The West End News - May Edition 2024 - Vol. 24 No. 05

Tall Grass is for the Bees

Tall grass helps bees and other pollinators, but some think it’s an eyesore.

By Tony Zeli

With campaigns like No Mow May and the City of Portland’s own Mow Tall Until Fall, you could say there is a budding movement for tall grass. Portland’s Sustainability Offce recommends maintaining grass at a length of 3.5 to 4 inches all season long (not just for May).

Tall grass is good for pollinators like bees and butterfies that may particularly need the food and shelter early in the season. In addition, mowing tall is benefcial for the health of your lawn.

“For those who want lawns, mowing taller allows grass to grow deeper roots making it more resistant to grubs and other pests,” said Troy Moon, the city’s Sustainability Coordinator. “Taller grass blades can shade out some weeds, and taller grass is more resilient to drought. All of these make the lawn healthier and more lush.”

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But not everyone is into the idea of mowing tall. For instance, ticks are a concern with tall grass. The disease carrying insects love long grass. In fact, Maine CDC recommends mowing your lawn to 3 inches or less to make it harder for them to thrive.

Troy Moon points out that mowing tall doesn’t mean not mowing at all. In fact, he recommends mowing frequently or at least frequently enough so that you never cut more than one-third of the grass blade at a time. This keeps the grass from being stressed and from getting tall enough to become a haven for ticks.

“Mowed areas are less likely to harbor ticks than brushy areas and felds, but they can still be present. For instance, animals and birds travelling through the property may leave ticks, especially mice. We recommend people take basic tick precau-

Cont'd on Pg. 3

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Seasonal Activities Begin at Western Cemetery

By W. John Funk, President

Now that spring is here, the Stewards of the Western Cemetery are preparing for our third year of outside activities. There will be a tour on May 4th at 2 p.m. Regular tours will begin in June on Sundays and continue through October. Work parties will convene on weekends to continue our cleanup of the cemetery and the restoration of the more than 800 gravestones damaged by the elements or vandalism. And Joe Ferrannini, a nationally known conservator, will return in late June to train volunteers in how to clean, repair, and rebuild these gravestones. We are excited for the season to begin! Our capital campaign is off to great success.

We are already halfway to our goal of $250,000 with donations and pledges and are actively pursuing grants. We are now able to move forward with the construction of the tool house, the extension of the water line, and the relocation of the fagpole. Both the Parks Department and the Historic Preservation Board have approved the tool house design. We are working with the city to solicit bids for the work. Once we raise an additional $50,000, we will be able to move forward

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Volunteer gathering debris from March and April storms. -Courtesy of Stewards of Western Cemetery with the fence along the Western Promenade.

Volunteer with us!

The Stewards now has a website: westerncemetery.me. We will maintain a schedule of events on the website and periodically post information and pictures to keep you up to date. Also, we have numerous opportunities for volunteer work: tour guides, gravestone cleaning and repair, landscaping, historical research, and

Louis Giller: Mushrooms can detoxify our land

Join WENA's Tree Talk plus other free community events

Layne explores the characters of Bianca Bosker

Cont'd on Pg. 3

Page 12

In honor of Mother’s Day Nancy celebrates her mom Joanie

-Photo by Nicole Bates

Court Appointed Special Advocates FOR CHILDREN

casa@courts.maine.gov I casaofmaine.org

WHAT'S INSIDE

Activities at Reiche Community Rm.........4

SUBMISSIONS

WEN is a community newspaper and we need your voice! Share your submissions with thewestendnews@gmail.com or send to: The West End News, PO Box 10876, Portland, Maine 04104.

• Letters to the editor should be no more than 200 words. Include your name and town or neighborhood.

• WEN also accepts poetry, cartoons, and photo submissions.

Deadline for publication in the June Edition is Friday, May 24th. Publication is not guaranteed and submissions may be edited for length.

The thoughts and opinions expressed in our pages belong solely to the authors and not necessarily to the publication.

The West End News PO Box 10876 Portland, ME 04104 thewestendnews@gmail.com

Tony Zeli, Publisher & Editor Rick Ness, Sales VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTORS

Nancy Dorrans, Travel & Adventure

Allice Haidden, CCL Column

Caitlin Marshall, Bright Ideas

Stephanie Miller, Book Short Ben Taylor, Best Worst Trivia Liz Trice, PelotonPosts

Layne V. Witherell, Layne's Wine Gig

Special Thanks to W. John Funk, President, Stewards of the Western Cemetery

IN MAINE BY

Tall Grass & the Bees

Cont'd from Pg. 1

tions whenever they go outside.”

