Articles
It’s OK not to know what’s next
I’ve never been comfortable without a plan. I live for to-do lists and enjoy crossing things off one by one. My Google Calendar is updated meticulously; I lay out my workdays by the hour. My fellowship with the Island Institute and AmeriCorps will not end until this August, but I have already started networking and
Small (island) town talk–separating truth from fiction
I had a fairly difficult time keeping things straight when I moved to Isle au Haut. I felt like every man I met was named Bill. I couldn’t get a grasp on some of the family histories (as the joke goes: we don’t have a family tree on the island, it’s a family wreath). But the
Looking down on islands magnifies their meaning
I spent the majority of my academic career examining large-scale concepts and ideas through micro-level controlled experiments. Having to arrive at an answer for a question you’ve posed about an overarching theoretical concept is very daunting. You have to start small. It’s through specific experiments that you can begin seeing the larger picture. Upon moving
It’s OK to depend on the kindness of neighbors
Even as a young kid, I was skeptical of Disney movies. Sure, I loved dressing up in princess costumes with my cousins. I was sure that one day I would have a library as magnificent as the one in Beauty and the Beast. I had no problem believing that animals could talk or that my toys
Surviving winter on island not so different than mainland
There are a handful of questions people always ask when they find out I live and work on Isle au Haut. I’m so used to answering the same things over and over that I can usually preempt people’s questions with what I know they want to hear: There are four boys in our one-room schoolhouse,
Role-playing, and playing, and playing…
As anyone out here will tell you, islanders wear many hats. Isle au Haut’s first selectman also teaches physical education, works at the island general store and does various other jobs around town. The school’s ed tech also works at Black Dinah Chocolatiers and serves as the town’s tax collector. It’s a fact of life.
Captain kindness
The relationship between Isle au Haut residents and the Isle au Haut Boat Company is a special one. I’m sure those on other islands feel a similar affinity for their boat captains, but after a year and a half on Isle au Haut I’m probably a little biased. Unlike many of the larger islands, there
No luxury of anonymity on an island… and that’s a good thing
Graduate school was a very stressful experience for me and I developed a few coping mechanisms: eating lots of brownies and taking walks. And while typically I would stroll through the local city forest, there were other times when it helped to walk through the mall (or some other crowded place) and be surrounded by
Clarity comes in thinking out loud
Sometimes the things I say surprise me. It’s as if I don’t know how I truly feel about something until I have “word vomited” everything else out of my head. I will talk and talk about how I think I feel and sometimes, if I’m lucky, a bit of truth eventually falls out. And when
A fondness for an albino deer
I remember two things from my sophomore year English class—how my teacher would take off his shoes and teach in his rainbow colored toe socks, and the unit on Romeo and Juliet. While I never understood how toe socks could be comfortable, I did enjoy quoting Shakespeare when appropriate in my everyday life. (Yes, I’m