As the calendar switches to 2010, Mainers reflected on the last 10 years, and on the trends that defined technology, education, social issues, the environment, the arts, and high school sports.

The world is about to enter a new decade, but people are still trying to figure out what to call the old one.

As Jan. 1, 2010, approaches, there are all kinds of names being suggested for the 2000s, the first decade of the 21st century.

Time Magazine, for example, recently referred to the time period as “The Decade from Hell,” citing the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the recent economic collapse. The British have suggested “The Noughties,” because “nought” is another word for zero.

Whatever it is called, the last decade was one of turmoil and change, and Maine was no exception. As the calendar switches to 2010, Mainers reflected on the last 10 years, and on the trends that defined technology, education, social issues, the environment, the arts, and high school sports.

Stronger, faster, better

The Information Decade, as John Wright, dean of the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Southern Maine, describes the 2000s, was one of awesome ingenuity that turned nearly every person into a technology geek.

From gradual improvements in digital cameras (remember when 2-megapixel models were considered cutting edge?) to the prevalence of carbon fiber as a building composite, technology has made us faster, stronger, and better than we were before, just as the white-coated geeks who built the Six Million Dollar Man would have wanted.

“The whole process of social networking, e-mail, Google, Facebook, has exploded in the last 10 years,” Wright said. “Data and information flows at least twice as fast as it ever has before.”

For example, Wright’s wife completed all her Christmas shopping online, something many people were still wary of in 1999.

“She never went to the mall this year, that’s a first,” he said. And she’s not alone. Technology has definitely made our lives easier. Often, a click of a mouse is all that’s needed.

Secondly, Wright said, the interface between computers and machinery, often depicted in science fiction books and movies, is now fact with precision instruments guided by “smart” computer chips allowing for higher quality goods to be produced more cost effectively.

“The drawback is you don’t need as many laborers, but you do need a more technical workforce,” Wright said. “I tell my students that in the past we had people making products. Now people take care of the machinery that makes the products.”

“Green” technology, which aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels, is the latest technological push.

“Smart homes controlled by computer, and everything from heating systems to solar collectors, geothermal and wind, this area has seen dramatic improvement in the last 10 years,” Wright said.

And the semiconductor is at the heart of everything, he said.

“You used to be able to fit 1,000 transistors into a vacuum tube. Now you can fit 1 million semiconductors into a single transistor. This has allowed for everything to be smaller, from cell phones to GPS. And they do that right here in South Portland,” Wright said, referring to National and Fairchild semiconductor companies.

Other technologies that are being developed here in Maine, according to the president of the Maine Technical Institute, Betsy Biemann, are those that harness the power of Mother Nature, which she said have really taken off since the middle of the decade.

“Renewable energy, including solar, tidal, wind (both onshore and offshore), has become a large focus in Maine in the last few years both as a result of the spike in energy costs and for businesses looking to leverage and design technologies for a more sustainable future,” Biemann said. “And all this is to Maine’s economic advantage.”

To prove the recent interest in renewable energy, Biemann said, dozens of companies are either creating or using technologies to advance eco-friendly power. The Ocean Renewable Power Co., based in Portland, is one Maine company on the cutting edge of tidal power generation. The company has grown significantly in recent years, Biemann said, and with Maine Technology Institute funding, is working on harnessing tidal power off the coast of Eastport, which has some of the world’s greatest tide changes.

“Over the past decade, as energy prices went up, it forced people to look to alternatives. Tidal power has strong prospects,” Biemann said.

Maine is also leading the way in wind power technology, Biemann says. Reed & Reed, based in Woolwich, has already installed several wind turbine projects scattered throughout Maine, including Mars Hill and Stetson Mountain, with more on the way.

“Maine has become a location for many onshore wind projects, and as you know, talks are under way for how to harness the power of wind offshore,” Biemann said. “In fact, Maine leads New England with the most onshore wind development.”

– John Balentine

The new 3-R’s

Susan Gendron, Maine’s education commissioner, said that the term she would use to characterize the decade is “The Dawn of the Digital Student.”

