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Smoggy sunset - 4 August 2025 - 18:29 - Peterborough, NH - Taken by Jonah
Usually I am not particularly opinionated about the changing of the seasons. I have my favorites but I’ve lived where there are four seasons all my life no matter where in the country we found ourselves. I’d like to believe I am used to it. Although this year, I bemoan the bite of the winds of August as it gets sharper with every passing day. The fall tease of the mid-forty degree nights has not been a welcome change to the seasons this year.
I try to avoid commentating on national and international politics as long as they don’t relate to the work being done directly here in New Hampshire. There are so many other people who throw their opinions into the void of our current body politic that it usually feels futile to add yet another one; and the issues written about here are those that don’t get the national attention of the others. The work being done at the State House is directly impacting the everyday lives, and pocketbooks, of the citizenry who elects. Rather than screaming into the void about that which is the current outrage online, I choose to focus here on those issues facing our home directly, which don’t often get attention.
That being said what is happening in our world is unacceptable. Innocent lives destroyed by bulldozers, bombs, and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza. All while the world condemns and tries to bring aid, but the United States continues to use it’s veto power at the geopolitical level to block humanitarian resolutions and provide brutal offensive machines of war to the effort. Both of which allow Netanyahu to carry this out unabated despite roaring opposition from people in Israel, these United States of America, Europe, Asia, and the citizenry of most of the world. The catch all used here in the States by those trying to justify the acts the world is condemning such as forced starvation, the direct bombing of hospitals and aid workers, the brutal cover up of these killings such as burying ambulances after murdering the medics, the limitation of speech and media, and so much more of the most incredible levels of brutality this world has seen in generations; is the horrible murder of innocent civilians and taking of hostages, including Americans, that took place on October the 7th, 2023.
Should all the people of Gaza be condemned to the most brutal of what a military power is capable for the actions of October the 7th?
It is sickening and incredibly disheartening to see the citizenry of the nations of the world, and most of their leaders, stand up to the horror we see here and yet, nothing changes. The same can be said for all those in the world facing the horror of modern war in Congo, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia, Ukraine, and all the other nations undergoing brutal gang and military conflicts.
War is and always has been a profitable business beyond belief. As the rap group ‘Cunninglynguists’ wrote, “War brings profits, and I don’t mean Moses.”
There are people who look at all this death, destruction, starvation, occupation, and chaos; and see gold. They revel in the chaos. They get off on the horror of it all. There are incredibly sick people in this world, and unfortunately we have had our eyes wide shut. Complacent enough to allow those people to hold positions of great importance. The tinseltown world we live in keeps us distracted with it’s glitz and glamour. It keeps us at that point where you’re sitting down in an uncomfortable position but you’re comfortable enough to where there’s no need to move. Not too happy, definitely not too angry.
Satiated by the anticipation of the new. The new 4K television screen with voice activation so you no longer have to lose your remote, the fancy new iPhone with eye tracking capabilities so you don’t have to worry about forgetting your passcode, the car which can almost drive itself so you don’t have to worry about the dangers of the road, the ‘artificial intelligence’ program which can do the menial tasks of your day so that you can focus on what truly matters; all the new gadgets and gizmos which get dripped out for our convenience.
For our ‘convenience’.
The ails of a world comforted by convenience is a topic for another day but you cannot ignore the distractions imposed on the citizenry of the global west when discussing the devastation inflicted by our leaders. While we enjoy those conveniences afforded to us, those in power use those conveniences to mine behavioral and social data from the populace. Allowing them to research even better, more engaging conveniences to convince us to stay quiet, and divided, while watching humanity be ripped apart on our telephones.
A world led by drunks. People drunk on power. Drunk on the idea they control the rest of the billions of human beings on this planet. They look at us as nothing more than cattle. Making unimaginable amounts of money, gaining unimaginable amounts of power while using us as nothing more than nodes for the purposes of data mining. Sexually abusing children behind closed doors as they use the profits gained from that data, human capital, and military armaments to continue this cycle of abuse. The behavior of those who have built this system is criminal to the nth degree.
What we are experiencing is the result of a vast crime against humanity itself.
