Working Waterfront

Success is a bit more than roll of the dice

The fighter is paralyzed, the mage unconscious. The rogue will be too, soon. And the undead monster is still attacking us! Desperate, the rogue seizes her herbalist’s kit. It’s not magic, but she can revive the mage. A few lucky dice rolls, the fighter is back in action and the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

What can we learn from Maine’s coastal vote?

Do elections hold a mirror to our values, fears, dreams, and desires? Or do the choices we make on the ballot drift this way and that, just as our tastes in music and films do? Both may be true. But trying to explain why people voted this way or that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Institute awarded energy contract

The Island Institute is one of five organizations in the country to be awarded a contract by the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project, or ETIPP. As a partner in this new U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored initiative, the Island Institute will be awarded $330,000 over three years by the National Renewable… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Truth-telling continues, even in online setting

Education practices have always involved responsiveness and adaptation, but those tenets have taken on new meaning this year. Along with a quick transition to online learning, conferences and professional development events have been reimagined for virtual settings. The Island Institute’s annual Island Teachers Conference for professionals from coastal and island… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Deer Island marks 250 years of endurance

Editor's note: This story first appeared in The Quoddy Tides, and appears here with permission. Until as late as 1770, Deer Island—which lies between Eastport and New Brunswick, and is part of the Canadian province—is believed to only have been used by the Wabanaki peoples, primary Passamaquoddy, for hunting. In… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island Institute deploys Island Fellows Downeast

Over the past 20 years, the Island Institute’s Island Fellows program has invested in island and coastal communities from Casco Bay to Eastport. Though the program is well known on the 15 year-round island communities, expanding the organization’s impact into other regions is an important part of creating a thriving… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine, the drought, and yes, wildfires

As the ash from California sequoias and Oregon redwoods created a haze on what should have been a sunny day, I began to wonder, could our forest burn? What is the risk to my and to my neighbors’ houses and to the deer, turkeys, and barred owls that live in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Moving through these mood-inspiring times

It’s Oct. 4 and we are about seven months (feels like 20) into this COVID pandemic. I don’t have much to write because there is not a whole heck of a lot going on. “What did you do today?” “Not much, you?” “I don’t really remember.” My moods are like… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cohabitating with the chickadees

I’m not an ornithologist but I do enjoy providing for and being entertained by birds, and I can count on that happening day after day as, ever accommodating, we monitor feeders on all sides from each kitchen window, nearly always mindful of our responsibilities. On those rare occasions when I… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A new way to be alive, and live

A few months ago, my column focused on doing things differently, and having them still be good. Take out instead of dine in. Picnics instead of cocktail parties. Online events instead of in-person. I got some good mileage out of that attitude, but by the end of August, I was… SEE MORE