She points to Maine’s innovative laptop initiative as a key reason for coining that term.

The state’s program to provide all students with laptop computers starting in middle school began at the start of the decade. Legislation authorizing the program was passed in 2001.

The laptop initiative has made the state a role model for the kind of learning necessary for the new millennium, said Gendron, a Raymond resident and an educator for more than 30 years. Before becoming commissioner in 2003, her previous jobs included being an assistant superintendent in Scarborough and a teacher, principal and school superintendent in Windham.

“Education is really just beginning to evolve to meet the needs of the 21st century,” Gendron said. “Maine’s laptop initiative – the Maine Learning Technology Initiative – is at the forefront of meeting the needs of this century.”

She said other states and even countries that are world leaders in education, such as Finland and Singapore, “are looking to Maine as an example when it comes to integrating technology into the classroom.”

Jeanne Crocker, principal of South Portland High School, agrees that technology is transforming learning in Maine. In fact, she termed the past 10 years as “The Technology Decade.”

“Technology in the schools is expanding horizons, putting information at our fingertips, and enhancing learning,” Crocker said.

Gendron stressed that while Maine students are learning to be proficient on computers, “what we’re talking about is a lot more than just teaching kids to use technology.”

Instead, Gendron said, “this is about using technology to open doors for kids, to make their learning ‘relevant’ to their own life experiences and to the post-secondary schooling, careers and civic life that await them after graduation.”

Gendron noted that in the 21st-century business world, workers can be in different countries but still need to work collaboratively on projects – “using technology to integrate their varied skill sets and perspectives.”

“Far more than a particular set of ‘knowledge,'” she said, “employers need workers with creativity and the ability to collaborate and problem solve.”

Those skills need to be developed and nurtured in students, Gendron said. “By engaging them through technology, we are only breaking the surface of possibilities,” she said.

In the next decade, she said, the focus must be on helping students truly master the skills needed in the 21st–century workplace.

“It’s not about making sure our kids ‘pass,'” Gendron said. “It’s about making sure our kids actually have what they need when we send them out into the world.”

“Learning is not just about how much time kids spend in the classroom,” Gendron continued. “We need to help our students show their progress in mastering the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful. So we have been moving – too slowly, to be honest – toward a ‘standards-based system’ in which rather than graduating a student with C’s and D’s because they ‘made it through,’ we work with them every step of the way to ensure that they can meet the standards we know they will need to succeed.”

Jessica Kelly, a gifted and talented teacher at Scarborough Middle School, also agreed that the laptop initiative has made education in the 2000s different from education in the 1990s.

She suggested the past decade could be called “the iEducation Decade.”

“Education in the 21st century emphasizes the importance of the new three Rs; rigor, relevance, and relationships,” Kelly said. “It focuses on increasing academic rigor, making instruction more relevant to students’ lives, and creating learning environments that are more personal and supportive. The new three Rs engage students in learning that better prepares them for 21st-century careers.”

And she believes that new technology already being used will continue to create new learning opportunities into the next decade.

For example, Kelly said, “As part of a community project with the local library and historical society, my students are using Skype. Skype allows collaboration to take place virtually. There are so many educational possibilities for using Skype-like tools to connect with people throughout the world.”

– Tess Nacelewicz

Training opportunities increase

As 2009 draws to a close, so does a decade of high school sports in Maine.

The past 10 years have seen some noticeable changes in how student athletics in Maine are both perceived and run, with perhaps the most noticeable change being the growth of year-round training facilities. These facilities are allowing student-athletes to focus on one sport in particular and give them the opportunity to play that sport 12 months a year.

“In the old athletic model you played a sport for that season and that was it,” said Thornton Academy Athletic Director Gary Stevens. “Today you have the opportunity as a softball pitcher, for example, you can work on your technique all year long in these types of facilities.”

Stevens, who’s been athletic director at Thornton for 14 years, said that student-athletes are also becoming more specialized by playing for club teams in addition to, and sometimes in place of, their high school teams.

