Forgive Matinicus schoolteacher Heather Wells for wanting to keep her students working with digital cameras. She finds them adorable when they snap photos. “The cutest thing in the world is watching a bunch of little kids with cameras because they look like paparazzi,” Wells said. Cuteness aside, Wells has spent much of her time in
With help from many, Swan’s Island ready to rebuild library
In July of 2008 the Swan’s Island library was completely destroyed in a devastating fire. Islanders have been working since then to raise money to rebuild the library, with the help of many people and organizations. Recently they had reason to celebrate with the April announcement that the Swan’s Island Education Society has been awarded
Support needed for expanded red tide program
This year is already shaping up to be one of the worst red tide seasons in recent memory. The first red tide closure started March 24, the earliest on record. The impact red tide will have on the shellfish industry this year could be huge. However, a state program is in place to allow for
Peaks summer camps launch joint marketing campaign
Someone once told me that to truly belong to a community, you must help the community meet its needs while you reap the benefits and joys of belonging to it. This certainly applies to island communities. We know the joys: neighbors who support each other, children who thrive under the watchful eyes of all of
Internet access grant seeks to help fishermen, farmers and nurses
Local newspaper anchors the community
Robert Anderson, a man of the sea, stands with feet wide apart, like he’s balancing on swells. The whiteboard in his office reads “fiddleheads, seals, license plates.” Those are ideas, he explains. Perhaps they’ll inspire stories beyond the town news he regularly publishes. The Cundy’s Harbor native has put out the Harpswell Anchor, a monthly
Journal of an Island Kitchen: The squash soup variations
April was, and the first part of May will be, marked by the consumption of the last two winter squashes. Then the asparagus and rhubarb takes over. This year our best keepers are scarlet kabochas, with bright orange skins and flesh. They stored beautifully, keeping solid long after the buttercups and butternuts got age spots
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America
New York: Vintage Books, 2005 Soft cover, $15.95 Lost and found Sometimes things get lost. Take the 12,000 pages of detailed records left behind by the Dutch when they turned their Manhattan colony (modern-day New York City) over to the British in 1664. Like similar records in, say, some Maine town office, the papers sat
Parallel 44: Resisting democracy
One of America’s less pleasant political traditions has been the effort to ensure ordinary people don’t get too much say in the process. Among the Founding Fathers there was little disagreement over the desirability of keeping the elite in control, which is why most states forbid poor people to vote, persons of modest means from
Eastport Boat School is “alive and well–and thriving”
The Boat School in Eastport is alive and well-and thriving. We’re on a great growth curve,” says Dean Pike, adjunct faculty member, former senior boatbuilding instructor, and current clerk of the Friends of The Boat School. Indeed, the school has come some distance from the time when Pike and Bret Blanchard were the entire teaching