Melanie Plenda is a freelance reporter in New Hampshire whose work has appeared in The Atlantic.com, The Boston Globe Magazine, The New Republic and Salon.com as well as many other outlets.

‘Epic’ Adventures

Party company FinnaRage, which encourages young partiers to go wild and then films it all, promoted its Keene State events relentlessly. But it says the ensuing riots aren’t its fault.

Pumpkin Madness

Tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and SWAT teams were hard pressed to contain the rioters who seemed to delight in destruction at the Keene, N.H., Pumpkin Festival.