“At one time high school athletics were the only show in town,” said Stevens. “Now you have outside club teams that are going on in the offseason, and sometimes at the same time as the high school season.”

For example, he said, the MHG Ice Centre in Saco offers hockey players the ability to play throughout the year and in various capacities. It’s the home of the Junior Pirates, which is a youth and junior hockey program with multiple teams.

Also in Saco is the Sports Zone, also known as Howard Sports, which offers multiple opportunities to train for sports like indoor soccer and basketball, weight training, etc. This facility also is home to a number of AAU teams in basketball and several indoor soccer leagues.

Another such facility is YourSpace Sports Complex in Gorham, which features an indoor turf field that is mainly used for soccer.

Stevens said that in some parts of the country, standout athletes are choosing club teams over their own school. While he hasn’t seen much of that happening in Maine yet, he said, it could be of concern in the future.

Steve Merrill, athletic director at Windham High School, echoed those concerns about sport specialization.

“I’m hoping we don’t see the demise of the multi-sport student-athletes,” said Merrill. “I think it’s a misguided notion that specializing will set you up better for the next level. They’re better off playing at least one other sport to put themselves in an array of situations to learn how to compete in.”

While specialization in a single sport is the common thread of concern for administrators around the state, they also share the opinion that the level of competition is on the rise in Maine.

“I think players are generally bigger, stronger, and faster,” said Merrill. “As a result, the level of play just continues to rise each year.”

Stevens cites girls lacrosse as a prime example of the playing field being leveled.

“It was brought in as a sport by the MPA in 1998,” he said. “Initially, the gap between the elite teams and the novice programs was huge. But now it’s almost negligible.”

Both Stevens and Merrill also said the addition of programs and facilities around the state has been crucial in the growth of athletics in the past decade.

“Throughout our conference and the state, the number of opportunities added has been very positive for the kids,” said Merrill.

“There doesn’t seem to be a lack of construction dollars, which will hopefully attract students to participate even more,” said Stevens.

With plans to install a turf field this summer, Thornton Academy is a prime example of the improvement of facilities at local schools.

Yet, in the current economic climate, high school athletic departments are being forced to re-evaluate their needs.

“People are starting to become aware of the issues the state faces and how that’s going to affect academics and because of that, interscholastic athletics,” said Merrill.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens as we continue to move forward,” he added.

– Brandon McKenney

Times are (slowly) a changing

Gay rights has been the social issue with the highest profile in Maine over the last decade.

Four years ago, Maine voters approved a measure to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination after two previous attempts failed. Maine was the last New England state to pass such a law, and many activists felt it was only a matter of time before same-sex marriage would also become law.

The Legislature did pass a same-sex marriage bill this year, with Gov. John Baldacci signing it into law. The expected referendum drive and campaign followed, giving hope to couples like Sara Jane Elliot and Rita Clifford of Scarborough.

Elliot and Clifford testified before legislators in a packed Augusta Civic Center in support of the bill, appeared in a television campaign ad to support the No on 1 effort and received the Roger Baldwin Award recently from the Maine Civil Liberties Union, given annually for people making a significant contribution to civil liberties in Maine.

Despite their efforts, the same-sex marriage referendum was defeated last month, giving the couple pause after a decade where gay rights did advance in Maine.

“Sara Jane and I were very saddened by the vote to repeal the same-sex marriage law,” Clifford said. “We had become cautiously hopeful that soon we would be able to marry in our beloved state of Maine. We really believed that we would be treated in the same way as every other couple who loves each other and has been together long enough to consider their relationship long term. We think 28 years ought to do it.

“But while 47 percent of the voters saw the justice in allowing same-sex couples to marry, 53 percent were unable to accept that our relationships need the same protections as do heterosexual relationships,” she said.

Support for same-sex marriage was weakest in rural parts of the state and away from coastal Maine.

Clifford and Elliot feel the vote could have a negative impact on gays and lesbians in these areas.

“Those who do live there are less likely to be open in their communities as to the details of their lives,” Clifford said. “As a result people in those areas have little opportunity to know us and to realize that our lives are much like theirs, with one huge difference. Our relationships have no legal standing and therefore no legal protections.”