Besides ticks, many just don’t like the aesthetics of tall grass. The short cropped manicured lawn is still popular, so much so that many Americans are crossing the property line. A recent national survey by organic-based lawn care company NaturaLawn found that 36% of homeowners admit crossing property lines onto a neighbor’s lawn to pull weeds, rake leaves, trim shrubs or limbs, or even mow a portion of their neighbor’s lawn. Another 10% have been tempted to do so.

“We defnitely do not recommend that residents perform unauthorized yard care on property they do not own,” said Moon. “Our message is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While some people enjoy highly manicured lawns, others appreciate wildfower gardens, vegetable gardens, or shrubs and woody plants that attract birds and pollinators. There’s defnitely room for all of these approaches.”

Of course, one way to help pollinators is to replace the whole lawn. If you want to help pollinators, consider planting early blooming, native shrubs and trees that provide food and shelter for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife all season long. Or consider a wildfower meadow. Also, don’t forget to ditch the chemicals –Portland and many other communities in Maine have organic lawn care ordinances.

The City offers tips for residents on keeping healthy lawns without the use of pesticides and chemicals: https://www. portlandmaine.gov/1364/Landcare. Also, the City will host a series of webinars this summer: https://www.portlandmaine. gov/1415/Landcare-Webinar-Series.

Tony Zeli is publisher and editor. Contact him at thewestendnews@gmail.com.

Western Cemetery

Cont'd from Pg. 1

Peter Monro clearing storm debris at Western Cemetery.

-Courtesy of Stewards of Western Cemetery

social media outreach. We welcome your involvement. And, as you enjoy the beautiful and enriching environment, you’ll be able to point to some of the fruits of your labor!

If you haven’t already donated to our capital campaign, please consider doing so now. Also, we need annual funding to pay for operational expenses (approximately $12,000). Donations can be made directly online on our website. Also, checks can be mailed to our post offce box at:

Shots Fired in West End

Portland Police responded to a report of shots fred on April 28th at 6:41 p.m. on Tate Street. Evidence of a frearm being discharged several times in the area was discovered. Two persons of interest were questioned, but no arrests were made.The Special Reaction Team (SRT) was activated and a search warrant was served on a residence as a part of the investigation.

Stewards of the Western Cemetery, Inc. 622 Congress St., Suite 9998 #5267 Portland, ME 04102 ReFoest The City

Police ask residents in the area to please check to see if their cars or homes have been struck by gunfre and urge anyone who has any information to call them at (207) 874-8575.You may also text keyword PPDME and your message to 847411.

- West End ResidentsInterested in having a free native tree or shrub planted in your yard? Maybe a red or sugar maple, serviceberry, black chokeberry, witch hazel, white or red oak, gray or red twig dogwood, arrowwood viburnum or nannyberry?

WENA’s ReForest the City project will help you with selecting a planting location and species. We will even plant the tree for you!

Apply at https://tinyurl.com/52nbk8cz or for more information email Trees@wenamaine.org

A.M. Exercise

MAY 66:30-8:00 p.m. MON, JUNE 36:30-8:00 p.m.

MAY 94:15-5:45 p.m. THU, MAY 164:15-5:45 p.m.

206:30-8:00 p.m.

MAY 306:30-8:00 p.m. THU, JUNE 66:30-8:00 p.m. “Yellow Submarine” 3 episodes from 1959’s 1st season

8:15-9:15a.m. Monday - Friday Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays Strength, Balance, Flex DVD Wednesdays Qigong/Tai Chi w/ Karen Morency

MUSIC. COMEDY. THEATER. DANCE. and so much more...

Join us on The Hill for amazing performing arts!

Arts & Culture

Neighborhood & Community

Historic

Preservation

5/4 Rasa String Quartet, ensemble from Phillips Exeter Academy

5/7 Albert Lee Returns LIVE in Concert for one night only!

5/9-10 Sara Juli Presents: Naughty Bits (followed by panel on 5/9) 5/12 Pine Tree Pickers LIVE, Some of Maine’s finest guitar pickers

517-19 Vivid Motion Dance Presents: Grania, Pirate Queen

5/21 Balderdash Academy Presents: IMPROVE Jam, Come Play.

5/24 Los Galactacos LIVE in Concert

5/25 Dave Singley - Singer/Songwriter

5/31 I Love You To Death. Speakeasy mystery by Robert J. Leblanc

6/13 Hey Party People! Presents: No Jerks Allowed! (Laugh silly!)

6/14 Peter Gallway and the Real Band with Larry John McNally

6/15 Dragology Presents Season 2: Round 2, The Snatch Game

6/21 Steamy Nights: Best of Burlesque Fundraiser for The Hill Arts

7/13 Dragology Presents Season 2: Round 3, Toontown.

7/19 Balderdash Academy Presents: IMPROVE Live.

8/2- 8/4 Vivid Motion Dance Presents: Eclipse and Helen of Troy

9/17 Balderdash Academy Presents: IMPROVE Jam, Come Play.

