Working Waterfront

Writer Paul Greenberg has vision for restoring fish, food link

By Catherine Schmitt Paul Greenberg is the author of American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood and Four Fish: The Future of Our Last Wild Food. A lifelong fisherman, Greenberg has written for The New York Times, National Geographic and GQ, among other publications. Greenberg received both a… SEE MORE

Courtney Naliboff as Annie Oakley in the North Haven production of Annie Get Your Gun.

Working Waterfront

Teaching is doing, and teachers can do what they teach

There is a particularly odious saying that gets bandied about from time to time: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Rather than get my hackles up, I let it goad me into action. I teach music, theater and English. I studied music and theater as an undergrad at… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Chebeague Island and the tides of time

What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross – Ezra Pound, Canto LXXXI In the blue distance of inner Casco Bay, the smokestacks of the Cousins Island power plant could be seen poking into the sky. This was in 1980, looking northeast from the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A summer of learning, leadership along Maine coast

On Swan's Island, community leaders and nearly 200 residents debated the future of the Swan's Island Electric Cooperative, the ratepayer owned distributor of electricity on that island and nearby Frenchboro (Long Island). There is nothing so heartening as watching community members of diverse background and economic standing give stump… SEE MORE

Vinalhaven village as seen from the harbor.

Working Waterfront

A deal too good to be true

A few weeks ago, a big man burst into the Tidewater Motel lobby mid-morning carrying a half-dozen unmarked white cardboard boxes, each about 18-inches by 18-inches and 4-inches deep. He’d emerged from an unmarked white pickup that held three white chest freezers in its bed, tied down haphazardly with pot… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Adventure, comfort blended in Café Miranda chef’s book

An anchor of Rockland’s restaurant scene, Café Miranda has maintained its popularity for over 20 years. These days its founder, Kerry Altiero, isn’t content to just rest on his laurels, hailed as Maine’s “pioneer chef” and a prize-winner in culinary competitions. His creative restlessness and curiosity still drive him to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Building a better candy bar

By Dora Thompson ROCKLAND — "Hold on, I have to grab a coaster. My mom will kill me,” joked Kate McAleer, owner, founder and CEO of Bixby & Co as she put her drink down on one, saving the shining wood table in their office. Gordon and Donna McAleer, her… SEE MORE

Tracie Martin instructs a group of middle level students about how to don a life jacket while in the water at Lawson's Quarry

Working Waterfront

Forty years of swimming lessons has been island lifesaver

It is a well-known irony—at least along the coast—that many fishermen don't know how to swim. According to Leonard "Buddy" Skoog, it was this paradox that drove Vinalhaven's Lions Club to begin a Red Cross swimming program on the island 40 years ago, when he estimates some 70 percent of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The Ubuntu education fund: lessons from the grassroots

I am because you are. How the Spirit of Ubuntu Inspired an Unlikely Friendship and Transformed a Community. By Jacob Lief, with Andrea Thompson. New York City: Rodale, 2015. 210 pp. Hardback. $24.99 Starting a nonprofit to address the educational needs of an impoverished population is one thing; starting one… SEE MORE

An older Cape Cod house on Isle au Haut's shore.

Working Waterfront

Hosting visitors helps bring island back in focus

Editor's note: Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront, and AmeriCorps. Meghan Cooper works with the town office on Isle au Haut. As islanders know, summer is hectic.… SEE MORE