New programs to bring to your community (or workplace!)

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Mindfulness in Writing: Dr. Alexandria Peary, New Hampshire’s newest Poet Laureate, now offers two programs, “Present Moment, Prolific Moment: Using Mindfulness to Write” through Humanities to Go, and “Mindful Writing for the Workplace” through Humanities@Work. In both of these new programs, Dr. Peary guides participants in learning strategies to incorporate mindfulness into their writing.

Alexandria Peary holds MFAs in Poetry from the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Ph.D. in English from UNH. She is the author of six books and over 150 shorter pieces in leading literary and scholarly journals. Her work has received the Iowa Poetry Prize, the Slope Editions Book Prize, and an Outstanding Book Award nomination from the Conference of College Composition and Communication. (Photo courtesy of Jane Button Photography)

Range the Wild Woods Over: Loggers’ Songs & Stories: Loggers at the turn of the 20th century cut the timber that built and warmed our houses and provided the ties for America’s ever-expanding railroads. Timber established Portsmouth, Portland, and Bangor as important ports, sending New England lumber around the world. Folklorist Jeff Warner relates the songs and stories of the people who worked the wintry woods, showing their humor and their grit, and giving us a glimpse into everyday life in long ago lumber camps.

Jeff Warner connects 21st-century audiences with the music and everyday lives of 19th-century people. He presents musical traditions from the Outer Banks fishing villages of North Carolina to the lumber camps of the Adirondack Mountains and the whaling ports of New England. Warner accompanies his songs on concertina, banjo, guitar and several “pocket instruments,” such as bones and Jew’s harp. He is a Folklorist and Community Scholar for the NH State Council on the Arts and was a 2007 State Arts Council Fellow.