9/20 A Killer Night at Club 85. Speakeasy mystery by Robert J. Leblanc

9/22 Shane MacGowan’s Teeth: A tribute to Ireland’s Raconteur

Time & Temperature

7th Juried Art Exhibit

Creative Portland Art Gallery

Opening Fri., May 3 / 5:30 – 8p / 84 Free St., Portland

Sixteen artists have been selected for Creative Portland’s seventh juried art exhibition, Time & Temperature. A public opening will be held during First Friday Art Walk on Friday, May 3rd, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The Creative Portland Gallery is located at 84 Free Street, directly across from the back entrance of Maine College of Art & Design.The group art show, representing a diverse group of established and emerging artists from Greater Portland, will feature paintings, photography, prints, drawings, and mixed-media for sale. The exhibit will be open to the public through April 2025, Monday through Thursday, from 10am-4pm.

Jane’s Walk Walking Conversations Across Maine

Sat., May 4 / Various locations/times

Ccommunities around Maine will hold free, volunteer-led walking conversations. Close to 50 walks are planned in 35 cities and towns.

Jane’s Walk is inspired by community activist Jane Jacobs, who spent her life (1916-2006) using grassroots advocacy to

COMMUNITY EVENTS

protect neighborhoods from urban renewal. Walks are typically 60-90 minutes and open to the public. Highlights from the roster of activities include:

• Restoration of the Western Cemetery, 2pm (Portland)

• Downtown Thrift Walk, 12pm (Westbrook)

Find the full list of at janeswalkme. org/fnd-a-walk.

Portland Elks Lodge

Girl’s Night Out Shopping

Fri., May 10 / 4 – 7 p / Portland Elks

Free admission. Open to the public. Plenty of parking. More than 25 local ven dors and craft booths to do your Moth er’s Day shopping. Cash bar. Pub menu to enjoy while you shop.

Courage, Resilience & Artistry: Music of the Holocaust

Mon., May 13 / 7p / St. Luke’s / Free

Join the Cathedral of St Luke, 143 State Street, Portland, on Monday, May 13th, 7:00 p.m. for a public lecture, free re cital, and book signing. Dr. Susan Eischeid, author and Professor of Oboe at Valdosta State University (Georgia) will discuss her new, best-selling biography of SS Overseer Maria Mandl and the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz-Birkenau followed by a free recital presented by Christian M. Clough, baritone; Susan Storey Frank, soprano; James Kennerley, piano; and Kathleen Mc Nerney, oboe.

Tree Talk Urban Canopy Cover & Climate Resilience

Tue., May 21 / 6:30p / Reiche Community Room, Portland

Join the West End Neighborhood Association for a Tree Talk with Tyler Refsland of Wild Seed Project. Tyler will discuss Urban Canopy Cover and Climate Resilience at 6:30 p.m. in the Reiche Community Room, entrance on the Clark St. side. For more info visit wenamaine.org/ resources/reforest.

Portland High Class of 1974 50th Reunion

Sat., June 15 / Clambake in Scarborough / RSVP req.

Join us at Clambake, 354 Pinpoint Road, Scarborough for the 50th Reunion of the Portland High School Class of 1974. Enjoy a casual gathering to reconnect and reminisce with good friends. Clambake food and beverages are available for purchase. Donations accepted to cover the cost of the room. RSVP: Gene Gillies at gene.gillies@gmail.com or 207-232-7407.

'James' by Percival Everett

By Stephanie Miller

It seems only natural that oppressed people will become subversive. In “James,” the enslaved title character in the latest novel from Percival Everett starts out resigned and resilient and emerges outraged and rebellious.

“James” is the retelling of Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of Jim, Huck’s family slave and sidekick. For Huck, in both novels, their rafting trip down the Mississippi is just a lark. For Jim, it is deadly. As Jim told Huck in Twain’s novel, he was quite done with “adventures.”

I found Everett’s premise entirely plausible. James and the other slaves have a closely guarded secret. They speak one way to their white masters and another when they are alone. James himself is quite literate, and far more learned than his enslavers. He understands, for example, that the Bible is a tool to oppress Black people. He has extended internal discussions with Rousseau, Voltaire, and John Locke, sometimes about slavery.

At one point, he realizes that when he’s reading a book, no one can tell by looking at him if he understands it or not. “It’s the ultimate act of subversion,” he thinks. Fellow slaves are shocked but admiring that he keeps a notebook of his story. It’s risky and symbolic – another slave who pilfers a pencil stub for him is

lynched for doing so.

Jim teaches his daughter and other young slaves on the plantation how to speak “correct incorrect grammar.” The book describes a clandestine class on why it’s so important to keep their language and knowledge hidden from the whites.

“The children said together, ‘And the better they feel, the safer we are.’

“‘February, translate that.’

“‘Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be.’

