December 2011

Aroostook • hancock • knox • penobscot • piscataquis • somerset • Waldo • Washington

business I lifestyle

opinion

$5.95 D e c e m b e r 2011 $ 6 . 9 5 i n c a n a da

2005

Eddie Driscoll

2006

Cancer Courage

2007

Earl’s Debut

2008

Fish & Faircloth

2009

Jamie Wyeth

Plus: Holiday events you don’t want to miss

Metro Goes Retro You asked for it: We’re going back to the best with our most popular articles!

contents

4

December 2011

Back to the

Talk of the Towns

Best

featuring your favorite Previously published articles

BUSINESS 8 executive portrait EMMC’s first cardiac surgeon Robert Clough still marvels at the human heart. From September 2007

10 They make island calls MDI Hospital teams up with Sea Coast Mission to bring health care by boat.

From August 2007

12 Eddie driscoll Bangor’s TV funnyman is still King of Comedy in the eyes of many. From August 2005

LIFESTYLE 20 A Journey Called Cancer Three remarkable cancer

12

survivors share their stories. From December 2006

28 Jamie Wyeth What’s this famous artist like? Wise,

Eddie Driscoll

winsome and funny, for starters. From June 2009

44 FOOD FILE Elaine Tucker’s gingerbread cookies are a feast for the eyes. From December 2010

48 Earl Hornswaggle Remember when Earl was a mere 121 years old? From April 2007

OPINION

10

54 Soapbox Derby Fish and Faircloth get personal with a tribute to their political mentors.

From March 2008

Metro Health

56 Maine Woods and waters Oh no! Moose on

Photo top courtesy of sarah parcak; center left courtesy of maine sea coast mission; center right courtesy of wlbz

the loose! From May 2007

IN EVERY ISsue 4 Talk of the Towns Three Bangor babies grow up and make it big.

6 Biz Buzz People and places on the move.

36 what’s happening Planning your holiday season was never easier.

50 POEM Litany for Jay - From May 2008 51 Perspectives B&W gold by Leslie Bowman, founding photography editor. From June 2005

44

food file

57 savvy seniors How to combat identity theft.

64 Last Word Each of us must do what we can.

From August 2006 december 2011 Bangor Metro 1

editor’s note www.bangormetro.com

T

he time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a magical time of year.

All over the country, people dream

of having the kind of white Christmas we take for granted here in Maine. During the holidays people don’t care so much about the snow—it’s new and they’re not sick of it yet.

Heck, I’m more than a little excited to try out my new snowblower. I wonder how quick that excitement will wear off…

This holiday season is a special one for my family. I married Shane Perry this past September and 2011 will be the first Christmas we share as husband and wife. We also have a new little one to celebrate with. My sister, Jennifer, had a daughter, Violet Anne, in October. My four-year-old niece finally has the little sister she’s been talking about for months and months.

The end of the year is a time of reflection and celebration—and that goes for the Bangor Metro family as well. Each December for the past five years we’ve taken a look back at our favorite stories and photos from the previous year and revisited them.

This year we’re going further. We’re actually reprinting our favorite stories from the previous six years in the pages of the magazine.

One Cumberland Place, Suite 316 Bangor, Maine 04401 Phone: 207.941.1300 Email: info@bangormetro.com PUBLISHER

Mark T. Wellman FOUNDING EDITOR

Tori Britton EDITOR

Melanie Brooks ART DIRECTOR

Sandy Flewelling CONSULTING EDITORS

Annaliese Jakimides Henry Garfield PHOTOGRAPHY

Shane Leonard Leslie Bowman PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Ashley Ray CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Craig Idlebrook, Joy Hollowell, Gillian Hall Brad Eden, Mark Ricketts, Carrie Jones Scott K Fish, Carol Higgins Taylor

Loyal readers will flip through this issue and smile, remembering the touching

SALES DIRECTOR

features from previous issues. New readers will get a chance to see some of the best

Christine Parker

writing and photography we’ve ever published. With such a busy

AD SALES CONSULTANT

year behind us, this Metro Goes Retro issue gives us a chance

Christie Spearen

to pause and celebrate, looking back at where we’ve come

SUBSCRIPTIONS

from while pointing us towards the future at the same

12 issues $24.95 online, by phone or mail

time.

Bangor Metro is published by Webster Atlantic Corp. Inquiries and suggestions via our website, www.bangormetro.com, are welcome and encouraged. Letters to the editor, story suggestions, and other reader input will be subject to Bangor Metro’s unrestricted right to edit and publish in the magazine or on the web. Please address written correspondence to One Cumberland Place, Suite 316, Bangor, ME 04401. For advertising questions, please call Christine Parker, Sales Director, at 207.941.1300 ext.

113. Bangor Metro is mailed at standard rates in Bangor, Maine.

Newsstand Cover Date: December 2011, published November 10, Vol. 7, No. 11, copyright 2011, issue No. 66. Advertisers and event sponsors or their agents are responsible for copyrights and accuracy of all material they submit.

So make yourself a hot cup of cocoa, coffee, or cider, find a cozy blanket, and snuggle up with our December issue. We promise this trip down memory lane will be well worth it.

Melanie Brooks editor

the Bangor metro

ADDRESS CHANGES: To ensure delivery, subscribers must notify the magazine of address changes one month in advance of cover date.

Opinions expressed do not represent editorial positions of Bangor Metro. Nothing in this issue may be copied or reprinted without written permission from the publisher. Bangor Metro is published 12 times annually. To subscribe, call 941-1300 or visit www.bangormetro.com.

Cover photo: WLBZ-TV

2 Bangor Metro december 2011

contributors Anne Gabbianelli O’Reilly Anne Gabbianelli O’Reilly of Hampden has shared her stories with Bangor Metro readers since the magazine debuted. She has been published nationally in print and each day puts her broadcast journalistic skills to work by giving radio listeners indepth news coverage from eastern, central, and northern Maine as news director of the Zone Corporation in Bangor.

Henry Garfield Henry Garfield has been penning features for Bangor Metro since 2006. He’s also published five novels, and teaches writing part-time at the University of Maine. His historical novel, The Lost Voyage of John Cabot, was a Publishers Weekly Editor’s Pick in 2004. He is also a regular contributor to Maine Ahead magazine and teaches journalism at the University of Maine. His greatgreat-grandfather was James A. Garfield, the twentieth U.S. President.

Carol Higgins Taylor Carol Higgins Taylor has been director of communications at Eastern Area Agency on Aging since 2000. She is the host of Senior Talk on WVOM-FM and writes a column for several local weekly newspapers as well the feature and senior profile in our Savvy Seniors section.

Leslie Bowman Leslie Bowman served as Bangor Metro’s founding photography editor from 2005–2010, where she was responsible for much of the visual excitement inside each issue of Bangor Metro through her photographs, illustrations, and digital imaging prowess. See more of her recent work at www.bowmanstudio.net

december 2011 Bangor Metro 3

talk of the towns

Every smart, curious kid needs a hero. Now budding explorers across the region can look to Bangor-born Egyptologist Sarah Parcak for inspiration.

The 32-year-old daughter of John and Marge Parcak is turning heads all over the scientific world with her recent archeological discoveries across Egypt.

By combining NASA satellite imagery with infrared and microwave technology, Parcak is now able to detect the outlines of clay walls and other structures in buried cities. Across Egypt, Parcak has found 17 lost pyramids and more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements.

Parcak, a 1997 graduate of Bangor High School, got the idea for using satellite imagery to find archeological sites from the work of her grandfather, Harold

bangor

4 Bangor Metro december 2011

Young. A forester and college professor, Young pioneered the use of aerial photography in guiding forestry management while working for J. W. Sewell in Old Town in the 1960s.

Parcak, a graduate of Yale and Cambridge Universities, is an associate professor at the University of Alabama and the star of a recent BBC documentary called “Egypt: What Lies Beneath,” which aired on the Discovery Channel in October. She is now working with the BBC on another show using satellite imagery, this time on the Roman Empire. Parcak has also recently been named a TED Fellow.

While her father, John, likes touting his daughter’s discoveries, he says her achievements are all her own. “Other than taking her to soccer practice,” he says, “I can’t take much credit.”

Photo courtesy of sarah parcak/university of alabama

Finding Buried Treasure

Top Brass When John J. Mooney III was attending Bangor High School during the Vietnam War, he had to attend compulsory ROTC. He hated it.

Mooney apparently learned to love the military, because he has been literally moving up the ranks since his 1977 UMaine graduation. Early this year, Mooney was promoted to brigadier general commander of the 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

The wing’s primary mission is to train and employ the B-52 in combat. Brigadier General Mooney, a command navigator, has proven his mettle with 5,442 flight hours in the B-52. Mooney also served in the first Gulf War, and flew on the first bombing mission in Iraq in 1991, as well as serving in Afghanistan. Over the years, he’s earned well over a dozen medals and awards.

His proud papa and former mayor of Bangor, John J. Mooney Sr., remembers the days when his son had long hair, while a student at the University of Maine. “Now,” he says, “he gets a hair cut every week. “Jeff Malloy

bangor

PhotoS right courtesy of paramount pictures and columbia pictures; top: courtesy of John J. Mooney III

Mainer Makes Movie Magic Eric Saindon is the visual effects supervisor behind 3-D animation breakthroughs such as Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and the forthcoming Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson movie The Adventures of TinTin. Born in Bangor, Saindon spent part of his childhood in Glenburn, studied architecture at Washington State University, and was recruited by Weta Digital in Wellington, New Zealand, to help create the magic behind the Lord of the RIngs, making a name for himself with the groundbreaking work he and his team did on the character Gollum.

The work Saindon does is painstaking to say the least. As part of a Weta Digital team of nearly 1,000 who worked on Avatar, Saindon supervised 800 shots. It took three years. Just rendering the movie files, he told 207 TV host Rob Coldwell, required 10,000 computers working for full three years to process the complex digital files.

Weta’s latest magnus opus, The Adventures of TinTin, will will be in theaters in late December.

Glenburn

December 2011 Bangor Metro 5

business l on the move

biz buzz Grants

accessible information source about the laboratory mouse. www.jax.org

COMMUNITY HOUSING OF MAINE was

recently granted $10,000 from People’s United Community Foundation to put towards the renovation of Maine Hall at the former Bangor Theological Seminary.

The 1834 historic Bangor landmark has been transformed into 28 rental units for senior citizens. www.chomhousing.org BROWNIE CARSON of Bangor has been

awarded the 2011 NRCM Envrionmental Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Carson worked for NRCM for 27 years. www.nrcm.org THE JACKSON LABORATORY in Bar Harbor has been given a five year, $24,619,822 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The funding will provide ongoing support for the Mouse Genome Database, the world’s largest publically

On the Move DALLAS MARQUIS, PA-C, has joined the medical staff of Penobscot Community Health Center in Bangor. A Millinocket native, Marquis’s practice will focus on all aspects of family medical care. www.pchc.com JOHN QUESNEL is the new

vice president in business banking at People’s United Bank on Main Street in Bangor. Since moving to Maine in 2001, Quesnel has worked at Camden National and The First, N.A. in their special asset areas. He lives in Hampden with his wife, Bonnie, and their daughter, Samantha. www.peoples.com

SHEILA BRIJADE, DDS, MS, has joined the Dental Center at Penobscot Community Health Care’s Bangor office.

Brijade specializes in pediatric dentistry and has over five years of experience prior to joining PCHC. www.pchc.com JON EAMES has taken over leadership of

N.H. Bragg & Sons after the retirement of JOHN W. BRAGG. Eames is a member of

the sixth generation of the family-owned company and has been working for the company for over 30 years. Bragg will serve as chairman of the board and continue to be actively involved in the Bangor community. www.nhbragg.com Barbara A. Hocking has been selected as

the new chief nursing officer at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth.

She recently worked as the chief nursing officer and chief operating officer in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. www.mainehospital.org

Good Help Is Hard to Find.

Except when it comes to hiring an attorney.

Rudman Winchell attorneys are among the most respected in Maine.

Our depth of experience uniquely positions us to understand the complex legal challenges you face. Rudman Winchell’s 32 attorneys deliver pragmatic, cost-effective solutions and positive results.

Experience. Expertise. Excellence.

84 Harlow Street P.O. Box 1401 Bangor, Maine 04402-1401 (207) 947.4501 Fax: (207) 941.9715

6 Bangor Metro december 2011

www.rudmanwinchell.com

business l executive portrait

Previously published in september 2005

Back to the

Best

Bypassing Thousands Where can a medical pioneer, a caring physician, and an avid fly-fisherman all happily dwell? Right here in the heart of Maine.

H

eart surgeon Robert Clough has a sizeable fan club in these parts. Here’s a recent encounter: Dr. Clough is in Calais, on his way to Canada to go fly-fishing. A local gentleman approaches him. “You’re Dr. Clough, aren’t you?” he says. “You gave me five bypasses!” The man lifts up his shirt to show his scarred chest as proof. Dr. Clough shakes his patient’s hand and asks him how he’s feeling. “Well, I just put up 16 cord of wood this weekend,” he replies.

“What does that tell you?”

With 10,100-plus heart surgeries since Eastern Maine Medical Center’s cardiac surgery program debuted in 1987, Dr. Clough is hailed by appreciative patients often. And he loves every minute of it. “This kind of thing would never happen if I’d ended up in Boston,” he says. “It’s one reason why it’s so nice to be in Bangor, Maine.”

When Clough was recruited to help found the area’s first cardiac surgery program, about 200 area patients a year needed heart surgery. “The closest place to have it done was Portland, although patients were sometimes sent to Boston and Cleveland,” he says. Clough, who had been living in Texas, jumped at the chance to help design the new operating facility, write the protocols, and even train the operating room staff. “With all the support I had, there was no excuse for failure.” He performed EMMC’s first cardiac surgery, a 8 Bangor Metro december 2011

triple bypass, on July 22, 1987, on a man named Lee Turner, from Shirley Mills.

“Someone asked Lee if he was nervous about being the f i r s t p a t i e n t ,” C l o u g h remembers, “and Lee said, ‘No—if they really thought I wa s goi ng to d ie, t he y wouldn’t operate on me first.’” EMMC’s first cardiac surgery patient not only recovered nicely from his triple bypass, but he’s still doing well, 18 years later.

T he long-ter m success of E aster n Maine’s cardiac program has been as effective as Lee Tur ner’s surger y. Clough believes this is due, in part, to a groundbreaking organization called the Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group. Comprised of all eight heart centers throughout Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the members have been pooling data, designing improvements, and visiting each other’s facilities since ‘87.

“When we started out, the places with poorer outcomes thought it was because their patients were sicker,” he says. But as the group continued to share best practices, they all became equally successful. “Today, there’s no difference statistically between any of the members,” Clough says. These same NNECDSG hospitals, he says, are also “the best places in the United States to have bypass surgery.” The experience taught him

that “competition might be good for bringing down the price of shoes or cars or plasma TVs, but in medicine, cooperation is what is good for patients.”

So is gratitude. For the vast majority of cardiac patients who come through their surgeries successfully, life is no longer something they take for granted. Over the years, many have shared their gratitude with Clough. The office waiting room shows off a cross-country skiing trophy won by a patient after her EMMC bypass surgery. Other patients have given Clough paintings, handmade heirlooms, a Passamaquoddy good luck charm. But the best rewards are intrinsic. “If I had gone to Milwaukee, I would have been the 49th cardiac surgeon on staff,” he says. “Here, I feel I’ve made a difference. I feel very lucky.”

