tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398Fri, 03 Apr 2026 01:33:29 +0000educationlocal educationDeer IsleMaineSan Francisco Farmers MarketStonington Opera HousechristianityBates Dance FestivalJungLibby MitchellPaul LePagecommunityfaithperformance"Waiting for Superman"#OurBelovedKin#bowdoincollege#commongood#resist1989 earthquake2016 ElectionAIDSAPAP 2010ActUPAlicia AnsteadAmanda HuotariAmerican ProspectAndrew JacksonAngela DavisAvalonBaghdadBates CollegeBay BridgeBear MountainBeltaneBloody Bloody Andrew JacksonBohemianRhapsodyBowdoin CollegeBowdoin International Music FestivalBroadway musicalsBurt DowCelebration BarnChristopher ShinnCiudad JuarezClintonDJ SpookyDavis GuggenheimDemocratDr. Martin Luther KingDying CityE.L. DoctorowEliot CutlerEmbarcaderoEve EnslerFerry Terminal BuildingFolsom PrisonFolsom StreetFreddieFreddieMercuryGeoffrey CanadaGlenn BeckHarlem Children's ZoneIsaiah 62:1Jane ChuJane JacobsJohn CarianiJoseph WheelwrightJr.Judith JeromeJune 8King ArthurLee DanielsLes Ballets Trockadero de Monte CarloMaine Arts CommissionMaine election 2010Maine governor 2010Maine primary electionMaine theaterMerrill AuditoriumMike MiclonNEANYCNervous Nellies Jams and JelliesObamaOccupy Wall StreetOdysseusOgunquit PlayhouseOklahoma CityOne Billion RisingOpera House ArtsOprahPalm SpringsPentacostPortland MainePortland Museum of ArtPortland OvationsPortland StagePreciousPresident Barack ObamaPresident Lyndon JohnsonPrince Edward IslandPushQueenQuestion 1RagtimeRepublicansRobert MosesRocco LandesmannRush LimbaughSPACE GallerySally WoodSan FranciscoSandersSapphireSenator Susan CollinsSeneca FallsSilence=DeathSmithsonian MuseumSoMaSpindleworksSteve RoweStonewallStrebTea PartyThe Black ListThe FantasticksThe Telling RoomThom WallTimothy Greenfield-SandersToni MorisonTrocksU.S. Army suicideWhitney Houstonartsarts advocacyarts educationclimate changecommunity developmentconsolidationconsumptioncountry musiccowboyscultural tourismdemocracydesert modernismeconomic developmenteducation reformfishingfoundry theatergaygay marriagegentrificationglobal warminggodgubernatorial candidateshikingidealismliberallobster fishermenmovement researchmoviesnative U.S. historyperforming artspolarizedpoliticspotatoesprovenance of beautyreferendum electionschool boardssense of placesufferingsummer stockthe War on Povertyurban redevelopmentwhite settler colonialismhttp://islestormaine.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)Blogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-5180338320183082931Thu, 05 Mar 2026 11:20:00 +00002026-03-05T06:29:06.921-05:00Me circa 1975 as referenced below.The Heart Sutra is one of the most foundational Mahayana Buddhist texts, often called the essence of Buddhism. It gives us that religion’s central tenets, emphasizing the achievement of enlightenment to liberate all beings rather than solely oneself – in poetry that we chant.“Form is not separate from boundlessness, boundlessness is not separate from form / form http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2026/03/loving-lent-desert-is-itself-spring-we.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-101053651764256208Thu, 19 Feb 2026 15:03:00 +00002026-02-19T10:03:25.267-05:00With Town Meeting swiftly approaching on the first Monday of March, there are three topics on all our minds: Taxes. Basketball. Spring.Let’s be hopeful about all three – and read on for four suggested strategies you can use to better impact local budgets and taxes.On Monday, February 9 the Town of Stonington held a public meeting to walk residents through the local budget items up for approval ashttp://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2026/02/taxes-basketball-spring-and-hopes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-2507354314721932456Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:37:00 +00002026-02-15T13:37:50.971-05:00Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in "Song Sung Blue""Money talks.But it don't sing and dance and it don't walkAnd long as I can have you here with meI'd much rather be forever in blue jeans"- Neil Diamond, "Forever in Blue Jeans"These past couple of weeks, we've been trying to catch up on Oscar-nominated films in anticipation of the 98th awards ceremony on March 15.This is an old habit, from when we http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2026/02/money-talks-but-it-dont-sing-and-dance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-8470517444996309760Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:27:00 +00002026-02-11T14:08:36.991-05:00Nellie was a yes girl.A go girl.A girl with a dedicated focus, a fierce sense of purpose, and action.Only death could finally stop her - and we had to say yes to that, while she staggered on at 15-years-old through the harsh winter snow in her "Help 'Em Up" harness, doing her very best to honor her purpose with us.Grief is a critical time for reflection. It is so difficult to stay in it in http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2026/02/in-grief-reflection-and-action.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-800511554059765300Sun, 11 Jan 2026 20:14:00 +00002026-01-11T15:14:19.169-05:00Photo of Hadestown: Youth Editioncourtesy New Surry TheatreThis Sunday, I am struggling to live in my broken heart and not in my rage.So having had the joy of seeing New Surry Theatre's awesome production of Hadestown: Teen Edition last night, I am reflecting on the power of live theater not only to entertain but to move us, to change hearts and minds. For the record, if you are in this areahttp://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2026/01/ill-keep-doing-work-you-were-doing-as.