“‘Nice.’”

Everett has made an artform out of re-imagining and reconstructing the stories of American culture. He keeps generally to Twain’s original timeline, but while Twain follows Huck’s story, Everett shines a light on what Jim might be doing when he is separated from Huck by various nefarious characters and events.

I felt Everett gave Huck a pass. He’s an ignorant, selfsh, oblivious child of racist upbringing and the story is indifferent to him, other than when he creates life-threatening situations for James. The

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denouement of their true relationship felt unnecessary and reaching. However, re-telling the tale doesn’t seem to be Everett’s intention. He is telling a new story, one that has been erased from history. In a podcast, Everett says, “Twain could never have written ‘James,’ just as I could never have written ‘Huckleberry Finn.’”

For its intensity and the unfinching portrayal of a dignifed, intelligent man’s suffering under but never surrendering to oppression, this book deserves to be read and discussed by us all.

Micro Shorts

‘‘Discipline,’ by Debra Spark (Maine Author!)

The mysterious and eerie paintings called “The Triplets” create a circle of tension between three distinct storylines. A young man is pulled from class one day and dropped into a brutal “school” in northern Maine.The daughter of a painter foats lightly through life, trying to preserve and champion her father’s legacy, slowly selling off his paintings to survive. An appraiser is

Still A Good Cause…

sent to a remote Maine island and discovers a theft. Fast paced like a mystery with many twists in the tale, this novel reveals how art connects and transforms us.

‘The Wager: A tale of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder,’ by David Grann

The subtitle tells it all. This is a well-researched non-fction account of the separate returns to England of three different sets of survivors from the warship, Wager, which was wrecked off the coast of Patagonia in 1740. Three contradictory stories emerge—each accusing the others of treachery and tyranny. The stakes were high, as whomever the admiralty found guilty would hang. What these men endured is an incredible story...

Read more Micro Shorts at https:// thewestendnews.com/book-short-jamesby-percival-everett.

'James' by Percival Everet | Doubleday (2024)

Stephanie Miller is a voracious reader and bibliophile and spends a lot of time lost in the stacks of bookstores and libraries. Find her online @StephanieSAM.

Louis Giller: Mushrooms can detoxify our land

Every Month PelotonLabs founder Liz Trice interviews a community member for The West End News. This month Liz caught up with Louis Giller, Customer Service Specialist and Educator at North Spore, which sells materials for growing culinary mushrooms.

I know North Spore sells kits for growing mushrooms for food, but I’m really interested in how mushrooms can detoxify our land.

When mushrooms are used for detoxifcation, it’s called mycoremediation. Years ago, I read “Mycelium Running” by Paul Stamets, how they can help save the world, break down toxins, remove heavy metals, and it blew my mind! I was living in Colorado and got a grant to study using mushrooms to remove heavy metals from straw that had been soaked in the gnarly mine effuent. Oyster mushrooms have been shown to be able to break down disposable diapers, cigarettes, and even plastics into food grade mushrooms. That’s amazing!

When there’s a single point source polluter you can sometimes create bioflters – mycofltration – using straw colonized by oyster mushrooms or other fungal mycelium. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has a project using fungi alongside roads to reduce runoff damage. PACT, a company in California, sells little tablets of myceliated substrate you can drop into a cathole you poop in while camping.

How can we use mushrooms to address toxins in soil and water in Maine?

It’s easiest when a pollutant source like PFAS or toxins from mines or paper mills can be identifed and contained. It’s harder once it’s spread through a large area. Even though mycoremediation was shown to work twenty-fve years ago, it will require a lot of investment into research and development and testing for there to be regular commercial applications that industry and the EPA will adopt.

One guy in North Carolina was working with the “train wrecker” mush-

room that can break down the creosote in rail ties, which normally resist degradation. Mycocycle, is working to scale mycoremediation to break down petroleum-based materials like asphalt. Oil is essentially made of ancient living things – it’s organic – and mushrooms can break it down into carbohydrates. The oyster mushroom genus, Pleurotus, can break down almost anything. Sometimes the mushrooms can actually break down the toxins into something benign, other times mushrooms can pull out toxins, then you have to dispose of the mushrooms.

A number of universities are working on mycoremediation, but one challenge is that federal regulations require the removal of most of the targeted contaminants within a short time frame. Many mycoremediation solutions work too slowly or are too diffcult to implement to be embraced on an industrial scale. “Radical Mycology” by Peter McCoy is an amazing book covering all things fungi and it spends considerable time on mycoremediation. In fact, McCoy is directly involved with Mycocycle.

At NorthSpore, we’ve just reached the point where we’re a stable, mature company and can start to put more resources into R&D. Right now, we are doing multiple experiments! I’m involved in one regarding different ways of growing chicken of the woods and hen of the woods (maitake) mushrooms. We also have a research partners program as well as a scholarship. We’re positioned well to help with many different types of applied mycology, so nobody should hesitate to reach out if they have ideas!

