Working Waterfront

I’m Annie, but I’ve got no gun

By Courtney Naliboff As I write this, I've just started rehearsals for the Waterman Community Center's summer production of Annie Get Your Gun. I'm Annie. Along with the requisite singing, dancing and acting, the show requires a certain comfort and familiarity with guns. Although I grew up in rural Maine,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Oil, water and poorly considered science mix in Destiny

Reviewed by Tina Cohen The cover of Carl Howe Hansen's first novel presents some powerful allusions. The photograph by Peter Ralston features what we can assume is the book’s Pine Island, a typical Maine island of granite and spruce with raw exposure to the elements, a resistance to being tamed.… SEE MORE

Archipelago's assistant manager Frances Holdgate shows off Richard Robertson's ceramic work.

Working Waterfront

Store serving island artists marks 15th anniversary

The challenges of living on an island are many, but for an island artist, there is one more: getting your work recognized off-island. But a shop and gallery on the mainland has made it its mission to help island artists—and Maine’s mainland artists, too—earn a living from their art. Archipelago,… SEE MORE

A photo of Bishop that appeared in a 1994 New York Times review of One Art: Letters

Working Waterfront

‘Master’ poet Elizabeth Bishop had North Haven connection

By Carl Little —To have no personal moods at all, to have only the same moods that the weather has here on North Haven Island—that would be the (perfect) temperament, for the rest of life the rest of life…. When the poet Elizabeth Bishop’s letters were published in 1994,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Busy town agenda coincides with busy island life

By Phil Crossman Vinalhaven is usually governed by a five-member board of selectmen, but this year—this month, anyway—we only have four. There were no candidates for the two vacancies in the May election and so the top two write-ins were invited to take office. I had 20-something write-in votes because,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Muffins, doughnuts and the little blue house

By Barbara Fernald Forty years ago I had a college roommate who amazed her friends by making English muffins from scratch. She baked them in a covered skillet sprinkled with cornmeal to keep them from sticking. She passed the recipe along to those of us who were interested. A few… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

New phone app enhances Acadia, national park experiences

How many of us have toiled up a mountain to enjoy the view at the peak in Acadia National Park, only to play the guessing game of what the view is? Even with a paper map, it can be hard to determine which islands or mountains are part of the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster union approaches three-year anniversary

Formed in the midst of the price crisis during the summer of 2012, the Maine Lobstering Union will mark its third anniversary in September. The prices fishermen get have rebounded, but the union remains strong and growing. The group has over 600 members, and its leaders believe it has become… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Lobster futures uncertain, but efforts underway to boost demand

Bobby Beckman is just 22, but when it comes to the lobster business, he takes the long view. "I figure, lobsters have been here millions of years," he says, foot propped up on the console of his boat in Vinalhaven Harbor. "I think there'll always be lobsters." Some worry about,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Pretty wood, pretty tones— Peter Gallant builds violins with unusual woods

WOOLWICH – Peter Gallant didn’t grow up in a musical household in Lawrence, Mass., but the electrical designer remembers going into music stores and staring at the stringed instruments. There was a variety in how guitars looked, he noticed, but the violins all looked the same. Today, Gallant, 57, is… SEE MORE