Working Waterfront

Island lessons carry through teaching job

Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Maggie Small is a former Island Fellow who served on Peaks Island The dictionary definition of community… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Harpswell charter school tells digital stories

For students at Harpswell Coastal Academy, it’s all digital, all the time. From filming interviews with fishermen and their families, to editing and recording soundtracks, students at this public charter school use digital media technology to meet educational standards and capture stories in their community. The program was launched in… SEE MORE

Students line up to enter the Longfellow school on Great Cranberry Island. The school reopened on Sept. 1.

Working Waterfront

Community celebrates reopening of island school

If there were any doubt about the role schools play in island life, they were set to rest by the ceremony marking the reopening of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Elementary School on Great Cranberry Island. About 200 people from Great Cranberry and neighboring Islesford (Little Cranberry Island) showed up for… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Consumers willing to pay for sustainably harvested seafood

By Chase Brunton Maine consumers would be willing to pay more for food that is sustainably harvested and some may even be willing to spend extra for seafood harvested in Maine waters, according to a recent survey conducted by researchers in the University of Maine School of Economics. The issue,… SEE MORE

In front of the Libby building on Congress Square in the 1970s.

Working Waterfront

Portland in the ’80s: ‘Yuppie go home’

Early in 1977, another new restaurant opened in the Old Port. This one on Middle Street had a tongue-in-cheek sign: “Carbur’s: Since 1977.” A tradition going all the way back to this year! Hilarious! The Cumberland County Civic Center opened then, too, a shrewd public-finance deal. In 1979, the Portland… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The end of an era, the beginning of another

The end of this summer marks the end of an era. After five years, Bill Trevaskis is stepping down from the position of programs director at Waterman’s Community Center. Bill, who also happens to be my husband, moved with me to North Haven when we were callow 24-year-olds. We’d been… SEE MORE

Zach Field wows the crowd as he juggles and rides a unicycle.

Working Waterfront

Swan’s Island marks fifth anniversary of library

PHOTO STORY BY CANDIS JOYCE On July 30, the Swan’s Island Library hosted its Annual Island Bazaar while celebrating the fifh anniversary of the new library building. Artists, crafts people, good food and an auction, along with music by island musicians, created a festive atmosphere. One of the highlights of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islesboro’s Kelley honored with teacher of the year nomination

By Dora Thompson When Kristen Kelley got offered a housesitting job on Islesboro, she thought she’d have a brief island adventure with her two daughters, whom she was homeschooling in Hawaii at the time. They’d enjoy the Atlantic Ocean, experience the seasons and have a refreshing five-month vacation. Four-and-a-half years… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islesboro teacher honored with teacher of the year nomination

By Dora Thompson When Kristen Kelley got offered a housesitting job on Islesboro, she thought she’d have a brief island adventure with her two daughters, whom she was homeschooling in Hawaii at the time. They’d enjoy the Atlantic Ocean, experience the seasons and have a refreshing five-month vacation. Four-and-a-half years… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lifetime of cultural immersion prepared MacWilliam for island school

Rita MacWilliam came to the tiny one-room, K-8 schoolhouse on Isle au Haut from a life of immersion in new cultural experiences that included working in other tiny schools in out-of-the-way settings. This island’s new teacher, who mainly grew up in Ohio, started her career as a 19-year-old undergraduate in… SEE MORE