It is sickening. It is hard to imagine how bad we have let it become. However, a lot of people who once had their eyes wide shut now find themselves with an open and staunch gaze towards the future. People are waking up to the fact that this is not how it has to be, because this is not how it has to be. The spirit of humanity will overcome all efforts to stamp it out because it has done so since the first clocked ticked.
In moments where the world feels impossible to fix, look to your neighborhood. Get to know your neighbors, your town, your region. Instead of pondering about the impossibility of fixing the world, ask what you can do to better your home. If we all start doing that. Taking care of that which is immediately in front of us. Being vigilant for the forces of subversion and division, standing strong for our homes, we can climb ourselves out of the pit. We can tune into a different frequency and begin the walk towards a better world.
Dems Bake sale & Puppy Parade - 23 August 2025 - 11:06 - Peterborough, NH - Taken by Jonah
Thus, why I do not use these letters to ponder the ails of the world. Not just because I could go on forever about saving humanity from forcible extinction, but because we all need to focus on that which we can have an immediate impact on; and that is the policy put in place by those who we elect here in New Hampshire. That requires learning about the processes which make up the policy in our State. Learning the ins and outs of municipal and state government so that when something comes up, everyone of us will know how to address it in whatever way is appropriate at the time.
As the House was still in recess for August, this month was made up of a lot of work for me personally. ‘Real work’ as I have quipped. I do a variety of odd jobs as they come up. People may need someone to bring their trash to the recycling center, or a ride to the hospital, they might need their garden weeded; whatever it may be at the time, that is what I do. I find that to be the best way to fund my personal budget, and accommodate the unpredictable schedule of being a Representative in a State House which only pays a mileage stipend to it’s members.
This month was not made up of as many odd jobs as it was one odd-job. That being topography surveying for septic systems. I’ve written about it before in these monthly periodicals but a friend of mine, Sharon Monahan, does surveying for septic systems. So she and I will go to various properties around the region who are looking to have septic work done. I help survey the land for Sharon to then plan out the septic system itself. I have really quite enjoyed the work. Not just because I get to work with a good friend, but because I get to be outside. Put the screen, the calls, the emails, and all the rest aside; and just survey some beautiful properties throughout our grand Monadnock region. It has been a fantastic respite from the never-ending drum beat of being in the legislature.
However, if you know me you know I have a hard time completely pulling myself away from this work. I live for it and this month was no exception. I took a couple weeks this month to essentially lock myself away. Cutting off most communication with everyone who wasn’t in my immediate circle for a ‘work-cation’. I have wanted to update my website for a while but finding the time to sit down and really do a full sweep was very hard to do. This month presented a better opportunity than ever to simply cut off the rest of the work, calls, emails, and the rest; and hone in on the website and a few others side items which needed to be done. So I took it.
After researching the company Wix, which I had used to build the original website in 2022, I came to the conclusion that despite being a go-to for many and an easy to use platform for novice website builders such as myself; that it was not a company I could support. After some research in July I had found a company called Framer. Which was an entirely different kind of builder, but a far better company with a much more slick program. Once you got over the learning curve.
I tinkered with it throughout July but used the work-cation to hunker down and really teach myself how to get it done. After a few days of trial and error, and the beauty of YouTube tutorials, I was finally able to put something on a page. One step at a time. It quickly snowballed after that and throughout those couple of weeks I was able to craft what I believe to be a very good product. With significantly improved navigation, look, and far better capabilities to hold the immense amount of data that I have in legislation, letters, news, and videos. My favorite part of it is the navigation within the pages. Finally my letters page is not just one long page which must be scrolled down, but instead a navigable list that allows for ease of access to the (at the point of writing this and counting the titles) 50,959 words that I’ve written throughout these monthly periodicals alone. Not to mention there are now pictures for each monthly letter to add a little more jazz to it all.
There were some of those days, especially before it started to take shape, where I looked at myself hunkered over my desk having eaten very little because I was so focused, thinking to myself; is this worth it?
It was.
The new website is much more than the last. It’s still got a quirk to it but that’s what you get when you have a one man office. The quirk adds a certain je ne sais quoi to it all, so I’m not upset. Though maybe that’s me explaining away the perfection thoughts that come with building a project or writing. The “well this could use a little more here and a little more there” thought that is natural when doing something that’s important to you. Learning when to say “okay, it’s good enough”. Is something I have not quite yet mastered, but I am happy to say that with this one - it is good enough.
