Working Waterfront

A history of Maine, wrapped in a warm quilt

Quilting has been a favorite pastime in Maine for centuries, first to provide warm coverings on cold winter nights, then rapidly evolving into a popular hobby for individuals and community groups. Women (and sometimes men) gathered for quilting bees to work on projects. Quilting bees also provided opportunities for socialization… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Making the case for ‘reverse take-out’

One of the first things I do in January is to pull out the new “Maine Tide and Every Day Calendar” and mark the dates for anniversaries and birthdays from the past year. When I get to July and August of the previous year, it’s sometimes hard to find the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

From virus to vaccine, island-specific works best

As a resident of Vinalhaven, I have had family and friends from across the country and world reach out during the last nine months to ask about my island’s experience with COVID-19. People were curious: What is the “island experience”? When is an island the best place to be? Can… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Because Maine can’t wait to confront climate change

In the fall of 1970, 11-year-old Suzanne Clune wrote a letter to her U.S. senator. She lived on the banks of the Little Androscoggin River, a once-pristine tributary where deer could see their reflection when drinking from the water and where spring pine and chokeberry blossoms “filled the air with… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

We’re ready for pandemic 2.0

Surely by now we have figured out that 2021 isn’t going to be all that different from 2020. On New Year’s Eve, lots of us bid a joyous farewell to 2020, hopefully cheering at the prospect of a new year. Six days later, we learned we were breaking nearly daily… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cold water is the tonic for suspended life

It’s winter. This time of year usually feels like an extended denouement following the climax of Labor Day weekend, Indigenous People’s Day, and “the holidays,” meaning the blur of Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, and New Year’s. But this year, it’s more of the same. We’ve been quietly isolated for months, especially… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Rethinking insurance as investment, not pay-out

If investment is risk, then insurance is a means by which to diminish the damage from unforeseen events, liability, and damage to come. And then there is re-insurance, the insuring of the insurers so that they, too, have coverage to mitigate further the consequence of claims to be paid. It… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Putting down retail roots on Islesboro

Sky and Marianne Purdy met while hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2007, and for six seasons, both worked at a lodge in Denali National Park in Alaska at the end of the park’s single road, nestled in a six-million-acre wilderness. So the couple knows something about the long haul. And… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tanks foul air, threaten health, South Portland residents say

South Portland’s industrial waterfront lies at the mouth of the Fore River, across a widening expanse of water from Portland’s busy commercial district. Protected, and with deep water anchorage, it’s as prime as it gets. [caption id="attachment_23888" align="alignleft" width="300"] This photo, provided by South Portland’s Roberta Zuckerman, show the proximity… SEE MORE

A recent photo of Thomas and Jackson. PHOTO: COURTESY YVONNE THOMAS

Working Waterfront

My personal race story

Twenty-five years ago, I made a conscious choice to avoid the issue of race. And because I am a white woman, living in a majority white community, I had the privilege of making such a choice. I had just earned my master’s degree in counseling, and had done my student… SEE MORE