Working Waterfront

Why the Island Institute offers 12-week paid parental leave

Nonprofit organizations like the Island Institute are not exempt from the pressures of the bottom line. In fact, we are just as mindful of budgets as for-profit businesses because we are funded by finite sources—grants and donations—and can't count on an uptick in sales to provide a cushion. But despite… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Town government: confidence or apathy?

The town of Vinalhaven’s administrative assistant, Barbara Philbrook, gave notice several months ago that she would be retiring this month. Until it was revealed that she’d only been working here for 46 years, most of us had assumed she’d been there forever, or at least since Vinalhaven gained its relative… SEE MORE

A runner crosses the finish line in Lubec.

Working Waterfront

The passport marathon

Four years ago, having just moved to my new home in Lubec, I went to work immediately on a vision I had nurtured for some time: Let’s stage a marathon here. Not just a modest marathon. An international marathon that would be spectacular. One that connects the adjoining communities of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

From Aunt Annie’s point of view

The house I live in was Adrianna Bunker’s home from roughly 1869 until the mid-1920s. For about 20 years she cooked in a small kitchen in the back half of what is now my living room. In 1889, her husband Emery modernized the house by connecting it with an ell… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tomalley and other lobster conundrums

Picture an illustrated paper placemat in any restaurant along the coast. The red and white directions for eating a steamed lobster are what pop into my mind. I’m pretty sure that lobster is the only Maine commodity that rates a placemat with instructions on how to break it up and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A teacher’s holiday

After a long nine-and-a-half months of lesson planning, assessing, discussing and meeting, summer vacation is as necessary for teachers as it is for students. We use the time to prepare our classrooms, attend conferences and reinvigorate ourselves for the coming school year. For some, that means travel. For others, reading… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Be ruthless: novelist heeds her own advice

My Name is Lucy Barton By Elizabeth Strout (Random House, 2016) I let my mind wander a bit as I pondered writing this review, as if I were the title character in Elizabeth Strout’s new novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, feverish and somewhat free-associating. I’ve reviewed Strout’s novels on… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island fire rekindles fears, appreciation

By Phil Showell More than 50 years ago I was sitting on a porch at my parent’s place on Sheep Island. It lies in the New Meadows River, opposite the Basin, a sensually stunning refuge from stormy weather known to most who cruise Maine’s coast. I was riveted by what… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A renewed river benefits people and wildlife

As if on cue, a tagged Atlantic salmon was detected swimming above the Howland dam. Soon, people from throughout the state and beyond would gather where the Piscataquis and Penobscot rivers meet to celebrate the completion of a nature-like fish bypass around the dam. The final milestone in the Penobscot… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islesboro’s lead on broadband is model for success

If Maine followed Islesboro’s example, we would soon be the most connected state in the nation. On June 18, Islesboro voted to join a very limited number of towns across the country with universal access to gigabit broadband speeds. When the $3.8 million project is complete, this high-speed service will… SEE MORE