I spend a lot more time thinking about bulletin boards than the average person. My
background and training is as a teacher and I actually took a class in college in bulletin
board maintenance. I wish I could say that that course changed my life and has made me
profoundly aware of bulletin boards ever since. That, would be overstating the case
however. "Bulletin Boards 101" was one of those classes like algebra that mercifully
evaporated from my brain the day I left the classroom and has not taken up valuable brain
cells since.
No, it is as a writer that bulletin boards have become a central institution in my life. There
is no better way to tell at a glance what is going on in a community than to read its bulletin
boards. Bulletin boards do for small towns or neighborhoods what the internet is supposed
to do. They provide a forum for people to express themselves - all the people, not just
those with computers. If there is a lot of friction and disharmony in a community, that will
express itself on a bulletin board through announcements of protests, committee meetings
and petitions. If times are hard, a bulletin board will be full of notices from people selling
things off. If times are good, the notices will be from people seeking to buy or rent things.
And that is my theory - bulletin boards are a mirror of a community. What follows is a
highly subjective, UNsystematic, UNscientific survey of local bulletin boards testing that
theory. Do the bulletin boards in our town squares and general stores say something
profound about us?
Perhaps.
Alstead:
Alstead, New Hampshire has always seemed to me to be a very practical, pragmatic, "let's-
get-down-to-business" kind of place. If I ever wanted advice on how to sharpen a
chainsaw or install a septic system or plant a vegetable garden, Alstead would be the first
place I'd look. Even the name suggests a no-frills attitude - "Al"-stead, with it's sharp A,
like anyone's cigar-chomping Uncle Al.
The bulletin board outside the Alstead Village Store seems to bear this out. Almost all the
notices here are business-related. None of them are slick, mass-produced or glossy; they
are all simple, to-the-point and down-to-earth. Ads for excavating services share space
with ones for siding contractors, well-drilling firms and Tupperware representitives.
There's nothing obscure or mysterious about any of the notices - "I Found A Cocker
Spaniel" reads one flyer. "Free Kittens" says another. It's all very clear, unambiguous and
practical.
As is the case with most bulletin boards, this one is covered with business cards. The
names of these businesses are so simple and prosaic that they are almost poetic: Roy's
Welding, Steve's Logging, Dennis' Complete Lawn Care.
There are two small, subtle notes of whimsy on this bulletin board however. Tucked down
in a corner, away from all the other notices, there is a flier and a business card that quietly
defy the practical tone of the rest of the board. The flier offers a revolutionary way for
you - yes, you - to lose weight by eating cookies. The card is for a business that seems
somewhat out of place in a town like this - Karen's Amulets and Tarot Readings.
Walpole:
Though right down the road from Alstead, Walpole has a very different atmosphere.
There's quite a bit of Money in Walpole - both Old and New, but that isn't the big
difference. It's more philosophical than that. There is an attitude of connoisseurship there
- a sort of celebration of the finer things in life. If Alstead is where I'd go to find somebody
to dig a well, Walpole is where I'd go to find a good deal on an oriental rug.
"Antique Oriental Rugs!" announces a large notice on the bulletin board outside the
Walpole Post Office. "Vintage Telephones!" reads another one nearby. The businesses
advertised on this board have a certain flare and sophistication that you don't tend to see in
other towns. Business cards announce services that you couldn't imagine being of much
interest in any other town: Loraine Bramble - Seamstress, Jason Purdy - Illusionist, Bob
Julian - Writer/Author, Carpenter Family Geneology. And surprisingly, Karen's Amulets
and Tarot Readings ("Hmmmm... almost as if she KNEW I'd be reading this!")
Most of the board is taken up with public service announcements however - the summer
schedule for a local playhouse, a notice for a tour of local gardens to raise money for a
local charity, a poster anouncing a lecture on the dangers posed to the Connecticut River
by zebra mussels. As in Alstead, there is a lost pet notice here too, but this one features a
color photograph and lists the cat by name - Zachary. Perhaps the most moving notice is a
hand-drawn, picture done in crayon and posted near the very bottom of the bulletin board -
"Don't pollute," it reads, with a crudely drawn stick figure standing in a field of flowers.
