Up portland may 2016

Renter’s, Condo & Auto Insurance Ask us about package discounts, as well!

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Kip Thomas

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Serving Portland’s Peninsula Since 1931

May 2016

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Coastal Pharmacy Has Just What The Doctor Ordered (And Then Some!)

By Peter Michalakes For Up Portland They changed the signs over at 84 Marginal Way (right) a few weeks back and now a team of experienced pharmaceutical professionals have started an upand-coming approach to healthcare in the modern world. Coastal Pharmacy & Wellness, which had its grand opening after Apothecary by Design sold its Marginal Way pharmacy to a group of trusted partners, is one of the most accredited pharmacies in the State of Maine and features everyday wellness options from nutraceuticals to personally compounded medications for patients.

“This type of pharmacy is unique in the way that it has four separate segments,” Stephen Drapeau, one of the partners at Coastal Pharmacy, said in an interview a few days ago. The four parts comprise a health-conscious, locally-sourced café, an extensive array of nutraceutical offerings, the retailing of over-the-counter and prescription medications and the compounding of a patient’s medication into more appropriate forms in co-operation with medical staff.

“The café helps to service patients who are visiting their doctors,” Drapeau said, noting the convenience of InterMed’s location in the same building. “If they have early morning lab tests, they might stop in for a bite to eat...We have baked goods provided by Portland bakeries as a way to support [local business].” Menu items also include a variety of herbal teas, organic produce and traditional lunchtime items.

Directly next to Coastal Pharmacy’s café, its nutraceutical offerings provide a visitor with numerous options that can be tailored to the needs and desires of each customer; often with consultation from an experienced provider. “We try to offer a broad selection to capture the multiple interests of the community that we serve,” Drapeau said.

Curious what a nutraceutical is? Wikipedia notes: “Nutraceutical, a portmanteau of the words ‘nutrition’ and ‘pharmaceutical’, was coined in 1989 by Stephen L. DeFelice, founder and chairman of the Foundation of Innovation Medicine. The term is applied to products that range from isolated nutrients, dietary supplements and herbal products, specific diets and processed foods such as cereals, soups, and beverages... Nutraceuticals are products derived from food sources that are purported to provide extra health benefits, in addition to the basic nutritional value found in foods. Depending on the jurisdiction, products may claim to prevent chronic diseases, improve health, delay the aging process, increase life expectancy, or support the structure or function of the body.”

Maureen Petone, a wellness specialist with 17 years of experience in her field, is one of several helping hands on-staff to ensure customer wellness and satisfaction. An employee of Apothecary by Design before the sale, she has been working at Coastal Pharmacy since it opened its doors. “Not only do we have supplements, but we have natural body care,” Petone said, emphasising the down-to-earth nature of the pharmacy and its dedication to providing customers with wholesome products.

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In addition to over-the-counter homeopathic remedies, a patient can arrive at Coastal Pharmacy and pick up a traditional medication with a prescription, just like any other pharmacy allows. The pharmacy will also ship directly to patients’ homes for free. “Nutraceuticals, vitamins, supplements, prescriptions...

We’re licensed in five states, so we can also ship to those,” Cassi Brooks, another partner at Coastal Pharmacy, told me. Additionally, the pharmacy has an entire processing team devoted to working directly with customers’ insurance providers in order to process claims and otherwise limit headaches for the patient.

(Though Coastal does stock aspirin, just in case a headache does occur!)

Coastal Pharmacy also has a nurse on staff who can make follow-up calls to its customers and ensure that a treatment plan is working for the patient. “We make sure they understand how to use [the medication],” Brooks said. “We ask them how things are going...It’s a free consultation, and I don’t know of any other pharmacies that do that.”

The most intricate part of Coastal Pharmacy, paying homage to its roots at Apothecary by Design, is the compounding lab that can tailor patient medications exactly to his or her condition and needs. “We have a state-of-the-art lab, fully accredited by different agencies,” Drapeau said, adding, “Lab technicians make the medications from scratch, from bulk powders.” Think a real mortar and pestle with some added and updated methods, too.

These lab technicians are fully certified and often use this opportunity at Coastal Pharmacy & Wellness to further their careers in pharmacy and medicine.

The lab can transform prescription medications to anything from creams to

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tinctures, and can tailor the dosage to the needs of the patient as deemed appropriate by his or her physician. “If someone has pain associated with a particular area of the body, applying a pain medication directly to that area that is absorbed faster into the bloodstream may help,” Drapeau noted.

Ms. Brooks also made clear that the needs of every patient are unique and are treated as such at Coastal Pharmacy. “When it comes to a compound, we always call the patient first, reason being that compounds are made specifically for patients,” Brooks said, noting that the patient’s doctor is always an integral part of the compounding process as well.

Brooks likens this intra-practitioner relationship to a “triad”: the patient, the pharmacy and the medical provider all communicate to meet the needs of the patient’s condition. “The patient, the physician, the pharmacist: if they’re not all connected, it’s not whole health,” Brooks concluded.

A prominent application of compounding occurs when a patient seeks hormone replacement therapy with testosterone, estrogen or other human hormones.

“We’ll have different veterinary clinics order custom medications for various animals,” he said, given the pharmacy’s capacity to manipulate dosages and mediums so as to maximise comfort for an unwell furry friend.

Joe Lorello, the third founding partner of Coastal Pharmacy, was a part of Apothecary by Design and helped to oversee the growth of the Marginal Way pharmacy into a healthcare destination. “When VAL Health came along to buy Apothecary by Design, they made a decision to sell this portion,” Lorello said.

“So I approached Cassi and Stephen to see if they would like to be a part of it with me.”

The sale was driven by significant growth in the pharmaceutical sector, which gave the trio the opportunity to start their own local pharmacy. “What they purchased was a speciality pharmacy, a big segment of pharmacy healthcare…You need people who know the industry,” Lorello added.

It certainly seems that those at Coastal Pharmacy & Wellness do know the industry inside and out.

For more information about Coastal Pharmacy & Wellness, visit their store at 84 Marginal Way in Portland or surf over to their website, www.coastalpharmacyandwellness.com Peter Michalakes can be reached at pmichalakes16@waynflete.org

“As people age, in both men and women, their hormone levels will decline...there are numerous studies that show supplementing hormones promotes cardiovascular, bone and mental health,” Drapeau told me.

Additionally, local veterinarians often source medications from Coastal Pharmacy & Wellness.

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Hackin’ The Net

By Ted Fleischaker / Publisher We have a few different topics this month, but first among them is privacy online. Like how much of same do you think you might have while chatting on Facebook to a friend? Or what about texting or using one of those apps like Kik? Or downloading a movie from a legal (or not so legal) source? Or watching a TV show? Or doing anything from e-mailing to checking weather?

If you said ANY privacy whatsoever to most of these, you would sadly be wrong.

And it gets worse when you shop online. There, not only do you abandon all privacy hope, but chances are you will be bombarded with ads for stuff you likely never wanted to buy in the first place or looked up one time. It’s usually due to “cookies”.

What’s a cookie? Oh, it used to be chocolate chip or sugar and taste good, but these days, in computer lingo it’s a small bit of info that visiting a website or searching leaves on your computer, iPad or other device. It says what you looked at or for and it triggers all manner of “targeted” ads and reminders.

Worst of all, you usually have to give permission to allow a cookie to be placed on your device if you visit a site of any value, and even very legit sites like BBC often have a reminder that by surfing there you give the OK for them to do so. To quote from the BBC’s site, “in order to improve your user experience...” which this writer finds both arguable and somewhat laughable. In truth, I feel, too many cookies just are there to hit you and I with ads and more ads.

soft drinks and an Amazon Basin reforestation project. And guess what? In some cases still, months later, I find an ad for Runa this or that popping up.

