Stuff about me
My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.
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Category Archives: Education and Schools
Blacksmith fires up forge with UMaine students | Bangor Daily News
Metal began flaking off the glowing orange steel as it cooled. The student wrenched the bar sideways around a spiral jig until it faded to gray and creaked in protest.
“Cool,” said Hannah Grenier, 22, of Oxford Hills, as she walked back to the forge with a half-completed steel spiral.
“She thinks it’s cool,” said blacksmith Robert Adams, 75, of Winterport. “The end result will be cool. For now, it’s hot.”
University of Maine sculpture students and passersby gathered around a forge and three anvils Sept. 17 as guest artisan Adams led a blacksmith workshop on the creation of steel crosses and spirals he refers to as scrolls. They set up shop by the sculpture building in the Collins Center of the Arts parking lot.
As he instructed Grenier in completing her scroll, he asked for another volunteer to start heating metal in the forge.
“I like them to make stuff,” Adams said. “That’s how you remember.”
Click for the rest of the story by Aislinn Sarnacki in the Bangor Daily News.
Foliage Report for Sept. 22 | Maine.gov
Foliage Report for Sept. 22 | Maine.gov
Maine foilage map for Sept. 22.
Thousands of toy cars yield thousands of kid smiles | Bangor Daily News
Most people’s basements are packed full. Old family photographs, records, furniture, you name it. But Tom Christensen’s basement is full of cars. Often as many as 5,000 at a time.
The handmade wooden cars Christensen assembles in his basement workshop are donated to children in hospitals and homeless shelters, or those with parents in the military or in prison.
“It’s all about making some kids happy,” Christensen says. “There are a lot of kids in tough situations that they didn’t cause. It gives them a time to step out of their problem for a while. Some kids just need to know somebody cares about them.”
The project began in 2007 when the University of Maine professor of electrical engineering technology saw an article in Workbench magazine. It was about the ToyMakers, a Florida organization that provides free wooden toys to children in need.
Christensen founded the ToyMakers of Bangor, and at first, he spent up to an hour and a half creating each car as a custom-painted work of art.
Click here for the rest of the story by Kathleen MacFarline in the Bangor Daily News.
Komen Race for the Cure draws 5,000 to Bangor | Bangor Daily News
Posted in Education and Schools, Maine
Tagged “Mount Katatas”, Bangor, breast cancer, breast exams, fundraiser, Maine, mammograms, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, walk
Light show: Open Lighthouse Day offers rare chance to peek inside the towers, keepers’ houses at 25 of Maine’s lighthouses | Portland Press Herald
Living in Maine and never climbing a lighthouse is kind of like living in South Dakota and never seeing Mount Rushmore, or visiting Memphis and skipping the tour of Graceland.
You know you should do it, but somehow you just never get around to actually going.
Well, here’s your chance. On Saturday, 25 ocean, river and island lighthouses throughout Maine will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Some of these lighthouses aren’t normally open to the public, so this is a rare chance to peek inside their light towers and keepers’ houses.
Even if you’ve been to Portland Head Light a million times with visiting relatives, during Open Lighthouse Day, you’ll be able to climb the tower, which is usually closed.
“At the 25 sites that are going to be open, there will be people there staffing, and many of them will have guided tours,” said Bob Trapani Jr., executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation in Rockland, which is sponsoring the day along with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maine Office of Tourism. “It’s an educational opportunity, not just a chance to climb.”
Click here for the rest of the story by Meredith Goad in the Portland Press Herald.
For more info and a complete list and map of lighthouses that will be open for Open Lighthouse Day, http://lighthousefoundation.org/ or www.lighthouseday.com.
Portland joins list of top college cities | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Portland joins list of top college cities | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
THE TOP 20
Top 20 best small cities for college students to live:
1. Boulder, Colo.
2. Ann Arbor, Mich.
3. Bridgeport, Conn.
4. Trenton-Ewing, N.J.
5. Gainesville, Fla.
6. Madison, Wis.
7. Durham, N.C.
8. Santa Cruz, Calif.
9. Honolulu, Hawaii
10. Fort Collins, Colo.
11. Santa Barbara, Calif.
12. New Haven, Conn.
13. Lincoln, Neb.
14. Albany, N.Y.
15. San Luis Obispo, Calif.
16. Naples, Fla.
17. Manchester, N.H.
18. Oxnard, Calif.
19. Santa Rosa, Calif.
20. PORTLAND, MAINE
Spreading the word about Lyme disease in Maine: New nonprofit wants to educate the public, help to prevent cases of Lyme disease in Maine | Portland Press Herald
With cases of Lyme disease on the rise in Maine, a new nonprofit organization has a mission to educate the public and raise awareness about the tick-borne health hazard.