So do his patients.

Editor’s update: Heart Center surgeons and cardiologists now perform over 53,845 cardiac procedures and tests each year at EMMC. Lee Turner, the center’s f irst cardiac surgery patient, died in March 2010 at age 88.

Please join us for

AN EVENING OUT WITH

PATAWA

Tickets must be reserved by November 5th For more information or to reserve your tickets today visit us at www.facebook.com/patawaclub

Proceeds benefit

Spruce Run & PATAWA Charities

December 2011 Bangor Metro 9

business | metro health

Previously published in august 2007

Back to the

Best

For Maine island dwellers, checkups can be tough when the doc is a ferry ride away.

Thanks to the Sunbeam, quality health care comes in with the tide twice a month.

by Melanie Brooks

B

ecky Lenfestey has lived in Frenchboro for the past eight years. A mother of three young boys, she will be the first one to tell you how hard it is to get to the mainland for a routine doctor’s appointment.

The car ferry service to Bass Harbor, she explains, is restricted to one round-trip each Wednesday, Thursday, and twice on Sunday, a 50-minute trip each way. Even with a perfectly timed appointment on the mainland, Lenfestey says, “anything would be an overnight trip.” With her oldest son in school, seeing a physician on the mainland also means pulling him out of school.

“Two days of missing school for a regular doctor’s appointment is too much.”

10 Bangor Metro december 2011

Luckily for her and the other 3,000 people scattered across the outer islands in the Downeast area, they don’t have to see a “regular” doctor to stay healthy. Twice a month, their medical care comes to them— aboa rd a h igh-tec h boat ca l led t he Sunbeam.

For the past six years, the Maine Sea Coast Mission and Mount Desert Island Hospital have offered telemedicine services aboard the Sunbeam to island residents of Frenchboro, Matinicus, Swan’s Island, and Isle au Haut. Mission nurse Sharon Daley, who lives in Islesboro, travels to each island aboard the Sunbeam. The vessel has an examination room equipped with a television and a camera, connecting Daley and her patients to an MDI Hospital physician on the mainland in real time through a high-speed ISDN line.

“I end up being the provider’s hands,” she says. After the initial checkup, Daley faxes her exam notes to an MDI Hospitalaffiliated physician prior to their videoconference. Daley often works with Julian Kuffler, MD, and Linda Maxwell, a physician’s assistant, both from the Community Health Center in Southwest Harbor.

The boat is equipped to travel in

inclement weather and even serves as the icebreaker for the ports on the islands. It takes three people to run the Sunbeam.

Mike Johnson is the captain, Storey King is the engineer/deckhand, and Felicia Brand is the steward and backup deckhand. All three have a 100-ton master license.

Beyond their able seamen, Daley and Dr. Kuffler consider the camera scope one of their best assets. Daley uses it to take close-up photos of a patient’s sore throat, rash, or other ailment. The photos are then magnified on the screen for Kuffler. “It’s actually bigger than what I get to see in person,” he says. The photo is so detailed that a couple of years ago the duo successfully diagnosed skin cancer from the photograph of a suspicious mole.

“It took getting used to,” Kuffler admits.

But now he finds working remotely with Daley and his patients on the Sunbeam “a great, private way to deliver care.”

Becky Lenfestey’s three boys love the Sunbeam. “They know it’s pretty neat and Sharon always shows them the technology.

It’s a great learning experience for them,” she says. “I don’t know what we would do without it.”

Besides providing regular doctor visits

photos courtesy of maine sea coast mission

Health Care That Floats

for patients of all ages, the Sunbeam also offers counseling and educational services to island residents. People can meet with a psychiatrist in the privacy of the exam room or can go to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting without setting foot on the mainland.

Gary Delong, director of the Sea Coast Mission, remembers a new mother going through postpartum depression on one of the islands. Daley set her up with a doctor on the mainland who provided counseling sessions twice a month for six months. She told Delong that the telemedicine program saved her life. “Because of her economic and logistical issues she couldn’t take her kids to the mainland overnight for these appointments,” he says. “She couldn’t have gotten that quality access without the boat. That’s what it’s all about.”

The Mission is now working with two area dental hygienists, Alicia Woodward and Monica Jones, who are earning their bachelor’s degrees at the University of Maine, Orono. The women offer free screenings, cleanings, and sealants to the children on Swan’s Island, Frenchboro, and Isle au Haut. The Mission is hopeful that these services will be available to adults in the future.

Funded primarily by individuals and foundations, the telemedicine program is one of the reasons MDI Hospital was named the Outstanding Rural Health Organization of the Year by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) in May. The Sea Coast Mission and MDI Hospital have also collaborated on a grant-funded program called Community Cares, which provides primary care and chronic-disease management to uninsured and underinsured residents of the outer islands.

“We’re just scratching the surface of what you can do with telemedicine,” Kuffler says. In the future, the Sea Coast Mission and MDI Hospital plan to expand the educational component of their telemedicine program to help support the existing EMTs who live on the islands. “ Te le me d ic i ne is not t he way to practice all of your medicine,” Kuffler says, “but for these people it makes all sorts of sense.”

Nurse Sharon Daley checks her patient’s vitals aboard the Sunbeam.

The high-tech boat visits four islands biweekly.

Editor’s update: Gary DeLong retired from Maine Sea Coast Mission in 2010; Rev. Scott Planting is now its executive director.

Pat ricia Dutille is now the Sunbeam’s steward.

December 2011 Bangor Metro 11

Previously published in august 2005

Back to the

Best

Bangor’s King of Comedy When It Comes to Local TV Nostalgia, Eddie Driscoll Is Still Comedy Central.

by Anne Gabbianelli O’Reilly

T

here was a time when you would have thought Channel 2 in Bangor had an immense payroll, with the on-air talents of Lance Fleazy the Detective, Zog the Robot, Bruce Budworm, Krandel, Aunt Edna, Captain Salty, Mason Mutt, and a few dozen more. Thankfully for the owners, just one paycheck took care of them all: It went to Eddie Driscoll.

Any central-Mainer with access to a TV set from the ’50s to the ’80s remembers the comic talents of Driscoll. His shows on WLBZ 2, like Dialing for Dollars, My Backyard, The Great Money Movie, Weird, and dozens more, were as much a part of our regional culture as pulp trucks, basketball tourneys, and lobster feeds. And in the ’70s, when Bangor’s three TV stations were the only U.S. cable signals that reached Atlantic Canada, our neighbors in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia joined the fan club.

For those who never had the privilege of watching Eddie Driscoll on T V, the mystique is hard to explain. On his daily show Dialing for Dollars, for instance, Driscoll would call people out of the phone

12 Bangor Metro December 2011

Right: Members of Eddie Driscoll’s “fan club “at his 1987 retirement gala: (left to right) Mary Thompson, Ruby Driscoll, Eddie Driscoll, Fred Thompson, and Margo Cobb. Below: One of Driscoll’s zany TV characters.

carriagepeople roads l lifestyle

above: Scott Haskell, Bangor Daily News ; Left: Courtesy of Ruby Driscoll

december 2011 Bangor Metro 13

14 Bangor Metro December 2011

Above: A few of the many faces of Eddie Driscoll, a member of the Maine Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Below: Driscoll smiles for the crowd at a holiday parade with My Backyard sidekick, Mason Mutt.

Top far left trio and bottom photos: Courtesy of WLBZ 2 and Ruby Driscoll; Top right: Ed Fowler

book and give away paltry cash prizes to anyone who knew the “count” and the “amount.” The magic of the show was clearly not in programming; it was in listening to Driscoll’s half of the conversation.

Driscoll would carry on zany banter with winners, joke with losers, and keep track of the phone’s rings with his signature “one ringy-dingy . . . two ringy-dingies.” What could have been a broadcast sleeper was, thanks to Eddie Driscoll, a consistent ratings hog for over a decade.

WCSH-TV personality Bill Green began his broadcast career working as Driscoll’s cameraman for Dialing for Dollars and My Backyard, a children’s show featuring Driscoll’s interactions with a puppet named Mason Mutt. Green is blunt in his praise of Eddie Driscoll: “He is the most brilliant person I ever worked with.”

Green once witnessed Driscoll “trading one-liners” with legendary comedian Milton Berle at Lakewood Theatre. “Eddie was funnier, by far,” Green said in an interview in www.aroundmaine.com.

“Here’s the ‘King of TV’ [Milton Berle] and he’s getting his butt kicked by Eddie Driscoll.” Margo Cobb, retired general manager of WLBZ 2, agrees. “If he had someone who could have managed him and got him to New York, who knows what would have happened!”

Driscoll’s life in broadcasting began after returning from his stint in the Navy. Driscoll was studying art in Boston through the GI bill when he met his future wife, Ruby. “I told him we couldn’t get serious until he got a job,” Ruby says. “So my uncle got him in at Eastern [Fine Paper].” Once the newlyweds moved to Maine, Driscoll joined the Brewer VFW, where he started doing minstrel shows. Word got around about Driscoll’s onstage antics, and he was invited to appear on the Hal Shaw Show on what was then Bangor’s only TV station, WABI. Ed Fowler, a longtime colleague at WLBZ, remembers, “Eddie started miming records while on the air, and it got everyone’s attention.”

Soon afterwards, the newly built Channel 2 had an ad in the

paper for an announcer, and in the summer of 1954, owner Murray Carpenter hired Eddie Driscoll. He went on to work at the station for 33 years.

As the second T V station in the market, Channel 2 didn’t have access to network programming, so Driscoll took it upon himself to fill in the gaps, creating live shows, doing commercials, even designing the costumes and sets with the help of Roy Dunphy. There was only one thing Driscoll couldn’t do: stay serious for very long.

“Eddie was a complete nut,” Margo Cobb says. “He became a hit immediately.”

Cobb, like Driscoll, was at Channel 2 from the day the station opened. “For a guy who was very insecure inside as a person, he had very little restrictions on camera.”

It’s a good thing, because the station had a lot of airtime to fill. When Cobb and Driscoll started, the station, then WTWO, didn’t begin its broadcast day until 4 p.m.

people l lifestyle

But the industry quickly blossomed, and soon Channel 2 had changed its call letters to W LBZ and initiated all- day local programming. Driscoll came up with the show Coffee Time from 7 to 9 a.m. “He’d read news and interview people, badly,” chuck les Cobb. “But he was a lways entertaining.”

The more hours on the air, the more stunts Driscoll would come up with.

Driscoll dreamed up children’s shows like King Fun, Toby Time, and Tiddly Wink Championship. Ed Fowler recalls how Driscoll “coerced us into being part of the act,” building sets and playing characters.

Paul Salisbury, veteran photojournalist at Channel 2, was also a frequent Driscoll

Eddie was a complete nut.

He became a hit immediately. —Margo Cobb prop. Once Salisbury got stuck in full makeup while out to dinner “because Eddie forgot to pack the cold cream,” Salisbury says. “I sat at that restaurant looking like a girl, while Eddie just laughed, probably getting more ideas for more skits.”

Eddie Driscoll was also famous—or infamous—for lacing his skits with special effects. During a sketch where Driscoll was playing his character Chef Edwardo, he rigged a cake with explosives. “He waved his arms, said ‘open sesame,’ and the whole thing just blew,” Salisbury says. “When the camera finally got situated back on the air again, all you could see was frosting everywhere.” Recently, Salisbury was up near the ceiling in the TV studio and found some sugary remnants of that grand moment in history.

Driscoll’s lightning wit and spontaneity, though admired by thousands, sometimes got him in trouble. “He could have used a censor,” Cobb admits. “Eddie could get naughty sometimes.”

Bangor native Hal Wheeler remembers the day Driscoll pulled a name for his daily call trying to give away money on Dialing for Dollars. “He drew a name for the next telephone call, which turned out to be ‘Percy Pease.’ After reading the name on the air, Eddie innocently looked into the camera and said, ‘Doesn’t everybody?’” december 2011 Bangor Metro 15

Above: Eddie Driscoll’s character Krandel, host of Weird, is said to have helped inspire the work of novelist Stephen King. Above right: Dialing for Dollars had a slew of followers on both sides of the border, as did The Great Money Movie (bottom left), a series of movies spiced up by Driscoll’s comedic commentary, public service announcements, and prize drawings.

Ruby Driscoll speaks about her husband with a mixture of past and present tense because, while he is still living, Eddie Driscoll has Alzheimer’s disease. Though she visits her husband nearly every day, he no longer recognizes her and can no longer speak.

“When you see Alzheimer’s take away a wonderful mind like Eddie’s,” she says, “you understand what a terrible disease it is.”

Ruby volunteers at the Alzheimer’s support group at the Barron Center in Portland, where her husband is cared for. “I don’t feel sorry for myself,” she says. “One of the ways I cope is by being there for others.”

When Driscoll retired from WLBZ 2 in 1987 at the age of 62, he had been showing signs of Alzheimer’s. But that didn’t dampen his retirement celebration: Over 150 guests attended a “roast” for Driscoll at Pilot’s Grill, featuring video greetings by Governor McKernan, Sen. Bill Cohen, and author Stephen King.

King, it is said, was a particular fan of the show Weird, which aired “B” horror movies late on Saturday nights. The show was hosted by a three-eyed creature named Krandel, played, of course,

by Driscoll. In King’s video message at Driscoll’s retirement party, the author claimed Eddie Driscoll had “warped his childhood”— an event millions of King fans undoubtedly appreciate.

Last year, when WLBZ 2 held its 50th anniversary open house, Eddie Driscoll, 13 years after retirement, was still the number one topic of conversation.

Eddie Driscoll turned 80 in June, and though his Alzheimer’s doesn’t allow him to remember the fun times he had and the fun times he created for viewers, thousands of us from Rockland to Moncton will never forget the skits, shtick, antics, and pure joy that took over the airwaves.

For us, the most ingenious game shows still don’t compare with Dialing for Dollars, and public service announcements have never been the same without Eddie Driscoll there to “Put ’em on foh yah.”

Editor’s update: Eddie Driscoll passed away in September of 2006; the outpouring from fans was tremendous.

16 Bangor Metro December 2011

photos: courtesy of wlbz 2 and ruby driscoll

Then there was the New Year’s Eve of 1966, when Driscoll walked onto the set, wearing only a diaper.

“People loved Eddie, but the management would cringe because you never knew what he was going to do or say,” Ed Fowler recalls. Management meetings turned out to be Eddiecentered quite often. “There was a lot of talk about how this won’t happen again or that won’t happen again and about two weeks later, it would happen again. You couldn’t hold Eddie down.”

Despite management ’s concer n, viewers like Paula Newcomb of Hampden kept tuned in. “I’d have the TV on for the kids while I’d be in the kitchen,” reminisces Newcomb, “and I’d get such a chuckle out of the comments Eddie would make that went right over the kids’ heads— good thing, too!”

One person who was never shocked or surprised at what she saw or heard on the TV was Driscoll’s silent partner and wife, Ruby Driscoll. He bounced a lot of his ideas off of Ruby first. Ruby also sewed all the puppets that helped Driscoll read the weather or introduce a movie. On many evenings, while Eddie sat at the kitchen table sketching out a skit, Ruby would sew one of his trademark plaid jackets and/or a costume for Driscoll’s coworkers.

“Eddie was an artist,” Ruby says, “so he was always creating. To this day, my older grandchildren reminisce about going to the beach with him. He would always help the children see an animal in rock formations or the clouds in the sky.

