October 28, Respect in the Political Arena
A resounding success!
Andru Volinsky, general counsel for the 2016 Sanders NH Campaign , and Mike Vlacich, state director for the 2016 Clinton NH Campaign, shared the stage in front of 70 plus guests to share their experiences working in the 2016 elections in New Hampshire.
A huge thank you to the speakers!
You can watch the program in 4 parts thanks to Bill Secord who videotaped it all.
NOTE: Tap CC icon (
) if the sound is not clear.
Click to view: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
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We thank you in advance for your generosity.
September 23, Women and Political Participation: current trends, challenges and opportunities.
Before an audience of 50 people, largely composed of women eager to hear more about the crucial role women play in the turbulent world of contemporary politics, four committed and experienced activists provided clear and detailed information about how women can succeed in the political arena. Keynote speaker Jennifer Frizzell demonstrated how the New Hampshire political landscape has been altered by a strong core of female politicians from local state representatives to our two U.S. senators and how the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation has been recruiting and training prospective candidates for political office across the state. Our three panelists supported Jennifer’s analysis with illustrative war stories of what they have experienced on the ground running campaigns, raising money, and handling the condescension they sometimes meet on the campaign trail and in the halls of New Hampshire’s General Court (House and Senate). Here is a link to the Slides from the Presentation
The evening was videotaped in 4 sessions:
- Introduction, Margaret Campbell, UVDems Treasurer;
- Presentation Part 1, Jennifer Frizzell, Director of Policy at New Hampshire Women’s Foundation;
- Presentation, Part 2, Advantages and Disadvantages;
- Panelists speak on their experience in NH Politics:
- Jenn Alford Teaster, Candidate for NH Senate, fall 2018,
- Johanna Evans, Campaign Manager for former NH State Senator David Pierce;
- Linda Tanner currently serves as State Representative from Sullivan 9 in the NH House;
- Panelist discussion continued and closure.
Video by Bill Secord.
July 22, 2019, UVD Film screening, Paris to Pittsburgh
It was another successful evening with the UVDems at our Monday night film and panel discussion; fun, informative, and energizing.
What we learned from the documentary film, Paris to Pittsburgh at Mascoma Valley Regional High School on Thursday night regarding climate disruption: that there are lies, damn lies, and Republican lies about the dangers we face and the options we have. Oh, and energy company lies. Paris to Pittsburgh presented the truth about the frightening consequences we are presently experiencing and the even more frightening consequences we face if forceful action is not taken to reduce global warming as we speak—goodbye Florida; hello massive migration to Minnesota.
The uplifting message of the film came with the concrete examples it presented of people and communities that have successfully switched to renewable energy sources and have drastically reduced their carbon footprint—while at the same time creating more jobs than the entire coal industry in America combined. Pittsburgh is one success story, but so also is a small town in Puerto Rico that had switched its electricity sources entirely to renewables and was able to serve the surrounding rural residents with lifesaving electricity after Hurricane Maria—providing support for such medical services as dialysis for people who would otherwise have died. Even in Iowa, a small electricity co-op is now providing power to an array of rural farms entirely through solar and wind power—much to the chagrin of Senator Grassley.
After the showing of the film, a panel of local activists (Kim Quirk, Energy Emporium and Enfield Energy Committee; Chuck Townsend, Canaan Energy Committee; Charlie DePuy, Enfield Energy Committee; Judith Colla, local Sierra Club; and Catherine Corkery, New Hampshire Sierra Club) presented their reactions to the evening’s documentary. Use this link to view and listen to their comments. To see photos from the evening, click here.
The bottom line: we must actively push all levels of government—town, state, and federal—to act immediately to reduce our carbon footprint.
Thank you all for coming and thank you Mascoma Forward for hosting the screening and panel.
Photos/Video by Bill Secord.
June 24, 2019, Institutional Racism
The Upper Valley Senior Center was packed with Upper Valley residents eager for the evening program on institutional racism.
Theodosia and Brian Cook of Groundswell Change, a leadership and training partnership focused on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity principles, facilitated a conversation around institutional racism and the ways it operates.
The format was a guided discussion which included some participant reflection in small groups, with some Q&A. The whole process was extremely informative.
The program has been broken it into 2 parts:
Part 1: Racism and what we observe
Part 2: Film discussion and what it means for residents of the Upper Valley
Video by Bill Secord.
May 20, 2019, Dark Money
Despite the torrential rains on Monday, we held our do-over film night of “Dark Money” on Monday. (Our February screening was cancelled due to damaging wind storms.)
Thanks to Mascoma Forward for the use of the auditorium in the Mascoma Valley Regional High School and to POV, “point of view”, television’s longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films, who provided the film for screening.
And many thanks to Rights and Democracy, Open Democracy, Take Back Our Republic, and Wolf PAC, who collaborated with the UVDems and Mascoma Forward on the screening. Put your mouse over the photos below to see titles.