Same was true when I looked for a motel room for a computer-less friend contemplating visiting my old hometown of Indianapolis. I still get “reminded” that the Omni has great deals on Priceline or Hotwire or somewhere, even though I did not take a trip, book a room nor do I plan on it any time soon.

But lack of privacy gets worse.

We had a friend visiting us in April and unbeknownst to us, while we were sound asleep, he decided to watch a TV show which he downloaded on a bit torrent file via our WiFi. For those unfamiliar, torrents are oftentimes copyright violating sites where “bits” or pieces of a TV show, song or movie are downloaded to the person requesting same from various other users computers. Another name for this is “peer-to-peer” sharing.

The theory is the bits all come from different places so nobody can be traced or illegally shared the whole show or film and thus nobody violated any laws.

Torrents are what a lot of folks use who do not want to pay for a movie, show or song. And while I have mixed feelings on “intellectual property” the law is the law and taking a movie you don’t pay for does not only violate some laws, but the service contract you signed (You do remember signing, don’t you?) when you got your cable modem, DSL or other internet service.

Of course, we were sawing logs happily when this “crime” took place (12.17 a.m. we later were informed) so the next morning not knowing anything was amiss we bade our guest farewell only to later turn on our computer and find not the internet but a notice from our provider informing that some nasty had illegally downloaded a TV show in the dead of night... and forcing us to read a warning notice about same before we were “allowed” to log back on and surf.

It not only shocked us that a guest would take advantage (and he’s been told he, but not his laptop, is welcome back) but that our provider was able, within minutes, to determine what show he’d illegally downloaded, and precisely when.

Examples: A neighbour of mine in Portland said she can’t seem to get rid of ads for refrigerators because she’s on a committee for a group and they were considering buying one for a charitable project. She made the mistake on her home computer of seeing what a major retailer might have and at what cost only to be permanently locked into ads for — what else — fridges.

I did the same thing when I was down at Casco Bay Lines one day and spotted a neat “fixie” which is slang for a fixed gear bicycle. The bike didn’t have a name on the frame, but the wheels were ID’d as “Runa”. I came home and innocently enough did a Google search for “Runa”. In addition to bikes, I got info on Runa

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Up Portland 05.16 On The Web At: www.upportland.com

Compounding pharmacy Retail pharmacy Veterinary medicine High-quality vitamins, supplements, herbal and natural remedies Women’s health consultant and practitioner on site Medication Therapy Management (MTM)

84 Marginal Way, Portland

Free monthly educational and social events

Compounding & Retail Pharmacy: 207.899.0886 Nutritional Health & Wellness: 207.899.0993

Knowledgeable team at your service to help you make informed health decisions

www.coastalpharmacyandwellness.com

Follow us for event and product updates and health information. www.facebook.com/coastalpharmacyandwellness They gave us both bits of info in their blocking screen... and then we got added to a blacklist. What’s a blacklist? Well let’s say you do not want to be on one.

It works like this: just as you get snail mail sent to your number and street and ZIP Code, whenever you log on to the net you do so via an internet service provider (ISP) and you are assigned an IP address. That stands for Internet Protocol. It tells things where you are online and just as that number, street and 04101 tells your snail mail to go to your home or office in downtown Portland, that IP address sends your e-mail, surfing and everything else you are after to your computer.

Sadly, if the system suspects your IP address of doing any sort of major (or minor) no-no, one (or more) of over 100 world-wide internet security firms may decide to blacklist you. That means they might suspect spam is coming from your IP address. Or someone shared a TV show, movie or song. Or that you didn’t mind your manners.

Why this is important is simple: if the system thinks you are a spammer, a robot or a bad guy they will block your e-mails from going out or might block you from certain websites or even make you play a “game” only a human could do before you get to access the content you want. The “game” we seem to have been hit with repeatedly was being shown eight photos of food and told to “click the ones with a waffle in them” or photos of drinks and told to click any “with tea in them.” Get it right and you get to go ahead. Wrong and you get booted.

Our little friend with the illegal download got us on all manner of these lists and until we could get things squared away with our provider, our e-mail servers and more we found ourselves locked out of everything from our bank and broker to our favourite bicycle hobby website and our pharmacy. Fixing that took three weeks, a lot of aggravation and — here’s the kicker — has left us wondering what else our ISP and anyone else knows we have visited on our computer.

Oh, and the “crime” took place while we were in bed sleeping. If you read further down that contract with the service provider you are responsible if someone (even driving by outside or you are sleeping) logs into your internet WiFi and does a no-no. Better make that WiFi name and password double hard.

Now what were those other topics? Just room for two and only briefly...

—There’s the big pending merger which will affect a lot of our friends and neighbours — the purchase of TimeWarner by Charter Communications to form the 2nd largest cable outfit in the country. Lifehacker (www.lifehacker.com) had some great insight into things you might or might not see once the merger is complete, but most important for we users, there are conditions intended to protect us from huge rate boosts. Lifehacker notes, “The FCC and Department of Justice have approved conditions that will prevent New Charter (the merged firm’s to-be name) from charging customers usage-based prices for the next seven years. They’re also prohibited from putting data caps on broadband services like Netflix. The goal is to keep things competitive by not punishing users for using services like Netflix, HBO GO, Hulu, and so on...”

—And finally, it’s hard to believe, but the Apple Watch has just celebrated its one year anniversary. A number of columns have been written on the topic, but one of the best in this writer’s thinking was on Radio World and can be found at http://www.radioworld.com/article/why-arent-you-wearing-an-applewatch/278722 The most interesting fact to us: While the percentage of folks who own a smart watch (Apple or other brand) has doubled since a year ago, it’s only gone from 2% to 4% and that’s not a lot of watches. There’s still time, but the bottom line seems to be most folks can’t figure out what they’d use a smart watch for or why... and we are among them as one of the 96% who do not own one.

And for May, that’s it. We will see you in June with more fun on and offline.

Meanwhile surf safely, watch those guests and know big brother IS watching!

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Up Portland 05.16 On The Web At: www.upportland.com

Swiss Time

“Doin’ time in Portland since 1977”

86 Exchange Street Portland, Maine 04101 (207) 773-0997

www.myswisstime.com Monday – Friday: 10-5 Saturday: 10-2

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Food For Thought...

It never ceases to amaze me how there are places we all walk, drive or bike by and never really “see”. They are places we either take for granted or for some reason or another just are in a hurry and never stop to really explore. When we finally DO stop and DO notice we are like “how did we miss that for all this time?”

And this review is about just such a place at the corner of High and Spring streets — The Little Tap House.

I must have passed here 100 times or more in the year since I moved to Portland. Several times I wanted to stop but was on a “mission” and had places to go or people to see. Fortunately, all that ended at lunch / brunch time on a recent Saturday when we found ourselves headed down High Street and thinking lunch. I pointed to the Little Tap House and partner Ivan pulled to the curb as there just happened to be a spot out front. We paid the meter and went in, not knowing what we’d find. Little Tap House’s website self-describes as “A craft beer gastro-pub with local farm to table dining...” Sounded promising so we got seats and started looking at both menus — the regular one and a brunch one, which was also on offer.

But before we could really get a bead on what we might want or even read the whole of both menus, our friendly waitress, Robin, appeared with two small glasses of hot chocolate which were a “snack” sent by the chef and contained thick, delicious chocolate with a touch of cayenne pepper!

Surprisingly, as it’s not a combination I would have considered, they were delicious and sadly not on the menu so just that day’s “tell us what you think” sampler. Our vote is next Fall add this to the menu, only in a large size! We later learned the chef does a treat daily and it’s always something different, which the menu terms “Amuse Bouche: a complimentary offering prepared daily by the chef.” As bouche means mouth ours were definitely not only amused, but very pleased with the gift!

But back to the menu... what did we find there? A lot of really neat things which we wish we’d had time to try all of right then.

