A New Year’s Resolution: Re-Imagining Laconia
When we lift the window shade on Christmas morning for our first glance out at the day, the hope is always to look across a blanket of white snow on the ground and make certain the roads are passable. How fortunate we were this year. The sun on the trees created beautiful shadow designs in the snow and the sky was a cloudless blue. The temperature was mild enough so it wasn’t necessary to bundle up in layers of clothing.
It was the perfect morning for a walk and fresh air and exercise in anticipation of an evening feast. I decided to walk through downtown Laconia.
The Salvation Army volunteers standing at the stop sign mid-block weren’t there. The smell of roasting coffee at Wayfarers wasn’t wafting through the air. The antique emporium in Blooms had dolls and trains in the window, but of course, everything was silent and still.
The Laconia Public Library, always a center of activity, cast a sense of history and nostalgia at the head of the street. It was lovely being there alone.
It was the Colonial Theatre that stopped me. I read the signs and studied the photographs that are posted in the windows at the edge of the building. Then I just imagined how the renovation of this building could continue to change downtown. Perhaps a small book and toy store would open near Wayfarers. Then a gallery to exhibit not only local art, but also exhibitions related to events in the theater. The downtown has changed through this year and I re-imagined what it might like when I take the same walk next year on 25 December 2017.
Then I thought about New Year resolutions. We make them and plan for the year and then watch as our determination falls away. The diet and exercise regimen often lasts for about two weeks. The materials you requested as a holiday gift and related to a new craft project, often are started, then abandoned in January and moved to the den or into the garage.
This year perhaps our resolutions can be around community and not just about ourselves. How can we makes our communities better places to live and work?
One of our traditions on Christmas Eve is to celebrate with Christmas crackers. They always contain a colorful tissue hat, a small piece of paper with a riddle and this year a game that involved little wind-up reindeer. The idea of the game was to wind-up your deer and see if he could make it down the paperboard to “win,” Wind-up toys are never predictable and there was lots of laughter as the reindeer traveled across the board in a random fashion. A few spun in a circle. One or two veered to the right or left. It was difficult to find even one that traveled in a straight line.
Creating a new community and re-imagining downtown Laconia isn’t easy. Neither is bringing together a sense of community among Americans.
What if every American made a resolution to become a better citizen? That is to get involved in their community as a volunteer or as an advocate for something within the schools or the senior projects to make a difference in the community. Make a pledge to buy local and try to encourage small local merchants so they can make it through the first few difficult years. Reach out to a neighbor you haven’t met and see if there is a way you can make a difference in their lives.
This is my last column in 2016. It has been a year filled with sadness as we think about the millions of refugees around the world. It has been a year of political surprises.
It has been a year of transformation.
My dear friend and colleague, Diana Balmori, died in November. She was an extraordinary women in all she achieved professionally and in the graciousness and friendship she extended to all of us who knew her.
In her book, A Landscape Manifesto (Yale University Press, 2011) there are 25 Manifesto Points. In 2017 I intend to focus on Manifesto Point #1: “Nostalgia for the past and utopian dreams for the future prevent us from looking at our present.” If we can all work and come together each day, in a sense of community and trust we can re-imagine what our communities could be.
Happy New Year.