Articles
Navigating my way through designing a class
Ian Watkins is an Island Fellow, a participant in a two-year service program operated by AmeriCorps and the Island Institute, doing community development work on islands and remote coastal communities. Watkins works on Deer Isle and the Downeast coast with high school students. The three-ring binder is one of the bigger ones, 3- or 4-inches
Small-world routine documented for bigger world
Ian Watkins is an Island Fellow, a participant in a two-year service program operated by AmeriCorps and the Island Institute, doing community development work on islands and remote coastal communities. Watkins works on Deer Isle and the Downeast coast with high school students. Living on an island, it can be very easy to fall into
Always on duty, always in sight
The work of an Island Fellow often follows a schedule quite different from those work roles most people are accustomed to. The standard 9-5 shifts followed by going home don’t really apply. Sometimes, I find myself working from home. As I write this, actually, I am sitting at my home desk as the snow falls
On the road, on the water
I often find myself travelling as part of my fellowship. In fact, a large selling point of the fellowship was the chance to travel to other islands and communities. The work I do includes a number of participating schools, which allows me this opportunity, coupling the excitement of going to another locale with the pleasure
Downeast jam: Making music a way to bond in new community
Gathering places in rural communities have always fascinated me. I can recall a few when I was growing up in Virginia, one of which was the general store where my great uncle Rolie would gather regularly with his pals over coffee, and more than likely, exaggerated conversation. I liked the general store not for the
Same day, different school, same connections
Sometimes, for a brief and flickering moment, I realize how unique my work really is. There always is some sort of daily reminder, but the big moments are diffused throughout the just-as-common hardships, or often realized after the fact. Last week presented one of the bigger moments. I arrived early to school to meet the
I’m the local stranger
Editor’s note: Ian Watkins is an Island Fellow through AmeriCorps and the Island Institute on Deer Isle, working at Deer Isle-Stonington High School. In this, his second year, he will write a regular column about his life and work. Do I live on a Maine Island? Yes, I do. But to be frank the answer
‘Did that just happen?’ moment likely on island
I live on a part of Deer Isle called Sunset, with my house sitting next to Mill Pond. Although I can’t see the tidal pond from my window, it’s a stone’s throw away, and shortly after I moved here an old-time fiddle tune called “Ducks On The Mill Pond” quickly jumped to the top of