Notes from an Open Book

Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry

Take Heart is edited and introduced by Maine Poet Laureate Wesley McNair, and produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. The late Philip Booth of Castine had his own way with free verse, creating his music from the repetition of words and their placement on the page. Today’s poem, about [...]

Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry

Take Heart is edited and introduced by Maine Poet Laureate Wesley McNair, and produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance Mekeel McBride lives in Kittery and teaches in the MFA program at the University of New Hampshire. In her poem she shows us what we have missed in the winter trees we [...]

Margaret Chase Smith’s Role in Today’s American Politics

by Jim Melcher Margaret Chase Smith, who served Maine in Congress for 32 years, is still one of the most iconic figures in Maine political history over 15 years after her death in 1995. She remains a significant figure in American national political history as well. What can we still learn from “The Red Rose [...]

An Epic of War: 2012 Winter Weekend

The war is stalemated in its 10th year. Two powerful warlords argue over the spoils. The more charismatic of the two suddenly goes berserk after the death of his closest comrade. Sound familiar? But it’s not today’s news from Afghanistan. It’s a tale first told some 3,000 years ago by the Greeks. On March 9-10, [...]

UMO Scholar & MHC Board Member Awarded Fulbright

The MHC is pleased to announce that Dr. Liam Riordan, early Americanist scholar, MHC Board Member, and Associate Professor of History at the University of Maine, Orono, will be doing archival research and teaching at the University of Glasgow in spring 2012 as a Fulbright Scholar. His honours level undergraduate course will focus on the [...]

Opinion: On the 2011 Nobel Laureate in Literature

Each year, I eagerly await the Nobel Laureate in Literature. Being an aficionado of things Swedish, including the language, I always listen to the first announcement made by Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, and watch the reaction of the largely-Swedish crowd of reporters. Like most other literary types, I have my own [...]

Book Recommendation: Home

I have just finished reading the novel, Home by Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Orange Prize, and a retelling of the story of her previous novel, Gilead, set in a small midwestern town of that name in the late 1950s. Both of these feature the prodigal son, Jack, in his relationship to two families, and [...]

What do borders mean?

by Kathryn Olmstead What do borders mean? It is a provocative question that captured the imaginations of participants in two discussions sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council Sept. 16 and 17. Held in the border towns of Houlton and Frenchville, the discussions brought together residents of varied ages and walks of life from both Maine [...]

Reflecting on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 have evoked complicated responses from Americans and also the rest of the world. Now, ten years later, we are reflecting on how we at the Maine Humanities Council have responded. In summary, I think it is fair to say that we have tried to learn from the events [...]

Book Recommendation: Silas Crockett

I recently read Islandport Press’ handsome 2003 edition of Mary Ellen Chase’s Silas Crockett, first published in 1935. A classic herself, Chase was born (in 1887) and raised in Blue Hill, educated there and at the University of Maine, and then, with a PhD from the University of Minnesota, spent most of her adult life [...]