Seacoast Rep's 'Man of La Mancha' will be great. Stop worrying about pronouns. Letters

Jan. 25 — To the Editor:

I found myself recently reading through comments on Facebook (I know, you'd think I would've learned by now) and felt compelled once again to write in a letter of support. The Seacoast Repertory Theatre in downtown Portsmouth is opening its next show, "Man of La Mancha" on Feb. 3, and the casting of the show has a few members of the community confused, or in some cases upset.

Before going too far down the rabbit hole, I want to get something out of the way. There has been a tremendous outpouring of support around the announcement (and many before it) that was shared last week (at the time of writing) which I applaud. Some of the ones I loved the most came from people recalling a performance of the show back when the Rep was Theatre By The Sea. What kept me coming back to these was that they were excited for the show. This excitement had nothing to do with the casting, and didn't even mention it. This is what I love, because we live in a time where for many "gender bending" or perceived "gender bending" of roles does not matter.

Now, to the unfortunate part — which I'm willing to bet you can already anticipate from my last sentence. "But it's MAN of La Mancha." "You can't change the pronouns in the script/score ... the show is about being a MAN." Congrats Internet, you've done it again. You've taken an amazing opportunity for Shaina Schwartz (an absolute powerhouse of an actor, singer and dancer) to flex their skills on stage, and boiled it down to, "but why not a MAN?"

At the end of the day, movies, musicals, art in general is meant to entertain, inspire, and encourage thought. Leonardo da Vinci once said, "art is never finished, only abandoned," meaning art continues to grow, change and evolve with time. I applaud the Rep's continued commitment to creating art and challenging the traditional portrayal of shows, be it gender bending the role of Pippin and Charlemagne (also a historical figure) in "Pippin" or offering ASL interpreted performances of shows. The quality of performances is at an all time high which is reflected in continued sold out shows and rave reviews from major publishers.

This is a loving and accepting environment that has overcome Covid, internet trolls, and literal nazis. So to find this hatred and lack of acceptance being spewed (yet again) is disheartening to say the least. As Cervantes himself put it, "The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude." So perhaps set aside your judgements, buy a ticket, enjoy the show, and stop tilting at windmills.

Mark Marshall

Portsmouth

Seacoast Rep patron

Close the loophole on disposable e-cigarettes

Jan. 26 — To the Editor:

Among the greatest threats to our children at this moment is happening on street corners in every community, including here in New Hampshire. Disposable e-cigarettes now flood the shelves of local convenience stores, and their prominence is all because of a loophole created by the Trump administration’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In 2020, Trump’s FDA banned flavored, cartridge-based Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) products.  The Trump administration wanted to combat youth e-cigarette use while simultaneously providing tobacco-free alternatives for adult smokers, something many of us would support. However, their omission of disposable e-cigarettes from their definition of “Cartridge-based ENDS products,” has caused a surge of youth use of these addictive items.

In any gas station or convenience store, odds are you have seen one of these products. Dozens of these disposable e-cigarettes line the shelves with bright packaging and come in various “fruity” flavors such as blue raspberry, mango, and pink lemonade. They are being sold at a cheaper price compared to other tobacco products, which in return, makes it easier for children to purchase these products. These disposable e-cigarettes manufacturers openly market in ways to children about how discreet the use could be including how unique and small they are, that they are easy to hide in your pocket, that they are noiseless, and you will not have the cigarette smoke smell on your clothes. A teenager would want this product because it is so easy to hide from adults. What is especially dangerous about these e-cigarettes, is that they often don’t need to be charged before, or after use. They are ready to use the second you purchase or even anytime during a school day, resulting in student disciplinary infractions including suspensions.

Disposable e-cigarettes are often imported from other nations with subpar regulatory climates including China. Some of these products have as much nicotine in a single disposable e-cigarette as an entire pack of traditional tobacco cigarettes and there have also been reports that some of these disposable e-cigarettes are being laced with deadly drugs, such as fentanyl.

