sidewalk spots offer students and staff more than just cream and sugar

As the winter chill sets in across campus, students and faculty are forced to endure early morning walks along Academic Way. One staple stands out in the freezing cold: hooded students and faculty who impetuously line up every morning for something at Ramon’s coffee stop.

Ramon’s and Higher Grounds are two distinct small businesses in Durham that have found success appealing to the campus community for years. The carts, as well as their dedicated owners, provide a broad range of snacks, sandwiches and beverages both hot and cold, year-round.

Having a loyal consumer base for so long, the owners of both Ramon’s and Higher Grounds have established lasting relationships on campus and have had the opportunity to enjoy the variety of people who inhabit the busy sidewalks day in and day out.

Ramon Valdez, owner and operator of the shop that bears his name, has been in Durham since 2001. He originally started working at the cart “It’s a Wrap,” but after the owner decided to close, he bought his own cart, expanded the menu and has been serving the community ever since. Along with his wife of five years, Kristen Valdez, he arrives at daybreak to provide for students with early classes along Academic Way.

“We love this street. It’s hoppin’,” said Kristen Valdez.

Ramon’s has a wide variety of drink options, from their original Mocha Java to an assortment of different iced and regular coffees. The cart sells everything from breakfast sandwiches to chicken salad and has received good feedback for its “Spanish food Wednesdays.”

Anyone who’s walked around the UNH campus knows how dynamic and vast the landscape can be. Luckily for every pedestrian trudging along outside the library, there is Higher Grounds, a campus landmark that has been owned and operated by Vinny Cirasole for over 14 years.

Regarded to by many as “the cappuccino man,” Cirasole is well known to students and faculty for his passionate and energetic service. He started in the coffee business in North Conway before coming to Durham where he ran a moderate-sized cart in the same location before sizing up to a newer, larger-scaled cart four years ago.

“I’ve grown with the business and sharpened the whole thing,” said Cirasole. “Business is business. It’s about the relationships and providing more than just coffee.”

Coincidentally, both owners grew up in Queens, N.Y. Vinny was originally from Bayside and Ramon from Corona, only a few neighborhoods apart.

“Whenever someone comes here looking for a latte, we point them in Vinny’s direction,” said Ramon Valdez.

Judging by the lines outside both carts in between classes, there’s plenty of business to go around. Both places have adapted to their environments and plan to remain on campus for years to come, unless something unexpected happens.

“If I hit the Megabucks, I’d leave it to the business program for the students,” said Ramon Valdez.

alumnus returns to Durham to talk about veterans in her new book

For her first book, Meg Heckmen sat down with World War II veterans and asked questions about their wartime experiences. She asked the simplest questions and heard the hardest answers about those years of uncertainty.

On Nov. 18, Heckmen and Mike Pride, a retired editor of the Concord Monitor, spoke in the Memorial Union Building about their book, “We Went to War: New Hampshire Remembers,” a collection of stories from New Hampshire men and women who lived through World War II. The project idea came about when Pride tried to retell his father’s war experience in the Pacific. Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s took away his father’s memories.

“I missed the opportunity to record my own father’s story and that hurt,” Pride told the audience in MUB Theater II.

The missed opportunity led Pride to dedicate his last year at the Monitor to collecting the stories of other veterans. At the time, Heckmen was covering the aging and elder care beat for the Monitor, which put her in a unique position to develop a rapport with the older generation.

“(Pride) was just so excited and so passionate about it,” said Heckmen. “It just seemed like a really good year. And I just really loved the idea of having this wonderful excuse to sit down and be like, ‘Tell me about your life.’”

About a year and a half ago, Heckmen and Pride co-wrote a column for the Sunday paper asking for veterans’ stories.

“I got into work that Monday morning and I think I had 14 messages,” said Heckmen. “I usually have two over the weekend. I had 14 messages on my voicemail.”

With the high volume of responses, Pride and Heckmen knew early on that what started as a print series would soon become a book collection.

“My whole career is pretty much by accident,” said Heckmen, who got her undergraduate degree from UNH. “For me, it was a lot of talking across distances, trying to find connections.”

The presentation touched upon the reality of the aging veterans and the final moments were dedicated to the memories of some of those who recently passed away.

Three of the veterans from the book were present to address the audience. Reverend Robert Wood, who currently resides in Havenwood-Heritage Heights Retirement Community in Concord, served as an infantryman and was seriously wounded at the battle on Monte Casino.

“I took a bullet right here, between my dog tags,” said Wood, gesturing toward his chest. He spoke with detachment about his life on the front line. “When my buddy died, the first thing we did was check his canteen, hoping he still had some water.”
The project had a very personal effect on Heckmen. “It gave me a lot of faith in the profession (of journalism),” she said. “It reminded me of the power of a good, high quality community newspaper. The mission is still good. Stuff like this is proof.”