Portland Monthly Magazine November 2011

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Portland Monthly ÂŽ Magazine

Instant Art Happenings / Oceanfront ken curtis house

November 2011

& 10

*

Maine’s Award-Winning Magazine

Chris Coyne, Pat Gallant-Charette, Rick Barron, Tom Andrews, Carolyn Chute, John Malone, Samantha Appleton, Donald Sussman

Ashley Hebert

Chrystie Corns

Volume 26, No. 8

Most

Intriguing

mainers

Sargent Publishing

N ove m b e r 2011 Vo l. 26 NO. 8 $5.95

w w w. p o r t l a n d m ag a z i n e . co m


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Ribbon Cutting Oct.13, 2011 Left to right: Joe Faria, Manager HMS HOST Portland; Michael Fetchko, National Director HMS HOST Business Development; Portland Mayor Nick Mavodones; Linda Bean; Maine Governor Paul LePage; Portland Jetport Director Paul Bradbury

Linda Bean's Maine Lobster is located near the boarding gates for US Air, Delta, and Jet Blue, and an easy walk to all other airline departure gates. NOW SERVING MAINE LOBSTER 3 WAYS: RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE RELAXATION After your airport security check-in, breath easy, listen to relaxing music, and enjoy our delicious Maine lobster and other local foods! 180 seats. LIVE LOBSTER CARRY-ON BOARD Packaged to celebrate with family and friends upon arrival! Makes a great gift every time! If Linda Bean's Maine Lobster is on the label, quality is on the table™ FROZEN TAKE-HOME LOBSTER MEALS For home or camp, keep it on hand! Beautifully packaged, buy upon departure or arrival! Our Maine lobstering families thank Portland Jetport Authority and HMS HOST for creating a high visibility marketplace for Maine lobster and for creating many new Maine lobster related jobs. Hear, hear!

Congratulations Portland Jetport for a beautiful new expansion!


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DiMillo’s is the perfect place to unwind during the holiday season. Put the shopping bags down and leave the cooking to us! • $14 Sunset Specials, weekdays from 4-6. • Portland’s Best Happy Hour, now extended! Weekdays from 4-7. On Wednesdays, buffet ‘till 8 and discounted drinks ‘till close! • Always plenty of free parking

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Inside

November 2011

clockwise from top left: publicity photo/facebook; palace diner; jesse stanbak; file photo; courtesy white house/samantha appleton; wikimedia commons/ Michael Stout

53

Features

Departments

22

10 From the Editor 12 Letters 13 Imperatífs 14 Goings On 20 Chowder 53 Performance

27

28

49

Art Happens

As winter zips up our beaches, one motel comes alive for one night only, with art pouring out of its rooms. By Ariel L. Martin

Car Trek

It’s all about the Journey. Following clues to a hidden prize, participants find themselves while searching for a car. By Robert Witkowski

Ten Most Intriguing Mainers

The straws who stir the drink: Chris Coyne, Samantha Appleton, Ashley Hebert, Chrystie Corns, Tom Andrews, Carolyn Chute, Donald Sussman, Pat GallantCharette, John Malone, and Rick Barron.

The Things We Carried

Before Portland specialized in “vibrancy” and “quality of life,” we actually made things! Check out our Forest City catalog. By Herbert C. Adams

80 The Shipping News

Gov. Ken Curtis’s former oceanfront contemporary is for sale for $1.6M (down from $1.875M), perched on the South Portland ship channel. By Colin W. Sargent

Cover: Sisters Ashley Hebert & Chrystie Corns are just two of our “Ten Most Intriguing Mainers.” See page 28.

80

20

14

Regina Lucchese By Jeanne Dudley

56 Cuiscene

Worldly Markets By Judith Gaines

58 Dining Guide 59 Restaurant Review

28

Fez Mediterranean Cuisine

Special advertising sections

60 2011 Guide to Wellness 62 2011 Gift Guide 86 New England Homes & Living

93 Fiction

“The Wedding Party” By Alma Katsu

96 Flash

56 november

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editorial Colin W. Sargent, Editor & Publisher

Farmers’ Market, Portland 24" × 20" Oil on Canvas Paul Black

Featuring original works of fine art, photography, and limited edition prints by regional and local artists.

372 Fore Street Portland, Maine 04101 (207) 874-8084 www.forestreetgallery.com

If James Joyce defines a pier as “a disappointed bridge,” I wonder what he’d call the Megaberth–a disappointed pier? Hardly. The Megaberth is a fantastic success. Designed to accommodate some of the largest cruise ships in the world, it’s already enticed 89,367 people to visit our city by sea since June, ahead of last year’s 75,563. It’s truly a wonder to see 1,100-foot ships tying up directly to our shores. True, our new pier came up a little shallow when the liner Caribbean Princess, drawing 26.2 feet, decided she had to leave early for deeper water in September due to “astronomical low tides.” (Maybe it’s the Scorpio in me, but aren’t all tides astronomical?) Happily, dredging can fix that. Former mayor Ed Suslovic, who advocated for the original design while he was in office, says of the unforeseen situation that took us out of our depths, “We had the depth charts all right there! Why wasn’t dredging discussed when they shifted the location?” In all the clamor, many still do not understand that our lengthening the pier towards open water is what brought us into the shallows–because the pre-dredged 60-foot depth below the former Bath Iron Works drydock rises back to 30 feet as you move further off shore. In any case, the pier is so well received otherwise it’s reason to cheer. Previous waterfront breakthroughs of this magnitude include: 1) OpSail 2000; 2) the North Atlantic Fleet, including a battleship, anchoring in Long Island Sound in 1944 the night before heading off to DDay and the Normandy Invasion (making us the last point of land they cleared in the U. S.); and 3) the visit of the Prince of Wales to Portland to celebrate the completion of the TransAtlantic cable in October, 1860. Just 18, the Prince’s dance card was filled. The late Don MacWilliams once reported for our magazine that “women battled for vials containing his bathwater and fought for his discarded dinner napkins.” Now there’s a Harvest on the Harbor. n

>> Visit portlandmonthly.com/portmag/2011/10/ opsail-1860 to see visiting ships and their sizes.

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from top: Rhonda Farnham; file photo; robert witkowski

OpSail 1860


Years

Years

Celebrating 25 Years

165 State Street, Portland, Maine 04101 Phone: (207) 775-4339 Fax: (207) 775-2334 E-mail: staff@portlandmonthly.com www.portlandmagazine.com

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Colin W. Sargent Founding Editor & Publisher

editor@portlandmonthly.com Art & Production Nancy Sargent Art Director Jesse Stenbak Associate Publisher staff@portlandmonthly.com Robert T. Witkowski Design Director Advertising Anna J. Nelson Advertising Director anna@portlandmonthly.com Lexi Helming Advertising Executive lexi@portlandmonthly.com Bethany L. Stone Customer Service Representative Graphic Designer ads@portlandmonthly.com editorial David Svenson Assistant Editor & Publisher david@portlandmonthly.com Colin S. Sargent Special Features & Archives Jason Hjort Webmaster Diane Hudson Goings On · Flash · Reviews Cynthia Farr-Weinfeld Contributing Photographer accounting Alexander Landry Controller alexander@portlandmonthly.com interns Moriah Duval, Ariel L. Martin, Kim Morse subscriptions To subscribe please send your address and a check for $39 (1 yr.), $55 (2 yrs.), or $65 (3 yrs.) to Portland Magazine 165 State Street Portland, ME 04101 or subscribe online at www.portlandmagazine.com

Portland Magazine is published by Sargent Publishing, Inc. All cor­re­ spondence should be addressed to 165 State Street, Portland, ME 04101. Advertising Office: 165 State Street, Portland, ME 04101. (207) 775-4339. Repeat internet rights are understood to be purchased with all stories and artwork. For questions regarding advertising invoicing and payments, call Alexander Landry. Newsstand Cover Date: November 2011, published in October, 2011, Vol. 26, No. 8, copyright 2011. Portland Magazine is mailed at third-class mail rates in Portland, ME 04101 (ISSN: 1073-1857). Opinions expressed in articles are those of authors and do not represent editorial positions of Portland Magazine. Letters to the editor are wel­­come and will be treated as uncon­ditionally as­ signed for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to Portland Magazine’s unrestricted right to edit and comment edi­ torially. Responsible only for that portion of any advertisement which is printed incorrectly. Advertisers are responsible for copy­ rights of materials they submit. Nothing in this issue may be re­ printed in whole or in part without written permission from the publishers. Submissions welcome, but we take no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Portland Magazine is published 10 times annually by Sargent Publishing, Inc., 165 State Street, Portland, Maine, 04101, with news­stand cover dates of Winterguide, February/March, April, May, Summerguide, July/August, September, October, November, and December. Portland Magazine is the winner of 34 American Graphic Design Awards presented by Graphic Design USA for excellence in publication design.

S a r g e n t

P u bl i sh i n g , i nc .

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letters editor@portlandmonthly.com 29 Salmon Falls Rd, Bar Mills, ME 04004 (GPS Buxton, 04093) 929-6472 • sacorivergrangehall.org

JENNIFER PORTER IN CONCERT! Friday, Dec 9, 7:30 Magic always happens when this remark-

ably versatile musician takes the stage. Count on being treated to a dizzying array of musical styles and lively, imaginative interplay with her talented band-mates -- Joe Arsenault on piano, Jim Lyden on bass, Matt Langley on saxophones, and Dana Packard on drums. “The minute she voices the first few notes, she takes command of the entire building. It’s not often one encounters a voice this low, plush and luscious.” Casco Bay Weekly “Jennifer Porter maintains musicianship at its top form.” - Portland Press Herald

Adm. $16 / $14 or by donation For reservations please call 929-5412.

nch … e r at F Know h W men Wo I want the house on your cover!

We have a client who is interested in the property on the front cover [“English Lessons,” October 2011], and we are desperately awaiting its arrival. We would also like to request more copies than we usually have delivered, as we run out very quickly. Deb Rose, Town & Shore Associates, Portland

French Daisy Love Poem He loves me a little. He loves me a lot. He loves me passionately. He loves me madly. He loves me not at all.

head snap

Would it be possible to use some of your pictures of Coach Barron [“Ten Most Intriguing Mainers,” November 2011] for our media purposes? Tracy Guerrette, Orono

While the American daisy is simply “yes” or “no” (“he loves me, he loves me not”), the French daisy is a flower of sensuously and subtly nuanced love. For little French girls every daisy is a love poem. The French girl plucking her way around the center is casting her love spell, anticipating the last petal which speaks her lover’s true heart. Wild daisies commonly have twenty-four to thirty-six petals. The thirty-third petal is the peak of passion for the French girl as well as the desired outcome for the English girl. French Daisy Necklaces

All sterling silver, 18" chain ....................................................#X2541 ......$165.00 favorite

Your Dan Fogelberg article [“Wild Child,” April 2010] is fantastic. Great questions and great answers. Jamonn Zeiler, Rising Sun, Indiana

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Sterling silver petals, 14K yel gold center, 18"chain..............#X2542 ......$345.00 All 14K yellow gold, 18" chain................................................#X2543....$1,525.00 The French Daisy on-line: CrossJewelers.com

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Jewelers to New England Since 1908 570 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101 1-800-433-2988

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1 2 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

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Alwa S

Copyright © August 2011 UDP AU15.5 7•11 ©11

Congratulations! Portland Magazine has been selected [for seven prizes at] the American Graphic Design Awards. Portland Magazine, February/March 2010 Portland Magazine, May 2010 Portland Magazine, Summerguide 2010 Portland Magazine, September 2010 Portland Magazine, October 2010 Portland Magazine, December 2010 Portland Magazine, April 2011 Gordon Kaye, Editor/Publisher Rachel Goldberg, Awards Director Graphic Design USA, New York, New York


ImperatÍfs Carry Clockwise from top left: EllieAnna Purse Co/Kristen Shovilin; Maine Wood 2012 Biennial Exhibition /Clara Cohan; fiat; (2); urban outfitterts; adam chittenden; ariel martin; file photo

On

The Mini Haley messenger bag is one of over 2,000 EllieAnna Purse Co. bags and accessories Maine native Sarah Legare has dreamed up in her Lewiston atelier. “I’ve challenged my Facebook fans to name new bags I create.” The Haley (pictured) is named for a friend’s daughter. $42 , ellieannapurses.com

Sunny Side

WOOD WINDS

Local artists don’t just cut the mustard. Don’t miss the Third Maine Wood Biennial at the Messler Gallery, “a powerful confirmation of the talent we have in Maine,” says executive director Peter Korn. The Bi­ennial runs Dec. 2 to through March. Visit woodschool.org.

On the

J.Lo

J.Lo didn’t want to “drive your Benz,” but she almost outdrives hundreds of lovesick admirers in a 2012 Fiat 500C in her latest video, “Papi.” You can escape in your own at Fiat of Portland on Rand Road, starting at $19,500. Enchanted cookies not included.

City Threads Hipsters, rejoice. Urban Outiftters–currently setting up shop in the long-vacant 9,945-sq.-ft. space at 188 Middle St.–will be opening its doors to shoppers Dec. 8. “It’s likely that Urban Outfitters may portend more interest from national retailers,” says Kevin Donoghue, City Councilor for District 1. “It’s a situation to watch.” urbanoutfitters.com

“Built in 1926, the Palace Diner is the oldest in Maine,” says new owner David Capotosto, who with his wife Carmel snapped up the Biddeford landmark on the sunny side of $117,000. “It’s one of only two Pollard diners in the country. Originally, it was open 24/7 to serve the mills.” Now it’s serving dazzling cuisine and earning praise from websites like “Diner Hunter.” From crêpes to biscuits and gravy, Irish to Southern Benedicts, you’ve arrived at home-made-hash heaven. Breakfast & lunch. “Ladies invited,” per the original signage. Visit palacedinerme.com.

Don’t Snow On My Parade The 11th Annual Boat Parade of Lights, hosted by Casco Bay Lines and SailMaine, sparkles into motion December 17. Last year’s event drew 300 spectators as tugboats and schooners lit Casco Bay in full twinkle. Got boat? “Many new vessels add to our numbers every season,” says coordinator Chris Kean. $8, cascobaylines.com november

2011 13


goingson Events Calendar

Belfast Maskers, 43 Front St., Belfast. Anne of Green Gables, Nov. 24-Dec. 4. 338-9668 belfastmaskers.com Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine, 142 Free St., Portland. Youth Voices on Stage, Nov. 10-13; Marvelous Improv Comedy Show, Nov. 18-20; Santa’s Reindeer Revue, Dec. 9 & 16. 828-1234 kitetails.org The Everyman Repertory Theatre, 29 Elm St., Camden. John E Bielenbert’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Dec. 9-18 at the Camden Opera House. 236-0173 everymanrep.org Freeport Community Players, Freeport Performing Arts Center, 30 Holbrook St., Freeport. Special Event: Chanson, Nov. 18-19. 865-2220 fcponline.org Gaslight Theater,1 Winthrop St., Hallowell. Cinderella, Nov. 11-20. 626-3698 gaslighttheater.org Good Theater, 76 Congress St., Portland. August: Osage County, Nov. 2-20. 885-5883 goodtheater.com Lucid Stage, 29 Baxter Blvd., Portland. Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down, Nov. 13; Four Eyes, Nov. 20; Play Lab, Nov. 21; Lucid Holiday Arts and Crafts Show, Nov. 26-27. 899-3993 lucidstage.com Portland Players, 420 Cottage Rd., South Portland. A Holiday Musical, Nov. 25 - Dec. 11. 799-7337 Portlandplayers.org Portland Stage Company, 25A Forest Ave., Portland. God of Carnage, Nov. 1-20; The SantaLand Diaries, by David Sedaris, Nov. 25-Dec. 18; The Snow Queen, Dec. 2-24. 774-0465 portlandstage.org The Public Theatre, 31 Maple St., Lewiston. The Moose in Me, The Moose in You, Nov. 4-13; A Christmas Carol, Dec. 9-11. 782-2211 thepublictheatre.org The Theater Project,14 School St., Brunswick. Get Smart, to Nov. 8. 729-8584 theaterproject.com

Music Bay Chamber Concerts, Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St., Rockport. Michael Brown, piano, Nov. 13; Open Holiday Concert with Marc Johnson, Dec. 11. 236-2823 baychamberconcerts.org Bayside Bowl, 58 Alder St., Portland. Kill the Karaoke, every W. 791-2695 baysidebowl.com state radio State Theatre Nov. 19, 8 p.m.

The Big Easy, 55 Market St., Portland. Cover to Cover Series every Tu; Hip-Hop Rap Night, hosted by Shupe and Ill By Instinct, every W; A Band Beyond Description, every Th. 775-2266 bigeasyportland.com Blue, 650 Congress St., Portland. Port Veritas-Spoken Word every Tues.; Traditional Irish Session, every Wed. 774-4111 portcityblue.com Dogfish Bar and Grille, 128 Free St., Portland. Acoustic Blues and Roots Jam, every Tues.; Happy Hour with Travis Humphrey, every Fri.; Matt Meyer and the Gumption Junction, Nov. 5; Thumb Things, Nov. 10; LQH jazz, Nov. 18; Potato Pickers, Nov. 19; Griffin Sherry and the Ghost of Paul Revere, Nov. 24; Gil Donatelli Quartet, Nov. 25; Juke Joint Devils Band, Nov. 26; Tricky Britches, Dec. 1. 772-5483 thedogfishbarandgrille.com Empire Dine and Dance, 575 Congress St., Portland. The Couch, open mic, every Su; The Stowaways, bluegrass, every M. 879-8988 portlandempire.com Friends of the Kotzschmar Organ Summer Concert Series, Merrill Auditorium, Portland. And the Glory: Masterpieces for Chorus and Organ, Nov. 6; Christmas with Cornils, A Kotzschmar Christmas, Dec. 20 foko.org Jonathan’s Restaurant, 92 Bourne Ln., Ogunquit. Jon Pousette-Dart Band, Nor. 5; Girlyman, Nov. 6; Christine Lavin and Done White, Nov. 19; A Night Before Christmas with Spyro Gyra, Dec. 9; Leon Redbone, Feb. 24. 646-4777 jonathansrestaurant.com The Landing, 353 Pine Point Rd., Scarborough. Dance Party with Jeff Pitchell & 8 to the Bar, Nov. 11; Deely Stan vs. The Guv’nors, Nov. 25; A Rockapella Holiday, Dec. 8; Don Campbell Band: Holiday CD Release Party, Dec. 16. 7744527 thelandingatpinepoint.com Maine State Ballet, 348 Rt. 1, Falmouth. The Nutcracker, Nov. 26-Dec. 4. 7817672 mainestateballet.org Merrill Audito-

rium, 20 Myrtle St., Portland. The Nutcracker, Maine State Ballet, Nov. 26-Dec. 4. 842-0800 porttix.com One Longfellow Square, 181 State St., Portland. Jorma Kaukonen, Nov. 5; Abigail Washburn, Nov. 8; Portland Jazz Orchestra, Nov. 10; Leon Redbone, Nov. 11; The James Montgomery Band, Nov. 12; David Peterson’s Old Time Country Revue, Nov. 15; Eric Bettencourt CD Release, Nov. 17; John Doyle, Nov. 18; Juanito Pascual, Nov. 19; Bearfoot, Nov. 20; Jeffrey Foucault & Mark Erelli: Seven Curses, Dec. 1; Tom Rush, Dec. 2; Anais Mitchell, Dec. 3; Edie Carey, Dec. 4. 761-17757 onelongfellowsquare.com Portland Ballet, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St., Portland. The Victorian Nutcracker, Dec. 23. 842-0800 porttix.com Port City Music Hall, 504 Congress St., Portland. James Addiction vs. Stone Temple Pilots, Nov. 9; Trampled by Turtles, Nov. 13; Beastie Boys vs. Run DMC, Nov. 16; Sam Roberts Band, Nov. 19; Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad & the Green, Nov. 20; Boy George vs. George Michael, Nov. 23; Assembly of Dust & Ryan Montbleau, Dec. 1; Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. Rage Against the Machine, Dec. 7; The Brew, Dec, 9. 899-4990 portcitymusichall.com Portland Conservatory of Music, 202 Woodford St., Portland. Sonata Sukuki Festival, Nov. 4-5. 775-3356 portlandconservatory.net Portland Ovations, Merrill Auditorium, Portland. Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert, Nov. 3; 101 Years of Broadway, Nov. 4; India Jazz Suites, Nov. 16; Matt Haimovitz and Christopher O’Riley, Nov. 18; Michael Cooper, at the South Portland Auditorium at South Portland High School, Nov. 19; Mamma Mia!, Jan. 12-14. 773-3150 portlandovations.org Portland Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Promenade, Portland. Straight No Chaser, Nov. 15; Bates, Barber and Mahler, Nov. 1; KinderKonzers: Peter and the Wolf, Nov. 3-Feb 7; Greatest Hits of Broadway, Nov. 19-20; Magic of Christmas, Dec. 9-18. 842-0800, edie carey One Longfellow Square Dec. 4, 7 p.m.