MaineLyme was officially announced by its board of directors Sept. 1. Its mission is to decrease the prevalence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses through awareness, prevention, education and advocacy.
In 2008, 908 cases of Lyme disease were reported, a 72 percent increase over 2007, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of cases rose again in 2009, with 929 reported, most of them in Cumberland and York counties. A fact sheet compiled by the Maine Lyme Working Group said these numbers may be underestimated by a factor of 10.
“We’ve been working hard in the past six months with that … in mind,” said board secretary Barb Maurais.
Click for the rest of the story by Emma Bouthillette in the Portland Press Herald.
Fighting Lyme Disease
Follow the organization on Facebook by searching “MaineLyme Nonprofit.” To donate to the educational efforts, mail checks to MaineLyme, P.O. Box 8533, Portland, ME, 04104-8533.
Where are ticks found?
In every county in Maine and both urban and rural communities. However, people should be especially careful when in the following areas:
• Wooded, forested sites.
• Wild, unmaintained landscapes with tall grass.
• Brush or leaf piles.
Nemitz: Revolutionary idea triumphs over skeptics | Portland Press Herald
The e-mail landed recently in the inbox of former Maine Gov. Angus King.
It came from Jeff Mao, the state’s director of learning technology policy. He wrote to tell King that two old computers from Maine’s school laptop program – an iBook G3 from 2002 and a G4 circa 2006 – had just been “enthusiastically” accepted by the Maine State Museum as part of its permanent collection.
“I think this means we’ve all officially made history!” wrote Mao.
Indeed.
Ten years ago at this time, a task force appointed by King had just begun to get its collective head around what was a radical concept in public education: Provide each student and teacher from seventh grade on up with their own laptop computer and – voila! – watch Maine’s horizons expand.
Thanks to a $50 million surplus in the state’s general fund, the money was there.
Still, it was by no means an easy sell. the time the dust settled, the Legislature agreed only to fund laptops for seventh- and eighth-graders and deal with the high schools another day.
“I remember one legislator telling me at the time, ‘In my district, I’ve never seen an issue that stirred up this much controversy – on both sides,’” King said with a chuckle last week. “He said this is abortion, gay rights and clear-cutting, all rolled into one.”
Click for the rest of this column by Bill Nemitz in the Portland Press Herald.
Maine’s Open Lighthouse Day is Sept. 18
Posted in Economy, Education and Schools, Maine, Outdoors
Tagged coast, lighthouses, Maine, Portland Head Light
Crops early, plentiful: ‘It’s excellent for farmers’ | Lewiston Sun Journal
Crops early, plentiful: ‘It’s excellent for farmers’ | Lewiston Sun Journal
Camp!/Swim!/Hike! | DownEast.com
When Maine’s state park system was created by the legislature in 1935, it consisted of a single area of land. Since then, it has grown to more than forty diverse properties, from ocean and lake beaches to picnic areas and campgrounds to trail-laced mountains and lush forests. To celebrate the state parks’ seventy-fifth anniversary and to guide you to the place that suits your mood, here’s a play list — play as in walk, boat, swim, and splash. These suggestions are somewhat whimsical. Most parks are, after all, destinations for many different kinds of activities, not just the ones highlighted here. Find out more about an individual park’s natural features and facilities at the Maine Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands Web site, www.maine.gov/doc/parks, or call the bureau at 207-287-3821 and ask for a brochure.
Click for the rest of this piece by Virginia Wright in Down East Magazine.
Posted in Education and Schools, Environment, Maine history, Outdoors, Politics and government
Tagged Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Aroostook State Park, Baxter State Park, Baxter State Park Authority, boating, Bureau of Parks and Lands, Camden Hills State Park, camping, canoeing, Crescent Beach State Park, hiking, Maine Department of Conservation, Popham Beach State Park, Rangeley Lake State Park, sailing, Sebago Lake State Park, swimming, Two Lights State Park
Letters From Away 