Supporters of gay rights did make some headway over the last decade in Maine. The 2005 referendum vote in support of amending the Maine Human Rights Act by making discrimination illegal in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations and education based on sexual orientation came after a 2000 vote by referendum against a similar amendment.

In 1998, an earlier version of the law was rejected at the polls in a special election that was called under Maine’s people’s veto process. But in 1995 a referendum to preemptively ban municipal gay rights laws was rejected by voters through a referendum.

Whether three votes are needed to pass same-sex marriage, few doubt another referendum is coming. Supporters have said they may wait a year or two but plan to push for a new same-sex marriage law in the Legislature, a bill whose passage would no doubt prompt another statewide vote.

“We fully expect this issue to come again before the legislature-and the voters-in a few years,” Clifford said. “In the meantime we have a lot of work to do to connect with non-supporters in ways that will generate more understanding of why we need civil marriage.”

“Sara Jane and I will continue to live our lives as we always have, spending time with family and friends, playing bridge, attending Portland Friends Meeting, going to concerts, attending neighborhood gatherings, paying taxes, volunteering in our community,” she said. “But in the eyes of the law, we remain nothing more than good friends. We continue to be second-class citizens in what we otherwise consider a first-class place to live.”

The November defeat has not diminished their strong belief about the eventuality of same-sex marriage.

“However, Sara Jane and I fully expect to be legally married in the not very distant future,” Clifford said. “How wonderful it will be to say our marriage vows in the presence of our seven children, eight grandchildren, friends, neighbors and members of our Quaker meeting.”

– Dan Bustard

Art and soul

In the ‘70s, it was disco. The ‘80s brought out big hair. In music and style, the ‘90s were all about grunge.

A lot of the closest associations people have with certain decades are cultural ones.

According to Brett Wickard, owner of the Maine-based music store chain Bull Moose, heavier rock was the dominant music genre of the past decade, with bands like Disturbed, Linkin Park, Tool and Limp Bizkit being some of the most popular.

But the best-selling artist since 2000, Wickard said, was “far and away” the rapper formerly known as Marshall Mathers.

“Eminem owns The Aughts,” he said.

The best-selling local band during the past 10 years was Rustic Overtones, but crooner Ray Lamontagne, who appeared later on the scene, came in at a close second.

What may be more historically significant than what type of music people listened to this decade is how they purchased it.

“I think the main thing people will take from this decade is the death of the single or the death of pop music,” Wickard said.

With the advent of mp3s, if people like a song, he said, they’ll download it as a ring tone or from iTunes, rather than buy the record.

Wickard, who owns 10 stores, including ones in Sanford, Scarborough and North Windham, said sales on the whole aren’t dropping. However, people are only buying CDs that they want to listen to in their entirety, from artists like Radiohead or Norah Jones. Whereas in the ’90s, he said, if you liked one Mariah Carey song, “you were stuck buying the whole album.”

Just as technology had an impact on what was happening in the music scene, the social issues of the decade greatly affected the art that was produced.

Carolyn Eyler, director of exhibitions and programs for the University of Southern Maine, said she’s seen more and more political expression through art, in both national shows and ones at the university’s galleries in Gorham and Portland.

“It’s not so much the whole art for art’s sake,” said Eyler, who listed global warming and the Iraq War as some of the issues artists have taken on in their work.

“Artists are people out there in the world. Current events and world concerns that affect people also affect artists,” she said.

One global issue that’s affected every industry is the downturn in the economy – and theater is no exception.

“There is a national trend toward fewer and fewer audience members going to theater,” said Michael Levine, producing director for Westbrook-based Acorn Productions.

However, Levine said, that trend hasn’t quite hit the Portland scene. In fact, the local theater world has been growing.

“Certainly from a Portland theater standpoint, there’s an awful lot more going on now than there was 10 years ago,” he said.

