Author

Dana Wormald

Dana Wormald

Dana Wormald, a lifelong resident of New Hampshire, has been a newspaper editor for more than 25 years. He began his career on the Concord Monitor’s news desk in 1995 and later spent more than a decade at the New Hampshire Union Leader. In 2014, he returned to the Monitor to serve as opinion editor, a position he held until being named editor of the Bulletin.

COMMENTARY
A wall with two paintings and a thermostat

Editor’s Notebook: What, me worry?

By: - January 26, 2022

The furnace stopped working on Sunday morning. Instead of the house slowly warming as we sipped coffee, it grew steadily colder.  “Why am I freezing this morning?” my wife asked as I swallowed the last of the second cup. “Because it’s cold out,” I said with a shrug. I was tired and had no interest […]

COMMENTARY
A ground-level view of a snowbank

Editor’s Notebook: Heavy lifting at the end of the driveway

By: - January 19, 2022

I spent most of Monday morning clearing snow from the driveway. As much as I don’t want that to be read as a complaint, the truth is I don’t much care for shoveling and have nothing to gain by claiming otherwise. Granted, there’s some instant gratification to be had. Like a mowed lawn, a driveway […]

COMMENTARY
The Warner River in winter

Editor’s Notebook: A chill in January

By: - January 12, 2022

The weather app reported a temperature of zero degrees early Tuesday morning, and I took it at its word.  There’s probably somebody in town with a thermometer on the sunny side of their barn who could dispute the data – who could offer proof that zero was an exaggeration or an outright lie and that […]

COMMENTARY
A book and cup of tea on a small table with a plant and a lamp

Editor’s Notebook: The ultimate New Year’s resolution

By: - January 5, 2022

I wrote the headline for this notebook entry before I started writing the essay. What’s more, I wrote it without having any idea what the resolution is or what would make it “ultimate.” It’s the kind of thing a desperate writer does in the foggy wake of a long holiday. Guy Clark said, “Some days […]

COMMENTARY
Annmarie Timmins, Amanda Gokee, and Ethan Dewitt sit in an office

Editor’s Notebook: What a year, what a staff, what a state

By: - December 15, 2021

In most ways, getting older kind of stinks. If I don’t stretch daily, I risk injury while performing such strenuous tasks as brushing my teeth or leaning forward to pick up my phone from the coffee table. It takes all of my self restraint to not do the “slow down” gesture at vehicles I believe […]

COMMENTARY
A chalkboard in a home kitchen with the week's menu

Editor’s Notebook: The winter solstice

By: - December 8, 2021

There’s an old fireplace in our kitchen that’s no longer functional. During a remodel sometime in the early 2000s, somebody decided they didn’t want it anymore – or maybe it needed more work than they were willing to do or pay for – and so they blocked it off. But to their credit, they recognized […]

COMMENTARY
Bare tree branches against a blue sky

Editor’s Notebook: Looking skyward, waiting for the wind

By: - December 1, 2021

“Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t explain anything. I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle – a missing piece.” – Jerry Thompson (played by William Alland), “Citizen Kane,” 1941. IT IS 1978 […]

COMMENTARY
Books on a window sill next to a plant, with a brick building in the background

Editor’s Notebook: The barn anthologies

By: - November 16, 2021

I awoke Monday morning to a New Hampshire wrapped in misty November gray, and so I thought I’d do a little catching up with Nathaniel Hawthorne – a misty November gray kind of guy. But he was nowhere to be found. Like a lot of his contemporaries, Hawthorne resides in my barn. The lucky ones […]

COMMENTARY
A crowded street at night in Boston

Editor’s Notebook: The things we carry

By: - November 10, 2021

On Friday, I returned to Boston for the first time since the virus changed everything. There were seven of us in all, including three teenagers headed for a concert on Tremont Street and four adults with plans for a long walk and a quiet dinner.  We took leave of the girls once they were safely […]

COMMENTARY

Editor’s Notebook: ‘Boy With Improbable Ducks’

By: - November 3, 2021

For the first two decades of my journalism career, I worked nights in the large open space for copy editors and reporters known as the “bullpen.” Not only was it a lot of fun, it’s where I learned how to be a journalist in practice rather than theory. I paid close attention to how reporters […]

COMMENTARY
A tree-lined paved road leading toward sunshine

Editor’s Notebook: A weather report in mid-fall

By: - October 27, 2021

Robert Frost tried to warn us about falling into the trap, but we’re just a couple of suckers. “Nothing gold can stay,” he said, but there we were on Sunday afternoon, casually drinking up the sunshine from red camp chairs as if we hadn’t already arrived at the archway to endless gray. I’ve lived in […]

COMMENTARY
Guy Clark

Editor’s Notebook: Guy Clark Magical Music Hour

By: - October 19, 2021

My older daughter was born six weeks early, arriving on her mom and dad’s first anniversary. And long before she announced her impending arrival in the middle of a quiet celebratory dinner at The Common Man in Concord, I had already started planning her musical education. I would never be able to teach her how […]