1 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

from left: courtesy State Radio; courtesy edie Carey

Theater


Invites you to a

Dale ofInvites Norway Trunk Show you to a

842-0812 TTY portlandsymphony.com State Theatre, 609 Congress St., Portland. Lily Tomlin, Nov. 8; Buddy Guy, Nov. 9; All Time Low, Nov. 17; Drive-By Truckers, Nov. 18; State Radio, Nov. 19; The Last Waltz, the Movie, followed by The Lucid featuring songs of The Band, Nov. 26; Gillain Welch, Nov. 27; The Fogcutters Present Big Band Syndrome, Dec. 2; Dark Star Orchestra, Dec. 10; A John Waters Christmas, Dec. 11. 956-6000 statetheatreportland.com Stone Mountain Arts Center, 695 Dug Way Rd., Brownfield. Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Nov. 3; Harry Manx, Nov. 5; Dave Alvin and the Guilty Ones, Nov. 10; Stone Mountain LIVE, Nov. 12; Jonathan Edwards, Nov. 18; Suzy Bogguss, Nov. 19; Carpenter and May, Nov. 20; Brett Dennen, Nov. 22; Carol Noonan and Friends, Stone Mountain Wine Dinner, Nov. 26; Dana Cunningham and Carol Noonan at the Little White Church, Dec. 3. 935-7292 stonemountainartscenter.com

Don’t Miss

Saturday, November 5th

Dale10:00am of Norway Trunk Show - 4:00pm Saturday, November 5th 10:00am - 4:00pm

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P.O. 628 Beautiful FoodBox For All Occasions

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Portland Magazine adintelligently is an art.” “To eat is a necessity, butBox to628 eat P.O. lauracabotcatering.com —La Rochefoucauld ME 04572 Insertion:Waldoboro, November 2011

12th Annual Holiday Show, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle Street, Portland. Comedian Bob Marley. Dec. 29-31. 842-0800 porttix.com “To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” lauracabotcatering.com 34 Exchange Street | Portland, Maine For Weddings and Events that are —La Rochefoucauld 30th Annual Augusta Arts and Crafts Show– 34 Exchange|Street | Portland, Maine “To eat is a necessity, butNot to eatComplicated. intelligently is an art.” 207.772.0219 serendipityportland.com Sophisticated, United Maine Craftsman, 76 Community Dr., —La Rochefoucauld 207.772.0219 | serendipityportland.com Augusta. 126 Maine Artisans, hourly gift giveaways, Nov. 12-13. 621-2818 mainecraftsmen.org Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine, 142 Free St., Portland. Camera Obscura, ongoing; 828-1234 kitetails.org Christmas at Victoria Mansion, Danforth St., Portland. Enjoy the mansion beautifully decorated for the holidays by local designers, Nov. 27-Jan. 3. 772-4941 victoriamansion.org Christmas Craft Fair, St. Bartholomew Church, 8 Two Lights Rd., Cape Elizabeth. Local artisans and craftsmen, luncheon, bake sale, handmade gifts, Nov. 19. 799-5528 Free to Breathe: Lung Cancer 5K Run/Walk, City Center, 16 Cony St., Augusta. Third Annual fundraiser, Free to Breathe, Nov. 5. Following the walk and ceremony, tours of Fort Western given. freetobreathe.org The Gifted Hand: Fine Art, Craft and Gift Show, 215 High St., Ellsworth. Over 60 juried artisans, café staffed by Cleonice and Table Bistros, and door prize drawing, Nov. 11-12. 644-2404 Kora Shriners FEZtival of Trees, 11 Sabattus St., Lewiston. 60-plus display of trees, silent auction, craft fair, Nov. 19-26. 782-6831 korashriners.org/feztivaloftrees L.L. Beans’s Northern Lights Celebration, Freeport. An amazing display of lights throughout the L.L. Bean grounds plus crafts, horse-drawn carriage rides, carolers, & entertainment galore, Nov. 20-Dec. 26. Local Writers at The Local Buzz, 327 Ocean House Road, Cape Elizabeth. Come hear local writers Alice Persons, Colin Sargent, and Rick Wile read from their work. Nov. 26, 4-5pm. 541-9024 capelocalbuzz.com

Waynflete Students are Artists & Athletes, Scholars & Sculptors, Musicians & Mathematicians... www.waynflete.org Independent education from Early Childhood through Grade 12

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goingson Events Calendar

Maine’s Finest Design Resource

Portland Holiday Craft Show, Catherine Mcauley High School, 631 Stevens Ave., Portland. Annual Holiday Crafts Show presented by Southern Maine Craftsmen, Nov. 5-6. 283-4715 Polar Express, Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, East End, Portland. Celebrate the holidays with a journey to the “North Pole” and enjoy holiday decorations along the train’s route, hot chocolate, cookies, and carols, Nov. 26-Dec. 23. mainenarrowgauge.org

SIMPLY HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Sparkle Weekend, Freeport. Free horse-drawn carriage rides, Tuba Christmas Concert at Freeport Performing Arts Center, carolers, Dec. 2-4. 865-1212

Galleries Addison Woolley Gallery, 132 Washington Ave., Portland. At Work and at Play, At Work and Play: Prints by Holly Mead curated by Photographer Jon Edwards and Collector Bruce Brown, Nov. 4-26; Jane Banquer Paintings and Prints, and Diane Hudson Photographs, Dec. 2-31. 450-8499 addisonwoolley.com

WALL DECOR

PILLOWS

Art Gallery at UNE, Westbrook College Campus, 716 Stevens Ave., Portland. Faces of War: Photographs by Gerald Robinov of Returning Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, Nov. 9-Feb. 12, 2012. 221-4490 une.edu/artgallery Atrium Art Gallery, 51 Westminster St., Lewiston. Waypoints: Sculpture by James Strickland, to Nov 30. 753-6554 usm.maine.edu/atriumgallery Center for Maine Contemporary Art, 162 Russell Ave., Rockport. Deborah Wing-Sproul: still/ moving, and Zach Poff and N. B. Aldrich: Aural Ecosystem, to Dec. 11. 236-2875 cmcanow.org

RUGS

ENTERTAINING

Dyer Library-Saco Museum, 371 Main St., Saco. Drawn from the River: Drawings by Artists of the Saco River Valley; Christy Bergland: Late Seasons of Great Pond; and Two hundred Years of the Academy: Thornton Academy Bicentennial Exhibition, to Nov. 13. 283-3861 dyerlibrarysacomuseum.org Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum St., Rockland. Louise Nevelson, to Dec. 31; Jason Larkin - Past Perfect: The 2011 Arnold Newman

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courtesy bob marley/ John Fanning

Bob marley Merrill Auditorium Dec. 29-31


ANAIS MITCHELL One Longfellow Square Dec. 3, 8 p.m.

Prize Winner Exhibition, to Nov. 27. 596-6457 farnsworthmuseum.org Galeyrie Fine Art, 190 U.S. Rt. 1, Falmouth. Artists’ show, Osher Map Collection. 781-3555 galeyrie.com Greenhut Gallery, Middle St., Portland. Glenn Renell and Joseph Nicoletti, Nov. 2-26; The Holiday Show, Dec. 1-31. 772-2693 greenhutgalleries.com Haley Art Gallery, 178 Haley Rd., Kittery. Our Community–Our Future, group exhibit. Through Dec. 17. 439-7612 haleygallery.com Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art, 522 Congress St., Portland. A Perpetual Present: 2011 MECA Faculty Selects Exhibition, opening Nov. 17. 775-3052 meca.edu Maine Historical Society Museum, 489 Congress St., Portland. Dressing Up, Standing Out, Fitting In: Adornment and Identity in Maine, 1750-1950, to May 27, 2012. 774-1822 mainehistory.org Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington St., Bath. A Maritime History of Maine; Snow Squall: Last of the American Clipper Ships, Distant Lands of Palm and Spice: Maine Ships and Mariners in Deepwater Commerce, ongoing; Aloft! Topsails to Turbines, to Nov. 27. 443-1316 mainemaritimemuseum.org

Illustration by Marty Braun

Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Sq., Portland. Madeleine de Sinety: Photographs, to Dec. 18; The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Maine, to Jan. 29; Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection, to Feb. 5. 775-6148 portlandmuseum.org Portland Public Library, Lewis Gallery, 5 Monument Sq., Portland. 2011 AIGA Maine Annual Exhibit: Good Design is Good Business–The Elements of Branding, presented by AIGA Maine. 871-1700 Portlandlibrary.com; maine.aiga.org Rose Contemporary, 492 Congress St., Portland. “Enter Night,” including Bennett Morris, Luc Demers, Rachel Katz, Dan Witz, Shoshannah White, and others. Through Dec. 31. 780-0700 rosecontemporary.com

courtesy Anais Mitchell

Space Gallery, 538 Congress St., Portland. Heaven+Earth+Joe Davis, Nov. 8; Film: Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History, Nov. 22. 828-5600 space538.org

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Tasty Events Browne Trading Company, 260 Commercial St., Portland. Wine tasting every third Th, 5-7pm. 775-7560 brownetrading.com Cellardoor Winery, intersection of Route 1 and

Professional TheaTer Made in Maine

Tickets: 207.774.0465 | www.portlandstage.org november

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BERWICK

A C A D E M Y Excellence is within reach.

goingson Events Calendar 90, Rockport. Complimentary food and wine pairing, various locations. 236-2654 mainewine.com Chef Encounters, The Salt Exchange, 245 Commercial St., Portland. Watch the chefs prepare your feast in front of you at the Chef’s Table. Reservations required. 347-5687 thesaltexchange.net Len Libby, 5 Lincoln Ave., Scarborough. Make your own candy cane. Nov. 26, 9am-1pm. 883-4897 lenlibby.com

Open HOuse, Grades 5-12 nOvember 11, 2011 • • • • • • •

Pre K-12 Independent Day School in Southern Maine Direct bus route from Portland beginning fall 2012 100% acceptance to colleges and universities Scholarships and financial aid available Laptop program in grades 7-12 Championship athletic teams Award-winning art students

RSVP online www.berwickacademy.org/openhouse or call 207.384.6300 31 Academy Street South Berwick, ME 03908

DREAMS can come true!

Leroux Kitchen, 161 Commercial St., Portland. Taste more than 30 oils and vinegars in the tasting bar, daily. lerouxkitchen.com Maine Beer Week, restaurants, brewers, and taverns across Maine will take part in a celebration of Maine’s craft brewing industry, offering beer-centric dinners. Nov. 10-17. mainebeerweek.com 16h Annual Maine Brewers Festival, Portland Expo, Portland. Savor samplings from 21 Maine Microbreweries, Nov. 5-6. mainebrew.com Microbrew Tasting Weekend, Cliff House, Ogunquit. Maine Peak Organic Beer and Dogfish Head Ale dinners, weekend package. 361-1000, cliffhouse.com Old Port Wine Merchants, 223 Commercial St., Portland. Wine tasting every third W, 4-7:30pm. 772-9463 oldportwine.com RSVP, 887 Forest Ave., Portland. Wine tasting every

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Salt Exchange, 245 Commercial St., Portland. Spirit tastings, last W of every month. 347-5687 thesaltexchange.net

9/22/10 9/22/10 11:40 AM11:40 AM 9/22/10 11:40 AM

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The West End Deli & Catering, 133 Spring St., Portland. Wine tastings every first F, 6-8pm. 874-6426 thewestenddeli.com Wine Wise Tastings, The Wine Bar, 38 Wharf St., Portland. Wine tastings and dinners, see website for latest dates. 619-4630 winewiseevents.com –Compiled by Diane Hudson

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2011 19


Forget Me Nots Fun, Fabulous and Unique Clothing and Accessories for Women

Chowder A tasty blend of the fabulous, note worthy, and absurd.

Both Sides Now A 1985 Andrew Wyeth watercolor, The Trammel, purchased for $75,000, was appraised by Antiques Road Show for $450,000, a 600-percent return. That doesn’t count the landscape discovered on the other side of the painting during the show, also by Andrew Wyeth! To view this hidden treasure, visit portlandmagazine.com/ portmag/2011/10/secret.

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25 years and still counting thank you the pleasure has been ours

Feather in Your Cap

Papilionidae Butterfly, $600

Maine law forbids the slaughter and selling of poultry on-site by farmers, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it yourself!” says Stacy Brenner, who owns Broadturn Farm in Scarborough. Just select a turkey and start carving! “Our goal is to give people exposure to food and where it comes from.” Sign up for Broadturn’s 2012 Turkey Processing Work­shop, $115. Visit broadturnfarm.com.

Flight of Fancy Artist Mike Libby has stayed “gainfully employed” for the last 12 years by his constant production of mechanically customized insects. His robotic collection has evolved to not only include beetles, butterflies, and a delicious assortment of spiders, but also coastal creatures and scorpions. Satisfy your inner entomologist; take a look at insectlabstudio.com to purchase Libby’s creations.

Seeds of Time When Allen, Sterling, & Lothrop opened a farm supply and seed store on 49 Exchange Street in the heart of Portland, they served farms and canneries. One hundred years later, the oldest seed company in Maine has witnessed a resurgence of local farming, with an emphasis on the home grower. “In

The Good Table Restaurant rt 77 Cape Elizabeth, Maine www.thegoodtablerestaurant.net

20 portland monthly magazine

the last 3 to 4 years, people have become much more food-safety and nutrition-conscious. What better way to keep an eye on your food than to grow it yourself,” says owner Shawn Brannigan. The agriculture supply store’s “new” (as of 1969) location is now in Falmouth on Route 1.

Clockwise from top left:Jeff Dunn/WGBH; staff illustration; wmur.com; Mike Libby/insect lab studio

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Out there

Locals used to drive by the Nevada Motel thinking it was on

Art

T

hey’re rolling up the sidewalks for the winter along our coastline. The leaves are leaving, and motel vacancy signs glimmer in the night. But there’s a last hurrah here

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C lo c k w i s e f r o m to p l e f t: A r i e l Ma r t i n ( 2 ) ; 3 s a r t s pac e ; A r i e l Ma r t i n ( 6 ) ; J e s s Lau r e n L i p to n ; A r i e l Ma r t i n ( 10 ) ; Pat t i G r av e l

the wrong strip. But in one night, it turned from motel to art exhibit.

Happens s to r y & d e s i g n by A r i e l L . M a r t i n

in York, something that’s gathering a curious crowd of a thousand people carrying plastic cups filled with wine and plates topped with Mexican food. They walk in and out of a sea-

side motel on this otherwise silent night, shedding new light on what can happen during the slow season in a beach town.

november

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2011-2012

The

Nutcracker

Saturday, November 26 at 2pm & 7pm; Sunday, November 27 at 2pm; Friday, December 2 at 7pm; Saturday, December 3 at 2pm & 7pm; Sunday, December 4 at 2pm Merrill Auditorium, Portland

Tap,Tap, Jazz Saturday, January 14 at 4pm & 7pm; Saturday, January 21 at 4pm & 7pm Maine State Ballet Theater, Falmouth

Built in 1952, The Nevada Motel hosts a night of contemporary art before closing for the winter.

T

he Nevada Motel dares to disturb, with its Atomic Period architecture, turqouise green door frames, and jolting patio floors. Tonight, there is a change of venue here at the instigation of 3S Artspace of Portsmouth. Streamers cover the railings on the second floor with an array of colors mixing and flitting in the coastal winds. People driving around Long Sands Beach slow to look at the creation, this last outpost in the quiet town. Twenty-one rooms are flung open to the crowds, and it’s the artists’ (15 visiting, six local) will to do with them what they may, one per room. This art-happening shows these rooms can be so much more than warped paneling and singing faucets. It tickles the voyeur in us to intrude on this instant art. Each installation reveals a different world, some thoughtful, some sexy. Artists work around beds, showers, sinks and desks, some suggesting the audience

Visit Instant Art Ellen Wieske at Gallery 1 at Center of Contemporary Art October 1 - December 11 2011 Gabriella D’Italia & George Mason at Gallery 2 at Center of Contemporary Art October 1 - December 11 2011

Saturday, March 31 at 2pm; Sunday, April 1 at 2pm Merrill Auditorium, Portland Merrill Auditorium Ticketing through PortTix tickets.porttix.com or 207-842-0800 Maine State Ballet Theater Ticketing through www.mainestateballet.org or 207-781-3587 2 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Deborah Wing-Sproul at Gallery 3 at Center of Contemporary Art October 1 - December 11 2011 Zach Poff + N.B. Aldrich at Gallery 4 at Center of Contemporary Art October 1 - December 11 2011 Amy Stacey Curtis at June Fitzpatrick Gallery October 22-November 18, 2011 Gerald Robinov at UNE Art Gallery November 9 – February 12, 2012 Perpetual Present at MECA November 17- December 23 2011


Check-in to 21 Rooms

Out there

1

3S Artspace, the Portsmouth organizer of 21 Rooms, hosts a lounge where you can meet the board members and enjoy refreshments. 3sarts.org

2

Tracy Walter Ferry, of Chesire, Connecticut, fills her room with genetically modified organisms, creatures in video feeds, and stark white skin. tracywalterferry.com

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Abbey Ozanich, from Chicago, sets up a place to send out postcards with pictures of airplanes distant in the sky. You can send them to anyone anywhere, hoping they will send it on to the next person. abbeyozanich.com

22

Boston artist Douglas Urbank projects an array of films transfers from 16mm and 8mm around his DJ setup, combining produced and found footage.; youtube.com/watch?v=jWtmV8MG98w

2A Portland local Jessica Lauren Lipton sits at the

has caught them in mid-undress. Sculptures perch on pillows and paintings hang over TV screens. Large tarps block out the windows, movies project onto walls, and cas-

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3A

This one really left the yard. Sunny Sliger and Marianne Newsom leave their installation and head toward the beach.

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vanity, applying her makeup. A sign encourages the guests to dip their hands in bits of charcoal to leave their mark on her skin. popkilledculture.blogspot.com

22A Katie Hickman, from Brooklyn,hangs paintings of

Andrew Neumann, of Boston, projects his fused videos onto the walls, mixing two versions of Psycho, moving between Hitchcock and Van Sant every few frames. adneumann.com; youtube.com/watch?v=Azoh_6Rj3AY

23 Sunny Sliger and Marianne Newsom of Dallas

her own around her room. Neon colors and jarring angles disorient the viewer. katiehickman.tumblr. com; vimeo.com/user2083921 cover the inside and outside of their room in plastic streamers. Covered themselves, they dance around the grassy courtyard. A video shows where the streamers were made. sunnysliger.blogspot.com

Bennet Morris, from Portland, shows what could be the distant future in her films: Fog rolls over an iron wreckage and other proWilla Vanjections of tomorrow. benNostrand posnettmorris.com es in her 1934 dress, sending Wells artist Sarah Baldwin us all back covers her room with in time. drawings. The various styles depict our changing perception of communication. She encourages guests to participate and post more paper. maudart. weebly.com

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Katherine Doyle, of New Castle, New Hampshire, creates a forest with Brad Gordon and Ivan Stanek. This room of reflection then leads you outside where a labyrinth helps clear your mind. katherinedoyle.com

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Tara Merenda Nelson, Gordon Nelson and Frankie Symonds, all from Boston, turn their room into a motel cinema. Guests watch Super 8 home movies while listening to 45 rpm records. taranelsonfilms. blogspot.com; mrgordonnelson.blogspot.com; vimeo.com/taranelson

Jacqueline Weaver, of Troy, New York, pieces together a fake history of York. A film projects onto strips of tulle, blurring each time it passoo m es through. jacquelineweaver.com

23A

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Brooklyn resident Elizabeth Donsky displays her work everywhere she can. Maps, books, paper documents, and digital images create an environment reflective of our changing association with the world. local-artists.org/ user/4901 25

Indianapolis’ Lori Miles lets a solar powered cockroach run on and on under a light, creating an eerie clicking noise as a large ball inflates in the middle of the room, building up a question of empathy. lorimiles.com

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Cynthia McLaughlin, of Colrain, Massachusets, creates a nest out of the items in her room, finding the challenge of gestating the objects. cynthiamclaughlin.com; youtube.com/ watch?v=lx84H-UyZOI

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Dover artist Carly Glovinski transforms her room into a construction site, covering everything she can with Tyvek. carlyglovinski.com

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Lindsey Wolkowicz and Dillon Paul, from Brooklyn, extend the lines of the room with Plexiglass and wood. A woman moves about slowly, creating new lines and curves by distorting the view. lindseyawolkowicz.com & dillonpaul.com; vimeo.com/user2101271

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Stephanie Cornell, from Portsmouth, projects her experiences as a traveler on the windows of her room. She encourages viewers to perceive the world through these same lenses stephaniecornell.com

f r o m to p: Pat t i G r av e l ; 3 S A r t s pa c e ; A r i e l M a r t i n ( 2 )

R

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cading sheets hang from the ceiling. It’s as if the motel is collaborating with the artists to make this extraordinary night come to life. Sarah Baldwin, of Wells, is excited. “I started doing installation art about a year ago, but this one is really a fun challenge. It’s more confined,” more intimate, explosive. Her room is stippled with hand-drawn, anthropomorphic faces that come to life with changing musical breezes. “My inspiration comes from cartoons and Keith Haring.” Visitors are on the hook to draw their own face and tape them up, too.

8

Bill Cifuni, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, transforms his room to look like 1950s vacationers have come to visit. A video plays, detailing the personal history of one man. billcifuni.com Catey de la Pena, of York, the youngest member of the experience at just 10 years old, shows off how nature can be so different each time you look at it through her drawings. Portlander Julie Poitras Santos dresses in all white and starts to unravel a new, white marine rope while multiple lines are read from past York resident May Sarton’s journal. juliepoitrassantos.com

Shawn Gilheeney and model Willa Van Nostrand, from Providence, Rhode Island turn the room into 1934 with time-appropriate clothing. A large column in the middle of the rooms displays a large ship, giving a sense of distance. shawn­ gilhe­en­ey.com

(Continued on page 70)

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rush hour

“It’s all about the Journey.” The Dodge “Journeyman” sets up a tripod to begin the live feed.

Car Trek

c lo c k w i s e f r o m f r o m to p l e f t: m a p i l lu s t r at i o n b y r o b e r t w i t ko w s k i ; co u r t e s y d o d g e ; s ta f f i l lu s t r at i o n ; co u r t e s y H e ath e r Co r p i n

“I was on a ferry with red seats at 6 p.m. when I should have been at Red’s Eats!” –Heather Corpin

Hundreds join in a mad, mad, mad, mad whirlwind across four states in search of a Dodge Journey only to find their own personal Maine. by r ob e r t w i t ko w s k i

I

s there anyplace in Portland with red seats?” Heather Corpin asks entering The Castle visitors center in Deering Oaks Park. The fourth to pose the same question within a half hour, she is just one of 260 clue-finders dashing across our state in a national scavenger hunt to find a brilliant red 2012 Dodge Journey hidden in a secret barn here…but where? Two cars had already been discovered, the first in Hope Valley, California, the next in Black Kettle National Grasslands, Oklahoma. Now, all eyes turned toward Maine. Corpin’s quest started a day earlier in Morrisville, New York. Something came over her. It was 9 a.m. “I heard about the contest, and I needed a car. I was sure it was fate!” So stirring was this desire, “I borrowed my friend’s Chrysler Pacifica to do this! I grabbed my three children, 11, 5, and 3. We boarded a ferry, slept at a rest stop, and raced through all of New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and now Maine.” She’s breathless, laughing. “I’m not stopping until I find it.” Dodge’s “Search Engine for the Real World” campaign began with TV commercials teasing car-hungry viewers to get out to see the world. Think The Amazing Race meets Top Gear. In all, the three-part promotion spanned eight states and motivated an estimated 750 frenzied participants to get out to explore, um, journey. “The commercials started the buzz,” says Dodge’s Patrick Hespen. “But after the first car was found, it took on a life of its own.” The final 375-mile journey streamed a live feed of the glowing prize in a dark barn. A life preserver with a “ME”sticker hanging on a post behind the car hinted it was stashed on the coast. Corpin dialed the phone number in the picture and heard a voice congratulate her for finding Unemployed substitute teacher Heather Corpin, 33, packed inher way to the Time & Temperature Building and to a borrowed Chrysler Pacifica with her children Justice ,11, Joshua, 5, and Janiya, 3, beginning their search for a Journey.