That was Eddie, always entertaining.”

Why Canada Loved Eddie Once upon a time (1970–1990) Bangor TV had a significant international impact. In fact, for millions of Atlantic Canadians, Bangor, not Hollywood, was the capital of TV land. That’s because we were the only U.S. shows in town.

When cable first came to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the 1970s, only five English-speaking stations were offered; three of them came from a distant U.S. city called Bangor, Maine.

Bangor TV’s influence in Canada went beyond creating fans for Eddie Driscoll, Dick Stacey, Curly O’Brien, Bud Leavitt, and the rest of Bangor’s TV glitterati: It also created a lucrative new market for regional advertisers.

In a March 2001 article about ’70s TV, the Halifax Daily News recalls how “pilgrimages south across the bumpy Airline Route from Calais (pronounced ‘callous’), Maine, to Bangor became common when the TV audience was saturated with U.S. commercials.” One man remembered that “bus tours embarked for monster bingo games, and it seemed everyone went there on shopping excursions.”

Sadly, the cross-country TV tie was severed in 1990 when Atlantic Canada cable companies dropped Bangor cable for feeds from Detroit. While Canadian shoppers continue to be an important part of our regional economy, there have never been quite as many trips south as the days when our Canadian neighbors watched shows like Stacey’s Country Jamboree and My Backyard along with us.

Perhaps it’s time to revive the Bangor/ Atlantic Canada cable connection. It could be the best idea in Maine/Atlantic Canada relations since . . . since Eddie Driscoll.

december 2011 Bangor Metro 17

“People say life is a journey. But if you look up the origin of the word ‘journey,’ it is the distance you can travel in one day. Having a cancer diagnosis helps you appreciate the one day you know you have.”

—Bernie Dahl

“The doctors will give you treatment options, but they’re not going to tell you what to do.

You have to make that choice. They’re not going to make that decision for you, so you’d better do your research.”

—Roxanna Adams

20 Bangor Metro December 2011

profile l lifestyle

Back to the

Best

Previously published in december 2006

A Journey Called

Cancer —Michael Crowley

I

t’s the news no one ever wants to hear: You have cancer.

Roxanna Adams got the news that she had breast cancer nine years ago. The owner of Atlantic Awards, a trophy, awards, screenprinting, and specialty advertising business in Bangor, she went through a successful course of treatments, including a lumpectomy and radiation therapy.

Michael Crowley woke up with a lump on his neck two days before the 2004 American Folk Festival premiere, which he was chairing. He would go on to have radical neck surgery, following the discovery of a cancerous tumor in his parotid gland. Crowley is vice president for development of EMHS Healthcare Charities; previously, he served as a Bangor city councilman and mayor, and was executive director of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce.

Bernhoff A. Dahl, MD, was diagnosed with prostate cancer two summers ago. A consultant, author, speaker, mountaineer, and retired physician, Dahl was the cofounder of Dahl-Chase Pathology Associates and is owner of the Freedom Group of businesses, based in Winterport.

His recent book, Optimize Your Life, has been published in the U.S. and several foreign countries.

The three of them agreed to get together and share their experiences with Bangor Metro, and with each other.

Finding Out Roxanna Adams: I was diagnosed nine years ago in August after going in for a routine checkup. I got a call from my doctor’s office that they wanted to repeat my mammogram. They said something had showed up. It might be just a glitch, but they wanted to make sure. They said that 80% of the time, nothing’s wrong, and I knew right then. My family kept saying, “Stop, stop.” But I just knew that I was going to be in that 20%.

I was never angry. Stunned would be more accurate. When you get diagnosed, you feel like you’re hanging out there all by yourself. It doesn’t matter what kind of family or support system you have. It’s something you have to face within yourself, this insidious thing, that’s been growing in December 2011 Bangor Metro 21

photos: leslie bowman

“These are all life-threatening decisions, not whether or not to turn left and right at a stoplight, and they all had to be made within 45 days of diagnosis.

I told my doctor, ‘You map out a plan that’s the most aggressive plan possible. I don’t want to wish later I had tried something.’”

Thankfully, cancer is no longer always a death sentence. But it does seem to make the important things in life crystal clear.

Just ask these three survivors. by Henry Garfield

lifestyle l profile your body. I never called it “my cancer,” because I didn’t want to own it. I consider it a demon.

Michael Crowley: I had just finished six years of city council service. We had just completed the third year of the National Folk Festival and it was the first year of American Folk Festival, in August 2004. I was chair of the festival. On Wednesday, two days before it opened, I woke up and I had this plum-sized lump on the right side of my neck. It had appeared overnight.

I went to my primary care physician, and it was treated as a potentially blocked parotid gland. I was given antibiotics and sent home. In hindsight, I realize now that I was becoming very weak and tired. I was going home at noon and taking these sort of power naps, which I’d never done. I was having a hard time making it through the day, and I was sleeping much longer in the evening.

Nonetheless, I took the antibiotic, and went through the two and a half week regimen, and waited two more weeks. Then in late September I decided: This isn’t going away; I want it surgically removed. I was very naive. I may work in the healthcare environment, but I was extremely naive about what was happening to my body.

I went to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. He sent a sample to Dahl-Chase.

And we waited. When he gave me the results, he closed the door and said, “You have a rather serious situation.” It was Roxanna Adams is owner of Atlantic Awards, in Bangor. When diagnosed with breast cancer nine years ago, she wondered if she’d live to see her grandchildren.

22 Bangor Metro December 2011

surreal. It was almost an out-of-body experience. I was watching this guy—me—being told something, and I was observing it.

I left there and we nt bac k to my office, and closed the door, a nd had to reconcile myself with what was happening.

What was I going to do now? I decided I needed to rehearse telling someone Bernhoff Dahl, MD, made news when he was lost on Mt. Washington durabout this. I picked a ing a fast-moving snowstorm. Here he is revisiting the place where he was family member, my rescued. While Dahl has never been one to take life for granted, his 2004 prostate cancer diagnosis has strengthened his resolve to “seize the day.” brother. We’re close, but my family wouldn’t think that would be my first call, masked a significant amount of the mass. and he wouldn’t either. But he had been Part of it was obvious, but there was a diagnosed with cancer, he was in treat- much larger part inside.

It was determined that I needed to have ment, and I needed to tell someone who would be the least emotional about it. He radical neck surgery. I had a 25% chance of survival going into this. That’s what I was handled it well; I was the emotional one. told. The surgery could have been done

Bernie Dahl: I’d had a 16-year history of locally—my doctor and I decided to go to low white blood count. Over decades of someone who does this highly technical practice as a pathologist, I saw three cases surgical procedure on a weekly basis. I had of low white count that exploded into the good fortune of having the director of acute leukemia. So in the back of my mind otolaryngology at Lahey Clinic, Dr. Peter Catalano, perform the surgery. there was this idea I’d get acute leukemia.

These are all life-threatening decisions, About 12 years ago, I decided to enter a study at Mayo Clinic for prostate cancer. not whether or not to turn left and right at Turns out I had no free PSA. This was not a stoplight, and they all had to be made cancer, but it was a bad, ominous sign. As a within 45 days of diagnosis. I told my pathologist, I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds doctor, “You map out a plan that’s the of people with metastases. I thought: Why most aggressive plan possible. I don’t want am I going to be spared? I’m going to be one to wish later I had tried something.” of these people one of these days.

Even though I knew better, I got side- Bernie Dahl: As a pathologist I saw the bad tracked and didn’t keep track of the pros- cases, the dead people. I didn’t see the carcitate thing, and put off getting it checked. I nomas and leukemias and lymphomas that had a biopsy on the Thursday before Labor did well. I know every lab test that can be Day 2004. On Friday, the diagnosis comes done, and read every piece of research I can back from Dahl-Chase that “patient Dahl” get my hands on, so I’m the patient from hell. No physician wants to see me coming. has prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is not a rare disease.

Deciding What to Do One in every six men will get prostate Michael Crowley: A series of very rapid cancer. There are a lot of cases, so consedecisions had to be made. The cancer was quently there are a lot of studies. My uroloaggressive. I needed to have a tonsillec- g ist, Dr. Ram Rao, put me on three tomy immediately to determine where the “designer” drugs, a therapy plan, and he cancer was. The tonsils were clear, but the also pointed me toward the medical papers tumor was rather sizable. I’m 160 pounds of the people doing the research, the lighter today than I was then, so my body people I wanted to see.

Lower left: courtesy of Roxanna Adams; top left: courtesy of Bernhoff Dahl, MD.; Top Right: courtesy of Michael Crowley

A busy healthcare professional, Michael Crowley awoke one morning with a plum-sized lump on his neck and faced his most difficult “appointment” to date: taking care of himself.

I wanted surgery. Dr. Horst Zincke at Mayo Clinic said that with radical surgery followed by anti-testosterone therapy, I had an 80% chance of living 10 years. There are 50 oncologists in the country that do just prostate cancer, so I picked one that would still be alive and practicing 10 years from now, in Marina del Rey [California]. That’s my goal, to be here in 10 years.

Roxanna Adams: The doctors will give you treatment options, but they’re not going to tell you what to do. You have to make that choice. They’re not going to make that decision for you, so you’d better do your research.

This was nine years ago, but I was given some information that was 20 years old. I ended up giving my doctor some information. My husband, Ray, and I were basically left on our own to research our options. I used the Internet. You need to have as much information as you can.

Treatment Michael Crowley: The tissue that was removed was an inch in depth, four inches in width, and about a foot and a half long.

It ran from the side of my face, down my neck, and around and over my shoulder.

There was a 98% chance I would lose movement in the right side of my face, because the tumor was wrapped around nerves and facial muscles. Reconstructive surgery would be necessary as well.

When I came out of the surgery, my chances improved to 50-50. I found out over a three-week period that the facial December 2011 Bangor Metro 23

lifestyle l profile

Do you suffer from neck pain, mid back pain, lower

back pain or sciatica? Have you already received drug therapy, injection therapy, physical therapy or even surgery?

Cancerspeak

Are you currently suffering from

Here are definitions of some of the terms used by the cancer survivors in this feature:

“Failed Neck or Lower Back Surgery Syndrome”? Have you been told that “there is nothing more we can do” and you will have to live with your pain and take pain killer medication daily?

Biopsy: The removal of cells or tissues for examination by a pathologist. The pathologist may study the tissue under a microscope or perform other tests on the cells or tissue.

Did you know

that Chiropractic and Acupuncture/Oriental Medicine are a part of the eight branches of Oriental healing and has been proven to be effective in all of the above conditions?

Carcinoma: A malignant tumor that begins in the skin or the tissues that line the organs. Most cancers are carcinomas.

If your answer to any of the above questions is yes then consider “TCM” (Traditional Chinese Medicine”). It has been proven effective for

Chemotherapy: Treatment with a mixture of chemicals, individually tailored for each cancer patient.

over 5000 years!

Lumpectomy: Surgery to remove a tumor and a small amount of normal tissue around it.

Dr. Zev. J. Myerowitz, D.C., Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM), LAc., F.I.C.C., DABCA

Lymph/Lymph Node: The clear fluid that travels through the lymph system throughout the body and carries cells that help fight infections and diseases. Also called lymphatic fluid.

Lymph nodes filter lymphatic fluid and store white blood cells.

Myerowitz Chiropractic and Acupuncture Clinic 291 Main Road, Holden • 989-0000

Mastectomy: Surgery to remove the breast (or as much of the breast tissue as possible).

Oncologist: A physician who specializes in treating cancer.

Otolaryngology: The branch of medicine specializing in ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders.

Parotid Gland: One of the salivary glands of the mouth, located in the neck area behind and below the ear.

Prostate: A walnut-sized gland that surrounds the neck of the bladder and the urethra in men.

Bangor's newest Hotel &Center Conference Center produced by the prostate that may be found in Bangor's Bangor's newest newest Hotel Hotel & Conference & Conference Center PSA: Prostate-specific antigen. A substance

With eleganceWith and sophistication, elegance and sophistication, Hilton Garden Inn Hilton in Bangor Gardenoffers Inn in first Bangor offers first

Contact our meeting Contact specialist, our meeting specialist,

an increased amount in the blood of men who have prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, or infection Contact our meeting specialist,or inflammation of the prostate.

newest Hotel & Conference Center st HotelBangor's & Conference Center Contact ourorsales teamor With elegance and sophistication, Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor offers first Jesse MichaudJesse at Jesse.Michaud@hilton.com Michaud at Jesse.Michaud@hilton.com

class amenitiesclass and amenities service forand yourservice groupsfor and your special groups events. and special We have events. We have

Whitty at information Tamoxifen: A drug or used Jesse Michaud at Jesse.Michaud@hilton.com call 1-207-262-0099 call or 1-207-262-0099 1-877-TOPHILTON or 1-877-TOPHILTON for Kathleen more information for more

class amenities and service for groups and special events. We have the space you the need space with you a 4,400 need sq.with ft.

Grand a 4,400 Ballroom sq. ft. Grand andyour 135 Ballroom comfortable and 135 comfortable

to treat certain

Kathleen.Whitty@hilton.com types of breast cancer in women and men. It is call 1-207-262-0099 or 1-877-TOPHILTON for more information guest rooms. Our guest rooms. Our on-site professional meeting on-site and catering meeting staff and catering work staff will workand 135 comfortable theprofessional space you need with a 4,400 sq. ft.will Grand Ballroom or call 1-207-262-0099 also used to prevent breast cancer in women to make your event to make a complete your event success. a complete The hotel success. also The features hotelaalso health features a health or 1-877-TOPHILTON who have had abnormal cells in the ducts of guest rooms. Our professional on-site meeting and catering staff will work club, indoor pool, club, business indoor center business and Euro center Pub.sophistication, and Euro Pub. Contact our meeting specialist, Withpool, elegance and Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor offers first for more information the breast and are at a high risk of developing Contact our meeting specialist, n Inn in Bangor offers first to make your event a complete success. The hotel also features Visit us on a thehealth web Visitatuswww.bangorhiltongardeninn.com on the web at www.bangorhiltongardeninn.com Jesse Michaud at Jesse.Michaud@hilton.com or breast cancer. Tamoxifen is also being studied in class amenities and serviceJesse for your groups and special events. We have Michaud at Jesse.Michaud@hilton.com or special events.

We have call 1-207-262-0099 or 1-877-TOPHILTON more types information club, indoor pool, business center and Euro Pub. 2009 Hilton Hotels Corporation ©2009 Hilton Hotels Corporation the treatment offorother of cancer. call 1-207-262-0099 or 1-877-TOPHILTON for more information the space you need with a 4,400 sq. ft. Grand Ballroom and 135 comfortable lroom and 135 comfortable Visit us on the web at www.bangorhiltongardeninn.com

guest rooms. Our professional on-site meeting and catering staff will work and catering staff will work ©2009 Hilton Hotels toCorporation make your event a complete success. The hotel also features a health tel also features a health club, indoor pool, business center and Euro Pub.

Visit us on the web at www.bangorhiltongardeninn.com ©2009 Hilton Hotels Corporation

24 Bangor Metro December 2011

Urologist: A physician who specializes in diseases of the male and female urinary systems and the male reproductive system.

Sources: American Cancer Society, National

Visit us on the web atCancer www.bangorhiltongardeninn.com Institute, Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical

Dictionary.

nerve had not been severed. Although there is some paralysis, I don’t think it’s obvious to anyone.

