Working Waterfront

How can I keep from singing?

A while ago, I joked to someone online that my pandemic memoir would be titled The Year Without Singing. Although nobody has asked me to write a pandemic memoir (yet!), it occurred to me in the moment that the directives prohibiting singing, or restricting it to 16 feet apart, outdoors,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Housing commission recommends statewide policies

A commission studying affordable housing in Maine had a narrow focus—how local zoning and land use rules could be changed to create more housing. But one of its recommendations would cut to the core of how cities and towns currently function by pushing municipalities toward state standards. The “home rule”… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Isle au Haut teacher brings experience, experiential learning

Editor’s note: This profile first appeared on the Upper Valley Educators Institute’s website and is published here with that organization’s permission. In the first few minutes of our Zoom call, Marcela Carroll had to get up to make sure her students were transitioning to their independent activity. Elementary teachers are… SEE MORE

North Haven's waterfront. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

The key question: Where is home?

Reflections is written by Island 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. When I arrived on North Haven as an Island Institute Island Fellow, the first question asked of me as I… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

COVID, islands, and the illusion of sanctuary

We all, no doubt, have a vivid memory of the spring of 2020. Life changed radically as we adapted to the reality of a pandemic and how to avoid getting or spreading COVID-19. For me, the March 15 vote by the North Haven Select Board stands out. In a statement… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Concept would eliminate Eastport causeway

Connecting America’s deepest Atlantic Coast seaport to mainland America is becoming a 100-year challenge. “It’s been said that there are only two things that Mainers here in Washington County hate,” says Chris Gardner, who oversees the Port Authority of Eastport. “Change, and the way things are.” For many years, Gardner… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Roux Institute envisions Portland as tech hub

Tucked between the shore and I-295 at the mouth of Portland’s Back Cove, the B&M Baked Beans cannery, built in 1913, was a landmark for city residents, tourists, and even mariners on Casco Bay, as well as the source of the aroma of cooking beans and molasses. For more than… SEE MORE

Chebeague beach house. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Keeping houses lit through winter

The last time I set foot on Chebeague Island it was June 14, 2003. My enduring memory of the day is watching my brother speed across the bay aboard his best friend’s lobster boat, suited up and on his way to join his soon-to-be wife on the shore, where they… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Dinner disrupted—the rise of ‘can’t eat’ foods

Daring to gather indoors around a dinner table with three or four good friends is one gift of vaccinations. Invitations fluctuate with the ebb and flow of COVID infectiousness but most of us older triple-vaxxed people venture some sociability. Since social isolation is as bad for our health as heavy… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cows and contentment

Every morning on my way to work I get a little serotonin boost about a half mile from my house. There, in a long, narrow field edged with woods, moseys a small herd of Red Devon cows. One gentle, thick-necked bull, three horned steers, and one pregnant cow named Frieda… SEE MORE