What do you want everyone to know about mushrooms?

Maine is the most forested state in the union, and that means we have great areas to look for wild mushrooms. I want to encourage everyone to get out into the woods and start to understand how abundant mushrooms are in Maine. We also have great opportunities to grow mushrooms through log inoculations. Shiitake has been grown for thousands of years in China and Japan and growing them on logs is so cool.

How can someone get started growing mushrooms for food?

Anyone can grow mushrooms incredibly fast indoors as a beautiful and gourmet protein source. Buy a spray and grow kit. They’re only about $30. It’s a colonized block of sawdust, you put it out of the sun on your counter or dresser, spray it to keep it moist, and you’re pretty much guaranteed one to two pounds of oyster or lions mane mushroom. Wine caps are really easy to get going in your garden beds. Even without having a green thumb, you can have a “moldy thumb.”

How about getting started foraging for wild mushrooms?

We sell a great book by David Spahr, “Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England & Eastern Canada.” It’s a beginner foraging book with great pictures. Then

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get a good knife and learn where to look. But mushrooms come up everywhere, and no mushroom can hurt you by touching it. So, get in there close and examine them. It will blow your mind! A magnifying glass can be fun, and if you get a fashlight with a UV setting you can see mushrooms that react and glow green in the UV light. You don’t even need to know what type they are, it’s just cool.

Remember, it’s a whole kingdom of life, just like plants and animals.

PelotonPosts is produced by PelotonLabs founder Liz Trice.

SERVING ORGANIC COFFEE & TEAS. LOCAL

Louis Giller, Customer Service and Educator at North Spore. -Courtesy photo

Bianca Bosker

By Layne V. Witherell

“There are books and there are important books.” This was a phrase that I kept conjuring up in my undergrad college days at San Francisco State while working as a book buyer in one of San Francisco’s old-school antiquarian used bookstores. We dealt in rare and expensive books as well as the everyday, throw it in your pocket until it’s pulverized variety. It took years to discover the spirit of an important book, but now I know.

An important book turns into an old friend. You converse often and with every reply you learn something new. It captures a place and a time, and it changes as both you and the world change.

Bianca and I have in our own ways lived, worshipped, and suffered in the wine biz. As part of our separate job descriptions, we have both tasted everything from the dullest to the most magnifcent wines in the world and met a raft of interesting characters along the way.

How to Support Community News

‘CORK DORK: A Wine-Fueled Adventure among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle hunters and Rogue scientists who taught me how to live for taste’

(Penguin, 2017)

Bianca Bosker made the improbable leap from Tech Editor of the Huffngton Post to become a participant and chronicler of the Sommelier Industrial Complex or “the Westminster dog show on booze.” Don’t expect a text about the grapes of Latvia but do expect a well-informed wild ride.

This book and I have had spats over the years. Are blind tastings a scam? Are these sommelier degrees really degrees? Is all that money spent going to get you a real job? It took us some time to reconcile. I read it again recently because I like to view this crowd mania and obsession through a historical lens.

Since 2017 lots of changes have happened. The pandemic, infation, and generational changes. Through all the changes, “Cork Dork” is still loaded with depth and universals.

Bianca’s characters are classics:

MORGAN HARRIS

The obsessive activist sommelier devoting his life and turning it upside down to pass the fnal test of Master Sommelier.

He is the ultimate defnition of the geriatric millennial with a manifesto in one hand and the perfectly poised wine bottle in the other.

THE BIG BOTTLE COLLECTORS

Prestige, ego, scarcity, lust for trophy wines. Great wines are “an experience that will never repeat itself.”

LEI MIKAWA

The Sensory Scientist you have never heard of. Her job is to appeal to mom’s ordinary taste buds and sell thirty million cases of wine yearly. She works her magic in a tiny lab out of sight in Napa Valley. Will Lei and others become the frst wine and

cannabis infusers for grocery stores?

ANNIE TRUHLAR

I am a much-traveled veteran of the hard-edged wine biz. The Annies of this world (four kids and a dead-end waitressing job) are near and dear. Bianca meets her in Virginia Beach ready to take the big sommelier test. I know the market and the people. Bianca should have followed Annie for a few days in the land of the Best Western tourists who come to Virginia Beach and don’t tip worth a darn. I have observed Annie on social media. She passed the sommelier exam and is thriving.

