Working Waterfront

Paul Doiron’s game warden heads north

One Last Lie By Paul Doiron, Minotaur Books The title “game warden” conjures images of men and women in forest-green fatigues with a mission to steward natural resources, which in Maine primarily means moose, bear, and deer, along with fish and fowl. Thanks to Paul Doiron’s Mike Bowditch mystery novel… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The beauty and wonder of seaweed, artfully rendered

The Curious World of Seaweed By Josie Iselin (2019) Just being told something seems curious makes you curious to know more about that, yes? And so Josie Iselin’s newest book, The Curious World of Seaweed, promises and delivers–probably more than you ever knew you’d enjoy knowing about seaweed. This is… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A new way to be alive, and live

A few months ago, my column focused on doing things differently, and having them still be good. Take out instead of dine in. Picnics instead of cocktail parties. Online events instead of in-person. I got some good mileage out of that attitude, but by the end of August, I was… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The pulsating kaleidoscope of Jill Hoy’s world

If we could see the Maine coast through Jill Hoy’s eyes, it might be like looking through a broken kaleidoscope. You’d still be able to make out the shapes of rock, tree, sea, headland, and boat, but their angular components would become saturated and vibrate with color. In a lively… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Children’s author brings worker rights champion to life

It was clothing and a tragedy that brought Jennifer Merz and Frances Perkins together. Merz, who recently retired to Phippsburg with her husband, is a collage artist and writer who has published three children’s books; the third, in September, is Steadfast: Frances Perkins, Champion of Workers’ Rights. Perkins (1880-1965) was… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

On the record with… Kaja Veilleux of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries

By the time Kaja Veilleux, owner of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, was 15 years old, he had already spent half his life tramping across Maine and Canada with his father and grandfather examining, assessing, buying, and reselling a wide variety of objects of varying value. But he’d never acted as… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Jane Crosen’s new, old Hancock County atlas

As far as I’m concerned, every map is a treasure map. In our first years in Maine, there were many Saturday mornings in which I’d pore over the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, scoping out a minor road that might offer views of a bay or ocean. Later, I collected hand-drawn maps of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An affectionate history of Maine

However dimmed, deferred, or deleted by the coronavirus, Maine’s bicentennial marches on. The milestone is providing an opportunity to claim pride and/or acknowledge failings in our history, to draw lessons from our past, to highlight the ups and downs and in-betweens. For journalist-historian Earl Brechlin, the 200th birthday is also… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Stonington small business ramps up ‘Owl’ production

In 2009, Stonington fine furniture maker Geoffrey Warner began carving a comfortable wooden stool for himself. It had two prominent holes that looked like eyes, making the seat look like an owl head. Warner called it the Owl Stool and commissioned a 2013 analysis by U.S. Ergonomics, which showed that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Patricia Smith Ranzoni’s ‘folk art’ poetry

Bucksport’s poet laureate has lived there nearly all her life. And from her corner of Maine, she’s also one of the state’s best-known poets, with a plaque recognizing her accomplishments set in a step of the University of Maine’s Fogler Library, and invitations to read and talk about her poetry… SEE MORE