We did take a close look at the brunch menu (Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.3 p.m.) and were considering the steak and eggs, as well as that French Canadian specialty Poutine (quoting menu: braised beef / cheese curds / gravy / fries / two

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eggs) and even the salads. That was, until we saw “it”. “It” is French Onion Soup and it was one of the very few things we liked at the late — and by some lamented — White Cap Grille over on Middle Street. We felt theirs was Portland’s best French Onion Soup and ever since they shut their doors we have been searching for some at least almost as good.

Little did we know (there’s that walking by over and over) that we’d been passing not only French Onion Soup just as good, but better. The folks at Little Tap House make the best...and it came out (as requested) really, really hot.

French Onion is one of those soups that, unless it arrives at the table boiling, just is a bowl of mush, so much credit goes to the kitchen and waitress Robin for having it arrive as ordered.

It was also delicious as it seems too many French Onion Soup recipes are cooked by folks trying to see how much salt they can dump into the bowls. Not at Little Tap House. Their rendition was perfectly seasoned, piping hot and in such a portion that it would have made a whole meal without anything else. The price, $7, was also more than fair.

Of course having that soup did not stop us each from ordering a Tap House Burger (right). Again, a lot of food and served perfectly rare as ordered in one case and medium in the other. To quote the menu, “ground in-house local beef / grilled bun / aioli / greens / pickled onion / tomato tapenade / potato chips” and the price of $14 made it more than fair. I added the bacon ($2) and think they gave me half the pig, but in case this message has not yet hit home with you, Little Tap House is only little in name — portions are all big!

Total bill for the two soups and two burgers was $49.68 and we added a 20+% tip for Robin as she was doing a great job in every way.

Up Portland 05.16 On The Web At: www.upportland.com

Oh, and before we move on, we should mention the Little Tap House is also big when it comes to menu choices. Their dinner (4 until 10 daily) offers a long list of things we’d like to try, including a set of “small bites” which include Marinated Olives, Honey Sea Salt Cornbread, Pickled Vegetables and Spiced Nuts (no smart aleck remarks, please!)

We’d recommend a visit to their full menus at www. littletaphouse.com to see all the possibilities, but most of all, we want to note a message from said website which, while the Saturday we visited in mid-April was not vital or needed, now that season is upon us, should be taken seriously: “We only accept dinner and brunch reservations for parties of six people or more. Parties less than six people are able to be efficiently seated. Evening reservation times are at 4 p.m., 4.30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. Brunch reservation times are at 11 and 11.30 a.m.”

As soon as word gets out about the great food, wonderful service and more-than-fair pricing, we’d be willing to bet fewer folks will be just driving by Little Tap House and they will be hosting a big crowd for every meal. They deserve it!

Come puoi dire (How can you say) you have never been to Anthony’s?

• 24 years on Middle Street • 100 year old recipes • Home of the Real Italian • 60 sandwiches

• 15 Italian dinners • 10 pizzas • Beer and wine • FREE parking

151 Middle St. • Portland, ME • 774-8668 Boston atmosphere with Portland prices anthonysitaliankitchen.com

But not all good food is on the peninsula, so on a recent weekday we had a business lunch and were headed for Pat’s Meat Market over on Stevens Avenue. Pat’s is known for their sausage, meats and their upstairs restaurant for dinner, but downstairs their deli “Groceria Cafe” serves a mean lunch with a lot of neighbourhood atmosphere, not to mention Please continue on the Next Page

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More Food For Thought...

Continued From The Previous Page some durn good eats made fresh daily. Trouble is, on the day in question, we never made it to Pat’s as our lunch companion suggested we change venues and go to a place I’d heard mentioned, but never tried called Susan’s Fish-N-Chips at 1135 Forest Avenue. Part of me is glad I got detoured, and part of me wishes I’d gone on to Pat’s and suggested he do so as well.

Susan’s is one of those Portland traditional diner/seafood/local spots and while I tend to like most, I found nothing I’d call really outstanding here. There was nothing bad or really that was not of good quality, it’s just that for what they have (seafood, in case the name is not a giveaway) for the price and the portions, there are a lot of places I would personally sooner go, ranging from Commercial Street’s Gilbert’s Chowder House to South Portland’s Dock’s Seafood to the Porthole or Portland Lobster Company.

But Susan’s is not bad. We were a bit put off by the dark atmosphere (below) belying the building’s original use 20+ years back as an old garage, which we feel did not lend itself well to a business lunch. We will admit we like the light and airy (ie: more welcoming we think) atmosphere at Dock’s way better. There is also a line where cute crosses realistic and Susan’s gets pretty close to crossing it with their menu showing “Dinnahs” and “Chowdah” and not the traditional spellings, even for Maine.

There’s also the question of pricing. We found for what we got the numbers on our bill to be a bit high, but going back to check the menu online we found no help as the items were all listed with $ next to each, followed by a blank space. A menu we grabbed for taking off the counter had prices printed on it, but they’d been blacked out with a felt tip. Either because pricing changes so often they didn’t want to say or because they’d gone up or down and didn’t want to reprint

the take-away menus, but it was and is a bit confusing to say the least.

So what was good? The staff were all smiling and service we got was prompt. The lobster roll my dining companion had looked (and he said was) good and my fish and chips was fried to perfection and deliciously steaming, as were the rings in a side of onion rings we shared.

But that’s my view. I asked my companion that day what he thought and he e-mailed his comments which are: “I had never been to Susan’s Fish-N-Chips….so I was not predisposed to going….but I will share some feedback for your consideration.

“I thought the prices were very reasonable. However, the lobster (in my lobster roll) could have been mixed with mayonnaise instead of the mayo being placed at the bottom of the roll with the greens.

I thought the onion rings were a very generous size! The cole slaw was good, very moist and the portion was more than enough with my serving….it was a large container. Staff was friendly and they brought the meal out to your table versus shouting a number out and then the patron having to go pick it up. The décor does not need to be fancy as long as the prices stay reasonably low, which I thought they were. I think it is worth going again some year.”

So there you have it. Two somewhat same, but somewhat different viewpoints. I will agree with my friend’s final line and I do definitely plan to go again sometime — probably in well less than a year — but as Susan’s on their website (www.susansfishnchips.com) says: “Specialising in Fresh Seafood at a great price Susan’s has been featured in many magazines, newspapers, and television programmes all across New England, and the country...” we are left wondering exactly why.

It’s OK and the pricing we feel was a bit on the high side though far from obscenely so, but this being Maine and there being 1001 places to get good or great fish and chips, lobster rolls and all the rest — from Wiscasset’s famed Red’s Eats to The Maine Diner in Wells — we just do not see a lot of reason for hoopla here. It’s good. It’s reasonable. It’s not far from downtown and they do have parking. All good, but not great, in this reviewer’s thinking. We will be back, but we won’t be rushing.

Finally a few bits & bites... If you want to get some relatively easy seating at some of the “touristy places” that make Portland the foodie city it is, now is the time or you will be waiting till Fall (or at least might feel like it with some of the lines). Portland Lobster, for example, opens for the season on

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Up Portland 05.16 On The Web At: www.upportland.com

the 5th of May and if it’s like last year you might stand a chance to get in until Commercial Street becomes nuts-to-butts after Memorial Day. The lines (especially on sunny, warmer days) are already growing at Duckfat over on Middle Street and the same is true over at their neighbouring eatery, Eventide. We also see a lot of the sidewalk cafes have sprouted in the past few weeks, so now is a good time for us locals to venture out in the scarce time between the snows and the Summer crowds who keep our city afloat and make us such a fun culinary destination. Be sure to reserve if your restaurant of choice take reservations and even then they can have some busy nights, as we experienced at Street & Co. last week when we had visitors in from Kentucky... Also of note, as the seasons are changing, do not forget it’s almost last call for the excellent chicken pot pies at Two Fat Cats Bakery as Stacy and her crew will be turning all their efforts to fruit pies, seasonal Summer items, cakes and some of the best whoopie pies, cookies and shortbread to be found in Maine. We love the chicken pot pies, too, so plan to take advantage before the recipe goes into storage in a few weeks time... And finally, you can tell Spring is definitely here as the Portland Farmers’ Market has ended their hibernation and returned to Monument Square (Wednesdays) and Deering Oaks Park (Saturdays). Pop by and meet the farmers, grab some genuine Maine produce for your kitchen at home or plants for your own garden and don’t forget the cheese, buttermilk, butter and some farm fresh eggs, right here in the “big city”. It’s always worth a visit and right now is a great time. Welcome Spring!