I also had radiation therapy here in Bangor. In my work, I raise money for Eastern Maine Medical Center and other affiliates of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems. And one of the things we’d recently done was to bring some new technology for breast cancer detection and radiation treatment to Bangor called intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT. What it does is target high-dose radiation to a specific tissue area. It’s all computer programmed. Only 26 hospitals in the country were using it, and we were bringing it to Bangor, Maine. And here I was, three years later, a recipient of that innovation.

Bernie Dahl: A friend and retired oncologist told me to learn all I could about prostate cancer, and to find the therapy best suited to me. I had radical surgery at the Mayo Clinic.

I had my prostate removed, and I agreed to this anti-testosterone therapy in a cyclic, “on-off” pattern. The other option was to have my testicles removed, but there’s a remote chance that I’ll get through this, and I may want them back. That turned out to be a good decision.

Right now I have no functional testosterone in my body. This hormone therapy is hell. I cry now—my feminine side came out. I’ve been through “menopause“ once and “puberty” twice, so far. I called my daughter, who’s a gynecologist, and told her about it. She said, “Tough it out, Dad—now you know what your wife is going through.” And I thought, for this we sent her to medical school?

Roxanna Adams: I had a lumpectomy, followed up with radiation treatments and a five-year tamoxifen regimen. Back then there were women from Aroostook County, where I’m from, who had to have mastectomies because they couldn’t get down here every day for radiation treatment. They couldn’t get it up there. They can now.

About a month after surgery, I had a sentinel node biopsy. My surgeon said, “I’ve never done one of these, but if you’re willing, I am.” There was talk of me going to Miami to have it done, but we decided to do it here. I was the first breast cancer patient in Bangor to receive that treatment successfully. Michael Crowley helped set it up.

It involved injecting a radioactive isotope into the tumor site, following it with some blue dye, and removing the lymph node that the radioactivity concentrates in. That’s what’s called the sentinel node. If that node is clean, you don’t have to have all your lymph nodes out. It’s much less invasive. They had prepped me to have several lymph nodes out.

Cancer is so unique to the person who has it. Perhaps that’s why they haven’t been able to find a cure. The organism adapts itself to its host. Each case and course of treatment is different.

Faith and Spirituality Roxanna Adams: I didn’t turn to God after I was diagnosed. I’ve always had God in my life. Cancer was something that I always feared, and then when I got it, there’s not a lot that I really fear any more.

I guess if I were to say anything about it, my greatest fear would be to find myself without God. I think I’d be ready to pack it in if I didn’t have God in my life.

I didn’t know whether I was going to live to see my grandchildren. The one thing I wanted more than anything else in the world was a grandchild—and now I have her. She’s eight months old. And I know this sounds hokey, but this baby grandchild is the same baby that’s been visiting me in my dreams for 20 years.

Michael Crowley: At first, I felt there were so many things going on in my life that were important—how dare this happen to me now? There were medical professionals who said, “You need to understand this isn’t a blip. This isn’t an inconvenience.”

And I needed someone to say that to me more than once. Maybe I was in denial because I wanted to be in denial.

Part of what I do is focused on caring for others and I’m very proud of that; it’s who I am. What I had to do that was very hard for me was to turn that off and focus inward. I had never been there before.

I began to look at what I was doing in my life, and with my life. I began to reassess all of my values. There were many things I was pleased to face, and some I wasn’t. I was raised a Catholic, was an altar boy, but this was really what you might call my come-toJesus moment. I realized I had been woefully neglectful of the spiritual side of Michael Crowley. I decided if I make it through this, December 2011 Bangor Metro 25

lifestyle l profile there were going to be some changes. Now I’m making time for it; I participate at a higher level. Perhaps I’ve always wanted to, but now it has its due place.

Rubber Ball”: I think it’s gonna be all right, yes, the worst is over now. I took it as a sign.

I still laugh out loud when I hear it—which is usually when I am troubled or stressed.

Bernie Dahl: I live every day. I’ve had neardeath experiences, including my Mount Washington one, for which I’m infamous.

I have Christ as my savior and have no fear about going to heaven, assuming there is a heaven. That’s what I’m choosing to believe. But I don’t want to leave my wife a widow. That would be a selfish thing to do.

Bernie Dahl: At my seminars I tell people three things. Number one: Be prepared to die. Have your life in order. Number two: Live every day. And number three: Do it now, because you never k now when number one’s going to hit.

We’re all in remission—no demonstrable evidence of disease. But we all know it could come back. I’m waiting for it to come back. But you can’t let that consume you. I’m having a lot of trouble with my knees right now, and the other day I was getting angry because I was having a hard time getting my pants on. But you have to catch yourself and say, “Hey, I have another day to live—don’t piss it off!”

People say life is a journey. But if you look up the origin of the word “journey,” it is the distance you can travel in one day.

Having a cancer diagnosis helps you appreciate the one day you know you have.

Living with Cancer Roxanna Adams: In my case, they will not say that I’m cured. I will always be in remission. You live with the fact that it could come back. Breast cancer is so unpredictable. It can crop up anywhere. You have to fight it every day of your life.

One turning point was when I was going through a very difficult time in my treatment, and Ray and I heard a song I hadn’t heard since the ‘60s called “Red

26 Bangor Metro December 2011

Michael Crowley: I don’t know if it’s providence, or a coincidence, or that you notice things you didn’t before. It sounds corny, but it’s like now the skies are bluer, and the sunsets are a different color.

Roxanna, Bernie, we’ve all always had humor in our lives, but it’s as if you enjoy humor more. I’m just so pleased going forward to have this advantage.

I also know this is not over. This is a lifelong reality; it’s not a matter of if but when.

Do I want to face this again? No—I wish it would go away. But I will only lose if I fail to fight. We’re here to do good and to leave things better. And I think you have to fight, for that reason.

Editor’s update: All three interviewees have remained healthy in the five years since this story.

Life rolls on with changes, large and small.

Michael Crowley is now president and chief philanthropy officer at Healthcare Charities. Bernie Dahl’s wife, Elaine, passed away in 2010; he remarried this summer. Roxanna Adams lost her husband, Ray, in October 2011. All three continue to be grateful for life’s daily gifts.

has _ grandchildren. All three continue to be grateful for life’s daily gifts.

Jamie Wyeth, at Tenants Harbor, working on the banner for the Seven Deadly Sins, an exhibition at the Farnsworth Museum.

28 Bangor Metro december 2011

work in progress l lifestyle

Isle of wyeth Back to the

Image right: Carny #3/ Seven Deadly Sins, 2009; combined mediums on handmade paper 34.5” x 48 “, courtesy of the artist

Best

Artist Jamie Wyeth has created masterful portraits of the exalted and the low, of ravens and gulls, cabbages and kings.

He lives in isolation so he can better do exactly what he wants to do: paint some more.

by Annaliese Jakimides

O

n Southern Island, painter Jamie Wyeth lives and works in the old keeper’s house, built in 1858.

The only house on the island, it is connected by a passageway to the brick lighthouse, now painted white like the house. He rows the half mile to his mainland home in Tenants Harbor when he needs to connect with the rest of the world.

Fall and winter might find him at his place on Monhegan where he lived for years until the bustle of that island sent him to this more solitary one, where “he could achieve the focus he finds necessary for his work.” He also maintains a home and studio in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, where he grew up, playing, eating, and

Previously published in June 2009

painting in his father’s studio.

He is the son of painter Andrew Wyeth and the grandson of illustrator N. C. Wyeth, and from his first days has lived a life shaped by paint and point of view, a boisterous, funny, driven family, and the coast of Maine. From the age of 12, when he asked to be homeschooled, he spent eight hours a day studying, sketching, and painting. By 18, his paintings were held by the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Wilmington Society of Art, and private collectors. At 20, he had his first one-man exhibition in New York City (around the time he married his wife of 40 years, Phyllis, who would become the subject of many of his paintings), and, just shy of 30, his first retrospective.

Wyeth is a self-described “recorder.” december 2011 Bangor Metro 29

lifestyle l work in progress Sometimes that means he’s hunkered down on his island in a colony of gulls painting their stories; at other times he’s been recording historical events, like the Watergate hearings, as they unfold. Conversations in paint, his portraits include the not so famous and the famous, including John F. Kennedy, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, and mentors Andy Warhol and Lincoln Kirstein, founder of the New York City Ballet.

He holds honorary degrees from seven colleges and his works are in many public col lec t ions, i nc lud i ng t he Nat iona l Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the John F. Kennedy Library. He has exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, from Alaska and Maine to Italy and Japan.

He works all day every day—it’s all he wants to do—creating faces in shadow and

light, worn doors, lighthouses and rocks, trees and fields, ravens, whole worlds of enigma and obtuse stories, the paradoxes in the human condition. The eyes— whether of the half-lidded Nureyev or the beady gull—insist we pay attention to the animal in the human, the human in the animal.

In his series Seven Deadly Sins, Wyeth applies his distinctive, deep, and dark point of view to the subject of human frailty—pride, envy, anger, sloth, lust, and gluttony—through one of his signature subjects, seagulls. The exhibit is currently at the Wyeth Center at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland through August 30.

Where do you paint?

I paint everywhere. I paint outside. I paint in the bathroom. When I’m on Monhegan, I paint in a box. I find it too difficult to paint with people watching me, so the fishermen created a bait box, set it on its side, and I sit in it. I move it around wherever I’m working. I think people ignore a box, or if they see a person inside it, they think, good God, how strange, and walk on. [He laughs.]

What was it like growing up in a world of painting?

My life to me was just totally normal.

Nothing odd about it. We lived in my father’s studio. We ate breakfast practically on his palette, you know. But I have an older brother who grew up in the same thing and he ate the same eggs and bacon and he really had no interest in painting.

Now he’s a[n art] dealer.

His daughter is the only grandchild of your dad, Andrew Wyeth.

Victoria, yeah. Full of hell. Oh my god, she’s unbelievable. She goes around the country where we’re having shows and gives lectures. Of course, most of it is family stories. We’ve always told her, “Vic, what you don’t know, just make it up.”

You clearly see the funny side of things. What was the role of humor growing up?

Very big. Halloween is a national holiday in my family. Even now. One excuse we can dress up and wear makeup. We do anyway other times, but we can go out in public at Halloween. We have a lot of fun and laugh a lot.

Much of your work feels as if it’s a place 30 Bangor Metro december 2011

at the

GRAND Downtown Ellsworth’s Arts and Culture Center

165 Main Street, Ellsworth 207.667.9500 grandonline.org

NAtioNAl thEAtrE livE

Collaborators

between places, that there’s an underlying darkness.

Life is tough. It’s edgy. What interests me is to go beyond the surface and the physiognomy of something. And I hope it comes out in my work. I paint a lot of animals. I paint a lot of birds. It’s very easy to “cutify” that. I don’t.

You started painting early on.

Probably like any child I’d go to the movies and come back and draw what I’d seen. I read books and sort of illustrated them. I was with my father who was painting dead crows and fields, but what excited me was my grandfather’s studio. He died before I was born, but there was this enormous studio full of incredible costumes, illustrations of pirates and Robin Hood, huge scaffolds for the murals, and it’s all there, even now, as if he’d just walked out of it this morning. It was magical, what he created in his head, without traveling much.

December 1, 2:00 pm livE MuSiC

Paul Sullivan & Rosie Upton Christmas Pure & Simple

December 2, 7:30 pm

You like to stay home, too.

filM

Family Holiday Movie: Its a Wonderful Life December 19-23, 1:00 pm

Pretty much. Nothing interests me less than scenes, or interesting faces or interesting trees. What does interest me are faces that I know or trees that I know.

What makes a good model?

There really isn’t a good model. It’s being with them, eating with them. It’s a culmination of things. A camera is an instant.

Painting is a lot of moods, a lot of different light, different days, an amalgam. It’s my interpretation of that person, that raven, that seagull.

drawings of a subject aren’t recognizable to anybody else. It may just be a line on a page, but that expresses something to me.

Many of your pieces are labeled “combined mediums.”

I made that up—combined mediums. I use charcoal, I use ink, I use pencil, I use oils and watercolor—and sometimes it’s very thick watercolor. I use dirt. I grab sticks to use. A brush is just a stick with some hair on the end of it. But, actually, I work mostly with my fingers, and I love fingernails. [He holds up his hands, his fingers stained a dark green.] Your only limitation is yourself. Take the material and do what you want, do what you need to do with it.

You also often work on toned board. What is that?

I have paper made for me with a brownish color in it like cardboard. I love cardboard.

When I did the Nureyev stuff, I discovered cardboard. Here was this amazing world of ballet, everything so magical, beautiful, and I was doing these things on cardboard that was just lying around. But the problem with it is it eats itself up. I’m still looking for brown archival cardboard. The smallest special order I can find is 50,000 sheets of 60 by 40. Five lifetimes of cardboard! I couldn’t burn that much.

Do you ever get painter’s block?

Not yet, thank God. I can’t imagine it.

There are so many things I want to do I’m about to explode.

New things?

So there’s a certain level of intimacy?

Yeah, intimacy. I’m trying to remove myself. I compare it to acting in a way, where you become the person, the gull. I become obsessed with the subject.

This new show, Seven Deadly Sins, is gulls, again. What is it about them that draws you?

n films n music n dance n art n theatre

Find us on

Facebook 32 Bangor Metro december 2011

They’re ready models. The one thing that’s on my island are seagulls. If I’m there, they’re there. Now they’ll sleep while I’m sitting there. I think they view me as a seagull. People say, “When in the hell are you going to get off the seagulls?” Probably never. I may spend the rest of my life with them. Out of that you can enter all sorts of worlds.

How do you begin a painting?

I dream about it a lot. Some of my early

Oh, sure. Even this show, the Seven Deadly Sins, I’m making huge banners for it that are 17 feet by 10 feet. I want it to be like a carnival, a side show, sort of “pass at your own risk.”

What was your biggest influence?

As a painter, probably my grandfather, but my father was a huge influence on me. We had an amazing relationship, where the father and son thing went out the window.

He was somebody I completely relied on to be honest about my work. We had nothing to gain from one another.

Your dad recently passed. Any words of advice he always said to you growing up?

Just “Give ’em hell!” [He laughs.] Those were kind of his last words to me, actually, “Give ’em hell!”

Special promotional section

{ h o l i d a y g i f t G u i d e } Center for Maine Craft Come to the Center for Maine Craft and discover one of the most original and intriguing selections of gifts anywhere in Maine. Located at the West Gardiner service area on I-95, with holiday stores at the Bangor Mall and Maine Mall, the center features items like these Paige Pride ceramic cups (left), Erda leather wallets (below), and hundreds more gems by Maine artisans. Take a trip to the Center for Maine Craft and see how amazing handmade can be.

24 Service Plaza Drive, West Gardiner • 207-588-0021 Holiday Stores: Bangor Mall Maine Mall www.mainecrafts.org

Share the spirits of the holidays.

This year take the stress out of holiday gift giving. It’s easy, just go to your local agency liquor store. There you’ll find all kinds of great presents. Learn more by visiting mainebeverage.com.

Christian Brothers Holiday Nog

Baileys Irish Cream with 3-50mls Flavors

Gifts may not be available in all stores.

Visit mainebeverage.com for more information.

Jagermeister Liqueur Club Glass Pack

Jameson Irish Whiskey with 2 shot glasses

Special promotional section

the perfect gift forthe bride-to-be On newsstands, online, or by phone 207-941-1300 www.realmaineweddings.com

Watch for the Energy Star

W

hen people learn that I own an energy company, they often share their concerns about the rising costs of energy, and I can’t say I blame them.