"Be nice."
Keene:
"The business of America IS business," said Calvin Coolidge in 1925. He would have
loved Keene. If my theory about bulletin boards being a mirror of a community is correct,
what does a complete LACK of bulletin boards mean? I've never thought much about it,
but now that I am actually LOOKING for bulletin boards in Keene, they are proving to be
surprisingly elusive. There are a few public notice boards here and there throughout the
downtown area, but they are all glassed-in ones designated for official public
anouncements - not the sort of place where someone would try to sell a set of snow tires,
for example. Even the supermarkets and laundromats - normally the places you'd expect to
find the funkiest bulletin boards - are surprisingly sterile and official. It is only when I start
looking around inside various local business that I start finding real bulletin boards - ones
with notices from and to real people. Following my theory, President Coolidge might say
something like, "The Keene community IS the business community."
Two particular bulletin boards are expecially cool:
Brewbaker's Coffee Bar is geared toward a young, slightly hipper-than-average clientelle
and that's reflected on their bulletin board. A Keene State College summer movie schedule
shares space with a notice from a college student trying to sell an '87 Mitsubishi. A petition
against the proposed Keene Bypass almost covers a postcard from the Italian Alps ("Hi," it
says, in essence, on the back. "I'm in the Alps!"). The business cards reflect a much
different business culture than I've seen so far today: a Foot Reflexologist, for example
(whatever that is), City of Keene Youth Services, a couple of DJ Services, a Therapeutic
Reiki Massage Specialist, and (disconcertingly enough) Karen's Amulets and Tarot
Reading.
Karen is starting to scare me.
Next door at Turn It Up! Records, the bulletin board is almost painfully hip. There is the
predictable collection of concert announcements, but it is the notices from local business
subcultures that are really interesting. "Learn To Play Afro-Brazilian Drums and
Percussion," says one. "Band looking for Alternative Lead or Rhythm Guitars," reads
another (prompting the musically-impaired question from me - "Just what IS an Alternative
Lead?"). "Acting Classes in the Stanislavski Method" reads a third. Who knew there was
this kind of cultural diversity in Keene? The best ad however, is a full-sized poster which
intriguingly reads as follows: "SubStation Zero - Insomniacs Rejoyce (sic)! Saturday
Mornings: 2 AM - 2 PM. $5 Cover and Bottomless Coffee."
There is no explanation whatsoever as to what kind of business SubStation Zero might be.
Harrisville:
I save my favorite notice board till last. It is late in the day when I reach it and just starting
to rain.
Harrisville does not have a community bulletin board per-se. What it does have is a large
chalkboard located just outside the Post Office. The chalkboard isn't mounted on the wall
- it just sort of leans against it. There is no chalk provided; there is an unspoken
assumption that if you want to leave a message so badly, you'll care enough to bring your
own chalk. And that's one of the beauties of this notice board; it isn't censored in any
formal way - you're welcome to put up any message you want - but the messages are
almost all ones that somebody cares about. You can't just drive up, staple your business
card to it and drive away.
It is also more ephemeral than most community bulletin boards. This is driven home to me
as I stand in the rain, trying to read it. Water is running down the right-hand side of the
chalkboard and as it rains harder, the messages are quickly being erased. "Firewood for
Sale" reads one message with the telephone number almost completely expunged. "For
Sale," announces another, "Mercury Outboard Mo...". "4th of July Firew...," reads a
third. As I stand there, reading in the rain, a Community Supper and a Vacation House for
Rent slide away into obscurity. Suddenly, just before it is completely washed away, a
whisper of a word catches my eye.
I'm not positive, but I could almost swear it says, "Tarot".
