Star Island welcomes such notable speakers as Al-Arabiya Washington Bureau Chief Hisham Melhem, best-selling author Anita Shreve, Director of Green Mountain College’s Farm and Food Project Philip Ackerman-Leist, Margaret Fuller biographer Megan Marshall, lighthouse historian Jeremy D’Entremont, and many other guests to this season’s calendar of events.

The International Affairs Conference will host Hisham Melhem, Washington Bureau Chief of Al-Arabiya, as its speaker in discussing the theme “The Arab Spring and Beyond” for a week in July. This gathering will focus on the reasons behind the recent uprisings in the Arab world and look towards the impact of a changing Middle East for the United States.

The inaugural Star Island Literary Festival will host Anita Shreve, author of several novels including _The Weight of Water_, that centered on the 1873 Smuttynose murders; local author Katherine Towler, author of the _Snow Island_ trilogy; and Corwin Ericson, author of _Swell_, in exploring the theme of islands in literature. Participants are invited to interact with authors and those inspired by literature throughout a week in August.

Back for a second year, the LGBTQ Family and Friends Conference hosts guest speaker and clinical sexologist Michele Angello, Ph.D. This gathering invites people who identify as LGBTQ and their families to enjoy a week on Star Island in July. As with all family conferences on Star Island there are many activities for all ages, including swimming, tennis, and softball games.

This year’s Natural History Conference focuses on the theme “The Secret Lives of Birds and Turtles.” Guest speaker Chris Swarth of Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary will lead guests in discovering more about these creatures; also joining this week are Rev. Chris Jablonski and Rev. Lauren Smith of South Church in Portsmouth, NH.

Scholars fascinated by Jungian psychology will delight in a week of discussions with Stefano Carta, Ph.D. at Life on a Star Family Conference II held in July. Carta is an Italian Jungian scholar and will focus on the particular “nature” of “human nature” through storytelling, music, film and other examples.

For people interested in playing bridge, the first Star Bridge conference offers lessons and structured play. Guests of all skill levels are welcome to take part in a relaxed environment of bridge aficionados and those new to the game.

The Historic Star Conference will focus on the stories of pirates, treasure, ghosts and murder just off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. This conference allows guests to escape the modern world and enter the scandals of bygone eras for a week in late August.

Young adults are invited to the Yearly Adult’s Conference in June. Activities include whiskey tasting and hula-hoop making. This lively group will explore the topic: “2012: It’s Not the End of the World.”

These conferences and retreats are just a small part of what Star Island offers every summer.

“We are always so pleased with the varied and interesting options the conferences provide each year,” said Star Island Chief Executive Officer Vicky Hardy. “We want our community to know that a valuable vacation is just 10 miles off the coast. Why rent a car for a week this summer when you can rent a rowboat for an afternoon on Star?”

Star Island offers a valuable camp-like vacation for families and individuals with all meals and travel aboard the M/V Thomas Laighton included in room and board. Guests staying in the historic Oceanic House and adjacent buildings can also choose to sign-up for a massage, play a game of tennis, and use the computer center.

Star Island is located ten miles off the coast of New Hampshire. The nonprofit Star Island Corp. has provided affordable individual and family retreats since 1916. Star Island invites everyone to spend a day, stay a week and remember for a lifetime.

You use Facebook, Twitter and Google+ — maybe one, maybe all three. So do we!

Cool things are happening over there, too. On our Facebook and Google+ pages, you’ll find conference speaker highlights, polls, updates and neat photos of dogs browsing the Blue Book. Be sure to Like us at facebook.com/StarIslandCorp and on Google+ for maximum newsfeed fun.

You can also get your dose of Star in 140 characters or less on Twitter at twitter.com/StarIslandCorp.

Follow, Like and Circle us on your network of choice. We love hearing from you!

But please, no poking. It’s _sooo_ 2007.

What do you love about Star Island? From sunsets to the grand march, from rowing to lime rickies, there is plenty for everyone to love about Star Island.

Last year, we asked you to share your Star Island pictures and memories. This year, we want you to say what you love about Star Island. Find out how we’re all showing our love this year at the I Love Star Island event page.

Our top three sellers for 2011 included two books recently reprinted by the Isles of Shoals Association, and a book written by shoalers Donald Cann, Gayle Kadlik and John Galluzzo for the Images of America Series called The Isles of Shoals. The ISA-UU reprints are Moonlight Murder on Smuttynose and The Isles of Shoals in Lore and Legend, both by Lyman Rutledge.

The best-selling children’s book is a new book by Nancy Donovan called Oscar the Herring Gull, with great illustrations of the story of a Star Island gull by Susan Spellman. This book is fun for readers of any age.

