New York: Quantuck Lane Press, 2003. Owls Head is not just a lighthouse or rocky point in midcoast Maine. In Rosamond Purcell’s book, we experience it as a locus of transformation. Owls Head documents this place, the salvage yard of William Buckminster. Purcell, touring the area in 1981 while teaching a photography class in Rockport,
The Programs Perspective
A central part of the Island Institute’s mission since its inception twenty years ago has been to help improve communication and information sharing among members of island and coastal communities, researchers and policy makers. Towards this end, one of the Institute’s most important functions is also, in many ways, the most basic: we convene and
Maine, New Brunswick, and LNG
A familiar drama is playing itself out on the Maine coast this year, set in two different communities so far but possibly in others as the year goes on. The story, of course, is where (or if) to locate a liquified natural gas facility in a Maine port. So far we’ve heard from Harpswell, which
Crossman’s Politics
To the editor: You should consider enforcement of your op-ed policy. Phil Crossman’s political views have no particular relationship to island life that I can see and may not even represent a consensus of Vinalhaven’s caucus, for all we know. If you want to report on such events, then send a reporter. Tom and Sharon
Mallets Aforethought
Bantam Books 294 pp, $21.95 ($32.95 Canadian) Eastport’s most famous sleuth, Jacobia Tiptree, is once again on the trail of a cold-blooded murderer in Mallets Aforethought, the seventh mystery by Sarah Graves – who just keeps getting better and better. This time, tragedy strikes close to home as the husband of Tiptree’s best friend and
A Look Back at 20 Years of Island Journal
This summer the Island Institute will publish Holding Ground: The Best of Island Journal, 1984-2004. A look back at the Island Institute’s signature publication, this 270-page book will feature memorable articles, artwork and photography from the 20 volumes of Island Journal. Editors are Philip Conkling and David Platt; the designer is Paige Parker. Peter Ralston,
Peril at Sea
The U.S. Coast Guard faces some budget choices that would make even strong stomachs queasy. Newly burdened with Homeland Security duties but committed to maintaining its historic search-and-rescue role, the Coast Guard and its Congressional allies must choose between adapting its existing fleet to new conditions and – over a longer period of time –
An Answer About Keiko
To the editor: [re Colin Woodard’s column in the March WWF] I e-mailed American Humane Society, The Humane Society of the United States, the ABC/DOD indoor cat project, along with friends, fellow ministers, etc., to see if anyone knew about just what had happened to Keiko other then he had pneumonia… I received this response
A Feast of Lobster Books
The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean By Trevor Corson Harper Collins, 2004 The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier By Colin Woodard Viking Books, 2004 Not one but two very good new books on Maine lobsters. It’s like being
Changing Coast: At State Aquaculture Heaings, Questions are Often the Same
At an aquaculture lease hearing in Northport in February, a resident of Bayside angrily asked Joe Larrabee how he could get him to turn down the rock music Larrabee usually had blaring from his radio when he was working on his mussel raft 1,190 feet offshore. “Just ask,” answered Larrabee, who wasn’t aware that the