Waves break on the shore at Roque Bluffs

Working Waterfront

Portland proactive on immigration, Wiscasset to vote on traffic plan

Maine’s role in the major party nomination process has come and gone, with the Democrats picking Bernie Sanders and the Republican faithful choosing Ted Cruz. The GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who was endorsed by Gov. Paul LePage, had a predictably dismissive remark about Cruz’s victory, saying the Canadian-born Texas senator… SEE MORE

North Haven students competed in the statewide one-act play contest.

Working Waterfront

Curtain call: Why we compete in play contest

March has a lot of signifiers. For some, it heralds the start of baseball season. For others, college basketball’s March Madness is the focus. March is “Music in Our Schools” month, and March is when town meetings convene. For me, March has always been about the Maine Principals’ Association One-Act… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Education was factor in Fukushima disaster

Japan has a complicated relationship with the atomic world. During a trip there in January, I asked many people to reflect on the Fukushima nuclear disaster—what the Japanese refer to as 3/11. The reaction to the event that surfaced most frequently was that, of all the failures associated with Fukushima,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

State must invest in a digital future

Journalists are taught to give readers a human face to the public issues they write about in their news stories. Sometimes, the reporter has to work at finding a “real person” who benefits from the tax cut or the sewer line extension. Other times, that person practically steps onto the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine’s caring economy is environmental and personal

An old friend, Glen Libby, stopped by the office recently. Those who know Glen may immediately think of community supported fisheries. Glen and his fellow fishermen began a national trend that connects fishermen to consumers based on the community supported agriculture model, where consumers buy a share of a farmer’s harvest.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Speaking as a Republican…

In 2010, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proclaimed that the Republican members of Congress had no more immediate goal than to see that President Obama was not allowed a second term. A fellow Republican, I was aghast to think, given all that we faced as a nation, that he and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Moderating town meeting an honor and challenge

When I remember the town meetings I’ve attended while living in the Cranberry Isles, I think about the past moderators. Wilfred Bunker, Al Gray, David Stainton, Francis Stanley, Herman Savage and Hugh Dwelley are the names that come to mind, though there may be some I’ve forgotten. Men who were… SEE MORE

Maine Maritime Academy vessels docked at the campus in Castine.

Working Waterfront

Winter training cruise imparts laptop lesson

People who are not accustomed to living on the water and on the high seas are often painfully aware of the slightest motion a boat or ship makes. Just look for the gray or green pallor on their faces and the expression that says, “Are we there yet?” And those… SEE MORE

Tarah Waters working with children in Eastport.

Working Waterfront

Eastport asks the question, ‘What’s your art?’

Editor's note: Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands and in remote coastal communities through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront. Tarah Waters is working to support the growing arts community in Eastport. Being an… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering a lost fishery, and grandparents

My grandmother Edith Johnson Searles packed sardines in Lubec at a time when that prosperous town hosted 23 sardine (herring) packing plants. My grandfather, Henry Searles, was a native of Canada’s nearby Campobello Island, who moved across the sound to marry my grandmother and live with her in South Lubec.… SEE MORE