Classroom bullies are familiar to students and teachers alike. For Margaret Milardo, an educator and author of a new novel, Brandi, both warranted further exploration. Throughout her extensive teaching career, Milardo encountered many student bullies, as well as other troubled adolescents who ran away from home or got into trouble. Once she got to know
Difficult duty: Recovering those who have been lost at sea
Closure can be hard to come by when a loved one dies at sea. Sometimes a boat is found the next day. Other times, the weather conditions make an immediate search impossible. Families sometimes must hold funeral services that can feel incomplete, and seafront communities create memorials to bring a sense of finality. In Maine,
Searsport’s Mack Point is pivot in Maine’s port strategy
SEARSPORT — In a large warehouse at the Mack Point port facility, hundreds of bags of seaweed the size of desks are stacked on pallets. The warehouse’s translucent roof gives off a soft, yellow light, which seems out of place in this setting. Paul Barrigan, who manages the Sprague portion of the Searsport shipping terminal,
‘Catatonk Blues’ now filming on Monhegan
MONHEGAN — Politics, lobstering and love drive the story being filmed on the island this fall. “Catatonk Blues” is an independent production of a script written by Bob Mrazek, a summer resident since 1984, and directed by Mrazek and Jared Martin, also a long-time summer resident. The film features actors Treat Williams (“Hair,” “Once Upon
Tales of Rocky and Nutkin
Ever wake up in the middle of the night from an anxiety dream worried that squirrels have gotten loose in your attic, and are gnawing so loudly you think they are inside your cranium? Welcome to Rodentia-land! Our summer began with the annual installation of not one, but two, birdfeeders—the traditional one in the backyard
America’s first ship is reimagined, recreated
BATH — Each day, volunteers recreating the pinnace Virginia walk in the shoes of the settlers, but they dream of the day they will sail in their wake. Along the Kennebec River, the 51-foot ship is taking shape, as 23 rib-like frames soar toward the roof of the boat shed. Volunteers look like Jonah inside
The Forts of Maine–Silent Sentinels of the Pine Tree State
After lobster (and maybe L.L. Bean), the icon most associated with the coast of Maine is the lighthouse. There have been scores and scores of books, paintings, photographs and trinkets devoted to these towers that dot the coast, rising up above the low-slung Cape Cod houses that characterize the man-made landscape. Lighthouses speak to our
A late summer Saturday on Vinalhaven
It was cloudy on the mainland, but by mid-morning, the sun ruled the day on the island. The sky periodically had that dark, dramatic, brooding look, with slate-gray clouds sliding along the horizon, only to disappear out to sea. By midday, temperatures climbed over 70 degrees, but there was no denying it—summer’s days are numbered.
What happens when land conservation meets community economy
Along this coast, each rock and tree leans defiantly into wind and waves that threaten change. Reflecting on this process, a good friend once poetically noted that Maine’s coast and islands resemble “a natural embattlement, protecting the coast from the ravages of development.” We agreed that change was a more deliberate, rooted process here, and
Birdland and the bird man of the Bronx
We relate to birds on a deeply instinctual level because, like us, birds communicate vocally and visually mostly during daylight hours, unless you are a nightingale. Other mammals mainly communicate through their sense of smell, usually at night. Imagine leaving your calling card on a bush from one of your scent glands as a