Articles

New Mainers: Portraits of Our Immigrant Neighbors

Tilbury House, 2009 Paperback, $20 For immigrants, a rebirth in Maine Echoing Hippocrates and Aretaeus (ancient Greek physicians) about the importance of a positive environment on one’s thoughts, emotions and actions, Winifred Gallagher, in her provocative book, The Power of Place, writes: “Burdened with increasingly complex social roles, we need places that support rather than

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Maine Street: Faces and Stories From a Small Town

Down East Books, 2009 Hardcover, 112 pages ($24.95) Hidden lives are everywhere  “Some subjects come to me as gifts,” said Patrisha McLean. Moving to Camden 18 years ago, after always living in big cities, she began a newspaper column “Patrisha’s People,” brief bios and photo portraits “to celebrate the extraordinary people I feel privileged to

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North By Northeast: Wabanaki, Akwesasne, Mohawk, and Tuscarora Traditional Arts

Tilbury House, 2008 Softcover, 120 pages, $20 Native American artists continue their culture through crafts “Traditional teachings, stories, songs, symbols, language-all these shared understandings-tell us who we are as Haudenosaunee (People Building a House),” writes Folklorist Kathleen Mundell in her new book. Mundell has been gathering material for this book for 15 years. Native American

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What’s in a picture? Uncovering the hidden stories in Vintage Maine photographs

 Down East Books, 2008 Softcover, 112 pages, 50 photos, $14.95 Unlocking the secrets hidden in historic photos I was 19, watching them for the umpteenth-early-Sunday morning, this time with camera in hand. Two longtime friends sitting in our shore-to-ship dinghy (The Tender Behind, as all our dinghies were named) in obvious debating attitude, smiling, each

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Otherworldly Maine

Don’t turn out the lights Otherworldliness writing is not my usual choice of genre, and yet I found myself unable to put Noreen Doyle’s collected stories aside, or go to sleep, reading it through one entire night. “Turn off the light,” a friend said, calling at some very late hour. She forgot. I never turn

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