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Sauntering

By Mat Robedee / Up Portland Commentator I am no stranger to road trips. I have driven across country a handful of times now and have embarked on several multi-day driving ventures. One of my most burly road trips was a little over 10 years ago, when a friend and I drove from Colorado to San Diego and then travelled the entire coastal route to Anchorage, Alaska. That trip took 18 days and nearly cost us a friendship, but is a memory I will never forget.

I have many travel goals in life and one of them is to visit all the states in America, along with all the National Parks. So for this road trip I decided to stay south, follow the sunshine and visit the states and National Parks I have been missing. Once my mind was made up on a southern road trip, I decided that the farthest west I would go would be New Mexico. I needed to get my desert fix in. Truth is, I’m a desert rat by heart, much as I love mountains, jungles and oceans. It’s in the desert that I feel most at home. Then I set an end point.

I knew that I wanted to end my trip Boynton Beach, Florida, where my best friend lives, to soak in as much warmth and sunshine as I could before driving back home. Knowing what states I wanted to visit, how far I was going to go before looping back home and setting a final destination, I packed my car and was off.

I left at sunrise and basically drove a straight shot from Portland to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. I spent a day there driving along the high mountain roads, still covered in snow (below) and then down into the valleys where the rivers were rushing and flowers were coming into bloom.

This past March though, was a road trip of a different caliber, because this time I drove 7,357miles alone. Truth is, I would have loved a companion on this walkabout or rather, driveabout. Yet it was no easy feat to find someone with a matching schedule and interests. Additionally, finding someone who I would want to be side by side with (vice versa) for three weeks was on my mind as

well. So rather than gamble on an adventure buddy, I decided to rely on the one person I get along with best in life, myself. Truth is I love my own company.

Hell, I crack myself up on a regular basis. I say it often, as it is a very strong belief of mine: the most important relationship in this world is the one that you have with yourself.

Thankfully I realised many years back that the only way I could survive a Maine Winter was to leave for a good part of it. For this trip, I decided to go away for 21 days, as I am a very strong advocate of the three-week vacation. In my experience, I have found the first week usually consists of travelling to the destination, settling in and getting a feel for the land. The second week is spent checking out what the area has to offer, meeting locals, and visiting all the “must see” attractions. The third is my favourite... the one where life back at home begins growing fuzzy and the vacation starts becoming a way of life. Of course not everybody is able to take three weeks off to go away but if you ever find yourself able to, go — don’t question it, just go — before life realises what’s going on and throws some unexpected obligations your way.

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From the Smokies, it was a long westward haul to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. This cavern is a natural wonder that I have wanted to witness and it truly is one of the most magnificent things I have seen to date. A must see for anyone, being one of the largest caves in North America, it truly puts size into perspective. From Carlsbad, I went south to do some small treks in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, home to the highest peak in Texas at 8,749 feet, then I began focusing on what turned out to be the highlight of my trip – Big Bend National Park in Texas.

One of my favourite moments was when I was driving along the Rio, heading toward Big Bend and literally in the middle of nowhere I came upon what I read to be one of the best views of river. I pulled off into a small parking area where two large vans were parked, got out and made my way toward the vista.

In the distance and around a rocky outcrop, I could hear the chatter of a group.

I approached the cliff edge where the overlook was and there stood a beautiful elderly woman.

She was all alone, staring out upon the Rio and didn’t even break composure as I walked up a few feet near her to share the view. She had the largest sunglasses on, snow white hair, a floral print shirt and a colourful fanny pack strapped to her side. The way she looked like she had been waiting to see that view her entire life. I decided not to say hello, as I wanted to respect her moment. About

Up Portland 05.16 On The Web At: www.upportland.com

with Mexico. In fact, this area is so remote, so far away from everything and anything that I even had to bring my own fuel so when I ran out, I could fill up and continue on my way.

two minutes passed when she slowly turned her head , lifted her glasses, looked me right in the eyes and said with a raspy voice, “It sure is f@#king beautiful isn’t it?”

A total of five days were spent exploring this park and I have to say, it was one of the most challenging yet incredible things I have ever done. Other than the wind over dry stones, Big Bend is silent. The feeling of complete isolation, being fully off the grid, while in the heart of nature is a very beautiful and raw feeling.

The landscape was rough and resembled another planet such as Mars: pristine and untouched. I’ve heard and said many times “The best thing about travelling alone is that you’re never really alone.” This time I could say that statement was incredibly false.

I bursted out in laughter and with a huge grin I said “Yes ma’am, it’s mighty f@#kin’ fine”. She then put the glasses back on and stared out to the horizon smiling. Later, after much more cussing, laughter and sharing life stories she told me she was with a Texas rock and cactus club touring to see cactus blooms. The group came back to join her, we all had lunch together and thoughts filled my head: Would this be my future someday?

I would only be so lucky. Once we parted ways, I made my way toward Big Bend. They were the last people I would communicate with for days.

Big Bend is one of the largest, most remote and least-visited national parks in the lower 48 United States. I was excited to get there and reserved many days of my trip specifically for it. Something about travelling alone to one of the most remote places and being on the Mexican border, made me excited (but nearly gave my mother a nervous breakdown).

The park is 801,163 acres and that is just the national park itself. There are vast miles of empty land surrounding the park. In addition to this, Big Bend shares 118 miles along the Rio Grande

After Big Bend I made my way east, where I joined the “real” world again. My first stop was in Austin, where I was blown away by the food and music scene. I have heard Austin is a hip place but it really went above and beyond my expectations – like a funky and fresh oasis in the middle of…well…Texas.

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Shared Conversations Working & Living Side by Side The Art and Design of Jamie Johnston & Sondra Bogdonoff

Opening Reception with Artists Thursday, May 12, 2016, 5pm - 7pm From Austin I continued on to New Orleans, where I met friends and stayed for several days. From there it was on to Key West and then some down time in Boynton Beach with the best friend before heading home.

Overall, the trip was incredible. I did learn a valuable lesson in life and that is it’s worth splurging on a dodgy motel room, rather than sleeping in one’s car for multiple days. The sleeping in my car thing got old fast. The whole idea of just reclining down the seat to sleep at night was a great idea….when I was 20.

Many people get uncomfortable with being alone. I for one, enjoy every minute of it. The majority of my travelling has been done alone. When you travel alone, you don’t have anyone else’s feelings to take into consideration, which is sometimes the most encouraging reason to go solo — complete freedom to do what you want to do, when you want to do it and however you want it to be done.

There is nobody to make you go a certain direction or override your desires.

Through travelling alone I have discovered a new love and comfort with being in my own company. Nowadays, if I want to go see a movie and nobody is around, I go. If there is a new restaurant opening and my friends are busy, I’ll take a bar seat and treat myself to a feast.

Solo travel might not be for everyone. Whether a few days away, a week-long vacation or road trip around the country, I recommend you try it at least once. If you’ve been delaying a trip because you’re waiting for someone to go with, stop hesitating and just go. Your happiness is not dependent upon others.