Cont'd on Next Page

Fresh Approach

Layne introduces us to two “old friends,” the books “Cork Dork” and “Get the Picture” by Bianca Bosker. -Photos courtesy of Layne Witherell

FOOD & DRINK

Bianca Bosker

Cont'd from Previous Page

‘GET THE PICTURE: A Mind-Bending Journey among Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me

How to See’ (Viking Press, 2024)

“I have never met a group of humans willing to sacrifce so much to create something of so little obvious practical value.” Going from wine obsessives to art obsessives is a logical and typically risky Bianca move. From fanatic “Cork Dorks” to developing your “eye” as an art pro with loads of howling gossip and characters in “a melting pot of hypocrites and contradictions.” The more that you bring to “Get the Picture,” the better the reward. She makes you think, but there are a lot of chuckles along the way.

ART GALLERY SALES

Bianca is the self-proclaimed nerdy version of the poet Virgil who runs into the right guide. She lands a lowly intern gig, goes to a Miami art fair, and metamorphoses into a super gallery salesperson. “With art, VIP’s could have their cake, eat it, make a tax deductible donation, and have their friends marvel at how elegantly they chew.”

I learned things as well: no income tax in Florida, estate tax, or capital gains, low sales tax, and as a bonus you can live in Maine for 183 days a year as a nonresident tax free. This can be called an eat the rich moment.

PERFORMANCE ART

When the subject “Performance Art” appears, you need to toughen up a bit. ALLFIRE is not for the soccer mom with her frst tattoo, frst dry January, and frst cannabis edible. This is literally butt in your face kind of stuff. Performance art isn’t new. Just YouTube up “Vito Paulekis and the freaks” circa L.A. in the 60’s. Some things don’t change. They just get freakier.

CONTEXT IS ALL

“Art so disgustingly cool its abrasive.” Is it art? Bianca crawls around the subject like Francis Bacon’s proverbial worm descending the cross. Is it what infuential insiders say it is? Curators? Museums? Collectors? Prices rise and fall like the stock market. It amounts to “a handshake between the creator and her audience.”

Collecting both wine and art are what I call the “catnip factor.” Once you have a whiff of that Francis Bacon print, or Charles Bukowski signed frst edition, or a taste of the Edouardo Valentini Trebbiano’ d’ Abruzzo… it’s all over.There is no going back.

Layne has been a professional in the wine business for many decades and was awarded the Master Knight of the Vine for his pioneering work in Oregon. He can be reached at lvwitherell@gmail.com.

Gig

4TH WEDNESDAY of every month

6-7 PM / 4 x 3oz. pours ONLY $18!

“Bring $10 in cash fo the basket.”

‘Just Joanie’ Remembering My Mom

By Nancy Dorrans

Truly not a day goes by that I don’t hear my mother’s voice in my head. It has been almost eleven years since she died and I constantly feel her presence all around me… especially in the garden, forest, and when I hear the birds singing.

My mom was lovingly known as just “Joanie” to many friends. Also, Aunt Joanie, Ama to my nieces, and Joanne to her parents, many aunts, uncles, and her four younger brothers. She loved spring, fowers, gardening, babies, baking, family gatherings, and socializing. She never knew a stranger.

When I was fve years old, my frst two-wheel bicycle was stolen out of our front yard in Dearborn, Michigan. My mother’s best friend’s father was the chief of police in that town. My mom took me down to the police station to fle a stolen bicycle report with him.

The chief (who looked like Lou Grant) took the details of my report very seriously and then gave me a tour of the station. I specifcally remember the white bars of the holding cell where he told me

they keep the criminals that steal bicycles. Then we went to the room that housed recovered stolen goods. It was flled with hundreds of bicycles, though unfortunately, mine wasn’t among them.

My mother had connections, and she viewed this unfortunate incident as both a lesson and a bit of an adventure. I cherish these early memories and the so many adventures we shared together.

I moved to Portland in the fall of 2000 and soon after my mom phoned me excited to announce that Marcus, the son of her best friend Carol (the police chief’s daughter), had secured a role on Broadway in the original cast of “Full Monty”! Marcus had been living in New York since the early 1980’s trying to “make it there.”

I told her,“We have to go!” Along with my older sister and my mom’s friend Terri, we ventured to New York City just after the holidays. On the way from the airport to our hotel we passed several Irish pubs and so, before they got too comfortable in the hotel room, I suggested we go out for a late-night pub crawl. At the frst pub, three of us ordered Guinness, my mother ordered a margarita on the rocks with salt!

The next pub looked busy, but a young handsome Irishman opened the door and said, “Surry, we’re clo… oh... oh… zed!” My sister, Mom, and Terri

turned around to head back to the hotel.

The pub was not closed! This bloke had had a few and was joking around. I went in, found him, and told him that was not cool. That was my mother he was joking with and she believed him.

He said “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” ran out of the pub, put his arm around my mother, introduced himself as Desi, and apologized profusely. We went in, had another pint or margarita, and my mom chatted with Desi’s quiet friend and heard all about their lives in Ireland and now in New York.

