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October 12
A fresh look at Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
New biography, On Great Fields, digs into his Maine life
Having just been informed that a crowd of angry men was gathering, threatening to kill him, 52-year-old Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain buttoned his coat and strode to the rotunda of the capitol building in Augusta and dared those assembled to kill him. He was there to keep the peace and the honor of the state, he told those gathered. “I…
October 12
Raise a pint to remember David Geary
Homegrown brewer helped create today’s Portland
The death of David Geary earlier this summer invites consideration of his contribution to craft beer in Maine. To understand his influence, it’s helpful to remember how dire the American…
October 12
Stow Wengenroth: On the Eastport waterfront
New York artists find Downeasterly inspiration
In 1927, the Grand Central Art School started offering summer classes in Eastport. Founded in 1923 by painters John Singer Sargent, Walter Leighton Clark, and Edmund Greacan, the esteemed school…
October 12
Ocean color changes illuminate climate change
Greener waters indicate greater plankton growth
Our blue planet is becoming greener, which may indicate that climate change is reshaping surface ocean ecosystems, says a global study co-authored by a University of Maine oceanographer that was…
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…
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…
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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