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Another one of the major tasks I was able to complete over my ‘work-cation’ was moving out of my house. As I wrote about in last months letter ‘Quintilis’, I have lived splitting the rent burden with my Mother and a couple of different roommates of ours for the last few years. In 2024, I was the one left with the empty nest as both my Mother and Sister flew the coop. My Mother returned from her job on the Mississippi River at the beginning of this year to be the Executive Chef of a brunch restaurant in Keene called the Yellowbell. As a shameless plug for her, they were just awarded the best breakfast in Keene by the Sentinel. That brought her back to the house full time, and we have had a couple of roommates stay in the spare room throughout the last few months. I have loved living in that house. As I mentioned in July’s letter, it is the house both my Mother and I respectively have lived in the longest. After hopping from place to place, having a house we could rely on was a welcome adjustment. Not to mention West Peterborough is a fantastic neighborhood. A walk from the rest of it all but still in our own little world. With fantastic neighbors and a beautiful spot on the Nubanusit river, it was hard to leave. However, it was time.
Close friends of mine in town had a bedroom available in what they’d used as their library room. Despite what you may be thinking after I’ve written ‘library room’; it isn’t a mansion. They are simply the coolest of people who retrofitted a spare room in their ranch style house for their extensive and commendable collection of books.
After over a decade being a West Peterboroian, in far more than just the house I’ve left, I have officially left West Peterborough.
Does this mean I have to pay to get into Stonehenge park now?
I’m on the northern end of town now off Old Dublin Road. In a spare ‘oom, as they called it in ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’. I am still looking around the house for the room that’ll take me to Narnia, but for now I’ve got all my items and furniture settled, and I can celebrate a much needed change of pace in the place I rest my head at night.
“Are you not ashamed you have to live with roommates?”. No, there are many people in our communities who are forced to live with other people because of how stupidly expensive our economy has become while the value of the dollar wains. I have always expressed my belief that in order to change that we need people elected who understand that it is happening, because they’ve gone through it themselves. My story is not unique, it is the story of millions not often told. The story of the working poor in a country all about the glamour. I tell the people who try give me advice to pretend I am anything other than what I am to ‘hawk’ off and find another lad to tap dance for you. I am not doing a tap dance for anyone. People are sick of the tap dances. They’re ready for people elected who are serious about the constitutional responsibilities their constituents elected them to uphold. Transparent about what has brought them there and what they plan to do, and are doing, while in office.
Monday September the 15th is the opening day for the five day long filing period that members of the House and Senate have to file legislation. As the recess comes to an end there is much conversation among the membership about how to get good work done in such a stark minority. I have a couple of ideas that I am quite excited about but I don’t want to tease anything that doesn’t come to fruition. So for now I’ll leave those ideas for next months letter.
In our world led by drunks it is up to us to be sober minded and level headed. Standing strong in our principle that the world in it’s current bizarro form is not how it has to be. That a world of starvation, death, violence, brutality, and sociopathy is not the default - but is instead a sickness. That a world in harmony with itself is not just possible, but it is coming. That healing is possible when we seek to heal.
Amidst the brutality we’re all witnessing here and abroad, I see people waking up in a way they have never before to the reality of the bizarro world imposed on us. Once the veil is lifted from your eyes there is no going back. People across generations, race, nationality, sex, and creed are waking up to the horror inflicted on humanity. That snowball doesn’t just stop rolling. I am confident in our long term ability to build back that which has been stolen from us by the corporate world which eats itself alive. I am confident because I see it in the drive starting up in people to change it. People are no longer waiting for a savior. They are realizing it is up to them to take charge of their own life. To protect those around them from harm. To stand in the way of a bully rather than be a bystander to the bullying.
I know we all have our own perspectives and opinions on the many different issues facing our world; but I see people across the spectrum waking up to the real threat of a corporate takeover of the constitutional republic which allows us to express those differences and opinions without fear of silencing or persecution.
Lest we waste this moment. Do not let those who would make it seem impossible win. Take charge of your own destiny and shape your own future for yourself, your children, and theirs.
Don’t cave to the world being built for you.
The veil is lifting. A world of harmony is on the horizon, waiting for us to grab it.
Grab it.