Clueless

Atop The Time & Temperature Building, the cryptic “Call Joe” advertisement drove Dodge Journey clue-hunters crazy–as it proved to be a red herring. “Our lines and emails were inundated all weekend,” says Nate Bergeron, of the Law Offices of Joe Bornstein, about the contagious experience. “Had it been Monday morning, we might have jumped into a car and searched the coast ourselves!”

(Continued on page 71)

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Ten Most Intriguing Mainers No boundaries. No limits. These Mainers are shaking up the status quo.

Like father, like son-in-law–Founding OkCupid and selling it for $50 million pales in comparison to Chris Coyne finding the love of his life, Jennie, who saw more than a little of her father in her new beau. As Coyne told the New York Times, “I then learned about a series of coincidences between our families, including that her father, when he was at Harvard in the 1960s, was a founder of what I think was the first computer dating service, called Operation Match, for which applicants would send in a paper form, which would be turned into punch cards and six weeks later you would get a list of names and phone numbers.”

>>

To see more on our 10 Most Intriguing Mainers, visit portlandmonthly.com/portmag/2011/10/10-most-intriguing-extras.

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Chris Coyne


1

personalities

Cupid's Okay!

The dating gamer from South Portland has $50 million reasons to be happy, now that he's sold his brainchild, OkCupid, to Match.com–and he still has a day job!

S

Interview by Colin Sterling Sargent

courtesy Chris Coyne

outh Portland native Chris Coyne, 34, is co-creator of TheSpark and OkCupid, which receives over 1.3 million different visitors every month. After graduating from South Portland High School, Coyne went to Harvard University to earn a degree in mathematics. While there, he started his first business. With classmates Sam Yagan, Max Krohn, and Eli Bolotin, he created the humor website thespark.com in 1999, offering study guides called SparkNotes. In 2001, Barnes & Noble purchased SparkNotes for $3.55M, and hard-copy versions of Coyne’s study guides displaced perennial favorite CliffsNotes in all of their stores. Not content with this success, he reimagined a personality test and matching service from thespark.com to form OkCupid, a dating site with a strong focus on using mathematical algorithms to match people. Nine months ago, Coyne and his partners sold OkCupid to the operators of Match.com for $50M. Now that he’s made his fortune, we’re curious about how much his memories of Maine are starting to tug him back. SparkNotes and OkCupid are being used by millions upon millions. How does it feel to be in the running for ‘most influential Mainer,’ based on how many people actively use your work?

I’m flattered, but I think it’s crazy. Stephen King is my Maine hero. His best books will

be read for decades to come. Meanwhile, everything on the Internet changes fast.

Design and function have always been an important part of both OkCupid and SparkNotes. They are expressions of your creative and mathematical sides. Which side is stronger?

I think of myself as a designer. Design is about building something intuitive, stylish, and constrained by a purpose. Math has always been a strength, so I tend to attack design problems that require math. Like matchmaking. I’m very proud of how we match people at OkCupid–I think it’s a great design, and the math behind it makes sense. What could Maine do to keep its talent, like you, closer to home when they start their first businesses?

I’d love to see venture money go to high-school students with great tech ideas, so they can pursue them during their summers and throughout the school year. Some real businesses would come from this. Who knows, maybe the next Facebook. And a lot of high-school grads with great ideas in progress would skip college entirely and build something great for Maine’s economy. I personally would invest in such a program. The state could support it either by investing, too, or by some kind of tax break for that kind of investment. I think this is better than trying to convince november

2011 29


LOVE ONLINE, OLD SCHOOL–According to the New York Times, “When [Chris] Coyne and [Jennie] Tarr met in November 2002, they were standing in line at Lotos, the Manhattan club. “‘But when I got home, I looked her up in Harvard’s online alumni guide,’ [Coyne] said. ‘That launched an exchange of e-mails that lasted a month until our first date.’ “She chose the place, he said–a bar called Sweet and Vicious in lower Manhattan–’because she thought it made her sound really nice, but also exciting.’ (It did, he said.)”

personalities

both at Java Joe’s on Exchange Street. Is Java Joe’s still your most romantic spot in Maine, then?

There’s a rock at Portland Head Light that is up high but surrounded by water on three sides. It’s beautiful at night with the waves crashing all around. You have to sneak in after dark, though. We used to go there a lot in high school and college. When I think of Maine at its best, it’s the ocean at night. How did you meet your lovely wife?

Jennie and I went to college together but never talked. Later we recognized each other in line at a bar.

Generation Next?–Coyne’s father-in-law, Jeff Tarr, noted to the New York Times, ‘’It’s a strange world that our daughter ends up marrying someone with his own computer dating service–someone who even attended the same Boy Scout camp in Maine that I did.’’

businesses to pack up and move to Maine. How do you think Maine could improve mathematics education?

Every high school in Maine has a handful of bored, smart kids. So at least Portland and Bangor should have magnet schools. There’s one in Limestone, right? That’s not an ideal location. I’m guessing it was chosen for political reasons, not educational. A magnet day school in Portland would be great. Where was your favorite place to take a date in high school?

The two dates I had in high school were 3 0 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Maybe I’ve over-romanticized my childhood, but it’s like a Spielberg movie. BMX bikes, firecrackers, freedom, building forts in the woods. Summers in Sebago and Higgins Beach. My dad was a lifeguard at Old Orchard Beach, and sometimes he’d take us to work with him for the whole day. Maine means family and being near the water. Jennie and I are looking for a house in Maine now, but we can’t decide between the lake and ocean. Either way, it’s important my kids grow up spending a lot of time there. What would your advice be to yourself, if you were able to speak to yourself when you were a sophomore at South Portland?

Learn to sail! I still don’t know how. Someday.

courtesy Chris Coyne

Chris’s father, Jack, was a popular Deering High School English teacher.

What makes you think of moving to Maine now? What does Maine mean to you?


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Snap Judgment Interview by Robert Witkowski

W

ith an eye for presidential detail, Camden native Samantha Appleton puts a whole new frame around the idea of Maine quality. As a White House photographer, she’s captured some of the striking images that keep the entire world focused on the First Family and current events.

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Where did you study photography?

I started by taking a workshop at what was then the Maine Photographic Workshop, now the Maine Media Workshop, and then learned by practice at my college newspaper, the Daily of the University of Washington. I studied Comparative History of Ideas, an interdisciplinary major, and am thankful I did so because learning the technical aspects of photography is the easiest thing. Learning historical context, influences, finding inspiration, and creating a style is most difficult and often has nothing to do with photography, per se. Which photographer is your greatest inspiration?

Robert Frank (b. 1924) has the ability to draw you in, not by quick-of-hand or simplistic eyecatching graphic style, but by presenting complex-yet-subtle imagery out of everyday situations. A picture that can sit on your coffee table for years and still be compelling. Do you connect with other White House staffers from Maine (i.e., director of advance Emmett Beliveau, et. al.)?

As all Mainers know, it’s always fun to connect with fellow Mainers wherever you are in the world. Emmett called me to his office one day. When I walked in, he had this massive, framed map of Maine from the 1800s. I’m sure I was more excited about it than anyone else who will ever walk into his office. What’s the best single image you’ve ever taken–the one of which you’re most proud?

I’m proud of certain bodies of work including Iraq and Nigeria, but it’s not a word I’d associate with a single image. The one I feel is most lasting in that Robert Frank way is a photo I took of Iraqis playing dominoes in a tea house [see photo, lower right]. My whole experience in Iraq can be read in those dozen faces. It’s simple but can tell a million different, changing stories. It meets that coffee-table test.

What do you think is the most underappreciated photogenic image in Maine? 3 2 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Samantha Appleton

Everyone loves Maine during its eight best months, but I think to find a way to its gritty soul in its darker days is an interesting challenge. Scott Peterman’s series of [stark, white, and isolated] ice-fishing shacks in Maine and New Hampshire and the [subtle, realistic winter] landscape paintings of Tim Lawson do that beautifully.

Working with the First Family, what surprising incidents surpassed your expectations?

The First Lady participated in the first pitch at the 2009 World Series between the Yankees and the Phillies. I was on the field of Yankee Stadium with her. It was one of the most intimidating moments of my life. They told me to just be aware of the FOX cameraman who was streaming live, but when we walked out on the field, there were several cameramen and I couldn’t figure out which was FOX. When I finally did, I had to sprint out of his way–right across the pitcher’s mound. I was convinced that’s why the Yankees lost game one. The White House hosts an Official State Visit a couple times a year. When the weather allows for it, the arrival ceremony–like for the China State Visit–is outdoors. It’s a monstrous, protocol-heavy affair. Very ceremonial, scripted, and predictable. It was fascinating to see that no matter what country we visited or hosted, from Ghana to Germany, a State Arrival ceremony is remarkably similar and probably has been for generations. What shoot have you been part of that was so overwhelming you had an “I can’t believe I’m part of this” moment?

I was able to meet Nelson Mandela when I traveled with the First Lady, her girls, and mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, to South Af-

rica in June this year. Never in a million years did I think I’d even be at an event with him, let alone meet him. I was there merely to photograph the situation and was trying to be as low-impact as possible, but as I was leaving the room, I simply mouthed “thank you” to him. He closed his eyes, nodded, and smiled as he mouthed back, “You’re welcome.” What’s the best “accidental” photo you’ve ever shot in this job, and exactly how did serendipity step in?

The great “accidental” photographs are the ones behind the scenes. The staff working, Secret Service having a light moment, the White House residence staff preparing for an event. What are your favorite Portland haunts?

I love a little of everything in Portland. I love eating lobsters at Two Lights, having a Guinness at Rudy’s, and tucking into one of those great big chairs in the lounge of Fore


Clockwise from top left: nppa.org/samantha Appleton; the white house; samantha appleton

personalities

Street on a snowy, winter night. Are the Obamas aware you’re from Maine?

I think they are. Although during a taping once, a cameraman originally from Maine was trying to tell someone to move the shot to the left and said “lefter.” The President smiled and said, “Lefter?” The cameraman said, “Sorry, sir, I’m from Maine.” I kind of never brought up being from Maine again. How has your life changed in Washington? Are you romantically attached?

My life in Washington has probably been the most stable since I was a teenager in Maine. That said, I still travel every week and have a fierce restless streak. Single. Do you root for the Red Sox, Yankees, or Nationals?

When I went to the World Series, I wore a

red hooded sweatshirt beneath my coat. Of course it’s Red Sox. But having lived in New York for much of my adult life, I’ve been to more Yankees games than Red Sox. What’s your security clearance?

Suffice to say I photographed most things at the White House. One picture of mine that was released publicly on Flickr is at the National Counter Terrorism Center.

What’s next?

After two-and-a-half years, I’m leaving the job to write a book about Iraq. It’s not going to be a photography book. I spent a lot of time in Iraq during the first three years of the war…[traveling] around the whole country with my driver/translator/fixer friend, covering the effects of the war on civilians and the rise of militias that led to the civil war within the greater occupation. november

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shley Hebert did more than make 10.6 million Americans hold their breath on the final episode of ABC’s The Bachelorette; she taught us how to pronounce her name. And with this new-found appreciation for language, we are inadvertently discovering the history of a culture stretched from the far north in Maine down to the oak-hemmed roads of Louisiana. With Ashley’s star ascending, so too are we celebrating the contemporary Acadian woman. In capturing our imaginations, she follows the footsteps of the heroine in Longfellow’s epic poem “Evangeline.” Just as Evangeline searched for her long-lost love, Gabriel–separated from her by the British in 1755 at the time of the Grand Derangement, the Acadian Diaspora–so too does Ashley Hebert light a path through 21st century cynicism with her rose. It’s all the more extraordinary for Longfellow to have chosen to tell the story of this culture with a woman as the protagonist and a member of a minority culture. Evangeline: the strong woman, feminist, looking for the one she loves. Ashley Hebert: retelling the Acadian love story to her modern audience.

In this mirror interview, two very different sisters surprise us with their answers to the same questions.

Acte

Now that I’m away from home, I have to say that the biggest showing of French heritage culture is less obvious than you may think. There’s a sense of family within our small French town that makes it like none other. Madawaska’s being a

small town is a part of it, but there’s something about French Acadian culture that makes you feel like everyone is family. Everyone’s so warm and welcoming. People of our heritage are very proud, (Continued on page 72)

Are you of Franco-American or Acadian heritage? I am of Fran-

co-American heritage on both my mother’s and father’s side. My mother is a Pelletier, and my father is a Hebert.

Do you speak and understand the French language? Did you study it in school?

3

I studied French from elementary school up until high school. I actually won a French speaking contest in 9th grade. I can speak French conversationally, and understand completely. I didn’t have bilingual schooling growing up, but wish I did because it would have really helped me keep up my knowledge of the language. All my grandparents speak French, and it was their first language, as it was my mother’s.

My mother makes the best chicken stew with dumplings and ployes. This is the go-to meal she makes anytime we bring someone home for dinner. No one can make chicken stew like my mother, but my sister tries! Was there any evidence of the French-heritage culture in your community while growing up? Was this important to you as a young woman?

3 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Ashley Hebert

ABC/CRAIG SJODIN

Are there any special foods, recipes, celebrations, or rituals that you and your family love and that you believe help define you?


de Sœur C

Interviews BY Rhea CÔtÉ Robbins

hrystie Corns is teaching the country a thing or two about making ends meet. As TLC’s Extreme Couponing superstar, she’s clipped a page right out of Acadian history. In 1797, the Year of the Black Famine in Madawas-

ka, Tante Blanche risked her life to provide neighbors with provisions during an eight-day snowstorm. While Chrystie doesn’t have to strap on her snowshoes, she is reaching out to the community at large to guide them with

money-saving tips–a sensational update of the legendary Acadian tale. Is Tante Blanche braving the storms of history once again? Is this modern Franco-American our saving grace? Tante Blanche: the community legacy of the Acadian woman. Chrystie Corns: contemporizing goodwill in an instant across the country.

4

Are you of Franco-American or Acadian heritage?

I am Franco-American on both sides. My father was a Hebert and my mother was a Pelletier. Do you speak and understand the French language? Did you study it in school?

I understand French much better than I can speak it. But, I do try to speak French to my children, mostly to make them laugh. They get a kick out of hearing me speak French. In school, I remember having French classes at an early age. The French language was a big part of our schooling and home life. When ‘out-of-towners’ would move to Madawaska and question some of our common phrases, that’s when I realized how much of our dialect had a French influence. Are there any special foods, recipes, celebrations, or rituals that you and your family love and that you believe help define you?

As far as foods, I love ployes and chicken stew with dumplings, although we called them poutines. There is nothing that says home like a homemade pot of chicken stew and Bouchard’s ployes. (I like to put sugar on my ployes.) I’ve integrated this recipe into my family’s menu, and my kids just love this meal. I hope for them it becomes one of the family dinners they remember after they’ve grown. Was there any evidence of the French heritage culture in your community while growing up? Was this important to you as a young woman?

bess marine

“I’ve lived in Portland on and off for the last 15 years. I can always count on walking around the Old Port to give me that ‘I’m-back-in-Maine’ feeling. Some of my favorite places are Local 188, Bard Coffee, El Rayo, the Eastern Prom, and all of Congress Street.” –Chrystie Corns

Chrystie Corns

I think the most impressive quality I’ve picked up while growing up in a French heritage was a strong work ethic. I can say everyone in my family, from parents to grandparents, are some of the hardest-working people I’ve ever met. I’m very grateful to have inherited this quality because it’s been the foundation of my own personal success. I’m frequently complimented by peers and bosses about how hard I work, and I’m very proud of that. I attribute this quality all to the hardworking Franco-American work ethic that was instilled in me at a young age. What role does your French-heritage culture define you as a modern-day woman? Can a person hold both traditional and modern, popular cultural values at the same time? (Continued on page 72)

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Tom Andrews

I n t e r v i e w By D av i d S v e n s o n

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ext time we drink to world peace, we should lift a glass to Tom Andrews, too. No other Mainer, and few Americans, if any, have had more to do with the recent independence of South Sudan, prompting millions to celebrate. As President of United to End Genocide, our former First District congressman is clearing the way for all our futures.

In high school I started organizations that helped local poor kids and the isolated elderly, and I worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters. We opened a storefront in downtown Brockton. I talked to every high school, junior college, and middle school. We held a walkathon, 25 miles in the pouring rain! By the time I was a junior in high school,we’d raised $160,000 dollars.

How’d you find your way here from Massachusetts early on?

How have your college studies in philosophy and religion shaped your future?

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A big part of my father’s farming business was a hatchery. He’d be in Maine every week, delivering baby chicks to farms, and I’d go with him as often as I could. That’s when the love affair started. When I graduated high school, I went to Bowdoin and stayed. I have a camp in Winthrop. I spend most of my time either on the road or in Washington D.C., but my home will always be Maine. When people ask me where I’m from, I always say Maine. Maine is home. What sparked your involvement with public service?

I’ve been an organizer my entire life. Everything I’ve done, including service in the Maine Legislature and Congress and the work I do now, has all been part of my work as an advocate and an organizer. It all began when I was 16. I found myself flat on my back, fighting cancer. It’s a moment in life that really shakes your fundamental experiences. I thought, “I could die,” and began asking fundamental questions about my life, who I was and what I was doing at that time.

3 6 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

I was fascinated with philosophy. The thinkers asked the fundamental questions. The ideas these people had tilled the fields before me. It’s absolutely fascinating. My studies, then, were intertwined and led me to a double major. My father asked me, “What? People are going to pay you to think? You don’t even go to church.” My goal was to learn how to think and communicate orally and in writing. I could use these skills in a number of ways. It was the major pioneers of thought I was interested in: Plato, Socrates, Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King. These people were trying to live the authentic life, a manifestation of their life through actions. When most of us feel so distanced from world events, how do you stay grounded and focused on the world at large? How do you handle the relative notion of distance?

This is us. This is humanity. The world is quite close, and it’s getting closer to everyone. The ramifications are more relevant to everybody. This work matters to us, to who we are as a people. There’s an obligation to make our

community and world better. The fact is, there is not a generation alive who hasn’t lived through a genocide or tragedy. And yet these things continue to occur in front of our eyes. There’s an obligation to step up and create a world where these atrocities and murderers no longer exist. What would we want our neighbors to do if we were facing a mass murder or genocidal condition? We’d want them to stand up, take action. This is especially relevant in the era we live in, the era of global communication. I attended two memorials in Rwanda this summer. It was devastating to see the conditions. And what was particularly horrifying was, I was serving in Congress when these atrocities were taking place. I had to ask myself, “Where was I? Why did we not act?” It’s all too familiar. Mogadishu and Black Hawk Down. It’s the same thing. Our economy was reeling then; we had very competitive and polarized election years. There was less and less political space to consider our role in the prevention of the Rwanda genocide. And now with Iraq and Libya still very fresh, we’re entering another extremely polarized political climate–these are precisely the conditions we encountered during the Rwanda genocides. But our political climate will deflect attention from these horrors happening today. At the Iowa Conference for Democratic Transformation in the Sudan, you emphasized the need to recognize the political climate before organizing a strategy. Where does Maine stand?

I think Maine is very fertile ground for this

(Continued on page 73)

from top: pink perfume; courtesy winwithoutwar.org

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The 193rd member of the United Nations, South Sudan is the world’s newest country. “There’s a connective tissue between us and the world,” Andrews says.


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personalities finishing her diploma at night. Night school taught Chute that she enjoyed learning, once she was treated as an equal. After her first marriage broke up, she supported herself and her young daughter with whatever work she could find in factories and on farms, meanwhile taking courses in literature and psychology at USM in Gorham. A professor got her work as the Gorham correspondent for the Press Herald. Chute remembers this job as “doing stories about lost snakes, and follow-ups when they were found.”

by by A An nd drreew w Ya Yallee

C

arolyn Chute wanted to be a farmer’s wife. When she asked her high school guidance counselor for advice on this goal, he laughed at her. Chute went home discouraged and took solace in the novel she’d secretly been writing since childhood. Although she spent several seasons as a harvest hand, Chute never attained her early dreams of agrarian connubial bliss. She did, however, gain national recognition in 1985 for her first novel, The Beans of Egypt, Maine–a descendant of her childhood work about the working poor in a small, rural Maine town, depicting the struggles against “inner demons, hardship, and societal ignorance.” In the 26 years since that volume first made the best seller list, Chute has published four additional novels: Letourneau’s Used Auto Parts (1988), Merry Men (1994), Snow Man (1999),

and The School on Heart’s Content Road (2008). All are strongly rooted in a gritty Maine milieu which many identify with the rural township of Parsonsfield, where Chute and her artist husband, Michael, have lived since 1985. Born in Portland, Chute was raised in a working-class household in Cape Elizabeth. Her father was an electrician, her mother a housewife. She grew up with two younger brothers. An imaginative and sensitive child, she was always ill at ease with power relationships, especially those she encountered at school. Even today, she retains her indignation: “Public humiliation is what school is all about,” she says. “Grades–you grade slabs of meat, not children.” Increasingly alienated by the educational system, Chute married at 16, then dropped out of school,

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“TV was traumatic for me. My family used to sit around the table and tell stories, my parents, grandparents, and uncle. Then they got a TV set, changed the furniture to face the TV, and nobody sat at the table and talked anymore…”

3 8 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

How do you feel about The Beans being offered as an ebook through Kindle? I never think about computers or e-books. They’re not part of my life. Have people who don’t understand you tried to marginalize you for your political beliefs? If so, how has that affected your literary career? I have a lot of good company. Maine has more violent deaths from guns each year than Japan and Britain combined. Is that an oversimplification? There is more child suicide by hanging in Japan than in the U.S.