While I don’t have control over the price we pay for fuel, I do welcome the opportunity to share tips on how everyone can lower their cost of energy in their homes.

One way is to be savvy in the kitchen.

The kitchen is not only the most popular room in your home, but it could also provide you with the greatest opportunity for cutting your energy bill.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, your kitchen is responsible for over 40% of all the energy that used in your home. That’s right, over 40 cents of every dollar you pay goes toward keeping the food hot, the drinks cold, and the dishes clean.

All those gadgets and appliances we use to chop and cut, open and toast—the ones we hardly touch and the ones we use the most—they make our mornings go faster and dinner time easier.

They use a lot of energy and most of us don’t give it a second thought. However, it’s pretty easy to see why. We are so busy on a daily basis trying to make sure the dishes get clean that we rarely stop and think about the energy consumption of the dishwasher.

While there are prices displayed on just about every street corner and stories on the news every night regarding the price of oil and gas, rarely do we hear any information about the appliances we use inside our own homes and their contribution to the energy bill.

And let’s face it—unless we are willing to go back to ice sheds and fire pits, most of us are pretty committed to the appliances we use on a regular basis.

So what is a homeowner to do if you’re seeking to lower energy costs but still enjoy your oatmeal in 60 seconds or less?

Get familiar with the term Energy Star.

Energy Star is a federal government program that sets energy-efficiency standards for a wide variety of appliances and electronics. These standards are periodically revised according to technology and advances in the manufacturing sciences, or when market share of certain products 36 Bangor Metro december 2011

exceeds pre-determined percentages. The goal is to categorize only the most energyefficient makes and models to help achieve the most savings for consumers.

Energy use standards vary according to the product and independent testing assures consumers that products qualify for the Energy Star status.

In order for a product to qualify as an Energy Star product, it must: use significantly less energy than non-efficient counterparts; offer expected features and performance for their category; be labeled with energy information that allows consumers to choose from different Energy Star products; and if the product costs more than its less-efficient competitor, the consumer must be able to recover the cost difference in a reasonable amount of time.

While you can realize significant cost savings with the upgrade to Energy Star appliances, the kitchen is not the only place in your home that can deliver costsaving benefits.Energ y Star qualified lighting provides bright, warm light, and does so while using 75% less energy than standard lighting. This lighting also can last up to 10 times longer and produces about 75% less heat than other lighting.

Also, did you know that home electronic products use energy even when they are off? That’s one of the reasons the average household spends over $100 a year just to power the electronic devices, even when they are in the standby mode. Newer Energy Star models not only use less energy in the performance of these functions but they also perform just as well, if not better, then those that use more energy.

Energy Star benefits can even apply to insulation and ventilation. Adding insulation to the block walls in basements, the outside walls of the home, and properly insulating and ventilating the attic can lower your heating and cooling bills.

The bottom line is this: don’t forget that there are multiple ways to lower your overall energy bills. Being informed about all the options available to you can be challenging, but knowing that options exist can help you gain better control over the costs of heating—and using—each room in your home.—Bob Foster Bob Foster is President of R. H. Foster Energy www.RHFoster.com

december

what’shappening

The Nutcracker Orono, Ellsworth & Camden Camden: December 1–4 Ellsworth: December 10–11 Orono: December 17–18

events

Featuring live music by Jessie Holladay, hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and tours of the center.

5:30–7:30 pm.

DECEMBER 2 TOWN OF THOMASTON TREE LIGHTING THOMASTON

288-5097 • www.seacoastmission.org

Don’t miss this annual event on the mall in Thomaston, sponsored by the Thomaston Merchants Association. Santa will be at Chambers Jewelers on Main Street greeting children after the tree lighting. 6 pm.

354-6107 • www.therealmaine.com Photo: leslie bowman

The Nutcracker is a timeless story that embodies the holiday spirit no matter what religion you practice. The music of Tchaikovsky paired with ballet is something the entire family can love.

The very first performance was held in St. Petersburg, Russia, on a Friday night in December, 1892. The complete ballet has enjoyed popularity since the mid-20th century and has become a staple for many families during the holidays in the U.S. and abroad. If you have never seen this ballet performed, now is your chance, with three performances in Camden, Ellsworth, and Orono.

DECEMBER 2 HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE COLKET CENTER, BAR HARBOR

This fundraising event for the Seacoast Mission’s Christmas Program is a festive holiday gathering for community members.

includes a silent auction of items donated by local people and businesses. Proceeds benefit the Historical Society’s Knox Farmhouse maintenance and Museum acquisition fund.

354-2295

DECEMBER 2 VILLAGE HOLIDAYS & MIDNIGHT MADNESS SALE BAR HARBOR

Help welcome Santa to Bar Harbor on the Village Green with activities for young and old alike at 5 pm. The 11th Annual Midnight Madness Sale will begin at 8 pm with discounts, music, food, and raffles.

288-5103 • www.barharborinfo.com DECEMBER 2 & 3 HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS OPEN HOUSE THOMASTON

DECEMBER 2–4 CHRISTMAS BY THE SEA CAMDEN

A weekend celebration of the holiday season with shopping, musical entertainment, a community tree lighting ceremony, horsedrawn wagon rides, and a holiday house tour of private residences and inns. Enjoy sales and dining specials, as well as photos and children’s story hour with Santa.

236-4404 • www.visitcamden.com

This event at the Edgar Stackpole House december 2011 Bangor Metro 37

DECEMBER 3 DOWNTOWN HOLIDAY FESTIVAL DAY BANGOR

DECEMBER 3 HOLLY BERRY FAIR ROCKPORT OPERA HOUSE

DECEMBER 3 20TH ANNUAL POINSETTIA BALL RAMADA, ELLSWORTH

Activities, including a scavenger hunt, cookie decorating, and visit with Santa, will be scattered around downtown Bangor for the whole family to enjoy. Stay for the Festival of Lights parade city tree lighting. Activities start at 10 am; parade and tree lighting at 4:30 pm.

This fair features homemade gingerbread houses, painted buoys, jewelry, baked goods, and all sorts of treasures. Sponsored by the Rockport Garden Club. 8 am–1 pm.

This semiformal charity ball benefits the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital. There will be music, hors d’oeuvres, dinner, and cocktails. Appetizers start at 5:30 pm. Dinner is served at 7 pm. $95.

992-4234 • www.downtownbangor.com DECEMBER 3 CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR HOULTON

594-1919

664-5548 • www.mcmhospital.org DECEMBER 3 BUILD A HOUSE FOR MANNA GINGERBREAD HOUSE FESTIVAL PAIRINGS AT WINTERPORT WINERY

St. Mary’s Church is holding its annual Christmas Craft Fair in St. Anthony’s Hall.

9 am–2 pm.

Come and enjoy a glorious, festive evening and help Manna build a house for women and children. Reserve to compete in the Gingerbread House Competition for youth, professional, intermediate and beyond. 7 pm.

532-2871

223-0990 • www.pairingsinmaine.com

December 3 Homes for the Holidays West Broadway, Bangor

DECEMBER 3 HOLIDAY LIGHT PARADE PRESQUE ISLE

Five architecturally significant homes on West Broadway in Bangor will be decorated for Christmas and open to the public. $25 admission helps benefit the St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Celebrate the Christmas season with a variety of activities in Presque Isle. The light parade starts at North Street and proceeds south on Main Street ending at the University of Maine, Presque Isle. Warm refreshments will be served at UMPI. 7–9 pm.

947-0156

764-6561 • www.pichamber.com

DECEMBER 3 HOLIDAY BAZARR MERRYSPRING NATURE CENTER, CAMDEN

Shop for a variety of fresh seasonal greens, plain and decorated wreaths, live rosemary plants, arrangements, and items for giving and decorating. 10 am–4 pm.

236-2239 • www.merryspring.org DECEMBER 3 5TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR AND BENEFIT BELFAST BOAT HOUSE

This annual event features over 20 vendors selling handmade items, live music, hourly door prizes, and refreshments. 8am–3 pm.

323-5938 DECEMBER 3 HOLIDAY PARADE DOWNTOWN ELLSWORTH

Don’t miss this annual parade to welcome

Brewer —

we’re anything but business as usual Since our incorporation in 1955, Nickerson & O’Day has seen a lot of change in Brewer. As the largest builder in Maine, we’ve been an integral part of Brewer’s growth and development. We work with many towns across the state and are pleased to say we’re located in one of the most business-friendly places in Maine. So much so, we recently constructed a building for my wife to relocate her optometry practice, Penobscot Eye Care, in Brewer!

—Karl Ward , President & CEO

Karl Ward, President & CEO, in front of Nickerson & O’Day’s recently completed $24 million project, Brewer Community School

38 Bangor Metro december 2011

Contact D’arcy Main-Boyington, Supplied Original Economic Development Director 989-7500 dmain-boyington@brewerme.org

in the holidays. Head to the Maine Grind afterwards for a visit with Santa. 11 am.

refreshments, children’s activities, caroling, and more. 4:30–7:15 pm.

www.downtownellsworth.org

548-2529 • www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org

DECEMBER 3 & 4 HOMETOWN HOLIDAY GENERAL HENRY KNOX MUSEUM, THOMASTON

DECEMBER 9 WINTER CHRISTMAS TEA AND TOUR 137 Saint Catherine Street, MADAWASKA

The General Henry Knox Museum will open its doors for their annual open house, inviting the public into the 1790s kitchen where women with their spinning wheels will be working. Fresh baked goods will be on sale and rooms will be decorated with traditional Christmas greens and fragrant fruits. 1–4 pm.

Visit the oldest active Acadian home in the St. John Valley this holiday season. Step back in history and enjoy light refreshments, stories, photographs, and other cherished archives from the homestead. 1–5 pm.

728-6412

354-8062

DECEMBER 9 & 10 A FESTIVAL OF WREATHS PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSUEM, SEARSPORT

DECEMBER 9 ANNUAL GINGERBREAD CONTEST COURTYARD CAFÉ, HOULTON

A holiday celebration and silent auction featuring wreaths made by area artists and businesses.

Gingerbread houses will be on display in the Courtyard Café’s business window.

Entry forms are available at the Chamber of Commerce, 109 Main Street.

548-2529 • www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org

532-4216 • www.greaterhoulton.com DECEMBER 9 YULE REVEL PENOBSCOT MARINE MUSEUM, SEARSPORT

Holiday celebration featuring a tree lighting, multi-author book signing, exhibits,

DECEMBER 10 FESTIVAL OF TREES EASTPORT ARTS CENTER

Twenty-five trees have been graciously donated and community members are planning themed decorations for the threefoot trees. These trees will be exhibited during the reception and bids placed on the trees in the silent auction to benefit

december 2011 Bangor Metro 39

the Eastport Arts Center’s winter programs.

Admission includes food, drink, and entertainment. 5–7 pm. $5 per person; $12 per family.

Join Santa for a morning of juice, donuts, crafts, and activities for preschoolers. Preregistration is required. 10–11:30 am. $5 for Brewer residents; $8 non-residents.

Maple Leaf Drop from the Tides Institute and Museum of Art building in the heart of the downtown’s public space, Bank Square. Downtown stores and galleries are open during the evening. The maple leaf is dropped at 11 pm and the sardine at midnight.

989-5199 • www.brewerme.org

853-4047 • www.tidesinstitute.org

Help Eastern Maine Medical Center light the tree and enjoy carolers and refreshments, too. 5:30 pm.

DECEMBER 31 NEW YEAR’S EVE SARDINE & MAPLE LEAF DROP EASTPORT

DECEMBER 31 DOWNTOWN COUNTDOWN DOWNTOWN BANGOR

973-5055

The city and surrounding area celebrate the New Year with the annual Sardine and

Celebrate on the streets of downtown Bangor with family, friends, and neighbors. Plenty of food, live music, dancing, activities, and the traditional ball drop from 29 Main Street.

853-4650 • www.eastportartscenter.com DECEMBER 13 LIGHTS OF HOPE TREE LIGHTING LAFAYETTE FAMILY CANCER CENTER, BREWER

DECEMBER 14 BREAKFAST WITH SANTA BREWER AUDITORIUM

www.downtownbangor.com DECEMBER 31 NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION SPECTACULAR EVENT CENTER, BANGOR

Touted as the “biggest party in Bangor,” this event includes a dinner buffet, hors d’oeuvres, open bar, dancing, and a champagne toast at midnight. Must be 21 years old to attend. 7:30 pm–12:30 am. $125 per couple. www.spectaculareventcenter.com

music DECEMBER 1 LEWIS MACKINNON UNITY CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Lewis MacKinnon brings his Cape Breton roots to Unity, Maine for a night of Celtic music. 7:30 pm. $15 948-SHOW • www.unityme.org/theater DECEMBER 2 PAUL SULLIVAN & ROSIE UPTON: CHRISTMAS PURE & SIMPLE THE GRAND, ELLSWORTH

Enjoy an evening of Maine’s own musician and composer Paul Sullivan as The Grand kicks off the holiday season in downtown Ellsworth. Paul will be joined by soprano protege Rosie Upton performing new songs for the Christmas season. 7:30 pm. $22 adults; $20 members; $17 students; $12 children.

667-9500 • www.grandonline.org DECEMBER 3–5 LIVING CHRISTmas TREE CHOIR THOMASTON BAPTIST CHURCH

The Thomaston Baptist Church will host its annual choir recitals for the public. Sat, 4 pm, Sun. 6 pm, and Mon. 7 pm.

354-6706 DECEMBER 9 EILEN JEWELL & THE SWEETBACK SISTERS THE STRAND, ELLSWORTH 40 Bangor Metro december 2011

Exit 186 or 187 off I-95 in Bangor | 207.947.7333

Two great bands on stage in Ellsworth. Eilen Jewell is the Queen of the Minor Key. The rollicking country swing of the Sweetback Sisters is as infectious as it is heartbreaking. 8 pm. $12 in advance; $15 at the door.

orchestra by Astor Piazzolla featuring renowned musician Marc Johnson and works by Foote, Ives, and others fills out the program. 2:30 pm.

The highlight of the evening is a wonderful medley from The Sound of Music, with “Edelweiss” flowing into an extraordinary rendition of “Stille Nacht.” 3 pm.

236-2823 • www.baychamberconcerts.org

800-622-TIXX • www.collinscenterforthearts.com

DECEMBER 11 THE SOUND OF CHRISTMAS WITH EMPIRE BRASS COLLINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, ORONO

DECEMBER 17 HOLIDAY POPS STROM AUDITORIUM AT CAMDEN HILLS REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

594-0070 • www.rocklandstrand.com DECEMBER 11 ODEON HOLIDAY CONCERT WITH MARC JOHNSON ROCKPORT OPERA HOUSE

This annual concert features all four Odeon ensembles: Junior, Symphony, Chamber and Adult. A concerto for cello and string

Elizabeth von Trapp, the granddaughter of legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp, whose story inspired The Sound of Music, performs with North America’s finest brass quintet.

Take the path of most resistance.

