Working Waterfront

Maine islands are the frontier

For those of you who track island life, you’ll likely know there are 15 year-round, unbridged islands along the Maine coast. Distinguished by their differences more than their commonalities, these islands span the coast from Cliff Island, the smallest of the Casco Bay islands, to Matinicus, the most distant island… SEE MORE

Diana Young’s "Boom Island," (2023) tempera, 16 by 20 inches. PHOTO: MICHAEL HALLAHAN

Working Waterfront

Diana Young’s Penobscot River view

In the half century Diana Young has lived in Bangor—she and husband Jim moved there in 1973—she has painted all over the Queen City, so many different scenes she should be declared painter laureate. Her views are always animated, full of a kind of motion that often compels one to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

When teens can say ‘I know Maine’

In 7th grade Gavin Bradstreet looked like a choir-boy angel with a moon-shaped face and round glasses, but looks were deceptive and the school found him “a handful.” Now he is on his way to college, with greater aspirations than he or his family could have imagined seven years ago.… SEE MORE

Strike at Bath Iron Works, July 1, 1985. PHOTO: GEN WILLMAN

Working Waterfront

Shipbuilding legacy strengthened by unions

Maine’s proficient, hardworking, and regionally low-paid laborers helped to secure a competitive edge in the shipbuilding industry of the 19th century, contributing to the state’s significance as a center of American shipbuilding and fleet ownership. Like many historic narratives, this shipbuilding prominence has often been examined through the lens of… SEE MORE

Lighthouse off Little Deer Isle. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Island Institute Fellows are explorers

Reflections is written by Island Institute Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Island Institute Fellows are adventurers and explorers by nature—they flock from all corners of the country seeking new experiences… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An island musical legacy

On a Tuesday evening earlier this summer, representatives of the Jeff Tolman Music Award, a 501(c)3, presented themselves at a select board meeting to make an unreasonable request: that they might close and be given free rein of the only—and very busy—town parking lot, from noon and through the evening,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

That pause between summer and fall

I’m at my laptop on a Tuesday, wracking my brain for a subject to write about. It is Bruce’s birthday. I promised to bake an orange cake with orange chocolate frosting and I’m starting to get anxious. I’m fully confident in my bread-baking capabilities, but cakes are not my forte.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The plant-based food masquerade

If it ever lived—moved, breathed, ate, drank, grew from within—it is probably plant-based. My house has a plant-based structure, filled with plant-based things to sit on, sleep on, dine and write at, and filled with plant-based creatures, humans and a cat, who are covered, as much as possible, with plant-based… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Alive in the time of herons

On an overcast August day, my teammates and I set off on a training swim down the Millstream. We were building up mileage ahead of our 5K fundraiser for LifeFlight of Maine, our fourth such venture in as many years. As we passed the waterfront house that serves as our… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Getting serious about the heat

The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet By Jeff Goodell, Little, Brown and Company (2023) Spare me, you're thinking. Please, not another book on climate change. Greenland’s last iceberg hasn't even calved, and already we're awash in Doomsday books about climate. Not one more.… SEE MORE