Working Waterfront

Secrets of a sunset chaser

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. After living on Deer Isle for a year, I have a lot of sunset photos, and they… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Remembering a star of the glory days of newspapers

We’ve dropped the editorial in this month’s issue in favor of a personal column remembering a life well-lived, and a colleague whose example continues to shine bright. One of the benefits we enjoy on the Maine coast is that prominent and accomplished people visit or retire here, and often, we… SEE MORE

Rylee Knox of Turner poses for a “selfie” with his mother

Working Waterfront

MMA’s ‘family cruise’ last leg of 90-day journey

There were hugs, handshakes, and smiles as parents, siblings, and girlfriends joined Maine Maritime Academy students aboard the training ship State of Maine in Searsport on July 30. The academy offers this “family cruise” for the last leg of the 90-day training voyage, docking the 500-foot-long ship in Searsport to… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Colby College comes to the coast

Both institutions see their missions as providing high-quality education to a relatively small group of students. Beyond that, Waterville’s Colby College and Port Clyde’s Herring Gut Learning Center would seem to have little in common. Beginning late last year, though, Colby and Herring Gut began a partnership aimed at enhancing… SEE MORE

Sitting on Great Cranberry Island's back shore

Working Waterfront

Savoring summer evokes childhood memories

On one of the last days of June, I met up with my friend and neighbor, Cindy Thomas, at the Sand Beach on Islesford. We get together all year long for a brief monthly dip from this beach, but on this particular day we were gathering for a more seasonal… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Connecting our communities more critical than ever

This column first appeared in the 2017 Island Journal, which is now available for purchase at TheArchipelago.net. Maine touts its allure for visitors and prospective transplants by asserting that we provide qualities summed up as “the way life should be.” The phrase suggests purity, simplicity, a pace more in tune… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Beverly Ross Johnson is Chebeague’s volunteer extraordinaire

There is an old saying that you can’t keep a secret on an island, but that was disproven at Chebeague Island’s town meeting on June 10, when Beverly Ross Johnson was presented a legislative sentiment by Rep. Janice Cooper. The sentiment recognized Johnson’ s 53 years contributing her time and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

That beautiful sky might not be the easiest to fly through

By Eva Murray A couple of weeks ago, as an early-evening thunderstorm approached from the west, the sky over Penobscot Bay got everybody’s attention. A palette of sunset colors contrasted with discrete layers of bright white and nearly-black clouds, and the fast-moving front, with its peculiar sharp edge, barreled overhead… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The kitchen in summer

There is always some darn pile of vegetables or other in the kitchen in summer. Of course, that is the whole point of a garden, to grow vegetables for immediate and delayed consumption, either by the household or neighbors and friends. Wouldn’t it be handy if the piles accumulated after… SEE MORE

Galen Koch at work on the Airstream trailer that will serve as her mobile recording studio.

Working Waterfront

‘First Coast’ project aims to tell our stories

Bureaucrats, academics, and advocates develop talking points, position papers, and policies to address the problems of our coast. Galen Koch has chosen a different approach. The 28-year-old Stonington native and Skidmore College grad has dedicated her professional life to storytelling. Or, more accurately, letting others tell their stories. Her newest… SEE MORE