A fishing boat heads out at dawn in December from Eastport.

Working Waterfront

In the depths of grief, kindness shines through

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. Tarah Waters works in Eastport creating an arts-based internship program for local students. Tarah Waters It… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

What happens after the centennial?

By Aimee Beal Church With some relatives in town this summer, my family and I swam at Echo Lake in Acadia National Park almost every day for a week. On a typical afternoon we’d stake out a little spot with our towels on the granite ledges at the bluffs, sharing… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Surprising facts about the ocean

By Heather Deese, Ph. D. Looking for that fascinating tidbit to liven up the VHF radio chatter or cocktail party conversation this summer? Here are four facts about the ocean—on scales from global to local—that might surprise you and will definitely wow most of your friends and neighbors. #1: Ice sheets exert… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Paris of the ’70s’: Portland emerges

This is the second of a three-part series recollecting the look and feel of Portland in the 1960s, '70s and '80s by a Maine writer who spent his youth there. In the 1970s, Portland grew up. That's one way, anyway, of describing the transition the whole city, and especially the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The triumph of the unpredictable

American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good By Colin Woodard New York: Viking, 2016 A humorous New Yorker magazine cover from mid-2015 depicts the then-Republican field of would-be presidents suiting up in a genteel locker room as Hillary Clinton looks in the window:… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Why the Island Institute offers 12-week paid parental leave

Nonprofit organizations like the Island Institute are not exempt from the pressures of the bottom line. In fact, we are just as mindful of budgets as for-profit businesses because we are funded by finite sources—grants and donations—and can't count on an uptick in sales to provide a cushion. But despite… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Town government: confidence or apathy?

The town of Vinalhaven’s administrative assistant, Barbara Philbrook, gave notice several months ago that she would be retiring this month. Until it was revealed that she’d only been working here for 46 years, most of us had assumed she’d been there forever, or at least since Vinalhaven gained its relative… SEE MORE

A runner crosses the finish line in Lubec.

Working Waterfront

The passport marathon

Four years ago, having just moved to my new home in Lubec, I went to work immediately on a vision I had nurtured for some time: Let’s stage a marathon here. Not just a modest marathon. An international marathon that would be spectacular. One that connects the adjoining communities of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

From Aunt Annie’s point of view

The house I live in was Adrianna Bunker’s home from roughly 1869 until the mid-1920s. For about 20 years she cooked in a small kitchen in the back half of what is now my living room. In 1889, her husband Emery modernized the house by connecting it with an ell… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tomalley and other lobster conundrums

Picture an illustrated paper placemat in any restaurant along the coast. The red and white directions for eating a steamed lobster are what pop into my mind. I’m pretty sure that lobster is the only Maine commodity that rates a placemat with instructions on how to break it up and… SEE MORE