Working Waterfront

The history of Maine’s income tax, and why it matters

Maine’s current governor spent his second term trying to repeal the income tax, and while he didn’t succeed, the top rate was reduced from 8.5 percent to 7.1 percent during his term of office. Nearly 50 years after the personal and corporate income tax was enacted, by a Democratic governor… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Digging into history, learning from the children

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. It was most certainly the highest, most nausea-inducing point on the entire island. I closed my eyes.… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Mastering the art of persuasion

I have long been fascinated by the art of persuasion. Well, maybe it’s more skill than art. I’m thinking of the public version, not trying to talk someone into hiring you or buying your1994 Chevy Cavalier. The persuasive skills I pay attention to are those that can change people’s views… SEE MORE

Opinion

Passengers disembark from the Islesboro ferry in Lincolnville Beach.

Working Waterfront

Ferry service is part of our civic infrastructure

Sometimes it’s important to begin by stating the obvious. Ferry service is not optional for island communities—they live or die by it. The allocation of resources across the islands served by the Maine State Ferry Service tends to divide, rather than unite communities. Islesboro is the clear loser in the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Demystifying the magical internet: how the info flows (or not)

By Susie Arnold, Ph. D. and Heather Deese, Ph. D. If you think you need better broadband speeds at your house, in your neighborhood, or throughout your community, you’re probably correct. Maine currently ranks 49th in the country for internet speeds and reliability, so most of us have a long… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An unexpected loss reminds us how we should live

In May I usually write about how crazy busy it is, and how fast the month goes, and what a relief it is to finally see signs of spring, like blooming daffodils, buds on the trees, and returning songbirds. Carpenters, caretakers, fishermen, boat builders, painters, gardeners, artists, and craftspeople all… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Anthology asks: Who are we, and where are we?

3 Nations 3 Nations Anthology: Native, Canadian & New England Writers Valerie Lawson, ed. Resolute Bear Press, Robbinston, Maine, 2017; 176 pages, paperback, $19.95. One phrase to describe what underlies the harrowing political and social divisions in the U.S. these days is “identity crisis.” If I remember right, this term… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Letters to the editor

Emergency ferry runs more complicated I am writing in response to the article, “Ferry Service impacted with rising emergency trips,” in the April edition of The Working Waterfront. As a resident of Swan’s Island, diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer in 2016 and living with an ongoing issue of small bowel… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My love affair with hot water

We go back a long way, hot water and I. It has been passionately hot, torrid in fact, water up to my belly button, floating bubbles in the tub, splashing all around my fists and caressing my wrists in a dishpan, gushing from the faucet when I turn it on.… SEE MORE

A summer scene on Great Cranberry Island.

Working Waterfront

April’s hope supplants March’s misery

Year-round residents of the Cranberry Isles have just made it through a rough end of winter to face the fickle brown month of April. In February, the ice-rain-ice weather had yards looking like skating rinks. March had its own kind of nastiness with endless wet snow and high winds causing… SEE MORE