The new Shops on Star website has these and other books about the Isles of Shoals, including a just-published reprint of a cookbook from the ’40s called The Isles of Shoals Cookbook, and One Woman’s Work: The Visual Art of Celia Laighton Thaxter.

For the first time, you can buy these books off-season by checking out the new Shops on Star website at www.shopsonstar.com.

Other best-sellers included books by conference speakers, such as The Laws of Simplicity and Redesigning Leadership by John Maeda (All Star II), American Grace by Robert Putnam, (Life on a Star I), and The Fabric of Friendship by Joy Carol (Conference of the Laity).

And high on the list of summer favorites:
Unlikely Friendships: 47 remarkable stories from the Animal Kingdom, by Jennifer Holland
Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, by John O’Donohue
Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives, by Wayne Miller
A Dog’s Purpose, by W. Bruce Cameron
Soul of Rumi, edited by Coleman Barks
Listening Below the Noise: The Transformative Power of Silence, by Annie D. LeClaire
Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran
Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, by Mark Bittman
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Animal Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver
This is Your Brain on Music, by Daniel Levitin

The many people who came into the Star Island Book Store over the summer made eclectic choices from our selection, and most often their choices included a book about the Isles of Shoals — a book to carry the magic home.

Thanks to all who contribute to Star Island through purchasing books at the Star Island Book Store and online at shopsonstar.com.

— Linda Leehman, Manager
Star Island Book Store

Multiple positions will be available with employment periods starting mid-August through September 16th. You could work with us for two weeks or for several.

The application will be posted by July 4th and candidate selection begins August 3rd. Please consider applying.

Working on Star Island can be extremely rewarding. Indeed, many lives have been positively influenced, and careers determined, by spending a summer working on Star Island. But being a Pelican is more than just getting a job on Star Island – it is about joining a community of interesting, talented, and hard-working individuals.

Apply today!

Do you know anyone who might be interested in attending a conference on Star Island for the first time? Remember to fill out a 10/10 Bring a Friend form to get 10% off both of your bills — and for each new person you bring, that’s an additional 10% off your bill.

You will come back!

Keep an eye on your mailbox in the coming weeks!

I have to share with you how strange it was to shut down the last generator and walk down to the boat on that cold November afternoon when the season was finally over. Alex took over on November 4. She reports daily owl sightings, Canada geese returning to the front lawn, a couple of generator problems, and a rat population that really does seem to be a little lower than last year.

You can all relate to how odd it felt for me to be back home after such a long spell on the Island. The first few weeks back in America were consumed by our close call with reality television, which has now been put off until maybe next year. We brought six enthusiastic Hollywood producers out there right after Thanksgiving, but the network decided it was too late in the season to put it all together. The income would have been important in these tight budget times, but I have to admit to being somewhat relieved.

I went to a great alternative energy conference at the Island Institute in November where I met island managers from all up and down the Maine Coast. I think we’re starting to get some momentum back into our solar power plan, too.

I’ve already gotten some skiing in, hauled the boat into the shed for the winter, organized all the files that were piling up around my desk, started planning for next season, and stacked most of my firewood. And now it’s almost Christmas.

So, on the day after the Solstice and my last work day of the year, I have a chance to reflect on the whirlwind that started last April, and I want to share some of my thoughts with you who made it so interesting and rewarding.

This was an incredible, enriching year for me, full of growth and challenge, and I want to thank all of you who were a part of making my first season at Star so enjoyable and valuable. You guys rallied around to help me right from the start and I am very grateful. I could start naming names, but I would inevitably leave somebody out, so let me just say thank you to everybody at once. I truly appreciate the help and cooperation and respect you gave me. What makes Star so incredible is the combination of that beautiful isolated, sometimes scary setting, with a group of such amazing people. I feel really fortunate to be part of it. So the word of the day is gratitude. Thank you.

My hopes for next season? More progress on sustainability, more music, more sailing, more laughing, more great work, more conversation, more moderation. I really hope we can all work together to avoid the lapses in judgment and the indiscretions which lead to injuries, terminations, sadness. I hope no one has to leave the Island because they get hurt or depressed or because they broke a basic rule. I hope we can continue to build a stronger and stronger atmosphere of open communication, respect for each other and the place, cooperation, compassion. I believe that a whole community working together presents the best chance to keep everyone safe and happy and sober and growing. What better community than this to prove it?

We will all be challenged once again by a scarcity of resources. I really believe that this challenge is also an opportunity for the Island and us, one which is right in line with important principles that we all share, and part of the long tradition of the Shoals themselves. Sustainability (for the Island and for the world) implies creativity, innovation, resourcefulness, a community working together with common goals, some hard work, and yes, even some sacrifices. The test is worth the taking, and the rewards can be deep and long lasting. I think it is part of the reason we are drawn here.

OK, down off the soap box. I basically just wish everyone the best new year ever.

Jack Farrell
Facilities Superintendent