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October 25
Learning to give as a family lesson
Weighing competing donation requests is a teachable moment
When I was young, my experience of giving was watching the circular bottom of a wicker basket as it passed above my forehead, hand to hand, down the aisle at church. A few years back I became interested in figuring out how to engage my children in discussing giving, based on the issues we care about. I had been hearing…
October 25
Mainer roots teased out in 'Salt in Their Veins'
Book gathers interviews with 35 coastal residents
Salt in Their Veins: Conversations with coastal Mainers (As told to Charlie Wing… published by Charlie Wing Books, 2016) Before Salt in Their Veins, Charlie Wing was already a published…
October 25
Oil that doesn’t float: Tar sands oil shipped through Gulf of Maine poses threat
It’s hard to imagine a heavy tar sands oil spill in the Gulf of Maine. Not just because of the vastness of the open ocean and our dependence on clean…
October 25
Postcards from paradise… or Eden
Earl Brechin's latest book offers some never-before-seen images
Forever Yours, Bar Harbor: Historic Postcard Images of Mount Desert Island and Acadia Islandport Press, Yarmouth, Maine. Softbound, $14.95 Earl Brechlin The study and collecting of postcards is called deltiology,…
October 25
Taking back the cellar
Late 1700s journal records familiar advantages, challenges of below-grade storage
Just about once a year, often in the fall, Martha Ballard, the midwife who lived in Augusta in the late 1700s and early 1800s, cleaned her “sellar.” I do, too,…
October 25
Vinalhaven print artist’s work featured at Farnsworth
Chris Clarke operates Engine House Press on island
Vinalhaven artist Chris Clarke is having a fabulous year. Clarke was recently approached by the Farnsworth Art Museum to loan two of his pieces for its current exhibit, "The Art…
October 24
Bar Harbor ponders second cruise ship terminal
Port authority to lease former Nova Scotia ferry site
People in Bar Harbor are in the grip of a fundamental tension. The downtown and waterfront are swarmed by visitors arriving by land and cruise ship every year. Crowds spill…
October 24
Coastal access: ‘Interests in tension’
Recent court cases suggest ‘continuous use’ argument weakening
Maine’s 5,400-mile coastline is one of its most valuable assets. It creates a living for fishermen, a powerful draw for tourists and a quality of life that is possible in…
October 24
E.B. White was indeed ‘Some Writer’
Children’s author, illustrator brings noted writer to life for island students
E.B. White was a writer’s writer. He wrote poetry, columns for magazines like The New Yorker and Harper’s—essays, really, and in a style that remains in vogue 70 years later—and,…
October 24
It’s time to share our little secret
Coastal towns should work to extend tourist season to fall
Ask Mainers about their favorite season, and most would probably say it’s autumn. One of the reasons for that choice, some might say, is that most of the tourists have…
Island Postcards
EPISODE 10: Keep the Light Shining
Two ambitious young women swam around the entire Island of Isle au Haut during the summer of 2019 to raise money for crucial renovations to the lighthouse.
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