She was worried that those boys were homesick and invited them to come and visit her in Tennessee. She wrote her

Nancy Dorrans Travel Group Expert

number on a bar napkin. Later that year her friend Terri had calling cards made for her so it would be easier to stay in touch with these random strangers that became friends.

Our frst trip to see Marcus on Broadway started an annual tradition of mother and daughter adventures. Over the next ten plus years we adventured to New Orleans, Ireland, Charleston, Savannah, Chicago, Boston, Asheville, and back to New York City in 2010. It was usually my mom, and sisters, and Terri, and her daughters Christine and Kathleen. Other mothers, aunts, cousins, friends, and daughters joined us on some of the adventures. Visiting different destinations was nice, but it was always more about being together than where we were.

Sadly, our last mother/daughter adventure was in 2012 to Philadelphia. It was bittersweet as both my mom and Kathleen were undergoing treatment for cancer and lost their battles the following spring. We laughed a lot and cried a bit, too. I cherish the photo of all of us, sisters and mothers, at Jon’s Bar & Grille, the birthplace of the Three Stooges’ Larry Fine [see above].

I’m missing and remembering my mom, Joanie, this Mothers’ Day and all her love, creative infuence, and sense of adventure. Before she died, I told her she was the best mom. She reached out to me, hugged me, and said, “I loved every minute of it.”

That’s how she lived her life... She is and always will be my inspiration!

Dorrans is founder of Adventure Marketplace... Navigating travelers on authentic, nurturing, global and local adventures since 2014.

Nancy

In Philadelphia at Jon's Bar & Grille ~ birthplace of Three Stooges' Larry Fine. Left to right: Terri & daughters Kathleen/Christine, Nancy, her sister Susan, Joanie, and sister Betsy. -Photos courtesy of N. Dorrans

Nancy's mom Joanie at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC

Pragmatic Republicans Reject Climate Denialism

By Allice Haidden

Despite polarized positions, we face a severe and rapidly growing global problem together. While the American Left deserves credit for continuously sounding the alarm about climate change, many conservatives are also actively focused on crafting practical solutions that express their values of moral responsibility and limited government.

Several pragmatic Republicans reject climate denialism and have taken strong positions of environmental stewardship.

Representative Francis Rooney, (R-FL) and Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced the bipartisan Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019, which proposed creating a fee paid by carbon producers and distributed directly to the American people. When asked at a Citizens’ Climate Lobby conference what motivated his focus on climate solutions, his answer was simple, “I can read.”

In an interview with The New York Times, Senator Mitt Romney, R-UT, strongly supported the carbon fee and dividend policy specifcally because it provides a direct way to help working families afford the cost of the necessary coming shift.

In 2021 Representative John Curtis, R-UT, created the 81-member Conservative Climate Caucus “to educate Republican House Members on conservative climate solutions that align with Republican principles.”

After leaving the House, Representative Bob Inglis, R-SC, has dedicated himself to providing an active community for conservatives who identify as eco-right. Their clear and informative website, republicEN.org, explains that a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the most effective way to eliminate heat- trapping pollution in our atmosphere. It also explains that revenue-neutral means that none of the fees levied can contribute to government growth.

According to the conservative Luntz polling company, young Republicans support cashback carbon pricing at nearly the same level as do Democrats (75% for Republicans under 40 to 80% Democrats). The bipartisan prospects for this most effective climate policy are bright, but our lawmakers will not lead without our encouragement. Contact them now at cclusa.org/write-cfd.

Right or Left, let’s vote like the earth depends on it.

Allice Haidden is a Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteer.

We’re All in this Together is a monthly Climate Justice column provided by the Portland chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

SCRAPS

Hug a Tree! And Then Plant One

By Caitlin Marshall

As spring comes fully into bloom, trees all over the city are bursting into fower and leaf. They’re flling up with more and more song as migrating birds come back and host hundreds of varieties of caterpillars to feed those birds.

Trees are beautiful, and they’re marvelous habitats. Did you know that they are amazing players in climate resilience, too? First, of course, they breathe in what we breathe out. Trees soak up tons of CO2 every day, helping to offset emissions from cars and other carbon sources. They flter other pollutants out of the air, too.

Trees excel at buffering extremes in wind and water with their broad, leafy canopies. A row of street trees will soak up thousands of gallons of water that would otherwise food city streets. They even have a measurable impact on temperature. Their shade reduces the need for cooling nearby buildings and they can directly lower the temperature of surrounding areas by as much as 3° F. Increasing tree cover in our city will help us weather the growing extremes of a climate-changed world.

So, how do we get more trees? Well, the frst step is preserving what we already have. Old trees provide all these benefts better than young trees. But if you have the space to plant a new tree, there are plenty of options. For the greatest bene-

fts in resilience and habitat, choose a species native to the Northeast. Smaller trees like beach plum, redbud, dogwood, cherry, and serviceberry can easily tuck into urban spaces. The West End Neighborhood Association has many resources as part of its ReForest the City initiative (http:// www.wenamaine.org/resources/reforest).