All of this has resulted in a 2188% increase in youth usage of disposable e-cigarettes. That’s a frightening statistic for parents across our country.

Thankfully, President Joe Biden, alongside encouragement from our New Hampshire congressional delegation, can help close the loophole and prevent childhood use of e-cigarettes. President Biden can simply direct the FDA to update their guidance to include these “disposable ENDS products” that are littering our shelves and poising our children. They can also make enforcement of this a priority and ensure that it applies to synthetic nicotine as well.

I hope President Biden, and New Hampshire’s congressional delegation, can successfully have the FDA close the Trump loophole on disposable e-cigarettes that will protect our children and end long-term addiction to tobacco products. The health of our country’s future is at stake.

Dana Hilliard

Mayor, city of Somersworth

Sick of hearing about George Santos and Donald Trump

Jan. 26 — To the Editor:

Is anyone else sick of the amount of "news coverage" two iconic liars and cheaters receive daily?  Why do George Santos and Donald Trump capture constant media attention?

It seems Americans are fascinated by individuals who traffic in lies and fraud. The click-culture glamorizes pathological narcissism.  Think for a minute what history reveals about the danger of elevating persons whose defining purpose is self-promotion.  Imagine what might change if the media elevated leaders who are models of public service.  As a grandmother and a news junkie, I fear for our country if there is not a course correction soon in what and who gets covered daily in our media-saturated environment.

Ronna Flaschner

Rye

Societies thrive where wealth is more evenly distributed

Jan. 26 — To the Editor:

Great letter by Anthony McManus this morning (Jan. 26). Allow me to add some real life examples of what happens when income inequality gets out of hand. The French Revolution and the Chinese Revolution, The Jacquerie of the 14^th Century and many other peasant uprisings throughout history.

Did anyone catch the "First Civilizations" shows on public TV? I have. The earliest settled cities on Earth were in southern Turkey with the dawn of agriculture. This eventually led to an elite ruling class, exceedingly poor health among the commoners (as evidenced by the bones unearthed) and archeological evidence showing that they were eventually overthrown by an uprising of the poor.

The first successful civilization of Eurasia was at Ur, where the leaders ruled in a manner in which they realized that their own best interests were served by a population that also benefited from the system. Another early success story was in the Indus Valley where the basis of the flourishing economy was trade with India and peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. They had a planned city layout with sewage disposal for every home, (health care?) no evidence of major palaces or religious institutions (separation of church and state?). Unfortunately for them, they were done in by a two century long drought. (Climate change?) Sound familiar?

Jeffrey Cooper

Portsmouth

We have to fight back against the greed of Big Oil

Jan. 26 — To the Editor:

Granite Staters know the importance of keeping our air clean. Unfortunately, many big oil and gas companies don’t take the health of our planet and our communities into account in their actions. Through rising gas prices and increasing pollution, Big Oil executives have done all they can to continue to inflate profits at the expense of citizens everywhere. We have to fight back against the greed of Big Oil, which we know hurts the Earth and the people on it.

We have a chance to do just that with the EPA’s proposed rule to cut methane pollution. This rule would work to cut methane and other pollutants from new and existing oil and gas operations. Methane has been proven to be an exceptionally harmful greenhouse gas. It is well-documented that reducing methane emissions is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most effective ways to slow the progression of climate change. This rule will be a huge step in reducing pollutants in our air, as well as having an impact on climate change as a whole. Most importantly, this can all be done for pennies on the dollar. Don’t let Big Oil convince you that life-saving, and planet-saving, measures such as this will dig into their already grossly inflated profits.

To get this rule passed, we need to ensure that our government agencies are hearing from the people. The EPA’s proposed methane reduction rule is currently under review. I ask you to take a few moments out of your day and make your voice heard, and encourage action to address the climate crisis. The public comment period is open until February 13th. To leave a comment of your support, and for more information, visit this website and click the comment button: https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317-1460

Katie Patten

Portsmouth

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Excited for Seacoast Rep NH performance of 'Man of La Mancha': Letters