Working Waterfront

Island provides an antidote for anxiety

Man, oh, man, am I glad to see the end of April. It’s my least favorite month on the island, but this time around the fourth month really kicked me hard in my spirit. What a challenge. It was rainy and cold and just plain dreary. It seems we never… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

I don’t know what to write about

I don’t know what to write about. I’ve sat down to write my column several times this week and have wandered outside instead. But the deadline looms, so write I must. Some of the things I’ve considered spending time and column inches on feel too big: • How it feels,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Estela and the pears

Sometime close to Christmas 2024, Estela Rodriguez packed a dozen truly wonderful pears in a carefully padded box which were ordered as a Christmas gift sent to me from Harry and David’s in Medford, Oregon by my dear friend Nan. The pears flew (I assume) across the continent to an… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island quarry swimming as art

This book includes a quick nod to quarry history, with pictures of some quarrying era artifacts illustrating the once-industrial setting, when rock was removed to be used primarily as building material. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Sydney Lea deals with demons

George does most of the narrating, but Lea lets other characters take a chapter here and there to add perspective on the story. Among the most striking: the soliloquy of the man who murdered his parents and a short letter written from Vietnam by his friends Evan and Mattie’s son Tommy. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island as banishment, not retreat

So the questions driving the plot are: What are the kids doing there? Is Grunewald an enemy or a friend? Are the island overseers benefactors or manipulators? Either way, to what purpose? SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Historical novel unveils Native life

The Berry Pickers By Amanda Peters (Catapault, 2023) Amanda Peters has Mi’kmaq and settler ancestry and lives in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. She was winner in 2021 of an Indigenous Voices Award. The Berry Pickers was her first published book (2023), with a book of short stories just… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Alcohol and fishing don’t have to be partners

Fishermen have long been stereotyped as heavy drinkers, a perception reinforced in media, pop culture, and even within their own communities. This assumption creates a damaging cycle. When people expect fishermen to drink, it normalizes excessive alcohol use... SEE MORE

A view of the shore of Peaks Island. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Smart housing: focus on density and character

The state faces a decision—how can we maintain the character of non-urban life while encouraging the building necessary to house the working- and middle-class people struggling to find consistent housing? SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A better way to do highway commerce

It was a sad, maybe even pathetic sight, but it caught my eye. I was driving through the busy commercial strip on Route 3, just west of Route 1 in Belfast, and I saw an excavator, its arm resting in a partially demolished building. It took me a moment, but… SEE MORE