First Friday Art Walk: June 3, July 1, 5pm-8pm Exhibit runs May 12 - July 10, 2016 Curated by Nancy Davidson

This exhibit is influenced and informed by Sondra and Jamie having studios in the same building, attached to the house they have lived in for over thirty years. The last six months they have focused on the intersections in their thinking and how they play off each other in their work. They each visit the other over the course of the day. They share conversations... they go back to

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Processed Media

the Bennett family, the former a failed football prospect, the latter the forgotten son who stayed home to help his father (played masterfully by the ageless Sam Elliott) maintain the family farm.

At first, The Ranch seems torn between its priorities as a traditional sitcom with a free pass for vulgar material; but the more the show begins to focus on the farm’s struggles, and the internal conflicts plaguing Kutcher and Elliot’s characters, the more The Ranch begins to establish itself as one of Netflix’s most promising comedy properties.

By Randy Dankievitch — TV Critic / TVOvermind Two to Stream (and One to Skip) Every week, 14 different original new shows debut on popular streaming platforms. This isn’t an exact number, but it’s pretty much accurate. And given the proliferation of original content on the streaming platform in the age in which we live (or “awesome world”, as I prefer to call it), it can be a daunting task to try and figure out what to watch next, avoiding the dreaded ‘show hole’ Malcolm McDowell keeps screaming about in those Amazon commercials.

We’ve all heard the buzz about 11.22.63, The Path and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so here are some deep cuts worth checking out (and one to avoid) next time you’re trying to figure out what’s up next on the digital queue.

The Girlfriend Experience (airs Sunday nights on Starz – all 13 episodes of season one available on website) – You heard it here first: The Girlfriend Experience is the best show you’re not watching, and arguably the most impressive new show of 2016 so far (along with another show I discuss below).

“Suggested by” the Stephen Soderbergh film of the same name, The Girlfriend Experience is the most cinematically dynamic character study this side of Rectify and The Leftovers, led by Kiley Reough’s (yes, Elvis’ granddaughter) commanding performance as law student Christine Reade, who begins moonlighting as an escort at the outset of the series.

But don’t go in expecting something like Hung or even Californication.

Though the series certainly features a fair share of nudity and sexual content, the show’s obsessive character study transforms what could be an empty series built on titillation, into one of the most layered, beautifully constructed debut seasons in recent memory. The rare half hour drama to exist in the modern age, The Girlfriend Experience came out of nowhere and blew me away with its devastating character work and powerhouse performances.

The Ranch (first 10 episodes of season 1 available on Netflix – episodes 11-20 arrive later in 2016). From the minds of comedies like Two and a Half Men, starring two of the male leads from That 70’s Show... comes one of the most intriguing new sitcoms of the year? I know: sounds ridiculous, right?

The Ranch, like Mom on CBS, is a show that works almost in spite of itself, a “red state” comedy about a ranching family broken by years of anger and turmoil both professionally and personally.

That promise is only realised in a few episodes of the 10 which are currently available (particularly episode seven), but led by the performances of Elliot, Debra Winger (who plays the matriarch of the family) and Kutcher, The Ranch is an intriguing little show with a lot of heart, and a ton of potential.

Flaked (season 1 available on Netflix) — With roles like Gob Bluth, LEGO Batman, and BoJack Horseman under his belt (fine, and that terrible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot), Will Arnett always seems poised to be a breakout star somewhere. Unfortunately, Flaked isn’t that project for him, despite how obvious and personal the material (cowritten by him and Mark Chappell) is.

Starring Arnett as an alcoholic trying to steer out of his mid-life crises, Flaked is like any handful of bad indie dramas of recent years (call it the Garden State effect): self-aggrandizing, semi-likable jerk tries to find truths about himself, in a show with a lot of obvious literal metaphors and shots staring at symbolic objects.

Despite the strong material at the core of the series, Flaked’s inability to be either poignant or funny undercuts a lot of what Arnett and Chappell try to accomplish across eight episodes and as a result, the show ends up being an near-incomprehensible mix of white male angst, thin hipster commentary and deeply powerful material about the struggle to remain sober in a depressing world.

There are moments where Flaked feels like its right near the edge of some deep truth, but its inability to find meaningful venues of expression for these ideas make it a pretty underwhelming series.

(Randy Dankievitch is a Portland resident and TV critic currently writing on the web for TVRoundtable, TVOvermind and PopOptiq, along with his monthly column in Up Portland. He’s also the co-host of the TVRoundtable and Under the Hood podcasts, and can be found on Twitter at @rjdank).

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The Standard Reviewer

By Bill Elliott / Up Portland’s Film & Theatre Reviewer

Bruce Springsteen earned the nickname “The Boss” early in his career while playing clubs and bars in his native New Jersey. Anyone who has seen him perform in concert understands that the moniker is no misnomer.

Springsteen’s marathon concerts are legendary, both in terms of the scope of material he covers and the energy he puts into them. His latest concert tour — the first in two years — finds him not promoting a new album but revisiting a classic one, 1980’s The River.

In December, Springsteen released The Ties That Bind: The River Collection, a box set that features the original The River double album, the proposed (and abandoned) single record version of that album, a double length CD of album outtakes, plus a DVD concert of a 1980 performance and a documentary DVD. For Springsteen fans, it is the Holy Grail — a chance to hear and see performed some of the Boss’s best released and unreleased work at a career-defining moment.

As with so much of Springsteen’s recorded material, hearing The River in the comfort of your home doesn’t do the music full justice. Listening to it in concert — each song in sequential order — unleashes the full emotional impact, the range and depth of content, and the musical scope of the album. Onstage, The River feels more like a symphonic work, an opera, or a Broadway musical, with frequent shifts in emotional tone, flowing from crescendo to cadence and back again. For the 2016 River tour, Springsteen plays the entire 20-song album cycle in its entirety (something he didn’t even do in 1980), plus a selection of material spanning the entire length of his 40-year-plus career.

At each concert, he brings up at least one audience member to dance onstage with him during his biggest hit, Dancing in the Dark, a scenario set up in the original MTV video of the song (featuring the soon-to-be-famous actress Courtney Cox).

In Louisville, he caught sight of a sign that read, “One Boss. Five Sisters.” And so, the five sisters paraded onstage to take turns dancing with him. In Columbus, two 10-year-old boys held up a sign requesting that Bruce sing Growin’ Up from his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Not only did he play it; he brought the two youngsters onstage, gave them both microphones, and let them sing along with him.

On songs like Two Hearts you can see how kinetic a performer Springsteen is.

He covers every inch of the stage. He mugs and vamps with his band members, especially long time guitarist and friend, Steve Van Zandt, and strikes poses for the audience. The concert tickets say “No cameras or recording devices;” but throughout the concert, fans are taking photos and recording video footage on their iPhones.

This is fairly obvious to Springsteen and his security staff. Yet no one stops them.

They are having a good time and Bruce knows it.

Springsteen has enjoyed a special relationship with his fans since the beginning.

In larger venues, the cries of “Broooooce” that echo around the arena before and during the concert sound, to untutored ears, like booing. It is exactly the opposite; it is a verbal expression of adoration and affection. Likewise, it has become a tradition for fans to sing along to most of his songs. Sometimes, he will simply stop singing and allow the fans to join in. At other points during the show, he will point the microphone at the audience and let them take over. After the opening bars of Hungry Heart, it has become customary for the fans to sing the opening verse in its entirety, Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack, I went out for a ride and I never went back.

Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowin’ I took a wrong turn and I just kept goin’ No prompting, no cajoling. It just happens. Every concert, every night. During Thunder Road, Bruce exchanges lines with the audience in a kind of call-and-response. Everyone knows the words, everyone sings along. The experience of 2025,000 people singing in unison is stunning. Long known for his social and political activism, Springsteen’s songs portray characters that are forced to the margins of society: the working class, the unemployed, the homeless, migrants, single mothers, veterans, gays and lesbians.