Conduit_light_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz`1234567890-=[]\;’,./ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ~!@#$%^&*()_ +{}|:”<>?_åç郩˙î°¬ñøoe®ß†ü¥à¡™£¢§¶•ªº–“‘«…æ÷|ÅıÇÎ´Ï˝ÓˆÔ Ò˜ØOE‰Íˇ¨„˛Á¸`⁄ ‹›fifl‡°·‚—±”’»ÚƯ˘¿|áéíóú âêîôûàèìòùäëïöüÿãñõÁÉÍÓÚÀÈÌÒÙÄËÏÖÜŸÑÃÕÂÊÎÔÛ)*** '"

Conduit_med_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz`1234567890-=[]\;’,./ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ~!@#$%^&*()_ +{}|:”<>?_åç郩˙î°¬ñøoe®ß†ü¥à¡™£¢§¶•ªº–“‘«…æ÷|ÅıÇÎ´Ï˝ÓˆÔ Ò˜ØOE‰Íˇ¨„˛Á¸`⁄ ‹›fifl‡°·‚—±”’»ÚƯ˘¿|áéíóú âêîôûàèìòùäëïöüÿãñõÁÉÍÓÚÀÈÌÒÙÄËÏÖÜŸÑÃÕÂÊÎÔÛ)*** '" Conduit_med_italic_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz`1234567890-=[]\;’,./ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:”<>?_åç郩˙î°¬ñøoe®ß†ü¥à¡™£¢§¶•ªº–“‘«…æ÷|ÅıÇÎ´Ï˝ÓˆÔ Ò˜ØOE‰Íˇ¨„˛Á¸`⁄ ‹›fifl‡°·‚—±”’»ÚƯ˘¿|áéíóúâêîôûàèìòùäëïöüÿãñõÁÉÍÓÚÀÈÌÒÙÄËÏÖÜŸÑÃÕÂÊÎÔÛ)*** '"

Conduit_bold_italic_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz`1234567890-=[]\;’,./ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:”<>?_åç郩˙î°¬ñøoe®ß†ü¥à¡™£¢§¶•ªº–“‘«…æ÷|ÅıÇÎ´Ï˝ÓˆÔ Ò˜ØOE‰Íˇ¨„˛Á¸`⁄ ‹›fifl‡°·‚—±”’»ÚƯ˘¿|áéíóúâêîôûàèìòùäëïöüÿãñõÁÉÍÓÚÀÈÌÒÙÄËÏÖÜŸÑÃÕÂÊÎÔÛ)*** '" Conduit_bold_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz`1234567890-=[]\;’,./ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ~!@#$%^&*()_+{}|:”<>?_åç郩˙î°¬ñøoe®ß†ü¥à¡™£¢§¶•ªº–“‘«…æ÷|ÅıÇÎ´Ï˝ÓˆÔ Ò˜ØOE‰Íˇ¨„˛Á¸`⁄ ‹›fifl‡°·‚—±”’»ÚƯ˘¿|áéíóúâêîôûàèìòùäëïöüÿãñõÁÉÍÓÚÀÈÌÒÙÄËÏÖÜŸÑÃÕÂÊÎÔÛ)*** '"

This annual event benefits United MidCoast Charities and features the Maine Pro Musica Orchestra. Listen to holiday favorites performed by Penobscot Bay Ringers, The Midcoast Community Childrens’ Chorus, and more. 4 pm. Tickets $20–$25 adults; $8–$10 for children under 18.

236-2299 • www.unitedmidcoastcharities.org

theater DECEMBER 1 National Theatre Live: Collaborators The Strand, Rockland

This play by John Hodge centers on an imaginary encounter between Joseph Stalin and the playwright Mikhail Bulgakov. 2 and 7 pm.

594-0070 • www.rocklandstrand.com DECEMBER 1–4 THE NUTCRACKER 2011 CAMDEN OPERA HOUSE

Atlantic Ballet presents The Nutcracker ballet at the Camden Opera House. Don’t miss this classic holiday event. www.atlanticballetcompany.org DECEMBER 3 THE MET LIVE IN HD: HANDEL’S RODELINDA COLLINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, ORONO THE STRAND, ROCKLAND THE GRAND, ELLSWORTH

The Met’s visually extravagant production features Richard Croft as Gandhi in Philip Glass’s unforgettable opera, which The Washington Post calls “a profound and beautiful work of theater.” 12:30 pm.

800-622-TIXX • www.collinscenterforthearts.com 594-0070 • www.rocklandstrand.com 667-9500 • www.grandonline.org DECEMBER 10 & 11 THE NUTCRACKER THE GRAND, ELLSWORTH

Come in to GOLD’S GYM at 424 Odlin Road in Bangor, 207-947-0763, goldsgym.com

The Robinson Ballet brings the professionalism that is associated with a company of dancers that has a 30-year teaching and performing legacy in Maine.

Don’t miss out on this holiday classic tale of a girl, a magician, a Nutcracker Prince, and a Rat King. Sat. 12 pm and 4 pm; Sun. 2 pm. $17 adult; $14 seniors; $11 children.

667-9500 • www.grandonline.org

42 Bangor Metro december 2011

DECEMBER 17 THE MET LIVE IN HD: GOUNOD’S FAUST THE GRAND, ELLSWORTH

Here’s a tank full of thanks.

With Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, René Pape as the devil, and Angela Gheorghiu as Marguerite, Gounod’s classic retelling of the Faust legend couldn’t be better served. 12:55 pm. $26 adult; $24 senior; $17 student.

667-9500 • www.grandonline.org DECEMBER 17 & 18 THE NUTCRACKER COLLINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, ORONO

Unwrap this treasured holiday gift featuring the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Robinson Ballet and the Bangor Area Children’s Choir. This is a true Nutcracker experience, complete with a thrilling battle scene, elegant dances, and a Christmas tree that grows and grows. Sat. 2 pm and 7 pm; Sun. 3 pm.

800-622-TIXX • www.collinscenterforthearts.com

museums ABBE MUSEUM BAR HARBOR

Through Dec. 29 Indians & Rusticators: Wabanakis and Summer Visitors on Mount Desert Island 1840s-1920s. Ongoing Twisted Path II: Contemporary Native American Art Informed by Tradition. Open Thurs.–Sat. 10 am–4 pm. $6 adults; $2 children; free for Native Americans and museum members.

288-3519 • www.abbemuseum.org CENTER FOR MAINE CONTEMPORARY ART ROCKPORT

Through Dec. 11 Pieced: Gabriella d’Italia, George Mason, and Ellen Weiske; still/moving: Deborah Wing-Sproul; Sferics and the Aural Ecosystem: Zach Poff and N.B. Aldrich; Wired: Ellen Weiske. Open Tues.–Sat. 10 am–5 pm; Sun. 1–5 pm through mid-December. $5 suggested donation for nonmembers.

236-2875 • www.cmcanow.com

$100 gas card for you.

Open any People’s United Bank personal checking account and get a $100 gas card* — just for doing the things you’d do anyway. Like getting direct deposit, paying bills online or using your Debit Card. Plus, you get these great benefits with any People’s United Checking account.

Visit any of our convenient branches Call: 1-800-772-1090 Click: peoples.com/gascard or scan the QR code below

You can choose your gas card from several major gas retailers. *This $100 gas card reward applies when you open a new People’s United Bank personal checking account between 9/9/11 and 10/31/11 with a $25 minimum opening deposit. To qualify for the reward, you cannot have an existing People’s United Bank personal checking account and must take one of the following three actions: 1)Receive a recurring direct deposit of at least $100 each into the new checking account within 60 days of account opening. Direct Deposit transactions are limited to payroll, social security, pension and government benefits. PayPal® transactions are excluded; 2) Obtain a Debit Card that is linked to the account and then use the Debit Card to make at least ten purchases of at least $25 each within 60 days of account opening; 3) Make at least five payments to third parties through the checking account of at least $25 each using People’s United Online Banking within 60 days of account opening. In addition, a valid e-mail address must be provided at account opening. If you have satisfied the offer conditions, and your account is open and in good standing, you will receive instructions on redeeming the offer via e-mail by 1/27/12. One reward per household. Fees may reduce earnings.

Reward will be subject to tax reporting. This offer may not be combined with other offers, may be withdrawn without notice. If this offer is not withdrawn sooner, it will expire on 10/31/11. Employees of People’s United Bank and members of their household are not eligible. Other restrictions may apply.

The QR code shown is for informational purposes only, we will not ask for personal information. ©2011 People’s United Bank Member FDIC

FARNSWORTH MUSEUM ROCKLAND

Louise Nevelson; Paul Caponigro: The Hidden Presence of Places; Beyond Rugs! Open daily 10 am–5 pm; Wed. 10 am–8 pm. $12 adults; $10 seniors and students 17 and older; free for members, Rockland residents, and children 16 and under.

596-6457 • www.farnsworthmuseum.org UNIVERSITY OF MAINE MUSEUM OF ART (UMMA) BANGOR

Dominic Chavez: The Global Lens; Carlo Pittore: Studio Life; Abe Ajay: Constructions Mon.–Sat. 9 am–5 pm. Free.

561-3350 • www.umma.umaine.edu

december 2011 Bangor Metro 43

lifestyle l food file

Previously published in December 2010

Back to the

Best

Edible Art E

Elaine Tucker’s gingerbread cookies are an exercise in restraint. They smell too good to not nibble but look too beautiful to eat. by melanie brooks

44 Bangor Metro december 2011

laine Tucker’s Belfast home is infused with the scents of nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger. The smell is almost as glorious as the view from the dining room overlooking Belfast Harbor. Tucker and her husband, Tony Kulik, built their house from the ground up, and have spent the last decade adding artistic finishing touches.

Today the kitchen is cluttered with gingerbread girls and boys in various states of completion. Tucker hasn’t made her gingerbread portrait cookies since her own children, now 32, 36, and 37, were waisthigh, and the whole family lived under one roof in Orono.

Back in the 1980s, Tucker would make cookies for her daughters’ friends and teachers each winter when they attended Asa C. Adams Elementary School. “Their third grade teacher, Mrs. Carr, saved all

three cookies—one from each of the girls— for years,” Tucker says. “I have no idea how she preserved them so well.”

Mrs. Carr’s collection is a true testament to the workmanship Tucker puts into decorating each and every cookie. Before she puts the cookie cutouts in the oven to bake, she makes a hole in the heads—this way the cookies can be strung with ribbon and hung on a Christmas tree. “If you keep them dry they can last for a couple of years,” she says. “We had quite a few on the tree for a while. I’ve found that the attic is a good place to store them.”

Tucker’s gingerbread beauties come from very humble beginnings. Tucker and her first husband spent a few years working in foreign aid in Malaysia. In fact, all three of her daughters were born there.

Christmas in Malaysia was nothing like the New England Christmases of her youth, so

Tucker drew two gingerbread cookie cutter patterns and had the local tinker create them out of tin. “He was used to fixing pots and pans, so the cookie cutters were something new for him,” Tucker says.

Thirty years later, these same cookie cutters are now making cookies for Tucker’s grandchildren, who live as far away as Arizona and the Netherlands. “Mom’s gingerbread people were anticipated with as much enthusiasm as the arrival of Santa,” says Tucker’s youngest daughter, Antonia Opitz, who lives in Burlington, Vermont.

“With so many memories and traditions being lost in the shuffle of busy lives, there are a few gems in my life—like these cookies—that will never die. These cookies are a perfect example of her talent, patience, and heart.”

While it may seem that Tucker’s gingerbread cookie recipe is heavy on the spices, she makes them that way for a reason. “If you’re not going to eat them and hang them on the tree instead, you want them to smell really good,” she says. And they do. Making the dough and cutting the cookies is the easy part. What makes these cookies so special is in the frosting.

One batch of frosting is enough for about 15 large, six-inch cookies. Tucker suggests making all the icing at once, tak-

ing out the amount you need for one color at a time, and keeping the rest of the icing covered—placing a damp paper towel directly on the icing and plastic wrap over a prechilled bowl.

Tucker finds her food coloring at the Belfast hardware store. A little color goes a long way, she cautions.

Once the cookies have been baked and cooled, step one of the decorating process begins. Tucker spoons the stiff white

The cookie cutters were made about three decades ago in Malaysia, where Tucker was living and working.

Gingerbread Portrait Cookies Cookie Ingredients: n 3 cups white flour n 3 tsp. ground ginger n 11/2 tsp. ground cinnamon n 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg n 1 tsp. baking soda

n 1/4 tsp. salt n 3/4 cup softened butter n 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar n 1/2 cup molasses n 1 egg n 1 tsp. vanilla

Icing Ingredients: n 2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar n 1 tsp. cream of tartar n 6 egg whites

Mix flour, spices, and salt together and set aside. In a large bowl, blend butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla, and continue beating. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat at low speed until blended. The batter will be very thick. Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely chilled—at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out half of the dough at a time to just under 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface and cut the figures. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12–15 minutes for hard, firm cookies. Soft cookies will not support the layers of icing decoration.

For icing: Beat the egg whites at high speed until they thicken. Blend sugar and cream of tartar, and add to the egg whites. Beat on high until stiff—about 5 minutes.

december 2011 Bangor Metro 45

It takes days for Tucker to make her ornate gingerbread cookies as she decorates them in layers, waiting for each one to harden before proceeding.

frosting into a plastic-coated pastry bag and squeezes out piping around the entire cookie. “I pipe around the clothes, make stripes, polka dots, shoes, and the face,” Tucker says. To cover large sections of the cookie—like the face and clothes—Tucker thins the icing with lemon juice to make a spreadable consistency.

Tucker uses her creativity to personalize the cookies, adding glasses, curls to the hair, and dressing the cookies in clothing and colors that match the person she’s making them for. Today she is displaying cookies she made for her coworkers at Better Homes and Gardens/Town and Country Realtors, as well as cookies in the likeness of each of her six grandchildren.

If it sounds like they take a lot of time—they do. Tucker makes sure that the piped icing is dry before she starts filling in the background colors of the face and clothes. Then those layers need to dry and harden before she adds other details, like the eyes, mouths, and clothing decorations. And to say that Tucker is a perfectionist would most certainly be an understatement.

Regardless of the hard work, a home smelling of gingerbread cookies will surely put you in the mood for the holidays. And whether you hang the cookies on the tree or break down and gobble them up, the rewards are well worth it.

Editor’s update: The colorful cookies Elaine Tucker made that day for her coworkers are still on display at her office in Belfast.

46 Bangor Metro december 2011

dining guide People who live in our region love to eat out, and with all the amazing choices they have, who can blame them? Take a leap of faith this month and try out a new local restaurant. You taste buds will thank you.

december 2011 Bangor Metro 47

Lifestyle l humor

THE UNVERIFIABLE TALES OF

EARL HORNSWAGGLE Previously published in april 2007

Back to the

Best

E

THE OLDEST MAN IN BANGOR written and illustrated

by Mark Ricketts

EARL AND I

arl Hornswaggle claims to be the oldest man in Bangor, Maine, clocking in, acccording to him, at 121 years old. However, this is the tamest of his assertions. Find yourself drawn into his gravity, and he will regale you with stories of his days as a lumber baron, schoolteacher, river driver, newspaper man, ferry operator, inventor, escape artist, and, well, the list goes on and on. It would be easy to write him off as a pathological liar, but in his oddly charismatic presence, each of his extraordinary yarns seems so very real . . .

48 Bangor Metro december 2011

President Lincoln visits Bangor, 1861.

MARY TODD LINCOLN’S FIRST LOBSTER As told to Mark Ricketts

by Earl Hornswaggle

“

My grandfather met Abraham Lincoln and his wife way back when he was head cook up to Vice President Hamlin’s Bangor mansion. The first family had come to visit, and it was grandfather’s job to figure out what to serve ‘em for supper.

