Working Waterfront

Considering summer raises questions

After two months of having all of our lives turned upside down from COVID-19, we are peering at summer just over the horizon. No one can quite imagine what it will look like. No matter where we live, we are experiencing the angst of trying to find some semblance of normal.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

COA, Mount Desert 365 build student housing

The project will bring approximately 15 students and a guest or faculty member to live downtown, but it will be more than a simple space to house students, said COA President Darron Collins. “The center will be a catalyst for deepening COA’s mission to add to the cultural, intellectual, and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Bringing it all back home

It sure is a different summer in the Cranberry Isles. Some people have chosen not to come to the islands this summer, considering the risk factors of traveling long distances during a pandemic. I missed one summer on Islesford, when I was 20, and I still remember what it felt like.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cruise ship departs Eastport

Hoping to avoid the June 1 arrival of hurricane season in southern Florida, the Oceania Riviera, a 785-foot, 15-deck Norwegian Cruise Lines vessel with no passengers, only crew onboard, sailed nearly 2,000 miles to tie up at Eastport’s deep-water breakwater on June 14. With computer models showing that Isaias—sometimes hurricane, sometimes tropical… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

It’s a wet and wild world for this old man

I’m having a little trouble with the younger crowd here on the island, particularly boys but some girls too. Some guys my age might be upset by such delinquent behavior, such aggression—and it is aggression; make no mistake about it. It’s as if they get a kick out of harassing… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Climate change threatens Wabanaki livelihood, culture

Climate change is having a serious impact on the Wabanaki Tribal Nations, threatening livelihoods, cultures, and self-determination. That was the message from Darren Ranco, a University of Maine professor who gave a July 10 webinar presentation called “Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and the Wabanaki Tribal Nations,” hosted by Augusta-based Maine… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine’s colorful history, steeped in conflict and betrayal

This is the second of our two-part trail map of historical moments and places on Maine’s journey to achieving statehood in 1820. This series covering 1700 to 1820 is just a smidgen of the history of Maine, which really begins about 13,000 years ago with the native Wabanakis. Let our… SEE MORE

Community

Working Waterfront

From Brazil to Great Cranberry, the food travels well

When he visits Brazil, Cezar Ferreira is partial to moqueca, a stew of flaky white fish, coconut milk, cilantro, peppers, lime juice, peppers, and onion that’s perfectly accompanied by caiperinha, a sugar-cane alcohol and lime juice cocktail. At the food trucks, he enjoys crispy pasties, a type of empanada that goes well… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Frenchboro school sends students home to garden

When I moved to Maine four years ago, I quickly observed that Mainers are resourceful, creative problem-solvers. I have noticed this is particularly true of islanders, who, by necessity, take extra care to think about resources available on-island and how and when they come and go. When COVID-19 made its… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island images demand answers to deeper questions

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. On a foggy morning in June, a friend and I were down at the dock loading up his lobster boat to… SEE MORE