I caught the show in both Louisville, Kentucky, and Columbus, Ohio, and experienced why Springsteen, since the death of James Brown, has taken up the mantle of “the hardest working man in show business.” There is simply no performer in popular music to rival Springsteen in concert. In Louisville, he played for three-and-a-half hours, covering 35 songs; in Columbus, he was onstage for closer to four hours. Performing isn’t a job for Springsteen; it is a mission and a personal pleasure. For his fans, watching him in concert is a transcendental experience. At the beginning of his concerts he greets fans with the words, “Are you ready to be transformed?” He isn’t kidding.

At the Yum Centre in Louisville, I had good seats off to the side, a little more than half way back in the arena. For the Columbus show, I managed to get general admission tickets and got lucky in the pre-concert “lottery” (devised by fans to ensure that those who want to be close to the front of the stage get the opportunity to do so fairly and without threat of the kind of stampede that killed 11 fans at a Who concert in Cincinnati in the early 80s).

Watching Springsteen from the pit is a completely different experience than sitting across the length of a basketball stadium. Up close you can see every gesture, every facial expression, every acknowledgement towards his band and members of the audience. You can even see the sweat.

Springsteen is a consummate performer. He clearly rehearses to the point of perfection. Yet there is nothing stilted or static about his concerts; indeed, there is plenty of room for improvisation. Each night, he takes audience requests for songs by casting his eyes around the auditorium for the hand-held signs the have become de rigeur for fans to bring to performances.

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His recent cancelation of a concert in Greensboro, N.C., upset some fans but came as no surprise to those who know his music and his beliefs. Of North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, Springsteen said in a statement, “To my mind, it’s an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognising the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress.” Springsteen earned a good deal of respect within the LGBT community and his courageous and defiant act was followed by a number of other artists and businesses pulling services out of North Carolina. The economic fallout has been so great that McCrory is now reconsidering the bill and may repeal it.

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Letting The Cat Out Of The Bag

Ask any business owner in almost any field or industry and they will tell you seasonality rocks the business world in Maine. And, the biggest season of them all, if you are a small, hole in the wall bakery located on the outskirts of the Old Port, is Summer.

Summer straps you in and takes you for a wild ride that never lets up until it dumps you, unceremoniously, at the feet of the first frost... leaving you wondering “Did that just really happen?”

May is the month we steel our courage, make all the preparations we possibly can and get ready for the ride. We can feel it coming – the wave about to crash.

By Stacy Begin / Owner, Two Fat Cats Bakery It’s only May, but the bakery feels a little frantic, maybe even a little panicked.

There is a breathlessness that seems to rule our days and a quickened pace that foreshadows things to come. We are rushing to finish seasonal hiring, to complete recipe testing, to clean the Winter muck from the lot, to prepare, well, everything for what we know will come crashing down on us ….Summer.

Springsteen Continued Springsteen interacts closely with fans throughout each concert, traversing the length of a catwalk that circumnavigates the four sides that enclose the pit. He stops to shake hands with fans, quaffing the occasional beer offered in his direction, culminating — during Hungry Heart — in an exercise in trust that sees him falling backwards into the waiting arms of huddled fans, who gently and caringly “crowd surf” him back to the stage.

Even as some older fans begin to flag, Springsteen shows no sign of slowing down, cranking up the band during the encore for pulsing renditions of favourites like Born to Run, Badlands, and Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), during which he, Van Zandt and Jake Clemons (nephew of Springsteen’s talismanic saxophonist, the late Clarence Clemons) mug and do Three Stooges impressions while the audience lap it up. At 66, Springsteen is incredibly fit and athletic and could pass for 20 years younger. How long he can continue performing at this level is anyone’s guess. Let’s just hope it is for some time to come.

It’s hard to explain what that means: “the wave about to crash.” We try our best to explain it to our new hires: it is going to be busy, very very busy. Every minute will count. Complete a task out of order and you may fall as much as 30 minutes behind. Move too slow and you will fall behind.

The bakery will be full of people, so you’ll need to weave and bob in between customers to make your way up the stairs. And you will make sooo many whoopie pies and pies, you will dream of them in your sleep (or maybe it’s a nightmare).

But no one seems to really believe that description until the wave has crashed and they are in the thick of it. That’s when it hits them: Summer is here. Our veteran employees know what they are in for. They use January through April to prepare for battle. When new recruits comment on how busy it is, the veteran will say, “This is nothing. Wait until Summer.”

And, yet strangely, we can’t wait until Summer. Despite the frenetic pace, we thrive on the adrenaline; we love the busy-ness, and most of all, we love the people — the visitors, the locals, the Summer residents and, of course, the other business owners. They make the Summer for us.

It’s what we wait for every year. So let the wave come crashing down. We’re ready to ride it to the frost!

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Friday 27th May Papers On Street: Tuesday 31st May

Up Portland is edited in Portland and printed the last week of every month in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We may be contacted at the e-mail or phone number below. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and fairness, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors. Liability is limited to the cost of said ad. Ads not cancelled by published deadlines may be billed at agreed-upon price.

Ads may be edited or rejected for content at the discretion of the publisher. All items appearing in Up Portland, as well as the name, logos and design are copyright 2016 by BBS, A division of High Speed Delivery Fork Ltd. & Ted Fleischaker and may not be reproduced in any form without prior written approval.

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Eric’s Optimal Corner Liam Pinson / Optimal Self Community Health and Wellness Center

Peaks and Valleys In my short time on this planet I have seen seasons of change in my life. At times they would raise me up to the heights of success. And at others, they would crash me down to the depths of my mistakes and failures.

I have been thrown around like clothing would be in a dryer out of control. I’ve worked so hard to accomplish so much, then all of a sudden I felt like I had lost everything.

This up-and-down extreme pattern of life has been a guaranteed constant for me, but it has allowed me to grow into who I am now. Sometimes I think: Wow! Life has hurt so much! However, once I finally stopped hurting, took a pause, and a moment to look at myself and all that I have been through I have been able to say I am very happy where I am right now.

What does this all mean?

Let me tell you about the peaks of our personal success and the valleys of our failures so you can understand this process of life and apply it yourself to find balance in the ups and downs of your own everyday and be able to accept who you are and where you came from.

we are able to go higher. It’s easier this time than before. Scaling this peak also means we can see more peaks of happiness and accomplishment — ones that we couldn’t see the last time.

We train really hard in the gym and gain new strength and lose more weight.

Then we injure ourselves or we move away from the gym and fall back into the ice cream and couch potato ditch. We learned a lot from our gains and will always have that wisdom. The ditch is not our grave so we will eventually find a way out, but only when we are ready. And when we are ready we will strive to achieve victory again.

How many times it will take? I can’t say for you or for me, but I do know we can’t give up. It is only you who can make the choice to succeed, so I ask you to be gentle with yourself. Falling does not mean you are not good enough or not capable. It just means that you just haven’t learned yet how to fully accomplish the task at hand and be successful at it. But that’s OK so long as you are willing to challenge yourself and to surrender with humility when you can go no further... and to wait for the next opportunity to win the battle.

There will always be another time to try. Remember all the challenges in the valley, but never forget all the amazing peaks you have climbed. Remember that the view has only gotten better each time, and it was you who chose to keep going. So don’t ever stop climbing, because there are always more sights to see and happiness to achieve!

I am Eric Hilton, owner of Optimal Self Community Health and Wellness Center here in Portland. Here at Optimal Self we honour those of you who want to keep trying. We are here to help you stay on the horse and keep riding because we all have fallen off many times before ourselves. If you want support to discover your success with fitness and health, I invite you to come by and see us. We will help point you to the next peak.

