Posts by Brian Chicoine
The Christmas shopping season is here once again. I personally love finding a gift for the people on my list that is both meaningful and fits their personality, so quite enjoy the shopping element of the holiday. The gifts do not need to be large or expensive, they are simply gifts that are well thought out. I love finding that “one-of-a-kind” gift.
As we approach Thanksgiving, many people focus on travel, food, and football. Others think about – with impending doom I might add – Black Friday and the “crazy holiday season.” Others think about family gatherings – including some in our families who we see once a year and give their bold opinions about religion and politics. Some family members may annoy us and we may annoy them…but we’re family.
I love our city. Sure, it has problems such as addiction and homeless issues. And of course, there is the increasing housing costs, which is not just a Manchester thing, as well as issues that people have with the public schools. Should we be doing more to actually fix the issues instead of hearing elected officials or candidates for public office say that they’ll do something? Yes, we need actual solutions, not just empty promises.
As pretty much everyone knows, over the past several years, we have been experiencing a growing homeless population here in our beloved city. There are of course many reasons why people have taken a liking to Manchester, from access to services to other communities sending their homeless here, because, you know – “not in our backyard.” And it’s happening more than we know. I recently read where a man was sent here to Manchester via taxi because there were no services for him in his home community.
I was checking out the weather forecast the other day and was thinking how just a few weeks ago it was hot and how now we are entering the cooler – and soon the downright cold – time of year (and as most of the readers know from experience…New Hampshire can get cold). This was further reinforced during discussions with some unsheltered folk in Victory Park. These things got me thinking about how we haven’t seen much progress in our city towards helping end homelessness. Those currently without shelter will likely be living outside when we are in the colder months.
Every life has seasons and everyone experiences change. Some change is for the better, and some change is difficult and may result in setbacks. But one thing is for sure…change is inevitable.
Scrolling through my “X” (aka Twitter) and Facebook feeds, I’ve been reading a lot of posts of people commenting about how everything has gone up, especially within the last two or so years, but that individual salaries haven’t gone up. This of course is something that we hear about a lot – cost of living rising but not salaries, at least not at a pace to counter the cost of living increases, and many people do not get an annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).
As I thought about this as well as other institutions and landmarks that have been physically lost and relegated to our memories, I thought about how just having memories doesn’t always serve us well. Unless we step in and save documents, repurpose buildings, or at least share our knowledge with the next generation, the memories will eventually die. I am a firm believer that we need to understand the past to successfully navigate the future so we do not want to lose these things. If we don’t know about the past, we’re likely to repeat the bad.
I was listening to the radio the other day and the song, “The Heat is On” by Glenn Frey came on. Aside from really liking the song – and being instantly transported to a time when my biggest concern was looking cool in my parachute pants as I strutted down the street – I thought about how hot it has been.
Today we are just divided. If I do not agree with you then I’m {insert name here}. Some say that we act like children. I disagree…in my experience, children do not naturally hate and usually do not learn that nasty trait until they are older.