Working Waterfront

Celebrate Ashley Bryan by making art

No matter how you feel about Facebook, one thing the social networking site does well is to connect scattered friends in times of celebration and grief. On Feb. 5, less than 24 hours after his death, it did not feel to me that Ashley Bryan was gone. It seemed more… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

How anti-government sentiment was harnessed

At War with Government: How Conservatives Weaponized Distrust from Goldwater to Trump By Amy Fried and Douglas B. Harris; Columbia University Press University of Maine political science professor Amy Fried’s new book concerns a pattern in recent political history you may very well think quite familiar. At War with Government:… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Photographic proof of Portland’s hip rebirth

Take It Easy: Portland in the 1970s by John Duncan; Islandport Press Review by Dana Wilde Summers in the ’60s my father trundled from Cape Elizabeth to Portland to go to marine chandleries on the wharves. I remember Commercial Street being like something out of a badly filmed B movie.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A visit to Prock Marine with Lois Dodd, Jeff Epstein

The Rockland waterfront is a busy place, with all manner of marine activities happening all the time. Among its most venerable businesses is the Prock Marine Company on the northern end of the harbor. Founded in 1938 and incorporated in 1963, Prock Marine provides construction engineering services ranging from dredging… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A wonderful life begins close to home

Much of my political philosophy—maybe too much—springs from the 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life. Policy questions are more nuanced and complex than talking heads on cable news suggest, and this film might be dismissed by some, as its villain says, as “sentimental hogwash” and overly simplistic. I see the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Book introduces Maine to new neighbors

Dear Maine: The Trials and Triumphs of Maine’s 21st Century Immigrants By Morgan Rielly and Reza Jalali (Islandport Press) Review by Tina Cohen I’ve just read online that in 2021, and 2022 so far, Maine is the “whitest” state in America, at 93.2 percent. (Not far behind are Vermont at… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Stonington hosts ‘Jane’s Walk’ on Saturday, May 7

Stonington and community collaborators will host on "Jane’s Walk: Pier to Pier, a Walk Through Time, Fishing, Quarrying and Culture" on Saturday, May 7. The event gathers friends, neighbors, and visitors for a free, short, 90-minute guided walk which begins at 11:30 a.m. on Stonington’s Commercial Fish Pier and ends… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Native stories keep heritage alive

Stories Our Grandmothers Told Us Edited by Wayne Newell and Robert M. Leavitt Resolute Bear Press Review by Carl Little In his introduction to Kuhkomossonuk Akonutomuwinokot: Stories Our Grandmothers Told Us, Wayne Newell notes that the traditional Passamaquoddy stories he and Robert Leavitt collected “create a bridge between the knowledge… SEE MORE

Allen Island, with part of Benner Island visible at right. Monhegan Island is also visible at the top of the image. PHOTO: COURTESY COLBY COLLEGE

Working Waterfront

Colby takes over stewardship of Wyeth islands

Colby College in Waterville has become the new steward of two historic islands where renowned American artist Andrew Wyeth painted some of his greatest works, inspired and influenced by the landscape and architecture that were curated by his wife, Betsy Wyeth. Colby has taken ownership of Allen and Benner islands… SEE MORE

Detail from one of Nora Flanagan's quilts.

Working Waterfront

Cutting up and stitching the coast back together

Nora Flanagan renders the beauty of Maine’s cool blue coast in a warm and tactile form. Her applique quilts, born from scraps of fabric, are as evocative as any painting and, given the process by which they are created, rely on a kind of abstraction—scissor-sliced color swatches—that serves to represent… SEE MORE