As we look to trees to build climate resilience, we need to support them, too. Many trees are falling prey to insects and diseases that have arrived from other places and to which they have evolved little to no immunity. Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanaki (APCAW) is leading the effort to create a community-based response to the Emerald Ash Borer. The State of Maine has good resources on addressing Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. These disruptions are bound to reshape our forested landscape, but by working together we can respond and fnd ways to bring more tree diversity into our cities.

So next time you head outside, hug a tree, thank it for the myriad ways it makes our lives better, and consider planting a few more.

Bright Ideas is brought to you by PCAT, meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month, 6 to 7:30 p.m. All are welcome! FMI: Email Portlandclimate@gmail.com or visit https:// facebook.com/PortlandClimateActionTeam.

Collect food scraps at home and bring it to one of the drop-off sites and empty it into one of the containers. DROP OFF SITES LOCATED AT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL

REICHE SCHOOL

BRENTWOOD COMMUNITY GARDEN

RIVERTON COMMUNITY GARDEN

LIBBYTOWN COMMUNITY GARDEN

PAYSON PARK COMMUNITY GARDEN

BOYD STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN

NORTH STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN

PARKS & RECREATION 212 CANCO ROAD

Botany and Plants Trivia

1. Taken as a whole, the petals of a flower can be called by what name that comes from the Latin for “crown,” and is shared by a popular model of Toyota car?

2. What wild herb with a bright yellow flower has a name that comes from the French for “Lion’s tooth”?

3. Mold, fungi, and ferns don’t propagate by spreading seeds, but instead they use what one-cell units to reproduce?

4. What’s the C-word for the family of cone-bearing trees and shrubs like pines, firs, and redwoods?

Find the answers online at thewestendnews.com/puzzle-solutions!

HILLTOP SUPERETTE’s

SLICE FROM THE PIE

SMALL SLICES FROM THE COMMUNITY

NEWS PIE…

Portland (Seagulls)

On a freezing day I crunched past The weathered brownstone steps of a modest town church

Birders from all over the state are visiting the Western Cemetery to get a rare photo of a Summer Tanager… News that the Pizza Joint is closing its Forest Ave and South Portland locations cause a stir among loyal customers who aren’t ready to let go… Along the Back Cove Trail be on the lookout for TEMPOart’s latest installation of a 20’ bamboo sculpture featuring two great egrets… Congresswoman Chellie Pingree leads the fght to keep the potato a vegetable as makers of government guidelines consider calling it a grain… Travel Lemming ranks Arcadia as one of the Top 10 Most Crowded national parks with 79 visitors per acre… National Nurses Week kicks off May 6th and Maine was recently named by Wallethub as the 2nd Best State for Nurses in the job market thanks largely to our aging population… Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center hires former founder and director of the Carolina Peace Center Faisal Khan as Executive Director… Coffee By Design received a 2024 Good Food Award for the company’s single origin Danilo Salazar San Cristobal Natural coffee… Print: A Bookstore celebrates Independent Bookstore Day with the always-popular Indie Bookstore Day pencils Maine Model United Nations Conference marks 25 years with a congratulatory sentiment from the Maine Senate…

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Festooned with bright rainbows and signs that said LOVE and ALL ARE WELCOME And NO LOITERING

A broken crimson spill was splattered down the steps and a yellow-footed white-and-grey seagull

mottled with black feathers, or maybe soot

pecked at the crumbs of cherry soda and ice, staining its beak red before, with a swoop and a loop, catching an updraft and nestling atop a street lamp like a distant, detached crown to a man in a grey hoodie running with a backpack and a faded cloud-blue poster proclaim ing

THIS IS INDIGENOUS LAND.

-Kaspar Wilder

SUBMISSIONS

The West End News publishes reader poetry when space permits. Please send your poetry submissions to: thewestendnews@gmail.com Or write to:

The West End News PO Box 10876 Portland, ME 04102

) New Horizons Band Learnng to Play Playig to Learn

Let's Make Music ! Do you play a brass instrument? Woodwind or percussion? SMNHB wants YOU!

We welcome musicians at all levels interested in playing music in an educational and supportive setting.

Music Director Position open See website

St Luke's Cathedral, L ower Hall 136 Park St., Portland, ME

SouthernaineNewHorizonsBand.org

Afliated

Including ICE-COLD Mexican beers Dos Equis, Modelo, Sol, Tecate...

Tacos – Burritos – Quesadillas – Enchiladas –Pozole – Goat Birria – Fajitas – Cocteles de Marisco –Chile Rellenos – Carne Asada –Lamb Shanks in Adobo & much more!

“To know how to eat is to know enough”