He chose lobster so’s to give ‘em a taste of authentic New England cookin’. In fact, it was him told the vice president that, for fun, he should have his honored guests drop by the kitchen. Thought they might like to pick out their own lobster.

And just to give ‘em an extra thrill, he suggested they should stick ‘round and see how those suckers got cooked.

“Well, Vice President Hamlin was keen to show his guests a good time, and he for sure wanted ‘em to take in the local color, so he agreed that’d be a fine idea. It didn’t quite turn out the way they planned though, ‘cause when Mrs. Lincoln caught sight of those caged and skitterin’ critters, with their snappin’ pinchers and beady little black eyes, she

went t’ twichin’.

“When grandfather dropped one of ‘em in boilin’ water, and it turned red as the devil, well, Mrs. Lincoln had herself a conniption fit. She got to screamin’ so much, the president had to wrassle her down.

“Years later, the vice president told my grandfather that Mrs. Lincoln completely lost her mind and they’d packed her off to the booby hatch.

“My grandfather thought on it a mite, looked Mr. Hamlin in the eyes, and replied, ‘guess I shoulda served clams.’

”

Turn here next month for another unverifiable tale from Earl Hornswaggle. december 2011 Bangor Metro 49

lifestyle l poem

ADVERTISERS Adams Accounting Services

Previously published in May 2008

Aging Excellence

Back to the

Anthony John’s Atlantic Brewing Company

Best

Bangor Hilton Garden Inn Bangor International Airport Bangor Mall/Kravco Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Birch Bay Village Blueberry Broadcasting

Litany for J

Camden Conference Captain Nick’s Casella Waste/Pine Tree Waste Center for Maine Craft

We planned to be old ladies together,

We planned to cure cancer through prayer,

smirking for the camera, cuddled

dip our irreligious fingers in every holy-water

side by side on a squeaky porch swing,

font in Rome, wear flowered skirts and picture-

Alice-and-Gertrude style, modeling

frame hats, dissect heartbreak and age, worship

our garden-party housedresses, our pin-

Caravaggio, lose weight, eat fresh tomatoes,

curled hairdos, our rhinestone scuffs.

sprawl in the grass, compose sonnets, sing

We planned to marry handsome, good,

novelty songs, and wear stiletto heels,

educated men capable of fixing broken

and it took us twenty years, but we crossed

lawnmowers and discussing the emotional

almost everything off our list, yes, we did,

weight of syntax, men who would grant us

even if our attainments were admittedly half-

children, freedom, respect, plus

assed and fraught with unexpected chickens

grope us under tables at fancy parties.

flapping home to roost. So who’s to say

We planned to be artists, driven and holy,

we won’t be sipping a couple of tall g-and-ts

Katahdin Trust

greatness flickering in our gut; we meant

on that swing—you and me, two blue-haired

Links

to write, speak, sing like angels on moonshine—

old ladies, clinking ice cubes, spouting Chaucer,

Loving Touch In-Home Care

like fire, like sin. We planned to prop

craving another sack of ripple chips,

Machias Savings Bank

and admire, bitch and complain, exaggerate,

whistling Dixie at the fat white moon?

Miguel’s Mexican Restaurant

gush, tease, and fast-talk, drop literary allusions

Can’t you picture us, large as life

like hot tamales, split a bottle of red wine

and twice as big? Freshen that lipstick,

Myerowitz Chiropractic & Acupuncture Clinic

every night, and whisper rude personal

darling, brush those chip crumbs off your lap.

comments about strangers. We planned

Cheek to cheek, now; and blow a kiss to the lens.

to drink tea at the Plaza, stroll arm in arm

This snapshot, it’s bound to last forever.

City of Brewer Davis Long Term Care Group Day’s Jewelers Dirigo Pines Dr. Joseph Benoit Duff & Associates Dysart’s Truck Stop & Restaurant Eastern Area Agency on Aging EverGreen Home & Hearth Gold’s Gym Hammond Lumber Hearth Services James M. Sevey, DMD Jiffy Print Joel West, Financial Adviser

Maine Beverage Company

through Central Park, and be accosted

New England Home Health Care One Cumberland Place Penobscot Theatre People’s United Bank R. H. Foster Rudman & Winchell

by elderly Armenians in shorts.

—Dawn Potter

Sargent Corporation Sargent Tyler & West School Street Picture Framing Snowman Printing & Presort Express Spruce Run The Grand

Dawn Potter is the author of of three collections of poetry and a prize-winning memoir.

New poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in the Sewanee Review, the Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, and many other journals. She lives in Harmony.

The Village Emporium Thistles Restaurant Town of Hampden Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound Viking Lumber Wellness Council of Maine

50 Bangor Metro december 2011

perspectives Photographs by Leslie Bowman

Back to the

Best

Previously published in June 2005

Out to Dry, Eastport, Maine

Gone Fishinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Pembroke, Maine december 2011 Bangor Metro 51

perspectives

Pie Eating Contest, Lubec, Maine

Veterinarian Visit, Cutler, Maine

52 Bangor Metro december 2011

These Leslie Bowman photographs appeared over 25 years in The Quoddy Tides newspaper, published in Eastport, Maine.

Bowman’s photography, in the words of The Washington Post columnist Frank Van Riper, shows “the hand of an artist with a keen eye for composition. But more important, there is the warm appreciation of someone who knows what it takes to make a life in this hard and beautiful place.”

Four Friends, Dennyville, Maine

Double Duty, Eastport, Maine december 2011 Bangor Metro 53

soapboxderby Previously published in March 2008

Back to the

Best

Mentors comes in all political persuasions. Margaret Thatcher was a mentor to John Major. FDR was a mentor to LBJ. Ever wonder how the Soapbox boys got the fever? We asked them this month.

Q: Who got you into politics?

Scott K Fish

K

indness from strangers 25 years ago was exactly the encouragement I needed to pursue a career in politics. Scared to death of making a mistake, of looking stupid in public, I had nevertheless written and mailed my first political letter-to-the-editor to the editor of Connecticut’s Newtown Bee newspaper. The Bee had a regular letter writer always singing praises to high profile communists, i.e., Mikhail Gorbachev, Fidel Castro.

One day I read a newspaper report of a n E a st G e r m a n s old ie r shooting to death a man trying to get ove r t he B e rl i n Wall to freedom.

The soldier was quoted as saying to his dead victim, “There!

I got you, you dog.” Soon after

54 Bangor Metro December 2011

I read another Bee letter from their “regular,” praising communism.

That was the last straw. I was enraged at this moron praising a system that locks its citizens behind walls and kills them when they try to scale the walls. Yet, I was also very frustrated. I felt too ignorant of politics to channel my anger into a sensible rebuttal. Still, I could not let a not he r pro - com mu n i st le t te r go unanswered.

I took a leap of faith. Well, first I bought a six-pack of beer, drank one.

Then I took a leap of faith. I spent hours drinking beer and writing my Newtown Bee letter. The next day, stone cold sober, I mailed it.

Not long after the Bee published my letter, an envelope arrived at our apartment addressed to me by name and town only. No street address. It was a handwritten note from a stranger: Mrs. Natalie Sirkin. She liked my letter. I called Mrs. Sirkin to thank her, sharing with her my letter writing ordeal, and my frustration at being a political numbskull, wishing I wasn’t, yet not sure what to do about it.

Mrs. Sirkin invited my wife, Claudia, and me for tea with her and her husband, Gerald.

Natalie and Gerald Sirkin were what I think all Americans should be if we want our republic to fire again on eight cylinders. They

u nde r sto o d how government works.

The Sirkins kept abre a st of p ol itics—local, state, federal. They were politically active, interac ting w ith gover nment and their community. “Natalie’s Corner” was a monthly column they cowrote for their local newspaper. Mr. Sirkin’s op-eds were published in The Wall Street Journal.

T he Sirk ins tracked bills in the Connecticut Legislature, testified at legislative public hearings, used letters to the editor, op-eds, and their newspaper column to persuade public opinion on bills/issues. Remember, this was preInternet and conservative talk radio.

I left the Sirkins’ tea with a superior list of books/magazines to read—plenty to pull myself up out of political numbskulldom. Best of all, Mrs. Sirkin shared with me two pieces of political writing advice which I have since used as my guide. “Never get over-emotional,” she said. “And make sure your facts are always correct.”

Without the kindness of Natalie and Gerald Sirkin to a letter-writing stranger, I doubt my political career would have come to pass.

Scott K Fish is owner/editor of the conservative political forum www.asmainegoes.com.

He lives in Dixmont.

opinion

Sean Faircloth

A

ndy Rooney, a member of the Greatest Generation, expressed skepticism about that term, noting he just happened to be born then; he didn’t decide to be born then. That generation—like all others—includes war heroes, crooks, con men, hard workers, bums, gamblers, and a few saints.

My dad’s no saint. Dad, 80, is a storyteller (sometimes a repetitive storyteller).

Yet some stories stick: • My grandmother used cardboard from cereal boxes to cover holes in Dad’s shoes. To save money, she made her own soap, once burning herself with lye.

• My dad and his friends knew nothing of TV, but lots about baseball and football.

His father had played minor league ball.

Dad loved the game. Playing ball, my dad busted bones in his foot and elbow. No bother with a doctor.

• In Frankfurt, Germany, during the airlift, Dad saw huge planes land as Americans rushed food to help Berliners we’d just fought.

Dad saw the best of America. Dad admired FDR, Truman, the Kennedy brothers, despised Joe McCarthy, Nixon, and all they stood for. Dad’s no hippy. His f irst memor y is a torchlight parade honoring FDR’s inauguration as president of the United States of America. He taught me to stand for the flag.

Dad, first in his family to graduate from college (GI bill), holds a master’s in Irish literature and loves Shakespeare.

As candidates, FDR and JFK were dismissed as sweet-talking lightweights.

Dad loves the English language and saw their speeches much differently. Dad taught me the eloquence of FDR and JFK spra ng f rom st udy, work, a nd clea r thinking.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Ask not what your country can do

for you but what you can do for your country.” Their words connected to policies, inspiring Americans to great causes: Civilian Conservation Corps, World War II, Peace Corps, civil rights, the moon landing.

Teaching English, history, and theater, I remember Dad barking at drama students like a baseball manager: “Learn your lines!” “Enunciate!” “Speak naturally.

Authentically.”

Dad taught me that tremendous effort went into creating the effortless authenticity that was FDR and JFK. It takes work— striving—to be your best self.

Dad believes it the particular gift of the Irish to use the language of our oppressors to speak for those on the short end of the stick and that there’s no higher calling than public service.

I’m in politics because of him.

As Dad moves into his 81st year, I still believe that someday—however lo n g we mu s t s t r i ve — America will rise above selfishness (Halliburton profiteers, chicken hawks, corporate cronyism) and rejuvenate the moral leadership this nation embodied under Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy, leaders who fo r me d my f at he r ’s generation.

I’m jealous of Dad: He rose up in an America led by kind giants. I hope we see their like again. For now, I’m glad my greatest inspiration—my dad— lives on, and still believes that Nixon, like any criminal, belonged in jail.

Thanks, Dad.

Editor’s update: Sean Faircloth was a regular Bangor Metro columnist from 2005 to 2009.

Bob Faircloth, Sean’s dad, will turn 84 in January. Sean is now working in Washington, D.C., at the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Faircloth’s first book, Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All and What We Can Do About It, is available at www.amazon.com and on Nook at www.barnesandnoble.com.

Sean Faircloth is a lawyer who attended the University of California Hastings College of the Law, and graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.

December 2011 Bangor Metro 55

opinion l maine woods & waters

Previously published in may 2007

Back to the

Best

Moose Run

When you’re calling in Maine wildlife, watch out. You never know who might answer.

Text and photo graphic by Brad Eden

C

ome spring, I usually do a small amount of guiding for turkey hunters. As any Maine Guide knows, the last thing you want is to disappoint a customer, so I try to locate as many mature male turkeys as I can prior to and during the season. If I can’t locate any toms (also called gobblers) by sight, I “prospect” for them by using a variety of turkey calls in an attempt to get one to respond with a gobble. Once I “strike” a bird, I hustle out of there and make a mental note to return to that general area later for a hunt.

One morning, as I drove to an area to prospect for turkeys, a cow moose galumphed across the road in front of my truck, heading toward a blueberry barren. She was in no apparent hurry, and I managed to get a photo with my digital camera. I continued on, feeling that the morning was already a success since seeing a moose in central Maine is still a rare treat.

After prospecting at a few spots, I ended up back at the entrance to the blueberry barren. I parked and decided to cut across the barren and call down into the far corners, hoping to strike a gobbler. Since

56 Bangor Metro december 2011

I was just scouting, my shotgun stayed in the truck. Halfway across the barren, I glanced to my right and saw the cow moose standing about 200 yards away looking at me. I sent some raspy yelp calls down into the woods and glanced back at the moose again; she was now walking toward where I had parked. I snapped a photo.

This barren was in need of bushhogging and had become overgrown with small islands of brush. As I wove my way back through some of that obstruction, daydreaming about where to go next, I came face-to-face with the moose. She was spitting distance away and staring right at me.

Having encountered moose in the wild before without incident, I wasn’t alarmed, and took out my camera and took another photo. I’m not sure if the flash went off or the almost inaudible click of the camera disturbed her, but immediately her ears went back. That’s when my heart started to race and the realization hit me that I was way too close to this unhappy moose in the wide open.

I started to back away. She started walking toward me. I turned and started to jog; she did the same. I started to run like hell and she started chasing me. The

tree line seemed like it was a mile away as I glanced back and saw she was right on my tail.

It’s amazing what can run through your mind when you are about to be run over by a freight train. Like a slow-motion movie clip, I could see visions of flailing hooves coming down on my head. I could picture newspaper clippings about the turkey guide that got trampled to death by a cow moose. I remember thinking that it would have been less embarrassing if it were a bull moose, and that people would have to stifle a chuckle when they read my obituary.

But that was not to be. Somehow adrenaline got me to the tree line and I scrambled behind the closest tree. She was right there on the other side, practically blowing smoke out of her bulbous nose like a cartoon bull. Using available trees as cover, I sheepishly wove my way to my truck as she followed. From the safety of the cab, I even took one last shaky photo—before driving home to change my underwear.

Brad Eden is an artist, writer, Registered Maine Master Guide, and owner/editor of the online magazine www.uplandjournal.com.

savvy seniors | Lifestyle

Fighting Identity Theft There are several ways a person can steal your identity and use it to ruin your financial portfolio. And senior citizens are the hardest hit. But you can fight back against identity theft by asking the right questions. by Carol Higgins Taylor

Photo: © Jupiterimages/thinkstock

S

tolen kisses, stolen glances, and stolen moments are all lovely, and can warm you from the inside out. But there are other types of thievery that can leave you cold.

You would probably know fairly quickly if your wallet, purse, or car had been stolen.

Upon walking into your house, you could probably tell immediately if it had been burglarized. But how quickly would you know if your identity had been filched and was being used by criminals?

While identity theft is one of those topics that can be frightening to hear about, it is a necessary lesson nonetheless, as protecting yourself is key to preventing victimization.

There are Triads, three-pronged organi-

zations comprised of law enforcement, social service agencies, and senior citizens, with a goal of protecting older people from becoming victims of crime. They work together to prevent crime and fraud leveled at seniors. There are several Triads in Maine, with the Penobscot County Triad being one of the most active.