She continued to write, expanding a number of novels she’d been developing since childhood. Encouraged to join the fledgling Stonecoast writing program, her first publication, a short story, “Ollie, Oh,” was anthologized in 1983’s Best American Short Story collection. “All kinds of agents began to call me after that, wanting a novel. And I’d been working on something forever–it eventually became The Beans.” Chute is adamant The Beans has nothing to do with Parsonsfield. In fact, she states none of her characters are modeled from

bethany stone

Being Carolyn Chute

Jamie Wyeth once received a free computer from a company that asked him to try it out. His response then was, “They make a better mooring buoy.” What human qualities have been lost in the computer age since the publication of Beans? All of them. A computer is not human. Faceto-face relationships.


life. She begins work with something ineffable, she says–an image or a feeling–and follows it to see how it will develop. “I’m interested in both the mythical and the real. And I like to have a little fun with my characters, especially when I’m writing about real life, which to me is suffering. The only time it’s good is when you have a tiny, tenminute break from suffering. So you have to try to have fun. For me, that’s putting my characters together to see what they’ll do. I’m always watching how people are and how they interact.”

Your images are so strong they are poetic (i.e., “tar paper the color of a submarine”). Do you write poetry? Only in college as an assignment. What’s the best inspiration that a non-writer gave you accidentally? My grandma always gave me a pencil box when I was a kid. What’s the title of your latest book, and what is it about? A 1,000-page manuscript called His Son. I can’t really say what it’s about. Life. What’s your readership outside the U.S.? Have you ever been approached by people from other countries? If so, which ones, and what do they say? I don’t know. What’s the future of the book? If the humans are all dead, there won’t be much use for books. I don’t think there’s much future for the humans.

C

hute experiences writing as entering an “altered state,” driven by lots of coffee and concentration. The slightest distraction can throw her off track, so there can’t be anyone else in the room. “It’s just pouring out, I’m not plotting it. You get a lot of stuff out and then go back and edit it 50 times. At least! Move this around, throw this out and throw that out–all these revisions until it fits. It isn’t even anything I can describe. I’m going by feeling, all feeling. The way people play piano by ear, that’s how I write–by ear.”

(Continued on page 73)

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Susstaining Art

Donald Sussman at his North Haven home with Robert Indiana and his iconic sculpture. I n t e r v i e w By D av i d S v e n s o n

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As a member of the Board of Trustees at the Portland Museum of Art, you have a unique opportunity to watch the collections grow. How would you describe your relationship with the artwork at the museum?

The Portland Museum of Art is an extraordinary resource and an integral part of our creative economy. There are no specific works at PMA that I’d consider my favorites. What I truly love is seeing the changing exhibits that continually educate my eye and expose me to Maine art and expand my prior art knowledge. You’re part of PMA’s “1882 Circle” group of highest-paying donors. What’s your pet project?

I love “Circa”–a changing exhibit of the amazing and diverse work of Maine’s young contemporary artists–and I am very happy to support it.

4 0 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Donald Sussman

I believe building Maine’s creative economy is an investment in our future. The work of ArtSpace and many local developers has shown that creating more affordable living and studio space for local artists is critical to this process. The Hampshire Street neighborhood has a rich history of cultural diversity and great potential for a vibrant future. I’m thrilled to be working with the community to design a use for these properties that best supports local artists, craftsmen, and the Hampshire Street neighborhood. What’s your idea of an urban utopia for artists?

“Circa” recently showcased the photography of Madeleine de Sinety. What connected to you about this powerful show? Have you ever dabbled in art? What Maine artists do you and Rep. Pingree know and collect?

We are fans of many Maine artists and have collected the works of both Louise Nevelson and Eric Hopkins for a long time. I would occasionally encounter Louise when she and I both lived in SoHo, and Chellie and Eric have known each other from early days on North Haven. I’m an avid photographer although not a collector. I do have a secret fantasy that someday I’ll be a student in the back row of a MECA class–in either oil or acrylic painting.

Your initiative to convert a number of houses in the Hampshire St. Corridor of Munjoy Hill into live-in studios for artists is certainly great news and something we’d like to follow.

SoHo was this way in the Sixties–a thriving mecca for artists with affordable studios and residences and strong support in the community. It was a creative place that attracted buyers and was wonderful for the artists of the time. Portland has many of the same possibilities–all with the backdrop of a working waterfront and a practical, working city. What do you like about the gallery scene here, and what would you like to see in the future?

We love the First Friday Art Walks. We always find a new place or learn of the work of a new artist–and we’ve purchased several wonderful pieces. Both June Fitzpatrick and Andy Verzosa have been very welcoming, showcasing many excellent contemporary artists and always alerting us to work they

(Continued on page 73)

Cfrom top: courtesy donald sussman; courtesy skidmore college/Emma Dodge Hanson

I

n the headlines he’s a hedge-fund billionaire with a controversial private jet, but the reason Donald Sussman is intriguing this year is far more personal. While these stories fill the blogs and newspapers nationwide, Sussman is moving very quickly to follow up his keen interest in contemporary art and culture. All of a sudden, he’s taken bold steps to increase his visibility as a prime mover at Portland Museum, a benefactor for local artists, a sponsor of local shows, and friend to pop-art icons like Robert Indiana. Hey, what’s up?


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personalities

T

he fresh Wikipedia entry on famous English Channel swimmers lists Pat Gallant-Charette, 60, as the oldest woman in the world ever to successfully accomplish this feat. Most of us can only imagine this task. “It was pitch dark outside” at 4 a.m., August 22, in Dover. The water looked black, numinous–a sensory deprivation booth? Pat slipped in and started her 15-hour, 57-minute swim. “I don’t rub motor oil all over my body the way Diana Nyad does,” the Westbrook native says. “I trained in Maine, so there was no worry about hypothermia. The water temperature when I hit the water was 63 degrees. ”

Channeling History Inteview by Colin W. Sargent

Any other considerations?

I don’t wear any metal on me to attract fish. There’s a story here…

What other things have you bumped into, swimming?

A headless seal coming in with the tide. A condom. The Channel is full of trash—potato-chip bags and candy wrappers. After my swim in 2008, my tongue turned white for a week–diesel fuel. What else were you thinking in all of that darkness? On an emotional level, is it true nobody ever swims alone?

I come from a big family in Westbrook. My father worked at the paper mill. My mother was a nurse’s aid. Our friends referred to us as the poor Kennedies–we played football together. My first brother, John Gallant, passed away at 17. I was 21, going to the Maine School of Practical Nursing. He was a junior 4 2 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Pat Gallant-Charette at Westbrook High School. He had to do a presentation on the oscilloscope. Someone’s brown book bag must have turned the power on when both John and the science teacher didn’t think it was on. He was electrified in front of his class. He collapsed, stood up, and collapsed again. It was a horrible shock to his heart. John broke the state record in the two mile run two weeks before he died. He was an allAmerican boy. He carried newspapers for the Press Herald and served mass on Sundays. At his service in Westbrook, St. Hyacinth’s was packed. There were track team captains from 20 different schools. All the nurses wore their white caps. At every intersection there was a police car for the motorcade to go through. It was the first funeral I’d ever been to where there were photographers as you came out of the church. Johnny’s one of the people I carry with me when I swim. Then there’s my brother Robbie. When I swam Peaks to Portland the first time, it was for him. He went to Northeastern, where he broke several swimming records. He won

the Peaks to Portland swim in 1981. I was in my 30s, and I asked my doctor if I should try it. I’d just had a baby. I wasn’t serious about, it. I’d swum for Westbrook High School; this was just in passing. He laughed: ‘No, the water’s too cold.’ Losing Robbie was extremely painful. He was the youngest of the eight of us. The night before he passed away, he was at my house. He’d been out jogging and had very minor chest pain. Before that, my brother Tom had a heart attack at 36, David at 40, and they both Between continents, Pat swims through the Strait of Gibraltar in 2010. Her 2011 English Channel swim cost her “$2,500” for a chase boat to accompany her with her family aboard.

from top: robert witkowski; courtesy pat gallent-cahrette

They bump! In my 2008 Channel attempt, when I came within a mile and a half from the shore of France [but had to stop due to deadly currents], I was bitten by a three-foot-long something-or-other. It was too dark to see what it was. It had no teeth but somehow grabbed me with its mouth and shook back and forth. I’ve been 20 feet from a shark and stung by jellyfish. They’re pretty, but it hurts as much as a bee sting. In 2008 I had all these yellow glow sticks on the boat and on my back, and you wouldn’t believe how many fish were attracted to it! This time around I had a green strobe light mounted on my swim cap. At least 100 jellyfish [seemed to follow me during the successful 2011] swim, two or three feet below me. Fortunately, it was choppy enough for the waves to push them down from the surface.


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pulled through. Robbie had high cholesterol, very, very high cholesterides. But we never thought he’d die young at 34. It was so much like David and Tom, until it was different. When we went to Maine Med, I told my kids, ‘This is going to be very hard on Robbie.’ Then we got to Special Care and saw the rest of my family and I knew. They were all crying. He’d just taken his CPA exam. Two weeks after he died, the exam came in: he passed. Robbie did great freestyle swimming at Northeastern, and butterfly. He used to swim in Boston Harbor. I would say, ‘How could you swim in that water?’ Which is not to say I don’t love open-air swimming. When I tried the Peaks to Portland swim, I loved being among the seagulls, lobster boats—I found I liked this! This is a lot of fun! I swam harder and harder, getting stronger and stronger. I was in my late forties.

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What was different this successful time around from 2008?

In 2008 I was so focused. This time around I was just going to enjoy it. Each mile was dedicated to someone who’s inspired me. My first (Continued on page 74)

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Eight hours. But on the day before this swim, I didn’t sleep at all. We had to get up at 2:30 in the morning. I’d gone to bed the previous evening but just stared at the ceiling. We stayed at a place designated for Channel swimmers– Varney Ridge Trailer Park. It isn’t easy to book a Channel swim.

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2011 43


9

personalities

Malone’s Maine

By Donna Stuart

W

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4 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

hen the purchase of one million acres of Maine forestland catapulted cable television mogul John Malone to the top of the list of the biggest landowners in the U.S., many Mainers began to worry. How could this Colorado-based businessman, so little known in Maine, own nearly one-twentieth of the state? Who is he, and what are his intentions? In the weeks before this magazine went to print, 70-year-old Malone was named number 69 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America—with an estimated $4.5 billion and 2.2+ million acres (approximately the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined) to his name—and to Vanity Fair’s 2011 Hall of Fame for the Powers That Be. (Just a year earlier, Forbes ranked him 100th, with a more modest $3 billion. His Liberty Media–which owns stakes in Sprint, Nextel, Expedia, and pro baseball’s Atlanta Braves–


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along with Liberty Global and Discovery Communications, have all had a very good year.) He’s gone up against Rupert Murdoch, partnered with Barry Diller, and counts Ted Turner as a close friend. But when the purchase was announced, the notoriously private Malone granted no interviews, only releasing a two-sentence statement: “My interest in land conservation is well known, and this pending land purchase in Maine will further enhance these efforts. I intend to continue the forestry operations consistent with prior practices.” Not exactly a billet doux to the Pine Tree State–nor did this terse communiqué calm the nerves of those who fear the closing of the land to recreation–or worse, its future development. In March, Malone did open up to Forbes about the purchase, saying, “It fit our interests in land conservation and sustainability.

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Protecting the Nature of Maine

(Continued on page 74)

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2011 45


personalities

C

indy Blodgett had stood before the press many times in triumph. As an undergrad, she was a rock star in women’s basketball. A four-time Kodak All American, she led UMaine to its first four appearances in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. After graduating in 1998, she was a first-round draft pick by the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers. But on March 31, 2011, two days after being fired as coach of the UMaine women’s team, Blodgett faced the press in anger. “I’ve been fired without cause.” The online message boards lit up. “Now that the University has shafted one of it’s (sic) most popular athletes and replaced her with ‘some guy,’ I’m pretty sure that I will once again completely lose interest in the program,” one former fan wrote–and others quickly

Abbott sent Blodgett packing. On May 9, he announced 42-year-old Richard Barron would be taking the $110,000-a-year job. Barron definitely has the coaching chops: After posting a 77-48 record in five seasons as the women’s coach at the University of the South, he was hired by Princeton. There he inherited a team that had gone 2-25 before his arrival and had the third-worst RPI [Rating Percentage Index] in the country. (RPI is used by the NCAA to help determine post-season at-large bids and tournament seedings.) During his first season, the Tigers went 11-16; in 2006 they won the Ivy League title. At Princeton, Barron met and married his wife, Maureen, who was the school’s head softball coach. With the birth of their children–twin daughters, Lane and Rae,

10

Loaded for Bear posted their approval. (Apparently loyalty to Blodgett, whose coaching record was 24-94, ran deeper than their desire to see their team win.) Instead of asking, “Why did UMaine fire Blodgett,” a better question might be, “Why did UMaine extend Blodgett’s contract the previous fall, given the team’s results?” During a SportsNation! online chat just after the contract extension was announced, women’s basketball writer Mechelle Voepe opined, “Maybe Maine is looking at this and saying, ‘Realistically, how good of a coach do we think we can get? Are we sure we can find someone who’s better than our program’s most famous alum?’ In other words, I think the benefit of the doubt goes a long, long, long way when it comes to [Blodgett] and Maine.” By the spring, any benefit of the doubt had run out, and one day after he was confirmed as Athletic Director, Steve

4 6 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

By D o n n a S t ua r t

and son, Billy–and knowing, “You don’t get the time back,” Maureen became a stay-athome mom and they moved on. Their first stop: Waco, Texas, where he was assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Baylor for two years. Next was a two-year stint in Raleigh as assistant coach at North Carolina State that ended when Orono called. “Why not a woman coach?” UMaine fans asked. After all, prior to Barron’s hire, there had been only two male coaches in the team’s history. With the exception of his first year in Sewanee, Barron has spent his entire career coaching women. The quiet-spoken and charismatic Southerner says there are differences in coaching women–and that’s he’s different now, having coach­ed them. “Men want to be the king of the mountain. Women are more sensitive to their teammates and want everyone to feel included;

and they’re less likely to come in and take over a team. There are advantages to both. Regrettably, in sports, one way to challenge a man is to challenge his manhood–to say he throws like a girl. But it doesn’t work the other way; you can’t flip it around and tell a woman she plays like a man. Instead, with women you have to figure out their motivations and use that to try to reach your goal.” Some blamed the University for not supplying Blodgett with better players–ignoring the fact that recruiting was part of her job. Recruiting is also where Barron excels; at Baylor, he landed the nation’s top recruit, Brittney Griner. According to Barron, “In today’s athletics, being the head coach is like being a CEO. If any department isn’t functioning well, you’re not going to have a very successful company. Recruiting is like R&D. It’s so much more than X’s and O’s. It’s really all about managing people.” While some have decried the loss of top Maine high school players to out-of-state colleges, Barron says, “Our first priority is to improve the team measurably. If we come up to the past record, players will want to come here. It comes down to the individuals, their ability, and the likelihood of their coming to Maine. If the good player is in Bangladesh,


Rick Barron With “a big pair of shoes to fill,” as one observer kidded, Rick Barron finds himself in a position to redefine what it means to be a coach.

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Route 1, Falmouth Shopping Center Falmouth, Maine • 781-3136 that’s where we’re going.” Whatever the fireworks around his predecessor’s departure, Barron says Blodgett– who’s now assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island–is always welcome back. “Cindy has done so much for our program. She was such a fantastic player, and her legacy is well established. I’m sure it was a tough time; she put so much into the program. To have that reaction is perfectly understandable. That said, it really doesn’t affect my job going forward.” Neither is the team’s recent record what it’s about for him. “I’d approach it no differently if they’d won the national championship. I have to coach the way I think is best.” Barron believes the program has a lot of potential. “What really excites me is the idea of 5,000 or 6,000 people in Alfond watching women’s basketball. It’s like the chicken and the egg: Which comes first, the wins or the fans? I promise we’ll have a team that will play hard; they’ll be enjoyable to watch, extremely competitive and physical. Their efforts may not be the prettiest initially, but we’ll get there.” In the end, the Black Bears did get a woman coach. Days after arriving in Orono, Maureen Barron was hired as interim softball coach. n

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Dollars&SEnse

Before we were known for our quality of life, we actually made things. We’re not making a point here, we’re just saying…

The Things We Carried “Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into are awake through years with transferred touch, and go on glowing for long years.

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from top: andy smith; ariel martin

And for this reason, some old things are lovely warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them.” –D.H. Lawrence by h e r b e r t C . a d a m s

hen did we start selling siz­ zle and stop selling steak? Just weeks ago, Portland’s sharpest city planners look­ ed into the Forest City’s fu­ ture and recorded what they saw on paper. The result: the Economic Development Vision & Plan. It’s hopeful and well-written, yet it privileges the service and tourism sectors, only making a vague appeal to nicheful-thinking markets like nanotechnology and biochemicals. Whatever happened to products we can sink our teeth into? Our city once had a dazzling catalog of tangible products for the waiting world. HEARTH TO HEARTH

Portland Stove Foundry made this Duchess in the 1920s, smallest of their Atlantic line. The Hearth Doctor in Gray recently sold it for $1,100.

Once, Americans across the continent heated homes, fed fam­ ilies, sailed ships, rolled trains, and lived life with the practical things produced by the Portland Stove Foundry: skillets, pots, pulleys, gears, radiators, stoves for parlors and kitchens, and november

2011 49


Dollars&SEnse more. Founded in 1877, the Portland Stove Foundry moved to 25-67 Kennebec Street in 1882, where for 100 years its rambling red, wooden factory filled the block between Kennebec, Somerset, and Fox streets. Here hundreds of Danish and Italian families found their first jobs; here everything useful, needful, and ornamental was cast in iron. Here, wrote the Portland Eastern Argus, by forge-light were seen “Statues of sweating men amid a nursery of sparks, and rivulets of red-running iron.” The Foundry’s most famous product, shipped nationwide, was the grand Atlantic Range, the nickeltrimmed, square-sided, ebony-black kitchen stove with clanging lids. For generations, it kept the home fires burning, heating homes with both coal and wood and cooking countless meals for the bustling country. In World War II, Foundry workers turned out millions of casters, pivots, and pulleys here for the U.S. Navy in aroundthe-clock shifts. For years, the forge fires never went out. Changing tastes ended Portland’s Iron Age. The 1970s Oil Embargo & Energy Crisis brought a sales boom to Portland Stove’s airtight parlor stoves, but cheap foreign imports doomed the factory at last. Portland Stove Foundry closed its doors in 1984, and in the 1990s, a spectacular night fire demolished its picturesque buildings. Today, the site is an empty brownfield by tracks where trains will never run again. In spite of this, Portland Stove Foundry’s legacy lingers on in humble stoves across the country, still quietly keeping kitchens warm and toes toasty, warm as a happy memory once made in Maine’s Iron Age, as they have for a hundred years.

elaborate legs, square grands symbolized box grand piano (the strings run right and the solid Victorian age. Twombly became left), was a cabinetmaker’s wonder, each case a popular dealer in pianos at his famous hand-carved from rosewood and mahogany showroom at 154 Exchange Street, but the by master woodworkers like John Griffin old days never returned. Antiquarians (1806-1871), father of sculptor Edward Grifknow that Portlanders E.B. Robinson and fin and grandfather of American ImpressionWilliam Andrews also made a few pianos ist painter Walter Griffin (1876-1937). prior to the Civil On the piano War. But to squarefam­ily tree, square grand purists, grands are descendthere was only one ed not from harpsiWilliam Twombly. chords (the strings Beloved by newsare plucked) but men for his eccenclavichords (the tric ways (and the strings are struck). fact he resembled After a move to Horace Greeley) the Middle Street), papers mourned The Edwards fac–Jill Starbird Clarke, Starbird Piano, tory kept ten craftson Portland’s forgotten square grands his passing in 1894. “He has solved the men busy. Sadly, great mystery,” said the Argus, “and gone to Edwards’s sudden death and the Great Fire the greater music.” of 1866 destroyed the industry. No pianos were mass manufactured in Portland afterward. With their beautiful picking up the pieces cases and Portland’s heyday as a producer of fine glassware (1864-1873) was brief but beautiful. The Portland Glass Factory was among the first city enterprises to gain national fame, was among the first to fail, and remains among the few whose fragile work is still avidly sought by collectors today. From its long-gone West Commercial Street factory, Portland Glass was spun, blown, and shaped by artisans applying the secrets of the Scottish and Italian masters. Prized for their beauty, artistry,

I just took two to the dump! We had them stored downstairs for the better part of 12 years, with no one asking about them. I mean, they were beautiful. The cabinets were unbelievable.

square cadenza

In the 1830s, pianos were rare and for the rich here. One day, in 1832, young cabinetmaker William G. Twombly was uncrating a Boston-made piano for a Free Street family, and he was struck by its fine craftsmanship and musical mystery. Tantalized, he embarked upon a Boston apprenticeship, returning around 1835 to work with Gorham pipe organ maker Calvin S. Edwards at Portland’s first piano factory. A Twomblymade piano swept the prizes at the city Mechanic’s Fair that year, besting even a Chickering import, and the Forest City’s love affair with pianos was on. A square grand, or 5 0 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

The design of the square grand piano stems from the clavichord, with shape and size contributing to its popularity.


and clarity, its multi-hued bowls, goblets, and table settings still flash with the frozen light of long ago. Its many unique designs– “Shell and Tassel,” “Loop and Dart,” and “Tree of Life”–appealed to sentimental Victorians. (And practical ones, too: In 1867, despite state Prohibition, Portland Glass produced over 100,000 ale and whiskey glasses.) Legend says around 1863 Mary Lincoln ordered over $40,000 of Portland Glassware for the White House–an $800,000 order in today’s dollars. Lucky collectors pay thousands for a single pattern today. Fortunate Portlanders can still see Portland Glass for free at the Glass Gallery of the Portland Museum of Art–fragile as dreams, still bright as sun, and still clear as ice.

