Working Waterfront

A hidden pond, an imagined friend

When she was a young girl and way longer than might have been advisable had someone known, Sophie imagined a companion. She’d seen Disney’s Peter Pan in 1956 and from that moment on for several years, shared her life with a miniature version of that elf, a little guy, a… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

That end of summer feeling

COVID caught up with a lot of people I know during the summer. Some of them for the first time. At the beginning of August, when an abundant summer was hitting its peak, I came down with a sore throat and headache. Two days later I tested positive for the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Summer in a jar

I’ve filled mason jars full; good use for small peaches whose skins slip off easily after being scalded and slide into a jar without argument. A light syrup of two parts water to one of sugar is all that’s needed. I usually leave one pit in the jar to intensify the peach flavor. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Heaven is other people

Another North Haven summer has come, and more or less gone. Most of our friends have departed for points south or west. All but a few boats at the Casino have been stored for the winter. At the time of writing, I am physically, if not emotionally, prepared to begin… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tom Moore, unleashed

Moore also broaches intimations of mortality, at times tongue in cheek, at others, not so. In “Going Back: Getting Lost in Heaven” he moves from describing a house he built—“I cut studs and toe-nailed them”—to the “terrible signage” he finds in heaven. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Inside an islander’s mind

One of the shorter poems, “Modern Man Is Monstrous, Let’s Not Forget,” begins: “Seems like any time I have a minute/to relax here goes somebody all dressed up/on TV talking about the end of time.” These ideas are in themselves quirkily disconnected. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Neighbors helping neighbors on islands

Twenty-five years ago, residents of Vinalhaven asked the Genesis Community Loan Fund for help. Without local options, their aging neighbors were often forced to leave the island for care in mainland facilities, separating them from their homes and families. Genesis support helped open the Ivan Calderwood Home in 2001, enabling… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

We asked, you answered

Earlier this year, Island Institute asked our readers for your thoughts and opinions about The Working Waterfront newspaper and the weekly online digest of Working Waterfront stories. As we consider ways to improve and expand our connections to those who share our deep commitment to the people and places that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Public, private don’t always play nicely

Imagine the reaction to a town renting out offices in a public library built through the beneficence of Andrew Carnegie a century ago. Or a John D. Rockefeller-donated carriage trail in Acadia National Park being turned into a for-profit go-cart track. It’s not quite as dramatic as all that, but… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Community at the heart of resilience plan

Our community resilience plan was created this way, with residents offering what they had to give, their knowledge of history and place, their ideas and visions, and what they valued. SEE MORE