Working Waterfront

Noblesse oblige, Maine style

About 15 years ago, I had a most pleasant conversation with Linda Bean. I was covering the Maine Fishermen’s Forum for the Bangor Daily News and found myself sitting next to her at a session which had participants gathered in a circle. A fellow journalist had recently told me something… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Pathways to possibility

In the past ten years, we’ve invested over $1.2 million in education and career development. More than half of these funds have gone to our Mentoring, Access, and Persistence (MAP) scholarship. SEE MORE

“Flaking the Purse Seine,” circa 1940, by Emily Muir (1904-2003), watercolor on paper, 16 1/2 x 23 inches. PHOTO: COURTESY OF BARRIDOFF AUCTIONS

Working Waterfront

Emily Muir and the seiners

In addition to being a painter, Muir was a self-taught architect and designer, as well as an author, lecturer, and conservationist. SEE MORE

The Jacob Pike underway. PHOTO: PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM

Working Waterfront

The Jacob Pike, a victim of January’s storms

In 2022, The Penobscot Marine Museum acquired a collection of several thousand Jim Moore’s maritime-related negatives SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Readers: Community building, ‘important work,’ and delightful travelogue

Important work To the Editor: I just read Kim Hamilton's “From the Sea Up” column in the April issue of The Working Waterfront, “The storm damage we cannot see.” It was excellent. As a psychiatrist, I’m so glad you’re noting the psychological impact of these terrible coastal storms and encouraging… SEE MORE

Vinalhaven's downtown as seen from the water. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

When high standards can stand in the way

Recently, I wrote an incorrect answer to a question in front of a group of students. We were learning how to work with variable lists in Javascript and how the rules we established for variables still applied... SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Unhealthy progression: algae, bacteria, and hypoxia

Fishermen love their coffee, but they don’t want the ocean to look like it! Last summer, that is just what the ocean looked like across the Gulf of Maine, from Penobscot Bay to Martha's Vineyard. The brown water was the result of a massive bloom of microscopic algae (otherwise known… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The magic of music

I keep misjudging people. Last month an elderly woman, four years my junior, put in an appearance at the Vinalhaven Library to sing songs and tell stories. The event had been scheduled weeks before and announced repeatedly in our island newsletter, so as the day approached and it became increasingly… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Indulging in doughnuts

The March 23 storm caused icing and power outages along the Maine coast and dumped two feet of snow in the western part of the state. In the Cranberry Isles we got about five inches of snow before the rain took it all away again. By Sunday the trees were… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Chowder is Maine’s food for all seasons

Chowder season begins and ends simultaneously in Maine. Maybe on a few over-warm days in July and early August it doesn’t taste as good as it does on chilly September nights. Most traditional Maine eateries keep it on the menu all the time. For people truly from Maine, it’s a… SEE MORE