Morrisroe, a Catholic priest, and Daniels accompanied two black teenagers, Joyce Bailey and Ruby Sales, to a Hayneville store to buy a soda. They were met on the steps by Tom Coleman, a construction worker and part-time deputy sheriff, who was carrying a shotgun.Coleman aimed his gun at sixteen year old Ruby Sales; Daniels pushed her to the ground in order to protect her, saving her life. The shotgun blast killed Daniels instantly; Father Morrisroe was seriously wounded. When he heard of the tragedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "One of the most heroic Christian deeds of which I have heard in my entire ministry was performed by Jonathan Daniels."
A trial ensued, and though the population of the community was largely African American, Coleman was acquitted by an all-white jury and died in 1997 at the age of eighty-six. (Richard Morrisroe today is city planner for East Chicago, Indiana).
Ruby Sales also attended the same seminary that Daniels did, and has remained active in the civil rights arena. Jonathan Daniels was named as a martyr in the Episcopal Church, his alma mater VMI has instituted the Jonathan M. Daniels Humanitarian Award - which both Andrew Young and Jimmy Carter have received - and a biography aptly-named Outside Agitator came out in 1993.
Two years ago was the 50th anniversary of his death, and a service at the local Episcopal Church was led by Ruby Sales … and was followed by a walk to the cemetery where he was laid to rest — just a 5-minute walk from where I live.
A most heartening sight to seeOur hearts were broken on last November’s election day, yet I was glad to see Love Trumps Hate signs around town that day. And now — in the wake of the revelation of Chris Cantwell living here — one can see signs like this around town.
The skateboarders do make this surreal :-)Best of all, this Sunday an interfaith candlelight vigil Be the Light takes place:
Attendees are asked to gather in Central Square for a welcome from Keene’s mayor Kendall Lane, followed by a prayer. Then attendees will line up and down Main Street from Central Square to Winchester Street and beyond, if possible.
The flame will be passed from Central Square down the line until Main Street is fully illuminated and then attendees will sing “This Little Light of Mine.” There will be a moment of silence in memory of those who have died of hate crimes, the Rev. Elsa Worth said.
Business owners on Main Street are asked to place a battery powered/electric candle in their windows Sunday night and every night going forward as a symbol of the desire to be “a city of love and light, and to keep the light of hope and community shining.”
With that …. thanks for reading, everyone - that was sort of cathartic for me. That, as well as Chris Cantwell’s arrest, of course! And if you’re ever visiting on the 3rd Wednesday evening of the month … stop-in for our Drinking Liberally meet-up.
Let’s close with a topical song, Come on Home— originally written as an instrumental by the pianist Horace Silver. Lyrics were later added (“vocalese”) by the 1950’s jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross — and may we all be able to come on home, wherever that is.
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Now, on to Top Comments:
From Mike the Liberal:
In the diary by durrati about …...well, you-know-who turning himself in— Kristina40 was incredibly brave standing up for our country.And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the front-page story about the cancellations of many non-profits from holding gatherings at Mar-a-Lago — hlo notes the change in business in just the past few years… and its implications.And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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