By WAYNE KING, NH Secrets, Legends and Lore
If you saw a photograph of Dick Backus and you thought – “I think I know him!” it may be because you are of a certain age when you watched daytime soaps like Ryan’s Hope or went to see Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah Wilderness” at the Ogunquit Playhouse, or you even went to see “Butterflies are Free” on Broadway. These are just a few of the gems that Richard Backus, born, and still living, right here in New Hampshire, has to his credit.
Today, however, you are more likely to find him going door to door in his hometown of New Boston or one of the other towns in Hillsborough District 42 running for the NH Legislature.
This was not how Dick saw himself spending time in his golden years, but his deep concern for the loss of community among our citizens and our elected officials has drawn him into the fray. I caught up with Dick recently over Zoom and we chatted about running for the legislature, always with the thread of rebuilding community running through the discussion and how rebuilding impacts and is impacted by so many of the challenges we face in our lives. How do we rebuild a sense of community when our commitment to public education is under fire? How do we restore community when more than 50% of our population are denied bodily autonomy? These and other issues compelled Dick to do something he never expected to do, to run for public office.
Listen here: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/nh-secrets-legends/from-hollywood-to-holy-weird-F3Rr5uLIa69/
Wayne D. King
64 Monroe Rd., Bath, NH 03740
603-530-4460 Cell
waynedking9278@gmail.com
@wayne_d_king:Twitter
http://bit.ly/WayneDKing
Migrating soon to Anamaki.com
Podcasts
New Hampshire Secrets, Legends and Lore Chosen as NH Podcast of 2019 by NH Press Assoc.
*NEW!*
Mindscapes – Wayne King Fine Art
New Hampshire – A love story in images and words
*Sacred Trust, a Novel*
“The Monkey Wrench Gang Meets the Third Industrial Revolution”
The View from Rattlesnake Ridge
New England Newspaper & Press Assoc. award-winning column by Wayne King at InDepthNH.org, NH Center for Public Interest Journalism.
Join the mailing list to receive occasional news about upcoming events
and new images by Wayne.
Coming:
Common Sense for Our Times
Steady Hands and Open Hearts
Renewing the American Idea in the Post Trump Era