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off Monument Square and beside one of today’s busiest intersections in the city, stood Enoch M. Thompson’s Monument Works, sculptor extra­ordinaires of markers for one’s very last ad­­­dress. Thompson’s onestory wood­en emporium stood at Cum­ber­ land Avenue and Preble Street, where a

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2011 51


December 9-18 Magic of Christmas Chorus

Merrill Auditorium

Join Robert Moody and special guests for a brandnew production of Maine’s finest holiday extravaganza. Celebrate the traditions, story and spirit of the season — experience the Magic for yourself! Cirque de la symphonie

Run, don’t walk, to Magic of Christmas ... An entire class above usual holiday fare! -Portland Press Herald

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Performance Jeanee Dudley

True Lyrics With crowds of Portland fans, talented “Aspie” Regina Lucchese has discovered applause in her uncharted darkness.

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publicity image/facebook

hen you say ‘autism’–for anybody who grew up in the time of Rain Man– that’s what you think of. That’s what it looks like. Well, it really doesn’t look like anything. I mean, it looks like me, too.” Regina Lucchese of Portland is no Rain Main. She’s sharp, good-humored, and driven. And she’s cute! Growing up, she says, “I was a gifted child. When I got my diagnosis, my parents were like, ‘That can’t be it. Look at everything you can do!’” The teacher, choir director, recording engineer, and professional musician was, until April of this year, one of possibly millions of American adults living undiagnosed on the autism spectrum. “Besides my B.A. in elementary education, I have a degree in medical transcription,” she adds. “Writing music, though, that’s the one thing I just know–I’m supposed to do something with it.” Regina’s diagnosis is high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome. Identifying Asperger’s and autism is a complex process, but “Aspies,” as she lovingly self-identifies, are often characterized by a difference in social behavior. “People with Asperger’s often look and act younger than they are,” she explains. “It’s like being caught in a teenage limbo. I don’t understand what it means to ‘act my age.’ Like sitting around with a bunch of soccer moms? You just put me in a foreign country where I don’t speak the lan-

november

2011 53


Performance

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guage.” Social niceties like small-talk don’t appeal to Regina. “People with Asperger’s are built to be codebreakers. I focus on details more than the big picture. That kind of chatter-talk, it’s everywhere, and it can be really overwhelming.” When Regina worked as a teacher, she would spend her lunchtime outside reading a book instead of in the teachers’ lounge with her co-workers. “People didn’t understand why. And this was before I had a diagnosis–I just didn’t have the language to explain that the chatter-talk was just over-stimulating. Everyone just thought, ‘Oh, she’s too good to eat lunch with us.’ But really, I just couldn’t sit there with so much going on.” Social living is a little easier for Regina now that she can explain what she doesn’t understand and why. Some things, however, will never be easy. “I don’t know how to perceive if people are trying to be friendly or have bad intentions. It’s harder to determine who the genuine people are–I just don’t read between the lines. That’s been one of my biggest challenges: making and keeping friends.”

H

er entire life, Regina bounced between social circles, mostly, she speculates, because of her “quirks.” “I have hyper-sensitivity to sounds, smells, and textures. In high school, I developed a clothing style based on comfort. I didn’t relate to looking cool, wearing jeans. I would wear these long, flowered dresses. It never occurred to me that I didn’t look cool. I mean, we weren’t well-off, but I lived in a wealthy area in New Jersey. There were kids who drove to school in Porsches. Bon Jovi’s brother went there, and I looked like something that emerged from Little House on the Prairie. Popular boys would ask me out but tell me to keep it a secret.” People on the spectrum come up with ways to deal with the social alienation. Regina’s coping mechanism helped with her work in theater. “It takes an incredible amount of energy to be the character who everybody loves and finds acceptable. I had bulimia when I was eight years old. You’re just trying to be perfect while internally your life feels out of control. All of my eccentricities were chalked up to being a ‘gifted child.’” The spectrum is full of uncharted darkness. “It’s not always the triumphant world of autism that is publicized like in Lifetime movies.” And it gets worse with misdiagno5 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e


sis or a complete lack of diagnosis. “There is a lot of substance abuse on the spectrum. The world just misunderstands you so much, and you are socially and sensorially overwhelmed. Everyday existence is just full of this incredible level of anxiety and tension that people try to self-medicate and fix.” Regina believes that through diagnosis people can get some relief. “Just being able to say, ‘Hey, I have Asperger’s syndrome. I don’t always get how to be a grown-up, but I get how to compose music and dance,’” alleviates some of the stress. High-functioning Aspies are everywhere. It is speculated that Mozart, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Jim Henson, and Regina’s favorite, Michael Jackson, were all members of the club. “I truly believe he was a kindhearted person who didn’t understand how to be an adult. It’s not that we don’t want to grow up; we just don’t always fit adult life. I don’t think Michael Jackson was ever diagnosed in his lifetime–but it really explains the Peter Pan syndrome. At the same time, his Asperger’s is what made him such an incredible performer.” Regina and Michael both share an unusual drive and a knack for character performance. “I composed for the school musical in fourth grade, and I wasn’t considered as nerdy as I felt because I was able to express myself in a way that showed confidence. When Michael Jackson was on stage, he knew exactly who he was.” Regina and Michael aren’t the only professional performers on the spectrum–even in Portland. “I know there are other people like me. Letting people know that I’m a musician who is an open Aspie was my door to walk through.” And it isn’t easy. She feels the stigma that surrounds the spectrum and knows the fear that inhibits her “closet Aspie” colleagues. “I have met another musician whom I recognized immediately as an Aspie. I was excited, and I said, ‘Hey, I have Asperger’s, too!’ He just looked at me like I was crazy.” Despite the struggle to gain acceptance, Regina remains hopeful about the public’s perception of others like her. “We don’t need to feel like we’re living on the wrong planet. That’s why it’s so important to raise awareness. Others do have the compassion to understand differences. It’s not bad, it just is. It’s about decreasing judgment.” n

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november

2011 55


CUIscene Judith Gaines

P

ortland is living up to its name. It’s becoming a hub of ethnic activity. According to a recent census, the city’s foreign-born population has increased to 7.6 percent. They come from more than 30 countries in all, speak about 50 languages, and have a wide range of interests. In “The New Mainers: Portraits of Our Immigrant Neighbors,” author Pat Nyhan calls this “an extraordinary diversity unmatched in most of the country.” One result for food lovers is that the Greater Portland area is flush with a multitude of culinary possibilities and groceries

and sunflower seeds). Owner Luba Gorolov, from Kazakhstan, says, “I love the pickled pattypan squash.” At Haknuman Meanchey, on Forest Ave­ nue, co-owner Mealy Khiev, from Cambodia, recommends the sticky rice with mung bean paste in banana leaf packets; bright green noodles with coconut milk and sugar; and black sesame squares with rye flour, dipped in coconut. Here, those who crave the famous Vietnamese soup called pho can find fresh beef neck and knuckle bones, rice noodles, and the appropriate spices. Some of these markets are additions to

survey shelves with roasted cow peas, crushed cow peas, adzuki beans, shelled wheat, sesame oil, assorted Arabic spices, imported honey, dates, and large tins of sweetened mango pulp. There’s a cafe and a small lounge in the back, where some locals always seem to gather. “We’re fresh out of camel,” Ahmed says, with a look more sad than embarrassed. “But we’ll have some at the end of the week, and 20 or 30 goats!” “Everyone enjoys special foods,” says Mary Florendo, a Philippine-born clerk at Mittapheap. “They love our spice buns,

that cater to all sorts of tastes. At the new Al-Sindbad Market, on For­ est Avenue, you can find plates of freshly made baklava, honeyed dough balls called awama, exotic Arabian pickles, and Iraqi flat breads as light as pillows. La Bodega Latina, on Congress Street, is the place to buy fresh banana leaves, annato seasonings, fish tea (a soup mix made from dried fish powder), queso fresca, plantains, fresh corn tortillas, arbol and guajilo chilies. Medeo, an Eastern European market and deli just across the Portland line in Westbrook, o ffers litovskiy (a mild cheese that resembles havarti), zwyczajna (a kind of Polish sausage), and traditional Serbian spreads such as ajvar (a picant blend of roasted peppers, eggplant

larger restaurants, such as Vientiane, where patrons come for Tong Vongsay’s excellent Pad Thai or his Drunken Noodles, as well as bottles of sriracha and sweet chilli sauce; or Paciarino, in the Old Port, where you can take home Salsa d’Noci (walnut and garlic sauce) or Sugo Alla Bolognese (tomato sauce with beef and pork) to serve with Milanese chef Enrico Barbiero’s tender homemade pasta. Other stores are bigger businesses catering to a range of heritages, such as Mahara Meng’s Mittapheap International Center, on Washington Avenue. The store where Mahdi Ahmed works, the Al-Amin Halaal Market, on St. John Street, can seem like a separate world. By 40-pound sacks of tawus rice, a man bows and prays on a small red rug. Customers

crema to use with enchiladas, cassava, and sour-sour leaves. Some of our customers don’t speak fluent English, and some have different names for the same thing. I say, ‘Just give me a sign.’ If we’re not a little bit confused, we’re not functioning.” Most of these entrepreneurs say they decided to settle in Portland because it’s quiet and safe, and the widespread enthusiasm for food and cooking has given them a way to be involved and enjoy the community. “I’ve never come across racism,” says Suad Handule, from Kenya, who works at the Liban African Market on Washington Avenue. “Portland is so diverse. We have the globe here, everybody, but we share at least one thing–an interest in food.”n

5 6 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

clockwise from top left: ariel martin; moriah duval; robert witkowski; moriah duval (5); ariel martin

Epicuriosity

Park locally, shop globally.


Eureka Blue Gems

Eureka,Blue! Eureka Blue Tourmaline Crystal

Time Is Running Out

The first crystals were found on September 24, 2009. What followed was the opening of additional gem pockets in 2009 called The Fall Pockets of 2009, yielding the rarest and most desirable of all colors of tourmaline… Blue! It is called the Eureka Find. Eureka Blue is a unique shade of tourmaline. It has been described as the color of the twilight sky at winter solstice. This find of winter teal gems is yielding some of the most sought-after cut and polished Maine tourmaline we have ever had the privilege to offer. Historic finds of this nature seldom occur either here in Maine or anywhere in the world. 2010 was an amazing year with important gem pockets of Eureka Blue being found. Gems continue to be cut from the crystals already found. We are adding newly finished pieces of Eureka Blue jewelry every week. Visit us on-line to preview our latest creations. The search continues for more gems. Visit our website to be kept up to date on developments.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EUREKA BLUE TOURMALINE FIND

Cross is documenting significant Eureka Blue gems by designating the pockets in which the gem crystals were found. Sept. 24, 2009 ..............Beginning of the Eureka Find Oct. - Nov. 2009 ..........Fall Pockets Dec. 28, 2009 ..............Owl Pocket Feb. 8, 2010 ................Eight of Hearts Pocket Feb. 15, 2010 ..............Presidential Pocket July 11, 2010................Miracle Pocket August 7, 2010 ............Blueberry Pocket Nov. 14, 2010 ..............Indian Summer Pockets 1, 2, 3 Nov. 24, 2010 ..............Thanksgiving Pocket Nov. 30, 2010 ..............The Two Cookie Jar Pocket

Here is the situation

In 1972 Plumbago Mountain yielded 31/2 million carats (2 metric tons) of gems in pink and green tourmaline, a quantity so vast that 40 years later we are still cutting gems from that find. The October 2009 find and subsequent pockets yielded a quantity of blue tourmaline of gem cuttable quality that taken together would fit in a small shoe box. The reality is Eureka Blue from the first ten pockets is rare and running out. Unless more is found, this may be the last Christmas these lovely historic blue gems are available. Visit us on-line to see our latest creations or stop in to see the entire collection. Minutes Before Going To Press

PM1201

Cross Jewelers 570 Congress St., Portland, Maine

Oct. 14, 2011–L.J. called to say they had struck more Eureka Blue. Went up to the mountain Sunday the 16th to look. Bob had samples… some of the finest gemmy blue seen to date. We’ll see what the upcoming weeks reveal. Looks promising.

Special Holiday Hours: Open Mon - Sat 9:30am - 5:00pm until Christmas

1-800-433-2988

www.CrossJewelers.com


diningguide

51 Wharf Restaurant & Ultra Lounge Indulge in the chef’s avant-garde cuisine, w/exceptionally creative courses, local ingredients done from-scratch in our kitchen & the freshest seafood. We serve local Maine lobster, a menu w/savory chicken, steak & pasta. Available for private parties & events. 51 Wharf St., Portland’s Old Port, 774-1151, 51wharf.com. *

f o l i a j e w e l r y. c o m

Mokume rings

The Black Tie Market & Bistro will satisfy anyone’s craving for great food served w/flair & fun. Now serving light breakfasts & lunches & everything you need to entertain at home. Made-to-order paninis & wraps, soups, home-baked desserts, & fresh salads. Try our candy bar, gelato, or a great bottle of wine. Now hosting wine tastings! 756-6230, theblacktieco.com.

50 EXCHANGE STREET PORTLAND, MAINE

207.761.4432

Boda is a “Very Thai” kitchen & lounge. Delicious selections of Thai home-style entrees, street-vendor inspired grilled skewers, tapas, & a full bar. Vegetarian options available. Come experience an eating culture of Thailand! No reservations & parking available. Late-night menu served until 1am. Open Tu-Su from 5pm-1am. 671 Congress St., Portland, 347-7557.

Custom designs our specialty

Brea Lu Cafe has been serving up breakfast & lunch for 23 years! Favorite menu choices include 12 specialty omelets, build-your-own breakfast burritos, Belgian waffles w/ fruit, eggs Benedict & homemade corned beef hash. Lunch features homemade chili, fresh made-to-order sandwiches, burgers & wraps. Open daily, 7am-2pm. 428 Forest Ave., Portland, 772-9202. Bull Feeney’s Authentic Irish pub & restaurant, serving delicious scratch-made sandwiches, steaks, seafood & hearty Irish fare, pouring local craft & premium imported brews, as well as Maine’s most extensive selection of single malt Scotch & Irish whiskies. Live music five nights. Open 7 days 11:30am-1am. Kitchen closes at 10pm weekdays, 11pm weekends. 375 Fore St., Old Port, 773-7210, bullfeeneys.com.

Tuesday-Thursday 5:30-9:30 Friday-Saturday 5:30-10 Heated outdoor seating still available.

Clementine Restaurant 44 Maine St., Brunswick. ChefOwner Dana Robicheaw offers the culinary expertise he acquired at Johnson & Wales & other Portland fine dining establishments. Exquisite food & fine wine in a relaxed atmosphere. Join us for a three-course, prix fixe menu for only $25. Tu-Sa 5-9pm. 721-9800, clementinemaine.com.

249 Congress Street Portland, Maine 207.518.9400 figarestaurant.com

DiMillo’s On the Water serves the freshest lobster, seafood, Black Angus cuts of beef, Italian fare & more. DiMillo’s offers fabulous views of the water in Portland Harbor from every table, Famous Lobster Rolls, clam chowder, haddock chowder, lobster stew & delicious salads. Serving from 11am. Commercial St., Old Port, 772-2216, dimillos.com.

experience

taste

savor

expand

BULL FEENEY’S portland’s pub

773.7210 375 FORE STREET IN THE OLD PORT WWW.BULLFEENEYS.COM LIKE US ON FACEBOOK @BULLFEENEYS ON TWITTER OUR FOOD IS MADE FROM SCRATCH ON THE PREMISES. NOW BOOKING HOLIDAY PARTIES.

5 8 p ortla n d m o n t h l y m a g a z i n e

Eve’s at the Garden takes a fresh and local approach to food. Chef Jeff Landry uses ingredients from Maine’s coastal waters and farms: jumbo scallops, naturally raised pork and beef, sustainably raised fish and shellfish and Maine lobster prepared Mediterranean style. Free dinner valet. Lunch 11:30-2, dinner 5-9:30. 468 Fore St., Portland. 523-2040, portlandharborhotel.com. Fish Bones American Grill A casual upscale restaurant offering creative American cuisine. Specialties include grilled thin crust flatbreads, unique entrée salads & creative dinner offerings. Located in the heart of Lewiston in the historic Bates Mill complex with off-street parking. Come get hooked! Lunch & dinner Tu-F; dinner only Sa; seasonal brunch Su. 333-3663 fishbonesmaine.com. * The Good Table “Honest, good food.” Made-from-scratch brunch, lunch & dinner. A well-rounded menu w/choices to please every palate. W/inspired blackboard specials, the kitchen always takes advantage of locally-grown produce & seafood. Full bar w/seasonal cocktails. Seasonal hours. 527 Ocean House Rd., Rte. 77, Cape Elizabeth, 799-4663, thegoodtablerestaurant.net. Grace A 160-year-old Methodist church engulfed by huge cathedral ceilings & beautiful stained-glass windows. Our eclectic menu & house-infused cocktails provide a perfect atmosphere for any occasion. Reservations are recommended w/ample seating at our circular 30-seat bar, or in our comfortable cocktail lounge. Open Tu-Sa evenings at 5pm. 15 Chestnut St., Portland, 828-4422. The Great Impasta, a long-standing restaurant located on Maine St., serves Mediterranean-inspired food w/ a concentration on Italian dishes. This restaurant is a favorite of both locals & those from away. Incredible, fragrant aromas from the open kitchen hit you the moment you walk through the door. Vegan & gluten-free menus available. 42 Maine St., historic Brunswick, 729-5858, thegreatimpasta.com. Hurricane Restaurant Menus change daily to reflect the finest locally grown produce, ingredients, ice cream,


restaurantreview Diane Hudson

and locally caught fresh seafood. Our locally grown staff serves Maine dining the way it should be. Discover our award-winning wine list, house-made pastries, signature cocktails and extraordinary five-star New England Cuisine. Lunch and dinner daily. Dock Square, Kennebunkport, 207967-9111, hurricanerestaurant.com.* Jacqueline’s Tea Room & Gift Shop Authentic afternoon tea in an exquisite English setting. Over 70 of the finest quality loose-leaf teas to accompany your four-course luncheon of scones, finger sandwiches of all kinds & desserts. Great for intimate conversations & parties. Reservations only (not required for shopping). 10:30am-3pm. Tu-F & alternating weekends. 201 Main St., Freeport, 865-2123, jacquelinestearoom.com. Jameson Tavern is one of the oldest historic taverns in Maine and is said to be the site of the signing of the papers separating Maine from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Tavern has a bar and dining room and serving seafood, Maine lobster, steaks, pasta, and awardwinning clam chowder. Our lobster stew was featured on FoodNation with Bobby Flay as a “fine Maine Restaurant.” 115 Main St., Freeport, 865-4196, jamesontavern.com. * JP Thornton’s Bar & Grille offers upscale, fresh cuisine in a casual pub setting. Known in the Portland area for having a “Cheers-like” atmosphere, locals & those who stumble across this hidden jewel of Foodie favorites can enjoy handcut grilled steaks, fresh seafood & house appetizers w/a great selection of microbrews & specialty cocktails. 740 Broadway, S. Portland, 799-3100. Lotus Chinese and Japanese Restaurant We feature fullservice bar and lounge area, sushi bar, Chinese traditional food not available outside of Boston, friendly atmosphere and courteous service. 251 U.S. Route 1, Falmouth (Falmouth Shopping Plaza), 781-3453. Maria’s Restaurant and Catering Neapolitan Italian Cooking at its finest. Maine Sunday Telegram four-star restaurant. Homemade Cavitelli Pasta, think Veal Chops Milanese-Style, Zuppa Di Pesce Fradiavolo, New England’s best Eggplant Parmigiana, Pistachio Gelato, Italian-Style Cakes, Neapolitan five-star wine list. Came in and see Tony and Gregorio; they’ll take excellent care of you. Prices starting at $10 for entrées. Open Tu–Sa. 337 Cumberland Ave, Portland, 772-9232, 233-9232, mariasrestaurant.com. Miss Portland Diner, a Portland original. Visit the famous 1949 Worcester diner car serving breakfast all day & homemade diner classics. Beer, wine & liquor. Open daily from 7am-9pm. Located at 140 Marginal Way, Portland, 210-6673, missportlanddiner.com. One Dock Creative, contemporary New England Cuisine & traditional Maine favorites in a relaxed setting overlooking the Kennebunk River. The menu offers “small plates,” such as duck spring rolls, flatbread signature pizzas, pan-seared scallops in a maple glaze & a lobster & chipotle cheddar macaroni & cheese, proving to be fan favorites. W-Sa 6-9pm. Kennebunkport Inn, Kennebunkport, 967-2621, onedock.com. Palace Diner Come in for a unique dining experience in Maine’s oldest diner car, a part of Maine’s history since 1927. Deliciously buttery blueberry pancakes, crisp on the outside. Hash with chunks of tender corned beef, sautéed onions, and red potatoes with perfectly poached eggs. Daily lunchspecials. Hidden on a quiet side street, you won’t be sorry you sought usout. 18 Franklin Street, Biddeford. www.palacedinerme.com

from top: inside morocco; diane hudson (2)

Pat’s Pizza offers a full bar & family dining experience in the heart of Portland’s Historic District. Pat’s offers a full menu of appetizers, entrees, desserts & of course, pizza! We also have a large selection of salads & sandwiches for lunch. Large parties welcome, please call ahead. Located at 30 Market St., Old Port, 699-4455, patspizzaoldport.com. Pedro’s focuses on simple yet full-flavored Mexican and Latino food. Offering tacos, burritos and an impressive array of margaritas, sangria, beer and wine. Especiales de la semana (specials of the week) keep the menu varied and fresh and showcase different Latino cultures. Seasonal outdoor dining available. Open daily, 12-10. 181 Port Road, Kennebunk. 967-5544, pedrosmaine.com. The Pepperclub/Good Egg Café Two favorites, same location! The Pepperclub (“Best Vege­tarian” & “Best Value” in Frommer’s Guide to New England) has creative world cuisine. Blackboard menu lists five vegetarian, three fish & three meat entrées, including an organic beef burger. Relaxed, affordable dining on the edge of the Old Port w/free parking. Pepperclub, daily from 5pm; Good Egg Café, Tu-F 7-11am, Sa-Su 8am-1pm. 78 Middle St., 772-0531, pepperclubrestaurant.com. Pier 77 & The Ramp Bar & Grill are owned & managed by Kate & Chef Peter Morency. Pier 77 has a formal dining room w/ stunning views of Cape Porpoise Harbor & live music each

Finding Fez Dining here is a discovery of flavors.

