Working Waterfront

Throughlines that connect us to community

When I first stepped into the role as president of Island Institute just 15 months ago, I reflected on the weight of responsibility that had been passed and the unimaginable changes that had shaped our part of the world over the past 40 years. This was even before the back-to-back,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Without a map, new turf becomes clearer

The trail is long, and my position is regional, which means that I work with many communities throughout Hancock and Washington counties. But I find that this place—this earth, these streams, these blueberry fields, and these fir trees—make it all feel like home. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islanders pull off delightful ‘Mathilda’

Over the years I've reviewed books and plays and while I’ve certainly liked some more than others, I have always enjoyed the process. Last week I watched a rendition of Roahl Dahl’s Matilda at Waterman’s Community Center in North Haven. Dahl passed away 34 years before what would seem fair,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The comforting sounds of the season

I love the quiet I experience from living on Little Cranberry Island. I remember a visit from Dutch friends when their mouths dropped open upon reaching our house. I asked what stunned them and they replied, “The quiet! There is so little noise!” That’s what I like. I also appreciate… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The baggage of being a vegetarian

By the summer of 1979, like many human beings around the globe and in times past, I ate relatively little meat. It wasn’t a matter of principle. I ate vegetables and grains largely for economic reasons, employed at a job qualifying me for food stamps for which I never applied.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Unexpected awe in life’s big moments

By the time you read this, the book I co-authored, Your Postpartum Body, will be out in the world. For ten years I’ve been throwing manuscripts at the wall of literary agents to see what might stick and have often richly imagined the moment when a book with my name… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A librarian weaves a surprisingly tangled web

A book club would have a lot of fun with this, as it can be understood multiple ways. SEE MORE

Frankie Odom, “Spawning,” ca. 2009, ink print embossment on paper, 11 x 14½ in. COLLECTION OF THE FAMILY OF FRANKIE ODOM//COURTESY MONHEGAN MUSEUM OF ART AND HISTORY

Working Waterfront

Righting a wrong—Monhegan’s women artists get their due

Over the years, Women Artists of Monhegan Island, or WAMI, held exhibitions in a variety of venues, on and off Monhegan. SEE MORE

Rackstraw Downes at work at the mouth of the Passagassawaukeag River in Belfast. PHOTO: PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM/PEGGY McKENNA

Working Waterfront

A photographer who captured artists

Peggy McKenna was one of the artists who was drawn to this part of the state in the 1970s. She settled in Montville along with other artists and “back to the landers.” SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The complicated case of Melvin Fuller

In February 2022, a statue of Melville Fuller, the Augusta native who served as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1888-1910, was quietly removed from its spot on the grounds of the Kennebec County Courthouse where it had stood for nearly nine years. SEE MORE