Working Waterfront

My dumb kitchen

When you read about smart kitchen appliances, what you learn is everything about them except “Why?” My life is blessedly free of smart toasters, coffee makers, voice-controlled faucets, and automatic stirrers. I probably wouldn’t even think about them except a favorite foodie website hawked, “Smart Kitchen Tools You Need Right… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The summer of Cronkite

[caption id="attachment_31711" align="alignleft" width="262"] Walter Cronkite at the helm.[/caption] Walter Cronkite was known as “The Most Trusted Man in America” when he was the anchor of CBS’s network news in the 1960s and ‘70s. His sign-off “and that's the way it was” was recognizable to millions. Cronkite refused to allow… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

It’s the people

After 17 years on North Haven, some elements of life have achieved a pleasant predictability. After the first heavy spring rain, the peepers will begin their insistent shrieking from vernal pools and roadside bogs. Dandelions and violets will be the first to bloom, followed by strawberry blossoms, thickest in the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Chasing resilience

Resilience is one of those buzz words that seems to be everywhere these days. It is the new version of sustainable, but with even less of a clear definition, therefore making it infinitely harder to measure. A while back someone described it as not attaining resilience, but continually striving for… SEE MORE

A lobster boat unloads in Corea Harbor. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Lobster’s claw-hold on Maine is strong

How important is the lobster fishery to the Maine coast? What will be the economic impact of a reduction in the harvest from regulations or a changing Gulf of Maine? How is lobstering integrated into the state’s identity? One number suggests answers: $1 billion dollars. That’s the amount generated each… SEE MORE

The Cranberry Isles Life-Saving Station photographed in about 1885.

Working Waterfront

When mariners in distress got help

Whether it is for work or play, anyone spending significant time on a boat knows that help is a radio call away, and that other beacons and signals can be relied upon to alert to the need for help. But how would that work if there was no one designated… SEE MORE

Murphy in front of the First Parish Church in Portland during one of his walking tours. PHOTO: COURTESY DUGAN MURPHY

Working Waterfront

Reviving Portland’s unsung historical heroes

On the morning of Oct. 18, 1775, a British naval fleet anchored in Portland Harbor began bombarding what was then known as Falmouth, Mass. The bludgeoning of Portland lasted all day followed by more insult to injury when the British sailors swarmed the ruined community of about 2,000 residents to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Keeping credit cards working on an island

At an April 4 event celebrating a federal award to expand Maine’s broadband access, Peggy Schaffer, director of ConnectMaine, put it best when she called establishing the high-speed internet a “team sport.” The $28 million federal grant would not have been awarded without community members, internet service providers, elected officials,… SEE MORE

Alison Evans with her oyster-inspired ceramics.

Working Waterfront

Sea-inspired ceramics succeeding in Boothbay Harbor

When it was time for ceramist Alison Evans to “get real” about her life, she “naturally” gravitated back to a community where she spent much of her youth: Boothbay Harbor. “It’s one of the most beautiful places in the entire world,” said the 46-year-old owner of Ae Ceramics and Ae… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

String theory—violin lessons embraced by islanders

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. “Violin lessons at the Islesboro Community Center for all ages, free of charge! Sign up with Anne McKee by June… SEE MORE