A

braham Lembara is co-owner and chef at whole “dolphin” potatoes suffused with the dense Fez on Washington Avenue. Born in flavor of the meat. This is great winter fare. Morocco, he spent 2.5 years at the Miami The Tilapia Casablanca ($9.95) is sautéed in Culinary Institute before becoming executive a lemon butter sauce and finished with a rich chef at Miami’s Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons. homemade salsa. This fresh filet echoes the He specialized in fresh pasta in St. Albans, Verwild-like flavor of catfish I’ve enjoyed in the mont, en route to Portland, where his wife South. Abraham treats the emerging staple betworks as an immigration agent. His restaurant ter than I‘ve ever experienced on the East Coast. and shop partner, Hinda Hassan, is originally The Chicken Tagine ($10.95), a half chicken from Somalia and has lived here for 15 years. slow-cooked in lemon onion sauce, sports Fez specializes in Middle Eastern cuisine. a number of green olives and fine juices to An adjoining market sells spicenhance the rice. es, groceries, and treats. The Hilib Ari ($10.95) also Fez Mediterranean Cuisine halal lamb is particularly popbeckons, served with goat on 30 Washington Ave., Portland ular in this strongly North Afthe bone, slow-cooked with Mon-Sun, 11-10 p.m., 773-1008 rican neighborhood. onion, cilantro, and herbs. The Fez offers a striking array of Beef Barkook ($11.95), roasted in appetizers, beginning with the sautéed shrimp a Moroccan demi-glaze, is topped with prunes dish Kimroun Sharmoula ($6.95). The Moroccan and sesame seeds. touch sparkles here, with a light garlic-tomato For dessert, there’s the Moroccan equivalent sauce enhancing the sweet shrimp flavors, keepof baklava, briwat ($4.95), and the ever-enticing ing each morsel moist and delectable. Crêpes Mogador ($6.25)–handmade with masZaalouk ($5.95) charms my dining partner. carpone cheese and thinly sliced apples cooked The bite-sized pieces of eggplant sautéed in a in cinnamon butter, drizzled with caramel, and garlic herb sauce resonate with the art of cooktopped with whipped cream–a resounding yes. ing simply, and the hearty serving begs to be There’s so much to explore here, from scooped up by the homemade pita bread. Abraham’s scholarly collection of bibles I simply have to have the Lubia ($6.99). These (including two of the earliest King James small white beans, slow-cooked in red onion versions--he studied at the Moody Institute in and arrabbiata sauce, are little concerts of texture Chicago) to a menu with endless opportunities and delicate seasonings. for a culinary discovery. n Attention falafel fans: Hinda’s version ($6.25)–moist patties served on a bed of fresh >> Visit Restaurant Reviews greens, ripe flavorful tomatoes, and tahini at portlandmonthly.com/portsauce–is an excellent treat. mag/category/ For entrees, savor the Lamb Tagine ($11.95). reviews. Fork-tender, the meat is slowly roasted in saffron and served in its own juices. You’ll love small november

2011 59


diningguide

weekend, while the Ramp is more casual, w/its own bar menu at hard-to-beat prices. 967-8500, pier77restaurant.com. * Rivalries Sports Pub & Grill An upscale sports bar serving creative pub food in a fun and comfortable atmosphere. Known for some of Portland’s best casual food, Rivalries’ menu has something for everyone. And with 30+ HD TVs and every major pro and college sports package, you won’t miss a game! Conveniently located in Portland’s Historic Old Port District. 774-6044, rivalriesportland.com.

233 ROUTE 1 YARMOUTH, M AINE | . | www.GRILL.com

The Salt Exchange Contemporary “small plate” cuisine using local, organic, & sustainable ingredients. Fresh local fish daily. Full bar with Happy Hour weekdays 5:30-7pm. Open for lunch Tu-Sa 11:30am-3pm & dinner 5:30-9pm, (10pm Fri & Sat). Free Parking in the evening. 245 Commercial St., Portland, 347-5687, thesaltexchange.net. *

Refresh Your Confidence

Stonyfield Cafe (formerly O’Naturals) serves natural & organic flatbread sandwiches, tossed salads, rice & noodle bowls, soups, kids, meals, organic tart frozen yogurt & Sunday Brunch. Quick service for people on the go…but our leather couches, wireless internet & comfortable atmosphere will entice you to stay. Chicken, roast beef, wild bison meatloaf, wild Alaskan salmon & many vegetarian items–there’s something for everyone. Route 1, Falmouth, 781-8889, stonyfieldcafe.com.

With more that 50 years of combined experience, Dr. Maria Atkins and her knowledgeable staff of Physicians, Nurses and Medical Aestheticians offer the finest and most advanced non-invasive

Cosmetic & Laser Treatments in New England!

Call 761-0177 today for your

FREE physician consultation

and find out what CEC has to offer you!

Twenty Milk St. U.S.D.A. prime & choice steaks & the freshest seafood, combining award-winning classic American cuisine w/fine wines in a warm & inviting atmosphere. Crab cakes w/lemon shallot mayonnaise, baked escargot, charbroiled chili-lime scallops & sumptuous desserts. Complimentary valet parking. Dinner daily; also breakfast, lunch & brunch. Portland Regency Hotel, 774-4200, theregency.com. Vaughan Street offers breakfast and lunch. Soups, salads, baked goods, tortilla rollups, traditional sandwiches and our specialty: fresh-baked focaccia sandwiches. Daily we make sandwiches that promise a unique and delicious experience. You’ve gotta try it! Conveniently located across from Maine Medical Center. 235 Vaughan St., Portland, 277-8993, vaughanst.com. Walter’s Chef Owner Jeff Buerhaus is inspired by global influences. Seasonal menus are accented by creative daily specials. Bar Manager Steven Lovenguths’ extensive wine list and inventive cocktail creations complement menu offerings. Lunch M-Sa 11:30am-2:30pm. Dinner seven days a week, 5pm-CL (except Jan-April, closed Sundays). Bar menu 2:30pm-CL. Two Portland Square on Union Street, 871-9258, waltersportland.com. Yosaku Authentic Japanese culinary experience, designed by owner/chef Sato Takahiro. Premium sushi, sashimi & rolls, plus traditionally cooked Japanese cuisine for the sushi-shy. Best deck dining overlooking our tranquil Japanese garden & waterfall. Lunch M-F 11:30am-2pm, Sa-Su noon-3pm. Dinner 5-9:30pm, F-Sa 5-10:30pm. 1 Danforth St., 780-0880. *reservations recommended

maineWellnessguide

November Guide to

Mention this ad and receive 15% off your first treatment

1375 Congress Street, PORTLAND 35 Vernon Street, AUBURN

www.cecofne.com 6 0 p o rt l a n d m o n t h l y m a g a z i n e

s s e n l l e W Dr. nancy sargent and Dr. Irina babAyAn are committed to delivering the very best in dental care for our patients. In support of our mission, we offer an environment that is optimized for patient comfort and convenience. Offering family, restorative, and cosmetic dentistry in a friendly atmosphere. Located on Route 1 in Falmouth. Call 781-4216, or visit foresidefamilydentistry.com.



Gifts to Guarantee Kisses!

Shops at Falmouth Village 16 Locally Owned Shops • RT 1, Falmouth • shopsatfalmouthvillage.com


gift&Eventsguide

On a brisk December evening, Merry Madness takes over Downtown Portland & the Old Port…

Celebrate the Season The Nutcracker

bossov ballet Nov. 25-27 Skowhegan Opera House bossovballet.com 487-6360 $15

Victorian Nutcracker

Portland Ballet Dec. 23 Merrill Auditorium portlandballet.org 772-9671 $22-52

Nutcracker Burlesque

Vivid Motion Dec. 16-18, 20-23 Saint Lawrence Arts Center vividmotion.org 775-5568, $15

Maine’s First Gift BAskets

from top: maine state ballet ; abbe museum(2); ariel martin (2)

Passamaquoddy Wares Abbe Museum abbemuseum.org, 288-3519 $10-$3,500

Hang On High Ojime Beads Stones & Stuff stonesandstuff.com 874-0789 $16-36

The Nutcracker MAINE STATE BALLET Nov. 26-27, Dec. 2-4 Merrill Auditorium mainestateballet.org 781-7672 $20-$60

The Nutcracker

ATLANTIC BALLET COMPANY Dec. 1-4 Camden Opera House atlanticballetcompany.org 236-2395 $20

Dates for This Holiday Season 2011 Nov. 26 Islamic New Year Dec. 8 Bodhi Day (Buddhist) Dec. 20-28 Hanukkah (Jewish) Dec. 22 Winter Solstice Dec. 25 Christmas (Christian) Dec. 26-Jan. 1 Kwanzaa 2012 Jan. 1 New Year’s Day Jan. 6 Epiphany (Christian) Jan. 9-12 Mahayana New Year (Buddhist) Jan. 14 Makar Sankranti (Hindu) Jan. 23 Chinese New Year Feb. 15 Nirvana Day (Buddhist) Feb. 21 Mardi Gras (Christian) Mar. 21 Persian New Year Apr. 13-15 Thai New Year Apr. 13-15 Cambodian New Year Apr. 6-14 Passover (Jewish) Apr. 8 Easter (Christian) November

2011 63


Give the gift of beauty and simplicity this holiday season. Our 22" wreaths are handcrafted with balsam fir, and beautifully adorned with apples, pinecones, and a velveteen ribbon. A personalized gift message is enclosed with each wreath. $2895+ S/H

Copper Beech Tree Lighting 6:30pm, Dec. 2 Portland Museum of Art

…while we all search for holidays lost and found… May fair winds follow Fair Isle Sweater L.L. Bean llbean.com $69-89

800-776-8778

maineholidaywreaths.com Brighten up the holidays with a gift from

The Museum Shop at

Portland Head Light

Flatware • Crystal • Serveware Artwork by: Marnie Souza

Jewelry, Frames, Photos, Prints, T-shirts, Sweats, Clocks, Books, Mugs, Stocking Stuffers Fort Williams Park • Cape Elizabeth www.portlandheadlight.com • 799-2661 Open Sat. & Sun. 10 to 4 until December 11th 6 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Children’s Gifts • Handcrafted Chests Picture Frames • Holiday Collectibles

Kittery Outlet Center 340 US Route 1 Kittery, ME • 03904

207-439-4907

www.reedandbarton.com

from top: PMA/alan lavalle; L.L.Bean

Maine Holiday Wreaths

gift&Eventsguide interview


gift&Eventsguide Hang On High

Brass ORNAMENT Springer Jewelry springersjewelers.com 800-724-5404, $25

from top: Springer Jewelers; van gogh vodka

We Specialize in Amazing Complete Wedding Packages Holiday Spirits Van Gogh Vodka RSVP, 887 Forest Ave. 773-8808 $28.99

Rooms Accommodate Groups from 50-500 Bereavement Luncheons Professionally Orchestrated on very little notice Corporate • Social • Wedding Italian Heritage Center 40 Westland Avenue, Portland, ME 04102 207.772.2500 • FAX: 207.780.8505 www.italianheritagecenter.com E-mail your inquiries to: ihcmgr@maine.rr.com

426 Fore Street, Portland 207.228.3304 · eastendcupcake.com

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gift&Eventsguide

Icing on the Girl STERLING SILVER Star Earrings Daunis Jewelers daunis.com $491

Wrens in Clay

On the Rocks

ICE BAR, Jan. 26-28 Portland Harbor Hotel portlandharborhotel.com 775-9090, $15 donation

The Andersen Studio

By the Mill Pond, 5 Andersen Road East Boothbay, ME 04544 www.andersenstudio.com

350 YEARS OF MID-WINTER CELEBRATIONS AND HOLIDAY TRADITIONS DECEMBER 3–4, 10–11, 17–18, 2011 SATURDAYS FROM 5:00PM – 9:00PM SUNDAYS FROM 4:00PM – 8:00PM

Call 603.433.1100 for more info 14 Hancock Street Portsmouth, NH 03802 www.strawberybanke.org

6 6 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Stroll through life in a simpler time as the history of American holiday traditions unfolds around you. Bring the whole family for a wholesome stroll of New England’s favorite holiday season.

from top: ariel martin; portland harbor hotel

…in the flickering windows and snow-dusted streets…


gift&Eventsguide Magic of Christmas

from top: Portland symphony orchestra; wicked whoopies

Portland Symphony Orchestra Dec. 9-11, 16-18 Merrill Auditorium portlandsymphony.org 874-8200 $31-61

classic whoopie pies

wicked whoopies wickedwhoopies.com 877-447--2629 $26/dozen

Opening Black Friday November 25th, 2011 at our South Portland location, 415 Philbrook Avenue

Your Dansko Headquarters More styles,

More sizes, More colors...

More Dansko.

visit www.jlcoombs.com for more information November

2011 67


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Tools for the Earth . . . Gifts for the Heart

gift&Eventsguide

Spin Zone

Gold Dreidel Congregation Bet Ha’am www.bethaam.org 879-0028 $30

…eavesdropping on wonders too wonderful not to pursue.

Merry Madness

Open Year Round

Santa Paws is Coming to Town Dog Santa Costume Fetch fetchportland.com 773-5450 $15.99-24.99

6 8 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

from top left: Taryn crane; Jennifer Kearns; file photo

69 M AIN S TREET • B ELFAST, M AINE 04915 • 207.338.3448

Dec. 15, 5-10pm Participating Portland businesses Free hors d’oeuvres and raffle prizes. Kickoff at portland regency hotel portlandmaine.com


gift&Eventsguide

Bringing you all things tea Purveyor of fine teas, treats, tea wares, accoutrements, books, linens offered in an atmosphere of calm and eclectic beauty.

Silver, Gold & Glass

LATITUDE & LONGITUDE Any Place on the Planet

Thanks for Buying Local! 5 Industry Road • So. Portland • 761-8041 • nelliestea.com

www.epriorjewelry.com 9 Hands Gallery 615A Congress Street Downtown Portland

No place Like Home

Betsy BArnes HOLIDAY CARDS Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine betsybarnesdesigns.com Bath, 443-2225 portland, 828-1515
 8 cards, $12

from top left: betsy barnes designs; tidesinstitute and museum of artJude Valentine; file

Party ‘Til The Fish Drops

Christmas Tree Lighting Tides Institute and Museum of Art 43 Water St., Eastport, Dec. 31, ‘Maple Leaf ’ drop, 11pm ‘Sardine’ drop, midnight tidesinstitute.org 853-4047

More Than Meats The Eye

MONUMENT SQUARE NOVEMBER 25

Twelve Days of Christmas

NOVEMBER 25 TO DECEMBER 18

Free Horse & Wagon Rides

MONUMENT SQUARE NOVEMBER 25 TO DECEMBER 18

Think Outside The Box DECEMBER 3–4

Shop For A Cause Day

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3

Merry Madness!

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15

Goat and camel Halaal Market 774-3220 Camel, market price Goat, $6.49/lb

Marquis Creations “Jewelry as unique as you are”

For a complete list of participating stores and additional downtown holiday events, visit portlandmaine.com

marquiscreations.artfire.com 607-0913 • marquiscreations@gmail.com

November

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Wood for your home

Out there

Flooring Paneling Trim Treads Counters

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In Jessica Lauren Lipton’s interactive room, you are encouraged to clean your hands, dip them in powdered charcoal, and make marks on her skin. Yes, you have to touch this Portland artist. People are rather squeamish to do this at first, but as the night goes on you are more likely to leave their mark. “I didn’t want to do this in Portland,” Lipton laughs. “I don’t want to be at work [bartending at Empire Dine and Dance] and suddenly have someone walk up and say, ‘Hey I touched you.’” Video presentations also flirt with our conventions and adjust the thermostats on our comfort zones. Jacqueline Weaver, from Troy, New York, rips York’s history inside out and projects it onto sheets of tulle reaching all the way to the floor, each spaced by a ceiling tile. Between these layers of diaphanous white fabric are benches for visitors to watch a movie beaming through the translucent strips. “The multiple projections through the layers provide a dream-like atmosphere for the piece, reference the textiles and clothing in the dress scenes, and create a [wistful sense of the] generational loss of the projected image, much like the loss of our original histories. It also allows the shadows of viewers to enter the projections as they walk through the layers, implicating them in this invented history.” Weaver describes her piece “trying to be a nightmare. Looking at all of the projections together, you gather the jarring sight of a history blurred by each filter it pierces.” The art isn’t just inside the rooms. Katherine Doyle, from New Castle, calls her space outside a “labyrinth” to help participants move from one state of mind to the next. Red ribbons hanging from a wire direct you to the entrance. “You can write something on

these–something personal, something you’d like to let go of–hang your streamer on the line, and then go into your labyrinth. The twists and turns help it get out of your head. There’s a discovery period where you’re spiraling in taut, white canvas walls. “When you emerge, you’re facing the ocean.” The water sparkles just across the road. Surprised by your sense of calm, you realize instant art is about this very instant and you are part of the exhibit. Don’t even think of checking out. Sounds stream from windows and lights flicker through open doors. Some artists-in-character perform like seaside guests in their rooms, packing and unpacking from decades of lost summers while still more slip out of their units to rub elbows with their friends–a chain reaction. It’s like creativity is exploding through the TVs, the neon lights, the vacation-weary humanity, tossing different styles into each open room. Sometimes it’s true. Art happens. n

Participants are invited to experience the art by walking around, through, and under it when possible.

Ariel Martin (2)

Art Happens (continued from page 25)


Rush Hour

And the Winner is… Melissa Sweeney was first to decipher the list of clues that included the Time & Temperature Building on Portland’s skyline.

“I’d never been to Maine, and I certainly enjoyed the journey,” says winner Melissa Sweeney of Woodbridge, Virginia. “I loved

driving up Route 1 through all the small coastal towns.” Her 60-hour odyssey slalomed through clues across 11 states covering over 1,475 miles. In the end, she was 20 minutes ahead of the next competitor in finding her car at the end of the raibow. “My husband and I are going to retrace the route through Maine in our new Journey– maybe during the holidays. This time around, we’ll have time to do some shopping!”

co u r t e s y d o d g e

Car Trek (continued from page 27)

sent her and her children “north until you see red seats, then go two doors north.” The voice warned remaining clues would be “out in the real world.” “Red seats” was Dodge’s intentional distortion of Red’s Eats in Wis­cas­set. Neighboring Fairfield Signs had a specials board reading “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,”with another phone number listed. New clues sent car-seekers to Angelique’s in Thomaston, where a papier-mâché model of the prize made contestants scramble to Kenniston Real Estate Agency in Rockland. There, a photo of the barn tantalized with yet another number that disclosed final directions. At 5 p.m. on Sunday, sun splashed over the car as a visibly tired thrill seeker opened the barn doors in Tenants Harbor and victoriously raised her arms, declaring, “My name is Melissa [Sweeney of Woodbridge, Virginia] and this is my Dodge Journey!” Bereft at rainbow’s end, Corpin has no regrets. “I would absolutely do it again,” she says, still sleep-deprived but feeling alive. “Portland is a beautiful city. We really did find something. We even took the scenic route back!” n

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2011 71


personalities and every year in Madawaska we have the Acadian Festival, where we celebrate the heritage of one family. People travel from all over the country to come back to their roots.

What role does your French-heritage culture define you as a modern-day woman? Can a person hold both traditional and modern, popular cultural values at the same time?

I definitely feel like times are changing, and the way of life and traditional roles my grandparents upheld have been modified as time moves on. I grew up in a household that was rooted from a French heritage and traditional family roles but was very modern. My mother was the breadwinner and caregiver. I do believe it’s possible to have both traditional and modern values. My personal belief and hope for my family is a traditional foundation with a modern-day twist. 805 Route One . Yarmouth 207.846.6565 - and -

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I see you as a representative of the Maine French-heritage culture, which helps to grow the definition of what it means to be a modern French-heritage cultural woman. Do you see yourself as representing the French-heritage culture, and if so, how do you see yourself in that role?

I wouldn’t consider myself as a good representative of French heritage, because as time moves on, generations are unfortunately losing the influences of this culture. I believe my parents’ generation was the last to really have a strong French influence. My generation has much less, and I believe the next will be the same. It is very unfortunate.

As modern-day Evangeline, how do you see yourself in defining/fashioning the changing roles for women ?

I think it’s important for not only women, but individuals to be independent and selfsufficient. This is where my desire to move away from traditional values stems from. As a modern- day woman, I will strive to be the best doctor and mother I can be. It can be done! Our cultural archetypes may appear set in stone, but they accommodate every generation.

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10 Most, Chrystie Corns (continued from page 35)

I consider myself a modern women with very traditional values. I believe a woman can have everything she wants and needs. I believe women should always speak up for themselves and fight to remain on a level playing field with men. But, I also believe in traditional male/female roles within a family. For example, I like that the man is the breadwinner and the female tends to the children. I believe men should mow lawns and shovel snow while women should wash clothes and dust.

I grew up in Madawaska, but went to school at USM, so Portland has always felt like ‘home’ to me. Even when I was living in Hawaii, I longed for the amazing autumn days of Portland. I see you as representatives of the Maine French-heritage culture, which helps to grow the definition of what it means to be a modern French-heritage cultural woman. Do you see yourself as representing the French-heritage culture, and if so, how do you see yourself in that role?

I wouldn’t say I represent the entire French heritage culture, but what I do see is a sub-culture of emerging young people within FrenchHeritage culture who are redefining what that culture means and who those people are. I’d like to say that I do feel I belong to that group.

As modern-day Tante Blanche, how do you see yourself in defining/fashioning the changing roles for women ?

I believe that Franco-American women are stepping out of the shadows of their male counterparts and utilizing all of the great gifts that were given to them growing up in FrancoAmerican culture. I’d like to think that I’m the epitome of the woman who voices her opinion (even though it may not be shared by most) and stands by that word. I’m also the type who is open to suggestion and willing to learn from other people and see different points of views. The modern day Franco-American women has these qualities. Any last thoughts you would like to share on the influence you have in today’s popular cultural world?

I think my sister and I are bringing a little celebrity to a sub-culture of Franco-Americans who share the same French last name. Hopefully we come across as girls with good heads on our shoulders.