Though the local theater community lost its hot spot with the closing of the Oak Street Theatre, Levine said, the opening of the St. Lawrence Arts Center and increase in activity at Portland Stage Company have expanded the scene overall.

And the suburbs of the state’s largest city are starting to develop their own arts communities, as well.

“The arts district gentrified in Portland, and folks like us moved out of Portland into Westbrook,” Levine said about one benefit of rent costs driving artists out of the city during the past 10 years.

“In 2000, Congress Street was still pretty beat,” he said.

Levine said Maine is still an afterthought on the national theater scene, but some locals who have left managed to make it big in recent years. University of Southern Maine alum Tony Shaloub broke out as the title character in the TV series “Monk,” and more recently, Portland-native Anna Kendrick was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the 2009 film “Up in the Air.”

“That’s a nice trend to see,” Levine said.

The movies are often the first place people turn to for the latest in fashion.

When it comes to hair, salon owner Matthew John Crawford said Jennifer Aniston is the woman to watch.

The “Rachel” hairstyle, named after Aniston’s character in the sitcom “Friends,” was all the rage in the ‘90s, but according to Crawford, she still always has the most current look.

Crawford moved his popular salon, called Matthew John, out of Portland and into Gorham at just about the turn of the decade. Though he said there are never definitive changes from one style to the next, hair of this decade was defined by a loose, broken-in look.

Going into the next decade, Crawford has one prediction for the future.

“I think there’s going to be a huge demand for femininity,” he said. “Women are tired of looking masculine and there’s going to be a revolt.”

And that’s fine with Crawford, as long as ‘80s mall bangs don’t make a comeback.

“Thank God that one went to sleep,” he said.

– Leslie Bridgers

Cleaner, greener

It’s difficult to go anywhere without seeing signs of an increased focus on environmental sustainability. At grocery stores, more and more people use reusable cloth grocery bags. In bathrooms there are air dryers instead of paper towels, and many households now put a recycling bin at their curbside each week along with their trash.

One company that has seen a paradigm shift in environmental consciousness is ecomaine, a nonprofit waste management company that runs three waste management facilities, including an incinerator that burns trash for energy, a recycling center and a landfill.

Shelley Dunn, communications specialist at ecomaine said that just in this past fiscal year, which ended June 30, the company broke a 30,000 tons recycled mark for the first time in the 19-year history of its recycling program. She said that halfway through fiscal year 2010, recycling trends are heading in the same direction.

“We take that as a very good sign that people are listening,” Dunn said. “And municipal governments are certainly doing a wonderful job of keeping that awareness to be top-of-mind in communities.”

Some 38 communities have contracts with ecomaine, which allows trucks to unload trash and recycling at its facilities, though it does not provide the transporting services. The company tracks each contracted municipality’s recycling and waste numbers. The town recently switched from bi-weekly recycling pick-up to weekly pick-up.

The company’s shift to single-sort recycling in 2007 made recycling easier for consumers. Previously, consumers would have to sort glass, aluminum, cardboard and other materials into separate and labeled containers. Now, all those materials can go in the same box and are sorted at the waste management facilities by expensive, state-of-the-art equipment.

Another person who has his finger on the pulse of environmental consciousness is David Littell, commissioner at Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection. He said in general, Maine is ahead of the curve environmentally, something he realizes any time he meets with other state’s commissioners. He said if he had to name this decade, he’d call it “a decade of transition from a dirty, unsustainable model to a clean, sustainable economic system.”

Littell said particularly since 2004, the department has made a reduction in greenhouse gases a central part of its mission, as well as reducing air pollution. In addition, in 2005, Maine was the first state in the country to implement an electronic waste law, which requires both manufacturers and consumers to take a participatory role in making sure electronics don’t fill up landfills or incinerators by bringing them to waste centers. Thus far, 19 million pounds of electronic waste has been diverted from landfills and incinerators, according to Littell.

– Angelique Carson

The advent of the mp3 over the last decade changed the way people bought music at places like Bull Moose Music in Scarborough, above. It is just one example of how technology changed the way we lived since 2000. (Staff photo by Brandon McKenney)

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