Working Waterfront

A trust in land and sea: Ben Emory’s commitment to the Maine coast

Sailor for the Wild: On Maine, Conservation and Boats By Ben Emory; Seapoint Books, 2017 When Ben Emory completed Navy active duty in 1969—he had served on the destroyer USS New, providing gunfire support along the coast of Vietnam—he took stock of his life. A graduate of Harvard where he majored… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Music is community… again

The dilemma of the music teacher is that sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day for the music teacher to also play music. Of course, it’s what we love to do. Music teachers began as music students, playing in recitals and sighing our way through Hanon exercises and scales… SEE MORE

The view from a drone of the Southern Harbor House on North Haven.

Working Waterfront

A vision for our elders comes to fruition

Here’s an idea that most would agree with—our elders should be able to age in place. But making this happen on an island or in a remote community is an altogether more difficult challenge than it is where I grew up on the east side of Cleveland. My Grandpa Frank… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The cold comfort of summer food

It’s hot and I think differently about cooking and food when the weather turns stuffy and warm. I want cold comfort. Oddly, lately, I have thought about childhood summers and the food we ate and cold things we drank. Like potato salad, just bite-sized bits of boiled potato with bits… SEE MORE

Edward French at the offices of The Quoddy Tides.

Working Waterfront

Living in, and telling a community’s story

We journalists are supposed to be objective, but really, the objectivity exists in the work we produce, not in our hearts. The truth is that we tend to be an opinionated bunch. I will admit there are places on the Maine coast I love more than others. One of those… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Gardening as a way of putting down community roots

Eight years ago, as a symbol of our intention to stay on North Haven indefinitely, I bought apple trees and asparagus crowns for Bill as a Chanukah present. I gave him a drawing of the plants then, and in April, a package arrived from Fedco. Two tiny whips with root-balls… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Put a price on what’s poisoning our atmosphere

By Eric Toder Rising carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and other activities that release greenhouse gases threaten the future well-being of all of us. These emissions warm the planet, raise sea levels, shift rainfall patterns, boost storm intensity, and increase the risk of sudden climate change. They pose a… SEE MORE

Bruce Fernald prepares to unload his boat

Working Waterfront

When chefs and lobstermen meet, live

Anyone around Little Cranberry Island would say my husband Bruce, a lobster fisherman, has a knack for getting involved in some very interesting media situations. (See “One lobsterman’s 15 minutes of fame” at workingwaterfrontarchives.org.) Friends joke that he likes attention from the press, but lately most of the situations have revolved… SEE MORE

Students from the Blueberry Harvest School learn about sustainable fisheries during an August 2014 trip in Frenchman Bay.

Working Waterfront

How Trump administration’s immigration policies are hurting Maine

By Julia Brown Maine recently hosted statewide “Families Belong Together” rallies protesting the administration’s so-called “zero tolerance” policy. While the unprecedented policy of separating and detaining asylum seekers has rightfully taken center stage, this administration is applying its anti-immigrant agenda to all facets of immigration law. This indiscriminate attack on… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Islands in the woods, islands in the water

Reflections is 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 “An Island Fellow? Well, then how did you end up here in Millinocket?” I hear this question less frequently now… SEE MORE