EDITOR AT LARGE

The editor vaguely recalls the low life in Portsmouth back before designer beer, health codes and homeland security. In its final transition from hardknuckle seaport to family destination, the downtown scene was cheaper and cheesier, if you knew where to go.

EDITOR-AT-LARGE

Portsmouth finally built a new library after 20 years of talking about it. But that isn’t the first thing Portsmouth did right. They city also took over a failing condo health center, made it better and made it available to residents cheap. How can we complain about local government if it starts getting smart? 

GUEST EDITORIAL

Rye, NH resident Bill Roach wrote the following editorial after learning that cruise ships have begun calling at the port in Gloucester. He asks -- Why is Portsmouth the only port in the North East without dedicated cruise ships? (Then click to see reader responses)

EDITOR AT LARGE

Portsmouth loves to recycle old buildings. The "old" library itself is actually three separate connected structures. Why not combine them again to solve the city’s #1 problem? What we need is one clean well-lighted space that connects everything so that Portsmouth finally makes sense.

EDITOR AT LARGE

We’re always combing through local online auction items from Portsmouth, NH and, mostly, it’s the same stuff over and over. But every now and then an item out of the ordinary. Take this late 19th century photography, for exaple. ANd look what someone paid for it.

EDITOR AT LARGE

Any New Englander knows that the best way to make it rain in the summer is to wash your car. We’re guessing the best way to kick-start the snow and ice is to simply ask out loud – where the hell is winter? Did somebody forget to tell Jack Frost that it’s January already? Or has Al Gore already launched the endless summer?

EDITOR AT LARGE

Trying to find a new and original gift idea for this holiday season? If you’re "thinking green" and wondering about buying "green tag" carbon offsets for your family, friend or favorite SUV owner, you might want to check out The Consumers’ Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers.

GUEST EDITORIAL

Guest writer Lydia Breen went to the theater hoping to catch a break from modern politics. No such luck. History, as she was reminded, repeats itself. Burying a kernel of truth – whether in Iraq or in WW II -- can bring forth a disastrous crop.

NH TURNS BLUE

Changing the course of a nation this size can be an agonizingly slow process. Now America has begun its "course correction" by taking over the Congress – and possibly the Senate in an historic Democratic sweep. Little New Hampshire has done its part. After holding our breath for six agonizing years, New Hampshire residents have finally turned blue.

EDITOR AT LARGE 

Some things never change. Back in the days when Gerry Ford was President, the pizza guy was the lowest rung on the social ladder. It was a world of frustration for two bucks an hour and all the cold pizza you couldn’t deliver on time. But there was one perk – full security clearance in a time before terrorists.