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-5906062669789213003Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:04:00 +00002025-10-28T11:08:08.360-04:00Notes to my self...As my aged dog and I were standing in the yard in the middle of last night -- she, like all of us older females, up from bed to pee; me, to take her and gazing at the bright constellations -- I saw two shooting stars.I went back to bed singing the Gloria in my head for the rest of the night.My heart aches for a generosity of spirit amongst us.For us, in every community, in http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/10/notes-to-my-self-on-finding-generosity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-6296707143222427705Sun, 12 Oct 2025 13:17:00 +00002025-10-12T09:17:37.272-04:00This past week's trail discovery.Diane Keaton's death this weekend at age 79 reminded me, with a shock, that I am in the last quarter of my own life.Such a weird feeling and awareness. And to paraphrase the great Mary Oliver -- what will one do with one's wild and precious twilight years?!We watched "Annie Hall" last night. I grew up with Keaton -- "Annie Hall" (1977) was a hallmark of my high http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/10/sunday-morning-reflections-diane-keaton.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-3659443972107172021Fri, 19 Sep 2025 11:16:00 +00002025-09-19T07:16:26.956-04:00I've been thinking a lot about the damaging impacts of human insecurity.Insecurity about one's self -- is one loved? is one worthy? is one good? -- and one's place in the world -- will I have "enough"? how will I survive? -- is in my view the major contributor to cruelty done to others.We all have insecurities, and many of you will rightly point to generational trauma as a root cause. For women, http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/09/all-our-insecurities.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-1933902394715975995Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:53:00 +00002025-09-15T06:53:54.612-04:00Every single woman is all too aware there are gazillions of creepy men -- and on top of that, the creepy women who support the creepy men thinking it is in their own self interest.Men who "depreciate" women. Men who objectify women in drawings, words, events.Men who sexually and domestically abuse girls and women.Men who simply don't listen to women. Men who "mansplain" to women in every public http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/09/end-male-creepiness.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-4879579836307066481Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:52:00 +00002025-09-15T06:52:02.940-04:00 It's another beautiful September bluebird day here, just as it was on this date 24 years ago.Those of us who lived through 9/11 and its aftermath will never forget it, and those who died and whose lives were forever changed by that violence cannot be forgotten either.My heart aches for all the victims and survivors of sectarian, politicized violence everywhere.For the high school students http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/09/bluebird-days-gun-violence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-7650662658338579051Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:49:00 +00002025-09-15T06:49:41.793-04:00"Difficult to watch how haters become heroes." - poet Joy Harjo"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - poet Oscar WildeI've got friends and family posting things like "I am Charlie Kirk."I grieve for them in their grief.We must stop elevating hate speech. It is way past time to recognize that speech is itself an action. Speech can kill, and violence is never a solution.Hate http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/09/hates-becoming-heroes-and-on-forgiving.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-292963148925920930Sun, 07 Sep 2025 13:13:00 +00002025-09-07T09:13:22.788-04:00Last Saturday, we climbed into the truck and made the drive north to tekakapimek -- the new contact station at Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument -- to be transported into the magic of this place we live and its thousands of years of stewardship by Maine's indigenous nations.The word tekakapimek is from the Penobscot language and means "as far as one can see."This is a "contact stationhttp://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/09/httpsislestormaine.blogspot.comtekakapimek.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-6588090179496834312Mon, 01 Sep 2025 15:03:00 +00002025-09-01T11:03:55.321-04:00I spent a couple of hours in our garden yesterday, picking raspberries, digging potatoes, re-homing milkweed...My mother, Mae, always said she found God nearest in her raspberry patch. When she tired of the faux-knowing ways of men and their man-made institution of the church, she still had faith that this planet and these lives are gifts to us for which to be grateful and to be treasured. She http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-importance-of-raspberry-patch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-6018310359542858334Fri, 22 Aug 2025 17:04:00 +00002025-08-22T13:04:03.971-04:00The Pell, or Newport, Bridge under constructionin 1968 with aircraft carrier U.S.S. Wasppassing beneath.The Claiborne Pell Bridge, named for the Senator who founded Pell grants to make college affordable for more students and rising above the mouth of might Narragansett Bay, opened in 1969.It is by far the tallest bridge in southern New England and by the time I got my driver's license a mere 44 http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/08/mansions-and-mobile-homes-fate-of-our.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-4223618350672795823Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:47:00 +00002025-08-05T08:47:44.336-04:00We’re hearing the word “resilience” tossed around a lot these days, especially since the storms of December 2023 - January 2024. These unprecedented storms brought unexpected southeasterly gales, ocean surges, flooding and heavy damages to Maine’s coastal and inland communities from which many are still recovering.“Resilience” is the ability of individuals and communities to withstand and/or to http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/08/what-is-rural-resilience-and-how-do-we.