Working Waterfront

In praise of hearing aids

Usually, I write about food, and hearing aids have nothing and everything to do with the kitchen, the garden, cooking, and eating because no matter what I am doing, I want to hear. I have hearing aids in both ears, and yes, they were costly (about $3,200—I’ve paid less for… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Building for change: Focusing on community partnerships

The Maine coast is changing with the seasons. Winter is approaching, the summer community has left, and as columnist Barb Fernald noted, we are “reclining” in to the long winter. According to the Island Institute’s new Waypoints: Livelihoods publication, during this time of year on the islands, communities experience a drop in… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Road-trip characters are part of the fun

This is our third trip in Poppy, our 2003 VW Eurovan Camper, a marvelously engineered 18-foot marital and domestic testing ground. During the first trip two people who spent over a month in such close proximity that if one burped the other asked to be excused, made 42-inches by 72-inches… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Great Lakes water poses questions of balance

"Enjoy your cup of Lake Superior," a voice said. I looked at the steaming coffee in my hand. I hadn't connected the water used to brew my coffee with the great body right outside the window, but of course for the residents of Madeline Island and for the other 48… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A busy time, as island season changes

Columbus Day is the season opener for a very active time of year. A number of people who leave the islands in August return for this long weekend to do a final check on their homes. Steps to prepare for winter, on an island, vary depending on whether you live… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Anxiety rises over battered coasts, battered communities

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore By Elizabeth Rush (2018; Milkweed Editions) Reviewed by Tina Cohen Elizabeth Rush’s Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore brings readers to places along America’s edges where life is changing. These places are being redefined by rising sea levels, by storms battering coasts, and by… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Considering the spectacular Sheepscot

By Catherine Schmitt There is a break in the ragged Maine coastline between Seguin Island Light and Damariscove, a widening where the Atlantic Ocean floods into a rock-ledged bay, and through a complicated network of glacial-scoured back rivers, side channels, and islands. As the tide turns and the wind shifts, birds… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Waiting with ‘baited’ breath

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. By Dan Debord First, there was the early morning wakeup, lying in bed, wide-awake with anticipation, for an hour until… SEE MORE

Boats in a protected anchorage on Grand Manan

Working Waterfront

Maritime Canada as Maine’s cousin

By Tom Groening One of my college professors, Louis Simpson, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1964. He was a wonderful teacher, and I sought out his work, even after graduating. One of his poems from the early 1980s has lingered in my memory. It’s from the perspective of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

From the Great Lakes islands: Falling for the falls

By Jim Nies I’m fortunate enough to live (seasonally) in Ontario’s prettiest village, Kagawong, on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. I know it’s prettiest because a sign at the top of the hill leading down to the waterfront announced that fact for years. It may seem an outrageous claim—until you… SEE MORE