With three turbines now spinning on Vinalhaven, it is quickly becoming clear that exploration of energy use on the Fox Islands is not over. Fox Islands residents have recently launched their next project to look at how the power that is being created by the turbines can be used, not just to power light bulbs
Parallel 44: Resisting democracy
One of America’s less pleasant political traditions has been the effort to ensure ordinary people don’t get too much say in the process. Among the Founding Fathers there was little disagreement over the desirability of keeping the elite in control, which is why most states forbid poor people to vote, persons of modest means from
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America
New York: Vintage Books, 2005 Soft cover, $15.95 Lost and found Sometimes things get lost. Take the 12,000 pages of detailed records left behind by the Dutch when they turned their Manhattan colony (modern-day New York City) over to the British in 1664. Like similar records in, say, some Maine town office, the papers sat
Journal of an Island Kitchen: The squash soup variations
April was, and the first part of May will be, marked by the consumption of the last two winter squashes. Then the asparagus and rhubarb takes over. This year our best keepers are scarlet kabochas, with bright orange skins and flesh. They stored beautifully, keeping solid long after the buttercups and butternuts got age spots
Local newspaper anchors the community
Robert Anderson, a man of the sea, stands with feet wide apart, like he’s balancing on swells. The whiteboard in his office reads “fiddleheads, seals, license plates.” Those are ideas, he explains. Perhaps they’ll inspire stories beyond the town news he regularly publishes. The Cundy’s Harbor native has put out the Harpswell Anchor, a monthly
Students fool around with The Cliff School Times
When the recent issue of The Cliff School Times hit a few inboxes at the Island Institute, staffers were excited to see that the one-room, five student school’s publication had been recognized by the Los Angeles Times for being an outstanding student newspaper in the Northeast. Part of their prize was the opportunity to intern at
Internet access grant seeks to help fishermen, farmers and nurses
Cranberry Report: Obsessed by a hummingbird
Over the winter I became a night owl. I developed the habit of staying up until after midnight to read or work in my jewelry studio; to add to my blog or check other blogs; to e-mail or check on Facebook. After almost 31 years of marriage, Bruce and I know that a major component
Peaks summer camps launch joint marketing campaign
Someone once told me that to truly belong to a community, you must help the community meet its needs while you reap the benefits and joys of belonging to it. This certainly applies to island communities. We know the joys: neighbors who support each other, children who thrive under the watchful eyes of all of
Venturing: Fitting Out
It’s spring, and although I’m fond of pointing out that we might still have a blizzard (it’s April; we could), my confidence level is high enough to get me started on the boat. Easter is past, Daylight Saving Time is here, the buds are progressing and the grass is getting green. Ducks are building nests