The film, Dark Money, exposed the role of hidden money in our elections and detailed the shocking and vital truth of how American elections are bought and sold.
Our panelists, Jim Rubens (Take Back Our Republic), Rick Bourdon (Open Democracy) and Jodi Newell (Wolf PAC), spoke at the conclusion of the film, and answered questions.
To watch the presentation and Q&A, click on the links below.
Click here for the introduction from the panelists. The take away from Jim Rubens is that our nation’s system of political corruption is as damaging to conservative ideals as it is to progressive’s. Jim believes the Right and Left share policy objectives and concerns and can work together on issues of military restraint, military procurement pork, criminal justice reform, drug policy reform, privacy and government spying, and crony capitalism. The sound may be difficult for some listeners, but you can click the CC icon for closed captions.
Click here for the Q&A session. The Q&A opens with a question from the audience: “Wouldn’t an article 5 amendment process open up the constitution to all sorts of crazy types of proposals? Once the convention is open, anyone can bring up an issue, like balance budget”. Click the CC icon for closed captions.
Photos by Bill Secord. Video by iPad and iPhone.
April 22, 2019, Food, Water and Bugs at Risk!
Bruce James, Soil and Environmental Scientist, welcomed us to the evening.
He reminded us that in 1970, on the first Earth Day, there was no focus on climate change, and much on pollution and population, mainly related to human health concerns. There was no EPA, no Clean Water Act; and the Clean Air Act saw major amendments that year—they grew out of the energy of the people, especially young people at the time. Carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas wasn’t on the radar of public policy and concern, as it is today. If your car was producing a lot of carbon dioxide, it was “burning cleanly” without pollutants such as carbon monoxide, the deadly poison. The more, the merrier!
He encouraged us to Think Globally, Act Locally and then gave us some background on climate change and disruption.
Bruce laid out the program, examining three natural systems that are key for us and our descendants, and that are being affected by climate disruption, and then introduced Steve Taylor (bio), a well-known citizen of New Hampshire and the Upper Valley with a wealth of knowledge and experience in agriculture, forestry, and natural resources of our region.
View Steve Taylor’s presentation here.
Participants broke into 3 groups,
- food from the land;
- water resources and quality; and
- insects as important partners in our survival and quality of life.
and came up with two policies and two practices that they shared with the whole group, that would be feasible in the short term to address the “climate beast” (and how we stop poking it!) in our midst.
Report out from work groups. Below are some photos from the workgroups. Put mouse over image to see title. Double click for full-size image. Posters are also embedded in Steve’s video presentation above.
All the photos of the evening.
If you attended the program, and didn’t have the opportunity to fill out the survey, you can find it here. The more data we collect, the stronger a case we can make for being awarded another grant next year! Thank you.
Photos by Bill Secord, Video recording by iPad
March 2019
Much Worse than an Opioid Crisis: The Epidemic of “Deaths of Despair” in New Hampshire
Congratulations and thanks to Peter Glenshaw who provided us with a provocative and timely presentation on “Much Worse than an Opioid Crisis: The Epidemic of ‘Deaths of Despair’ in New Hampshire”.
“Deaths of despair” have already begun to reverse nearly a century of steady increases in life expectancy in the United States and, coupled with the effects of chronic diseases, could lead to significant reversals in American society. This evening Peter walked us through the dynamics of this epidemic and suggested some initial thoughts about the political and policy changes needed to address this complex issue.
Click here for the videotaped presentation.
Unfortunately some of the questions were edited out as they were inaudible.
Peter’s presentation has primed us for Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s new HBO documentary “One Nation Under Stress”, soon to be released. Stay tuned!
Presenter: Peter Glenshaw
Video recording by iPad
January 28, 2019
Steve Marchand served as the keynote speaker for our biennial kickoff meeting on Monday, January 28, reprising the role he played as presenter for our organizational meeting two years ago.
His message this year: Be bold in pursuing a progressive agenda
for New Hampshire.
Watch Steve Marchand’s presentation, Leading in the Age of Trump: Making Sununu Accountable. See the second part of the presentation, Steve’s Q&A.
At this biennial meeting, the Upper Valley Democrats elected officer for the upcoming two years in preparation for the all-important elections that will take place in 2020.
Election results:
Co-Chairs: Ann Garland and Barbara J. Jones
Treasurer: Margaret Campbell
Secretary: Bill Secord
In the past several months, we lost two valuable members of our leadership and our Upper Valley community. We remembered them with a moment of silence on Monday.
In memory of Elizabeth Kilmarx, 1964-2018
In memory of Sue Donnelly, 1951-2019
Our next program will be a showing of “Dark Money,”
an exposé of the role of hidden money in our elections.
Monday, February 25th. Save the date!
Photos by Bill Secord, Video recording by iPad
If you like our lecture series programs, please consider supporting them with a donation. Click HERE to make an online contribution.
We thank you in advance for your generosity.