“Citizens of Maine are not sheltered from incidents of identity theft,” says Troy Morton, chief deputy and chair of the Penobscot County Triad. “Every year in Maine, police and sheriff’s departments investigate the misuse of credit and account information, which leaves victims with often little chance for the identification of the perpetrator. Identity theft is a big problem and it is getting worse.”

Penobscot County sheriff Glenn Ross agrees.

“Identity theft targeting seniors has increased by at least 200% nationally in the last few years, and people need to know what to do in case they are victimized and how to protect themselves,” Ross says.

So just how does identity theft occur?

Criminals are becoming more skilled and creative at gaining your personal information, sometimes even stealing the information from their places of business. For instance, they could steal the company’s records or hack into the computer.

Other methods include rummaging through the trash looking for receipts (so shred important papers), stealing mail, such as credit card offers and bank statedecember 2011 Bangor Metro 57

lifestyle | savvy seniors

How Confident Are You about

Your Financial Future?

Estate & Retirement Planning Serving our clients for over 25 years Initial Complimentary Consultation Tom Duff

President & Branch Manager

Joel West

Financial Advisor

Duff & AssociAtes An independent firm Securities offered through:

470 N. Main Street, Brewer

(207) 989-6082 • (800) 286-6092 • www.duffandassociates.com

Did you know that periodontal infection (gum disease) is linked to the following: • Heart disease • Diabetes • Stroke • Low birth weight babies

75% of Americans over 35 have some form of periodontal disease.

Are you at risk?

We offer state of art DNA testing to access your susceptibility to periodontal disease.

Accepting New Patients

942-3000 58 Bangor Metro december 2011

1407 Broadway | Bangor | www.drsevey.com

ments and filing them out in your name, and posing as legitimate businessperson or government official on the phone.

Once a crook has your personal information in hand and new credit cards have been issued, the shopping begins. The bills for these cards have been routed to a different address, so you will never see them.

There are several ways to tell if you are a victim of identity theft, including being denied for credit unexpectedly, calls from debt collectors and companies with whom you do not do business, and a reduction of mail received, which could indicate that someone has filed a change of address on you.

There are steps you can take to protect yourself.

Get a copy of your credit report from a credit bureau and check it for errors. If you find inaccuracies, act immediately by contacting the credit bureau.

As always, do not give out personal information unless you are certain how it will be used, especially over the phone or the Internet. Be especially mindful of divulging your Social Security number.

You have a right to ask questions such as, “How do you protect my number from being stolen?” and “What will happen if I don’t give it to you?” Sometimes you may not get the service you are requesting if you refuse to give up the number, but the choice is yours to make.

Medicare, your banking institution, Social Security, and the IRS, among others, will never call you and ask for your account numbers. Never. They already have this information at their fingertips. However, scammers posing as officials of these entities will employ a variety of reasons why you should divulge your personal information to them. It may all sound very convincing but tell them nothing.

You can beat these heartless thieves at their own game. Stay informed on the latest scams. Make it hard for them to victimize you by being careful, forever diligent, and by notifying the authorities immediately if you think you have been defrauded. Even if you are unsure, call the police anyway. It is better to alert them early than to wait and have an even bigger mess on your hands.

Carol Higgins Taylor is director of communications at Eastern Area Agency on Aging. She may be reached at chtaylor@eaaa.org.

Profile Juanita Taylor uanita Taylor was born in 1953 in Dover-Foxcroft, the third child of four.

She was raised in Guilford and, as often happens in small towns, still maintains some of her earliest friendships.

Taylor graduated from high school and yearned to see more than her back yard, so she set her sights on Florida. Working in restaurants there ignited her appreciation of fine food, which parlayed itself into a love for cooking.

Taylor returned to Maine and worked at Eaton Peabody until her father took ill. She quit her job to be closer to home to care for him. Thus began her career at Guilford of Maine, currently True Textiles.

In 1994, Taylor received a breast cancer diagnosis after her first mammogram. She was 40 years old. Found early, Taylor was lucky and was declared cancer free after surgery and radiation.

Always one to give back, she was involved with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for many years. Taylor has a larger than life personality that is hard to say “no” to, and consequently was responsible for Guilford of Maine having the largest company Race for the Cure team for four years running.

Taylor left the mill to spread her wings as the director of outreach at Sebasticook Family Doctors, where she was responsible for all community projects. She now works as the activity director at Dirigo Pines Ret i rement C om mu n it y. Given her cheerful and optimistic personality, Taylor is a perfect fit for the job.

“My favorite part of working at Dirigo Pines is the residents,” she says. “I have met so many wonderful, interesting folks that all have a story to share. I feel so lucky to have these people be a part of my life.”

She is happily married and caters endlessly to her three cats and Duffy, the “little white dog,” as he is affectionately known to those who love him.

—Carol Higgins Taylor december 2011 Bangor Metro 59

Sp e c i a l a d v e r t i s i n g s e c t i o n

The leader in Non-Medical In-Home Services Keeping Seniors Active and Independent.

Whether you want to increase your activity or need someone to provide quality non-medical elder care service up to 24 hours a day, we are your provider! · Professional Geriatric Care Management · Social Companionship/Transportation · Homemaking/ House Cleaning Services · Personal Care Services · Handyman/Chore Services · Swift Wellness Program

Aging Excellence is Maine Founded and operated. Providing quality services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

189 B State Street, Bangor 947-0999 45 Mechanic Street, Camden 951-6933 www.seniorsonthego.com Bangor · Mount Desert Island · Brunswick · Lewiston · Bridgton Portland · Saco · Kennebunk · Camden · Rockland · Belfast

60 Bangor Metro december 2011

Business Profile Creative Dental Solutions

W

hen Dr. James Sevey decided to open his new dental office in the fall of 2007, he needed to come up with a name for the business.

He asked himself the question, ‘What is it that we ultimately provide our patients?’

The answer seemed quite simple: We offer our patients dental solutions.

Given the complex and unique situations that many patients have, the name Creative Dental Solutions seemed to be perfect to describe what Dr. Sevey and his staff work to achieve. “Although many treatment recommendations are straightforward, there are plenty of times that a creative dental solution is needed, whether the situation is what to do about one particular tooth or how to approach a rehabilitation of a patient’s entire dental situation,” Dr. Sevey says. “When you factor in all of the dental variables, and then add in the financial factors, time constraints, medical conditions, and the patient’s wishes, you have to be creative.”

A 1982 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Sevey has logged more than 2,400 hours of continuing dental education in order to keep up with the latest procedures and technologies. “I need to be in a constant state of learning in order to offer my patients the best in what

dentistry has to offer,” he says. Dr. Sevey extends his commitment to continuing education to his staff. Every month, 10 to 12 hours a month are devoted to in-house staff training that includes bringing in trainers and consultants, webinars, DVD training programs, as well as continual review of office procedures and protocols.

“It’s vital that we are all on the same page, and that all of us in the office are able to provide our patients with the information that they need to make the right decisions for themselves,” Dr. Sevey says.

Located at 1407 Broadway in a new, state of the art facility, the latest in new dental technologies are utilized, including CEREC one visit porcelain crowns, low radiation digital x-rays, and hard and soft tissue lasers. Dental implants, including the less surgically invasive mini dental implants, are available to help support and retain removable dentures as well as replace individual or multiple missing teeth. Invisalign clear aligner therapy for orthodontic tooth movement is a great way for adults who have never had braces but would like a better smile without the use of visible metal braces.

For more information about Dr. Sevey and Creative Dental Solutions, visit them on the web at www.drsevey.com or call for an appointment at 942-3000.

Resources for Seniors Area Agencies on Aging

Pharmacy Help Desk

877-353-3771

866-796-2463

Legal Services for the Elderly

Consumers receive information on their Medicare Part D plan, and Medicare Savings Programs.

Medicare

Northeast health care quality foundation

800-750-5353

800 – MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) medicare part d appeals unit

877-774-7772 A division of Legal Services for the Elderly.

800-772-0151

Serves as the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for the states of ME, NH, and VT. Maine Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program

800-499-0229

Attorney general health care crimes unit

Investigates complaints made by or on behalf of someone in a long-term care setting or who is receiving in-home care.

Adult Protective Services

Safe Return

888-577-6690

800-624-8404

Confidential number to report suspected elder abuse or financial exploitation.

Dirigo Pines Retirement Community in Orono offers exceptional variety for a vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle.

Cottage Living Independent Living Apartments Assisted Living Apartments Memory Loss Suites Call for a tour today!

207-866-3400 • 9 Alumni Drive Orono, Maine www.DirigoPines.com

888-572-8566

Nationwide system that helps identify and locate individuals who wander due to Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Stay in your home...

Stay independent... with care you can trust ■ Personal Care ■ Mobility Assistance ■ Alzheimer’s & Dementia Support ■ Meal Preparation ■ Housekeeping

[207] 990-1995 LovingTouchInHomeCare.com december 2011 Bangor Metro 61

Need copies fast?

Why fight with your office copier?

under 10MB Email your file to info@snowprint.com

Over 10MB

it d e e

Drop your files to our “YouSendIt” link

N

dropbox.yousendit. com/SnoWmanS

d? o! e l i a to

m

an

ec

W

t

ha

t do

We’ll

SAVE yOu $$$ on your postage costs!

or visit our website and click on the File Transfer link

We’ll take care of everything!

One simple click and Snowman Printing will set your mind at ease. Email us your files and we’ll do the rest.

From 100 to 100,000 copies, we’ll take care of all your black & white or full color copy needs. l l l l l

&

Brochures Postcards Annual Reports Newsletters Booklets

l l l l l

LOCAL

Flyers Posters Coil Binding Rubber Stamps Laminating

Digital High-speed copies - Black & White or Full Color at a price anyone can afford.

Call 207-848-7300 ext.110

Bangor Drive Metro •december 2011 1 62 Printer’s Hermon, ME 04401

BUY

or email info@snowprint.com

r! e v i l e d e W

marketplace Home & Living

Attorneys

Music

Retirement Planning

Your Retirement is Our Business Flewelling Guitar Works • Northport

Tucker Law Group • Bangor

One Cumberland Place, Ste. 308 945-4720 www.tuckerlawmaine.com Providing effective representation of employers and insurers in Maine.

InItIal ComplImentary ConsultatIon

338-5091 Custom handmade guitars, repairs on banjos, mandolins, and electric, acoustic, and bass guitars. Home of the Paddle travel/camping guitar.

Food & Drink

Joel West, Financial Advisor 470 N. Main Street • Brewer (207) 989-6082 • (800) 286-6092 www.duffandassociates.com Securities offered through:

Printing

Local Brews– Close to Home

Atlantic Brewing Co. BAr HArBor • PortlAnd www.AtlAntiCBrewing.Com

Jiffy Print inC. “Your One Stop Printing Solution”

33 School St., Brewer, ME

991-9889

www.schoolstreet pictureframing.com

Full Color Brochures Business Cards • Rack Cards Catalogs • Placemats Business Forms • Checks 494 Broadway • Bangor 207-947-4490

You’ll be in great company at

ONE CUMBERLAND PLACE

if your ad were here, you’d be reading it right now. to learn more about effective, affordable marketplace ads, call 941-1300.

Overlooking the U.S. Federal Building, One Cumberland Place brings its Bangor tenants many advantages—including an impressive list of neighbors! From flexible suite configuration to onsite management to ample parking, this first-class facility is a must-see for any professional firm looking to expand or relocate.

“There are a number of suites of different sizes and configurations available right now. It’s a good time to see if one of them could meet your needs and fit your budget.” —Dick Cattelle

Call for details:

207-945-3081 office • 207-852-6750 cell dickcattelle@hotmail.com

SUITE 304 • BANGOR • 945-3081 december 2011 Bangor Metro 63

opinion l last word

Previously published in August 2006

Back to the

Best

126 Dimes Each of us must do what we can.

I

live in a city capable of enormous grace and dignity. I experienced it last week, at Shaw’s on Main Street. It was a busy Thursday. The 14-items-or-less line at the checkout was backed up.

When I join the line, I’m shopper No. 3, directly behind a blond ponytailed woman. Number one, the one at the checkout, is a woman in a white sweater. I have this amazing penchant for choosing the line that will stop: The drawer will run out of sufficient change or the clerk will be underaged for alcohol sales or someone’s debit card will act balky. And so I am not surprised when the line’s progression snags.

“Look at these tomatoes,” the customer at the checkout announces, holding one of her tomatoes up in the air and twirling both it and herself back and forth, apparently to show all of us. It takes this woman a while to unload her cart, pondering the importance of each item—the can of peas, a loaf of bread, milk, frozen fish sticks.

We are now a line of eight or nine.

The white sweater woman then begins to carefully navigate her money. It’s not easy for her, as apparently many things are not. I’ve seen her often, at the store and in the street. We’ve even exchanged hellos. She doesn’t see me.

When she finally is done and satisfied, and politely thanks the patient clerk, she is $12.60 short. The woman with the blond ponytail whips out a $20 bill and says, “That’s all right. I’ll pay the difference.”

She’s not rude or short-tempered. The transaction occurs: The clerk accepts the additional money, hands the change back to the blond, and the line shifts a little, all of us preparing to move forward.

Suddenly our should-be-all-finished woman’s voice cracks the air, tinged with concern, almost fear. “Oh, dear, but I’m so sorry, I have to put some of my things

64 Bangor Metro december 2011

back. You need to take some back. I need some money until my check comes,” she says, realizing she has spent every dime she has. Not realizing, we are all sure, that she has spent someone else’s dimes, too.

The clerk and the ponytailed woman ahead of me—neither can be over 20—and I all look at each other. The manager comes, the items go back, change is returned to the shopper, and she is ever so grateful, ever so polite, and says, “Thank you and God bless” as she pushes her cart toward the door into the bright early-evening light, waving back at us.

The young clerk says, “You’re very welcome,” and smiles at the waver.

I am so grateful to have witnessed this slice of humanity that I fumble six one-dollar bills from my wallet and palm them to the young woman ahead of me. “Let me share this with you,” I say. I mean the gift of this interchange, not the money, really. I am almost in tears.

There’s an old Chinese tale about an elephant coming upon a hummingbird lying flat on its back on the ground, with its feet in the air. When the elephant asks what the hummingbird is doing, it answers that it has heard that the sky might fall that day, and it is ready to hold the sky up, in case it falls.

The elephant laughs and asks, “Do you think those little feet can do anything?” The hummingbird says, “Not alone, but each must do what he can. And this is what I can do.”

I must write a letter to the store about this clerk, about this customer behind the customer, doing what each could do. I can do this.

Annaliese Jakimides’ work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and recognized in national competitions, as well as published in many journals. She lives in Bangor.

Illustration: leslie bowman

BY Annaliese Jakimides

AUBURN - BANGOR - BRUNSWICK - SOUTH PORTLAND - WATERVILLE - MANCHESTER, NH. 800-439-3297

Less than one percent of the world’s diamonds can carry the Forevermark Inscription.

Our promise that this diamond is as unique as the one for whom it is intended.

Forevermark is part of the De Beers group of companies.

© FOREVERMARK 201 1. FOREVERMARK ™ AND

™

E xc l u s i ve l y at D ay ’s J ewe l e r s Lo c at i o n s in Maine and New Hampshire.

ARE TRADE MARKS USED UNDER LICENSE FROM THE DE BEERS GROUP OF COMPANIES.

D i s c o v e r F o r e v e r m a r k d i a m o n d s i n e x c e p t i o n a l d e s i g n s a t w w w. d a y s j e w e l e r s . c o m