We all came into this world in wonder and ignorance. Our parents gave us the basics to survive and taught us how to walk on our own two feet, but no sooner than we took those first steps, we stumbled and fell. Eventually we got back up, but all of a sudden, just after we regained our balance, we were knocked down again.

The same is true as adults. We try to improve our diets, then we fall off the wagon and go back to the Ben and Jerrys. We get into a relationship with someone who we think is the one. Then we find that we were totally wrong, and are back to looking for someone better. We sign up for a gym membership again to finally do it this time, and then we lose the motivation and give up on working out.

Every time we may not succeed, however each peak and valley we experience we learn more about ourselves, which brings us closer to the success of discovering what makes us happy, how to do it and how to hold on to it.

There is never a quick answer to finding happiness and balance. We have to earn it. We have to learn it. And a big part of that is the stumbling. A helpful hint that I have learned is that it’s OK to fall. Don’t seek it out. But let yourself (when it’s happening) complete the experience because it will be much easier to get back on the horse and charge forward the next time you try again. Remember 1+1=2. You have more wisdom now. You are more prepared. You know what you want, so please don’t get stuck in the regret of your past failures because they will only hold you back from discovering the future of your successes.

Every time we achieve a new peak or success we like to believe we have it conquered, but, it can be hard to maintain victory every time so we fall back down into the valley to learn how to get back to the top. However the next time

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Here’s What We Think...

person or self-appointed “joint committee to straighten everything out” will ask council or the city to move out “those people.”

We hope that day never comes, because as I have found out personally, they make great, helpful and supportive neighbours. But if and when it does arrive, we should all tell the city and “joint committee” we aren’t interested in forcing or making a change. Instead, we need to remind the powers-that-be that we are in support of sharing the neighbourhood, being good neighbours and working together to continue to make Portland such a neat, fun and diverse city. Anything else would make our neighbourhood less interesting and less Portland.

Up Portland’s Opinion

As publisher of Up Portland, and a relative newcomer to Maine, I never cease to be amazed at folks’ generosity, understanding and tolerance here — and those are all good things. But at the same time, I wonder about “demons” which lie just below the surface and which sometimes, like an unwanted garden pest or bug, show up when we least expect them to bite us on the butt. Two of those have reared their ugly heads in the past few weeks and they both disturb us.

One showed up in the form of a letter to another newspaper and in the form of comments made to me by some folks who do not live on the Peninsula at all.

One resides in South Portland and the other was here to look for a place to live from well away from this area.

What they said — and which has me concerned — is basically whether we, as folks on the Peninsula and more closely in the India Street neighbourhood should be concerned about the Milestone Foundation and their excellent work with people facing addiction and homelessness in the area. It is a classic case of “NIMBY” which, in case you’ve never heard that expression stands for “Not In My Back Yard”. In other words: we are all for helping folks who need help, but we’d think twice about living near a treatment centre — even one which was here well before the first condo hit the drawing boards.

The letter to that other paper was positive and said the writer feared the gentrification of the India Street and Munjoy Hill areas would eventually cause some complaints about “those people” whereas the person I spoke with was quite the opposite, stating their concern about becoming one of my neighbours because they were “afraid of those people being so close.”

We as a publication need to weigh in on the topic because first off none of us are that far from being one of “those people”. We all know (and may be related to or be) folks who find themselves homeless or addicted or both and who need the excellent help Milestone and others struggle to provide 24/7.

Yes, their historic building on India Street is in the middle of a huge building boom. Condos are either existing, on drawing boards or under construction in all directions, but that does not make the folks who use Milestone Services any more bad neighbours than it does our fellow condo dwellers make good ones.

It means we share streets, city services, parks and everything from shops and restaurants to bus service, which is as it should be.

That’s why it scares us so badly as a newspaper to see and hear comments like those we mention. Were we building and updating in a suburban area, we’d be willing to bet not a voice would be heard about what’s next door or down the block. And there’s no reason for comments here. We actually need Milestone as our neighbour to offer assistance, caring and dignified help. And they need us to volunteer, to assist and show support. That includes everything from dollars to keep them going to a simple hello when we see their staff and folks they serve on the street. They and we are all people and deserve equal dignity.

Up Portland just wanted to weigh in early on what some day will probably (as the letter writer feared) be an issue because just as we are certain the Peninsula needs all the housing being proposed and built, sooner of later some NIMBY

And that brings us to part two: The India Street Health Centre has been slated by our city manager for closure in his next budget and we feel that would be a major mistake. Obviously, so does Mayor Ethan Strimling and do well over 1,000 folks who had signed a petition against this closure online as of presstime for this edition of Up Portland.

In case you are unaware of this facility, it doesn’t make a lot of “noise”. Just a small sign on India Street near Congress Street, a parking area and steps/ramp even give a hint that behind those non-descript walls a lot of people get needed help. That not withstanding, Portland’s proposed municipal budget calls for closing the centre, which serves 1,000 patients a year. Many India Street patients lack even basic health insurance and have nowhere else where they can receive low-cost STD testing, free treatment for STDs, harm reduction education, clean needles and injecting equipment, comprehensive HIV and other medical care.

Sure, the clinic is not “glamourous” and for certain some of the services could be provided elsewhere (as the city manager’s budget suggests) but the relationships of patients with their medical providers would be lost.

The ease of getting to India Street would vanish. And a lot of people would be worse off, which is why Up Portland and others feel that the city should cut something else (like maybe the mayor’s $60,000+ a year assistant who suddenly appeared — just sayin’) or even a few dollars from roads, sidewalks or (gasp) education to keep India Street’s needed service coming at that location.

We are painfully aware that some in city council want to blindly go along with the excellent city manager we hired, and while usually we agree that council should let the manager manage — in this case we feel he’s made a mistake, and one which will hit the HIV and less-served populations hardest unless we say no.

We hope cool heads prevail as the budget gets a final look in council in the next few days and when the dust clears that The India Street Heath Centre stays open right where it is... the place where it does the most good for the most people.

And isn’t that what taxpayer-funded services are supposed to do?

Ted Fleischaker, Publisher

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The Buck Stops Here

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• •

By Luke Reinhard / Advisor — Ameriprise Financial

Understand Your Financial Situation Before Co-signing Your Child’s Loan As your child heads off to college or starts life as an independent young adult, he or she will likely face new financial responsibilities. To manage these new responsibilities, such as a car purchase, rent or college payments, your child may decide to take out a loan or another form of credit. Given their lack of credit history, it can be difficult for young adults to obtain a loan without a parent or another adult co-signing the loan.

Deciding to co-sign a loan with your child is a noble gesture, but it’s not a position to be taken lightly. Before you sign on the dotted line, consider your own financial situation and co-sign with your eyes wide open Even though you may not consider it “your loan” if you co-sign, lenders will identify you as one of the borrowers. That means you may be at risk if different circumstances arise, such as the following: • •

If any of the balance remains unpaid by the borrower, the co-signer is required to repay it.

If the borrower defaults or even misses one or two payments, it can detract from the co-signer’s credit record.

Even without a default, other lenders may look on this loan as an additional liability the co-signer will need to pay, which could also affect a co-signer’s own credit record.

In some states, the creditor has the right to collect payment from the cosigner without first trying to collect from the borrower.

If the co-signer should die, it may trigger “auto default” provisions in the loan contract. This requires the borrower to immediately pay the debt in full in the event of the co-signer’s death. Regulators discourage this practice, but it still exists in some loan agreements.

Take some steps to protect your position.

Alternatives to a loan that requires a co-signature should be explored. For example, students should consider taking full advantage of federal student loans or aid. Parents may want to lend children money directly, if their financial situation allows them to do so. Whether or not you’ve determined that you are willing to co-sign a loan, take steps to help protect yourself. These include but are not limited to: • • • •

Reading the fine print and fully understanding the terms of the loan and the expectations of the lender.