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-6673610995134844540Sat, 21 Jun 2025 11:28:00 +00002025-07-07T12:21:03.505-04:00Opera House Arts' first season's schedule.by Carol Estey, Judith Jerome, Linda Nelson and Linda PattieTwenty-five years ago this July -- a quarter of a century ago! -- a new island nonprofit, Opera House Arts (OHA), held its reopening gala at a restored Stonington Opera House. The nearly 100-year-old theater’s 250 seats were sold out to an audience entertained by CBS daytime soap opera star Ron http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/06/25-years-celebrating-community.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-735195964217799212Mon, 16 Jun 2025 11:37:00 +00002025-06-16T07:37:09.524-04:00Always seek to find the beauty on stormy days...I grew up as an "American Exceptionalist" -- thinking the U.S. democracy was the best thing since...slice bread? hot tubs? swims in the ocean?! -- to the extent I was an American Studies major in college.Today I think a lot about our U.S. white culture as a teeter totter that has been slammed to the ground on the side of individualism and is now http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/06/teeter-tottering-between-beauty-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-268035920533340398Mon, 02 Jun 2025 11:33:00 +00002025-06-02T07:33:18.269-04:00 The hand blown rainbow glass giftedto me by my English teacher uponmy high school graduation.June Pride. This year, we not only remember but activate the true meaning of Pride -- a riotous and righteous fight for our lives as well as a celebration of who we are.Why does Pride have more relevance and hopefully more impact this year?Just as in the '60's, when the Stonewall riot launched http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/06/pride-sanctuary-and-why-allies-matter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-5198211100516790380Sun, 27 Apr 2025 19:49:00 +00002025-04-28T08:24:20.764-04:00The young Julia Roberts as a Portuguese-American"local" pool shark with her rich, preppy potentialbeau in 1988's "Mystic Pizza."What's a sorrow that's been a teacher to you in your life?The poet and theologian Padraig O Tuama offered this question up for our Sunday morning reflection in his Poetry Unbound email this morning.What's yours?You may be surprised to know that mine tied into http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-young-julia-roberts-as-portuguese.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-4753483578794768837Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:41:00 +00002025-03-17T09:51:42.618-04:00Mary Urban Endrich,my mother's mother, in front oftheir garage in Old Saybrook, CTEconomic recessions hit poor people the hardest. The Great Depression following the market crash in 1929 lasted a full decade, ending only in 1939 with the advent of World War II and the "boom" provided by a wartime economy of military production.It turned many peoples lives upside down forever -- including my http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/03/my-grandmothers-great-depression-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-2234531916513334517Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:41:00 +00002025-03-10T20:42:46.887-04:00A new, feminist production of a classicat American Repertory TheaterCan we break our historic cycles of violence against each other?If you’ve gone through something traumatic, can you ever go back to who you were?Can you ever go back home?This is the essential question behind the new version of "The Odyssey" by Kate Hamill at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, which I saw last weekend.I'm http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-triumph-of-mechanism-over-grace-how.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-6175561135893611282Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:07:00 +00002025-02-23T07:33:31.938-05:00Baby boomer as artist in smock.I'm at the tail end of the baby boom generations -- i.e., a "young" boomer at age 63.Our generation is the result of a tremendous post-World War II U.S. economic surge, coupled with the optimism and relief that fascism had been vanquished by American exceptionalism, and genocide in both Germany and Russia at least temporarily halted.With all of this hope and http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-bust-of-boomers-how-we-failed-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-5758703335326859204Sat, 08 Feb 2025 13:50:00 +00002025-02-08T08:50:51.834-05:00My grandmother by adoption, Signe, immigrated to New Britain CT from Sweden when she was 18 years old in 1916.She came to help her sister care for her twin girls -- Eva and Valborg. Her sister passed away, and Signe pretty much raised the girls.She married a fellow Swedish immigrant, Axel Hjalmer, in 1923 and immediately had my dad, Evert Hjalmer, who followed his dad's footsteps and became a http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/02/my-gritty-grandmothers-rooming-house.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-5011630428200433211Mon, 20 Jan 2025 13:18:00 +00002025-01-20T08:18:05.207-05:00We once understood the word "haven" to mean harbor, or port.A safe haven. A new haven. A port in the storm.We've navigated through our share of storms recently, both personally and as communities and as a nation. Storms on every level.My spouse's recent and unexpected brain surgery, from which she is recovering super well. The loss of young people in addition to old in our small, rural http://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2025/01/finding-new-havens-for-mlk-day-2025.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110096575059586398.post-3904001239094091621Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:19:00 +00002024-12-25T12:57:01.480-05:00One of my favorite, and absolute, truisms is that the human brain requires a minimum of seven times of hearing / seeing / learning something before we really hear or understand or incorporate it.A priest I admire and follow recently said that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because we need this annual reminder of the hope for who we can and might best be as humans: loving, peaceful, generoushttp://islestormaine.blogspot.com/2024/12/and-so-this-is-christmas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Linda L Nelson)0