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October 12
When a Life photographer captured a herring harvest
Seining off Vinalhaven in 1957
Seining for herring—known in the seafood market as sardines—was a common sight on the Maine coast in 1957, but there is nothing common about the accompanying photograph. It is the work of a photographic master as evidenced in its composition and timing. Looking at the image below, you’re met with the gaze of a fisherman holding onto a seine net.…
October 12
Mapping MDI’s climate future
Island remaking itself, hopefully for the better
Reflections is written by Island Institute Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working…
October 12
My chat with God
In which ‘they’ clarify gender matters
I acknowledge comfortably, eagerly in fact, that I’m very close to a couple who have a transgender child. There was no question, at birth, of course, about whether the child…
October 12
Take it or leave it
Don’t call it trash just yet
On Aug. 2 on Great Cranberry Island, the Ladies Aid Society held its 122nd annual fair. It featured, among other things, lunch, crafts, clothing, cookbooks, a garden table, face painting,…
October 12
The pursuit of perfection
Superlative seeking warps our world
How has civilization ever coped without lists of “the best” of everything and detailed explanations of “the perfect way” to do anything? I recently read a headline declaring something like,…
October 12
In praise of pruning
Cutting and shaping a deep-rooted pleasure
In the summer, with my days suddenly unstructured, I become an inveterate putterer. No shelf is left unorganized, no drawer unpurged. The yard gets the most attention. At some point…
October 4
Tiny copepod plays outsized role
Fatty make-up makes it food for right whale
The world’s oceans are teeming with plankton, microscopic life that move where the currents take them. Among the plankton are algal cells called phytoplankton and single-celled and multicellular animals called…
October 3
Stonington launches resilience strategy
Workforce, housing, blue economy among issues
The Hancock County town of Stonington is launching an economic resiliency strategy to complement its 2018 comprehensive plan and to proactively respond to current and future challenges and changes impacting…
October 3
An island’s hold on family
Memoir finds Vinalhaven was home base
High Time TidePool Press (2023) As the state ferry approaches North Haven in the Fox Island Thorofare, my eye goes to the large, sprawling cottage-style mansions that line neighboring Vinalhaven’s…
October 3
Weeded needed in gardening book
Compilation of columns provides ‘cheerleading’
A Maine Garden Almanac: Seasonal Wisdom for Making the Most of Your Garden Space By Martha Fenn King, Down East Books (2023) There are a lot of books I end…
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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