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10 Most, Ashley Hebert (continued from page 34)


10 Most, Tom Andrews (continued from page 36)

kind of activism. People in Maine give a damn. There’s a strong community of faith and a strong sense of community activism. People care. Times are tough, people are focused on the bread-and-butter challenges, but Maine is filled with people who want to take action to save the lives of thousands of people. It’s a great place to get traction, to get a more useful U.S. response. When I was in South Sudan, it was like being in Alice in Wonderland. All these people were coming to me and describing what Omar al-Bashir and his forces were doing. Within 24 hours of being back on Capital Hill, I set out and described what I saw and heard South Sudan. I started working with Congress to draft legislation about the points I’ve made to get something done. What we need to do is reach out to the religious community here and the women’s groups, child advocacy organizations, and present facts to create a movement here. All these groups are being attacked in Sudan. It’s hitting home. George Clooney is backing a surveillance operation of Sudan and South Sudan called the Satellite Sentinel Project. The aim is to keep an eye on any further conflicts in the region. Have you had worked with Clooney on this project?

The Satellite Sentinel Project is a resource that is very important, and we'll use the information they provide. We work very closely with the organizations and people involved, like the Enough Project and John Prendergast, but I haven't had any contact with George Clooney. In your work and travels, have you ever been in a dangerous situation?

The moment that comes to mind where I was particulary nervous was when I was on my way to meet Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Burma. I entered the country quietly as a tourist. I met her party's deputy, and he arranged for me to meet her later at night. When the call came, I hailed a cab to be as nondescript as possible. As we're driving along the road, soldiers came out of the woods, telling us to pull over. Somehow they were tipped off. They pointed their AK-47s at my head. They were yelling and said the best thing I could do was turn around. I thought I was going to be taken into the woods and shot. We were able to leave, but I never made it to see Aung San Suu Kyi.

10 Most, Carolyn Chute (continued from page 39)

O

ddly enough for a writer, Chute doesn’t feel entirely at home with words. She’s always experienced the world in pictures and feels “what goes on in my head is more complex than speech.” When she writes, ideas often outstrip her word recall–she leaves blanks for certain words, filling them in later. The process seems analogous to translation, with English a second language into which she transposes a liquid flow of images. She does most of her work in long hand. “I’m perfectly happy writing on paper with a pen, in a rocking chair by the window,” she says. While she used typewriters and early word processors in the past, the computer presents a special problem for her. “I look at the screen, and it reminds me of TV. And TV was traumatic for me. My family used to sit around the table and tell stories–my parents, grandparents, and uncle. Then they got a TV set, changed the furniture to face the TV, and nobody sat at the table and talked anymore– they all watched Lawrence Welk. Now we’ve got these computers–there’s a jillion writers out there, and they’re all on the computer.” Chute sees a changing literary scene providing writers diminishing rewards. She notes books getting shorter and advances smaller. With publishers largely interested in what she calls “kiss-and-tell books,” Chute feels serious writers have been relegated to the role of window dressing. Each publishing house supports a few to maintain their literary cachet. She doesn’t see the situation improving.

Chute says her stint as Gorham correspondent for the Press Herald involved “doing stories about lost snakes, and followups when they were found.” “Anyone who wants to write today, my advice is they really should get training to be a nurse or a cop or join the military. Why would I want anyone to have such a miserable life, being a writer? It’s lots of grueling work for very little reward.” Chute laughs when she says this, for she’s currently working on another novel, His Son, and like everyone who suffers from art, she recognizes there’s no contending with the Muse that has called her. Andrew Yale is a freelance writer and photographer based in Parsonsfield. Letter from an Empty Valley is his latest book.

10 Most, Donald Sussman (continued from page 40)

think we’ll like. We’d love to see David Wilson, a marvelous contemporary artist with a summer gallery on North Haven, featured in Portland as well. You kindly donated $250,000 to the Etz Chaim Synagogue to help complete work on their emerging museum of family histories. Portlanders will see their cultural background further chronicled and appreciated. What was your inspiration for this extraordinary gift?

I was strongly drawn to the neighborhood nature of this synagogue, as well as its powerful history of taking on social change in this once very Jewish part of Portland. I love the philosophy of the Temple–all are welcome, there is no fee to join, and community outreach and a very welcoming garden in front are all part of the mission.

With an emphasis on ancestry, this museum is sure to spark the genealogical explorer in a lot of people. Have you ever traced your family history? What did it mean to you?

Both sets of my grandparents are fairly recent immigrants, and this gives me a sense of my place. I want to have a plaque to my father at this synagogue. What future projects for the art and culture of Portland do you have?

Maine and Portland are in the forefront of so many movements that support our culture and history and could be increasingly good for our economy. I am a strong supporter of local agriculture, renewable energy, and the creative economy. I hope I can continue to do more to see them grow. We can be most inspired by those closest to us. How has your marriage to Rep. Pingree influenced your cultural and personal philanthropy?

There can be no denying that my life has changed enormously since Chellie and I became a couple. I have long been a Maine summer resident (since 1993 in Deer Isle) and a Maine philanthropist but always lived a quiet life and went mostly unnoticed. Things change dramatically when you’re married to someone in public life. I’m now a Maine resident and taxpayer, and I believe deeply in the future of Maine. I continue to support many of the same things–living on an organic farm on North Haven, supporting even more Maine causes, and adding to my collection from the work of Robert Indiana, who is a fascinating neighbor and friend. november

2011 73


personalities mile was dedicated to my neighbor Sherri Kelley, a young mother who has a brain tumor and lung cancer. She’s undergoing chemotherapy and doing well. Do you ever dream that you’re swimming?

In dreams and nightmares. In one nightmare I’m swimming from Catalina Island to the California coast, and I meet a great white. The thing is, I’m actually about to make that swim. It’s 21 miles, and even though it’s very safe, I’ve hired John Pitman of the Outrider to watch over me because I’ll be swimming at midnight. You think of the opening frames in Jaws. Don’t you wish you’d come in late for that movie!

My focus won’t be on sharks. If mother nature’s on my side, it will be a world record. [We interrupt this interview with a Postscript from the Edge of the Continent at press time]: “Yesterday, October 18, 2011, I broke the world record for the oldest woman to swim from Catalina Island to mainland California. I had two Catalina Swimming Federation officials on board to monitor my swim. “Please read my posting on my blog patgalant.blogspot.com. “We took pictures and videos. Most amazing video was the ending when I was escorted to the finish line by at least 100 dolphins. What an experience!” Since swimming the English Channel, have you ever experienced age discrimination locally, like “Out of my way, grandma. That’s my parking spot at the Maine Mall?”

Not in words, but I get looks. I’ll be introduced to swim teams with younger athletes, girls in their teens. And maybe their eyes will be saying, ‘You’ve swum the English Channel?’ Because I’m a big girl. I always say, ‘Don’t underestimate the grandmother from Maine.’ Sometimes a younger co-worker of mine will say at the end of the day, ‘I’m beat. I’m just going to go home and crash.’ It’s all I can do to keep from saying, “Yeah, I remember those days.” In addition to this and her Channel record, she swam across the Strait of Gibraltar, from Spain to the coast of Africa, on June 16, 2010. She was the third-fastest woman to pull this off since 1928 and set the U.S. women’s record for any age. She’s the fastest for anyone over 50, man or woman, worldwide at this 9-mile distance. 7 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

The couple stays in Maine as much as four to five months a year, typically making From a financial point of view, it’s a pretty the trip from Colorado twice–in late June and decent hedge on devaluation of currency. late January–not in a corporate jet, but in a It’s a commodity-based asset, a hard asset, luxurious motorhome, as Leslie won’t fly. The an asset that could see a tailwind if in fact the drive, which they make with their passel of U.S. construction industry comes back… All prize pugs, takes as much as forty hours. of it will be operated as sustainable forestry. In summer, the semi-retired Malone I think private ownership is generally superises early to walk the dogs, then attends rior to public because you care about the land to business for an hour or so before having more and it doesn’t get trashed….There’s an tea with his wife. While she paints in her emotional and intellectual aspect of walking studio, he may row two hours to the boatthe land and getting that sense of awe and the yard; later, they might go antiquing. An avid feeling that ‘wow, this is neat.’ I own it, sort of, sailor—and owner of the Boothbay Region for my lifetime. But I’m really just a steward.” Boatyard—Malone pilots Deep breath. It wasn’t his 80-foot yacht, Liberty, a Plum Creek kind of alone; often it’s their predeal. Still, that begs the ferred mode of transporquestion: Why Maine? tation when going out As the French say, for dinner. Dreaming of “cherchez la femme.” At simplicity, the pair makes the center of Malone’s a point of living without life–even his universe–is a cook or driver either in his wife, Leslie. The pair Maine or Colorado. met when she was fifteen In winter, the Malones and he was about to enter skate on the farm pond, Yale; they married after watch movies, or pack up he graduated in 1963. She and head for “a personal focused on raising their retreat” they’ve owned two children, daughter Tracy and son Evan, and Above: The sumptuous interior of Malone’s 80-foot for a dozen years, Falcon more recently on riding Hodgdon Yacht Liberty, which he keeps at his Booth- Lodge: a seven-acre comhorses and enjoying their bay Region Boatyard. Malone’s U.S. land holdings are pound on 15,000 acres grandchildren, while he as large as Delaware and Rhode Island combined. around Spencer Lake, near Jackman and the Quebec border. Malone was all about business. He realized along the bought another 53,524 acres nearby in 2002. way that she felt she always came in second, Once called “the wilderness equivalent of the so he resolved to change. Ritz-Carlton,” Falcon Lodge was previously The Malones have been coming to run as a hunting and fishing camp for the Maine since 1982. Author Ken Auletta, ultra-rich, catering to a maximum of a dozen who wrote about Malone in his 2011 book, guests who wanted to fly fish, mountain bike, The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information and shoot skeet. Superhighway, quotes Malone as saying, Despite the Malones’ penchant for priva“When I’m in Maine, I’m a different person. I cy, he told Forbes when asked if he intends to smile. I sleep well. I’m more fun.” Maine also allow public recreation on his recent purchase reminds the couple of where they grew up in of Maine forestland, “We’ve kept the lake on Connecticut, before the state became overwhich we have our personal getaway open built and overcrowded. to the public at no charge. We’ve never had a Part of their life change was the purchase problem in 12 years. It works.” of Burleigh Hill, a 1904 Stanford WhiteCareful stewardship aside, what does the designed home in Boothbay. Its meticulous future hold for Malone’s Maine and other restoration took two years. Originally, the properties? Malone told Forbes, “I’m putting property had just 63 acres; today, it’s set on most of the land in conservation easements 220 acres on the Back River and is complete which are hopefully supposed to be perpetwith pond, apple orchard, and vegetable garual. But I’m not going to kid myself and think dens. (The Malones also own the Mosquito that 500 years from now, with population Islands in Penobscot Bay, Tibbett Island in growth, that the government won’t start putthe Back River, as well as other land in the ting people on the land. But at least I tried.” n Boothbay area.) 10 Most, John Malone (continued from page 45)

hodgdon yachts

10 Most, Pat Gallant-Charette (continued from page 43)


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“Clean Up Cancer” For well over a year now many of us have seen the pink van of Eastern Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning driving around York and Cumberland counties, and we may have asked what’s it all about. To clear up this question I spent some time with Diane Gadbois at her home and asked her some very personal questions that I am sure were difficult to answer. You see, George and Diane Gadbois are private people who give more than their share back to the community, and the last thing they want is to be noticed for their generosity. They started Eastern Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning 40 years ago on a wish and a prayer and now have the largest family-run carpet cleaning and water damage restoration company in the area. Back to the pink van! If you notice on the rear side panels are the words Susan G. Komen for the Cure. This national foundation has brought forth women’s cancer awareness, promoted extensive cancer research, and although not exclusive to the cause, is nationally recognized by the color pink. The cost to place this name on the van will not be discussed here, but let us say the

yearly donation is significant and the proceeds all go to the cure for women’s cancer. Diane was introduced to breast cancer early in life when her mother had a radical mastectomy. She remembers her mother’s doctor telling her sister and her “one of you will have cancer.” Not a pleasant thought at the time, but it stuck with Diane and saved her life. Twice, after the normal tests and screenings for cancer, Diane received a clean bill of health and relatively soon after, while doing a self-examination, found a lump. Not once but twice! Fortunately they were found in time, and Diane is doing fine, but she wants to get the message out that as important as it is to get regular screenings, it is equally as important to be your own advocate and make double sure with a self-examination. So when you see the pink Eastern van go by, remember it’s just Diane reminding you even if you have had the tests be your own advocate and make a regular self-examination part of your life because it could save it. It did for Diane!


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theportlandharborgroup@mssb.com www.morganstanley.com/fa/theportlandharborgroup 1-800-442-6722 © 2010 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. NY CS 6389274 BC004 08/10 GP10-01143P-N05/10 207-771-0800 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and its Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult your personal tax advisor regarding taxation and tax planning and your attorney for personal trusts. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security/instrument or to participate in any trading strategy.

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7 6 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

NY CS 6560211 01/11

The Things we carried (continued from page 51)

squad of six artisans chiseled tombstones–f o r m a l ­l y , “funer­a ry monuments”–for our busy city, even then topping 40,000 people above ground and another 10,000 beneath. Photos show tall, urntopped marble shafts rising in Thompson’s tiny front yard like a The Portland Museum of Art houses thicket of birches. many fine examples of glassware, Here, hundreds including this Portland Glass Co. of stones were loop-and-dart pattern. cut for the city’s tragic Civil War dead and still stand in greater Portland’s Eastern, Western, Calvary, and Evergreen cemeteries. Thompson’s was torn down in 1890, and the current three-story brick building was erected on the spot. In the 1980s it housed mega-developer Michael Liberty’s first corporate offices. In the 1990s construction work here came to a crashing halt when road crews uncovered broken tombstones deep underground. A forgotten cemetery? No; just old discards from Thompson’s–symbols of an industry long departed, and reminders from the past about the future one day awaiting us all.

­

figures on the water

In the Grand Age of Maine Wooden Shipbuilding (ca. 1850-1900) about 35 ship carvers labored along the coast, from whose skilled tools flew the rampant eagles, lively ladies, grand shields, and flags for figureheads of the Maine-built ships cutting the seas. Some six worked in Portland, and the greatest–and last–of these was Edward Souther Griffin (1834-1928). His art and medium were so tightly married that today, like the great ships themselves, little more than a memory exist to remind us of the craftsmanship that once sailed from Casco Bay. Griffin’s work spanned the eras of wood to steel and sails to rails. The son of Portland cabinetmaker John Griffin, who specialized in piano case carving (see “Square Cadenza,” above), Edward apprenticed in his father’s India Street shop, where the smell of the sea entered his work. Young Griffin carved both bow ornaments and stern boards, and “No self-respecting ship would have left [port] without a figurehead

robert witkowski/PMA

The ThePortland PortlandHarbor Harbor Group Group at Morgan MorganStanley Stanley Smith Smith Barney


Come see what Maine made in those days,” he remembered. “They were ornamental and inexpensive, too.” A pine image, carved and painted, cost $100-$300 and was the eyes and image of any staunch new ship. At 17 he set out on his own, carving hundreds of boards and figureheads in his shops on Commercial and later Fore Streets, each unique. And today, very rare. Griffin proudly decorated the many vessels of Portlander Jacob S. Winslow, builder and owner of the largest and last fleet of wooden ships on the East Coast of the United States. Many went down far away with the ships they adorned; many, alas, rotted away with their vessels at anchor when the age of ironclads overtook the wooden ship and Winslow himself passed away in the new century.

In the 1860s, Mary Lincoln ordered over $40,000 of Portland Glassware for the White House. Today not one full Griffin figurehead is known to survive. A small eagle–wings spread with fierce wooden eyes–remains in the Portland Fire Museum, and one 1930s photo exists of a Griffin figurehead: a woman proud in a flowing dress and blonde tresses, one foot poised to step forward in the bounding seas. Today, Griffin’s greatest remaining works are granite–the Victorian fireman (1898) in front of Portland’s Central Fire Station on Congress Street and the sturdy statue of J.S. Winslow himself (1904) atop his funeral monument in Evergreen Cemetery. The irony was not lost on the master woodcarver. “The eye for the artistic in shipbuilding seems to have been blinded in later days,” he sighed in an interview when nearing ninety. “I suppose if I had my life to live over, I’d be a sculptor.” Griffin died at age 94 in 1928, the last in a line of craftsmen from the final era of wonders made of wood. But his talent and his craft can still be glimpsed in the granite monuments he left for Portland, still in sight of the sea’s salty air.

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Dollars&SEnse class. Born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts (the seat of Bay State chair making in the late 1830s), he came to Portland’s Exchange Street aK Kotzschmar C Christmas and opened a one-horsepower chair factory (literally; later the horse treadmill gave way to TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2011, 7:30 PM steam ), turning out 300 chairs a week. In 1842, MERRILL AUDITORIUM, PORTLAND, ME he bought water rights on the Presumpscot RAY CORNILS, AARON ENGEBRETH River for sawing and shaping prefabricated MUNICIPAL ORGANIST BARITONE Love Maine? Love Good Food? parts with fine finishing and seat caning done CHORAL ART CAMERATA Shop the Maine Historical Society Museum Store on Exchange Street. There, Corey combined and find great books & gifts for the foodies in your FESTIVAL BRASS PARISH RINGERS clever labor-saving inventions created by partlife! Cookbooks, aprons, coasters and more! Visit us online at www.MaineHistoryStore.com ner Jonathan Bancroft with skilled decorations www.porttix.com Shop the Maine Historical by master brushman George Lord (1833-1928), Call PortTix 207-842-0800 Society Museum Store and whose grain painting turned pine into roseShop the Maine Shop Historical Society Museum Store find great books & gifts for the the Maine Historical Society Museum Storewood and maple into mahogany. Stencils addfoodies in your life! Cookbooks, and find books & gifts for the foodies in youred class and color to chairbacks. Corey and find great books & great gifts for the foodies in your matched a great American tipping point: New life! Cookbooks, aprons, coasters and more! aprons, coasters and more! life! Cookbooks, aprons, coasters and more! railroads meant easy transport and expanding Visit us online at www.MaineHistoryStore.com markets, for which he turned out twice the Visit us online at www.MaineHistoryStore.com MuseuM & store chairs at half the price. With a sharp eye for Brown LiBrary quality (and sure sidelines like selling feathers LongfeLLow House & garden Find us / Like us for bedding), he soon turned out 20,000 chairs Maine MeMory network a year; in 1860, he sold a stunning $75,000 489 Congress street worth of furniture. PortLand, Maine 04101 Organ 2012 1912 m ar K o t z sch But Corey’s habit of storing wood on site at 207-774-1822 50-54 Exchange Street (in 1865, he had 100,000 Ce n t e nni a l C e l e br at ion www.MaineHistory.org feet of rosewood and mahogany stacked out back) spelled disaster in Portland’s Great Fire of 1866, which wiped out Corey and all his neighbors. After 1870 he stopped making furniture and became an outlet for others. Walter Corey died in 1889; his namesake company closed in 1941. But from 1840–1870 he defined the Maine brand: quality, beauty, and affordability. Today, Brunswick’s Skolfield-Whittier House Museum, an 1860 Victorian frozen in time and furnished by Corey, preserves a grand glimpse of his good works. Here’s to Walter Corey: a Mainer who wanted no one left standing.

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OPENINGS FOR DAY STUDENTS IN GRADES 6-12 Financial Aid & Scholarships Available! 438 Main Street • Saco, Maine • 207-602-4005 www.thorntonacademy.org 7 8November p o r t2011.indd l a n d 1m o n t h l y m a g a z i n e

10/7/11 9:30 AM

The Portland Company (1842–1982) on 58 Fore Street, whose brick headquarters play host to special events such as weddings and conferences, Portland Yacht Services, and Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad today in the form of the Portland Company Complex, symbolized the zeal and zenith of Yankee metal engineering, creating everything from locomotives to cannons, telescopes to artillery shells, and–from the mighty to the sublime–nuclear reactor casements to the Big Mac box. Founded in 1842 by railroad magnate John Alfred Poor to build locomotives for his Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, the Portland Co. roared on long after


the Age of the Iron Horse. Separate Portland Co. shops worked iron, tin, bronze, and brass–any metal which could be shaped, stamped, bent, coiled, and cast was used. Portland Co. visionaries built the Colon (1865), the first steam engine of the Panama Canal RR Company; it built the steam pumpers that fought Portland’s Great Fire of 1866. In the Civil War, the Portland Co. cast cannons for the U.S. Army and went one better for the Navy: In 1863, it equipped the mighty Civil War ironclads Agawam and Pontoosuc, giant steam-powered, 200-foot double-ended gunboats (they could sail either way without turning around) sent by the U.S. Navy into blockade duty on southern rivers like the James. Sequoia-sized boilers followed for the booming paper mills of Millinocket, Rumford, and Westbrook. At the turn of the 20th century, Portland Co. sold Knox air-cooled autos, touring cars, and runabouts–the Pine Tree State’s challenge to Henry Ford. During World War I, Portland Co. turned out thousands of yard-long brass, 108mm artillery shells for the U.S. Army, each packed by a work force of women. (“Because they are more careful.”)

camp hammond

M

aine’s first skyscraper, downtown Portland’s Fidelity Building (1910), and the new Portland City Hall (1912) were fitted with Portland Co. hydraulic elevators (now electrified), some of the oldest in the state still in daily use. But Portland Co.’s grand steam locomotives remain its signature and symbol–elegant, elaborate, shining brass and barrel smokestacks, big, bossy, loud–the very image of the Iron Age. Portland Co. built about 630 locomotives, sending them out to all the world. Their locomotives steamed across the Great American West, across the wheat fields of Canada, chugged through early John Ford western films, went “Round the Horn” to the west coast in wooden ships, and crossed the Atlantic to the Allies in WWII, chained to the decks of Maine-made Liberty Ships. In the 1970s, the Portland Co. built the containment vessel for the Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Plant in Rowe, Massachusetts, and pioneered plastic foam extrusion machines for egg cartons and burger boxes. The list is almost endless, but foreign competition silenced the Portland Company forges at last in 1982. n

events www.theblacktieco.com 207-761-6665

>>For more, visit portlandmonthly.com/portmag/2011/10/the-things-we-carried-extras

november

2011 79


HO u se o f t h e m on th

What better place to view the passing parade than this house, aptly named “Ships’ Channel”?

