Production still from The Lighthouse (2019) and Captain January (1936)

Working Waterfront

‘Maine in the Movies’ film festival March 6-15

By Tom Groening No, Mainers were not watching movies in 1820 when the state was established. But celebrating Maine’s role in film is an appropriate facet of the bicentennial celebration, say Mike Perreault and Tom Wilhite, who are producing the “Maine in the Movies” film festival. The festival brings more… SEE MORE

An aerial view of the West Branch of the Pleasant River. PAn aerial view of the West Branch of the Pleasant River.

Working Waterfront

Taking stock of a Downeast river

By Jon Keller Five degrees above zero and the wind peels northwest. Sky and river both black dark. Headlights shine in the small parking lot. The wind howls, rocks the truck. Out there in the headlight shine lies a slick mud bank and a river of churning brown water. Bobby… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Our readers write about…

Giving thanks works To the editor: I really connected with Barbara Fernald's piece on “tacking toward the positives” in life (Cranberry Report, November issue). Her physiological explanation for the seasonal disorder is easy to understand and logical. Her strategies to look around at what is available to all of us,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The Secret Soul of an Island Shoe

By Christina Marsden Gillis Its sole gouged with holes, the leather top cracked and ripped, the shoe, a woman's, had been hidden in the west wall of an upstairs bedroom in our Gotts Island house. Nestled behind the plaster, it had endured Maine winters when the winds howled out of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Casco Bay temperature data details warming

Mike Doan, research associate with the Friends of Casco Bay, is often asked, “What were the highest and the lowest water temperatures this year?” Thanks to the organization’s continuous monitoring station, Doan is able to share those with confidence. He can describe water conditions in the bay on an hourly,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Potential energy in my yard, and in island life

By Courtney Naliboff Last month, my daughter and I planted tulips, the first fall bulbs I’ve put in since my wedding seven years ago. Back then, a friend and I pre-dug holes in the border of our woods, and my young female friends and relatives planted a variety of daffodils… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The Outer Bell

By Phil Crossman (The perspective is that of a Maine State Ferry on a day in 1973 when I was reminded of its involvement in our island lives.) A cocky young man from away who one of our girls has brought home strikes a jaunty pose on the bow and,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Challenging the enduring weight of ‘local’

By Tom Groening For journalists, elections are something like Christmas morning. Actually, as the polls close and the counting starts on Election Day evening, it feels like Christmas Eve. Then the final tally is like opening the presents under the tree the next morning. Even those of us with some… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Rebuilding the bond between people and nature

By Stephanie Bouchard When Richard Louv published his book, Last Child in the Woods, in 2005, he argued that it is fundamental to human well-being for people to spend time in nature. His argument launched an international movement. His new book, Our Wild Calling, takes that argument a step further… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Island autumn has dazzling, magical quality

By Barbara Fernald The islands are so beautiful in the late fall. Most of the red is gone, but the last leaves on the birch trees are golden and the angle of the early afternoon sun causes them to glow before they blow away in the next storm. Migrating water… SEE MORE