Avoiding pledging property, such as a car, to secure the loans as this creates additional risk.

Arranging to receive duplicate copies of all paperwork such as statements so you can stay on top of the borrower’s record of repayment.

Having complete online access to the account just as the borrower does.

When you are considering co-signing for a loan, treat the situation with the same diligence that you would if you were borrowing the money yourself. Do what you can to help make sure your potential act of generosity doesn’t impair your ability to obtain you own credit in the future.

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Beyond The Forecast

By Jack Sillin / Weatherman & Meterology Student Hello everyone!

Aside from a surprise 2.2 inches of snow on Tuesday the 26th, which just happened to set a record for the greatest amount of snow for the date, a stretch of calm weather has graced Portland for most of April and that looks to continue more or less into May with no significantly above average or below average temps forecast.

The one neat weather phenomenon we’ve seen a bit of during April (aside from that snow) is that of the sea breeze. The phenomenon is simple but the effects can be drastic.

A classic sea breeze developed during the Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day just a few weeks ago, dropping the temperature in the final miles from the downright hot (if you are a runner) low 70’s to the nearly perfect (for marathon running) mid 50’s.

How does the atmospheric switch flip so drastically and so quickly? It all has to do with density.

As the sun beats down on coastal Maine (or Massachusetts or anywhere on the coast), the ocean warms much more slowly than the land. This leads to a difference in temperature between the water and the land.

The air over the land is warmer and thus rises because it is less dense than the cold air that surrounds it. The rising warm air over the land creates an area of low pressure.

That means the cold, dense air over the ocean then rushes inland to replace the ‘void’ of sorts left by the warm air. The cold air moving inland to fill that ‘void’ is the sea breeze we all know and love.

The sea breeze is even visible on radar on some days. This happens when a variety of particulates gets concentrated along the boundary between the warm and cold fronts. These particulates include dust, pollen, sea salt and, yes, bugs. They all get swept out of the way by the incoming cold air and get clustered along the leading edge of the sea breeze. The radar beam bounces off these particulates in the same way it bounces off rain and snow.

Look at the radar screen shot which I’ve included for a good example of this from last Spring. There’s the main (no, not Maine) sea breeze front and a smaller one from Sebago Lake. Yes, this phenomenon even happens on lakes, just on a smaller scale. Anyone who has ever visited Chicago in the Spring and Summertime is familiar with the latter as that city’s forecasts often include that infamous line “cooler near the lake.”

Enjoy the weather this month and remember the difference in density between warm and cold air next time you feel the sea breeze kick in... and if you are living or visiting near the shore, don’t forget a hoodie or light jacket.

—Jack

Snow, Sun & A Few Storms... April Had It All. Check Out Our Photos On The Following Two Pages!

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Weatherwise, April Had It All!

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Up Portland 05.16 On The Web At: www.upportland.com

The Gossip Column

By Britain & Sydney / The Office Gossip Cats

No foolin’ April had it all going on here on the Peninsula, but May-be things will get even wilder with the start of “season” not only just around the corner, but for some merchants, already here. That said, let’s see what we have to report... First off, we pussies got to wonder what is on some folks minds when they drive along and near Commercial Street. It would seem all bets are off (Maybe it’s the views of Casco Bay? We donno!) when folks get to driving and walking down there. Anyway, we were bound for Harbor Fish Market when we spotted these two vehicles who apparently decided to block the whole walk and drive way. We did the owners a courtesy of not showing their plates, but cummon folks, even we cats know you do not abandon your toys in the walkways!... While we are on the vehicle topic, some days we wonder if folks understand how things appear. The excellent tour folks with the Good Times Shuttle must have had some business there, but we cats spotted their well-decorated van not too long ago in front of the jail and police station. We cats will admit we’ve done time, but it was not what we’d call “good” at all!... And finally we overheard a young man (because he was shouting into his phone) out front of Standard Baking Company the other Sunday speaking very sarcastically about an apparent blind date gone real wrong. His comment: “OF COURSE I had fun. I ALWAYS enjoy celebrating someone’s mother’s birthday with her grandparents!” No word on if there might be a 2nd date sometime... See you next time and check out Britain, below, doing her best Alfred Hitchcock impersonation!

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Portland Duo Practice The Art Of Living & Creating Together

By Chloe Daikh For Up Portland Portland knows how to appreciate art. With numerous galleries and museums throughout the city, there is always something new to be discovered. Our latest discovery is Shared Conversations: Working & Living Side by Side, an exciting upcoming exhibit at the Maine Jewish Museum at 267 Congress Street featuring pieces by Jamie Johnston and Sondra Bogdonoff, a couple who have been living and working in harmony for over 30 years.

Although they both work with different mediums — Jamie with wood and Sondra weaves and paints — they relate to one another, which is how they got the idea of doing a joint exhibition to show off their individual pieces while also seeing them side by side. They have lived in their home with both of their studios for three decades, and it is evident that they have developed certain similarities in their individual pieces, which will both make the show unique while also tying it together.

Jamie has spent the majority of his career building commission furniture. Those years of building have given him the skills to create beautiful pieces out of wood. He also started the Furniture Department at Maine College of Art during his 25 years as a faculty member. Jamie is a self-taught artist, too, a factor which adds to the uniqueness of his work.

He says, “as part of the process of designing furniture I saw a lot of things that I wanted to make that were not furniture necessarily….mostly what I’m doing is sculpture, which are informed by those years.” He is not the type to plan things out on paper, and instead describes his process as more spontaneous, making changes along the way. When asked how he knows when a piece is finished he replies: “I never do.” Sometimes he will let a piece sit for months before going back and making changes.

He noted that he spends two to three days on average actually building a piece, but the time spent cogitating and experimenting with different ideas or materials — both imperative aspects of the construction of a finished work — is significantly longer.

Sondra took a couple of weaving courses in college while pursuing her degree in textile arts as well as other weaving and painting classes over the years. During her 20 years spent working in administration for the University of Southern Maine she picked up painting, which is less time-consuming than weaving, but since retiring is able to devote more time to both art forms.

Sondra’s approach to her work is very different but there are some elements to Jamie’s process that are similar. For example, the same as when Jamie has finished a piece, Sondra will allow a painting to sit, making changes once she has removed herself from it for awhile. However with weaving, she must take time to consider an idea that she is interested in and figure out how to weave it.

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She says, “With weaving you have to make a lot of commitments and decisions ahead of time.” The challenge lies in approaching the idea and creating from it a woven piece. Although she makes a lot of adjustments along the way, she needs a starting point.

There is also a definite end, which unlike woodworking and painting, is something particular to weaving. When constructing a piece, she puts on “enough warp to do the piece and then enough warp to do at least one other piece.” This allows her to try a technique or idea and experiment from there, because often one idea leads to another and so on.

The couple build on a variety of sources to influence their work. They often call one another over to their separate studios to get advice or a second opinion as well.

Jamie noted that he is especially drawn to a kind of minimalistic simplicity, while Sondra finds inspiration from the abstract expressionist period. Because of their ability to support each other, they are able to combat the isolation that comes from many hours spent alone in the studio... something with which many artists struggle.

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This is their first time collaborating on a larger show but they have been considering the idea for about 10 years. Although they have collaborated on pieces in the past, they have not done so for this show. For them, it has been “much more of a conversation than a collaboration.” Hence the title, Shared Conversations.

Sondra explained through “working together at the same time for the same thing, we’re kind of aligned.” It will surely be a wonderful showcase of two artists who though their life and conversations together, have created connections in their work.

The exhibit runs from 12th May to 10th July. The Maine Jewish Museum is open Monday thru Friday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and Sunday afternoons from 1 till 5.

It’s located at 267 Congress Street in Portland. To find out more, phone them at 207/773.2339 or surf over to www.mainejewishmuseum.org

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