News The Shipping

By Co l i n W. S a r g e n t

8 0 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e


courtesy egacy properties sotheby’s international/mallory garrison

Between the view, private beach, pool, and presidential visit, 1 Bay Road offers enough details for you to create your own theme song for when you first walk through the door. november

2011 81


PERMANENT

Who said make-up can’t be permanent?

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tic lass n the ea G u A eS in a M

Lobsterman’s Wife’s Maine Sea Glass Bracelet

We saw an ad in Uncle Henry’s: “100 Pounds of Sea Glass For Sale”… that’s all it said. We called. Then we visited. She was delightful. She said she and her daughters, and then grandchildren, had been picking up sea glass on the beaches around her home forever. The walls in her basement were lined with two types of coffee cans and glass jars. Some with mixed colors, some filled with solid colors. It was beautiful. This was the definitive collection of Maine sea glass. We met her asking price and bought it all. The bracelet is real silver. The sea glass is securely set in handmade frames. Toggle clasp with adjustable length, fits everyone. A really pleasant mix of colors. Every bracelet is different. Each bracelet is guaranteed a nice bright blue. (Blue is rare and we have it because it’s from a lifetime collection.)

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8 2 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

W

hen Don Draper (Mad Men) lands that big contract, he’ll move right up here to 1 Bay Road in South Portland and buy “Ships’ Channel” for $1.6 million (down from $1.875 million a year ago). Because it’s a fabulous movie set–a modern stone palace with swimming pool cantilevered over the surf and a private beach, with sea roses climbing up the walls. Listed by Mallory Garrison of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Real Estate, the house was designed in March, 1951, by John Howard Stevens, son of noted architect John Calvin Stevens, with the blueprints still in existence. The Deer Isle granite stones used to create this residence and its elegant terraces make this a singular structure. “Gov. Ken Curtis used to live here,” GarWith views to the east, there’s ample lighting coming through the large windows (r). And when the sea breeze begins to cool the panes, a large brick fireplace keeps you and your guests warm in the living room.


Falmouth Flowers & Gifts 781-5533

Ho u se o f t h e m o n th

We have new and exciting gift lines in from Ibis and Orchid, Vance Kitira, and Helen Eddy Cards. These include vintage-looking table vases, wall vases, night lamps, night lights, and candles.

58 Washington Avenue, Portland On the web: falmouthflowersandgifts.net On Facebook: Falmouth Flowers and Gifts Illustration by Vladyslav Yerko, from the book published by A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA. Courtesy Anderson House Foundation

from top: file photo; jesse stenbak/file photo; legacy properties sotheby’s international/mallory garrison (2)

Don’t tell Jimmy Carter he can’t savor this ocean view from “Ships’ Channel”! Impulsively jumping atop the sea wall here to enjoy the wind while visiting Gov. Curtis (who also served as U.S. Ambassador to Canada) he had the Secret Service on their toes.

rison says. “In fact, President Jimmy Carter visited Gov. Curtis while he lived here. When the president jumped up on the sea wall to feel the wind, the Secret Service [freaked out and] pulled him off.” “It was originally built for Dr. James Patterson,” Garrison adds. “The present sellers purchased the property in 1989.” When you tour this house, you’ll find

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2011 83


House of th e mont h

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8 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

yourself humming the theme to A Summer Place, which starred a similar surfside home by Frank Lloyd Wright that hangs over the beach in exactly the same way. You’ll love the boomerang-shaped living-room/dining room designed to take maximum advantage of the sweeping views of Ram Island, Cushing Island, Peaks Island, House Island, Little Diamond Island, Fort Gorges, and Spring Point Light. But it’s the master bedroom where you’ll literally feel like you’re moving. “Can you imagine waking up in the morning here?” a visitor asks, “where the windows are set in the corner so it’s like being in the prow of a ship?” You’ll be able to set your clock by when the schooners Bagheera and Wendameen sail by. Like his father, John Howard Stevens was a stickler for details. Many of the original hardwood floors are in great shape. Comparatively few homes were built in 1952 with laundry chutes and radiators deftly set into walls like this. The multi-level terrace, made of the same lovely stone, is itself a work of fine art. But it’s the cliff, beach, col-


lapse of the waves just feet away, and the endless views of the ships’ channel, with all the activity, that provide the drama here, framed by the masterful architecture that travels across time. No sneaking in or out of Portland Harbor without being seen by the residents of this house! Four bedrooms, a library, a study, and the original stone two-car garage add a touch of practicality for life beyond the Watusi parties. A set of private stone steps conducts you to the beach, which looks as though it’s yours and yours alone but has taxes that are actually paid by the neighborhood association: You’re living the life using OPS (other people’s sand). The house’s lower level has a gorgeous knotty pine (natch) family room and a perfectly situated laundry that opens to the pool. Slip your Jantzen swimsuit on and walk to the end of the diving board. It’s okay to carry your glass of scotch out here, too. You own this town, baby. Taxes are $25,633. n

>> For more, visit portlandmonthly.com/port-

mag/2011/10/the-shipping-news-extras.

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november

2011 85


N e w En g l a n d H o m e s & L i v i n g

SHELDON SLATE is a family-owned business with four generations of experience. We mine and manufacture our own slate products from our own quarries. The range of our colors will complement any kitchen or bath. Our slate is heat-resistant, non-porous and non-fading. It has a polished/honed finish and is very low maintenance. Let us help you design and build a custom sink, countertop, or vanity. Custom inquiries are handled through the Monson, Maine, division. PRODUCERS OF SLATE FLOOR TILE, FLAGGING, STRUCTURAL SLATE AND ROOFING, MONUMENTS AND SLATE SINKS Monson • Maine 04464 • 207-997-3615 • Middle Granville • New York 12849 • 518-642-1280 • FAX 207-997-2966 WWW.SHELDONSLATE.COM

8 6 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e


N e w En g l a n d H o m e s & L i v i n g

SUGARLOAF

TRAILSIDE HIGH ON WEST MT. Premier home with log details, cherry kitchen and fieldstone fireplace. $625,000

TRAILSIDE HOME MLS 1001741 $485,000

TRAILSIDE TIMBERS Immaculate 5 Bdrm, 4.5 Bath with granite, hardwood & views! $559,000

BIGELOW 4 BDRM MLS 934076 $344,900

RE/MAX By The Bay

www.MaineProperties.com

BLACK BEAR 3+BDRM MLS 1022280 $305,000

(207) 553.7310 632.2345 Cell

WOODY CREEK HOME Ski-in, ski-out home offering new kitchen, quality, convenience & real value! $399,000

SNOWFLOWER 3 BDRM MLS 1026957 $253,000

Peter Hawkes

970 Baxter Boulevard, Portland ME 04103 · Each office independently owned & operated.

“Your Real Estate Source for The Rangeley Region” RANGELEY

3-BR Chalet w/ Water Access to Haley Pond, $329,900

Caryn Dreyfuss Broker

(207) 233-8275

caryn@citycoverealty.com BEAVER MOUNTAIN LAKE

RANGELEY

Cozy Year-Round Lakeside Cottage w/ Boat House, $329,900

Stunning Handcrafted 3-BR Log Chalet, $549,900

OQUOSSOC

Spacious 3-BR Chalet w/Rangeley Lake Water Access, $313,500

RANGELEY

3-BR Chalet w/ Panoramic Lake Views and Deeded RL Water Access, $389,000

QUIMBY POND

Historic “Grey Ghost” Camp - YearRound w/ 3BR and Shared Water Access, $237,500

2455 Main Street • P.O. Box 1234 • Rangeley, ME 04970

www.realestateinrangeley.com november

2011 87


N e w En g l a n d H o m e s & L i v i n g DRESDEN International Exposure • Local Expertise

Approximately 175 acres of rol­ ling fields, woods, ponds, trails, and a half mile +/­ of frontage on the Eastern River about a mile north of Merry meeting Bay is the indescribable setting of an 1820 hunting lodge magically transformed over time into a luxurious single family home. The kitchen includes a beamed ceiling, wood cabinets including a “baking center,” tile floor and counters, center island, and a breakfast nook with a river view. A formal dining area is an extension of the grand living room with its magnificent stone fireplace, built­in bookcases, and two “hideaway” offices. A newer addition is a sunlight­filled “great room” with a cathedral ceiling and woodstove hookup. There is also a den (with fireplace) off the kitchen, a master suite, two additional bedrooms, a guest suite over the garage, a hot tub room, a large workshop in the barn, a tennis court, a dock, stone terrace, perennial gardens, and glorious views in all directions. It is priced at $1,275,000.

240 Maine Street • Brunswick, ME 04011 • (207) 729-1863

For Properties, Open Houses, Visual Tours - www.MaineRE.com

(Standing Left to Right): Jeff Davis, Sue Lamb, Chris Jackson, Rowan Morse, Gail Landry, Bob Knecht, Dianne Maskewitz, Steve Parkhurst, Tish Whipple (Seated Left to Right): Mark Fortier, Cindy Landrigan, Sandy Johnson, Edie Boothby

one union wharf • portland • 207.773.0262

www.townandshore.com

THE HATCHER GROUP KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY

View all MLS Listings & sign up for our monthly newsletter at www.JohnHatcher.us or give us a call at our office: (207) 775-2121

Portland Urban Condo $499,000

Falmouth Highland Lake $229,000

Sebago Lake Waterfront Estate Extraordinary Estate with fine finishes offering views from most every room. Open living “A House SOLD Name” space, cathedral ceilings, 2 MBR & 2 Guest President of KW Luxury Suites, home theater, private dock. Call FMI

John Hatcher

Homes, Maine Division

chatfield design fine interiors

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furniture fabrics wallcoverings rockport, maine

Keller Williams Realty The Hatcher Group 6 Deering St., Portland, ME 04101

Cindy Olsen Buyer Agent

Paul McKee Listing Specialist

8 8 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

Jeff Lunt Buyer Agent

. chatfielddesign.com IIDA . 207-236-7771


N e w En g l a n d H o m e s & L i v i n g A Better Mattress. A Better Price. Made right here in Maine!

Now Carrying Tempur-pedic!

PortlandMattressMakers.com Portland • 772-2276 Windham • 892-7066

The Rangeley lakes Region

Log cabin on 12 acre private lot, 3 bedrooms & 2 baths. $325,000

Commercial opportunity at the base of Saddleback ski area. Nine rooms with bath & 2 retail spaces. $399,000

Adorable 2 bedrooms & loft cottage surrounded by mountains & fields. $149,000

Post & beam hide-away with 2 bedrooms on quiet country road. $214,500

Renovated 3 bedrooms farmhouse with barn on 2 acres. $199,000

Margery Jamison, Broker 2478 Main St. Rangeley, ME 04970 207-670-7350 ccinn1@myfairpoint.net Exceptional end unit condo, 3 levels with views and steps from lake. $239,000

Four season cottage with acreage and 500' on Rangeley Lake. $425,000

skieRs & snowmobileRs Take noTice! www.rangeleylistings.com november

2011 89


N e w En g l a n d H o m e s & L i v i n g

Falmouth Land Only $88,900! Picturesque home site in spectacular Falmouth farmland. 10 minutes to Portland Easy access to I-95 & I-295

Idyllic views of horses and rolling pastures

Scenic brook Build your dream house on this beautiful corner lot with existing footprint.

Contact Van Wilkerson • 207-318-9945

The Maine Real Estate Network 887 Roosevelt Trail · Windham, Maine

237 Waldoboro Road, Jefferson, ME 04348 • (207) 549-5657 • FAX 549-5647 237 Waldoboro Road, Jefferson, ME 04348 • 207-549-5657 • FAX 207-549-5647 Jefferson - This beautiful brick home has many features. First-floor bedroom with bath, open kitchen, living and dining area, a formal living and dining room, 2-car garage and a fabulous view of Damariscotta Lake! $250,000

Jefferson - Truly a beautiful piece of Maine–19.3 Jefferson acres of land with 770' of Beautiful cottageon onaDamariscotta waterfront quiet and peaceful pond! $324,000 Lake. Home has 2 bedrooms with 2 bonus rooms for office/den, daylight basement, large cherry kitchen with Corian counters and sink, 1 car garage, porch, deck, and aluminum dock on 150' of waterfront. Fantastic sunsets! $399,000

Pittston - What a beautiful lot bordered on two Jefferson Jefferson sides by the Eastern River Just completed, quiet home with 331' Well-situated located incape a real Maine overlooking rural village within walkwaterfront on 1.5 acres surrounded Damariscotta Lake on 33 acres with ing distance of the general by wildlife preserve. 2000 sq. ft with 450' of shore frontage. Property store. A well-maintained 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, stone fireplace, has 1830s barn with 6 stalls and pasture. cape includes 2 woodstove, cathedral ceiling, new Home has fireplace inporch, living room, chimneys, deck, gadoors and windows, 25 minutes to rage, with 4 acres of open Damariscotta, 1 hour to Portland, central vac, radiant heated garage, backyard. $174,500 screen porch, open deck and water45 minutes to Camden. $340,000

Windsor - This 44+/acre parcel includes 20 acres of open field. Sitting on this parcel of land is a privately located 16'x60' Maple Leaf single-wide home for you to live in while building your rural Maine farm. $164,000

Jefferson Watch the sunrise over the pond in this waterfront cottage. Home has 2 bedrooms, 2 lofts, 2 car garage, paved driveway, and lawn trailing to the water’s edge. $244,900

front dock. $562,500

www.BlackDuckRealty.com • email: info@blackduckrealty.com www.BlackDuckRealty.com • email: info@blackduckrealty.com 9 0 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e


N e w En g l a n d H o m e s & L i v i n g

Local - Savvy-Responsive

Falmouth Foreside - 308 Foreside Rd Come tour this turn of the century Victorian that’s been comprehensively restored and thoroughly modernized by CornerStone Building & Restoration. Live Inspired – Live Invigorated – Live Relaxed and Love Where You Live. Enjoy the best of function, amenities, and design in one of Maine’s most desirable coastal communities. www.308ForesideRd.com

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BenchmarkMaine.com (207) 775-0248 november

2011 91



fiction Alma Katsu

The Wedding Party

L’ P h oto g r a p h i e L i z S lo a n , K at e H ay e s & K r i s t i e C r o m i e . B a s e d i n S t. Lo u i s , M i ss o u r i

G

o saddle your horse; you’re to represent the family at the Jacobs’s wedding,” Charles St. Andrew told his son, Jonathan, late one fall morning. Jonathan did not care to be sent on a three-mile ride through the woods to attend the wedding of two people he barely knew. But there was nothing to be done for it: His father’s health was such that he seldom left the house, and his mother would not be put out for the likes of the Ostergaards. Jonathan carried with him the cast-iron pot his mother had culled from their kitchen stock to give to the newly wedded couple. It was, perhaps, too generous a present for Jeremiah Jacobs and Sophia Ostergaard, but Jonathan knew that his mother was conscious of their position in town and felt it necessary to uphold certain standards of propriety as the town’s founding family. He was surprised there was a wedding party at all. Jeremiah Jacobs, the groom, was not known for being sociable, so the neighbors—who thought it a shame that the poor bride would get so little out of the bargain—banded together in the spirit of Christian charity to give Sophia a party. Jonathan saw as he rode up that tables had been laid with platters of ham and baked beans; molasses bread with currants served as the wedding cake. Planks were laid on the ground and an Acadian fiddler would accompany the dancing. Jonathan placed the heavy pot among the meager collection of gifts and then went to pay his respects to the bride and groom. Jeremiah was stuffed into his best clothes, though it was hardly an improvement: He was a bear of a man with a great, red face and the look of someone used to being over-challenged by life. He stammered some small thanks as he shook Jonathan’s hand and was impertinent enough to mention Charles’s absence. Did he really think his nuptials merited the presence of the town’s founder? Jonathan wondered. Sophia, the bride, said even less but clasped his hand in both of hers, briefly. He tried to recall if he’d met this woman before. She was young and it seemed a shame she was wed-off to Jacobs, but the Ostergaards were poor and, as likely as not, glad to have her out from under their roof. His duty done, Jonathan headed toward the ta-

bles, thinking he would make one pass through the crowd before returning home. As usual, he felt eyes follow him: This happened wherever he went, but he never got used to it. He knew it came with his role as Charles’s son and heir to the family timber business. One day he would hold the deeds to half the farms in the settlement; the other half of the farms dependent on his patronage to earn their livelihood. So, too, did the eyes of every lady in the room follow him wherever he went. Yes, he had been born with a pleasing face, but he hardly thought it worth the admiration of these women he’d known since he was a boy, mother and daughter alike. He gave polite nods to acknowledge their greetings as he wove through the crowd, their glances like hands reaching out to pet his cheek. He felt like a lap dog or tame rabbit to be treated so. In fact, Jonathan found people’s reactions to his looks so unnerving that he’d november

2011 93


fiction

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9 4 p o r t l a n d m o n t h ly m a g a z i n e

once toyed with the idea of running a razor across his cheek to put them off. He rushed to make his way through the crowd, not stopping to speak to any of his neighbors and sidestepping a gaggle of girls, their faces turned up at him like moonstruck calves. Just as he was about to leave, however, Jonathan spied Lanore McIlvrae on the far side of the gathering, looking his way. She was, inarguably, his closest friend, but today he was not in the mood to speak, not even to her. Today, she seemed just another lovesick girl. Still, he knew he’d not be able to ignore her: She expected his attention, felt privileged of his company. She took him in with her pale, blue eyes. “It is a pleasure to see you, Jonathan, if a surprise. I wouldn’t think you had reason to attend the Jacobs’s wedding.” No one knew him better or watched him more closely than Lanore, and even she put him ill at ease at times. Though closer to him than anyone, Jonathan knew he’d never be able to fully return her attentions— there seemed to be no end to her want. “I’m here on my family’s behalf, nothing more. And what about you? You’re no friend of Sophia Ostergaard.” She shrugged one shoulder. “No friend and no enemy, either, but now we are neighbors, so there was no excuse to miss it.” That was true; her family’s property abutted the Jacobs’ farm. “Besides, there is precious little distraction in this town, and for that reason alone I would be grateful for their union.” Jonathan wondered how she had developed this cynical tendency, and he wished she would give it up—it marred her otherwise sweet nature—but didn’t feel it his place to instruct her. She would do anything he asked of her, of course, but then she would have expectations. After a minute more in conversation with Lanore, he excused himself and headed to the barn, relieved that he could now escape his neighbors’ curious stares. Just as he placed the saddle on his horse’s back, however, the door opened a crack and the new bride slipped in. “I wanted to thank you for gracing my wedding day with your presence. I did not expect to see a St. Andrew at my humble wedding,” she said, her tone teasing and assured for a woman who didn’t know him. He guessed from her confidence, and because she stood more closely than was prop-


er, that Sophia was no virgin. She wasn’t tentative around men; for her, there were no mysteries left. No doubt she’d given herself to her prospective husband already to ensure that the match would take place. How different she was from Lanore, who was pretty enough but a chaste little virgin with no idea how to inflame a man’s ardor. Sophia stood close enough so that he could smell the lavender water on her breast beneath her kerchief. She looked up at him from under the brim of her bonnet. “Master Jonathan, now that you have made yourself known to me, I pray this won’t be the last time I see you. I hope you will not find me too bold if I ask you to favor me with your presence again? For nothing would give me greater pleasure.” Sophia put a hand to his chest, her palm to his heartbeat, and he felt an unexpected jolt of desire. She did not hide her intentions from him; fate put him in her path and she would not waste the opportunity. His father had told him that some women found marriage freeing, as they no longer needed to preserve their virginity or worry about pregnancy. Indeed, his father had enjoyed the attention of such women. If this was to be his lot—taking his father’s place in the town council, acting as moneylender and magistrate—it stood that he should enjoy the benefits of the position as well. Perhaps this had been his father’s unspoken guidance all along. Settle down with a woman for whom marriage is an arrangement that will benefit both families. Seek your pleasure on the side. That was another reason why he could not claim Lanore McIlvrae’s virginity: She loved him too deeply to let him pursue his natural inclinations. He drew off Sophia’s white glove to kiss her hand, an act so intimate that he felt as though he’d undressed her. No other response was needed. With a last sly glance, the new bride hurried back to the wedding party. Jonathan smiled then and shook his head as he mounted his horse, still warm from the ride over. He put heels to the horse’s flank and set off for home, more favorably disposed to his fate. n

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297 Forest Avenue Portland, ME Alma Katsu was born in Alaska and raised near Concord, Massachusetts. She holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins writing program. In 2011, she resigned from the CIA after 29 years. She lives with her husband in Virginia.

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portland Food CO-OP open house in East End, from left: 1. Molly Gallagher Burk, Molly Leighton 2. Katlin Hammersley, Peter Fritsche, Melanie Duffy 3. Michelle Smith, Emily Graham 4. Bragita Noreen, Emma Holder 1

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Girl scout dropout launch party at grace restau- 5 rant in portland, from left: 1. Jean McGinnis, Sandi Amorello 2. Byron Bartlett, Meredith Alex 3. Teresa D’Andrea, Megan Williams 4. Ellen Hayward, Paula Lundgren 5. Leigh Turit, Alison Carthew 6. Angie Helton, Liz Witkowski

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grand Opening of Linda Bean’s Lobster Cafe at the Portland International Jetport, from left: 1. Mayor Nick Mavodones, Linda Bean, Gov. Paul LePage; Paul Bradbury 2. Michael Fetchko, Bhavesh Patel 3. Jeff Holden, Steven Hayes

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Grand opening of Sebago brewing company at hAMPTON iNN in portland, from left: 1. Brad Monarch, Jeff Daigneault, Kai Adams 2. Eva seiders, Emily Harradon 5

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Portland ovations 13th annual epicurean benefit at merrill auditorium in portland, from left: 1. James Hoban, Mary Rose MacKinnon 2. Bethany Roberge, Mary Campbell, Marieke Van Der Steenhoven 3. Laura Kibort, Chip Kibort 4. Katy Kinney, Geoffrey Starrett 5. Gary Bergman, Mike Boyson, Mark Stevanovic 6. April Ylvisaker, Laura Stauffer

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